A few days had passed since the day Natsume-san got caught up in that trouble, and now it was Saturday.

I’m spending another peaceful and boring day.

My weekends are completely free.

Just as I was getting my hopes up, she turned me down, saying she had a date with Sado, so it wasn’t possible.

Then I asked about Sunday, but she said she was going shopping with friends, so I couldn’t meet her.

And by Friday, we’ve only had two home dates, so her own condition of “four home dates a week” was already impossible to fulfill.

It’s not like it’s some absolute rule that must be obeyed, but… it still leaves me feeling a little off.

I wonder if she’d throw a tantrum if I were the one to say I couldn’t make it today. Is it just my imagination that it feels unfair?

Maybe I should just stay in my room and surf the internet, spending my time lazily. But that would be too sad.

It’s Saturday after all, a day when I don’t have to go to school and can enjoy my freedom. Should I go see a movie? Or maybe wander around town aimlessly?

Going for a walk doesn’t need any special reason, and just because I’m an introvert doesn’t mean I’m forbidden from going outside.

I decided to go out.

That said, I didn’t want to spend any money. Taking the train was out of the question, and within biking distance, the only real option was the nearby shopping mall. It’s a big multi-purpose complex with a movie theater, so if I were going anywhere, that’d be the perfect spot.

So, I went outside.

After riding my bike for several minutes, I arrived at the shopping mall.

My destination is the bookstore, for now. As I started walking, I spotted someone familiar.

(That’s… Fuyunagi-san……and Sado?)

It looked like I had accidentally stumbled right into the middle of their date.

I wasn’t about to ruin their time together—well, more like I just didn’t want to get dragged into something troublesome.

With that in mind, I turned to walk away.

But the moment I did, someone grabbed my hand hard from the side and yanked me toward them.

Before I knew it, I was pushed up against a wall, and someone was looming over me in a perfect kabedon pose, glaring straight at me.

“Huh…?…Um…”

The person standing in front of me was a female classmate. Her name is Sakurada Nagisa, if I remember correctly. She’s one of the popular girls in Fuyunagi-san’s group.

She was a gyaru with light-brown hair, piercings in her ears, and bold eye shadow—her makeup done to perfection.

Her look was flashy, but she was easily pretty enough to be called a beautiful girl.

In other words, she was cute.

“You… do you have something to do with those two?”

“Huh? No way, I don’t have anything to do with them! I was literally just about to turn around and leave!”

“Really? Are you following them because you’re curious if they’re really dating?”

“Huh…? Sakurada-san, were you following them?”

“…Huh!? N-no, that’s not it! I-I-I just—!”

“Just?”

“Shut up! It’s none of your business!”

“Well, you’re right~. Then I’ll take my leave.”

Just when I thought I had avoided getting involved in trouble, this happened. 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about what she was doing, but it wasn’t worth throwing away a peaceful day off just to dig into it.

I was about to retreat when someone grabbed the hem of my clothes.

“Wait a minute.”

“Wha…what is it?”

“Ugh… don’t make such an obvious annoyed face… You’re coming with me too!”

“Huh? Why should I!?”

“Shut up! You’ve got nothing to do anyway, right!? It’s better to be with a girl than wandering around alone as a guy! Be grateful!”

“Eh….”

With that outrageous and mysterious logic, I ended up trailing after Fuyunagi-san, together with Sakurada-san.

The two of them looked incredibly close. Seeing Fuyunagi-san cling to Sado’s arm, pressing her ample chest against him, and smiling so radiantly… it stung a little.

I guess that means I’ve been more conscious of Fuyunagi-san than I thought.

But the distance between them… they looked genuinely lovey-dovey.

The fact that all of that is just an act makes women seriously terrifying.

Still, even knowing it’s an act, the pain hits when it hits.

The only reason I wasn’t as crushed as I expected might be thanks to the gyaru next to me… probably not a wrong assumption.

Seeing someone next to me suffering even more somehow kept me grounded… or something like that.

From following them, something I’d only suspected before was finally confirmed.

That is……

“Ahh… they’re getting that close…!”

“Their shoulders! Their shoulders are touching!!”

“Their haaaands!! Don’t hold hands, come on!!”

“Their faces—too close, way too close!!”

Whenever Fuyunagi-san and Sado held hands or exchanged a smile, Sakurada-san reacted to every little move they made.

Anyone could tell at a glance that Sakurada-san was completely in love with Sado.

Even though she knew they were on a date, she couldn’t sit still, and that’s probably why she ended up tailing them like this to keep watch over the two of them.

It looked exhausting, honestly.

People like her have plenty of pointless energy, but not nearly enough courage to actually step between the two of them.

“Is that enough? Then I’m leaving.”

“Haa!? And you call yourself a guy!? Your precious Shiruku is getting all lovey-dovey with another man, you know!? Don’t you have, like—anything to say about that!?”

“Even if you say that, all I can think is that it’s a good thing that a handsome man and a beautiful girl get along so well…”

“Ughh, you’re so withered, seriously. That’s exactly why guys like you get called herbivore boys, you know? You understand that?”

“Just leave me alone!”

“Like, seriously—you’re way too unresponsive for someone hanging out with a girl! Show a little innocent reaction or something!”

“You can’t just force an ‘innocent reaction’… geez… you’re such a pain…”

“A-a pain!? When you’re with me? …grrr… Anyway, what are you even doing in a place like this? Someone like you should normally be at home reading manga or playing games, right?”

“Excuse you! Even otaku go outside sometimes!”

“Oh ho~?”

“I’ve only talked to you for the first time today, but you’re really getting on my nerves! You damn gyaru!”

“Says the guy who started out speaking politely and suddenly switched to casual speech—aren’t you looking down on me?”

We ended up arguing back and forth, and then…

“Ah!! We lost them!!”

“It’s because you keep messing around with me!”

“Shut up! I wasn’t messing around with you!”

“Haa~… whatever. Well, did you have something you wanted to do in the first place?”

“I was going to see a movie.”

“Hmm, I’ll watch that too!”

“Huh? It’s an anime.”

“What’s the problem? I’m the type of gyaru who doesn’t have any prejudice against anime or otaku stuff, okay?”

“A gyaru who actually recognizes herself as a gyaru!?”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m some kind of alien!”

And so, for some reason, I ended up watching an anime movie with Sakurada-san, a popular gyaru from my class.

Why?

I don’t even understand that myself.