“What exactly do you want with Higashino?” Tsukasa asked, unable to resist probing a little further.
Yumi Takahashi clearly didn’t know what he looked like, so why had she suddenly appeared out of nowhere demanding to see him by name?
“Hmph!
You should ask him why he played with Ryoka’s feelings and then dumped her!”
Since the young man in front of her was supposedly Tsukasa Higashino’s friend, Yumi naturally had no intention of being nice to him.
Her expression darkened as she spoke.
“Played with her feelings and dumped her?” Tsukasa nearly laughed when he heard that accusation.
At least now he understood why Yumi had come looking for him.
So this was about Ryoka Konoe.
But all he had done was ask Ryoka if he could borrow some paint—and he hadn’t even gotten around to borrowing it yet.
No matter how he looked at it, that had absolutely nothing to do with seducing someone and abandoning her.
Before Tsukasa could ask what kind of ridiculous misunderstanding had taken place, Yumi began pouring out her grievances.
“I seriously don’t understand what goes through boys’ heads.
Ryoka is such a sweet girl, so why would Tsukasa Higashino mess with her feelings and then throw her away?”
“Really?” Tsukasa put on a curious expression.
“Come to think of it, what exactly is Higashino’s relationship with this Ryoka you’re talking about?”
“Wow, you really are dense.” Yumi looked at him with open disdain.
“Obviously they’re boyfriend and girlfriend.
I came here today to make Tsukasa Higashino give me a proper, convincing explanation.”
A proper, convincing explanation?
Tsukasa remembered the fighting stance Yumi had taken only moments earlier and broke into another amused smile.
“If you don’t mind, Takahashi-san, could you take me to see Ryoka?
There might be some kind of misunderstanding here.”
“What misunderstanding could there possibly be?” Yumi waved dismissively, a proud look appearing on her fair, rosy face.
“I carefully analyzed everything myself.
There’s no way I got it wrong.
It’s not like I’m an idiot.”
You carefully analyzed it?
Wasn’t that just another way of saying you made the whole thing up in your head?
Tsukasa fought back his laughter and decided to play along.
“Of course I know you’re smart, Takahashi-san.
But even the wisest person can make a mistake once in a while.
How about this?
Take me to Ryoka, and we can clear everything up face-to-face.”
Yumi was the kind of person who absolutely could not be praised.
The moment someone complimented her, her ego shot straight through the roof.
And when she heard Tsukasa call her “smart,” she nearly wanted to run back to Aoi Fujiwara, the annoying little shorty, and shout in her face: See?!
Someone else thinks I’m smart!
Just like that, Yumi suddenly found Tsukasa much more pleasant to look at.
At least this guy had some redeeming qualities, unlike that scoundrel Tsukasa Higashino, who had obviously sweet-talked poor Ryoka into falling for him.
If it had been Yumi, she definitely wouldn’t have fallen for such tricks.
“Ahem.
Well, since you’re insisting so strongly…”
Yumi cleared her throat twice and was just about to agree when a surprised, timid voice came from behind them.
“H-Higashino-kun?”
Ryoka Konoe stood there with her head slightly lowered, while the bespectacled Aoi Fujiwara stood beside her.
Ryoka was staring at the scene in complete bewilderment.
Why was Yumi standing here chatting with Tsukasa?
For Yumi, however, Ryoka’s words were like a bomb going off.
She whipped her head around in every direction and began muttering, “Tsukasa Higashino?
Where?
Where is he?
Why can’t I see him?”
Ryoka opened her mouth and stared at her in disbelief.
Wasn’t Tsukasa Higashino standing right in front of her?
Aoi, meanwhile, let out a deep, exhausted sigh.
She grabbed Yumi by the shoulders, her voice actually trembling with frustration at her idiot friend.
“You moron!
He’s standing right in front of you!”
“Huh?
He’s Tsukasa Higashino?”
Yumi finally snapped back to reality and scratched her head in frustration.
She couldn’t believe that someone as brilliant and clever as her had actually been fooled by this crafty bastard!
Was this guy really that good at deceiving innocent girls?!
“I was simply surprised when Takahashi-san suddenly told me that Ryoka and I were dating, so I lied about who I was.
I’m sorry.”
Tsukasa didn’t deny it.
He simply smiled and apologized.
Afterward, he looked at Ryoka and teased her half-jokingly.
“Ryoka, since your friends already think we’re dating, why don’t you just become my girlfriend?
I wouldn’t mind turning the misunderstanding into reality.”
“Eh?”
This time, Ryoka was genuinely stunned.
She had been hiding quietly to the side without saying anything precisely because she was afraid Tsukasa would tease her again.
But the moment she heard him ask that question, her entire body froze.
Her face turned so red that she looked like a half-cooked shrimp.
“Well?
What’s your answer?”
Tsukasa had only meant it as a joke to lighten the atmosphere.
Being rejected would have been perfectly natural.
But the longer Ryoka hesitated, the stranger the joke began to feel.
With Tsukasa waiting for an answer, Ryoka had no choice but to raise her head and force out a stiff reply.
“I-I don’t know whether I should say yes or no…”
It was the first time a boy had ever said something like that to her.
Of course she had no idea how to react.
She simply stared at Tsukasa in confusion.
The atmosphere had genuinely become awkward now.
Neither Yumi nor Aoi said a word.
They simply stared at Tsukasa.
Tsukasa remained perfectly calm.
Looking at Ryoka, he could only think that this girl really was a treasure.
Another ten or fifteen years later, and a girl this innocent might practically be an endangered species.
Of course, those thoughts remained in his head.
Yumi was already slowly shifting back into a fighting stance, while Aoi’s expression behind her glasses was growing darker by the second.
“I was only joking, Konoe-san.
Don’t take it seriously.”
Tsukasa smiled, then asked, “But you came looking for me for a reason, didn’t you?
What is it?”
Ryoka quietly breathed a small sigh of relief when she heard that it had only been a joke.
Then she heard his next question.
She hesitated for a moment longer, but this time she managed to say what she had come for.
“Okano-sensei asked me to find out whether you’re entering the Tokyo Youth Art Award.
We’re all competing in the student division.”
She stumbled nervously through the entire sentence, but at least her voice remained clear enough to understand.
Barely a passing grade.
“Of course I’m entering.”
Tsukasa nodded with an amused smile.
“I’m going to win the Gold Award, so naturally I have to participate.”
The sheer confidence in that statement made Yumi and Aoi exchange a glance.
The two reached the same conclusion almost instantly.
This guy was definitely bragging.
There was no point taking him too seriously.
The Tokyo Youth Art Award was no minor competition.
There was only one Gold Award, and more than a thousand students competed for it.
What made Tsukasa think he could simply stand above everyone else and declare that the prize would be his?
After watching Tsukasa return to his classroom, Aoi and Yumi moved over to Ryoka.
“Ryoka, I really think you should stop liking this Tsukasa Higashino.
He’s obviously full of hot air.
How could winning the Gold Award possibly be that easy?”
Yumi was the first to speak.
“I agree,” Aoi added succinctly.
People who constantly boasted about themselves were hardly likable.
Aoi certainly didn’t like that kind of person.
“Eh?” Ryoka opened her mouth but didn’t respond to her two best friends’ confident judgment.
Several minutes passed before she finally murmured,
“I think Higashino-kun probably can do it.”
“You’re actually defending him?”
Yumi and Aoi exchanged another look, both wearing expressions of disbelief.
Now they were seriously beginning to suspect that Ryoka really did like Tsukasa.
Ryoka was timid by nature and hated arguing with other people, yet here she was speaking up for him.
She looked exactly like a naive girl desperately making excuses for a boyfriend who was two-timing her.
Under the weight of their stares, Ryoka shrank back and lowered her head.
She stared at the tips of her shoes, her black hair falling forward to hide her delicate face.
But after a moment, she stubbornly repeated herself in a tiny, timid voice.
“But…
he really can do it.”
Ryoka Konoe didn’t have romantic feelings for Tsukasa Higashino.
She simply, genuinely believed he could do it.