Ryunosuke didn't think too hard about it and asked directly.
"What made you fall for me? We've only really interacted twice, haven't we? Once during the cruise ship exam, and once when we talked about working together at the karaoke place."
"Three times." Himeno cut in immediately.
Ryunosuke paused, then remembered. The third time had been on the balcony. He said with mild surprise, "You remember the details very clearly."
"Of course I do. Every time we met is recorded in my head and I can't get rid of it. Besides, it only took those few meetings to make me fall this hard. How could the impression not be deep?"
Ryunosuke felt a little at a loss. "That's exactly what I'm asking. What part of me do you even like? I don't feel like I've done anything that would make someone fall for me this much."
"How would I know something like that! When you love someone you just love them!"
Himeno shouted, grabbed him by the collar, went on the offensive, and demanded, "What do you actually feel toward me? Give me a real answer. If you can't, just say so. Then at least I can give up."
She was clearly being pushed past her limit by her own feelings. There was nowhere else to go. If she didn't get clarity now, she was going to lose her mind entirely.
Ryunosuke exhaled slowly.
"Think this through carefully. I'm not a trustworthy or particularly good man. But I can promise you this: my feelings for you are genuine."
Getting the answer she needed, Himeno decided she was done deliberating. She stepped forward and pinned him against the wall, then looked at him with complete seriousness. "Now go find Ichinose-san. She likes you too."
Ryunosuke felt uncertain. "Do I really have to go now?"
"What are you talking about?! Who do you think is responsible for all of this? Our class leader has been walking around in a daze every single day because of you. If you won't take responsibility, who will?" Himeno pressed, her expression not moving an inch.
Ryunosuke gave in. "All right. I understand."
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Meanwhile, Honami was in her dormitory room, rolling back and forth on her bed, unable to sleep. Eventually she gave up and decided to go for a short walk. She put on a cream-colored outfit, stood in front of the mirror, and looked at the tired version of herself looking back. She could only manage a hollow smile.
"Why have I become like this? We've never dated. We've never even held hands. It's completely one-sided and yet it's eating me alive. I've genuinely gone crazy."
Somewhere in the deepest part of her, a voice whispered: "Go after Akasaka-kun. Do whatever it takes."
Honami crouched and pressed her hands over her ears. "Stop it. That's not right. He already has a girlfriend."
She was standing right at the edge of something she couldn't come back from.
To clear her head, she went outside. She wrapped a scarf around her neck in the frozen air and sat down on a snow-covered garden bench, tilting her head back to look at the night sky.
It was late. The moon was high. She sniffled quietly. The cold had already started to reach her.
As though he had been watching for exactly this moment, Ryunosuke appeared beside her and draped his large coat over her, pulling it all the way up over her head. Honami seemed to know who it was without looking. His presence had a specific quality she couldn't forget no matter how hard she tried.
She gripped the coat tightly without saying anything. She was terrified this was a dream. If it was, she didn't want to wake. She wanted him to stay beside her a little longer.
Honami was well past the point of saving.
Ryunosuke sat down beside her without asking permission, and then asked, "Is it all right if I sit here?"
Honami tried to pull herself back together. She pressed her lips into a small pout, her voice carrying a faint note of complaint. "Who sits down first and then asks?"
"I do." Ryunosuke said lightly, and extended his hand toward her expectantly. "Given the relationship between us, shouldn't you have a courtesy chocolate for me?"
Honami blinked. She immediately started patting her pockets in a small panic. "W-wait, I don't think I have one on me."
"Akasaka-kun, hold on just a moment! I'll go and buy one right now!"
She looked genuinely ready to run off into the cold night. Ryunosuke exhaled, reached out, and stopped her. Then, like a small piece of theater, he produced a single rose and held it in front of her.
"I like you. Will you try going out with me?"
Receiving a confession that direct, Honami couldn't immediately process it. More precisely, she couldn't fully believe it was happening. She suspected this was still a dream. The problem that had been torturing her had simply resolved itself, just like that. Should she accept it?
Her mind was still catching up when her body moved first. She took the rose, which was as much of an answer as any words would have been. By the time she was fully present again, Ryunosuke was gone. The only evidence that he had been there at all was the large coat still wrapped around her shoulders.
Honami smiled softly. It seemed she didn't have anything left to agonize over. She pressed a hand to her chest. It felt very warm.
Himeno, who had been watching from behind a wall, was now deploying what might be called the Twin Tail Whirlwind, repeatedly lashing Ryunosuke with her pigtails in rapid succession. She was very clearly furious.
"Why are you so infuriatingly good at this?!"
She couldn't understand how he managed it. A few small gestures and he had Honami completely. She felt deeply, inexplicably irritated.
Women are sometimes not entirely logical in these situations. She was the one who had told him to go, and now she was blaming him for going.
Ryunosuke felt genuinely wronged. "Didn't you tell me to go just now? Why am I the one being punished?"
"How dare you answer back! Taste my twin tail gale force!" Himeno intensified her assault.
Ryunosuke could only accept it. He was fairly certain no one in history had suffered quite as specifically as he was suffering right now.
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