Location: Shuchiin Private Middle School
Ti: 4:00 PM
After the horoom teacher finished speaking, the entire school began a major cleanup.
Kei was assigned to clean the windows.
While she was ticulously wiping the glass, Fujiwara Moeha, who had also been assigned to window cleaning, leaned in.
"Kei, are you going to the fireworks festival this year?"
Kei nodded. "Yeah."
"That's great! Co with us this year, okay?"
Fujiwara Moeha started humming happily.
"Um…"
Seeing how happy Fujiwara Moeha was, Kei found it a bit difficult to say what ca next.
"What is it?"
Fujiwara Moeha fogged up the window with her breath and scrubbed at a mysterious stain with a cloth.
Kei hesitated, then said, "This year, I want to invite soone, so I might not be able to watch the fireworks with you guys."
"Going with family? You could invite upperclassman Miyuki too. My sister knows him, right?"
"Actually, I'd love to et upperclassman Miyuki too."
After putting a lot of effort into getting the window squeaky clean, Fujiwara Moeha nodded in satisfaction at the sparkling glass.
"I'm not going with my brother. I'm going with a senior."
Fujiwara Moeha froze like soone hit with a paralyzing spell, standing still without moving a muscle.
After several seconds, she slowly turned her head toward Kei like a rusted toy robot.
"You're not talking about Kitahara-senpai, are you?"
Kei slightly averted her gaze and gave the tiniest nod, barely noticeable to the eye.
"Oh my god!"
Fujiwara Moeha instantly lit up with excitent.
Gossip is human nature.
And gossip about your close friends? Even better.
"Kei, you're so bold!"
Kei tried her best to stay composed and explained, "Don't get the wrong idea. I just wanted to properly thank him because he introduced to a good part-ti job."
Fujiwara Moeha giggled. "So... are you planning to give yourself as a thank-you gift?"
"Moeha! What are you even talking about? I already told you, I don't have that kind of—"
Before she could finish, Kei suddenly recalled that evening when she got her first part-ti paycheck.
The wind blew, trees rustled, and under the starlit sky, he raised his brows slightly, smiled gently, and opened his arms:
"Just saying thanks is so insincere—how about a hug?"
Why had she hugged him so impulsively?
It hadn't been long, but Kei could no longer recall the exact reason.
But she did clearly rember how nervous she was when she hugged Takashi—how her heart raced uncontrollably.
It felt like a flower blooming in her chest. The feeling was subtle yet unforgettable.
At that mont, ti seed to freeze.
"Kei, Kei!"
Kei snapped back to reality. "Huh? What?"
Fujiwara Moeha narrowed her eyes and spoke firmly. "You were just thinking about Kitahara-senpai, weren't you?"
Kei denied it outright. "No way. I was just thinking about where to rent a yukata cheaply."
"You're even renting a yukata?"
She shouldn't have said that.
Once she did, Fujiwara Moeha's expression changed even more.
"You're not planning to sneak into so secluded woods with him, are you? You know, with yukatas, you don't have to wear underwear, so you can just slip it—"
"Stop! Stop! Moeha, what on earth is going through your head?!"
Kei felt like her friend's brain was filled with nothing but inappropriate fantasies.
"I would never do sothing like that!"
At least, not until high school.
"I just read a story where the male and female lead watched fireworks, then the love rival dragged her into the woods afterward."
Kei raised a brow. "That's a manga plot?"
The more she listened, the more it sounded like sothing else.
"No, it's a doujin. By Kashiwagi Eri's teacher."
"Speaking of which, Kashiwagi Eri's teacher seems to have gone from a pure-love champion to a full-blown NTR tribal warrior lately."
"Lately all her works are about childhood friends losing to newcors."
Kei sighed and held her forehead. "You really need to stop reading that unhealthy stuff."
"Lust is etched into the human geno! Besides, I don't smoke, drink, or party—what's wrong with being a little lewd?"
"Fun fact: girls are actually six tis hornier than boys."
"The more turned on a girl is, the more estrogen she produces, which helps with blood circulation and makes the skin glow."
Kei: "…Thanks for the info, but I really didn't need to know that."
…
Shinkawa High School, Class 1-7.
"Wow, these photos are amazing. The vibe is perfect!"
"Marin's cosplay is flawless. Over two thousand likes in one day?"
"Marin, where on earth did you find such a god-tier photographer?!"
Marin, who sat near the hallway wall at the second-to-last seat, was surrounded by a group of girls.
Hearing her classmates praise Takashi, Marin couldn't help but feel proud by association.
"C'mon, Marin! Tell already—who's the photographer?"
A girl with twin tails and a lollipop in her mouth clung to Marin's arm, shaking her back and forth.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you—just stop shaking !"
If she shook her any more, Marin's bra strap might fall off.
Adjusting it manually, Marin said, "The photographer who took my pictures is Kitahara Takashi. He's not only amazing at photography, he's also—"
As soon as she heard that Takashi was the photographer, Watanabe Akari's eyes shifted from her phone to Marin at the center of the group, and didn't move for a long ti.
Ōhashi Natsumi noticed and nudged Takamiya Saki with her elbow, gesturing subtly toward Watanabe Akari.
Takamiya Saki looked at Watanabe Akari and sighed helplessly. "Akari, you still haven't given up?"
It had been almost two months since that group date.
With all that ti gone by, surely she should've moved on, right?
Why was she still hung up on it?
Was it really a case of "one encounter with Takashi, a lifeti of regret"?
"What do you an, give up? Saki, what are you talking about?"
Watanabe Akari pretended to be indifferent and looked away, but in truth, her attention had never left Marin.
There was soone else in the class in a similar situation to Watanabe Akari.
That was Gojo Wakana.
He didn't know if it was just his imagination, but ever since they returned from the ani convention, Gojo Wakana felt a strange distance had grown between him and Marin.
Even though she still treated him well, still considered him her best friend, and would speak up for him when he was treated unfairly, she no longer let him see her in the outfits he made.
Every ti he finished a costu, she insisted on paying him, as if drawing a line between them.
___
RIP Gojo. Don't worry, you will soon beco the strongest sorcerer of today's era.
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