Morning.
The electronic beeping of his alarm clock dragged Takuma Kunimi awake.
He sluggishly crawled out of his futon and made his way to the bathroom.
Standing in front of the mirror, he tried to flatten his bedhead and muttered—
"...Still ugly as ever."
Sleepy eyes. Dark circles underneath them. Messy black hair.
In Takuma's own estimation, his looks were below average.
—And as far as he was concerned, that was simply an undeniable fact of the universe.
School. Classroom 1-C.
During class, Takuma sat by the window with his textbook open, staring absentmindedly at the blackboard.
Then he suddenly felt someone looking at him from across the room.
—Urara Usami.
Bathed in the sunlight streaming through the window, she gave him a soft smile.
Then she waved.
And flashed him a peace sign.
(...Huh? What's that supposed to be? Some kind of secret code?)
Takuma froze for a few seconds.
(Probably meant for whoever's sitting next to me. No way it was for me.)
However, two girls sitting near the back of the classroom had witnessed the entire exchange.
The Tachibana sisters—Hina and Momiji.
"...That was totally meant for Kunimi-kun, right?"
"Yep. You don't see many guys capable of ignoring something that obvious."
"I mean... ignoring that is practically a crime."
"That girl really goes all-out when it comes to Kunimi-kun, though."
"Yeah. Remember the whole 'leftover sandwich' incident?"
The sisters leaned closer together and whispered.
"...Hey, Momiji. You wanna try testing Kunimi-kun ourselves sometime?"
"Testing what?"
"You know. Stand right in front of him, smile, and wave."
"He's absolutely gonna ignore it... Sounds fun."
After class.
Takuma stepped into the hallway— only to find the Tachibana sisters blocking his path.
Standing side by side, they gave him their brightest smiles.
They waved.
both flashed him peace signs at the exact same time.
Takuma stared at them.
"...What? Are you recruiting for some new club?"
"............"
"............"
Five seconds passed.
The sisters exchanged glances.
Then quietly took a step backward.
"...Wow. It really doesn't work on this guy."
"I'm actually kind of impressed... No, wait. This is scary."
After school, the Tachibana sisters went to see Urara.
"He ignored your wave again today, didn't he?"
"Huh? ...Hehe. That's okay. I'll just do it again. ♡"
"...That's some serious mental fortitude."
"Yeah... I guess all the girls seriously going after him have to be tough."
Takuma Kunimi.
Once again, he had successfully nullified every romantic signal sent his way.
And another perfectly good day of romance ended with zero damage dealt.