Maybe it was just her imagination, but Hasebe Haruka couldn't shake the feeling that Airi and Miki had become unusually attached to each other lately.
Had the two of them done something behind her back?
The suspicion had been growing ever since Airi started dating Kaoru. Miki's behavior had become stranger too, and after returning from the uninhabited island exam, the two girls were constantly huddling together and whispering. Whatever they talked about, both of them usually ended up red-faced by the time they were done.
Whenever Haruka saw them like that, complicated emotions gathered in her chest.
'Am I being left out again?'
The familiarity of that feeling made her deeply uncomfortable.
So during today's little gathering, Haruka decided she would simply make an excuse and leave early.
Miki and Airi apparently noticed nothing unusual and soon suggested ending the gathering for the day anyway.
That only made Haruka feel worse.
Were they actually waiting for her to leave?
Was she really destined to keep losing every group of friends she managed to find?
She repeatedly told herself to calm down, yet the thought kept resurfacing until irritation steadily replaced the sadness.
Then Haruka happened to notice a familiar figure in the distance.
She paused, glanced casually toward Miki and Airi, and confirmed that neither of them had seen him.
"You two go ahead. I've got something else to do."
Miki and Airi found the timing slightly odd, but neither girl had the personality to interrogate her over it, so they simply said goodbye and left.
Haruka waited until they disappeared before heading toward the nearby convenience store.
The moment she stepped inside, she spotted the familiar back she had been looking for.
Kaoru was standing in front of the produce section, apparently choosing ingredients for dinner.
Before he noticed her, Haruka reached past him and dropped an onion into his basket.
"If you're making curry, these sweeter onions are better."
She leaned close as she spoke, peering into his basket like she had every right to reorganize his groceries.
Kaoru turned toward her.
"Long time no see, Haruka."
Haruka's expression immediately soured.
"That sounds ridiculously distant. Like you're greeting some classmate you haven't seen in three hundred years."
She added potatoes and carrots to his basket as well.
"You're only on suspension. You're still around school sometimes, so why haven't you come to see me?"
"I've been busy with agency work lately and haven't had much free time. Sorry."
Kaoru felt faintly guilty.
The truth was far worse.
He had genuinely forgotten.
Airi kept bringing Miki over whenever Kaoru returned to school, and somewhere between dealing with those two, Kei, Kikyō, Honami, the idols, and everything else, Haruka had slipped straight out of his schedule.
"I see."
Haruka nodded as though she had suddenly remembered something important.
"Right. I almost forgot you're a famous person."
Her tone became exaggeratedly solemn.
"I hear 283 Production is releasing new music soon. The advertising is everywhere. Posters all over the city, ads all over the internet... impressive comeback for the legendary genius composer."
She sounded so sincere that Kaoru couldn't decide whether she was praising him or mocking him.
Then Haruka suddenly curled one hand into an imaginary microphone and held it near his mouth.
"Mitoma-san, hello. I'm a reporter from TBS. Could you explain why you chose this particular moment to return to the entertainment industry? Will you continue abusing your authority over innocent idols? There are also rumors that your comeback is actually an elaborate scheme to recruit even more beautiful girls into your harem. Furthermore, sources claim you possess supernatural powers. Any comment?"
"No comment."
Kaoru pushed away her imaginary microphone.
"If TBS employed reporters like you, I'd have you thrown out of the press conference immediately."
"I understand."
Haruka instantly turned the imaginary microphone toward herself.
"Breaking news: legendary composer Mitoma Kaoru has refused to deny allegations of harassing young women and is now apparently attempting to silence this reporter before she can expose the—ah!"
Kaoru lightly pinched her side.
He had only meant to stop her ridiculous broadcast, but Haruka's entire body jerked in surprise and a startled sound escaped her.
Her ears immediately turned red.
She glared at him, equal parts embarrassed and annoyed.
Kaoru paused.
'She's that sensitive?'
Still, he had to admit that her reaction was unexpectedly cute.
Haruka seemed to guess exactly what he was thinking and pressed her lips together.
"Don't touch me there again. It tickles."
Some people were simply sensitive around the ears, neck, waist, or other places, and even a light touch could make them jump.
Unfortunately, her warning had almost the opposite effect from what she intended.
"Fine. I won't."
Kaoru suppressed the urge to tease her again and looked down at his basket instead.
"You know how to cook?"
Haruka could tell he was changing the subject, but she answered anyway.
"Do you seriously think I'm some helpless little girl who can't do anything?"
She lightly punched his arm.
After all this time, couldn't he update his opinion of her at least once?
"I don't watch you twenty-four hours a day. How would I know whether you cook? You usually eat at the cafeteria."
"That's because cooking for one person is annoying. You have to buy ingredients, cut everything, cook rice, make soup, wash the dishes afterward... if I have to do all of that, the world might as well end."
Kaoru looked at her.
"Wasn't your class running low on private points? Free ingredients from the convenience store should taste better than surviving on the cafeteria's vegetable set."
"You're unbelievably annoying. If you already knew I was living on rabbit food, why didn't you feed me?"
"What does that even mean?"
Haruka gave him an accusatory look.
"Because the first time we met, a certain suspicious older man tried to lure an innocent junior-high girl away by offering her food."
"Your stomach was growling. That's why I talked to you. Besides, you were sitting alone in a park instead of going home. You were the suspicious one."
"I don't remember that. I only remember some creepy old man trying to trick a cute junior-high girl into following him home, and now he's disguised himself as a high-school student. Who knows how many poor girls have already fallen victim to him?"
"Funny. I remember a certain junior-high girl sitting in a park crying because she thought her friends had abandoned her, then talking my ear off afterward."
"Gross."
Haruka hugged her arms around herself and gave him a look of theatrical disgust.
"You remember something that insignificant? That's seriously creepy. I'm getting goosebumps."
Kaoru found himself smiling despite her insults.
Maybe it was nostalgia.
Their relationship had always been like this, even though back then it had amounted to only a handful of chance meetings in the park.
He added a pack of beef to the basket.
That should be everything.
Haruka watched him for a moment before catching the edge of his shirt.
Her expression changed.
"You really are coming back, right?"
The question was much quieter than everything she had said before.
Just as Haruka had joked earlier, ever since Kaoru returned to 283 Production, the agency had launched a nationwide advertising campaign for its upcoming album. As long as someone had an internet connection, it was almost impossible not to encounter some form of 283 promotion.
Kaoru's old name, however, had been kept out of the publicity.
Haruka didn't care about that.
She had been one of his die-hard fans long before most people at school knew who he was.
Sometimes she wondered how Michael Jackson fans would react if they suddenly learned he had returned from the dead. Probably screaming, crying, celebrating, losing their minds.
Yet Haruka didn't feel anything like that.
Instead, there was a quiet frustration inside her.
Once, she had been one of the only people who knew Kaoru's secret.
Now she could only watch him disappear back into a world full of idols and girlfriends.
Haruka had repeatedly wondered whether she had been too cautious from the beginning.
If she had known things would turn out this way, maybe she should have simply gone after him when she had the chance.
"It isn't really a comeback."
Kaoru shook his head.
"This time I'm staying behind the scenes. I don't need to appear publicly like I did before."
He was already sick to death of entertainment news.
If reporters discovered that the genius composer everyone thought was dead had suddenly reappeared, the media would explode.
"Once I finish the work I need to handle, I'll come back here and graduate with everyone."
Haruka froze.
"You're coming back to school?"
"A Producer shouldn't really be the face of an agency anyway."
Kaoru spoke casually.
"Back then, I thought using the whole 'genius composer plus beautiful idols' angle would create some useful publicity. Instead, it got completely out of control."
He shrugged.
"Being the owner behind the scenes suits me better. The people fans want to see are the girls shining onstage, not some weird old pervert standing behind them."
For some reason, Haruka's mood improved immediately.
"So nobody knows you're secretly controlling them again?"
"Working behind the scenes. Not controlling."
"Hehe. Is there a difference?"
Haruka ignored his correction and bumped her shoulder lightly against his, smiling as though to say he didn't need to explain himself.
Kaoru sighed.
"When the next big show happens, I'll save you one of the best seats. I won't stand you up this time."
Haruka immediately glared at him.
"You have the nerve to say that?"
She had been one of his biggest fans and had still failed to get a ticket to that final grand performance.
Worse, she hadn't even possessed his private contact information.
"The idols were all precious treasures, while everybody else was weeds, right?"
Haruka folded her arms.
"You wouldn't even give me your contact information."
For all her jokes about Kaoru being a shameless old pervert, the old Kaoru had actually been ruthlessly selective. Plenty of people tried to get close to him, but if they weren't one of his idols, he rarely showed any interest at all.
Haruka had always thought she was pretty enough to at least catch his attention.
Instead, Kaoru had rejected her without hesitation.
He hadn't even bothered exchanging numbers.
At the time, she had wanted to hit him.
Kaoru looked slightly uncomfortable.
Back then, his motivations had been tied heavily to wishes and rewards, and Haruka simply hadn't possessed anything that drew his system's attention.
There was absolutely no way he could explain that.
Fortunately, he had another defense.
"You gave me a fake name the first time we met."
Kaoru looked at her.
"You were the one who said we were just strangers who happened to talk in a park and didn't need to know anything about each other."
If Haruka hadn't lied about her name, Kaoru probably would have recognized her much sooner after entering Advanced Nurturing High School.
Haruka's face reddened.
"That was different. You suddenly started talking to me. Of course I was scared."
What was wrong with a girl protecting herself?
She hadn't lied maliciously.
"I seem to remember you later claiming to be one of my fans. Yet apparently seeing me in person terrified you."
"Stop talking about it!"
Haruka covered her ears.
"It was all your fault anyway!"
She hadn't even been his fan at the time.
That came later.
"Finished?"
Kaoru lifted his basket.
"Do you need to buy anything?"
Haruka glanced at him and shook her head.
She had only entered the store because she saw him.
Naturally, she had nothing to buy.
"Alright. I'll pay."
Kaoru headed toward the register, and Haruka followed.
"You're cooking alone?"
She rarely saw him shopping for ingredients, and there was no girlfriend beside him today.
"No. I'm just buying everything."
Kaoru placed the groceries on the counter.
"Someone else is cooking."
Suzune hadn't returned yet. She was meeting people to discuss the upcoming Unanimous Vote special exam, so she had assigned Kaoru the grocery run and planned to make dinner once she got back.
From what Kaoru had heard, the exam required the entire class to vote on a series of proposals, such as whether to increase the difficulty of a future test. A proposal only passed or failed once every student reached the same answer.
On paper, it sounded easy.
Suzune suspected that meant the school intended to hide something nasty inside the questions.
Kikyō was helping her prepare, while Kei was simply out spending time with friends.
That was why Kaoru had gone shopping alone.
While he packed the groceries, Haruka looked idly around the checkout area.
Her gaze stopped on a nearby shelf.
Whatever she saw there seemed to remind her of something, because color immediately rose into her cheeks.
Kaoru was about to leave.
Haruka hesitated.
Then she suddenly wrapped both arms around one of his.
Kaoru blinked.
The gesture was far more intimate than anything she normally did, and judging by the warmth spreading across Haruka's face, she was perfectly aware of it.
"Do you have time to spend a while alone with your little fan?"
She blinked innocently at him.
Her tone sounded casual.
The tips of her ears were bright red.
Kaoru took a slow breath.
"I do, but aren't you embarrassed clinging to me like this?"
"Nope."
Haruka leaned a little closer.
"I think idols are supposed to reward their fans."
Kaoru gave her a helpless look.
"You're not the idol."
"Details."
She rose slightly onto her toes and whispered near his ear.
"So? Nice?"
Kaoru had to remind himself that they were standing in a public convenience store.
"Yes. Very nice."
He lowered his voice.
"Happy now?"
Haruka's eyes curved into a delighted smile.
"Mostly."
"You're really not worried someone will see?"
"You're right."
Haruka immediately nodded as though she had reached a profound conclusion.
"We probably shouldn't let people watch."
Then, without releasing his arm, she added, "Let's go sit in the café for a while. There's something I want to ask you."
She didn't wait for permission.
Still holding him like they were already a couple, Haruka led Kaoru out of the store.
Kaoru had no idea what game she was playing, but at this point, following her seemed easier than arguing.
The café was busy with students finishing their afternoon classes.
Several people noticed Kaoru walking in with Haruka on his arm. Surprise came first, followed by the familiar mixture of envy and disbelief.
Most of them had probably reached the obvious conclusion.
Mitoma Kaoru had acquired yet another girlfriend.
Haruka chose a secluded booth in one corner, away from most of the room, then finally sat across from him.
Kaoru quietly relaxed.
If she had kept pressing herself against him, maintaining a normal conversation might have become difficult.
"So what did you want to ask?"
"Let me think."
Haruka ordered two lattes before looking directly at him.
"I really do have something I want to know, and you're not allowed to dodge the question or refuse to answer."
The more serious she became, the more cautious Kaoru felt.
"Ask first."
Haruka frowned at him, then bit her lip.
"Recently... Airi and Miki have been acting strange."
"Strange?"
Kaoru blinked.
"Shouldn't you ask them?"
"I think it has something to do with you."
Haruka nudged his shin under the table.
"Ever since you started dating Airi, Miki's been weird too."
Kaoru understood immediately.
"They keep disappearing together, and you're worried they have some secret they're hiding from you?"
Haruka's expression darkened.
"You knew."
She had barely explained anything and he had already guessed.
Still, Haruka's reaction was perfectly understandable.
Friendships between three people could become strangely fragile.
If two suddenly became much closer, the third could easily start wondering whether she was being pushed outside the circle, reduced to someone optional.
Kaoru cleared his throat.
"It does have something to do with me."
He hesitated only briefly.
"Miki and I are dating now."
He said it so casually that Haruka failed to process the sentence at first.
Then a vein practically appeared on her forehead.
"I see."
Her smile became terrifyingly polite.
"So that's what was happening. I was the only idiot who didn't know anything while those two kept whispering behind my back."
She laughed softly.
"Hehe. Amazing work, Kaoru. The second nobody's watching, you collect another one."
Kaoru winced when Haruka stepped on his shoe beneath the table.
"I think I deserve an explanation."
Haruka was genuinely angry now.
"And if your standards are based on appearance, I'm hardly losing to those two, am I? If you're going to behave like some corrupt Producer anyway, wouldn't I have been the more obvious choice?"
There was a devoted fan sitting right here.
Apparently he possessed enough courage to chase every girl around him except the one who had liked him before any of them.
Haruka became angrier the longer she thought about it.
She had been there first.
How had Miki somehow passed her?
Kaoru had no good explanation.
"It happened because of a complicated series of misunderstandings. I felt responsible for how things developed, and eventually we decided to date."
Haruka's expression worsened.
She had explicitly told him not to evade the question.
"Responsible?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"What did you do to her?"
"Something stupid."
"Pervert."
Haruka stared at his completely unrepentant face.
Then something in her expression changed.
Kaoru immediately sensed danger.
Under the table, Haruka had quietly slipped one shoe off and hooked her foot around his lower leg.
He froze.
The soft fabric of her sock brushed against him as she slowly nudged his leg, the movement gentle enough to seem accidental if he hadn't known better.
Kaoru inhaled sharply and caught her ankle before she could continue.
"Stop messing around. What if someone sees?"
Haruka rested her chin on both hands and looked utterly pleased with herself.
"It's fine. You like girls' feet, don't you?"
Her eyes gleamed.
"I may not be as cute as your girlfriends, but I'm reasonably confident."
She shifted her foot again, deliberately testing his composure.
Kaoru tightened his grip around her ankle.
Unfortunately, Haruka seemed to find that even funnier.
"Hmm?"
Her smile became foxlike.
"Don't tell me that was enough to get a reaction out of you."
Kaoru gave her a warning look.
"You're enjoying this too much."
"Obviously."
Haruka laughed quietly.
"You spent years acting impossible to approach. Now I finally find out that all I had to do was discover your weakness."
Kaoru looked toward the rest of the café.
Nobody seemed to be paying them any attention.
That only made the situation worse.
Haruka clearly knew it too.
She finally withdrew her foot, and Kaoru assumed the ridiculous game was over.
Instead, she stood, walked around the table, and sat down beside him.
Her perfume immediately reached him.
Haruka glanced at his expression and smiled.
"How embarrassing."
She leaned closer.
"A girl teases you a tiny bit and suddenly you stop acting so composed. I'm genuinely worried about your future, Mitoma-san. Are you going to fall apart every time some pretty girl waves a foot in your direction?"
Then she wrapped herself around his arm again.
Kaoru sighed.
"How did this conversation become revenge?"
"Because you deserve punishment."
Haruka answered as though it were obvious.
"And because I'm a kind, compassionate girl who couldn't possibly leave a poor suffering pervert unattended."
"This usually goes the other way around."
"Maybe you're finally learning what it feels like."
Haruka smiled brightly.
Kaoru stared at her.
"I'm going to get even with you eventually."
"Good."
Her smile widened.
"That's what I'm hoping for."
There was no embarrassment in that answer.
If anything, Haruka looked pleased that she had finally managed to turn the tables on him.
For years, Kaoru had been the impossible person—the celebrity she couldn't reach, the mysterious stranger she met in a park, the Producer surrounded by idols, and later the boy who somehow appeared in her classroom wearing a student uniform.
Now he was sitting beside her, visibly flustered because of something she had done.
Haruka liked that far more than she expected.
Kaoru lightly squeezed her side in retaliation.
Haruka immediately twitched.
"Hey."
"You started it."
"That doesn't mean you're allowed to exploit weak points."
"You literally just spent five minutes doing exactly that."
"Different rules."
"Of course."
Haruka leaned against him with obvious satisfaction.
The earlier frustration in her chest had begun to fade.
For some reason, being able to annoy Kaoru like this made the complicated distance between them feel smaller.
Eventually, though, Kaoru looked at her more seriously.
"If we keep acting like this, Haruka, we're probably not going to stay ordinary friends."
Haruka fell quiet.
Then she bit her lip.
"I never wanted to stay ordinary friends forever."
Kaoru looked at her.
Haruka's earlier confidence faltered beneath his gaze.
"You really didn't recognize me when we first met again?"
"Not immediately."
Kaoru smiled faintly.
"I only figured it out when you started pretending to casually show me something on your phone and saying the celebrity in the picture looked strangely similar to you."
Haruka's face heated.
"So you knew I was pretending?"
"Eventually."
"You should've apologized properly once you figured it out."
There was more embarrassment than anger in her complaint.
Kaoru remained silent for a moment.
Then his voice softened.
"If I apologize now, will you give me another chance?"
Haruka instinctively looked away.
Her heart suddenly began beating too quickly.
"What does that mean?"
"You already have beautiful idols and girlfriends."
The jealousy slipped into her voice before she could stop it.
"They're them."
Kaoru looked directly at her.
"You're you."
Haruka's throat tightened.
"A girl once told me she was my fan. I believed her."
His expression turned faintly amused.
"Now I'm thinking I'd rather trick that fan into staying beside me for the rest of her life."
Haruka's nose stung.
One reason she had never dared approach Kaoru seriously was that the history between them felt so insignificant compared with everyone else's.
If she had not happened to meet him in that park, their connection would have been nothing more than Producer and distant fan.
If Kaoru had never spoken to her that day, Haruka might never even have followed 283 Production afterward, much less developed feelings for him.
Her friend had been the one who originally brought her to the performance.
She could no longer remember exactly when admiration became affection.
Maybe it began with their bickering in the park.
Those ridiculous conversations had made her curious about the strange man she met there.
Then she started following 283 Production.
She watched Kaoru and the idols climb higher and higher until, before anyone realized it, they had created something that felt almost miraculous.
Somewhere along the way, Haruka had fallen for him.
And somewhere along the way, she had also begun resenting the idols who possessed so much more of his life than she ever could.
Their history was simply too short.
They had barely spent any time together.
They hadn't even exchanged real names or contact information.
Then Haruka saw Kaoru again at Advanced Nurturing High School, and the feelings she had buried suddenly started moving again.
"Want to come over for dinner tonight?"
Kaoru asked, deliberately making his tone lighter.
"And I mean actual dinner. Nothing suspicious. Just like the meal I bought you back then."
It would inconvenience Suzune slightly, but one extra person at the table hardly mattered.
More importantly, after Haruka had already come this far toward him, continuing to push her away would make Kaoru feel like an absolute bastard.
She had made her move.
Now it was his turn.
Haruka seemed to understand.
She quickly wiped the corner of one eye with the back of her hand as though pretending nothing had happened, then raised her head with a fresh smile.
"Well, if you're going to insist…"
She cleared her throat.
"I suppose I can reluctantly accept."
Kaoru was about to answer when Haruka leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Then she immediately pulled back, smiling so brightly that Kaoru could almost imagine a fluffy tail wagging behind her.
For the first time all day, Haruka no longer felt like the friend who had been left behind.