“O-Otomi-shaaaan!!”

The next day after school.

As Otomi Asuka was walking down the hallway by herself, a loud voice suddenly called out from behind her.

She turned around to see Kokonoe Touka standing there—her impression completely different after the recent makeover.

“Um… Kokonoe-san?”

“A-a-a…… um!!”

“Hm?”

“Um!!”

“Uh…?”

“Um, well!!”

Facing someone Touka wasn’t used to talking to—especially Otomi Asuka—made her so nervous that her words completely fell apart

But Asuka, as always, was kind. She was the sort of person who couldn’t ignore someone clearly trying their best.

“It’s okay. Take your time. I’ll listen properly.”

“O-Otomi-san… um… I-I… I want to… w-with you… t-tea! I want to have tea with you!!”

Touka had never gone out for tea with anyone before.

Without any friends, she spent most of her time shut away at home, living almost entirely in the world of books.

Still, if she was going to talk calmly, a café seemed like the best place—so she’d worked up the courage to make the suggestion.

“…Yeah, that’s fine.”

“W-wait, really!? Someone like me asking you out is too much, right!? I even thought it was kind of gross myself… huh? I-it’s fine?”

“Hehe, you’re a little slow to realize.”

Asuka let out a small laugh. That gentle smile was so cute that Touka couldn’t help but let the words slip out.

“S-so cute…” 

“You’re cute too, Kokonoe-san.”

After her makeover, Touka was far cuter than she realized herself.

That was why Asuka, smiling softly, returned the very same words to her.

◇◇◇ 

“I-it really is… It’s much calmer than one of those big chain cafés…”

Thinking about how easily Touka got nervous, Asuka had deliberately chosen a quiet place with few customers.

The two of them went inside and ordered their drinks.

“So… you said you had something you wanted to talk about, right? What is it?”

“U-um…………”

(If I suddenly bring up the student council, she’ll get suspicious, won’t she…? But she asked me directly… hiiii…)

Touka’s thoughts spun in circles as she desperately searched for the right words.

But with her nerves reaching their limit, she veered completely off course.

“Hehehe… what do you think of Fukase-kun!?”

“Fukase-kun… huh.”

(I-I totally messed up!! I was supposed to bring this up way later!!)

“Then let me ask you instead. What about you, Kokonoe-san? …You two look pretty close.”

“M-me? Getting along with a boy…? Th-th-that’s…!”

“Judging by that reaction, you didn’t know, did you? Actually, I happened to run into him the other day, and we had tea together for a bit.”

“W-what!? With Fukase-kun!? Eeeeh!?”

Hearing this new information, Touka widened her eyes in shock. 

Asuka had heard from Kazuto that Touka was interested in men. Back then, she’d simply assumed mentioning meeting a guy wouldn’t be an issue.

“When I happened to go out by myself, we ended up on the same train… and when I got tangled up with a pair of really persistent girls hitting on me, he stepped in and helped. Not that I was happy about it.”

“F-facing girls like that… Fukase-kun really is amazing…!”

“…You like him, don’t you?”

“N-n-n-no, that’s not it! I didn’t come here to talk about me, I came to talk about you, Otomi-san!!”

It was painfully obvious.

Touka wore all her feelings on her face, and Asuka was the perceptive type.

“So then… what about me?”

“Ah, ugh… I can’t beat around the bush anymore… I’ll just say it straight…”

She’d originally planned to get a little closer to Asuka first before bringing it up.

But being somewhat socially awkward, Touka couldn’t stick to that plan, and in the end, she went straight to the point.

“I-I saw you being invited to join the student council.”

“Oh… so you saw me talking with the vice president.”

“Yes… so, Otomi-san… how much do you know about the student council?”

“Hmm, not much at all. I only just enrolled after all, and I didn’t even know the president was so popular until after the entrance ceremony.”

Asuka still had little interest in romance, and she’d never cared much about who was popular at school.

She’d applied here for a simple reason: the school had a high academic ranking and the uniforms were cute.

“S-so I see… Um, what I’m about to say might be hard to believe. But… if possible, I want you to trust me.”

“I’ll decide that after I hear you out.”

“Ugh… o-okay. From what I found, the student council is made up of students who are especially popular even within this school. They’re good-looking too, but… the president in particular has incredible charisma.”

Asuka had seen the amount of attention the president drew during the entrance ceremony.

There really had been something about her that naturally pulled people in.

“And then, um… there’s a rumor that the president has formed a harem.”

“H-harem…? Uh…”

“A harem is when one girl is in a relationship with multiple girls, and, um… th-they do… that kind of lewd stuff…”

“W-wait a second!? I get what it means, but that’s a huge leap—I can’t keep up!”

Asuka read manga, so she understood what a harem was.

She’d never imagined someone like that could exist in real life.

And yet, she herself had been approached by the vice president—someone who seemed to be the president’s right-hand woman.

What that meant was—

“I-I rushed things too much… but what I wanted to say was, that rumor…”

“……Okay. Go on.”

Asuka took a sip of her coffee, then, once she had settled herself, urged her to continue.

“There’s a rumor about a certain second-year student… She didn’t actually join the student council, but after being invited to one of their tea gatherings, the president took a liking to her… and after that, she ended up becoming almost like a devoted follower of the president…”

“A tea… gathering.”

Asuka’s heart skipped slightly. 

After all, she herself had also been invited to a tea gathering.

“So then… the vice president didn’t invite me to recruit me into the student council, but instead… used the tea gathering as an excuse and, um… was aiming for my body?”

“T-to put it bluntly… that might be the case. Th-that said, it’s also possible it really was just a recruitment attempt! But all of the student council members are devoted followers of the president… and once you get involved, you’d inevitably be influenced to some extent…”

“…It’s hard to believe, all of that, right away.”

(If what Kokonoe-san is saying is true… then the reason I was chosen is my appearance? No… that can’t be…)

Asuka furrowed her brow and fell into thought.

Touka’s story sounded far-fetched. Still, after having been confessed to many times before, Asuka understood that her looks did tend to draw attention.

“S-so… that’s why I’m worried. If you go to that tea gathering… I don’t know what might happen to you, Otomi-san…”

“Can I ask you one thing?”

Asuka looked straight at Touka.

“The one who’s worried about this… is Fukase-kun, right?”

“Ah… u-um… y-yes… I was the one who told him about it first, and then, well… he started worrying.”

“I see.” 

(Kokonoe-san doesn’t seem like a bad person, and it doesn’t feel like she’s lying. But… given how he is, maybe there’s something more going on. Painting the student council as the villain to keep me away from them… and using that to close the distance between us…? No, he’s probably not that calculating…)

“Hmmm…”

“O-Otomi-san…?”

Fukase Kazuto was, as a boy, clearly an abnormal existence.

When he’d saved her from being hit on, and when he’d told her he liked her, her heart had jumped in a way she herself found strange.

It felt like a feeling she’d never had toward any other girl before was beginning to stir, and that realization had left her confused.

He should have been someone she could simply ignore.

And yet, now they’d even exchanged contact information.

“Alright. You took the trouble to make time and talk to me about this, didn’t you? I’ll trust you, Kokonoe-san.”

“Eh? Then—”

“I won’t join the student council. And I won’t go to the tea gathering either.”

“O-Otomi-san!! Thank you so much!!”

Asuka’s earnest response made Touka happy, and her face instantly lit up.

“I should be the one thanking you, though. Why are you the one saying thanks, Kokonoe-san?”

“B-because… even though I suddenly asked you to meet, you listened properly to everything I had to say… and that made me really happy…”

“You’ve got such a cute face, but your self-esteem is way too low. That’s a waste.”

“Ah… um… that’s because Fukase-kun and h-his sister… helped me change how I look… s-so that’s why…”

“Oh? So you’re close enough to know his sister too?”

“Ah… n-no, that’s… um…”

“Kokonoe-san, you’re really bad at keeping secrets.”

“Auuu…”

The more Touka talked, the more she let things slip.

But Asuka found that clumsiness oddly endearing.

“Well, I feel like I can’t just leave you alone… and Fukase-kun probably feels the same way.”

“Eh…?”

“You actually like Fukase-kun, don’t you?”

“—! T-then… d-don’t you like him, Otomi-san!?”

Caught up in the moment, Touka blurted it out.

“I don’t.”

“Ah…”

“Because he’s a boy, you know…? Falling for someone I never even saw as a romantic option because of their gender until now… that’s a pretty high hurdle.”

“I-I see…”

“Well, he does seem a little different from other boys… but even so, it’s still difficult.”

Hearing those words, Touka clenched her fists tightly.

She’d developed an interest in boys, and because of that, she’d met Kazuto and learned all sorts of things.

Her own feelings had slowly begun to change after hearing about how, in another world, men and women fell in love and had sexual relationships.

“…I’ll make you fall in love with Fukase-kun.”

“Eh?” 

“I’ll make it so that you, Otomi-san, end up liking Fukase-kun!!

At the completely out-of-the-blue declaration, Asuka’s eyes went wide.

Normally, she felt like she should stop her, but given how little time they’d known each other, she doubted anything she said would actually stop Touka.

And on top of that, she realized she herself was more unsettled than she expected.

“Um…”

“S-so! P-please be prepared! I-I’ll leave the money here!”

“K-Kokonoe-san?”

Touka slammed a thousand-yen bill onto the table and hurried toward the café exit—

But she stopped halfway, then immediately turned back.

“…Eh?”

“S-sorry… I’m kind of broke right now… so… f-five hundred yen…”

“Uh… y-yeah, five hundred is more than enough…”

“T-then!!”

She swapped the bill for a five-hundred-yen coin, and this time Touka bolted out of the café.

“…………She’s a strange girl. But—”

Asuka watched her disappear and let out a small laugh.

“—she’s kind of interesting.”