[Sorry~ Got caught chatting with a friend. I just got to the station entrance, where are you, Hoshikawa-kun? 🐱] –Read

[At 7-Eleven.] –Read

Reading Shihou’s message, Harutaki couldn’t help but smile faintly.

Compared to before, when her texts had been stiff, overly polite, and painfully formal, the casual tone and the use of emoji now showed that their relationship had grown much closer.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting, Hoshikawa-kun.”

“About ten minutes. Not too bad.”

A soft Kyoto accent floated to him from behind. Turning around, the scene mirrored that day when they’d first promised to meet after school.

“You’re teasing me again, aren’t you? This time I won’t fall for it!”

Chouko placed her hands proudly on her hips, breathing slightly fast, it was obvious she’d been half-running so he wouldn’t wait too long.

“The same trick won’t work on me twice!”

Please stop adding to your ‘old-fashioned Kyoto lady’ image, Shihou-san!

“That line’s ancient…”

“Eh?! I-is it really…?”

“And for the record, I really did wait about ten minutes.”

He held out his 7-Eleven receipt, the timestamp said it all.

“O-oh… I’m so sorry…”

“Here, I got one for you too.”

“Th-thank you. This is…?”

Chouko stared at the rice ball in her hands, at a loss.

It was just a simple onigiri, but it was also the first gift she’d ever received from someone.

Or rather, the first thing given to Shihou Chouko the girl, not the Shihou family’s heiress.

She decided she’d count it as a gift, even if it was a humble one.

And maybe, just maybe, that meant the next thing her “Onii” gave her could still be her “first gift.”

“Didn’t know what flavor you liked, so I picked the most popular, tuna mayo. Let’s head inside. We can eat while we talk.”

He pointed to the tall round stools by the convenience store’s window, and just like the last time they went to DUMBO Donuts, the two of them sat side by side.

“Going to karaoke will probably take two or three hours.”

“Considering it’s a mixer, and you’ll be in a semi-private booth, I wouldn’t recommend eating whatever food they bring or drinking anything that’s not sealed. So it’s better to fill your stomach a bit first.”

People getting others drunk, or even drugging them, wasn’t unheard of. He’d heard plenty of stories back in school, and once, he’d even seen it happen in a café. Remembering that, Harutaki figured it was better to warn the young lady in advance.

Especially since mixers, by nature, were all about “getting closer” to the opposite sex, and such events tended to attract more than their fair share of creeps.

“You’re worrying too much, Hoshikawa-kun. They’re all my middle-school friends; nothing bad will happen. Well then, I’m digging in.”

After two bites of the rice ball, she started feeling a little thirsty. Just as she was about to get up to buy a drink, Harutaki suddenly pulled a blue-and-white bottle from behind his back, like performing a magic trick.

“Can you drink Calpis?”

“Eh, so you already had one ready, Hoshikawa-kun…”

As she took a sip, the mild sweetness and faint tartness of the Calpis washed the rice grains down her throat, spreading a gentle warmth through her chest.

No, no! This is dangerous territory!

These are exactly the kinds of moves a smooth-talking player would use!

Glancing sidelong at the boy beside her, who was watching her eat with an amused smile, Chouko tried her best to chase away the strange fluttering in her chest.

“Phew… thanks for the meal.”

“Ta-da. There’s dessert too, caramel pudding.”

Incidentally, Harutaki had also bought three extras to take home for his sisters. His youngest, Fuyuno, loved pudding more than anything.

“Th-that’s a bit…”

She wanted to refuse, but considering he’d only given her a rice ball, it wasn’t like she could call that a full meal. And staring at the pudding, with its golden surface capped by a glossy brown caramel layer, her appetite, already teased awake by the Calpis, was starting to stir again.

“I’ve got one for myself too.”

Saying that, Harutaki set his own pudding on the table and scooped a spoonful into his mouth.

“It’d be kind of awkward if I were the only one eating while a beautiful girl sits next to me watching, right? So I’ll have to ask Shihou-san to help ease my embarrassment.”

Ahhh, that was such a sneaky line!

Unable to outtalk him, Chouko reluctantly picked up her plastic spoon and began taking small, delicate bites of the pudding.

It was sweet, but not overwhelmingly so.

“Hoshikawa-kun, you’re awfully good at making girls feel special. Are you sure you’ve never had a girlfriend?”

Accepting the bottled water he handed her to rinse her mouth, she couldn’t resist asking, pouting a little as curiosity got the better of her.

“Not in this lifetime, nope.”

“Then… is there someone you like?”

That phrasing, “this lifetime”, was weird, but she assumed it was just his way of joking about being single since birth.

Her thoughts flickered briefly before she quickly added, “You’re not allowed to cheat by saying it’s me. I already have someone I like.”

“There is someone… actually, more than one.”

He just admitted he’s a scumbag!

His bluntness caught her completely off guard; she couldn’t even come up with a snappy retort.

“…Shihou-san’s one of them, though~”

As expected, another smooth line.

Using wordplay to dodge her condition, that was so typical of him.

“Then what rank am I?”

It has to be first, right? she thought confidently. She had already seen through all his “player tricks.”

“Hmph. You mean I’m your number one, right? Even if you say that, it doesn’t make me happy! In fact, minus points for that!”

“Sorry. Right now, Shihou-san is number two, just barely ahead of number three.”

“Liar…”

Harutaki glanced at her puffed-up, rosy cheeks and couldn’t help laughing inwardly.

You’re way too cute, Shihou-san.

“Then who’s number one?”

An odd pang of disappointment rippled through her chest. She should be glad, after all, it meant she wasn’t his main target, but why did that feel so bitter?

“Shirasagi-senpai from third year.”

Standing up, he gathered the wrappers and empty bottles from the table.

“The next train’s about to come. Let’s talk while we walk.”

“...Okay.”

Side by side, the two walked through the bustling station toward the ticket machines, drawing countless curious glances as they passed.

A handsome boy and a beautiful girl together, such a scene was rare enough to turn heads. If not for the fear of being called out, several onlookers might’ve already snapped photos to post online.

Fortunately, both Harutaki and Chouko were used to being the center of attention. They kept chatting as naturally as if nothing had changed.

“The reason I ranked Shirasagi-senpai first, is because in my mind, she’s like Venus without the missing arm, perfect and divine, almost like a goddess.”

“Ugh, that’s so cheesy~”

“I actually used to think the same thing about you, Shihou-san.”

Wha, what do you mean used to?!

She was still perfect now, wasn’t she?!

Everyone said so, that Shihou Chouko was like a celestial maiden, a modern-day Princess Kaguya!

“Especially that time you helped me move the desk and chair out of the girls’ restroom, ”

The moment those words left his mouth, Chouko felt her heart leap right into her throat.

He… he didn’t notice anything, did he?

We will be giving out 5 bonus chapters after reaching 25 vote on NovelBin!

Feel free to leave a vote or review!!

14/25