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The same day, after school.
Yuu was meeting Yui at a convenience store. Right now, Takuya is working hard at club activities, not realizing that Yui, who he thinks is his girlfriend, is going on a date with another guy on his way home from school.
"You're lucky if you don't know, Takuya."
Whatever the truth may be, Takuya is probably at the peak of his happiness, unaware that this happiness is only temporary.
"...Is it still not ready yet?"
Immediately after Yuu had left school, Yui sent him a LINE message saying, "Sorry, Yuu-kun. I think I'm going to be a little late," along with a stamp of a cute, deformed cat character apologizing.
Yui has always been popular, and even if Takuya is away at club activities, there will always be a certain number of people who will stop her, Yuu knew. So while he wanted to be alone with Yui as soon as possible, he didn't feel annoyed.
Yu, standing in the magazine rack by the window, notices some text in one of the magazines on display and picks up an entertainment-related magazine to look at it.
"...ah"
After flipping through a few pages, I found a promotional page for Before the Lycoris Blooms, in which Yui appears.
However, the information that has been revealed so far is limited, with only a brief storyline and a few of the main characters. It seems that more information will be released little by little to pique people's interest.
In other words, even though it is called a movie promotion, there is a limit to what can be done, and it is essentially an introduction to the actors. In other words, no matter how much news there is, it is still too early to feature it in a magazine.
Still, the reason it was being featured like this was entirely due to Yui's presence. The reason why Yu picked up this magazine was because the cover said "Special feature on Before the Lycoris Blooms."
"This isn't a feature on the movie, it's a feature on Yui-chan."
Yui is being featured prominently, ahead of the leading actor.
"Well, considering Yui's popularity, she hasn't appeared in many films and this is her first movie..."
But that's not the only reason. The reason it's been given so much attention is probably because there are fans of Shimotsuki Yui within the publishing company.
"I'm glad it was written in a positive way."
If you search for Yui Shimotsuki on social media now, you will find a lot of support and expectations from fans and people who have had at least a little positive feelings towards her. But of course, that's not all.
Yui has yet to play a leading role in a TV drama, and often only plays supporting roles.
This is because she places importance on school life, but to those who are unaware of this, it simply appears that Yui, who had no talent and had only been able to succeed as an actress based on her looks, has been given an unusual promotion.
In short, there were a few people posting negative comments on social media, including baseless rumors that she had slept with a producer and was forced to appear in the show with bribes.
"It's the other way around though."
In reality, the producer was trying to rape her. Besides, for Yui, who is an actress because she has no father and her family is poor, there is no way she could have taken advantage of the bribes.
"I guess I'll just take it as proof that I'm getting attention."
It's irritating, but it's not possible to identify each and every person who writes such things on social media.
--Knock, knock.
As I was looking at a magazine, there was a knock on the front window.
When I looked up, I saw Yui with a look of apologetic and happy all at once. She was in her usual disguise.
Then, when his gaze met Yui's, she waved lightly.
I put the magazine back where it was and went outside to meet up with them.
"I'm sorry, Yu-kun. My friend called out to me as I was leaving the classroom..."
"Okay, don't worry about it."
Yu gently speaks to Yui, who looks apologetic.
And the two of them walk towards their home.
After walking for a few minutes, the place became less crowded and Yui held Yu's hand.
"...Hey, Yu-kun."
"yeah?"
"You understand me the best, right Yu-kun?"
"Yeah... that's the intention but...?"
Not really understanding what Yui was trying to say, Yuu answered unsurely.
"Well, a friend of mine asked me to do something... Ah, it's about the school festival."
Yui continues speaking, prefaced by this remark.
"It would be a waste not to use my time at this school."
"Eh? No, but that's it."
I understand the student's feelings, but if Yui stands out too much, it will cause panic at the school festival.
"Of course, I understand, Yu-kun. It's okay, it's not like it's a play or anything like that."
Having made her preface, Yui continues.
Incidentally, since it was already certain that Yui would come in first by a long way, it had become an unspoken rule since last year not to hold a beauty pageant.
"It's a quiz. A Yui Shimotsuki quiz. Things like, what was the name of my debut work? Which work did I appear in the least amount of time in? and so on."
"Oh, that sounds interesting."
If that were the case, then it would be possible to get the questions and answers from Yui in advance, and there would be no need for her to be there on the day.
"Yu-kun, would you like to participate and win?"
"It's a given that I'll win."
"Well, you've always been the one watching over me from a long time ago. You can win, right?"
"Maybe."
It feels like Yui is pushing a little harder than usual.
"What's the matter?"
"Huh?"
"It feels different than usual."
"...Well, you see. People often say to me, "I'm jealous that you're my boyfriend" or "You're a good-looking guy."
Simply put, she doesn't mean to say anything bad about her friend's boyfriend, but Takuya is very popular among the girls, so she's probably just saying what she thinks, without flattery or anything.
There are many things you can't know until you actually date someone, so it's not strange that people think the same about Takuya.
"But I know that Yu-kun is more wonderful than Takkun. ...So I want Yu-kun to win the quiz about me. I want to show everyone that it's not Takkun who knows me best, it's Yu-kun."
A quiz about Yui. Naturally, her boyfriend Takuya also participates, and the students watching will assume that since he is her boyfriend, he will be the one to win.
Meanwhile, Takuya loses, and Yu wins, just as Yui had hoped.
(...Takuya would be so pathetic if that happened.)
"Is that okay?"
"Yeah... it's normal to want to brag about someone you like."
"...I understand. Then I'll grant your wish, Yui-chan."
"Thank you, Yu-kun."
He just wanted to sneak around the school festival without Yui and Takuya noticing, but thanks to Yui, he got a chance. A chance to make fun of Takuya.
While thanking Yui for giving him such an opportunity, Yu enjoyed a date with her on the way home from school.
By the way, when I was still in school, after having a quick look around the school festival, I would play UNO with some friends in an empty classroom.