Shintaro looked at Chika, whose face was full of happiness because of his affirmation, and the gentle smile on his face deepened.
He wanted to say something more to encourage Chika, but he felt a wary gaze fixed on him.
“What’s wrong, Koto?”
Shintaro asked, somewhat confused, “Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”
Koto didn’t answer him immediately but instead turned her gaze to Chika, her tone sounding like a well-intentioned reminder to a junior.
“Komari, don’t trust what the president says too much.
This man sometimes doesn’t even know what genre the books he recommends are, and he’s always so oblivious when he’s nice to people; it’s easy to cause misunderstandings.”
These words were indirect yet hit the core of the issue immediately.
Shintaro soon understood her meaning, and a somewhat wry expression appeared on his face.
“Hey now, Koto, why are we bringing up books again?”
Shintaro spread his hands helplessly.
“The SF novel I recommended is clearly very interesting, and I just wanted to encourage a hardworking junior.
It’s not as complicated as you think.”
“Hmph.”
Koto let out a soft snort from her nose, moved her gaze away from them, and looked at the wall clock.
“Anyway, someone’s taste in SF is just terrible.
Whatever, the time for the president’s meeting is almost here.
Aren’t you going to head over?
If you’re late, those people from the Student Council will nag you again.”
“Ah!
Right!”
Shintaro slapped his forehead.
“I almost forgot about the important stuff.
I’ll head over there first.”
He walked quickly toward the door, but before pulling it open, he turned back to Koto.
“Koto, come with me, will you?
I can’t handle those Student Council folks on my own.”
“I know, I know.” Koto waved her hand.
Although her face showed a helpless expression, the upturned corners of her mouth clearly betrayed her true thoughts.
“Since you’re the president, I have no choice.”
The two of them ended their conversation in their unique rhythm and then left the club room.
As the wooden door was gently closed, the room fell into silence once again.
Only this time, a faint, pink, ambiguous atmosphere lingered in the quiet air.
“Pre-Pre-President… called me cute… ehehe.”
Chika felt like she was floating on clouds, a silly, happy smile plastered on her face.
Keita looked at her and couldn’t help but lean toward Anna, whispering his commentary.
“Did you see that, Yanami?”
“See what?”
Anna also lowered her voice, responding with a curious face.
“That is the typical state of a girl who has fallen into unrequited love.”
Keita motioned with his eyes toward the still-grinning Chika.
“A single casual word from the other person can loop in her head all day, and then she just stands there giggling to herself.”
He paused for a moment before looking at Anna with an inquisitive gaze, curiosity written on his face.
“Speaking of which, were you… in this state when you faced Hakamada Sousuke before?”
“No way!”
Anna’s sore spot was hit, and she immediately glared at Keita, her voice unconsciously rising a few decibels.
“Sousuke and I are childhood sweethearts!
We’ve known each other for over ten years!
It’s not like what you said between us; it’s not like we have trouble even saying a word!”
Her rebuttal sounded righteous, filled with the remaining sense of superiority that came with being a ‘childhood sweetheart.’
“Oh?”
Keita raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but blink at Anna.
“Is that so?
Since childhood sweethearts are so secure, then…”
He suddenly turned his body toward Anna, closing the distance between them, and looked straight into the depths of her eyes with his deep, dark gaze.
“…What about when I praise you?”
“Anna, you’re so cute.
I like you.”
His voice was very soft, but it instantly pierced through Anna’s psychological defenses.
Their eyes met.
At such a close distance, Anna could clearly see her own reflection in his eyes and feel his burning, earnest gaze.
Thump, thump, thump…
Her heart began to beat uncontrollably, and a surge of heat rushed to her brain with a ‘whoosh.’
Anna felt her cheeks heat up and turn red at an uncontrollable speed.
“Y-You, you, you…”
“How can you… say something like that so… d-directly…”
She stammered, trying to say something to break this damn ambiguous atmosphere, but her mind was blank and she didn’t know what she was saying.
Seeing her cute appearance, red from her cheeks to the tips of her ears and completely flustered, the curve of Keita’s lips finally turned up in satisfaction.
“Pfft.”
He finally couldn’t help but chuckle softly, then took the initiative to pull back, letting the nearly ‘overcooked’ Anna off the hook.
“Alright, I’ll stop teasing you.”
“Wh-Who was being teased by you!”
Anna, seeing an out, quickly stood up from her seat and walked over to sit next to Chika on the other side.
She needed to find someone to talk to to distract her attention, which was about to catch fire.
“Th-That, Komari-san!”
Anna tried to make her voice sound more normal as she tapped the shoulder of Chika, who was still immersed in her own world.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Eh?
Ah… Ya-Yanami… san?”
Chika came back to her senses and seemed a bit flustered to see Anna suddenly sitting next to her.
Immediately after, she remembered Anna’s terrifying look yesterday, as if she were going to eat someone, when she heard the word ‘childhood sweetheart.’
Fear welled up in her heart, causing her body to instinctively shrink back.
Just as the thought of running away surfaced—
“Do… do you know?
It’s… President Tamaki and Tsukinoki-senpai, what… what exactly is their relationship right now?
Are they really not dating yet?”
This question exploded in Chika’s mind.
Compared to her fear of Anna, a stronger emotion instantly occupied the high ground of her brain.
Her survival instinct was instantly transformed into a combat instinct to defend her territory.
Chika pulled her phone out of her pocket.
Instead of retreating, her body leaned forward, her thumbs turning into a blur on the keyboard, making a faint and dense tapping sound.
The next second, she held her phone with both hands and ‘shoved’ the bright screen in front of Anna’s eyes.
A line of text was clearly displayed on the screen in bold, enlarged font:
[They are just childhood sweethearts!
They are not dating!]
Notes: