"Alright. Let's divide the tasks to make this group work easier."
Akira raised her hand first.
"Then I'll gather the data."
"I'll take the case examples part."
Ryuusei spoke while relaxing further into his chair.
Hearing that Akira and Ryuusei had already chosen their parts, only Shirayuki and Aizen remained.
"I'll organize and arrange the data."
Aizen paused for a moment before continuing.
"And Shirayuki will make the presentation slides."
Shirayuki immediately turned toward him.
"Wait. Why are you deciding that for me?"
Aizen returned her gaze calmly.
"Then, do you want to take the presentation part instead?"
"..."
Shirayuki immediately fell silent.
Seeing her reaction, Yuu chuckled softly.
"By process of elimination, I guess I'm the one who gets the presentation role, huh?"
"Wasn't that already obvious?"
Ryuusei formed a faint smirk on his face.
"You're the leader. So you're the one presenting."
Yuu let out a small sigh before finally smiling helplessly.
"Alright then. I guess it's decided."
After the task division was finished, the atmosphere in the room gradually became more relaxed.
Since most of the work could only begin after the data and case examples were gathered, there was no longer anything they truly needed to do for now.
Shirayuki, who felt slightly more relaxed because her work would only begin later, slowly sipped the tea in front of her.
The aroma of the tea felt soft and calming, although it left a slight bitterness on her tongue.
Strangely enough, their tastes were not that different.
Her tastes and the original Shirayuki's.
So at the very least, she did not need to worry too much about arousing Aizen's suspicion.
Yuu, who had been observing the atmosphere between them all this time, finally spoke again.
"By the way..."
He rested his chin on his hand while smiling lightly.
"Doesn't our atmosphere feel a little too formal?"
His gaze alternated between Akira and Shirayuki.
"Setting aside me, Ryuusei, and Aizen..."
"Kujo-san and Kanzaki-san seem pretty awkward."
Shirayuki, who had been sipping her tea, almost choked after hearing Yuu's words.
Those words felt far too accurate, unconsciously piercing straight into her heart.
Kanzaki, who had been focused on gathering data, finally stopped moving her hand.
"I don't think so."
She answered in her usual calm tone.
"In my opinion, an atmosphere like this is perfectly normal considering we don't have any special relationship whatsoever."
Akira paused for a moment.
"But..."
Yuu immediately tilted his head curiously.
"But?"
Akira shifted her gaze back toward her laptop screen.
"No. Forget it."
Feeling that he would not get any further answer even if he kept pressing Akira, Yuu finally shifted his gaze toward Shirayuki.
Shirayuki merely returned that gaze with an ambiguous smile.
Because she herself also did not know what Akira had actually meant.
Shirayuki chose to sip her tea again, ignoring Yuu's unanswered curiosity.
Meanwhile, Aizen, who had seemed focused on his phone all this time, suddenly slid a small plate containing chocolate cake toward Shirayuki.
"Thank you."
Without paying much attention to Aizen's reaction, Shirayuki immediately took and ate the chocolate cake.
On the other side, Ryuusei slightly frowned when he saw the interaction between the two of them.
Even Akira, who had not seemed particularly interested in their conversation until now, looked slightly curious about the relationship between the two.
"Are you two really not close?"
Ryuusei asked while narrowing his eyes at the two of them.
"Because from what I can see, your relationship doesn't look like that."
Aizen fell silent for a moment, as though choosing his words carefully.
And just as he was about to open his mouth—
"Aren't you all a little too curious about other people's relationships?"
Shirayuki suddenly interrupted while still holding her teacup.
A faint smile still remained on her face. Yet for some reason, the atmosphere around her felt slightly colder.
Clap—
Yuu lightly clapped his hands together, immediately shifting the atmosphere that had begun to feel strange.
"Kanzaki-san, are you almost done gathering the data?"
"Ah..."
Akira, who had been observing their situation until now, finally turned back toward her laptop.
"I'm almost finished."
.
.
.
Without realizing it, time continued to pass.
And now, the clock already showed half past eleven.
It would soon be lunchtime.
"Ah, I'm tired..." Ryuusei lazily stretched his body in his chair.
"You barely did anything, Ryuusei." Yuu immediately replied in a casual tone.
"It's still exhausting."
Hearing that shameless response, Yuu could only let out a small sigh.
On the other side, Aizen glanced at the clock for a moment before speaking again.
"It'll be lunchtime soon."
His gaze shifted toward them.
"Do you want anything? Or would you rather order food from outside?"
The four of them looked at each other briefly before Ryuusei spoke first.
"I want fried chicken."
"As for me, I want sushi."
Yuu smiled lightly while resting his chin on his hand.
"Sounds good."
"I'll just go with whatever."
Akira answered briefly as usual without seeming to think too much about her food choice.
"I want sushi too."
Shirayuki also spoke up.
Hearing that, Aizen immediately picked up his phone.
"Then let's order sushi."
After saying that, he began ordering food through a delivery service.
While waiting for their food to arrive, Yuu and Ryuusei began looking bored staying inside the room.
"How about we take a walk for a bit?"
Yuu suggested enthusiastically.
"I'm also curious about your house."
Ryuusei added while glancing toward Aizen.
"What about you two?"
Because her body still felt slightly tired, Shirayuki chose to remain in the room.
Aizen then shifted his gaze toward Akira.
"How about you?"
"I'll stay here too."
Akira answered briefly.
"Alright."
After that, Aizen, Yuu, and Ryuusei left the room.
Now, only Shirayuki and Akira remained inside.
"..."
The atmosphere suddenly felt slightly awkward.
And because she could not stand the silence, Shirayuki finally decided to start a conversation first.
"Kanzaki-san. How have you been?"
"Fine."
Akira answered shortly.
And as usual, she did not even try to return the question to Shirayuki.
Several more minutes passed in silence.
Until finally, Akira suddenly spoke up.
"Kujo-san, may I ask you something?"
"Hmm? Of course."
Shirayuki answered calmly, although inwardly she was beginning to feel slightly cautious.
Eh?
What's with this sudden change in atmosphere?
Don't tell me she wants to ask about my relationship with Aizen?
That has to be it, right?
After all, she's the heroine of this story.
"Why did you help me back then?"
Back then?
"What do you mean? The incident at the mall a few weeks ago?"
"Yes."
Shirayuki fell silent for a moment.
Seeing Akira's serious gaze, she simply let out a small sigh.
"I saw that you were having trouble. So I helped you."
"That's all?"
"Yes."
Shirayuki tilted her head slightly.
"Is helping someone who needs help wrong?"
Akira looked hesitant after hearing that answer.
"What if I really had stolen it? You could have gotten dragged into my problem too."
"In that case..."
Shirayuki looked back at her calmly.
"Did you really steal it?"
Akira immediately shook her head.
"No. I didn't do it."
"Then you don't need to worry about that."
Akira fell silent once again.
However, from her expression, Shirayuki could tell that the girl was still not completely satisfied with her answer.
She let out a soft sigh.
"Helping you back then was my own choice. Besides..."
Shirayuki paused for a moment before continuing.
"I believed that you weren't the kind of person who would do something like that."
Akira frowned slightly.
"How could you know that? We hadn't even known each other before."
Shirayuki smiled faintly.
"From your eyes. All I saw there was honesty and determination."
Shirayuki was not lying.
Even though she knew Akira's personality from the novel she had once read—the girl's eyes truly did radiate honesty and determination.
"Thank you, Kujo-san."
Shirayuki smiled gently at Akira before taking a madeleine from the table and slowly eating it while sinking into her own thoughts.
After observing the atmosphere among the four main characters, she finally realized something.
Nothing had changed.
If things continued like this, their relationship would probably stop at being ordinary classmates.
And for the first time—
Shirayuki clearly understood one thing.
Waiting for the novel's plot to return to its original course on its own was pointless.
If she truly wanted to change everything—then she herself had to start moving.
"By the way, Kanzaki-san."
Shirayuki smiled faintly while looking at Akira.
"I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves yet, have we?"
"Ah... right."
Akira nodded slowly.
"Then, once again, let me introduce myself."
Shirayuki slowly placed down her teacup before continuing.
"My name is Kujo Shirayuki."
A faint smile once again appeared on her face.
"Let's be friends from now on."
"I'm Kanzaki Akira."
Akira replied in her usual calm tone.
"It's nice to meet you, Kujo-san."
Shirayuki smiled softly after hearing that.
"Just call me Shirayuki."
She tilted her head slightly.
"Then... may I call you Akira too?"
Akira seemed slightly taken aback upon hearing that request.
As though she was not used to being treated that closely by other people.
However, a few seconds later, she finally gave a small nod.
"If that's what you want... I don't mind."
"Then from now on, I'll call you Akira."
Shirayuki smiled in satisfaction.
For some reason—the atmosphere between them felt far lighter than before.
And with that, Shirayuki's small first step toward bringing the protagonist closer to the male leads had finally begun.