Satoru left his home.
He held his phone.
The phone screen showed the address sent by Shigen Ryouka.
"Crappy Map, continuously navigating for you"
He looked at it. Shigen Ryouka's house was not far from Four Houses Teahouse Station. It was only a thirty to forty-minute walk, and less than ten minutes by taxi.
Satoru decided to walk.
There are three reasons.
First, it allows for physical exercise.
Second, the weather is beautiful, and the wind is pleasant, so he can leisurely enjoy the scenery while taking a walk.
Third, he doesn't have money for a taxi (sadly).
Taxis in Japan are truly too luxurious.
He looked up again at the messages Suzuka had sent earlier.
The first message said that Ayumu suddenly had something to do today and couldn't attend the study group.
The second message told Satoru not to worry, a new friend would come to study with them, so he wouldn't feel awkward.
Satoru found Suzuka's thought process a bit hard to understand.
He and Suzuka should be considered friends, and just the two of them would be fine. Wouldn't forcing a new friend in make it even more awkward?
Social anxiety raged.
But fortunately, Satoru didn't have that trait.
Moreover, he was quite pleased; high school students really should study hard.
He switched out of the interface and saw a message from Akane first:
"I'm heading out~~ This time it's a very simple outfit, too bad you won't get to see it~~ (* ￣ 3)(ε ￣ *) "
Satoru:
"Thank goodness."
Then there was a message from Eriri, sent at 7 AM:
"Oh, so there's a study group?"
But now it was already afternoon, and Satoru still hadn't replied.
It wasn't because he had forgotten, but because he had been looking for a good time to reply.
Last time he sent a message, Sawamura took a long time to reply.
This time, he had to drag it out even longer!
This was a matter of dignity!!
However, Sawamura was quite strange.
Satoru had originally thought she added his contact information because she wanted to repay his kindness for helping her out.
But actually, regarding that matter, she only said "thank you" twice.
The rest of the time, she was inquiring about the Kendo Club.
The day after Satoru replied to her, "Yes, Sakura is our club's Minister."
Sawamura asked again, "President Miyajima is so beautiful, she must be very popular, right?"
"Yes, very popular."
"Are there many boys pursuing her?"
"It seems there aren't any." Sakura was indeed cute, beautiful, and dignified, but her reputation as an untouchable beauty was well-known, so basically no boys dared to cross the line.
And she also had Ayaka protecting her.
Furthermore, even if boys who admired her mustered the courage to confess their feelings, they would be intimidated by the murderous glares of all the Kendo Club members.
"Eh, there aren't any?"
"That's right."
"Then are there any boys who are very close to her?"
"Not really." To be honest, he originally wanted to say Masafumi, but upon second thought, he had been training that boy Kase these past few days.
Even Masafumi himself said, "I haven't talked to the Minister as much during this time as I have with Ayaka-senpai."
Satoru had originally thought he had ruined his great opportunity for a relationship, but seeing him sweat and then give him a satisfied smile, he just smiled back and didn't say anything more.
Sawamura didn't reply at that time, and it was a long time before she responded:
"Is that so? Thank you for telling me this... I hope you can keep it a secret from President Miyajima."
Satoru: "Okay."
Then he turned around and asked Sakura, who was sweating profusely in the training room: "Miyajima-senpai, do you know someone named 'Eriri'?"
Sakura stopped her wooden sword, thought carefully for a moment, then shook her head, and called over Ayaka: "Ayaka, do you know?"
Ayaka shook her head almost without thinking: "I don't know anyone named 'Sawamura' at all. What's wrong? You little brat, don't tell me you've fallen for her? I'm warning you, don't think that just because you're handsome... *cough cough*, what I mean is, don't go around flirting, keep your eyes on what's around you and seize the moment!"
Satoru recounted how Sawamura had inquired about Sakura.
Sakura shook her head in confusion; she didn't know why.
"Ah, that must be it." Kato Takeshi, the third-in-command who had been listening to the gossip, interjected: "She's also inquiring for someone else. Maybe some boy from somewhere admires our Minister, but he's too afraid to ask himself, so he asked a female friend to do it... But that's pretty pathetic. He doesn't even dare to do this kind of inquiry himself, it's hard to believe how much that guy really likes the Minister. Don't you think so, Ayaka?"
He passed the conversation, and Ayaka looked at Satoru:
"Where did you get that girl's contact information?"
"Huh?"
"Delete it! Stop messing with other girls!!"
The matter ended there.
Satoru had originally thought that after he replied with "Okay," his troublesome connection with Sawamura would end.
After all, the chat history above, though seemingly brief, was actually their entire conversation from Tuesday to Friday, and he felt a little regretful.
Although he had only met her once, Sawamura had a special sense of mystery and a maturity beyond her years, which made Satoru quite regretful.
Unexpectedly, on Saturday morning.
While Satoru was still sound asleep, Sawamura sent another message.
"It's Saturday, do you have any plans?"
After Satoru woke up, he looked at this topic, which was unrelated to Sakura and seemed more like casual chat.
He rubbed his head, wanting to reply, but then he looked at the reply interval.
So he dragged it out until evening.
"I have a study group."
And then this morning—"Is that so? So there's a study group?"
He'd reply a bit later.
Satoru thought of Sawamura's voluptuous figure at the time and suddenly smiled unconsciously.
An interesting girl.
He strolled along, lost in thought.
Unconsciously, he had already arrived outside Suzuka's residence.
He was about to press the doorbell.
A slender hand also reached out at the same time.
Before Satoru and that hand could even touch, the hand's owner, as if receiving an electric shock, quickly pulled it back.
"I'm sorry." The owner of the hand apologized softly, and then: "...Eh?"
"Hmm?"
Satoru and the hand's owner's gazes met.
It was a girl.
Her smooth, ear-length bob was hidden under a baseball cap, and most of her delicate face was covered by oversized black-rimmed glasses.
Her ample figure was concealed by a loose, earthy-colored shirt and a knee-length skirt.
Her exposed, pale forearms were trembling slightly, mirroring the same astonished frequency as her eyes.
"You you you you you you you you you—" Akane said several "you"s in a row, almost biting off her tongue.
Satoru, meanwhile, sized up Akane. He was slightly surprised, but quickly understood the whole situation.
Indeed, Suzuka's friend, who else could it be?
"You're really simple."
Satoru said, then pressed the doorbell.
Akane subconsciously covered her face with her palm.
Oh no, he saw her in this ugly outfit.
Then Akane remembered that, in comparison, Suzuka inside was now wearing a rather "grand" makeup under her guidance!!
Holy crap, I'm screwing myself over!?