So next came the time to actually enjoy life.
Asai Yu walked into the living room, picked up the dessert on the table, and then headed back to his bedroom.
Seeing this, Togawa Sakiko quickly followed after him.
She was seriously acting like a full-on tagalong now.
Asai Yu swiftly shut the bedroom door, trying to keep her outside, but she easily braced it open with her right arm.
"Do you seriously have nothing else to do this afternoon?" Asai Yu asked, feeling a bit speechless.
"Of course I do. I came to talk to you about Ave Mujica," Togawa Sakiko said stubbornly—though it was true that she genuinely wanted to form Ave Mujica together with Yu.
"I already said it. I'll join as the guitarist. As for everything else, come back and talk to me after you've gathered everyone," Asai Yu rejected her flatly, without mercy.
Hearing that, Togawa Sakiko took a deep breath.
"I'm not talking to Mutsumi right now—I'm talking to you, Yu!"
When she suddenly snapped like that, Asai Yu wasn't particularly surprised.
After all, when he had been disguising himself, Togawa Sakiko had identified him at a glance. So now that he wasn't hiding anything, it was only natural she would call him out directly.
"Oh? And then what? You're not going to your piano accompanist job this afternoon?"
"Have you finished your compositions yet?"
"Saved up enough money already, that you're thinking about forming a band?"
"Or are you planning to rely on the Togawa family's connections again?"
Asai Yu laid it all out, word by word, without holding back.
Togawa Sakiko froze for a moment, then her face flushed instantly as she pointed at the green-haired girl in front of her.
"Of course not! Y-you—don't talk nonsense!"
"I'm definitely relying on myself! I already took leave from RiNG, and as for the money… I'm still saving it bit by bit!"
"You know that already!"
"Then go back and write a few more songs. Coming to me right now doesn't really have any meaning," Asai Yu said calmly.
"How does it have no meaning? You haven't come to see me even once in over a week!"
"I wanted to talk things over with you, but I couldn't even find you!"
"Now that I finally have the chance, you still don't want to talk to me!"
Togawa Sakiko said angrily.
"If I hadn't come to look for you after class today, would you have just kept hiding things from me again?!"
Asai Yu nodded.
"Yes. You guessed right."
"You—!"
Togawa Sakiko was so angry she couldn't even find the words.
"Alright. I'm not that unreasonable," Asai Yu said at last.
"So what exactly did you want to talk to me about?"
Most of Togawa Sakiko's anger immediately dissipated.
"It's not really anything big," she said. "I just wanted to talk about how things have been going lately. The channel on YouTube suddenly gained a lot more traction recently…"
Before she could finish, Asai Yu interrupted her.
"Let's talk about that next time I go over to your place."
Togawa Sakiko was extremely displeased at having her moment of sharing joy cut short.
"Next time?" she questioned. "When is next time?"
"You haven't been coming for more than a week already!"
"Soon," Asai Yu replied. "I'll definitely go once on the day of your school advancement."
Hearing that, Togawa Sakiko's eyes widened.
School advancement?
That was still more than three weeks away.
Adding the previous week… that made almost a full month!
"You're only coming once a month now?"
"Before, you came every day! Why has it suddenly become this long?"
She immediately demanded an explanation.
"So what's the problem with that?" Asai Yu replied.
"Whether I come or not doesn't really affect your current life anymore, does it?"
Seeing his utterly indifferent expression, anger surged up in Togawa Sakiko's chest.
And yet, what he said made perfect sense—so much so that she couldn't squeeze out a single rebuttal.
Why was it always like this?
Finally reaching the limits of her patience, Togawa Sakiko suddenly shoved the bedroom door open.
Then she reached out with both hands, pressed them against Asai Yu's shoulders, and pushed forward.
To be honest, this level of roughhousing was something Asai Yu could have countered effortlessly.
The problem was that he was currently controlling Wakaba Mutsumi's body, whose strength was far inferior to Togawa Sakiko's.
So before he could adjust, he was pushed backward several steps, tripped over the edge of the bed, and fell onto it.
Togawa Sakiko's hands slid from his shoulders down to his arms, pinning them firmly.
At the same time, she quickly climbed onto the bed and pressed down on his legs with her own.
She had him completely pinned.
Her strength was no joke.
Asai Yu couldn't help but remark internally.
In this position, it was honestly unsolvable.
With Wakaba Mutsumi's body being much weaker than hers, whether trying to free his arms or lift his legs, he simply couldn't break free.
Seeing this scene, Mortis opened her mouth wide in shock.
Then she covered her face with her hands—but still spread her fingers apart, peeking through the gaps.
In contrast, Wakaba Mutsumi's eyes filled with a sense of loss.
What hurt was that Sakiko's closeness wasn't meant for her at all.
And there was also the fact that Sakiko was doing this to Yu right now—it left an uncomfortable feeling lingering in her chest.
Then a sudden thought struck her, and worry flooded in.
What if Sakiko took Yu away from her… and the two of them slowly drifted farther and farther from her after that?
"Togawa Sakiko, you're really pushing your luck," Asai Yu said calmly.
"You couldn't win the argument, so you just decided to use force, huh?"
At this moment, Togawa Sakiko's mind was filled with the dopamine-fueled joy of the situation.
She caught him!
Did this count as catching Yu?!
Her heart was pounding wildly.
Even though it wasn't Yu himself, but Wakaba Mutsumi's body, she still couldn't suppress her excitement.
An impulse slowly grew inside her—to not let Yu escape, to hold him tightly like this, to keep him under her control.
But very quickly, she forced herself to calm down.
After all, the one she was pinning down right now wasn't Yu—it was Wakaba Mutsumi.
Yu could leave at any time.
In the end, what she had caught was nothing more than a fantasy in her own heart.
Thinking this, Togawa Sakiko couldn't help feeling a bit dejected, and unconsciously loosened her grip.
Sensing her strength weakening, Asai Yu seized the opportunity, forcefully pulled his arms free, and pushed her away.
Then he jumped off the bed and retreated several steps, putting distance between himself and Togawa Sakiko.
"Sorry. I acted on impulse," Togawa Sakiko said, coming back to her senses.
Seeing that he had already slipped away from beneath her, she suddenly felt a bit regretful.
If only she could've hugged him…
No—why was she thinking something like that?
Then again… what would be wrong with a hug?
She just wanted to do it. She just didn't get the chance.
"It'd be best if there isn't a next time," Asai Yu warned her.
"Alright. Back to what we were talking about earlier," he continued.
"If I don't come see you, how exactly does that affect you?"
Today, he needed to get a clear answer to this question.
"Well… of course it affects me!"
Togawa Sakiko answered without hesitation.
Then her voice grew quieter, tinged with hesitation.
A few seconds later, as if she'd finally made up her mind, she lifted her head, her gaze resolute as she looked straight at Yu.
"I just want to see you. I want to talk with you. Is there anything wrong with that?!"