After throwing out that question, Asakura Mio held her breath, nervously awaiting the answer.
Koto Satsuki fell silent for a moment.
While she didn't feel any need to lay bare her heart to Asakura Mio, perhaps it was the unmistakable anticipation in the other's eyes, or perhaps an instinctive resistance to that "what if," but she finally gave an answer.
Her expression returned to its usual composure, even carrying a kind of unshakeable confidence.
"Not a chance."
Her tone was absolute, without the slightest hesitation.
"That girl, from childhood till now, the only one who truly counts as a 'friend'… from start to finish, has always been me."
She lifted her chin slightly, her gaze sharp and assured, as if stating an eternal, unchangeable truth.
"She can't do without me."
Aaaaaah—!!!
Asakura Mio's heart was instantly flooded with immense joy and satisfaction, almost making her scream silently.
I knew it! I knew it! MaiSatsu is the one true pairing! This possessiveness! This confidence!
I remember now! I remember everything! I'm not a MaiAll shipper, nor a MaiRen, and definitely not anything else—I am thoroughly, unwaveringly, a MaiSatsu fan!
I'm sorry, Amaori-san, I want to jump ship!
--+--
Later.
Afterwards, Asakura Mio found herself paying a bit more attention to Koto Satsuki. This attention wasn't for any other reason; it was purely born from immense curiosity and anticipation for this suddenly escalated "forbidden love triangle."
Heck, if you count Sena Ajisai, it might even be a four-way battle royale!
She likes her, she cares about her, she wants to get closer to her… but she! Only wants to be friends with her!
Yes! Let it get messy! The messier the better! It'd be perfect if even Koyanagi Kaho suddenly fell for one of them!
However, reality was often far removed from her imagination.
The subtle shifts within the 'Quintet' that Asakura Mio eagerly anticipated, the quietly disrupted balance of the girls' relationships… none of it appeared.
They still gathered together to chat and laugh as usual, the atmosphere so harmonious it was as if nothing had happened at all.
It was as if those little secrets she'd accidentally learned, those undercurrents of turmoil, were just products of her overactive 'yuri brain's' wild imagination.
Instead, she found herself dragged into some meaningless social troubles.
Because she'd been spoken to by members of the 'Quintet' two days in a row, she, the class's usual wallflower, had unexpectedly attracted the attention of several other classmates.
"That's amazing, Asakura-san! You actually talked to two people from the 'Quintet'!"
"Could it be that you're close with them? Could you… maybe introduce me, so I can become friends with Lady Mai?"
Ah— I probably can't make you friends, but I could probably make you love rivals… Just kidding.
It was precisely this unpredictable social trajectory that was the main reason Asakura Mio wanted to avoid meaningless socializing in the first place.
If she had to answer, she needed to carefully gauge her response. Even though these girls seemed like admirers of the 'Quintet,' there were big differences even among fans.
For instance, this girl who called Oozuka Mai "Lady Mai"…
She sounds like a fellow yuri enthusiast like me? After all, that's a very classic way of addressing characters in old-school yuri works…
But if she let her guard down because of that and accidentally revealed her special interest… she would ab-so-lute-ly be stared at with weird looks!
So, the most versatile, safest answer was—
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."
Asakura Mio lifted her face, revealing a perfectly measured smile, tinged with a bit of bewilderment and aloofness.
What 'Quintet'? As long as she acted completely unfamiliar and uninterested, it would be fine.
As for talking to Amaori Renako and Koto Satsuki at school?
Ah, that was just extremely ordinary, brief exchanges between classmates, nothing special about it.
As long as she persisted in playing dumb, she could bluff her way through.
When dealing with this kind of sudden gossipy probing, the most effective tactic was never frantic denial, but acting completely uninterested, even totally on a different wavelength.
That way, the other party would naturally find it boring and start doubting whether they'd approached the right person.
This was Asakura Mio's sure-fire, fail-safe method for dealing with conversation.
Sure enough, after she said this, the girls who had approached her exchanged glances, the excitement on their faces fading as they pouted and dispersed, figuring they weren't going to get anything interesting.
Seeing this, Asakura Mio finally breathed a secret sigh of relief, glad that she seemed able to return to her unnoticed, wallflower state.
--+--
The entire morning, Amaori Renako strictly adhered to their agreement, resisting the urge to go and talk to Asakura Mio—after all, they only had three precious chances to speak each day.
It would be a waste to use one carelessly during break.
Thus, the moment the lunch bell rang, she couldn't help but immediately grab her lunch box and hurry light-footedly towards Asakura Mio's seat.
However, before she could get close, she saw Asakura Mio's head snap up, eyes wide as she stared at her, then forcefully make a huge 'X' with her arms in front of her chest!
Don't come over! Any other time is fine, just not now!
Asakura Mio desperately tried to convey this message with her eyes and gestures.
Otherwise, the gossip that just died down will flare up again! Don't you know that among girls, agreeing to eat lunch together is something only very close friends do!
I just denied being familiar with you all this morning, and now you run over to eat lunch with me? Isn't that just publicly slapping me in the face?
I'll explain later! But absolutely not now!
Amaori Renako's running steps were forced to an abrupt halt.
The anticipation on her face instantly froze, slowly shifting into clear confusion and a crestfallen 'why?' expression, just like a puppy suddenly and sternly rejected by its owner, looking utterly lost and pitiful.
Asakura Mio forced herself to harden her heart, averting her gaze from the other girl's dejected look, quickly grabbing her own lunch box, and slipping out through the classroom's back door with her head down.
--+--
Amaori Renako stood dejectedly in place. Before she could even process this sudden rejection, her phone vibrated lightly in her pocket.
Pulling it out, she saw a message from Asakura Mio—they had just exchanged contact information yesterday before she left her house.
[Asakura Mio: For now, please try not to talk to me in front of others at school. Drawing too much attention is a bit troublesome for me. (>_<) Let's talk about the Oozuka-san matter tonight.]
--+--