“You’re always working so hard as my partner, so don’t worry about your exam grades. It’s not a big deal.”
“Really…?”
Perhaps it was because they weren’t facing each other, but Alisa’s words seemed kinder and more honest than usual, so although Masachika was a little taken aback, he genuinely felt at ease.
“Thank you, Alya.”
“…”
After expressing his sincere gratitude, a peaceful silence descended upon them…
“Hey… Masachika, I—”
But just as Alisa seemed ready to say something important, Nonoa suddenly interrupted them.
“Yikes. Kuze, what happened?”
““!””
Startled by her voice, both Masachika and Alisa jumped. Masachika then lifted the bottle of tea off his face and sat up. Nonoa was staring down at him with heavy-lidded eyes—plus there were a few looks from people passing by, glancing in their direction.
“She was just icing my nose to help stop the bleeding! Right?” he frantically explained while he turned to Alisa for help, making her jump once more before nodding back hesitantly.
“E-exactly… Hey, uh… I’m going to go buy another drink, since this one isn’t cold anymore…”
“Huh? No, hey. I’m fine now.”
But Alisa hastily hopped up and hurried away, ignoring his pleas. While Masachika watched her swift escape with an indescribable expression, Nonoa curiously faced him and asked, “Did I interrupt something?”
“No, you’re good… By the way, did you already finish your turn?”
After he casually changed the subject, Nonoa waved her hands, flashing peace signs, though her expression remained as bored as ever.
“After you and Alisa left, I hit the remaining panels in thirteen shots.”
“Seriously?! That’s basically a seventy percent hit rate. That’s insane.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty good at sports,” she stated matter-of-factly before taking a seat where Alisa had been sitting.
“…? You’re not going to watch the others shoot?”
“Oh, like, it’s Hikaru’s and Lea’s turn? And if I stayed, then Saya and I would talk a lot, and I totally didn’t want to get in Takeshi’s way.”
Masachika’s brow furrowed in surprise at Nonoa’s casual remark. However, after checking his surroundings, he decided to ask something that had been on his mind.
“Are you fine with this?”
“Fine with what?”
“Let’s say that Sayaka and Takeshi hit it off…and they start dating.”
Nonoa didn’t even blink at the premise, but even then, Masachika continued to stare her in the eye, carefully choosing his next words.
“To tell the truth, you don’t seem like you’d be too thrilled if Sayaka got a boyfriend.”
“Just be straight with me. Are you, like, worried that I’m going to try to ruin things between them?”
“…Kind of.”
Instead of denying it, Masachika simply continued to stare back at Nonoa, who simply shrugged, her expression unsurprisingly blank.
“I have absolutely no intention of getting in their way. Like, why would I? I just want Saya to be happy.”
“Really?”
“Really. If Saya’s happy, then I think that’d make me happy, too.”
Masachika was speechless by how selfless she was being. While still wearing a completely blank expression, Nonoa glanced sideways at him, then smirked.
“Could you make how you feel any more obvious?”
“…Sorry. I’m just surprised to hear you say something so selfless.”
“Ha-ha. You totally just say what’s on your mind, huh?”
“I apologize if I offended you.”
“Come on. You’re only saying all that ’cause you legit knew it wouldn’t offend me.”
With a deliberately dissatisfied tone in her voice, Nonoa gazed up toward the heavens as she stared off into space. A few moments of silence followed until she eventually made an abrupt, unrelated remark.
“Glass harps? Like, I think that’s what they’re called? You put water in glasses and then play them like a harp?”
“…? And?”
“If you fill identical glasses with the same amount of water, they resonate with each other when you play them.”
“…What are you talking about?”
Although Masachika tilted his head, completely lost as to where the conversation was going, Nonoa continued indifferently, without even looking in his direction:
“My glass? I bet my glass is ridiculously thick and weirdly shaped.”
“…!”
His eyes widened as he finally realized what Nonoa was trying to say.
“No matter how musical the glasses are around me, mine still doesn’t move. But I legit tried out so many different things, you know? None of it worked, though. Didn’t matter how many times I had tried to hit my glass to make a sound. All I ended up doing was breaking the other glasses nearby without creating a ripple in my water. Until the day Saya slapped me, that is.” Nonoa smirked, seemingly lost in thought about the past. Then, in a surprisingly gentle voice, she revealed, “Saya’s the one who created a ripple in my water. Saya’s glass was the only one to resonate with my bizarrely shaped glass. And that’s why…if she’s happy, then I’m sure I’ll be happy, too.”
In a way, it was almost like a confession of love. Masachika was taken aback by Nonoa’s words, which seemed almost too sacred to even be spoken.
But even then…Masachika decided to go a step further so that one of his best friends could finally find love.
“Even if that means she finds someone even more important to her than you? Even if it means you’ll get to spend less time with her?”
“Well…”
Nonoa glanced around while deep in thought as she considered Masachika’s rather abrupt, brazen question, but after a moment of silence, she smirked.
“I guess when that happens…I’ll finally be able to see what it feels like to be lonely.”
Her expression seemed almost joyful, and her side profile gave Masachika some insight into the struggles of a girl who had never experienced happiness or sorrow like a normal person.
Perhaps it was merely an illusion. Maybe it was just Masachika’s hope that this girl was like any ordinary person who made him see her this way. But even then…
“…” He shifted his gaze to the ground and scratched his head, but after a moment of hesitation, Masachika stated, without even looking in her direction, “…I’m always here to listen if you want to talk.”
He waited a few seconds for a reply, but there was none. When he glanced sideways, however, he met Nonoa’s surprised gaze and quickly looked away.
“After all, I’ve got to keep an eye on you and make sure you won’t do anything that traumatizes Takeshi.”
Even he knew he was doing a poor job hiding his embarrassment by looking away…when suddenly, he felt her presence right next to him. But before he could react, he found his right arm was intertwined with hers. He promptly shifted his gaze to find Nonoa, much to his surprise, gazing up at him so closely that he could feel her breathing. Her playful expression startled him. He instinctively leaned back, but it was essentially pointless, with her arm clamped tightly around his.
Before him was the extremely stunning face of a young woman, a rarity even in the entertainment world, her soft chest pressing against his upper arm as she clung tightly to him. Yet instead of the thrill a young man might feel, Masachika’s heart raced with a primal instinct—he sensed danger.
Wh-what the…? Oh, gosh. Is she going to eat me?!
Despite being embraced by an exceptionally beautiful girl, he felt like a peasant who had been tackled by a wild animal. Not only was the excitement not making him feel hot, but he was growing cold as his back was becoming slowly drenched in sweat.
“This could work… This could definitely work.” Nonoa licked her lips, her eyes glowing brightly as she watched Masachika tremble. It was like watching a savage beast licking its chops, intensifying the sense that he was in danger. She slowly drew her lips even closer to his face and whispered into his ear in a sultry voice, “Hey, Kuze. How about you try hitting me, too? You might make a ripple.”
“Why would I do that?!” shrieked Masachika, taken aback by the sudden, abnormal request, but the moment he actually processed what she was saying, he began to tremble with fear. “Give me a break, will ya? I’m probably too vanilla for you anyway.”
“Are you sure? Because if you don’t hit me, I’m totally gonna kiss you.”
“Wh-what the…?! No, stop!”
He instinctively raised his left hand to cover his mouth, but Nonoa’s questionable smile only twisted even more as a profound sense of danger pierced Masachika’s heart, when—
“What are you doing?”
His rapidly pounding heart skipped a beat when he heard Alisa’s voice, and when he shifted his gaze to her direction, he saw her standing there with a completely stunned expression, holding a drink that she got from the vending machine. Masachika was at a loss for words as well, since there was no way that he could come up with an excuse for whatever was going on. Nonoa, however, nonchalantly replied:
“Hmm? Oh, I was trying to seduce Kuze.”
“Y-you were what?!”
“Like, is that a problem? Kuze’s not dating anyone, right?”
“……!”
Alisa looked like she’d swallowed her words right as she was going to say something. However, seeing her face harden as she struggled to speak helped Masachika calm down enough to think straight.
Yeah… I froze there for a second, but all I have to do is turn her down, right?
His mind raced, recalling countless romantic comedy scenes he had seen where the protagonist would fumble for words and end up upsetting both girls, creating hell on earth.
Exactly… The reason things usually go south in situations like this is because the man is being indecisive. So just being straightforward and turning Nonoa down should clear things up immediately.
After sighing softly, Masachika faced Nonoa once more.
“Nonoa.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry, but there’s no way I’m ever going to be interested in you romantically. To be blunt, there is absolutely nothing about you as a member of the opposite sex that I find attractive.”
“Word. But that’s still no reason for me to stop trying to seduce you.”
“Oh. Uh…”
It hadn’t fixed anything.
She’s good… Too good…
He was seriously having a difficult time trying to come up with a good enough reason to stop Nonoa, so he just started to say whatever came to mind.
“Let’s all calm down for a second. We came here today to help Takeshi and Lea, right? We’d be stealing the spotlight if we created a scene here, so let’s just focus on making Sayaka and Lea happy, okay?”
It was a desperate attempt to put an end to this by simply mentioning Sayaka’s name, and to his surprise, Nonoa actually stopped. After slowly blinking a few times, she began to look around vacantly.
“Yeah… You’re right… I made a promise,” she mumbled to herself while she gently released Masachika’s arm. He capitalized on this moment of freedom, got up, and approached Alisa.
“I really appreciate you going out of your way to buy another drink for me, but my nose stopped bleeding already…”
“Oh, okay…”
“Thanks, though. I mean it. How much do I owe you?”
“Don’t worry about the money…”
“No, I want to pay you back. These things are important.”
“It’s my fault for hitting you in the face with the ball…”
“You already paid me back for that by letting me lie in your lap,” he promptly replied, making Alisa pout in annoyance. Her expression alone was enough for him to realize that he hadn’t chosen his words wisely, making him fall silent.
“Unbelievable!” With a disdainful snort, she thrust the drink at him, then turned on her heel. “…Come on. Everyone’s waiting for us.”
“O-oh, right.”
“A’ight.”
Urged on by Alisa, they made their way to the strikeout cage while the awkwardness remained heavy in the air.
“Hikaruuu, you’re so cool. ♪ I had no idea you were this good at soccer. ♪”
“Ha-ha-ha. Thanks…”
“My bad, Sayaka. Today’s just not my day, I guess…”
“You don’t need to apologize. I didn’t even hit a single panel.”
There, they found Lea clinging to Hikaru’s arm while Takeshi was apologizing to Sayaka with his head bowed. All Masachika could do was shout silently in his heart.
What are you doing losing?!
And just like that, the losers, Takeshi and Sayaka, were sent down the drop tower…where Takeshi tragically died. RIP.
“Haaah… If you knew this was going to happen, then you could have just said ‘no.’ I get that we made a bet, but still…”
Sayaka looked down at Takeshi, who was slumped on the bench, and let out an exasperated sigh. While the others were on the nearby Ferris wheel, waiting for Takeshi to recover his soul after his terrifying free-fall drop, Sayaka had stayed behind to look after him and decided to finally say what had been on her mind.
“In fact…you could have just told us you didn’t like thrill rides, because we didn’t have to hang out at the amusement park. There were plenty of other places we could have gone.”
Takeshi lifted his head and offered her a weak smile, making Sayaka sigh yet again.
“Haaah… You always put others’ needs before your own. You’re allowed to be more selfish from time to time.”
“…You’re no different, though.” After Sayaka scowled, taken aback by his completely unexpected reply, Takeshi slowly sat up straight and looked her directly in the eye. “You always prioritize keeping everyone together and never put yourself first, Sayaka.”
As her eyes widened in astonishment, she averted her gaze and pushed up her glasses.
“…Only because that’s the easiest way to keep everyone together. People don’t trust those who try to manipulate others for their own personal gain.”
For Sayaka, the driving forces behind human actions were reason and benefit—rationality and profit. By prioritizing these, she had consistently demonstrated leadership within her groups. She saw no need for emotions, which she considered contrary to reason, and while she would take emotions into account, they were never her primary focus. Furthermore, no matter what anyone said about her coldness, Sayaka had no intention of changing this about herself, either.
Then again, look where that got me. I lost to Alisa, who speaks to the heart and inspires people by opening up to them emotionally… I’m nothing more than a heel in her story.
Sayaka inwardly chuckled to herself with a hint of self-deprecation…when she heard something she wasn’t expecting to hear.
“You’re incredible…” Sayaka’s brow furrowed as she turned in the direction of the seemingly impressed voice, forcing Takeshi to hurriedly stammer out an explanation. “Oh, uh…! It’s not often you see someone who can suppress their feelings and desires to prioritize keeping everyone else happy… So, like…I think it’s incredible. I think you’re a really good person…”
“…” Her eyes widened as Takeshi bashfully complimented her, scratching his cheek. She fixed her gaze on him, forcing him to shyly avert his gaze and face forward, so she faced forward as well, ruminating on his words before muttering, “…Nobody has ever told me that before.”
As she thought back, the feedback she had received from others about her personality was almost always negative: “cold,” “boring,” and the like. While her abilities were often praised, she had rarely, if ever, been complimented on her character, and that was exactly why Takeshi’s words were so refreshing and shocking to Sayaka. Hesitantly, he continued:
“Even during the school festival, you did the maid café, and you worked hard without even a single complaint, even though it’s obviously something you wouldn’t be interested in…and I thought that was really cool of you.”
“…”
Sayaka pushed up her glasses in silence…because deep down, she was completely on board with the maid café idea. Truth be told, she actually enjoyed being the head maid as well. And why wouldn’t she? She was a nerd, after all. Nevertheless, Takeshi took in another deep breath, unaware of Sayaka’s inner thoughts, and continued:
“But we— We’re friends…so maybe you could be more yourself around me? Like, be more assertive? When we all hang out like this…”
“Be more myself…?”
“Y-yeah, like do what ya wanna do? Maybe you could be more straightforward with that? Like, I’m the only one here right now, so if there’s something ya wanna do, you can tell me, and we’ll do it.”
Although unusual for her, Sayaka smirked at Takeshi’s rapid-fire, friendly suggestion. She then stood up off the bench, still smiling.
“All right, there actually is something I want to do while we’re here.”
“O-oh? Okay! Let’s do it!”
Takeshi froze for a moment with his gaze fixed on her smile but eventually stood up as well. The two of them then began walking side by side, their atmosphere noticeably more relaxed than usual.
“Hold up… Check out those two people walking… Is that Takeshi and Sayaka?” wondered Masachika while gazing down from the Ferris wheel window. Alisa, sitting across from him, followed his gaze, where she also saw two individuals, who appeared to be Takeshi and Sayaka, walking away together.
“Wow… I was kind of worried…but it looks like things are actually going smoothly,” he added with a mix of faint surprise and relief.
“…”
Alisa stared intently at him, images flashing through her mind of Lea hitting on Hikaru and of Nonoa clinging to Masachika’s arm from just moments ago.
Is being in love really that amazing?
It wasn’t mockery or disdain but genuine curiosity.
It wasn’t as if she had never seen people around her in love before. Touya and Chisaki were obvious examples of people in love. Around the time of the Autumn Heights Festival, the whole school was practically buzzing with romantic energy, to the point that even Alisa could tell. Furthermore, even her older sister seemed to still be madly in love with the boy she broke up with years ago.
Though Alisa had never been interested in romance, seeing her friends caught up in love like this…somehow made her feel like she was being left behind.
What has gotten into me? Why am I comparing myself to others? Falling in love and dating aren’t things you should rush into.
After all, Alisa had never really considered pursuing a romantic relationship. She could neither imagine herself falling for someone, nor did she ever feel the need for a romantic partner.
But…
Despite always believing that she would be fine on her own, Alisa was undoubtedly having fun with her friends and genuinely enjoying their company. In other words…maybe love was something far better than she could have ever imagined.
Would I even be able to know—to understand—what love is?
If possible, she wanted to know what it was like. If it was truly that wonderful, then she needed to know. She couldn’t stop thinking about it, especially after witnessing Nonoa flirting with Masachika.
If Takeshi and Sayaka, Hikaru and Lea, and Masachika and Nonoa all ended up together, then Alisa would end up all alone, and that was why she couldn’t help but feel a sense of urgency.
Masachika flat-out turned down Nonoa, but…
But that was because…Masachika already had someone he was deeply in love with. That much became evident to Alisa the moment she heard him play the piano at the Autumn Heights Festival.
Ah…
While staring at his profile, Alisa suddenly imagined the look on his face that day. His expression was so gentle and sorrowful that it tugged at her heartstrings, prompting her to lean forward—
“Whoa?!”
“…!”
The gondola suddenly rocked, snapping Alisa back to reality as she leaned back into her seat.
“Come on, don’t rock the cabin like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
After seeing Masachika’s troubled expression, Alisa paused for a moment before returning his gaze with her usual mischievous grin.
“…Oh? Did I scare you? What about this?!”
“Whoa?!”
She leaned back, rocking the gondola again, prompting Masachika to stretch out his arms and legs for balance. However, Alisa found his reaction so funny that she couldn’t resist rocking the gondola even more.
“S-stop! That’s dangerous!”
“Pfft! Ha-ha-ha!”
And so her playful antics continued, reminiscent of a child’s—somehow both cheerful and a bit forced—until the gondola returned to the ground.
“So… Any idea where they went?”
“I didn’t get any texts from them.”
“Same.”
“That probably means they didn’t go far…”
After the five of them got off the Ferris wheel, they began to search for Takeshi and Sayaka, who had wandered off somewhere. They had decided against calling them and instead opted to search on foot, since they didn’t want to risk ruining the mood if things were going well between them. However, after a few minutes of strolling in the direction they were seen going last…
“Oh, there they are.”
…they found the two of them right by the capsule toy machines in a corner at the food court.
“Maybe I’ll get the pink one next…? No, it’s green… Mmm… All right, just two—no, three—more tries…”
Sayaka was pressed up against the side of a capsule toy machine, muttering to herself as she peered inside, with a basket overflowing with capsules by her feet. Alisa and Hikaru were unsurprisingly left speechless by how Sayaka was unapologetically embracing her nerdy side. Even Masachika was momentarily taken aback.
…Seriously?!
However, he regained his composure and hurried over to Takeshi.
“H-hey, Takeshi. What’s up…?”
Masachika hesitated, his gaze fixed on his friend, who had just witnessed a hidden side to his crush that he had never seen before, when—
“Check it out, Masachika… Sayaka’s having the time of her life.”
“…I’m proud of you. You’re a good man.”
Masachika placed a hand on Takeshi’s shoulder, his gaze filled with sincere respect as he watched Takeshi look at Sayaka with such a genuine smile.
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