Staring at the clear lipstick mark in his palm, Katsuragi Ren chuckled helplessly.
Fine, you've figured things out, but then you pull this to try and shake my composure? Trying to win just once?
Utaha Kasumigaoka had underestimated him. Did she think he was some naive boy she could tease?
After washing his hands at the sink, Ren walked over to a nearby vending machine and dropped in some coins.
He pressed the button for a mint soda, then turned to the beautiful girl who had been following him. "What are you drinking, Megumi?"
"Lemon soda would be fine. Thank you, Katsuragi-kun."
Megumi Kato hadn't expected to get a drink too. Since Ren had asked, she didn't act overly polite. Most of the time, being too polite only meant keeping a distance.
There was a subtle detail in her speech, as well. Before Nino Nakano had arrived at the class, Megumi used to call him "Katsuragi-san," but now she had shifted to a slightly more familiar tone.
"You're too polite, Megumi."
As long as she didn't say "whatever," it was fine. Hearing her state her preference precisely, Ren pressed the button for the lemon soda.
Thud, thud—
The typical anime trope of a drink getting stuck didn't happen. Two cans dropped from the machine and landed perfectly in the retrieval slot.
Ren handed the lemon soda to Megumi, pulled the tab on his own can, and tilted his head back to take a long gulp.
He had gotten thirsty halfway through "enlightening" Utaha, but it would have been rude to cut the conversation short, so he had endured it.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
After finishing the entire can of soda, Ren felt like he had come back to life.
Megumi unscrewed her cap and took a shallow sip of the lemon soda before asking, "Katsuragi-kun, what were you talking about with Sawamura-san and Kasumigaoka-san just now?"
On her way, Megumi had encountered Eriri Spencer Sawamura, who had been so deep in thought she nearly walked into a lamppost. Megumi had pulled her back just in time to save her from a massive bump on the head.
After learning from Eriri that the daze was caused by a conversation with Ren, Megumi asked for the location and came looking for him. By the time she arrived, Ren's talk with Utaha was already ending, so she simply stayed by his side.
Megumi remained quiet, partly to keep testing if Ren could truly notice her consistently. She was genuinely afraid—afraid that Ren, like everyone else, would eventually start to ignore her existence.
From what she could see so far, Ren always noticed her. This made the girl very happy.
"We were talking about the club you joined."
Ren threw the empty can accurately into a nearby trash can and gave a general answer. He then glanced at Megumi, considering whether he should "enlighten" her as well.
Since both Eriri and Utaha, who were involved with Tomoya Aki, had developed issues, Ren had to wonder if Megumi had been brainwashed by him as well—even if she didn't show any signs of it yet.
"About the club? Isn't the club about to be dissolved anyway?"
Megumi was a bit surprised. She hadn't expected Ren to be discussing Tomoya Aki's club with the other two girls.
"It's not about the dissolution. It's more that they both seem to be victims of a certain..." Ren chose his words carefully, wanting to find a gentler way to tell Megumi about the brainwashing.
"Manipulation?" Megumi finished his sentence.
"You know about it too, Megumi?"
"Mhm. My presence is quite low, and most of the time I'm just a 'little transparent' observer in the club, so I see things quite clearly."
Tomoya Aki claimed he wanted Megumi to be the heroine of his game, yet most of the time he still ignored her presence, and he even got her name wrong. Having talked with Ren before, Megumi had long since abandoned the idea of Tomoya increasing her visibility. She no longer bought into the "grand dreams" he tried to sell.
Compared to Tomoya's empty promises, a real, tangible person who was considerate felt much better. Holding the lemon soda Ren bought her with both hands, Megumi stole a glance at him.
"Megumi, if you want to look, just look openly. I'm not going to complain."
What Megumi thought was an unnoticed glance was seen perfectly by Ren. It was human nature to like looking at beautiful things. The so-called "male gaze" or "female gaze" were often just illusions created by people lacking self-confidence.
For most good-looking people, they actually want others to look at them. Wearing nice makeup and dressing sharply is meant to please oneself, but the gazes of others also serve as praise for one's appearance and taste. As long as the gaze isn't overtly lewd, no one dislikes being admired.
"You really are a narcissist, Katsuragi-kun."
Despite saying that, Megumi turned her body toward Ren and began to look at him openly, just as he suggested.
Ren could observe her small movements clearly; did that also mean Ren was always watching her?
Feeling Ren's direct gaze on her, a faint blush tinted Megumi's earlobes. She hurriedly took a sip of soda to suppress the flutter in her heart. Because of her special constitution, let alone being stared at so nakedly by Ren, she usually got ignored even when walking through a crowd.
"Megumi is cute. What's wrong with me looking a bit more?" Ren praised her straightforwardly.
Megumi wasn't like other girls who gave a stunning impression at first sight. At first glance, you would only think she was very ordinary, a face in the crowd. But as you continued to look at her, she had an enduring beauty that only grew the more you looked..
"Katsuragi-kun, you're joking."
It was the first time she had been called cute by anyone other than her father, and Megumi was uncharacteristically shy.
"Do you feel like you've been manipulated by Tomoya Aki? Should I give you a session of psychological counseling too?" Ren asked after teasing her for a moment.
Megumi indeed knew that Tomoya was manipulating Eriri and Utaha, but manipulation is often hard to guard against. To ensure Megumi's "self-integrity," Ren felt it was necessary to check on her.
"Eh... psychological counseling?"
Megumi tilted her head, blinking her eyes innocently at Ren.
"Does Katsuragi-kun think I've been manipulated by Aki-kun too?"
"I didn't say that. You said it yourself, Megumi." Ren blinked back at her, mimicking her expression.
"You really have a wicked heart, Katsuragi-kun~"