Saturday. In front of Machida Station.
"Okay, then... I'm counting on you today, Takuma!"
"Sure. Where are we going again?"
"Huh? Um, clothes, some little shops... you know, a bunch of places?"
"Got it."
—Mikiko Izumi had come prepared.
They had arranged to meet in front of the station.
Her hair was curled slightly, and instead of her school uniform, she wore a white dress with a denim jacket.
Compared to usual, she'd put just a little more effort into looking... girly.
(Today is... a date. Yeah. This is definitely a date.)
(I asked him to come with me, and he said yes... so yeah. Definitely.)
...Takuma Kunimi, however—
"Are you gonna end up buying a lot? I brought a tote bag just in case."
"...Oh. Yeah. Thanks."
He had gone straight into helping-her-with-shopping mode.
Stop One: Clothing Store
"How does this look?"
"Pretty good. Looks warm."
"I meant... does it look good on me?"
"Uh... probably? I'm not really good at that kind of stuff."
"...Yeah. I figured."
Stop Two: General Store
"Doesn't this perfume smell kind of... mature?"
"Huh? Isn't perfume something adults use anyway?"
"Ugh! That's not what I mean!!"
"Maybe I'll get it if you let me smell it on you later."
"...Wait. Why did that actually make my heart skip a beat...?"
"...Nothing!"
Stop Three: Café Break
Inside the café, Mikiko happily sipped her iced tea.
(Okay, okay. So far, so good. Everything's going smoothly. Nobody weird has interrupted us, and—)
And then—
"Heyyy, Kunimiii!"
The door swung open.
In walked—
Karen Takahara.
"What a coincidence! Oh, Mikiko-chan's here too?"
"Ugh..."
And then—
"Hey, Takuma-kun!"
"Huh?! No way."
Urara Usami made her grand entrance, sweets in hand.
"Wait, what? You've gotta be kidding me."
Then, from a quiet corner of the café, a shadow emerged—
"...Mind if I do some more 'research'?"
Shion Makabe.
And finally—
"Oh, wow. It's all girls over here. Kunimi, dude, aren't you basically sitting in the middle of a harem right now?"
Shiori Nonomiya appeared with a drink in her hand.
Six people gathered around the café table.
Mikiko:
Karen:
(Hehe. ♡)
Urara:
"Oh! I spilled some milk. ♡ I've got a towel! ♡"
Shion:
(Does this mean I now have multiple subjects to observe...?)
Shiori:
"God, you guys are loud. Calm down."
And Takuma—
"...Huh. I guess coincidences really do pile up sometimes."
"NO! This isn't a coincidence! There's no way this situation is a coincidence!!"
"Huh? Everyone just came here to do some shopping, right?"
"............"
For one brief moment—
—every single girl at the table emptied her mind of all thought.
On the way home—
"...Hey, Takuma. What did you think of today?"
"It was fun. I learned a lot about shopping. Thanks. That helped."
"Oh. You learned a lot... huh."
(What does that even mean...? "Learned a lot"... Seriously...?)
That night, Mikiko wrote a note to herself on LINE:
Next time, pick somewhere where it's GUARANTEED to be just the two of us.
Also, perfume: not very effective.
—Mikiko had officially entered strategist mode.
But Takuma Kunimi, the undisputed King of Obliviousness, remained completely unfazed.