“Good morning, Tsuguo-kun~”
“Good morning.”
After breakfast, Akiba Sakura excitedly ran to Yuuma Tsugumu’s front door, intending to knock and go up to his room to wake him up. But to her surprise, today’s Yuuma Tsugumu had already finished breakfast and opened the front door.
‘Oh ho? Strange—why is this guy up so early today?’
Though a little puzzled, Akiba Sakura didn’t dwell on it too much. After all, it wasn’t impossible for Yuuma Tsugumu to wake up early once in a while.
So, grinning, she greeted Yuuma Tsugumu.
“Good morning, Tsuguo-kun~”
“Good morning.”
Yuuma Tsugumu nodded, then grabbed his bag and took the lead toward the stairs.
“Hey, wait for me, Tsuguo-kun!”
Seeing that Yuuma Tsugumu had greeted her on the surface but then acted as if he’d ignored her and gone ahead on his own, Akiba Sakura couldn’t help but puff out her cheeks.
“…”
What Akiba Sakura didn’t expect was that Yuuma Tsugumu actually stopped and waited for her.
“Huh…?”
‘Good grief… we’ve barely been together two minutes and he’s already surprised me twice…’
The two of them walked down the stairs together and slowly made their way along the street toward school.
All along the way, Akiba Sakura secretly glanced at Yuuma Tsugumu several times from the corner of her eye. Today, his whole demeanor seemed a little different from before, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was different.
‘I mean, judging by his appearance and the tone of his voice, he hasn’t been replaced or anything, but…’
“I haven’t been replaced, so stop staring at me like that.”
“?!”
Hearing Yuuma Tsugumu’s words, Akiba Sakura quickly looked up at him, a flicker of surprise flashing in her eyes.
“Tsuguo-kun, since when did you develop mind-reading powers?”
“…”
Yuuma Tsugumu rolled his eyes and let out a helpless sigh.
“Think about it. We’ve known each other for how long? I can still guess that much.”
“Eh—”
Akiba Sakura squinted, a sly smile curling at the corner of her lips.
“How surprising—I thought Tsuguo-kun had zero interest in me, but it turns out you’ve been secretly watching me all along~”
“…”
“No need to be shy. That’s not a bad thing. If anything, it’s the sin of being a beautiful girl like me~”
Yuuma Tsugumu’s eyes rolled further back at her self-praise. He paused his steps, turned his head slightly, and gave her a flat glance.
“You know very well whether I’m interested in you or not.”
Akiba Sakura was about to keep teasing him when she saw him suddenly revert to his usual calm tone, as if mentioning it offhandedly—
“Oh, by the way, I signed up for the sports meet events.”
“…Huh?”
Akiba Sakura froze on the spot, her eyes flying wide open, the smug look on her face instantly stiffening as if she hadn’t processed what she’d just heard.
She subconsciously stopped walking, looked up at Yuuma Tsugumu, and raised her voice slightly, disbelief coloring her tone:
“Wait, wait, wait—Tsuguo-kun, you… what did you say? You’re planning to register for the school sports meet?!”
The shock and confusion on her face were so perfectly acted that you’d never guess she was the very person who’d provoked him into signing up last night at the Soft Cat Cafe.
“Didn’t you say yesterday that you had no interest and didn’t want to participate, that you just wanted to quietly be a handsome guy?!”
Akiba Sakura blinked hard, her expression exaggerated just right.
“What made you suddenly change your mind?!”
“A quiet handsome guy… what the hell is that?”
Yuuma Tsugumu looked at her feigned shock and simply said flatly:
“I just felt like running.”
“Just… felt like running?”
Akiba Sakura covered her mouth, her eyes full of feigned disbelief, but inside, she was already laughing her head off.
‘Good grief, “felt like running” my ass. You’re just pissed off at that bratty girl from the cafe, aren’t you, you idiot Tsuguo! Still trying to play it cool!’
But on the surface, she kept up her surprised and delighted expression, even lightly tugging at Yuuma Tsugumu’s sleeve, her eyes sparkling—
“Really, really? That’s great! Little Aoi will be super happy too! I thought for sure you weren’t going to participate in the sports meet at all this time…”
As she spoke, she was mentally doubling down:
‘Idiot Tsuguo, you really think you can escape my grasp? Just you wait—I’m going to settle the score with you big time! I’m going to savor your despair! Hehehehehehe!’
Yuuma Tsugumu saw the barely concealed excitement in her eyes, and his mood lifted a little. The corner of his mouth curved slightly.
“I’m probably just running the 100 meters. No need to get so worked up.”
“But that’s still participating!”
Akiba Sakura immediately matched his pace, unable to suppress the upward twitch of her lips, her tone filled with ‘pure’ joy—
“No matter what, the fact that Tsuguo-kun is willing to join is the best thing ever!”
Pretending she knew nothing, she skipped along beside him, her mind already running through all the details of her future Netorare Plan.
Yuuma Tsugumu turned his head, glanced at Akiba Sakura with her brilliant smile, and a subtle shift stirred in his eyes. His lips moved slightly.
But as if something occurred to him, he ultimately said nothing. His steps, however, slowed down just a little more than before.
“What’s got you two so happy?”
‘Dog Head Military Advisor’ Momoka Aoi appeared silently behind them—
She sidled up to the pair with a grin, her gaze bouncing between Akiba Sakura and Yuuma Tsugumu, her eyes full of gossipy curiosity.
She’d spotted Akiba Sakura skipping along from a distance earlier, and even the normally cold Yuuma Tsugumu seemed to have softened. She couldn’t help but hurry over.
“Seeing you two so happy, there’s gotta be good news, right?”
Momoka Aoi gently nudged Akiba Sakura’s arm, her tone brimming with curiosity, and stole another glance at Yuuma Tsugumu, probing carefully—
“Could it be… that Yuuma-kun finally figured something out?”
Akiba Sakura lit up, her joy impossible to hide:
“Little Aoi! You’re amazing, you guessed it in one shot! Tsuguo-kun—he’s decided to register for the school sports meet!”
“What?!”
Momoka Aoi’s eyes went wide instantly, her mouth dropping open as if it could fit an egg. She whipped her head toward Yuuma Tsugumu.
“Yuuma-kun, you… you’re actually going to register?! Little Sakura and I tried to persuade you for so long yesterday, and you flat-out refused! What made you change your mind overnight?”
Yuuma Tsugumu felt a little uncomfortable under her direct questioning. He cleared his throat softly and replied vaguely in his usual flat tone:
“Nothing much. I just felt like running. Signed up for the 100 meters. Just messing around.”
“Even ‘messing around’ is super impressive!”
Momoka Aoi smiled, glancing at Akiba Sakura, then back at Yuuma Tsugumu.
“I thought I wouldn’t get to see you run at this sports meet! Back in middle school, I remember you were pretty good at running!”
As she spoke, she leaned close to Akiba Sakura and secretly mouthed a ‘Yay!’ shape.
‘As expected, Little Sakura’s got the magic touch. She actually managed to convince Yuuma-kun. Now my plan can move forward smoothly!’
Akiba Sakura gently tugged at Yuuma Tsugumu’s sleeve.
“Tsuguo-kun, when the time comes, Little Aoi and I will stand right at the front to cheer you on!”
Hearing this, the corner of Yuuma Tsugumu’s mouth inexplicably lifted into a faint smile, his tone carrying a hint of anticipation:
“You don’t have to stand at the front. Just as long as I can hear you.”
Akiba Sakura’s heart skipped a beat. Those words—wasn’t he alluding to the cafe bet, the promise that ‘she had to cheer loud enough for him to hear’? But the way he looked at her now clearly didn’t connect the Akiba Sakura in front of him with that arrogant bratty maid from the cafe.
She quickly covered it up, shaking her head with an even brighter smile:
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. We’ll shout loud enough. We’ll make sure you can hear us!”
‘He couldn’t have noticed something, could he? But the way he’s acting doesn’t seem like it. Maybe I’m just scaring myself…’
Momoka Aoi, completely oblivious to the subtle tension between them, was still excitedly saying:
“When we get to school, I’ll help Yuuma-kun confirm his registration info and ask if there are any training arrangements. If you want to practice in advance, Little Sakura and I can keep you company!”
“No need to trouble yourselves.”
Yuuma Tsugumu shook his head, his tone still flat—
“I’ll just practice on my own time. You don’t have to go out of your way.”
In his mind, he had other plans—right now, he just wanted to see what form that maid would take on the day of the sports meet. He didn’t feel like putting much effort into training.
“It’s no trouble at all!”
Akiba Sakura quickly chimed in, thinking to herself that there was no way she’d let a roasted duck fly away like that. “Besides, I’m participating in the 400 meters, so we can train together. I can bring you water and cheer you on. It’ll be great!”
‘Stupid pighead, trying to shake me off? No way in hell!’
“The 400 meters?”
Yuuma Tsugumu looked at Akiba Sakura’s earnest expression, then glanced at Momoka Aoi beside her. In the end, he didn’t refuse. He just gave a soft ‘mm,’ which counted as tacit agreement.
And Akiba Sakura, seeing that her ‘plan had succeeded,’ secretly watched Yuuma Tsugumu’s profile, the corner of her mouth lifting into an almost imperceptible smirk.
‘Idiot Tsuguo, just keep guessing! On the day of the sports meet, watch me juggle two identities and make a fool out of you~ I’ve already got my reservation on your despair!’