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"HMPH!"
Hearing Kai's teasing remark, regardless of the actual turmoil in her heart, Yumiko Miura maintained her surface-level facade and let out a dismissive snort.
"I'm only going to keep Yui company. It has absolutely nothing to do with a certain someone."
Hearing her say that, Kai feigned a look of total nonchalance and casually replied, "I see. Well, in that case, maybe I just won't go. You two can go shopping by yourselves, then?"
"What is that supposed to mean??"
Yumiko, who had actually been in a fairly good mood just a moment ago, instantly flared up at his words. Her emotions spiked violently. "Do you hate me that much?? You really don't want to go out with me that badly?? Fine! If you're not going, then don't go! It's not like I care anyway!"
Having screamed her piece, Yumiko violently turned on her heel and sprinted straight out of the classroom.
"Yumiko!"
Sitting nearby, Yui desperately tried to stop her, but she was entirely too late. As Yumiko ran out the door, Yui could clearly see that the edges of her best friend's eyes were already rimmed red.
"..."
Even Kai genuinely hadn't expected Yumiko to react so explosively.
"Don't panic, I'll go talk to her." Saying that, Kai quickly stood up and followed her out of the classroom.
"What the hell just happened?"
On the other side of the room, Kakeru Tobe was left standing in a state of bewilderment. He clearly had no idea what had just transpired. They had been friends for a long time, and he had never, ever seen Yumiko Miura get so fiercely emotional over something like this.
Even Hayato Hayama looked completely lost.
Only Hina Ebina quietly pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose, a sharp flash of understanding glinting in her eyes. She couldn't help but cast a glance at Yui, who was still looking toward the door with deep concern for Yumiko.
Ebina helplessly shook her head.
Both girls were her close friends, yet they had inexplicably set their sights on the exact same guy. As a bystander, Ebina couldn't possibly take a side, so she made the executive decision to simply pretend she hadn't seen a single thing.
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"I never would have expected the great 'Fire Queen' to actually hide away and cry her eyes out."
Inside the small, secluded grove behind the school building.
Watching Yumiko Miura stand with her back turned, aggressively wiping away her tears, Kai approached and teased her in a lighthearted tone.
"You!"
"How did you find me here??"
Hearing Kai's voice suddenly echo behind her, Yumiko panicked. She frantically scrubbed at the corners of her eyes to hide the tears and whipped around, spotting him strolling toward her.
"Who knows..."
Shrugging casually, Kai spoke with complete nonchalance. "I just had a feeling you'd be here, so I came looking."
In reality...
It was entirely thanks to his Cursed Spirits. Kai had immediately used Cursed Spirit Manipulation to scatter invisible trackers across the school grounds to locate her. Who would have guessed that Yumiko could run so fast? She had bolted all the way to the dense grove behind the campus.
Without literal cheat codes, who could have possibly tracked her down that fast?
"..."
However, his smooth, slightly ambiguous explanation inevitably stirred a strange, deeply fluttery emotion within Yumiko's chest.
What is this?
Is it fate?
If this is really fate, then where does that leave Yui? Thinking of Yui Yuigahama, Yumiko frantically shook her head to clear her thoughts and subconsciously blurted out, "Saying things like that... what are you going to do about Yui?"
"What does Yui have to do with this?"
Kai was genuinely confused. They were in the middle of a perfectly good moment—why was she suddenly bringing up Yui?
"..."
'I must be losing my mind.' Yumiko honestly wanted to slap herself across the face.
"Nothing. I mean, why aren't you keeping Yui company right now? Why did you come looking for me? Don't you hate me?"
Bringing this up caused Yumiko's mood to plummet all over again. The tear ducts she had just barely managed to bring under control instantly betrayed her, and fresh tears welled up in her eyes.
"Who said I hated you?"
This girl really has an incredibly wild imagination...
"You don't hate me?"
Her expression froze. She looked up at Kai in shock, tiny teardrops still clinging to her eyelashes.
Seeing Yumiko looking so unexpectedly vulnerable, Kai raised a hand and gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. He then shrugged and said casually, "I never hated you in the first place. If I actually hated you, I wouldn't even bother talking to you."
"Then why did you...?"
Kai's gentle touch brought an unnatural, brilliant flush to Yumiko's cheeks, but right now, she was vastly more desperate to understand exactly what was going through his head.
"I was obviously just joking around with you."
He laughed softly. "Who would have thought that the great, untouchable 'Fire Queen' would actually burst into tears over a simple joke?"
"..."
A joke?
'So I literally just overthought the entire thing?' Remembering how dramatically she had just stormed out of the classroom in tears, Yumiko suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of humiliation wash over her.
"Stop calling me that."
"What?"
"The 'Queen' thing. Stop calling me that."
If it were anyone else using that moniker, Yumiko wouldn't have cared in the slightest. But coming from Kai's mouth, the nickname suddenly felt embarrassing and inexplicably cringy.
"Hahaha! I actually thought you loved that nickname."
Much like Yukino Yukinoshita's title of the "Ice-Cold Beauty," Yumiko Miura's title as the "Fire Queen" was famous throughout Sobu High.
"SHUT UP!"
Yumiko couldn't help but avert her gaze in embarrassment. 'Why didn't I realize before just how chuunibyou the title 'Fire Queen' actually sounds?'
"Alright, alright!"
Seeing Yumiko's signature tsundere attitude finally return, Kai smiled and waved his hand.
"Since you're feeling better, are we still going shopping together or what? I don't have all day."
Kai hadn't forgotten his schedule.
He still had a highly anticipated date with Sonoko Machida tonight. Furthermore, Machida had explicitly promised she had prepared a "massive surprise" for him.
While Kai heavily suspected this supposed surprise was just some specialized lingerie or new toys, thinking about it carefully still made his blood run a little hot. He was genuinely looking forward to it.
There was a saying for a reason: thirty-year-old women simply operated on an entirely different level than twenty-year-old girls. They were vastly more open-minded when it came to embracing highly questionable dynamics and roleplay.
"I'm going! Why wouldn't I go? If I don't go, people might actually think I chickened out!"
Completely unaware of the deeply impure thoughts running through Kai's head, Yumiko agreed without a single second of hesitation.
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"Yumiko, are you sure you're okay?"
Walking down the incredibly crowded, bustling shopping street.
Keeping close to Yumiko's side, Yui couldn't help but ask with lingering concern.
"Don't overthink it, Yui. I was just acting earlier to mess with him. You didn't actually think I would burst into tears over something that stupid, did you??"
Hearing Yui's worried question...
Yumiko brushed it off, her face showing complete nonchalance.
Are you kidding? If word ever got out that she had actually cried her eyes out over a boy's teasing, how could she ever show her face around Sobu High again? She would literally die of embarrassment.
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