"No way! We're just ordinary friends, hahahaha..."
Shioyaki Lemon's teammates were clearly not satisfied with such an answer and pressed further: "Hey, hey, Lemon, it's not okay to secretly get a boyfriend behind our backs! Come clean now!"
"I told you, it's not like that!"
A lingering blush remained on Shioyaki Lemon's cheeks as she somewhat irritably pushed away the teammates crowding around her. Though her mouth denied it, her gaze uncontrollably drifted toward Imaizumi Keita.
Kin-chan... he won't misunderstand anything, will he?
She thought of the Shiba Inu plushie they caught together, and then of the photo from the photo booth; a throbbing sensation she hadn't felt before slowly surfaced in her heart.
...
After training ended, Shioyaki Lemon stuffed her changed sportswear into her backpack, said goodbye to her teammates, and saw Imaizumi Keita just as she walked out of the school gate.
"Kin-chan!"
Shioyaki Lemon's voice was full of surprise. "Why are you still here? I thought you'd already gone home."
"Waiting for you."
Imaizumi Keita's answer was crisp and direct. He looked at Shioyaki Lemon's surprised "Eh?" expression and leisurely added another sentence.
"Didn't we agree that I'd see you back safely? I don't want to be seen by you as the kind of man who just says perfunctory things."
"I... I don't!"
A suspicious blush uncontrollably rose to Shioyaki Lemon's cheeks.
Though she was still stubbornly arguing, her eyes were written with the joy of'So you've been waiting for me all along.'
"I just... I just saw you hadn't left, so I came over to ask! Besides, that line was about sending me back to practice!"
"Yes, yes, whatever you say. Let's go, let's go. Any later and we'll have to wait for the next train."
Imaizumi Keita urged Shioyaki Lemon along, lest she end up running along the tracks again.
...
After parting with Shioyaki Lemon at the Station, Imaizumi Keita returned to his Apartment alone.
He tossed his schoolbag casually in the entryway, put on his slippers, and walked straight into the bathroom.
Warm water sprayed down from the showerhead, washing away the day's fatigue.
Leaning against the cool tiled wall, his mind uncontrollably replayed everything that had happened this semester.
Really, so much has happened...
Through my own efforts, I'm getting closer and closer to the result I want...
He finished washing up, changed into a clean T-shirt and shorts, and sat back down at his desk.
His laptop was still on the document interface, showing the draft of the second volume which he had mostly completed.
He wanted to continue writing, but his thoughts simply wouldn't concentrate; Yanami Anna's distant face kept appearing in his mind.
This woman...
He scratched his hair irritably and finally gave up on the idea of writing.
Just as he was about to close his computer and lie down on the bed for a while, the phone on the corner of the desk lit up.
It was a new message from Yanami Anna.
He picked up the phone, unlocked it, and clicked on that familiar avatar.
There was no text, only a file.
The file format was docx, and the filename was very long, and also... familiar.
The Cold and Gloomy Guy is Definitely Not My Ideal Type.
A look of surprise appeared on Imaizumi Keita's face, which then turned into a helpless smile.
This woman, she really is...
He didn't open the file immediately but first sent a message to Yanami.
[What is this?]
The message was sent, and he waited for nearly a minute before the other party replied.
The reply was equally concise.
[A novel. Keita, you are the first reader.]
The first reader...
Only then did Imaizumi Keita remember that the two of them indeed had such an agreement back at the bookstore.
This idiot.
She's clearly using this as an excuse to take the initiative to ease the relationship with him, yet she insists on putting on a business-like front of 'I'm just fulfilling an agreement.'
Truly... so cute he couldn't help it.
He didn't reply again but clicked on the document, preparing to read the masterpiece of this "genius author."
The document opened, and what met his eyes was a scene description that looked rather familiar.
[In the afternoon at the Family Restaurant, sunlight filtered through the glass window, casting warm spots of light on the table. The girl sat quietly in the corner, stirring the ice in her cup with a straw, but her gaze uncontrollably drifted toward that familiar figure outside the window...]
Imaizumi Keita's eyebrow twitched imperceptibly.
He leaned back in his chair and continued reading.
The beginning of the story was almost identical to reality.
After the female lead sadly witnessed her childhood sweetheart dating a transfer student at a Family Restaurant, the seemingly cold and gloomy male lead in her class took the initiative to appear before her.
Then, he spoke his first line.
[Hey, I'm talking to you,]
The male lead in the novel spoke with a tone of disdain, [crying like this just because you got dumped is way too pathetic, isn't it?]
Seeing this, Imaizumi Keita finally couldn't hold it back and let out a light chuckle.
This woman is indeed still holding a grudge.
He continued reading, and the smile on his face grew deeper.
The story in the novel could be described as a "mirror world" of reality.
She wrote in most of the things that had happened between them, from the first meeting at the Family Restaurant to the "rehearsal" at the KTV, and so on.
But in all the events, their roles and positions had undergone a curious reversal compared to reality.
In her story, that cold and gloomy male lead was the one who started falling first.
While the female lead always played a role of passive acceptance, a kind of tsundere pulling at the male lead.
The novel was filled with a large amount of delicate and realistic psychological descriptions.
[What a nasty guy... why is my heart beating so fast?]
[I clearly don't want to pay attention to him, but... why does it feel so uncomfortable in my heart whenever I see him talking to other girls?]
[This kiss... so gentle... damn it, I think... I really might like him a little...]
Looking at those words, it was as if Imaizumi Keita could hear Yanami Anna leaning in close to his ear, using that voice tinged with a bit of grievance and embarrassment to pour out all her true feelings to him, sentence by sentence.
This wasn't writing a novel at all.
This was clearly... using another way to perform a complete confession to him.
Imaizumi Keita closed the document, set his phone aside, and a somewhat helpless yet incredibly tender smile appeared on his face.
This idiot...
She's already gone this far, so why won't she just take one more step forward?
He picked up his phone, reopened the chat interface with Yanami, and his fingers tapped unhurriedly on the screen.
[The novel is well-written, beyond my expectations. However, Anna-chan, you seem to have written all your true feelings inside, haven't you?]
The message was sent, and as he expected, it was like a stone sinking into the sea.
The other party neither replied nor showed "typing..."
Imaizumi Keita smiled and didn't press further.
He closed the chat interface, opened his own novel document, and typed out several thousand words in a burst of inspiration.
It wasn't until it was time for bed that he closed his computer and lay down.
In the darkness, Yanami's face with its stubbornness and anticipation surfaced in his mind again.
Keeping her hanging like this... it really does seem a bit too much like a bastard.
Ultimately, the reason she feels so insecure, the reason she uses such an awkward method like writing a novel to test him...
In the end, it's because of his own set of "Scumbag theories" full of distance.
Really.
Since she has already taken the initiative to offer an out, then as her "boyfriend," he shouldn't just let her hang there awkwardly in mid-air forever.
After all...
He also missed it; he also wanted to experience again that warmth and softness from when he held her tightly in the sea that day.
He had established those theories in the first place just to get closer to girls...
Thinking this, Imaizumi Keita picked up his phone again and sent a message to Yanami.
[Anna-chan, do you want to go on a date during summer break?]
He stared at that line of text for a few seconds, felt it wasn't enough, and added another sentence behind it, completely blocking all her exits.
[By the way, if you refuse again, or say you might not be free, then I'll never ask again.]
The message was sent and immediately marked as read, but there was no reply for a long time.
Just when Imaizumi Keita thought Yanami had really decided to ignore him, a new message finally arrived late.
-------------------------
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