Same restaurant,
from the other side of the partition at the group table.
At a table for four people, the girls were staring at the menu list with some kind of devilish look on their faces.
Amane, Hakua, Haru, and Inori…
These heroines had unexpectedly found themselves bound together by their shared affection for Izumi. For the moment, they had united in the goal of…well, monitoring Izumi’s date.
Surveying the restaurant Izumi had chosen, Amane muttered gravely,
“…Not bad.”
Hakua nodded.
“…Indeed, not bad at all.”
Even Haru seemed to generally approve.
“…Well, I suppose it’s decent for him.”
There was no need to make a big fuss, yet it avoided feeling too casual like fast food. The relatively unhurried crowd at this hour made for a comfortable atmosphere to linger.
And that was precisely the issue vexing the trio.
((((I don’t want him having such a nice date with some other girl!))))
The petty jealousies of a maiden’s heart.
Watching the three stew in their conflicted feelings, Inori let out a deep sigh.
(If the place was cheesy, you’d all just complain about that instead~…)
She wanted to leave as soon as possible, but couldn’t just abandon Haru or there was no telling what trouble she might cause. Inori decided to at least have the meal they were treating her to before making her escape.
But what exactly were these three hoping to accomplish by taking such a risky course of action? She pondered that obvious question.
And their innermost thoughts were —
((((Wh-What do we do now~…))))
Utterly planless!
Indeed, if they had been driven by a strong determination to actually interfere with the date, it would be a different story.
But the reality was the three had become somewhat level-headed again. Whatever wicked intent they may have initially harbored to sabotage the date had lost its momentum.
A downside of their impromptu team-up –
the watchful eyes of the group made it harder to take any bold action!
Where had that earlier leadership gone? Amane passed the menus around with an awkward grin.
“S-So what’ll you have, prez~?”
“Well, in that case, let’s go with your recommendation…”
They exchanged strained smiles.
An outside observer would probably tell them “Just go home already.” In reality, they themselves likely wanted to leave as well.
However, they were too curious about Izumi and Nanao’s date to retreat. Why did they have such patience, unable to simply make a move?
“……..”
Silence fell after each of them placed their orders.
“Um, well…”
Amane seemed to be struggling to find a conversation topic.
Normally she’d bring up a classic romance topic like “Hey, what do you all think about the guys in our class recently?” But this time, that route was inadvisable. One misstep could potentially escalate into a bloody duel.
Then, they heard faint, secretive laughter coming from the table over there!
[Izumi-kun, are you blushing again?]
[N-No I’m not. Anyway, just hurry up and decide what you want to eat…]
––CLATTER!
The three girls stood up abruptly from their seats to peer over at their situation.
“Ah! Izumi-cchi, why is your face so red?!”
“Izumi-kun…when did you become such a shy boy…”
“Senpai, shut up…”
At his masterful display of the losing heroine move, the bystander Inori let out a sigh.
“…Actually, if you’re all so curious, why don’t you just join them over there?”
“…!?”
The three girls were stunned by her bombshell proposal that defied all reason.
“B-But, that’s a bit…”
“Yes. Even we have a sense of pride after all…”
“Inori. That’s not good…”
Inori wished they should Google the meaning of “pride” right away.
“You all have known Senpai for a long time, right?”
Taking advantage of her non-involved position, she probed further.
For Inori, this whole event…was just something to observe from the sidelines, making sure it didn’t get too out of hand. So as far as she was concerned, she didn’t care what happened between Izumi, Nanao, and the others. If these three wanted to start fighting, so be it. Angels simply do what’s best for themselves.
“With Izumi-cchi…”
“With Izumi-kun…”
“With Senpai…”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
The three girls exchanged glances, then slowly returned to their seats.
Their curries had also arrived, so they quietly started eating. The aroma of spices has a way of stealing one’s heart.
The first to broach the topic was the eldest, Hakua.
“I first met Izumi-kun back in middle school.”
“Wasn’t it like an arranged marriage thing?”
“Yes. Our families were finalizing a major business partnership, and there was talk of betrothing the respective heirs…”
“So arranged marriages are still a thing these days?”
“Not as common, but they do happen in certain circles. No matter how modern the era, those traditional familial ties remain important.”
“But he said ‘former’?”
“My, you’re quite persistent. Well, I can’t go into too much detail, but Izumi-kun ended up dropping out as a candidate heir of that company. My father got angry and annulled our engagement.”
“Ahh, like something out of a drama!”
At that point, Inori addressed Haru between bites of curry.
“Even after the engagement was broken off, why do you still harbor feelings for Senpai? Based on that story, it seems like it would damage your relationship with your father too.”
Caught off guard by the direct question, Hakua’s face turned beet red.
Completely unlike her usual composed “Ice Princess” demeanor, she fidgeted shyly as she confessed.
“B-Because I like him. From the beginning, I never wanted to marry Izumi-kun just for the company’s sake.”
“Why not?”
“W-Why, you ask…”
Flustered, she let out a resigned sigh.
Given the company present, she realized any pretense would be futile.
“He’s kind, and a gentleman. Whenever Father and I would argue, which was often, he would always take my side. He would step in and negotiate between us many times. I thought if it was Izumi, he would cherish me forever…and then…”
Her face turned even redder as she trailed off awkwardly.
Any students who only knew her as the academy’s “Ice Princess” would likely be dumbfounded to see her act like such a lovestruck maiden. The other three girls couldn’t help but react with an “Ohhh…” sort of vibe.
…But then,
Hakua gripped her curry spoon tightly as a dark aura began emanating from her body.
When she looked up, that smile had reverted back to her academy “Ice Princess” persona. What’s more, a pronounced [💢] had surfaced on her temple.
“I’d assumed he did it because I was the most important thing to him…but I seem to have been sorely mistaken about that…!”
“Um, president? Your spoon…your spoon is getting bent out of shape… president?”
They hurriedly tried to bring the darkness-consumed Hakua back to reality.
She cleared her throat to recompose herself.
“What about you, Haru-san? You’ve only been enrolled here for about a month, right?”
“Ah, well Haru…”
Her best friend Inori glanced over at Haru before continuing for her.
Of course, Inori knew Haru wasn’t the type to openly tell such personal stories. But since she didn’t stop her, Inori took over.
“Before we enrolled…back when we was still in middle school, I was hit on by some shady guys. Haru tried to intervene…”
“Oh? Was everything okay?”
“Ahaha, this girl has a bit of a mouthy attitude, so things escalated. Then one of the guys tried to hit Haru.”
Inori looked over at the reddening Haru.
Haru shyly muttered,
“…That’s when Senpai helped me…yeah…”
Seemingly recalling that fateful encounter with her destined hero, her face was burning red. She probably wanted to disappear after having that dramatic first meeting revealed.
However, the one most surprised was Amane.
“Eh? Izumi-cchi is that kind of character!?”
Having only known his mild-mannered class persona, her reaction was understandable.
But Hakua seemed somewhat unsurprised.
“That does sound like Izumi-kun.”
“Ehhh!? Was Izumi-cchi actually the confident, fighter-type?!”
“I don’t know how good he is at fighting per se. But Izumi-kun’s family is very strict on him. From a young age, he was treated like an adult in many ways…Honestly, he was raised by people far scarier than any cocky schoolboys.”
Inori laughed as she continued the story to Haru.
“So when you spotted Senpai proctoring the high school entrance exams?”
“…Y-Yeah.”
It was a fateful encounter for her.
The problem was, Izumi himself didn’t even remember it happening. To him, it wasn’t that big a deal. He really was criminally oblivious.
After Hakua and Haru had bared their inaugural love stories…
The gaze naturally turned to the last remaining girl, Amane.
“So what about you, Amane-san?”
“How about you, Amane-senpai?”
Pressed by Hakua and Haru, Amane fidgeted nervously.
“W-Well for me…”
Recalling her first encounter with Izumi and the others…
Her cheeks flushed with inexplicable embarrassment as she averted her eyes.
“During a break from my modeling work, Izumi made copies of the class notes for me…”
“…………”
Compared to the other two, her story was utterly unremarkable.
Amane felt that as well. That’s why she hesitated to be fully truthful. For a moment, she envisioned the other girls mocking her.
But they simply nodded with gentle smiles.
“It does sound like something Izumi-kun would do, and end up giving the wrong impression.”
“Honestly, his lack of ulterior motives is more trouble than it’s worth.”
In that moment, Amane’s heart was filled with a warm feeling—
Sympathy.
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