Imaizumi Keita looked at her puffed-up appearance and, instead of finding it troublesome, couldn't help but chuckle.
He didn't answer directly but leaned against the table and watched her with leisure, asking back unhurriedly:
"Whether I'm good at this or not, aren't you the one who knows best, Yanami?"
"Eh?"
This question made Yanami Anna freeze for a moment, and she instinctively wanted to retort.
"How would I know? How long have we even known each other..."
She stopped mid-sentence, suddenly stunned in place.
Scenes of her time with Imaizumi Keita flashed uncontrollably through her mind...
In the KTV booth, he had taken her into his arms under the guise of 'practice', letting her feel that temperature that made her heart skip a beat;
On the bench in the courtyard, he used that set of crooked reasoning to convince her, and then naturally interlaced his fingers with hers...
Every time, Imaizumi Keita used all sorts of high-sounding reasons to make her willingly cooperate with those overly intimate 'practices'.
This... isn't this just another form of 'giving someone else's gift as your own'?!
This conclusion made Yanami Anna's cheeks instantly flare up, turning red from her ears all the way to her neck.
She had thought she was the interrogator holding the initiative, but she didn't expect to be led into a trap by Imaizumi's few words again, becoming the object of teasing.
"That's, that's not the same!"
She stiffened her neck and looked away, defending herself.
"That, that was us..."
Yanami Anna just wanted to shout out her reason when she suddenly remembered that Koma Chihana was still nearby watching the two of them.
She mumbled for a long time and finally just emphasized to Imaizumi Keita that "it's not the same"...
Looking at her mumbling and stubborn appearance, Imaizumi Keita grinned in amusement.
Imaizumi Keita picked up the school bag beside him and slung it over his shoulder.
"Eh?... Are you leaving already?"
"Otherwise?"
Imaizumi Keita nodded as a matter of course, "The Student Council inspector has already been here. Normally, they shouldn't come a second time in a short period. There's no much point in us continuing to stay here."
He glanced at Koma Chihana in the corner, who was still trying to lower her presence, and added:
"Besides, looking at Classmate Koma, introducing the situation must be really hard for her. Let's call it a day today."
As soon as he finished speaking, Koma Chihana's face emerged from behind the paperback book, her face full of struggle and guilt.
She opened her mouth, stuttering as if she wanted to say something to make the club members stay.
"Th-that... I..."
However, after only uttering two words, she felt she had exhausted all her courage.
Koma Chihana finally hung her head in dejection, slumped over the table, and shouted at Imaizumi Keita with a full sense of defeat:
"...I'm sorry!"
"It's fine."
Imaizumi Keita wasn't surprised by this, nor did he take it to heart.
He turned his back to Koma Chihana and waved, then signaled to Yanami beside him with his eyes.
"Let's go."
"Ah... oh!"
Yanami Anna responded hurriedly. Without even having time to say goodbye to Koma Chihana, she quickly slung on her backpack and jogged to keep up with Imaizumi Keita's pace.
...
The sunset dyed the sky a warm orange-red.
Imaizumi Keita and Yanami Anna walked side by side, neither being the first to speak.
Just as they were about to reach the station square where the crowds began to thicken, Imaizumi Keita stopped and turned to look at Yanami beside him.
"Which direction is your house?"
This question made Yanami Anna's body instinctively tense up. She looked at Imaizumi Keita warily, her eyes filled with defensiveness.
"Why are you asking that?"
"Just asking."
Imaizumi Keita's tone remained flat. "To see if we're going the same way. After all, according to our agreement, I'm still your 'boyfriend', aren't I?"
After he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something he'd forgotten. He took a small object out of his pocket and held it out to Yanami Anna.
It was a fruit candy, exactly one of the four she had "contributed" earlier.
"Eh?"
Yanami Anna looked at the candy in his hand in surprise. "You... didn't you give them all to Senior Shikiya?"
"I kept one."
Imaizumi Keita stuffed the candy into her hand and spoke in a natural tone.
"Didn't you say you were planning to eat this on the way home?"
Yanami Anna looked down at the candy in her palm, momentarily at a loss for words.
A faint but clear warmth slowly rose from deep within her heart.
This feeling was very unfamiliar.
In that long past relationship with her "childhood sweetheart," Hakamada Sousuke would also frequently accept her kindness, whether it was an extra bento or a drink she bought for him on a whim.
But he never remembered a casual remark of hers like Imaizumi did, and then responded with action.
He just took it for granted and said, "Thanks, Anna."
But Imaizumi Keita...
This feeling of being kept in someone's heart made Yanami Anna's heart skip a beat uncontrollably.
Yanami Anna quickly suppressed the flutter in her heart and looked up again, her face wearing that feigned indifferent tsundere expression.
"Hmph... eat it yourself."
She pushed the candy back and looked away, avoiding Imaizumi Keita's eyes.
"I didn't exercise much today and I'm in a pretty good mood, so I don't need a sugar boost for now."
"Is that so?"
Imaizumi Keita withdrew his hand, cleanly tore open the wrapper, and tossed the fruit candy into his mouth.
"Mmm... it's quite sweet."
He commented indistinctly with the candy in his mouth.
Yanami Anna was stunned once again by his series of straightforward actions.
She had originally thought that according to a normal script, Imaizumi Keita would at least politely decline again.
She didn't expect him to just eat it directly.
This man's style of doing things really doesn't follow the rules at all...
While she was secretly complaining, the man who had finished the candy naturally extended his right hand toward her.
His broad palm was dry and warm, held open right in front of her.
"...Want to hold hands?"
"Eh?"
Yanami Anna's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
She gasped in surprise almost instinctively, her voice carrying an anticipation she hadn't even noticed herself.
"Wha... what's this for?"
Noticing the anticipation in her tone, Yanami Anna tried to use a questioning tone to hide her guilty conscience.
"Practice, obviously."
Imaizumi Keita's answer was as blunt as ever; at any rate, he believed it himself.
"A scene like this, walking home together after school, is a very typical date scenario."
"We can't have you instinctively dodging even when it comes to holding hands at a critical moment. That would be too unseemly."
More of his twisted logic.
But for some reason, Yanami Anna found that she couldn't find a convincing enough reason to refute it.
She even felt a tiny bit of... agreement deep down.
So,
She could only go along with it...
Yanami Anna looked at his open palm, and after hesitating for a moment, she let out a faint sigh in her heart.
She muttered, "...I really can't do anything with you," then honestly reached out her hand and gently placed it in his palm.
Imaizumi Keita closed his fingers, completely enveloping her slightly cool little hand.
A familiar temperature, a familiar touch.
Thump, thump...
Yanami only felt the sound of her heart's uncontrollable, violent pounding become exceptionally clear.
The two of them walked in silence along the street with few pedestrians, hands held together, neither saying another word.
The afterglow of the sunset stretched their shadows very long, overlapping them tightly.
It wasn't until they reached a crossroad that the two of them stopped.
Imaizumi Keita let go of her hand.
"I'm going this way."
"...Oh, I'm going that way."
Yanami Anna pointed in the opposite direction, instinctively hiding the hand that still held his lingering warmth behind her back.
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
After a simple farewell, the two turned and walked in their respective directions.
Yanami Anna's head was a mess as she walked forward step by step, looking down at the bow on her chest.