suspicious figures loomed behind the pair.
Four of them
All of them were shockingly cute, enough to make passersby do a double-take.
The academy’s idol, Amasaki amane.
The ice princess student council president, Shiragiku Hakua.
And the rising star known as the devil chan, Kasuga Haru.
Famous across the academy as romance experts and main heroines, this impressive lineup was tracking Izumi and Nanao. And the tense atmosphere surrounding them made their presence feel overwhelming.
Among them for some reason was the hapless Dōmoto Inori.
(Why was I dragged into this…?)
Yes, just why was she there?
The other day after class,
Inori was trying to console her friend Haru when the academy’s top beauties Amasaki and Hakua suddenly dragged her along. Now they had roped her into tailing Izumi and Nanao’s date.
……Well, that much was fine. But how did it escalate to actually stalking their date like this?
At times like these, Amasaki would take charge with a baffling sense of leadership. Clenching her fist resolutely, she made a bracing declaration:
“Listen up! Our mission today is to check if Izumi-cchi is having an appropriately pure and upright high school date! In other words, we’re protecting Nanao-cchi! Got it?!”
“Eh? I thought we were going to sabotage Senpai Izumi’s date or something~”
As Inori recalled, it was supposed to be a blatant conspiracy by the girls who liked Izumi to ruin his date… or rather, Haru felt an odd sympathy and got roped into joining them.
Hakua put on a beautiful smile befitting her nickname the “Ice Princess.”
“Fufufu. Inori-san makes such funny jokes. As if we’d ever do anything so dastardly?”
Haru nodded along.
“Inori, you really let your imagination run wild sometimes. You should be more careful.”
Watching the three feign innocence as if they’d forgotten their earlier scheming, the wrongfully accused Inori felt a pang.
(Ah~ They’ve had time to cool off and come to their senses…)
It seemed they realized trying to sabotage someone else’s date was going too far, more like romantic rivals crossing a line into unacceptable behavior.
Still, Inori felt reluctant to just let the date proceed smoothly, but also hesitated to take any action alone…
Thus these chicken-hearted girls ended up clinging to this pathetically empty-nested compromise!
As Amane checked on Izumi and Nanao’s trailing figures, she announced cheerfully,
“Alright! Let’s get going then~!”
“Yeah!!”
And so the unsightly band of losing heroines set off on their already hollow mission!
(Can I just go home already~…)
Naturally, no one answered Inori’s internal plea.
It was a tenant building a short walk from the station.
Inside was a curry shop renowned for its spice blends – an appropriately exotic yet hearty portion size. And of course, rice.
Izumi and Nanao sat across from each other at a table,
perusing the menu as they discussed their options.
“Seems like we’re choosing between chicken or pork curry.”
“Oh, they have lu rou fan too.”
“The Taiwanese braised pork rice bowl, right?”
“Ahh I don’t know~ This is tough…”
Nanao fidgeted anxiously, scanning back and forth through the menu.
‘ ………… ’
Watching her behavior, Izumi made an unexpectedly candid remark.
“That’s kinda surprising.”
“Eh? What is?”
“I figured you were the type to just decisively pick whatever.”
“That’s not true at all~ I’m actually pretty indecisive, you know?”
“Really?”
“Whenever I’d go out for meals back home, I’d always agonize until the very end and get scolded by my friends.”
“I…can’t picture that at all…”
To Izumi, this was the case.
Nanao had always seemed incredibly in touch with her own feelings. He’d imagined she’d have picked her lunch before even looking at the menu.
Nanao gave a self-deprecating laugh at his words.
“I used to worry my friends a lot by never being able to say what I really wanted.”
“Err…is that something to laugh about…?”
“Aw, you’re so mean, Izumi-kun.”
“Based on how you act at school, I just can’t believe that.”
“But it’s true.”
Nanao peered up at him over the menu covering her mouth,
an expression that almost seemed to see right through him – a gaze Izumi found slightly unsettling.
“Around you, Izumi-kun, I can be a special kind of girl?”
“…Uh!”
Feeling seen through, Izumi hurriedly averted his eyes.
“Izumi-kun, are you blushing again?”
“N-No, I’m not. Anyway, let’s decide what to eat…”
They heard a sound like someone spitting out water from the group seating area over there, but the partition blocked their view. Izumi casually thought there must be some weird customer.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
“What will you have, Izumi-kun?”
“I’ll have the two types of spicy curry mixed together.”
“Woah, wild!”
“They both looked delicious.”
“Hmm…”
Nanao stared at the menu repeating…
“Then I’ll have the lu rou fan with a soft-boiled egg on top.”
“Got it.”
Soon after ordering, the food arrived.
Spicy curry.
With its vivid appearance, it has gained popularity among the younger generation in recent years.
Not only for the health-conscious aspects of the spices, but also for the exotic atmosphere of having colorful pickles, fresh vegetable salads and more plated together instead of just curry and rice.
How the food looks is important.
Izumi and Nanao were no exception, as Nanao said with shining eyes:
“It looks sooo delicious…”
“Well, the lu rou fan looks delicious too.”
“Yeah, I can’t choose between them!”
“I can understand that feeling,”
Izumi said with a wry smile, then casually added,
“Want to try a bite of mine?”
“Eh? Really!?”
Nanao looked so surprised that Izumi felt his heart skip a beat.
(Shoot. I feel like I’m being led on by Nanao…)
But he couldn’t take the words back now.
Nanao opened her mouth happily.
“Ahh…”
“Hey, I didn’t say I’d feed you.”
“Ahh…”
“You’re really indecisive, aren’t you!?”
But she stubbornly kept her “ahh?” pose. Knowing she wouldn’t budge, Izumi reluctantly scooped up some curry with a spoon. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize his training was progressing smoothly.
“Here. Don’t move or it’ll spill…”
He felt oddly tense.
The last time was when she did “ahh?” during lunch break, but this was his first time doing something like this to a girl. This distance…was unexpectedly difficult to grasp.
(No, why am I getting tense? Nanao does stuff like this all the time…)
Just as he thought to brush it off…
“!?”
Izumi realized
the hidden challenge in Nanao’s “ahh?” pose.
He could clearly see inside her mouth.
The pure white teeth in neat rows.
Her cute little tongue visible too.
More than anything, the fact that she was defenseless, exposing her weak point.
(Wh-What is this? I feel like I’m doing something really bad…)
Putting something into a girl’s open mouth.
He felt an extremely guilty feeling, like he was doing something shady.
Nanao just tilted her head in puzzlement.
“Izumi-kun?”
“Ah, no, it’s just…”
There was no way he could admit to hesitating about feeding her.
Izumi hurriedly put the spoon in Nanao’s mouth. He felt like he could sense her licking the spoon with her tongue.
After eating it, Nanao smiled innocently.
“Izumi-kun’s is delicious.”
“Y-Yeah, I’m glad…”
When he averted his eyes, Nanao asked curiously:
“What’s wrong? Your face is red.”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Nanao watched Izumi suspiciously, then gave him a mischievous look like she could see right through him.
“It’s pretty embarrassing to do ‘ahh?’ with someone you like, huh?”
“……!?”
Having his innermost feelings seen through, Izumi panicked and looked away.
“N-No, I don’t like you like that way…”
“Hmmm? But your ears are red too?”
Covering his reddened ears, Izumi glared at her resentfully. Nanao just calmly scooped up some of her lu rou fan.
Then with an oddly testing upward glance, she held it out to him.
“Here, your turn.”
“N-No, I’m good…”
“It’s okay if it’s not from me, right?”
“Ah! So you did understand the meaning!”
The group area over there was getting noisy, but Izumi didn’t care. He vaguely registered they must be having some trouble over there.
(She’s completely the opposite of indecisive…)
After firmly refusing Nanao’s returned “ahh?”, Izumi went back to eating his food.
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