“…”
“…”
“…I say, what exactly are you so angry about? Shouldn’t I be the one who’s upset?”
Yuuma Tsugumu rubbed his cheek, looking helplessly at Akiba Sakura as she walked beside him.
The journey back to school wasn’t particularly short, but fortunately, the two of them had plenty of time, so they weren’t walking in a great hurry.
“Tsugumu… what are you talking about? I’m not angry!”
As if she had heard a joke, Akiba Sakura let out a couple of light chuckles before suddenly pulling back her smile and responding crossly, “I have always been very kind and amiable—this is something not just you, but everyone at school has unanimously agreed upon — “
“…Yes, yes, whatever you say…”
Tsugumu sighed helplessly again, then stole a glance at Sakura’s profile.
‘She’s definitely still mad…’
Normally at this time, Sakura would be chirping ‘Tsugumu, Tsugumu’ as they walked this stretch of the school road together, but today she had been remarkably quiet since leaving the house.
‘If only she acted like a quiet beauty like this every day…’
Tsugumu watched Sakura’s graceful side profile, observing her expression.
‘Seriously… no matter how many times I look at her, I can’t help but think…’
“Hello~! Sakura~! And — Yuuma!”
Just then, a bright and cheerful voice rang out — it was Momoka Aoi.
Without realizing it, Sakura and Tsugumu had walked out of the alley and arrived at the street intersection, which served as both a fork in the road and a meeting point for the three of them.
Since everyone arrived at school around the same time, the probability of them running into each other was naturally quite high.
“Good morning, Momoka.”
“Good morning, Aoi…”
“Mm-hmm~! Good morning~!”
Aoi nodded with a smile, her handbag bouncing along with her sunny and cheerful movements.
“Sakura, I heard that the cafe near the school gate has released some new items. Do you want to go try them tonight?”
Aoi smilingly hooked her arm through Sakura’s, nuzzling against her affectionately like a golden retriever.
“I won’t be going, Aoi. You know I don’t like drinking coffee…”
“Eh — even if you don’t like it, you can still give it a try~”
Aoi was naturally a bit disappointed by Sakura’s refusal, but she still wanted to try and save the plan.
“I’m really not going. I really can’t handle coffee…”
Sakura tilted her head slightly, remembering how her past self actually quite liked sweet coffee.
However, she had almost let her figure get out of control because of it, which nearly led to the Victim she had almost secured running away with his girlfriend.
That incident had ruined the NTR Grand Plan she had set, and in this life, Sakura constantly reminded herself —
‘Keep fit, keep fit, keep fit — ‘
“Well… Sakura really is stubborn. Then… what about you, Yuuma?”
Seeing Sakura’s troubled expression, Aoi didn’t feel right continuing to pester her to change her mind, so she looked toward Tsugumu instead.
“Don’t look at me. You know I’m not interested in those kinds of things at all.”
Tsugumu’s rejection was quite decisive, without even a hint of hesitation.
“Ugh… why are you both like this? I know Sakura doesn’t like coffee so I won’t say anything about that, but Yuuma, you…”
Aoi narrowed her eyes, then wore a suspicious expression —
“I remember that day you were loudly critiquing various coffee brands with Yamashita? Apparently, Yamashita’s video account even posted a video reviewing major coffee brands because he was inspired by you!”
“…”
Hearing this, Tsugumu felt his eyebrow twitch.
He instantly regretted talking so much nonsense to Yamashita Tasuku; he hadn’t expected the guy to actually post it online…
“Anyway… I just don’t want to stay outside for too long…”
With no other choice, Tsugumu had to use his ‘shut-in attribute’ as a shield.
After all, this tactic was quite effective for dealing with others, and given the lazy energy Tsugumu usually projected, he did indeed look like a lethargic otaku.
Sure enough, Aoi showed understanding upon hearing Tsugumu’s words —
“Well, I get it~ Mr. Shut-in — “
Aoi sighed, then looked at Sakura and Tsugumu with a trace of regret.
“You two are really… That cafe has a new event recently. As long as you go as a pair, you can choose from various discount sets!”
“Oh…”
“What’s with that? Your reactions are so cold!”
Aoi puffed out her cheeks, pouting her small mouth so much she could have hung a lantern on it.
“If I went with Sakura, our status as besties would get us BFF Bracelets and a fifteen percent discount coupon for the whole store!”
“And what if you go with a boy?”
Hearing this, Sakura seemed to seize an opportunity and quickly spoke up.
“…?”
“?”
Both Aoi and Tsugumu looked at Sakura at the same time, a flicker of bewilderment flashing in their eyes.
At that moment, Sakura was looking at Aoi while speaking, so she didn’t notice that besides bewilderment, there was also a hint of dissatisfaction in Tsugumu’s gaze.
‘That’s strange… Why do I feel like my Love Radar is beep-beeping? Did it detect something?’
As a devoted fan of romance manga, Aoi’s interest was instantly piqued —
“Sakura… could it be that you’ve taken an interest in some boy?”
“Ah… what?”
Sakura clearly hadn’t expected Aoi to suddenly ask her that question, and her expression became several degrees more startled.
“Taken an interest in…”
For some reason, Sakura turned her head back to pretend she was looking at the road, but her eyes reflexively glanced at Tsugumu beside her from the corner of her eye.
“Taken an interest in…”
‘To be honest, I really don’t know who else I could look at besides Tsugumu…’
Thinking of Tsugumu made Sakura feel involuntarily frustrated — she still couldn’t reconcile the current Tsugumu with the Tsugumu she had seen this morning.
‘A single hairstyle could actually change so much…’
Amidst her lamenting, Sakura naturally didn’t forget to respond to Aoi’s question.
“If you’re asking who I’ve taken an interest in, maybe it’s Johnny…”
“…”
Hearing this answer, Aoi was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Sakura, do you know? Sometimes when people are extremely speechless, they really are speechless… Isn’t Johnny the Cat Senior from our school?!”
“Didn’t you ask, Aoi? I’m just telling the truth — “
Sakura put on a pitiful look while watching Aoi, effectively forcing her to swallow all the retorts she wanted to make.
“…”
Aoi suddenly slapped her forehead — sometimes when talking to Sakura, one had to be direct and not beat around the bush.
“Sakura… so which boy do you want to go to that cafe with?”
“Who else could it be…”
To Aoi’s surprise, Sakura gave her answer almost without thinking —
“Of course it’s Tsugumu. There wouldn’t be anyone else, right?”
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