Yu, watching me bow my head, lightly and playfully kicked the leg of my chair.
"Oh, c'mon, Little Hoshino, you don't have to do all that! Right, Kyara?"
So that's your name. Noted.
Even though he told me it was fine, I continued bowing, waiting for Kyara's response. With the pressure between my greeting and Yu's insistence, she really only had one option left.
"Yeah," she agreed. "You don't have to be so formal. A friend of Yu's is a friend of mine!"
I slowly lifted my head, looking at her with a sparkling gaze.
"Really? I wish to be as cool as you when I grow up, senior! Sadly, I suck at sports, so I don't think I could, even if I tried."
Kyara let out a bashful chuckle. "Hehe. I appreciate that. But you don't have to keep calling me that. Please, call me Kyara."
She slowly stretched out her hand, offering me a handshake. I didn't waste a second. Moving with young, ignorant excitement, I quickly gripped her hand and shook it.
"Then, it's nice to meet you, Kyara! My name is Lily, by the way."
"Yeah… It's nice to meet you too, Lily."
Seeing this, Yu's smile grew even brighter. I didn't think that was even possible for him—but apparently it was. I guess he was just happy to see his date and his friend get along.
"Anyway," I said, pulling my hand back and shooting a reluctant, dreading glance toward my notebook. "I think it's time for me to start studying again…" I sighed. "I've been set back enough for today."
Both of them, being students themselves, understood where I was coming from.
Yu especially, whose face darkened. "Yeahhhh, that sounds about right. I guess we'll get going then."
He stood up, and the two of them walked off to wherever they'd come from. But before he left, he gave me one last head ruffle.
"See you next time, Little Hoshino."
Watching the two of them disappear into the crowd, I couldn't help but sigh.
Yeah... she really is a red flag.
But I didn't spend too long doing nothing. If they glanced back to see me lounging around like this, they'd get suspicious. So, picking up my pencil, I began writing in my notebook. Not equations, not words—just random scribbles as my mind was preoccupied with something else.
So… what should I do?
Obviously, I'd rather pull Yu out of that situation as quickly as possible. But by doing so, I'd essentially be making him choose between me and her—which was an uncomfortable situation to be in. And it wasn't like I had 100% proof that she was a red flag—only minor things that ticked me off.
Furthermore, I wasn't close enough to him to start handing him romantic advice. At the end of the day, he was only my Brother's friend.
I guess… I'll just have to trust him.
I'd just have to trust that, if the time came, he'd make the right decision. Yu may be new to dating—but he wasn't stupid. Besides, from the looks of it, they weren't official yet. There was still time.
What a pain in the ass…
As I was in the middle of continuing my random scribbles, a cup of some sort of caffeinated drink was suddenly set right at the centre of my notebook.
"Watcha drawin' over there?"
I looked up. It was Yuka, who was holding a cup of her own. Which meant that the one in front of me was for me.
Seeing my face, hers scrunched into a mortified expression.
"Wow… doesn't look like the break did you any good."
Somehow, that little comment of hers pulled a deflated chuckle out of me.
"Yeah… It's a long story. I'll tell you later."
I took a long, three-second sip of the drink she gave me and let out a satisfied breath.
"Thanks, Yuka."
Yuka tilted her head, confused, but then waved her hand. "Oh, for the drink? Meh, it's nothin–"
Suddenly, her words stopped. I glanced over at her, confused.
Slowly, her lips curled up into a devilish grin. "Actually—call it an act of love~."
She clasped her hands, leaned in, and puckered her lips like she was blowing me a kiss. Rolling my eyes, I pushed her face away from me.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
Maybe I'd drunk too much in one go, because that movement caused my bladder to start acting up.
"Yuka, I'm gonna go to the washroom real quick. Watch over my stuff."
"Okay~."
I pushed myself up and made my way to the women's restroom.
From the outside, I could faintly hear running water—and the closer I got, the clearer it grew, until I finally stepped inside.
The walls were covered in this kind of fancy, jagged, ashy-black stone. The walls that separated each individual stall were the same ashy-black color as the stone. It was a pretty fancy washroom. Except maybe someone had forgotten to fix the lights, as one of the three bright white light bulbs flickered every few seconds, dropping a third of the washroom into darkness.
The light flickered off, drowning that stretch of the washroom in darkness. And in the depths of that darkness stood a single person at one of the sinks—washing her hands.
I couldn't make out much of her since the light was gone, but I could clearly catch two distinct features. The first being her magenta underdye, and the other… being her vibrant purple eyes with streaks of pink. Her eyes radiated in the darkness, like two glowing stones.
Hearing me come in, she turned her head to the side—toward me.
The light flickered on once again, revealing the person. It was Mei.
I hadn't had many interactions with her—the only one being that we'd been on the same soccer team during sports day.
But even I couldn't escape the endless whispers about her circling around the school. Mei, the third year. One of the smartest people in the entire school—perhaps even the whole country. Someone who was not only smart, but also athletic, kind, and pretty.
She was the epitome of the perfect student.
She shouldn't have known who I was either, but she didn't miss a single beat.
With a small smile, she greeted me with a respectful nod.
Reacting that fast really showed just how attentive she was.
Following her lead, I gave her one back.
And that was all. After that, we went about our business. I moved toward the stall, and she moved toward the paper towels.
But just before we reached our destinations—we crossed paths for the first time.
She walked past me, and I walked past her.