The lunch break on the day after the Karaoke incident.
On a bench in a corner of the first-floor courtyard of the Teaching Building, Imaizumi Keita and Yanami Anna sat side by side, separated by the distance of a bento box.
The afternoon sunlight was cut into mottled spots by the dense foliage, sprinkling over the two of them.
The atmosphere was no longer as tense and distant as the first time they had lunch here together.
"After going back yesterday," Imaizumi Keita took a bite of an octopus sausage and asked casually, "did Hakamada Sousuke ask you anything else?"
Hearing this question, Yanami Anna, who was taking small bites of her rice ball, looked up with a somewhat smug smile on her face.
"Of course he asked!"
She swallowed the rice in her mouth and leaned forward slightly, as if showing off her achievements.
"Not only did he message me, but he also asked me several times when I came to school this morning, things like 'What's really going on with you guys' and 'When did it start' and so on."
"Oh? And how did you answer?"
Imaizumi Keita looked at her with great interest.
"Don't worry!"
Yanami Anna patted her chest with a reliable "leave it to me" look.
"I brushed him off with 'Oh, that kind of thing is a girl's secret'! I won't get flustered just because he asks a few questions anymore like I used to!"
After speaking, Yanami Anna remembered the heart-stopping embraces and whispers Imaizumi Keita had given her in the KTV booth yesterday.
The lingering throb in her heart made her eyes wander involuntarily.
To hide this unnaturalness, Yanami Anna cleared her throat and forced her expression and tone back to calm, continuing the topic as if it were strictly business.
"Anyway, although I probably won't be so scared or conflicted anymore, I... I think it's still necessary for our 'pretend couple' agreement to continue."
She deliberately made it sound like a decision made after careful consideration, rather than out of her own selfishness.
"Of course,"
Imaizumi Keita nodded; he hadn't yet extracted enough energy from Yanami Anna, so how could he end this relationship just like that?
"However, Imaizumi, you can rest assured."
Yanami Anna thought for a moment and added what she considered a very thoughtful supplementary explanation.
"I've already told Karen and Sousuke to keep our relationship a secret for now. After all, we've only 'just started,' and I don't want it to be known by everyone; I want to keep it low-key for now."
After saying this, she carefully observed Imaizumi Keita's reaction, then said in a seemingly indifferent tone:
"That way, even if you... you really meet someone you like later, it won't affect you because of your relationship with me, your 'fake girlfriend.'"
After the words left her mouth, Yanami Anna couldn't help but feel nervous inside.
Imaizumi Keita looked at her pretending to be calm when she was actually so nervous she could barely hold her chopsticks, and couldn't help but let out a light laugh.
"Yanami."
"W-What?"
"Do you think, given that I'm staying with you like this every day,"
Imaizumi Keita turned his head and fixed his gaze on her face, his eyes full of undisguised playfulness, "if I really had someone else I liked, would I be able to explain it away?"
Imaizumi Keita's counter-question was very blunt.
Yanami Anna was left speechless by his rebuttal, and her cheeks couldn't help but feel hot.
She wanted to argue back, but found she couldn't find any plausible reason at all.
It was true; eating lunch together every day, having "dates" together after school, and even having so much intimate contact...
No matter how you looked at it, this relationship was no different from a couple in a passionate romance.
If he really had someone he liked, wouldn't her behavior make her a complete "third party"?
Thinking of this, she opened her mouth and then silently lowered her head, starting to deal with her bento again.
At an angle Imaizumi couldn't see, the corners of Yanami Anna's mouth curled up uncontrollably.
Deep in her heart, she also quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
...
Lunch break ended, and the afternoon classes proceeded uneventfully.
For Yanami Anna, who had completely let go of the obsession in her heart, the occasional intimate interactions of the couple in the front row no longer caused her any trouble.
As for Imaizumi Keita, the regular "energy replenishment" kept him in a state of full spirit and pleasant mood throughout the afternoon.
When the bell for the end of the last class rang, Imaizumi Keita stuffed his textbooks into his bag, preparing to leave the classroom directly as usual.
Tap, tap.
Two soft knocks came from the window glass beside him.
He turned his head in confusion and saw a figure standing in the corridor outside the classroom, looking at him through the glass window.
It was a petite girl.
She had smooth, reddish-brown short hair, and her bangs were a bit too long, almost covering most of her eyes, giving her an aura of quiet and slight gloominess.
She was wearing the same school uniform as him, but she seemed nervous, unconsciously twisting the hem of her oversized uniform with her fingers.
"U-um... y-you're Classmate Imaizumi, right...?"
"Who are you?"
Seeing Imaizumi Keita answer, Koma Chihana seemed even more nervous. She instinctively shrank back, but still plucked up the courage to introduce herself:
"U-um... I'm Koma... from the Literature Club! Koma Chihana!"
"Oh, Classmate Koma, is there something you need?"
Imaizumi Keita stood up in confusion, opened the classroom door next to his seat, and walked out into the corridor.
Standing opposite Koma Chihana, Imaizumi Keita realized that compared to Koma Chihana's height of 1.5 meters, his own height of 1.83 meters was a bit too tall.
After thinking about it, he felt awkward about going back to his seat, so he had to bend down slightly to try to make communicating with Koma Chihana more natural.
Seeing him approach, Koma Chihana became even more nervous, shrank back, and then said, "U-um... it's... it's... Lit... Literature..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she started coughing violently from excessive nervousness, her face turning bright red.
"Eh?! Literature Club activities? What does that have to do with me..."
Imaizumi Keita raised an eyebrow, suddenly understanding why Koma Chihana was looking for him.
Come to think of it, when school first started, he had visited various clubs on a whim, and he seemed to have filled out an application form for the Literature Club because it was convenient for borrowing books.
Later, because he rarely went, he had forgotten all about it...
"Classmate Koma, what's this about club activities?"
Seeing Koma Chihana's pitiful state as she continued to cough, Imaizumi Keita instinctively wanted to help.
Unexpectedly, Koma Chihana quickly took out her phone, tapped the screen furiously, and then held it up in front of Imaizumi Keita.
"Because the Student Council sent a warning saying that the Literature Club has members who only registered their names but didn't participate in activities."
Koma Chihana cautiously observed Imaizumi Keita's reaction. After noticing no expression of resistance or disgust, she typed out another sentence and showed it to him.
"So the president said they hope all registered members will come to the Literature Club's Clubroom after school today to discuss club activities."
So that was it.
Was it to deal with the Student Council's inspection?
Imaizumi Keita didn't really care; it wouldn't take much time anyway.
"I understand."
Imaizumi Keita nodded and readily agreed, "Where is the Clubroom? I can't quite remember..."
"It's, it's in the room at the very end of the first floor of the West School Building..."
"Okay, I'll go after school."
After receiving a positive response, Koma Chihana seemed as if she had completed some arduous task, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
She bowed hastily to Imaizumi Keita, whispered "Th-thank you for your time," and immediately turned around, taking small steps and walking away quickly as if escaping.
Imaizumi Keita watched her slightly panicked back disappear around the corner of the stairs, a hint of curiosity on his face.
Is there really such a cute, gloomy, and shy girl like Koma Chihana in the Literature Club?