Haibara's Teenage New Game+ Volume 2 E-Book

Kazuki Amamiya

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Haibara’s Teenage New Game+
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 253

Beschreibung

With his friend group saved and his social standing maintained, Natsuki Haibara is well on his way to living the youth of his dreams after leaping back in time seven years to his high school days. Now that he’s cleared phase one of his Rainbow-Colored Youth Plan, he’s on to phase two—getting a girlfriend! He has his eyes set on the school’s number one beauty, Hikari Hoshimiya, and in order to win her over, Natsuki joins forces with his childhood friend. Sounds like he’s got it all figured out, right? Nah, you know what they say: where there are teenagers, there’s bound to be drama. Trouble’s afoot in the girls’ basketball club, putting a damper on everyone’s mood. Plus, things always get messy when friends crush on other friends and none of the feelings are mutual. Can Natsuki find the ideal balance between friendship and romance? Or is everything fated to fall apart when love comes into play?

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Prologue: Just Your Everyday First Love

Chapter 1: Let’s Raise Their Love Meters!

Chapter 2: I’ll Shelter You When the Rain Falls

Chapter 3: Wish

Final Chapter: Business as Usual

Afterword

Color Illustrations

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Color Images

Table of Contents

Prologue: Just Your Everyday First Love

There wasn’t a special reason for it or anything. I just fell for him gradually. My feelings grew little by little over time.

The kindness behind his words and actions warmed my heart. I thought it was cool how he could do anything and everything with flair. And yet he lacked self-confidence and had a timid nature, which I found cute. My eyes would inadvertently seek him out during class, and I discovered things: he frequently dozed off during lessons, and he was a talented pen spinner. I found all of these little quirks to be charming. Before I knew it, I’d feel elated just being by his side, and my heart would pound quickly.

Oh, I must be in love with him. The realization had hit me recently, and now I was aware of my feelings.

A tiny flicker had fed on the firewood and turned into a giant pyre of passion that blazed brightly. But I knew Natsu’s heart would never be mine. Yet even though I knew it wouldn’t happen, I was happy to just spend time together.

When I learned that Natsu had reinvented his appearance and personality for his high school debut, I finally understood why there was a gap in his personality. I’d always felt like Natsu was hiding parts of himself from us and wondered why. Not to say that discovering his secret made my love for him disappear. It actually felt easier to learn and grow closer to him because he was showing us his true self. The feelings residing within my heart only grew faster.

What had really surprised me was learning that Tatsu had feelings for me. He’d never acted like he was in love with me; we always bickered, after all... But when the rest of us eavesdropped on Tatsu and Natsu’s rooftop conversation, my impression of Tatsu changed once I found out the reason he’d been avoiding us. Tatsu showed that he had an unexpectedly sensitive side.

I couldn’t believe that I’d been the cause of this uproar... Tatsu loved me, and he was jealous at seeing Natsu and I hitting it off. How could I have predicted that’d happen?

Tatsu told me he wouldn’t give up on me...but I’m sorry. I do love Tatsu—but only as a friend. My heart doesn’t pound when we’re together. As it turned out, the one I fell for was Natsu. He was my first love.

However, I suspected Natsu’s heart already belonged to someone else. So everything would be solved, and everyone would be happy, if I fell for Tatsu instead. I knew that, but I couldn’t control my emotions.

I’ve been searching high and low for a way to rid myself of these feelings.

Chapter 1: Let’s Raise Their Love Meters!

The mild May weather invited drowsiness during class. The refreshing breeze that blew in from the windows was pleasant. I’d been nodding off until the wind suddenly flipped the pages of the textbook in my hand, returning me to reality.

I looked up at the chalkboard. Murakami-sensei, our math teacher, was up on the teacher’s podium writing out an expanded quadratic formula. He was giving an earnest explanation, but when I looked around the room, many students were dozing off just like I had been. Murakami-sensei’s voice is low and pleasing to the ear. It has the power to lull us students to sleep.

Right after school had started in April, all the students had diligently paid attention in class, but as the end of May neared, we’d become accustomed to high school life and relaxed. Well, to be fair, we did finish our midterms recently.

Murakami-sensei glanced at all the sleeping students and then at the wall clock on the side of the classroom. “All right. Let’s end here today. Finish the rest for homework, and be sure to do it properly.” The bell rang right as he said that, signaling the end of class.

A punctual devil as always! I smiled dryly as I remembered how Murakami-sensei always seemed to have impeccable timing, even back during my first round of high school.

Math was our sixth period. All we had left was cleanup and homeroom before we’d be free for the day. For cleaning duty, our class was divided into groups of around six people based on our student numbers, which were sorted alphabetically. My surname was Haibara, so I was in the same group as Hoshimiya, which made me look forward to cleaning time—just a bit.

“All righty! Let’s do this!” Hoshimiya said as she came up to my side, instantly cheering me up.

She looks energetic today as usual. Well, I did spot her snoozing in class, but she’s cute when she’s asleep, so who cares, right?

“What area are we in charge of this week, again?” I asked. Our cleaning tasks rotated weekly. Today was Monday, so it was time for a new assignment.

“Umm...” Hoshimiya’s eyes shifted around. I could almost see them swirling. “What was it, again?”

“Where were you planning on going if you didn’t know?” I asked, teasing her.

Hoshimiya’s cheeks puffed up. “Grr... Natsuki-kun, I feel like you’ve been bullying me a lot more lately!”

“Huh? That’s not true,” I denied, but I had an idea of what she meant. It’s because your reactions are just too good.

“You’re not allowed to bully people with sound logic!” she complained.

“Okay, okay,” I said with a shrug.

I started walking towards our assigned location for the week: the west stairwell. Hoshimiya walked with me and we chatted about random topics.

Along the way, our fellow cleaning group member Hino Satoya joined up with us. “What a pain! Let’s hurry up and get this over with...” he said while walking listlessly with his hands laced behind his head. His hair was dyed brown, and the word “flippant” described him well.

“Yeah! Let’s work hard!” Hoshimiya exclaimed and balled her hands into fists close to her chest.

Hino stared unmoving at her gesture and smirked. “Hoshimiya-chan, you’re so serious.”

“You think so?” she questioned.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen anyone who works so hard at school cleaning,” he replied.

“Really? That’s no good. Natsuki-kun, you think we should give it our all, right?” she asked me.

After a beat, I stiffly responded, “Hm? Oh yeah, of course. Isn’t it obvious that we need to work hard?”

“You traitor.” Hino’s disgusted expression felt like a stab to my conscience.

Sorry, Hino. I’m earning affection points with Hoshimiya through small conversations like this!

“I can always count on you, Natsuki-kun!” she said, pleased.

Oh boy, I do feel a little guilty when Hoshimiya believes in me with such a pure heart.

Hino wrapped his arm around my neck and whispered something to me so that Hoshimiya couldn’t hear. “Hey, man! It’s not right to just make yourself look good.”

We’d started talking to each other recently, but I still felt like Hino was overly friendly. Extroverts work on a different friendliness spectrum, though, and I guess it’s not to the point of being uncomfortable. Still, I’m not a fan.

That wasn’t limited to Hino either. Recently, I’d been interacting with students outside of my usual friend group. I’d exchanged words with my classmates before, but these days it felt like everyone in our class was gradually getting closer.

No one had reached out to me during the first week of school, but now people often spoke to me just like Hino was doing. Probably it was because of the recent change in my social position, appearance, and general vibes.

“You and Haibara-kun are cut from two different cloths,” Hino warned Hoshimiya. “You might as well be asking a brick wall.”

Suddenly, Fujiwara Kanata grabbed Hino by the collar and pulled him off of me. Fujiwara was like the leader of the girls in our class and got along with everyone. She had a tendency to look after all of us, so the others called her “mom.” I can see why everyone calls her that. She’s going out of her way to stand up for me even when we aren’t particularly close—I really feel like I’m being protected by a mother hen.

“What’s wrong?” Hoshimiya asked, tilting her head to the side.

Fujiwara patted her on the head. “Nothing you need to worry about, Hikari-chan.”

“What is this?! Kanata-chan, even you’ve started acting like Yuino-chan lately,” Hoshimiya complained, displeased that everyone had taken to treating her like a child.

Nanase’s overprotective nature has infected everyone, I thought.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Fujiwara lightly clapped twice to catch our attention. “Come on, let’s start cleaning!”

Fujiwara’s used to taking the lead, huh? It helps that she’s overflowing with confidence. It gives her this air of authority that naturally makes people want to follow her, I mentally noted. She’s a different sort of popular kid than Hoshimiya and the others. Reita has a similar leader type of disposition, but he’s got a gentle air to him, whereas Fujiwara has more of a cold and businesslike attitude that’s kinda scary. She’s nice to the girls though.

“Psst, hey, Natsuki-kun,” Hoshimiya whispered to me as she swept the hallway with a broom.

I guess Hoshimiya doesn’t want to get scolded by Fujiwara for speaking too loud. I don’t really get why she thinks she has to whisper, but it is cute, so heck yeah!

“Did you finish reading the novel I lent you?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m almost done with it. I’ve got around twenty pages left,” I replied.

I was on the second phase of my Rainbow-Colored Youth Plan: getting a girlfriend. If I wanted to date Hoshimiya, what better way to get closer to her than through our shared hobbies? Hoshimiya was in the literature club and loved reading, so I figured I could score some points by giving her my opinions on the books she liked. Recently, I’d been borrowing books from her collection that she’d recommended to me. Regardless, I simply enjoy reading.

“You’re nearing the conclusion! Isn’t that part just so enthralling?!”

“Yeah, it is. The story moves fast, and things keep happening. I have no idea who the criminal is.”

“Heh heh heh, I know, right?! Shall I tell you who the culprit is?”

“That’s the worst kind of spoiler!” I exclaimed. “Could you not?!” I’d caught myself almost nodding along reflexively because of how casually she’d offered.

Hoshimiya giggled gleefully at my surprise. “They announced a movie adaptation of the book!”

“Oh yeah, I’ve seen it before,” I said. Crap! Slip of the tongue.

Hoshimiya tilted her head and stared at me quizzically. “You’ve seen it?”

“Uh, yeah, the movie adaptation announcement, right?” I added hastily.

I’ve actually seen the movie itself, I thought. But it was so long ago that I’ve forgotten what happens. If I remember correctly, the movie’s coming out in a week or so. I had faint recollections of it being quite good. Suddenly a realization came to me. So this is why I felt déjà vu while I was reading the novel! Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, I still couldn’t remember who the culprit was. To be fair, I had technically watched the movie seven years ago.

“Oh, that’s what you meant. There are a lot of posters up around the station! Also, a huge star—Hayano-kun—will be playing Harma-kun, our protagonist! He’s so handsome!” she gushed.

Looks like I managed to trick her. I listened to Hoshimiya happily chatter about the news, the words flying out of her mouth like a hail of bullets. Her eyes twinkled brightly.

I see, she’s into guys like Hayano-kun... Let’s be real, the difference between his looks and mine are like night and day. It doesn’t matter how hard I work, I’m never going to be as handsome as him.

“The heroine, Merya-chan, is being played by Hirono Suzuka, right?” I recalled that fact from my dim recollection of past events.

Hoshimiya nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! I can’t wait to see her on-screen with Hayano-kun. They suit each other so well! Didn’t they just costar in another movie? Those two have been portraying lovers a lot lately!”

Really? To be honest, I didn’t watch much TV, so I was pretty clueless when it came to news about actors or actresses. I wasn’t interested in any aspect of a movie except for the story itself. I was also the type of otaku who watched a ton of anime but knew nothing at all about the voice actors.

“Oh, is that so? I didn’t know that,” I said. I’d recently learned that it was better to admit my ignorance and encourage Hoshimiya’s ramblings about a topic rather than pretend like I’d known about it beforehand. Hoshimiya had otakuesque tendencies and actually wanted to talk to someone about her hobbies.

“Uh-huh! Erm, the recent movie was called A Love Song For You. It’s pretty famous. The leading actor...” Hoshimiya began to ramble again.

I listened to the ecstatic Hoshimiya while giving an occasional nod or response to show her that I was paying attention. I tried to keep my reactions wholehearted but also not so over-the-top that I interrupted her flow. I’d learned from the internet that being a good listener is key to becoming popular!

In all honesty, I do enjoy listening to Hoshimiya talk like this. She’s passionate, gives her all to describe things to me, and she’s really expressive—she’s just so cute! It’s very like her to not have a direction to her chatter either.

But unfortunately, Fujiwara ended our fun conversation. “Hey, get back to cleaning!” She sniffed and then muttered, “Sheesh.”

Flustered, Hoshimiya began cleaning at twice the speed. “S-Sorry! I’m doing my best now!”

Curse you! How dare you interrupt our flirting! I kept my gripes to myself, though, since Fujiwara had technically been right to reprimand us. Feeling bad about getting Hoshimiya in trouble, I gripped the broom and swept, but I didn’t think I was helping much, honestly.

“Haibara-kuuun! Didn’t I tell you to put your back into it too?” Fujiwara’s sharp gaze bore a hole through me. She’d easily spotted that I was cleaning as if I had little stake in the task.

“What? No, look, I’m working pretty hard!” I protested.

“Aren’t you the one who beguiled Hikari in the first place?” Fujiwara glared and brought her face close to mine.

Stop it! I’m more nervous than scared now! Plus, something smells nice!

“B-Beguiled? C-Come on, who do you think I am?” I fumbled out a response as I leaned away from her.

Hino, who was—believe it or not—cleaning diligently off to one side, remarked with a smirk, “Serves you right!”

“Y-Yeah! I wasn’t beguiled or anything!” Hoshimiya insisted.

Fujiwara and Hino exchanged looks and then shrugged. Right then, we heard footsteps from down the hallway bustling in our direction.

“Heyooo! We finished cleaning!” Uta shouted energetically, waving her hands wildly in the air.

Walking next to her was Reita. Their surnames were close alphabetically, with Uta’s Sakura and Reita’s Shiratori, so they were in the same cleaning group. Since we’re on the topic, both Tatsuya and Nanase were also in a group together.

“We’re almost done here too,” Fujiwara replied. I glanced behind me to see that Hoshimiya was taking a break now that she’d finally finished cleaning her designated area. Uta leaped onto Hoshimiya’s back without hesitation.

“HRAAAH!” Uta cried.

“Eek!!! U-Uta-chan?! Don’t surprise me like that!”

Uta nodded smugly, pleased with Hoshimiya’s reaction. These two have been closer than ever lately. Well, it’s quite helpful to me since seeing skinship between girls is good for the eyes.

“Natsuki, do you have work today?” Reita asked me while I was staring at the two girls messing around.

“Um, yeah, I do. I’m on shift from six to ten today,” I replied. If memory serves, Nanase is working the same shift, which I’m very grateful for. I feel comfortable when she’s around. She’s a good listener and a calm person, so I don’t get swept up in any weird hyper energy. Nanase’s like a healing ray of sunlight for a natural introvert like me.

“Do you have practice today, Reita?” I asked.

“Of course. Inter-high qualifiers are approaching, so practice has been getting intense.”

“Nice! How are you feeling about it?”

“Pretty good. I’m working hard so I can be a starter.”

You’re only a first-year, but you’re already in contention to be a starter? Reita, you’re impressive as always! He was on a different level compared to someone like me who’d been a benchwarmer for three whole years.

Reita and I continued to chat idly all the way back to our classroom. When we got there, we saw Nanase and Tatsuya standing next to each other by the window. They looked like they were discussing something.

Even though they’re in the same cleaning group, I rarely see those two talking alone because their personalities are complete opposites. I wonder what they’re talking about?

Clearly wondering the same thing I was, Uta walked up to them and took the initiative to ask, “Whatcha guys talkin’ about?”

“Hello, Uta. Do you want to know?” Nanase asked with a smile.

But Tatsuya stepped in before she could say anything. “Hey, stop it.”

She laughed. “He doesn’t want me to say, so I’ll refrain from divulging.”

Compared to Nanase with her teasing smile, Tatsuya looked terribly uncomfortable.

I had a good idea of what they’d been talking about. The subject was almost always Uta-related whenever Tatsuya looked uncomfortable these days. He’d had his crush on Uta revealed to the whole group, after all. Despite what you’d think based on her appearance, Nanase enjoys teasing people, so she was probably pestering Tatsuya with questions and just generally toying with him.

Uta tilted her head, puzzled by their response. She looked at Tatsuya and then a small, “Oh,” escaped from her lips as she flushed red.

Tatsuya looked away from Uta and awkwardly scratched his head. Nanase and Reita were smirking off to the side as they watched the two’s reactions. Wow, what great personalities you guys have... I thought sarcastically.

Well, teasing them in moderation is likely less awkward than letting it become a forbidden topic. Reita and Nanase probably won’t make a misplay and ruin the delicate balance of the situation, I reasoned. And wow, it’s already been two weeks since the rooftop debacle!

Uta and Tatsuya had been extremely awkward around each other since that little truth had leaked, but recently the mood between them was slowly returning to normal. I bet they feel awkward whenever they get teased like this, though.

It did feel like our whole friend group had become more close-knit as a result of the incident. It’s a blessing in disguise, or all’s well that ends well, or whatever it is people say...Also, I don’t need to be overly cautious all the time anymore since now everyone knows that I was a gloomy guy in middle school.

But of course, that didn’t mean I was going to revert to my original self. It’s hard to be perfect, but I’ll keep putting effort into changing, I thought. If I want to become the main character of my own rainbow-colored youth, I need to be cooler than my past self every day.

“Haibara-kun, you’re working today too, right?” Nanase suddenly asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“H-Huh? Oh, yeah,” I said.

“Do you want to go together, then?”

“Sure.”

Nanase’s mellow tone had caused me to inadvertently agree. Not that it was an issue, though. She and I had become quite friendly lately thanks to working together. I no longer felt nervous talking to her when it was just the two of us, and our conversations didn’t peter out awkwardly.

And whenever the conversation veered towards idols, Nanase could go on forever. That side of her really had the otaku spirit, similar to Hoshimiya. But unlike Hoshimiya, Nanase’s expression didn’t change much when she talked about idols, so it was hard for me to discern how zealous she really was about the topic. However, I was starting to get a better read on her emotions lately.

“Nanase, you look like you’re in a good mood today,” I commented.

“Oh dear, you can tell? My oshi’s new CD was released today,” Nanase said happily.

While we talked, I felt someone watching me. I turned in the direction of the gaze and saw that Uta was staring up at me absentmindedly.

“What’s up?” I asked her.

It took Uta a moment to realize I was talking to her. “Huh? Oh, no, nothing’s up! Uh, I need to use the bathroom!” She zoomed out of the classroom as if she were fleeing the scene of a crime.

She was just staring a hole into me. Did she want to say something? I wondered. I’ve been getting along great with Nanase and Hoshimiya recently, but my conversations with Uta keep flopping like this. But isn’t that because Uta keeps running away without explanation?

“Ha ha. Uta’s so cute,” Nanase whispered into my ear.

Even I knew what she was implying; Uta probably had a crush on me. When you boiled it down, the Tatsuya incident had basically only happened because he’d picked up on her feelings for me.

I hesitated. “Yeah, she is.”

No one had said it out loud, but we all had the same hunch. Nanase and Reita are sharp, after all. Hoshimiya might not have picked up on it yet, though. And it looks like Uta’s realized that I’ve put two and two together, so she’s embarrassed.

“What are you going to do about it?” Nanase asked.

I had no idea how to respond. What am I supposed to do here? I love Hoshimiya! Everything I do is because I want to date her. So I can’t accept Uta’s feelings. I’d have to reject her if she confessed to me...but it’s not like she really has confessed—I just so happened to pick up on her feelings. There’s nothing I can do for Uta right now. And what if I’m actually just being overly self-conscious about all this?

Noticing my lost expression, Nanase apologized. “Sorry, that was an odd thing to ask.”

We had to cut our conversation there because our homeroom teacher entered the classroom.

***

After school, Nanase and I went to our workplace, Café Mares, together. We didn’t talk much on our way there, but thankfully, I didn’t find silence awkward when I was alone with her. I guess I’m used to it because we don’t chat much during work.

Once we started our shift, I was fully occupied with working and had no time to think about anything else.

At last, I murmured, “Phew... I’m beat.” Two hours had flown by before I even knew it. I wiped my sweat off with a towel and took a breather. The sun had set, and the wind felt too cold now, so I closed the window.

“Haibara-kun, here,” Nanase said and passed me a tray.

“Okay, boss.” I took the tray from her and began washing it. It was 8 p.m., and the flood of customers had slowed down to a trickle. Nanase was drinking some water while she took a break.

The only customer left was drinking coffee while reading a novel. We would probably have little to do for the rest of the evening once I finished washing dishes.

“Haibara-kun, you seem to be in a good mood,” Nanase said.

I nodded. Is it that easy to tell? I am in a great mood! My favorite time to be in Café Mares is right around now when there aren’t many customers. It feels like time is passing at a nice leisurely pace, and it’s great to tune into the store’s jazz music when it’s playing at a volume like this that’s juuust right. I relished in the comfortably soft background music. Nanase had mentioned to me that our manager was a fan of jazz.

Nanase murmured, “Waltz For Debby.”

“Huh?” I cocked my head to the side.

“It’s a famous jazz piano song,” she answered while pointing at the speakers near the ceiling.

Oh, it’s the song that’s playing right now. “Do you know a lot about jazz?” I asked her.

“Not as much as the manager does. My specialty is classical music.”

Oh right, Nanase studies piano. I recalled her mentioning as much when the six of us had been walking around the club fair together. “When did you start playing piano?”

“I started when I was three years old. I’ve been playing it for as long as I can remember. My parents both love music and work in the industry. We even have a grand piano at home,” Nanase said. Her expression looked gentler than usual.

“I want to hear you play sometime,” I said.

She giggled. “I’m not particularly skilled,” Nanase said humbly, but she appeared to be brimming with confidence.

I imagine she’s probably super skilled. Nanase can already do anything as is, but she’s been taking music lessons since she was three? And she’s continued for this long? She’s gotta be anything but bad!

“Haibara-kun, do you like music?” she asked.

“Of course. But I only ever listen to rock.” Stories and music were the two things that had supported me during the gray, dreary days of my youth.

Reading stories had saved me from the despair of reality; music had provided me with empathy and solace when I was alone. If I hadn’t had either one, I wouldn’t have found any joy in existing. Instead of regretting my youth, I’d have died with regrets about my whole life.

“Rock, huh? ...That’s right, you sang a lot of rock songs during karaoke.”

Nanase’s words sent me down memory lane. I reminisced about what had happened after our midterms. We all went and did karaoke together, and Uta and I sang a lot of rock songs from so many different bands.

“Yeah, Uta kept inputting songs nonstop,” I said. It had surprised me how similar our taste in music was. We were both so excited about meeting a fellow rock enjoyer that we’d gotten carried away and become extremely excited.

“The two of you have a lot in common,” Nanase said.

If I think about it with a clear mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if Uta and I looked like a pair of lovebirds during karaoke. Aw, man, that’s so embarrassing! Way too late to realize that now, though.

Nanase giggled. “Uta was so adorable then. Her eyes sparkled when she looked at you.” She rested her elbows on the counter.

“That’s not true,” I denied.

“Oh? Surely you’re aware by now?” She continued her attack.

Perhaps it was because we were on closer terms thanks to working together, or maybe it was because she knew my weakness—that I’d been the class downer in the past—but Nanase had been pulling out all the stops lately. She’d been picking on me ruthlessly.

“Aaah! Shut up!” I didn’t know what to say, so I tried to dodge the topic instead.

Nanase smiled like a flower in full bloom. It was a childish smile which contrasted with her usual placid character. The gap! It’s overwhelmingly destructive, dammit! You think I’ll forgive you just because you’re cute?! But I do stan this girl, for real.

Right when I was on the verge of becoming an idol otaku, the door chimed. Nanase and I immediately stopped chatting and went back to work mode.

“Welco—” I stopped halfway through my automatic greeting. A high school girl in uniform had just walked into the store. She was someone I knew very well.

“Heyyy! Just dropping by!” she said cheerfully.

It was Motomiya Miori, my childhood friend who had somehow attended the same school as me since our elementary days. Don’t say things that make it sound like you’re my girlfriend visiting me at work! I thought. However, Miori was the type of person to twist my words and hold things over my head for life, so I refrained from saying anything.

“What do you want?” I asked her bluntly.

“I didn’t say I came to see you,” she said with a sniff.

Fair enough, I thought.

Nanase took advantage of the brief pause in our conversation to interject. With her best customer service smile and voice, she said, “Please follow me to your seat,” leading Miori away.

Noticing Nanase’s presence, Miori turned to greet her. “Oh, Yuino-chan! Thanks a bunch!”

“Not at all,” Nanase replied. “Is there something special happening today? It’s quite late for you to be out.” She switched to a casual tone in response to Miori’s friendly attitude.

Nanase’s flawless when it comes to reading between the lines, I marveled. It’s the key to how she has so many friends in spite of her cool demeanor.

“Practice wrapped up for the day, and I wanted to have a strategy meeting with that guy over there,” Miori said with a smile pasted on her face as she pointed at me.

It’s not polite to point at people! Also, what the heck?! So you did come to talk to me! You always refuse to be honest or to agree with me, just like when we were kids.

“Strategy meeting?” Nanase asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“It’s nothing much. You two are almost done working, right?” Miori asked.

“Yes. We get off at ten,” Nanase said as she looked at the clock. It was already 9:30 p.m.

“We can’t stay here past ten. Our manager will get mad,” I told Miori.

This part of being a high schooler was inconvenient. I used to work late into the night when I was a college student, but we could only work until 10 p.m. due to the law. Ah well, what’s a student to do about it?

“Really? Then let’s go home together,” Miori suggested with ease.

I paused and then grudgingly said, “Well, sure. Fine, I guess.”