I shook my head and snapped out of the little reminiscence arc I had going there. They’re good memories, a select few that I hope to one day reiterate when I am asked how I met Takumi. However, that day is still far into the future. As such, it would do me good to focus on the present.

As I marched on the pathway that led to the first-year campus, people made way for me by moving aside. I would’ve usually rejected their 'courtesy' and insisted they go first, but I couldn’t spare any time for them. My desire to reunite with Takumi had reached an all-time high. In fact, if I didn't have my reputation to consider, I would've already rushed off to Class 1-E.

Could you blame me though? It’s been months since I've seen him…

I glanced at the campus building and attempted to locate Class 1-E’s window. While I did manage to locate windows leading into Class 1-E, I failed to peek into the class as the angle was not in my favor.

However, I am not discouraged!

The weather is excellent, my body feels healthy, and I am sure that my appearance has become even better over the summer. If not, I would definitely sue all those youtube channels and T.V programs that made me do weird stuff to enhance my beauty.

I walked over to my class in a cheerful mood, only to have it ruined by the droves of boys hanging outside of my classroom. I could count at least twenty-something boys leering at me as I made my way over.

“It’s been months since we saw Kobayashi.”

“Miya-chan's definitely gotten sexier.”

“I thought Fujiwara-san had become more beautiful but damn.”

…And such were some of the words I overheard while trying my best to smile towards the boys who were enthusiastically greeting me and showering me with compliments. They’ll never change, will they?

Hmph~ My Takumi is nothing like them!

After a long and arduous greeting session, I finally managed to enter my classroom. However, as I was about to settle on my desk, I noticed the silhouette of a certain someone who gestured for me to go over to them. I was quite reluctant, but I couldn’t quite refuse, so I informed Chiaki as to my whereabouts, just in case, and left the classroom.

I looked at him with a meaningful gaze and mouthed him to change locations as the hallway outside my classroom was quite crowded. He seemed to have realized my discomfort beckoned me to follow him, and so I did.

We walked for a bit and reached the area where most of the storage rooms and labs were situated, so the hallway was empty. He leaned against one of the storage room doors and looked at me in scrutiny for a while before speaking up with a devious grin.

“I heard what happened on the result day.”

I tried to maintain my composure. However, I could feel my heart picking up speed and sweat accumulating in my palms.

"I-is that so…?"

I wasn’t worried about him finding out, however, since the only ones on the rooftop that day to witness that event were Takumi and me, it was obvious just who told him.

I was just nervous.

It didn’t upset me that Takumi told Fumiya about our little encounter. However, with the reiteration of the event, Takumi must’ve definitely expressed his opinion on the matter, and by extension, me. I was nervous about just what Takumi had said about me that spurred Fumiya to come to seek me out so early.

Did he bring bad news? Did Takumi in some way insinuate his dislike of me?

Or was it good news? There was a possibility that my academic excellence had somehow charmed him to a certain degree.

Or maybe it was neither. However, my paranoia got the better of me as I dug my nails into my palm, waiting for Fumiya to break the suspense.

“Give me your phone number.”

“Huh?”

Wait, what? ...Phone number? The gears in my brain turned as I tried to figure out the intent behind his words.

“Why? Don't you want pictures of him or something?”

Pictures of Takumi… Do I want them? Of course, I want them~!

However, that would mean…

“Phew~”

I sighed in relief. At the very least, I wasn’t hated, or Fumiya would never offer to send me pictures. I wanted to ask what exactly Takumi said when he told Fumiya about that day, but I held back. Once a wise man said, ‘We are better off not knowing too much.’

I was just so relieved that I couldn’t help but smile in delight.

“A-anyway, do you want to exchange numbers or not?”

I raised my head and noticed that Fumiya's cheeks were slightly red and his eyes were looking at something far away.

Hmph, so even Mr. Popular can’t help but get flustered in front of me? He deserves it for scaring me like that!

“Yes, yes. Send me lots of pictures, 'kay?”

I smiled in triumph and retrieved my phone from my pocket. We exchanged contacts and chatted a bit before deciding to head back to our classes.

“Now listen. If Takumi finds out that I am out here shipping him, he would flip out. And that won’t be good for either of us. So don't get caught, okay?”

Fumiya said with a pitiful expression. I wanted to inform Takumi just so I could get back at him for the blatant favoritism he shows to Minami, but it wouldn’t do me any good either.

He turned around and walked away. I followed in his footsteps after waiting for a few minutes so as to not be seen coming from a desolate place together with a boy. That could give rise to some pretty serious rumors.

I returned to my classroom, only to find Minami chatting away with Chiaki with extraordinary enthusiasm.

“Tch.”

I had wished to go see Takumi with the excuse of meeting Minami, but it looks like that’s not gonna happen.

“Hey~”

Chiaki noticed me and waved her hand at me. Minami turned her head towards me and greeted me with a sweet smile.

"Oh~ Miya, long time no see~"

I smiled at Minami’s greeting. Unlike when we first became close, she can say my name without any honorifics now. I remember how difficult it was for Chiaki and me to get Minami to call us by our first names without any honorifics.

Minami’s upbringing seems to have been quite good for her to have such polite mannerisms, but her politeness can sure be a hassle sometimes.

“We just met last week though… Well, whatever, what's got you all chipper this morning?"

There was a particular romance movie out last week that all three of us had wanted to watch, so we had gone out and ended up spending the entire day together.

“Oh~ I know you wouldn’t care much… But seeing Takumi-kun after so long just got me all excited. And he was looking so cool today as well~ I just couldn't handle it.”

Oh my sweet darling Minami, I do care… Much more than I’d like to admit…

“Miya?”

“Miya? You okay?”

“I-it's nothing. Just spaced out for a second. Anyway, Minami, have you made any progress?”

Listening to my question, Minami brought her hands in front of her bountiful bosoms and began twiddling her thumbs.

“Well… Progress? I-I mean… I asked for his number this morning, and he gave it to me…”

“!”

“Wait, what!? That's great~!”

I was so shocked that no sound came out of my mouth while Chaiki unintentionally raised her voice in excitement.

“I-I know… But I wouldn’t know what to do with it… I am very bad at communicating via texting or calling, and it’s Takumi-kun too… I wouldn’t know what to say. He even said that he’s busy with work after school so he might not respond to me.”

Minami said so and lowered her head with a dark expression.

“I-it’s fine~! You already got his number, right? One step at a time, Minami. Don’t rush it!”

“Miya’s right, Minami. It’ll all work out.”

“Thank you, Miya. That helped.”

Minami smiled at me with shining eyes, her gratitude clearly visible in her blue orbs.

Guilt Damage +10

I am sorry Minami…

We chatted for a few minutes, during which the others from the class came over to greet us as well. It was a comfortable time without any disturbances.

Minami took off as soon as the homeroom bell rang, scurrying over to her class. All of us returned to our seats as well, waiting for our homeroom teacher to arrive.

As I was about to mute my phone and place it in my bag, I received a message and instinctively opened it without checking who the sender was. What I received was a message with a picture attached to it.

[Fujiwara-san seemed impressed by this, what about you?]

I checked the sender’s name and it was from Fumiya. I opened the picture after making sure nobody was peeking at my screen.

It was a photo of Kawashima-kun's side profile. His face was illuminated by the light coming in from the window. His chin on his hand, his eyebrows relaxed, and a small smile on his face.

Absolute perfection. I replied after saving the picture.

[Thank you. That was amazing.]

His reply came instantly.

[Just make sure nobody finds out.]

I just replied with a short ‘Okay’ and threw my phone into the bag. Our homeroom teacher arrived with an energetic smile, and after chatting a bit about how our summer vacation went, they took our attendance and left after making sure everything was settled.

Our first period was English, and that was all I could recall of the first half of the day. I didn't even realize how time went by as I was immersed in my thoughts.

It was already lunch break by the time I snapped out of my trance. I carried my lunch box, and so did Minami, however, it seemed Chiaki’s mother was a bit feverish today, so she didn’t bring lunch. As such, we decided to visit the cafeteria instead of our usual spot, which is, of course, Class 1-E.

All three of the campuses under 'Haru High School' possess their own cafeterias, and it’s not the fact that there are three cafeterias that’s shocking. The quality of these cafeterias is just incomprehensible. The cafeterias are not your run-of-the-mill school eateries that carry pre-made cheap food.

Our cafeterias are akin to a restaurant, and a good one at that. And although this results in the food being a little on the expensive side, the experience as a whole is definitely worth it. As such, the cafeterias are pretty popular places for students to hang out during lunch, making the available seats quite scarce.

The cafeteria is humongous, however, it can barely accommodate two hundred people at a time, which would be enough if not for our campus holding a little over five hundred people including the teaching staff and auxiliary staff.

We made our way to the cafeteria, drawing glances from all the people around us. We looked around the cafeteria, and as expected, it was filled to the brim. However, with hope in our eyes, we began looking around, and finally located an empty table with six chairs around it, three on each side.

“I’ll go and get my food.”

Chiaki informed us and took off into the crowd. Minami looked at me and smiled helplessly.

“Let’s settle down and wait for her.”

I nodded in agreement. I sat down in the middle with Minami on my right. Both of us took our paper towels and placed them on the table before taking out our lunch boxes. By the time we were done setting everything up, Chiaki arrived with a tray in her arms.

“That was pretty quick, Chi-chan.”

“Yeah, I opted for a simple pasta and a milkshake.”

Chiaki replied while sitting on my left. We were about to start eating when a cheerful voice interrupted us from the side.

“Can we join you~?”

I could tell many people wanted to join us, some boys had even mustered their courage and stood up, but settled down again for some reason. I looked up at the brave person to approach us in front of so many people like this.

There were two people, one of them was surprisingly Fumiya, and the other was… What!?

“Oh, of course.”

Before I could even process the situation, Chiaki had already replied in a friendly tone.

I gulped nervously at the situation. I could feel a slight trembling coming from my right, but I wasn’t in the right state to care about that. I sat wide-eyed as the empty chair in front of me slid backward and a familiar figure settled on that chair. He placed his tray in front of him with a calm expression, and as if detecting my gaze on him, he looked at me with a confused expression.

“Princess?”

“Y-yes!?”

Holy hell! Takumi is sitting in front of me right now! I timidly looked around and saw Fumiya relaxing in front of Chiaki and talking to her with a pleasant smile. I could hear them introducing themselves to each other. His presence drew the attention of all the girls to our table.

“Hey, Fumiya, don't you think sitting here is a little troublesome for them? Princess and Minami seem quite against it.”

Takumi stated while pointing at Minami and me. I peered over at Minami, and as expected, she was displaying a similar apprehensive expression as myself.

““It's fine!””

Our voices reverberated collectively. I was startled that Minami spoke up, and with a firm voice too.

Takumi seemed quite taken aback. He said after a moment’s consideration.

“Looks like Fumiya is quite loved, huh.”

It's you though. I sighed in defeat.

“Let’s start eating now, shall we?”

Fumiya said with a bright voice, and Takumi nodded. All of us joined our hands.

“Itadakimasu~”

All of our voices overlapped, making me giggle a little.

This is the first time I will be eating a meal with Takumi. The start might not have been the best, but this is an opportunity. However…

I looked over at Minami’s excited expression. I could tell that our sentiments were the same.

I feel very conflicted. What should I do? On one side is my best friend Minami, and on the other side is my first crush. Should I give up? Should I tell Minami the truth and fight fair and square for it? Or should I continue to subtly aim for his affection?

I mean… If he confesses to me… No! Minami will be hurt either way.

“Continuing from earlier… Takumi, what do you think?”

I shook my head and focused on what was happening around me. I’ll think about the complicated stuff later.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, earlier you mentioned that I am quite loved, right? That got me curious… Do Fujiwara-san and Kobayashi-san have someone like that?”

“Huh?”

Minami’s voice echoed from my side.

“I am just curious, that’s all. Maybe it’s someone we know?”

Fumiya glanced at Minami and me before looking at Takumi.

“Oh~? You guys aren’t dismissing my claims? Did I actually hit the bullseye?”

“What?”

Chiaki seemed to be taken aback as she looked over in our direction. Her face displayed realization as she gazed at Minami, but when she saw me flustered, it seemed to have shocked her quite a bit.

“Miya?”

“Anyway~ Looks like I was right, huh? What do you think, Takumi?”

This bastard. I looked at Takumi, anticipating what he would say. Takumi simply continued to eat his Ramen, as if the ongoing conversation was of no concern to him. He paused eating and looked at Minami and me before speaking.

“If that's really the case, then good for them. I don’t see why I need to present my opinion. However… If I am being honest, I am curious as to who they are. I mean, the two prettiest girls in our year have found someone worth their attention, I wonder who the lucky boys are?”

There are no ‘boys’. It’s just one boy. And he’s sitting in front of me.

“What if it’s you, Takumi?”

This little... I was aware that he was joking, so I didn’t react. However, Minami was red to her neck and trembling even more fiercely than before.

“Fumiya, don't make a joke like that. It's rude to the other party.”

I started to grit my teeth in frustration. Fumiya is playing us like a fiddle, and Takumi is being very defensive, probably assuming that Fumiya is just joking around.

Sigh~ I just hope Takumi doesn’t figure us out.

“Ahaha~ It’s just a ‘what if’~ What if it was you, Takumi?”

My ears twitched as those words left Fumiya’s mouth, my body leaning forward in anticipation. I sensed Minami squirming in her seat as well.

“Well… In all honesty, Princess and Minami are really beautiful, so it would be an honor.”

Takumi panned his gaze over to us and said with a smile. And since I was leaning forward, our faces were rather close, making me back up with a slight blush. Then the significance of his words hit me.

““Beautiful?””

Two astonished yet happy voices overlapped, giving the rest of the people on the table a little jump. However, both of us recovered fast.

I saw from the corner of my eye that Fumiya had a sly smirk and seemed to be ready to create more trouble, but I managed to prevent it by kicking him with all my strength, receiving a glare in response.

Minami helped me steer the conversation in a comparatively safer direction as we finished up our meals. Takumi and Fumiya were feasting on simple ramen, so they got through their food earlier than us and opted to leave the table in light of the murderous glares from the boys in our surroundings.

And as soon as they left… Minami spoke up while looking down at the table.

“…Miya… Listen… I've mostly ascertained this, but-”

Minami’s voice was calm, but I could perceive the disbelief and confusion hidden within.

“Can we please talk about this later, Minami?”

“What are the two of you talking about?”

Chiaki voiced in confusion, clearly sensing the tense atmosphere between Minami and me.

“Chiaki, did you not understand what happened earlier?”

“What do you mean, Minami?”

Minami was leaning back on her chair, so Chiaki couldn’t really see her since I was in the middle. However, if she could, she would be really shocked to find the kind and full-of-smiles Minami donning a rather dark expression.

She seemed both angry and disappointed, and it was clear with her voice that she was holding much of both of these emotions back, trying her best to sound calm.

My heart went cold, sweat accumulated on my palms… The one scenario I dreaded the most just slapped me right in the face with no preparation whatsoever.

I was somewhat willing to confide in Minami about what was happening, but I never expected her to find out in such a manner.

“Can we continue this somewhere else… Please?”

“En…”

Minami seemed to have felt the desperation in my voice, for she unexpectedly agreed and proceeded to close the still half-filled lunch box and packed everything up. I did the same.

Chiaki was extremely confused, but I pacified her the best I could and told her to just observe our conversation. We left the cafeteria and headed over to an isolated area not too far away from the campus building.

I was so nervous and borderline horrified that I couldn’t care less about the leering gazes we encountered along the way.

“So… What’s happening?”

Chiaki asked as soon as we were out of everyone’s earshot. However, I ignored her and faced Minami.

“Look at me Minami.”

Minami faced me without any hesitation. I was so occupied with what I was going to say that I didn’t notice the hint of acceptance in her eyes.

“Listen, Minami… Yes, I-I like him… Whatever you are thinking, that’s true… I love you, so I-I can not and will not lie to you… I know it’s low… I know it’s wrong… But…”

At this point, I was barely holding back my tears. My voice choked with emotions as I tried my best to not break down. I was sure that this was the only chance I had to save my friendship…

“I beg of you… Please hear me out, Minami. I swear to god that I didn’t know… I-I had already fallen for him when we became friends… I-I… I-I just couldn’t tell you th-”

Abruptly in the midst of explaining, I felt my body wrapped by warmth. A small hand landed on the back of my head and caressed my hair.

“There’s no need to explain…”

Minami’s voice came from right beside my ear. I tried to look at her, but my eyes were already bleared with tears so I just hugged her back tightly and waited for her to continue.

“…I don't think it's low… Really… You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

“B-but I betrayed you…”

“Betrayed? Miya, I'm not his girlfriend or anything. And as you said, you were already in love with him… And I believe you. I am sorry for not figuring it out sooner… It must have been difficult for you as well…”

“No… Don’t say that…”

I said while sniffling. Minami’s embrace was so comforting that I couldn’t bear to leave it.

“Ahaha~ In fact, I am kinda relieved that you feel that way towards Takumi-kun…”

“What do you mean?”

“Girls in my class day that I'm weird for crushing on someone like Takumi-kun. However, now that I know my best friend, the most popular girl in our class, is also in love with him, there must be something special about him.”

My shoulders relaxed as the tension left my body. Minami wasn’t angry or upset. She seemed to have taken it well.

“No, you're not weird.”

“Having said that, I am not going to lose to you, Miya. You may be more popular, but Takumi-kun and I are in the same class, you know?”

I reluctantly left Minami’s embrace and faced her.

“I ain’t giving up that easy.”

“Hey, you guys, don't go off on a tangent without me!”

Chiaki stomped in between Minami and me, inadvertently pushing us away. I stumbled back a little and barely managed to prevent myself from falling. The same thing happened with Minami as well.

However, Chiaki ignored our predicament and alternated her gaze between Minami and me, and spoke while gritting her teeth.

“What's with this love triangle situation!? And Miya… Did you not find me trustworthy enough to share something so important!?”

Chiaki was clearly pretty enraged. Her cheeks were inflated and her eyes were piercing me as if ascertaining whether what was happening was the truth or not.

“I'm sorry, Chi-chan… It’s nothing like that… I just didn’t know how to tell you… I mean…”

I lowered my head.

“Yeah, yeah… I get it… You’ve cried enough, wouldn’t want you to dehydrate. Sigh~”

Chiaki placed her palm on her forehead and breathed deeply for a while before speaking.

“If your father finds out about this… He’s going to kill us both… Anyway, tell us how this happened… I mean, how did you fall for him..”

“Yeah, I am interested as well…”

Minami chimed in.

“Well… Haha… About that…”

“We have to eat in the cafeteria? I don’t like that place one bit.”

“If you don’t like the cafeteria, why don’t you cook us lunch, Fumiya? You were aware that I arrived late last night, right? And even then I had to make you breakfast.”

“What breakfast? It was just a simple sandwich.”

Fumiya whined as we walked towards the cafeteria following the bell signaling the end of the fourth period.

“What did you just say?”

I stopped walking and looked at Fumiya coldly.

“I-I am s-”

“I came home at 3 in the morning, exhausted from work. And then I had to get up at 6 to wake up your lazy ass and make you food. That too on the first day after summer vacation. And then you give me this attitude? Have I been going easy on you during morning training, huh?”

“I am sorry~! I am eternally grateful to you for letting me freeload~!”

Fumiya clasped his hands and apologized while lowering his head.

This kid… Haa~

“Let’s just go and get something to eat.”

“I still don’t like the cafeteria though… The girls are going to swarm us again. It was quite terrifying the last time.”

“The girls are going to swarm you. Not me.”

“It’s the same thing~”

The cafeteria was located on the ground floor, so the rush on the staircase was tremendous, but we somehow made it through and descended onto the first floor.

Then we followed the crowd and headed over to the cafeteria, which is of a rather decent quality considering that it’s a school cafeteria and caters to around 200-300 students every day.

“Is it just me, or does the cafeteria feel a bit weird?”

Fumiya uttered as we entered the cafeteria and stepped towards the counter to order our food. The process of ordering food was rather simple. One has to order the food at the counter, pay the amount, and receive the slip that contains the order number. And you pick up your order at another counter a little distance away from the ordering counter.

Once you receive the slip, you can either wait at your table for your order number to be called or hang around the food counter until your order is prepared. Most people, including us, tend to opt for the latter as the wait time for most of the menu items is considerably low, around 5-10 minutes.

We joined the line at the ordering counter and chatted as the line gradually but consistently moved. Coincidentally, the people behind us were three girls from Class 1-F, our neighboring class, and were our acquaintances, or rather, Fumiya’s acquaintances. They were all over Fumiya, and he was no better as he enjoyed his popularity and began merrily chatting away.

It was already quite late in the lunch break for an exquisite meal, as that would take more time, so we settled for two bowls of tonkatsu ramen, which is by no means a nutritious meal, but what can you do?

When we received our ramen about 10 minutes later, I was already so worn out by those three girls and the others that flocked when they saw Fumiya that I left the table-searching to Fumiya.

“The cafeteria today is packed. Is an occupied table with enough space for us fine?”

“If the occupants don’t mind, sure.”

I was trailing behind Fumiya as his relatively bigger body made way for me to walk comfortably amidst the crowd. And since I was behind him, I couldn’t tell who exactly he was approaching to ask for space.

“Can we join you~?”

Fumiya seemed to be familiar with the people sitting at the table. Well, at this point, I believe he’s friends with everyone in our year. And who would reject the most popular boy in our year from sitting with them at their table?

I walked out from behind Fumiya to stand beside him, and the occupants of the table came as a surprise to me.

Minami, Princess, and… Yukimura Chiaki was her name if I remember correctly? It’s been over two months, so I may be remembering incorrectly. Well, I’ll find out in a bit.

“Oh, of course.”

Chiaki’s eyes seemed to linger on my figure for a bit before she replied. I had hoped that she’d reject us, but my prayers fell on deaf ears.

I’d much rather not associate myself with Princess and Minami in such a public place. The one thing I want is to not draw attention, and this bastard Fumiya brought me to this table knowing that I’d hate it.

Well, since we were already given permission, it would be rude for us to just leave, so we walked over to the table and sat down. I was about to grab the chair in front of Chiaki since that would save me a lot of awkwardness, but Fumiya made sure that I wouldn’t even have that tiny bit of respite.

And now, I am sitting in front of the girl that has a crush on me. Not only that, but the girl sitting diagonally to me also has a crush on me. And wouldn’t it be a merry day if things would just end there? The other girl sitting diagonally to me is looking at me with a sharp scrutinizing gaze, probably because she’s aware that the other two, or only one of the two, have a crush on me.

Fumiya seemed to have sensed her piercing gaze as he began chatting away with her.

Sigh~ Well, at the very least I do not feel like an alien in front of a scientist. However, there’s Princess and Minami to deal with as well.

I accepted my fate and decided to concentrate on my steaming ramen. I was about to start eating but Princess’ face caught my eye.

“Princess?”

Her eyes were glazed and were rooted on me. I had noticed this a while back, but I chose to ignore it.

However, it’s rather difficult to enjoy a meal when someone is looking at you so fervently and from such a close distance too. Minami was the same, but I thought that calling out Princess would deter Minami’s gaze as well.

“Y-yes!?”

Princess replied with a blink and seemed to have choked on air. With the commotion beside her, Minami was also broken out of her trance-like state, blinking as she processed what was happening.

When Minami’s eyes met mine, she shyly lowered her head and began nervously fiddling with her lunch box. I couldn’t help but smile at her cute antics.

When I panned my gaze back at Miya, she seemed to be calm on the surface, but her body language and jittery eyes gave away her nervousness.

“Hey, Fumiya, don't you think sitting here is a little troublesome for them? Princess and Minami seem quite against it.”

With two squirming and nervous figures in front of me, it was quite difficult to eat in peace. I hoped that the girls would understand the intention behind my words, and would save all of us the awkwardness.

However, it seems I’ve overestimated my knowledge of women once again.

““It's fine!””

I was quite taken aback by their fervor. Their cheeks were rosy, and their glimmering in reluctance. It seemed they had realized what they had done, for both Miya and Minami leaned back into their chairs with slight blush covering their cheeks.

The atmosphere has become quite ambiguous… Sigh~

“Looks like Fumiya is quite loved, huh.”

I tried my best to salvage the situation, but that was the best thing I could come up with. No matter how dense a person is, if they’re faced with such obvious signs, it’s pretty easy to figure out that the other person harbors affection for them.

It’s honestly pretty hard to pretend that I am not aware of their feelings towards me. Pretending to be stupid is much more difficult than pretending to be smart, as they say.

“Let’s start eating now, shall we?”

Fumiya seemed to have understood my plight, for he spoke up in a clearly amused tone. He really needs a beating.

“Itadakimasu~”

After we prayed, we began eating our meals. It had been a while since I had ramen, so I savored every bite. The broth was flavourful, the noodles were perfectly cooked, and the meat was juicy and tender… Truly spectacular quality considering it’s a school cafeteria.

Sometimes, simple ramen is much more filling than an A5 wagyu steak.

We ate our meal in silence. The atmosphere was peaceful, and the two girls also held back and only stole glances at me once in a while. The cafeteria itself was rather noisy, but it had nothing to do with me so I tuned out the surrounding sounds and concentrated on my ramen.

“Continuing from earlier… Takumi, do you think?”

I slapped my forehead in my mind. Couldn’t this guy have kept his mouth shut for five more minutes?

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, earlier you mentioned that I am quite loved, right? That got me curious… Do Fujiwara-san and Kobayashi-san have someone like that?”

“Huh?”

Minami’s surprised voice echoed.

“I am just curious, that’s all. Maybe it’s someone we know?”

Fumiya’s gaze lingered at Princess and Minami before it panned back to me. The girls blushed and lowered their heads as if hiding from my eyes.

Oh, come on? You should realize by now that Fumiya is playing with you. Show some composure, dammit.

I nudged Fumiya with my elbow, but he continued with a cheery tone despite clearly feeling pain.

“Oh~? You guys aren’t dismissing my claims? Did I actually hit the bullseye?”

“What?”

Huh? Did the third girl not know that two of her friends like someone. I saw how a hint of realization passed by her eyes when she looked at Minami, but was incredibly shocked when she looked at Princess’ flustered form.

So that’s how it is, huh…? So she hadn’t told anyone yet, not even her best friends? Was she afraid that Minami would feel betrayed?

Well, nothing to do with me. I just focused on my ramen, hoping that I wouldn’t be involved.

“Miya?”

Chiaki called out in shock, but before it could evolve into something out of his control, Fumiya intervened.

“Anyway~ Looks like I was right, huh? What do you think, Takumi?”

Sigh~ I stopped eating and looked over at the two girls’ expressions filled with anticipation. They resembled dogs waiting for treats.

“If that's really the case, then good for them. I don’t see why I need to present my opinion. However… If I am being honest, I am curious as to who they are. I mean, the two prettiest girls in our year have found someone worth their attention, I wonder who the lucky boys are?”

I believed that it would just end there, and we would enjoy the rest of the lunch break in peace. However-

“What if it’s you, Takumi?”

He seriously needs a beating. He’s taking it too far even for my tolerance level.

“Fumiya, don't make a joke like that. It's rude to the other party.”

I said it in a threatening tone, hoping he would sense my displeasure and finally shut up.

“Ahaha~ It’s just a ‘what if’~ What if it was you, Takumi?”

Fumiya said in a tone that made it clear that it was not to be taken seriously. Even then, I could see the two girls squirm nervously. However, although it was clear that they were nervous, both of them leaned forward a little in anticipation. Especially Princess, she was practically sprawling on the table.

“Well… In all honesty, Princess and Minami are really beautiful, so it would be an honor.”

I smiled. A very natural response.

““Beautiful?””

The two girls entered a state of trance while Chiaki still had an incredulous expression on her face. After a while, the two girls recovered and began happily chatting about this and that as if the previous incident had never occurred. The remaining people on the table, including me, joined the two in their attempt to clear the ambiguous air.

We chatted with the girls for a couple of minutes more, during which I learned more about Chiaki and her relationship with Princess. They also told me about how Minami joined their group. And many other things that I let enter one ear and out the other.

Fumiya and I finished our meals first and left the table. But as soon as I left, I sensed the amicable atmosphere that surrounded the trio become rather heavy and tense. I wanted no part of it, so I urged Fumiya to walk faster.

We returned to the counter and returned the cutlery. We threw away the disposable chopsticks and tissue papers and walked out of the cafeteria that still retained most of its male population in light of two specific girls’ presence.

“What in fuck was that Fumiya?”

I asked as we navigated through the crowd in the first-floor hallway.

“Tehehe~”

“Sigh~ Looks like you need a lot more ‘attention’ during morning training from now on.”

“W-wait…! N-no! Please, please, I-I won’t do something like this anymore~!”

“Tehehe~”

“Nooooooooo~!”