Just as expected, the next day, Togawa Sakiko still had no intention of talking to Amaya Yuu.
When Amaya Yuu passed by her seat, he gently placed the business card of the “Echo Music” instrument shop owner on the corner of her desk, then returned to his own seat.
Togawa Sakiko didn’t say a word, but a moment later, she reached out and put the business card into her school bag.
Amaya Yuu noticed that she seemed distracted in class much more often than usual today.
It seemed that she had indeed taken his words from yesterday to heart and was seriously considering them.
Because he had practiced guitar and reviewed for exams late into the night before, Amaya Yuu was incredibly sleepy at noon and felt he had to catch up on some sleep.
So, after finishing lunch with Akashi Tetsuya and Amamiya Ritsu, he said goodbye to them again and headed to the Astronomy Club activity room alone.
However, when he pushed the door open this time, he was surprised to find that it wasn’t just Tomori in the activity room; Anon was there too.
The two of them were head-down, writing furiously, seemingly in the middle of intense exam revision.
Hearing the door open, both of them looked up simultaneously and saw Amaya Yuu standing at the entrance.
“Tomori and Anon are studying so hard,” Amaya Yuu said, a bit surprised.
“Because of the transfer, I’ve fallen behind on quite a few lessons…” Anon explained, fiddling with her pink hair at her temples, looking a bit embarrassed.
She used to have good grades, but after transferring, she hadn’t been able to keep up with the progress.
With the monthly exams coming up tomorrow, she, being competitive, finally couldn’t help but start putting in extra effort during her free time.
“G-Good afternoon, Amaya-san!” Tomori’s eyes lit up slightly when she saw Amaya Yuu enter.
“Are you here to rest?
We won’t disturb you!”
“No, no, it should be me saying I’m disturbing your studying.” Amaya Yuu scratched his head embarrassedly.
“Then I won’t stand on ceremony!”
After saying that, he skillfully lay down on the bench, folded his hands over his stomach, and soon drifted off to sleep, accompanied by the “rustling” sound of writing on paper.
“Does Amaya-san often come here to nap?”
After hearing Amaya Yuu’s breathing stabilize, Anon leaned over to Tomori’s ear and whispered.
The warm breath made Tomori shiver slightly, and the tips of her ears turned slightly red.
“N-No…
I only come occasionally…”
“Eh—I thought Tomori was secretly dating Amaya-san here whenever I wasn’t around!” Anon lowered her voice and chuckled teasingly.
“!” Tomori seemed to have been dealt ten thousand points of shock; the faint redness that was originally just on her ear tips instantly spread to her entire cheek.
“W-What kind of strange things are you saying?!” She couldn’t control her volume for a moment and hurriedly covered her mouth, nervously looking back at Amaya Yuu.
Seeing that he was still sleeping peacefully, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hehehe~” Anon smirked and leaned in closer.
“But having a crush on Amaya-san is totally normal!
Look, he’s tall and handsome, maybe even a young master from a wealthy family, and most importantly, his personality is super kind!
If he hadn’t just transferred here, his shoe locker would have been stuffed with love letters already, right?”
As she said this, she poked Tomori’s side: “You might have a lot of love rivals in the future!”
“Love rivals…?!” Tomori felt her head buzzing, and her whole face was so hot it was almost steaming.
If Amaya Yuu were awake right now, he would probably see steam puffing out from the top of her head like a boiling kettle.
“Oh Tomori~!
Don’t sigh for the time that has passed!
On the path of life, the best way is to look forward and never look back.”
Anon wrapped her arms around Tomori’s slender waist from behind, rested her chin on her shoulder, pressed her chest against her back, and deliberately lowered her voice to imitate Amaya Yuu’s tone.
“This is a famous quote by Romain Rolland~”
The deliberately drawn-out ending of her sentence, carrying moist, warm breath, brushed against Tomori’s ear.
“Ugh!”
Feeling the soft sensation from behind, this intimate teasing finally made Tomori completely unable to handle it.
She collapsed onto the desk with a “thud,” burying her burning cheeks deep into her arms, curling up like a startled ostrich.
Ever since the incident of forming the band at RiNG that day, she had noticed that Tomori had started to harbor special feelings for Amaya Yuu, and Anon raised the corners of her mouth as if she had succeeded.
If Amaya Yuu were awake to see this scene, he would probably sigh at how beautiful the relationship between girls is.
Poke, poke.
Feeling the sensation of fingertips poking him, Amaya Yuu opened his eyes groggily, turned his head, and saw Tomori crouching by the bench, carefully poking his shoulder with her fingertips.
Looking at the fluffy grey head in front of him, the not-yet-fully-awake Amaya Yuu subconsciously reached out and rubbed it.
Feeling the warmth in his palm, he squinted his eyes comfortably.
The action of petting Tomori’s head seemed to be becoming more and more natural.
“Hey!
I’m still here!” Anon stomped her feet angrily, protesting Amaya Yuu’s act of ignoring her.
Amaya Yuu finally came back to his senses.
His gaze traveled up from the straight legs beside Tomori, and he happened to meet a pair of grey eyes filled with dissatisfaction.
“Ah, so Anon-chan is still here.”
“C-Anon-chan?!
What kind of nickname is that?” Anon pointed at herself in disbelief.
“And besides, I’ve been here the whole time, okay!”
As she said this, she flashed her little fangs, raised her hand, and delivered an “Anon Iron Fist” to Amaya Yuu’s shoulder, which was super effective.
“That hurts!” Amaya Yuu instantly woke up, clutching his shoulder and sitting up straight.
Watching the two of them bickering, Tomori couldn’t help but purse her lips and chuckle softly.
“Ring ring!”
The warning bell rang, interrupting what Amaya Yuu wanted to complain about; this indicated that there were two minutes left until the first class.
The three of them instantly fell into chaos.
“Ah, we’re going to be late!” Anon grabbed her own and Tomori’s school bags and dashed out the door first.
“Hey!
Anon-chan, how can you just leave your friends behind and run off?!” Amaya Yuu shouted at the empty corridor.
“I’ll leave Tomori to you!” Anon’s voice came from outside the door, where she was no longer visible.
Amaya Yuu turned around helplessly, only to see Tomori still standing there, her cheeks flushed with a faint rosy hue.
“Let’s go too.”
“Yeah!” Tomori followed with small steps.
After locking the door, the two of them also hurried to the classroom.
“Say, Amaya, are the girls in our class no longer good enough for you?” As soon as they stepped into the classroom, Akashi Tetsuya leaned in with a wink.
“You quietly started talking to Class A’s class pet!”
“Hooking up…?
What kind of words are you using…” Amaya Yuu shook his head helplessly, ignoring his smirk.
As he walked straight past him, he patted his back.
“We’re just regular friends.”
“Well, not just regular friends, maybe…
‘cute partners’ would be more accurate.” Amaya Yuu added.
“I knew it—!” Akashi Tetsuya let out an exaggerated wail.
“Amaya, you guy, when did you get such a cute girlfriend?!”
Countless curious gazes were instantly cast into the classroom, and even Togawa Sakiko, who had been silent all along, turned her head slightly and glanced over here.
“I told you it’s not like that…” Amaya Yuu put his hand to his forehead, feeling like he really couldn’t clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
“Akashi!
Quiet down!” The teacher who had just stepped into the classroom precisely locked onto the source of the commotion, and a shout made the whole classroom instantly silent.
As the official class bell rang, classroom order was restored, only Amaya Yuu silently gave a middle finger in the direction of Akashi.