With the slight chill of autumn in the air, the three girls finished a simple lunch, chatting and laughing.
"Haa..." Feeling the cool autumn breeze brush past her face, Utaha, who had developed a habit of taking midday naps during the holidays thanks to Miyahito, couldn't help but yawn.
Hearing the yawn, Hori Kyoko, who was playing on her phone, looked up at Utaha rubbing her sleepy eyes. She smiled playfully. "Did you and Miyahito stay up too late last night?"
"...." Utaha gave Kyoko a deadpan glare for her baseless innuendo, put her hand down, and replied casually while replying to her editor's message on her phone. "Can't be helped. Boys do have more energy than us girls, after all."
Wait a minute... I faintly feel like an AE86 from Mount Akina just ran over my face at 120 km/h, but I have absolutely no proof.
"As expected of a girl in love, so composed~~"
"How rude. I'm still lacking, after all. I haven't experienced things like 'a boy from another school asking for my contact info'~"
"Need me to advertise for you?"
"No thanks, Kyoko. Not to brag, but... Miyahito might look skinny, but once he takes his shirt off, his muscles are rock hard."
".....Tch."
Just then, Yoshikawa Yuki, who had been smiling and watching her two best friends bicker, suddenly chimed in.
"By the way, Utaha."
Biting the straw of her boxed lemon tea, Yuki looked at Utaha, who was effortlessly crushing the single Kyoko with her shameless, extensive knowledge, with a curious gaze. "How are things progressing with your man? Have you two done any of those 'this and that' things yet?"
"Eh?" "Yuki?"
When Yuki's words fell, both Utaha and Kyoko were completely stunned.
"Hehe, so? Did you or didn't you? I'm a bit curious." Smiling like a cunning fox, Yuki stood up, walked to the empty seat on Utaha's other side, and squeezed herself between Utaha and Kyoko. "I heard that kind of thing hurts. Is it really true?"
"....That kind of thing." After a brief two-to-three-second brain crash, realizing what Yuki meant by "this and that," a pitifully cute blush flew across Utaha's cheeks. "How would I know!!!"
Seeing Utaha cover her face, her sense of shame exploding, Yuki's first reaction was to say, "Ah, no way, Miyahito-kun hasn't made a move?"
"Yuki! Stop talking!"
Seeing Utaha's flustered and angry reaction, Kyoko joined the battle with a mischievous grin. Hehe, you were so arrogant just now. Now it's my turn for revenge!
"Oh my, how strange, Utaha. You were talking so confidently just now. I really thought you had experience, but turns out you're still a maiden?"
"Guh— Kyoko, just you wait!"
"Then what about kissing? Utaha, you must have kissed Miyahito-kun, right?"
"Yuki—! (covers face and nods)"
"Thank goodness, thank goodness. Miyahito is still a normal high school boy."
"By the way, Utaha-chan, you two are basically living together now, right? Do you sleep in the same room?"
"Ah, they're actually living together?"
"Probably. Tooru heard it from Miyahito. Your intel is outdated, Yuki."
"Stop talking about it! Seriously!"
.....The Kasumigaoka has sunk.
(Miyahito! This is all your fault!)
....
Meanwhile.
"Brrr!" Sitting in the Student Council office, listening to the Student Council President discuss the end-of-month sports festival arrangements, Aragaki Miyahito suddenly shivered.
Sitting beside him, Tooru, who was attending as Class B's sports committee member rather than a Student Council rookie, looked over curiously.
Seeing Miyahito cross his arms and look around in a panic, Tooru subconsciously looked around too and asked in a low voice, "What are you looking at, Miyahito?"
"Nothing." Rubbing the exposed skin on his arms, Miyahito's tone somehow carried a lingering sense of dread. "I just have a bad feeling. Like someone is cursing me in their heart."
"A bad feeling?" Withdrawing his gaze, Tooru couldn't help but chuckle. "Come on, you're not a shrine priest. What bad premonitions."
"It's not like your girl is scolding you or something."
Tooru, as much as I hate to admit it, there's a high probability you're right.
Reading that exact thought on Miyahito's face, Tooru couldn't help but cover his mouth and laugh out loud.
"You're really something. This is my first time seeing a guy like you." Regaining control of his laughter after a while, Tooru placed his hand lightly on his best friend's shoulder, holding back a laugh and speaking in a strange tone. "Come on, Kasumigaoka-san is your girlfriend. Do you really have to be this scared of her?"
"You don't understand."
With a subtle expression, Miyahito pushed Tooru's hand off his shoulder. He glanced back resentfully at Tooru, whose smile had frozen, and sighed.
"It's not fear, it's just... sigh..."
"You'll understand when you fall in love, Tooru-kun."
Patting the bewildered Tooru's back with deep emotion, Miyahito turned his face back to the group still discussing the sports festival.
Then, a voice carrying a mix of showing off, slight gloom, and explosive happiness slowly drifted into the ears of the still-uncomprehending Tooru.
"After all, a single guy like you right now wouldn't understand this principle."
"When you're in love, a guy can never win against his girlfriend."
"...."
After the brief meeting ended, Miyahito and Tooru left the Student Council with the others.
On the way back to the classroom.
With his hands raised and interlaced behind his head, Tooru glanced sideways at Miyahito, who seemed deep in thought, and asked curiously, "What are you thinking about?"
"Hmm." Nodding absentmindedly, Miyahito let out a breath and continued, "I'm wondering if we can make some changes for this sports festival."
"Hah?" Tooru paused, then remembering his best friend's feat of becoming an unofficial Student Council member in just two or three days, he shook his head helplessly. "I mean, you're not even an official Student Council member yet, are you?"
"Are you really thinking about this stuff already?"
"Oh, about that." Miyahito took out his phone, tapped it a few times, and turned the screen to Tooru, saying casually, "I already am."
...Wait, did this guy just say something incredible?
"How the hell did you manage that?"
"Oh, that. I brought in a batch of sponsorships from the shopping street, plus a few companies that have cooperation agreements with the school."
".... How should I put it? You're amazing in every sense of the word."
"Oh, thanks for the compliment."