The lunch bell rang.
Hikigaya, already exhausted both physically and ntally from being toyed with, slumped over his desk. He decided to wait until Margo left before heading to the courtyard.
Margo sat in her own seat, unhurriedly packing away her textbooks with absolutely no intention of leaving.
Hikigaya stole a glance; her movents were as elegant as if she were filming so high-brow arthouse movie.
"Um... Hikigaya-kun, Ema." Saeki stood up, her expression looking a bit strained. "Sorry, I have sothing to take care of this noon, so I can't eat with you guys."
Hikigaya blinked in surprise. Saeki almost never missed their small lunchti group gatherings.
"Eh? Is sothing wrong, Saeki-san?" Sakuraba Ema asked.
"Ah, it's just... so private business," Saeki said vaguely, her eyes flickering away. "You guys go ahead, don't worry about ."
With that, she hurriedly grabbed her bento box and quickly walked out of the classroom.
"Saeki-san is acting very strange today," Sakuraba Ema whispered.
"A little."
"Do you think she has sothing on her mind?"
"Who knows."
"Hikigaya-kun, let's go too." Sakuraba Ema picked up her bento box.
Hikigaya sighed and stood up from his seat.
Margo was still packing her things. She looked up, glanced over their way, and a faint, indefinable smile played at the corners of her mouth.
Hikigaya pretended not to see it and followed Sakuraba Ema out of the classroom.
.
.
.
In the courtyard, a familiar figure was already sitting on the bench.
She sat upright with a proper posture, two bento boxes resting on her lap.
Hikigaya's pace faltered for a mont, but Sakuraba Ema had already walked over.
"Hiro-san!" Her greeting was natural, as if she had known all along that Nikaido Hiro would be here.
"Good afternoon."
"Good afternoon, Hiro. Have you been waiting long?"
"No, I just arrived."
'Since when did these two get so close? Didn't Nikaido used to give Sakuraba the cold shoulder? Girls' friendships really are strange things.'
Nikaido Hiro handed the deep blue bento box to Hikigaya.
"For you."
Hikigaya took the bento box; it felt sowhat heavy.
"What's this?"
"Bento," Nikaido Hiro said, her tone making it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. "You've been eating convenience store bread too often lately. It's bad for your health."
Hikigaya unwrapped the cloth. Inside was an exquisite double-layered bento box. Upon opening the lid, he saw rice sprinkled with black sesa seeds and side dishes arranged with ticulous order: rolled olets, fried chicken, broccoli, and a few cherry tomatoes.
"This is... a bit too lavish."
"It's just an ordinary bento." Nikaido Hiro looked away. "Don't overthink it. I just felt that you constantly eating bread was unhealthy and needed correcting."
Sakuraba Ema laughed happily from the side.
"I told you Hiro would agree! Hikigaya-kun, hurry up and try it."
Hikigaya sat down on the bench, picked up his chopsticks, and put a piece of fried chicken into his mouth. It was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and seasoned perfectly.
"How is it?" Nikaido Hiro asked, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible tension.
"Mm, it's delicious."
The corners of Nikaido Hiro's mouth lifted slightly before she quickly regained her usual expression.
"That's good."
Eating the bento Hiro had made, Hikigaya felt an indescribable sensation in his heart.
This bento was prepared with far too much care; it didn't feel as simple as "just thinking bread was unhealthy."
Halfway through the al, footsteps approached from behind—the sound of geta clicking against the floor, unhurried.
"Ara, Darling, so you're here."
Margo walked over and sat down on the stone steps, holding an exquisite paper bag.
When she sat down, her shoulder pressed against his.
"Darling, I've been looking for you for ages," she said with a smile, pulling a bento box out of the paper bag. "You don't mind if I join, do you?"
Before Hikigaya could speak, Margo had already opened the box.
Inside was a refined Western-style lunch: sandwiches cut into neat little squares, accompanied by salad and fruit. It looked like it had been bought from a high-end restaurant.
"I bought this specifically, thinking I'd eat with Darling." Margo picked up a piece of sandwich and held it to Hikigaya's lips.
"Co, try a bite."
Hikigaya shrank back.
"I can do it myself."
"Eh, so distant." Margo pouted, but she put the sandwich back in the box anyway.
On the bench, Nikaido Hiro set down her chopsticks.
"Margo, we are in the middle of eating."
"I know. I just wanted to enjoy lunch with Darling. Is there a problem?"
"This is our spot."
"It's a public space; anyone can sit here, right?" Margo said with a smile, leaning even closer to Hikigaya. "Besides, isn't it perfectly normal for to sit with Darling?"
Hikigaya felt his shoulder completely pressed against Margo's. The hard edge of her geta pressed against his calf. He tried to move aside, but the steps were only so wide.
"Darling, what are you eating?" Margo leaned over to look into the bento box in Hikigaya's hands. "Ah, it's a bento. Who made it?"
"I did," Nikaido Hiro said, her voice calm.
"Eh, Nikaido-san knows how to make bentos?" Margo blinked. "Impressive. However, I know Darling's tastes very well. When he was little, he loved my mother's curry the most."
'That's a lie.'
"Is that so?" Nikaido Hiro said flatly. "But how co I've never heard Auntie ntion that you and Hikigaya were childhood friends?"
Margo didn't waver in the slightest.
"Mother probably forgot. After all, it's all things from when we were small," she said dismissively, turning her head toward Hikigaya. "Right, Darling?"
Hikigaya didn't respond; he just silently continued eating his bento.
Nikaido Hiro stared at Margo for a few seconds before picking up her chopsticks again.
"The bento Nikaido-san made looks quite nice. Since Hikigaya-kun is eating it so seriously, it must be very delicious."
"It is delicious."
Hikigaya instantly regretted answering.
"Is it?" Margo smiled, her eyes curving. "Nikaido-san, you wouldn't mind if I tried a piece, would you?"
She asked Nikaido Hiro, but her hand was already reaching out. However, Hiro's chopsticks were faster than her hand, pinning down the hand Margo had extended toward the bento box.
"I do mind."
Margo's smile didn't change. She withdrew her fingers from beneath the chopsticks slowly and elegantly, as if nothing had happened.
"Nikaido-san is so stingy. I only wanted a taste; I wasn't going to eat the whole box."
"If you want to eat, bring your own."
"I did bring one." Margo patted her own bento box. "But Darling won't eat mine—he only eats yours. I was just curious."
As she spoke, she looked at Hikigaya, his reflection visible in her purple pupils. Hikigaya lowered his head and stuffed a piece of broccoli into his mouth. He chewed twice but couldn't taste anything.
"Margo," Hiro's voice rang out again. "What exactly did you co here to find Hikigaya for?"
"Can't I co find him even if there's nothing specific?" Margo tilted her head and took a small box out of the paper bag. She opened it to reveal sliced fruit and placed the box on the stone step between her and Hikigaya. "Darling, have so fruit. Your complexion doesn't look very good."
"He doesn't need it."
"He isn't your property. Why do you care what he eats?"
"I am his girlfriend."
"That's a fake, isn't it?"
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