This guy Tooru... is his brain twisted somewhere?
Staring intently at the completely baffled Tooru, Miyahito muttered in his heart.
'He's a perfectly fine rich kid with a good family background. Could it be he's just so bored he likes to seek out thrills?'
Subconsciously forgetting that he was also considered a "rich kid," Miyahito unintentionally included himself in the AOE (Area of Effect).
"Tooru, stop thinking about all that messy stuff all day." Miyahito said earnestly to his good friend. "A student should act like a student. Teachers are to be respected, not to be the subject of your wild fantasies."
".....Hah?"
Suddenly, Tooru was completely dumbfounded.
What wild fantasies... Teacher? Me?
At this moment, neither Tooru nor Miyahito knew that the other had slightly misunderstood them.
For Miyahito, it was understandable; he simply misunderstood that Tooru had a crush on the teacher because of his friend's overly baffling and highly misleading reaction.
As for Tooru.
He simply remembered the situation of the day he said those words because of Miyahito's phrase, 'After high school graduation, I want to confess to Tachibana-sensei.'
That day, near the end of afternoon PE class, he was sitting alone under a tree, his gaze fixed on a certain girl in the girls' line not far away... when he suddenly couldn't help but mutter to himself softly.
'When we graduate, I'll go confess to Hori.'
Afterwards, this mutter was accidentally overheard a bit by Miyahito, who had suddenly appeared behind him, and he accidentally misheard the name as "Tachibana"....
Moreover, what was even worse was that after hearing it that day, Miyahito didn't say anything at first. Instead, he sneaked off to the side and quietly continued to eavesdrop.
If the teacher hadn't blown the assembly whistle the next second, causing him to stand up, turn around, and spot that guy Miyahito, Tooru himself wouldn't have discovered it.
However, before discovering his best friend was eavesdropping, Tooru remembered that he seemed to have muttered some things he shouldn't have.... Even now, he didn't dare to question Miyahito about how much he actually heard.... He could only default to assuming he basically heard nothing.
Therefore, the reason his reaction was so huge just now when Miyahito brought up that sentence again was because of this.
He had just misunderstood that Aragaki Miyahito was here to confront him.
But looking at it now, it seemed he really had overreacted.
It didn't make sense. The pronunciation of the two names was completely different. How could he make a mistake as ridiculous as that guy Miyahito's?
"Miyahito, you've got it all wrong."
Letting out a sigh of relief, Tooru regained his composure. He held out his right hand, palm up, shrugged, and spoke with a slightly serious tone.
"I have no intention of having a teacher-student romance. I was just joking back then, too."
"Really?" Hearing this, Miyahito's expression grew even more suspicious. "Let me think... eh, when was that again?"
Noticing that Miyahito was actually starting to recall the events of that day, Tooru, terrified that he might remember, hurriedly spoke up to stop him.
"Stop thinking about it! I was just joking!"
Seeing his best friend still looking half-skeptical, Tooru gritted his teeth.
"I'm serious, it was a joke! Besides, I already have a girl I like!"
"!"
Instantly, Miyahito's attention was completely hijacked by his best friend's self-destructive confession.
Eyes flashing with the light of gossip, Miyahito tossed his helmet onto his bike, threw an arm around Tooru's neck, and dragged him toward the tea room just a few steps away.
"Tooru, you're not being a good bro! You have a girl you like and you didn't even tell me."
"W-wait... Miyahito, hold on! Where are you taking me?"
"Where? To find a place where you can confess everything honestly, of course!"
"Eh, eh?!"
....
"Now! It's time to count up your sins!" With a highly amused smile, Miyahito rested his elbows on the table, interlaced his fingers under his chin, and looked teasingly at his best friend, who was squirming uneasily in the seat opposite him.
"Am I Another W? You're not Kamen Rider."
Snapping back irritably, Tooru ran a hand through his hair with a slightly frantic expression.
"Since when did you become as gossipy as Yuki?"
"Can't be helped." Facing Tooru's retort, Miyahito put on an annoyingly bossy air and said casually, "Alright, stop struggling. Just confess."
"...."
Tooru silently turned his face away. After a moment of silence.
"She's from another school."
"....Hah?"
Originally, regarding the question of 'which girl Tooru likes', Miyahito had already narrowed down a few suspects.
Yeah, he figured it was probably Yuki, Kyoko, or one of the girls in their class who often hung out with Tooru and the others.
But he never expected Tooru to suddenly throw him the curveball of "a girl from another school."
"That answer is quite unexpected," a slightly shocked Miyahito remarked.
"I originally thought the girl you liked would be Kyoko, or maybe Yuki. I didn't expect it to be someone from another school."
However, just as Miyahito unconsciously spoke the names of the girls he suspected, the tea room waiter happened to bring over the drinks and snacks they had ordered.
And because of this seemingly unrelated little interruption, Miyahito conveniently failed to notice Tooru's unnatural, stiffened reaction upon hearing the names Kyoko and Yuki.
"How could it be them." Feigning calmness, Tooru waved his hand carelessly. "Kyoko and Yuki are too close to me. There's no way I could like them."
"You never know." Miyahito replied instinctively. A second later, realizing what he just said, he looked up at Tooru and said, "Oh, right, sorry, sorry. I forgot what you just said. It's true that you couldn't possibly like either of them now."
Saying this, Miyahito took a sip of his milk tea and sighed with emotion. "Seeing how close you and Yuki are usually, you two do basically everything together, except going to the bathroom."
"I even made a bet with Utaha on when you two would finally give us the good news."
"Hah?" Tooru's eyes widened slightly. "Me and Yuki? You're joking, right. We're just good friends, not that kind of relationship."
"Is that so?" Miyahito gave a playful smile. He was about to say something, but suddenly changed his tune. "Forget it, you're right. Let's just say Utaha and I were guessing blindly."
Saying this, Miyahito thought to himself with a hint of regret, 'With the way you two interact, no matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like you two don't have secrets.'
Well, thinking about it now, reality is probably just as Tooru said. Otherwise, given Tooru's personality, how could he possibly do something scummy like eyeing other girls while already having a girlfriend?
"So." Pushing his little thoughts aside, Miyahito steered the topic back on track. "Which school is she from? Do you want me to go scout the situation for you?"
"...."