She figured it out?
Sawamura Haruno felt a jolt of surprise—but quickly realized that it was only natural.
After all, Miyazawa Mana had always been perceptive. And this time, the people involved were her own twin sister… and an ex-boyfriend she'd been with for a long time.
If she hadn't sensed something, that would've been strange.
So… what was he supposed to say next?
Admit outright that Maki had sold out her "little secret" to him?
Then turn it around and ask whether Mana truly wanted to see him with other women?
No matter how he thought about it, it felt wrong. Twisted. Morally off.
"Haruno."
Before he could figure out a response, Mana had already stood up and quietly sat down beside him.
A faint, clean fragrance drifted over in an instant.
It was different from the sweet citrus scent clinging to Maki. Mana's scent was cooler, more restrained—like snow pine, elegant and understated.
For Haruno, it was painfully familiar.
Just one breath was enough to drag him back to those old days, when the two of them had still been together—those intimate, inseparable memories.
"Do you want to hear the truth," Mana asked softly,
"or would you rather hear a lie?"
Sitting beside him, she leaned just a little closer.
In a very low voice, she explained,
"I can more or less guess what Maki told you."
Her eyes looked almost encouraging.
Haruno only needed a glance before his thoughts stalled for a brief moment.
She wasn't just the obedient, well-behaved girl she appeared to be on the surface. There was another side of her—something hidden beneath the calm exterior. And now, with that subtle, intentional closeness, she was revealing it.
Haruno thought to himself: in this regard, Maki was nowhere near Mana's level.
Maki's attempts at seduction were clumsy, even cute in a foolish way.
Mana, on the other hand, was genuine temptation.
If not for his experience from two lifetimes, an ordinary college guy probably would've fallen straight into it.
"So… is it true?" he asked.
Haruno's gaze cleared almost instantly. In a low voice, he asked:
"Do you really have… those kinds of thoughts about me?"
"…You could say that."
Mana admitted it readily, almost refreshingly so.
She stuck out her tongue slightly, smiling with a hint of mischief.
"My heart isn't exactly well-behaved, you know. You understood that pretty clearly back then too, didn't you?"
So in the end—
Among the people around him, the truly well-behaved girl might've only been Shi Orihime?
A small, delicate figure flashed through his mind for just a moment before Haruno forcibly pushed it aside.
He looked at Mana with confusion.
"Is that why you broke up with me?"
"Of course not."
Mana shook her head, once again unexpectedly.
"Though… I did want to see that scene," she added quietly, her cheeks faintly red.
"After all, it is my special preference."
She hesitated before continuing, voice careful.
"But no matter what, before getting your consent, I would never actually do anything like that. I was afraid of hurting you."
Listening to her, Haruno suddenly felt his chest tighten.
…From this perspective, it seemed he'd actually been the one at an advantage all along.
No—wait. That wasn't what mattered.
What he wanted to know was why she'd broken up with him.
Mana's explanation just now was a denial. Which meant he still needed to keep asking.
Haruno took a few deep breaths, steadying himself, and asked again:
"Then why, exactly, did you break up with me?"
"There were a lot of reasons."
Seeing how quickly he pressed the issue, Mana bit her lip lightly.
"I considered many factors—school, family, the future… including that preference. It wasn't because my feelings faded."
"Be specific."
"Advancement exams. Family pressure. Future plans. All of it."
Mana leaned closer again, whispering:
"But now that we've broken up, it feels much better to finally say it out loud."
She paused, then smiled awkwardly.
"Haruno… you don't think I'm a really strange girl, do you?"
"…A little."
"That hurts!"
"No, I mean—any way you look at it, that kind of thing does sound perverted, doesn't it?"
Haruno coughed several times, clearly uncomfortable.
"I mean, I've fantasized before about dating multiple girls at once… but that was just fantasy. In reality, you wouldn't actually do that, right?"
"I suppose that's true…"
Mana lowered her gaze slightly.
For some reason, even though they were talking about her and Haruno, another person's face surfaced in her mind—
Her twin sister, Miyazawa Maki.
Haruno also fell silent.
He genuinely didn't know how to continue this conversation.
This is sick. Completely twisted.
That was the only thought in his mind.
Just as Haruno picked up his glass of water to clear his throat and try to organize the situation—
The system screen suddenly appeared again before his eyes.
[Two identical yet different flowers—
deep within their blooming cores lies a fragrance unknown to the world]
As the final line appeared, a powerful surge of energy flowed from within, flooding Haruno's entire body.
The glass he was holding—
Cracked.
Thin fractures spread across it in an instant.
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