Ring ring~
The lunch break bell rang.
After tidying up the textbooks on the desk, Haruno Ayato sat at his seat and turned around, looking at Sasaki.
"Fuyumi, let's go to the convenience store to buy something to eat."
"Okay..."
Just as he was about to nod and agree, Sasaki noticed from the corner of his eye that Natsuha was making faces and winking at him.
"..."
Knowing he was about going to be the food, he suddenly changed what he was about to say.
"Sorry, Ayato, I want to find a quiet place to read later."
"The midterm exam is tomorrow. If I do badly, Kasumi-nee and my sister at home will definitely give me trouble."
Feeling deeply sympathetic to those words, Haruno Ayato's previously faint smile instantly turned into a frown.
Obviously, the pressure from Haruno Kasumi on him was also very heavy.
However, asking him to sacrifice his rest time to study was still impossible.
"Alright then..."
Unable to eat with his good friend and having heard words that made him anxious Ayato sighed helplessly.
After he left, Sasaki left the classroom through the back door, then went upstairs toward the secret base he had arranged with Natsuha and the others.
...
At the entrance of Class 2-A.
Hamazaki Reina, the third girl, was about to go to Class B to find Sasaki to eat together but was stunned as she watched his back going upstairs.
"In the middle of lunch, he's not going to eat but running upstairs? Why?"
The girl scratched her head in confusion and looked toward Kurumizaka Ruri beside her.
"Why are you looking at Ruri? Ruri isn't a mind reader; there's no way she'd know what he's thinking."
Kurumizaka Ruri, standing by the first window at the classroom entrance, shrugged her shoulders.
Sasaki Yukina, standing on the other side of Hamazaki Reina, guessed:
"Hey, do you think he might be going to find Sakuragi Otome? If she had prepared a bento, then he really wouldn't need to go to the cafeteria or convenience store."
"Yukina, why have you gotten as dumb as Reina?"
Kurumizaka's gaze shifted sideways, looking at Sasaki Yukina like she was looking at an idiot.
"We walked together this morning. If Sakuragi Otome had prepared a bento, how would we not know?"
Hearing herself being called as dumb as Reina, Sasaki Yukina retorted stubbornly. "What's wrong with that? Maybe Sakuragi Otome prepared it early."
Not caring about her rebuttal, Kurumizaka Ruri squinted one eye and said in a mischievous and cute way.
"Then how about we make a bet?"
Not knowing what trick Ruri wanted to play, Yukina asked hesitantly:
"What?"
"A bet on whether Sakuragi Otome really prepared a bento or not."
How would she know if Otome prepared a bento or not?
She was just being stubborn.
"No bet, no bet. If you want to know what Sasaki is doing, whether Otome prepared a bento, why not just follow and see?"
Waving her hand, Sasaki Yukina took a few steps forward:
"Hurry up, hurry up, if we're too slow, we won't find him upstairs."
Their companions had already started moving, and Hamazaki Reina and Kurumizaka Ruri exchanged a glance and followed along.
Fortunately, Sasaki wasn't walking fast, and his figure was quite distinctive.
After the three girls reached the third floor, at the staircase leading to the fourth floor, they caught sight of his back.
They didn't know which class Sakuragi Otome was in, so they didn't think much and just followed.
But as they followed, the place he was going became more and more remote, and they met fewer and fewer classmates along the way.
Before crossing the overpass.
On the other side of the overpass, the three girls clearly saw Sasaki enter a room at the very end of the fourth floor.
They had no impression of that room.
"What is that room for? There's no sign above, is it a storage room?"
Hamazaki Reina squinted, crouching in the corner of the wall, looking from a distance and asked her companions who might know.
Leaning against the wall and fiddling with her hair, Sasaki Yukina guessed casually. "Maybe it's a lounge or something... why would they come to such a remote place just to have lunch? Really don't get it."
"Sigh~"
Not sure whether to say they were innocent or ignorant... Kurumizaka Ruri sighed, facing the two girls' curious looks, and said:
"You two... I really don't know how to say this. Lunch takes a long time, a lonely guy and girl, what else could they be doing? Of course..."
Kurumizaka Ruri raised her left hand and made an 'OK' gesture, then her right index finger slid through the 'O'.
"..."
The two just didn't think in that direction for a moment; it's not that they were completely ignorant of this kind of thing.
Seeing Ruri teach them so vividly, the two girls blushed but laughed teasingly. "Teacher Ruri knows quite a lot, huh? You secretly read a lot of study materials in bed at night, right?"
"Looks like Teacher Ruri worked hard for the day off~"
The three of them were about to become grasshoppers on the same string... there was no need to be shy about such a small matter.
Comforting themselves this way, Kurumizaka Ruri blushed and smiled brightly as she looked at her two teasing companions.
"Yeah~ Ruri really put a lot of effort into the day off, after all... if you want to win, you have to win at the starting line..."
The girl hadn't finished her sentence yet, but her word 'starting line' instantly froze the smiles on Hamazaki Reina and Sasaki Yukina's faces, and their inner alarms rang like air raid sirens — "woooo wooo" nonstop.
They usually just played around and lacked knowledge in that area... thinking lazily, lying on the bed doing nothing would be enough.
But if they did that... then Ruri, who studied for this, would look really good.
Worried their sisters would do badly or too well.
Better to stay single herself than let others have a partner.
Hamazaki Reina and Sasaki Yukina suddenly became anxious.
But what's the use of being anxious... they couldn't just squat there and open adult videos to study on the spot.
But having said that... Ruri's earlier comment about lonely guys and girls...
Maybe there's live teaching here.
Looking toward the corridor at the far end, Hamazaki Reina and Sasaki Yukina exchanged glances, their thoughts reaching an agreement.
"..."
Seeing the two's expressions, Kurumizaka Ruri widened her eyes a bit. "Hey hey, you're not thinking about going over there, are you?"
"What if we get caught..."
The two ignored her advice.
If anything, the more she opposed, the stronger the two's determination to go.
Those who start sneaking off early definitely don't want others to surpass them.
Nodding to each other, Hamazaki Reina and Sasaki Yukina took action.
Seeing them insist on going despite her objections.
Although Kurumizaka Ruri was quite worried about the consequences of being caught, since they already started moving, standing here foolishly wouldn't help.
After hesitating a moment, she stepped forward and followed.
To reduce the chance of being discovered, following Kurumizaka Ruri's suggestion, the two girls took off their indoor shoes and walked on the shiny tiles in their socks.
The distance slowly closed, and the three girls silently arrived at the place where Sasaki had 'disappeared'."
Even the smallest sound of speech becomes very noisy and loud in a quiet place.
So, the three girls crouching by the door were communicating via their phones.
[Hamazaki's friends] (3)
Hamazaki Reina: ..Did you hear it? The music.. 12:20 ..Read..
Sasaki Yukina: ..Yeah, yeah, very loud music, the lyrics are quite simple, just umm umm ahh ahh, but the tune is nice. Can you tell what song it is?.. 12:20
Kurumizaka Ruri: ..The first one seems like 'Golden Key,' the second one is 'Children of the Dark,' the third one is... wait, we didn't come here to listen to music, right?.. 12:20
Kurumizaka Ruri: ..Shouldn't our focus be why they're playing such loud music out loud?.. 12:21
Sasaki Yukina: ..Detective Ruri, what's your take?.. 12:21
Kurumizaka Ruri: ..Ruri thinks, they must be covering something up!.. 12:21
What they were covering up, the three of them all guessed.
Now, it was time to ..open the lid.. and confirm.
So...
Sasaki Yukina: ..Who's going?.. 12:22
Hamazaki Reina: ..I'll go.. 12:22 ..Read..
After sending this message, the girl put away her phone, crouched down, and moved to the crack of the door.
She gently used both hands to pry at the door frame; her movements were as gentle as treating an uninvited guest's rickety door, careful and slight, not daring to use any more force than necessary.
Though using just a little strength, the door, which started to slide lightly along the track, told her it wasn't locked.
Whether they didn't have the key or for some other reason... Confirming the door could open, Hamazaki Reina nodded to the two girls beside her.
Then, continuing at a snail's pace, she slowly opened the door.
Because she used just enough force, moved slowly, and kept the gap small.
So, while opening the door just half the width of a fingernail, Hamazaki Reina did not make a single sound.
The gap was just right, enough to clearly see inside the room without being noticed by the people inside.
Curling up a little, Hamazaki Reina gave the two sisters some room, then squinted one eye and leaned her head closer.
As she gradually approached the crack, the music coming from inside the room began to change tone.
Mixed in were several female voices completely out of rhythm with the music.
At the same time, because of the closer distance, Hamazaki Reina could distinctly feel the temperature difference inside and outside the room.
Inside was more stuffy and hot, not a dry kind of heat... specifically, it felt like the discomfort before a summer thunderstorm, making one feel uneasy all over.
Also, the smell drifting out wasn't what she expected.
It was not the musty smell from piled-up cardboard boxes or dust.
Although those smells were there, amid the many perfume scents, female body scents, and faint sour sweat smell, they were not obvious.
As she got even closer and sniffed carefully, she could detect a faint strange smell in the air, wet, steaming hot... like the feeling of a summer sea breeze... hmm, and next to it, a cluster of blooming chestnut flowers.
The female voices near her ears, the mixed smells... taken separately might not mean much.
But combined together... she didn't understand why her heart was pounding faster, and her breathing inside her nose was getting hotter, causing the girl to lift her eyes and look inside the room.
The window inside was open, and the noon sunlight poured in, shining on the desk right next to the window... and on the auburn-haired girl sitting on the desk.
This was originally nothing strange, but what was strange was the girl's posture sitting on the desk.
At a glance... it looked like the claw of a claw machine.
The girl leaned against another window glass that hadn't been opened, her pure white shirt's hem held tightly between her small lips pressed together, her long, smooth legs spread and resting on the corners of the desk, her slender arms slightly bent, hooking around the bend of her legs like hooks.
Also, following the five delicate, cute toes faintly tinged pink and tightly clutching the desk's edge upwards.
There hung a light blue ribbon printed with a small bow, softly and gently hanging on her tender right ankle.
As if knowing the auburn-haired girl's sitting posture was bad for her back and waist, the only boy in the room was holding her side waist, helping to correct her posture.
Next to them, the purple-haired girl with loose hair, and the pink-haired girl with twin tails, also actively leaned in front of the red-haired girl, earnestly helping and supporting her.
Seeing this harmonious and affectionate scene, the three girls widened their eyes and blankly watched them take turns sitting on the desk, then being helped and corrected by others.
They didn't notice the time.
Not knowing how much time had passed, until Sasaki inside the room said, ..Class is about to start.., the three girls snapped out of their daze, closed the door, and hurriedly left the fourth floor.
Clatter clatter—
Feeling as if their bodies were on fire, they dashed outside the teaching building.
Hamazaki Reina twisted open a water tap, cupped some cool water, and kept washing the burning red flush on her cheeks.
..Hah~..
Wiping the water off her face, she ran her hand through her golden sun-like hair, rose and fell her chest, and took a deep breath:
"Much better~"
"Look at you, such a loser. Can you calm down a bit?"
Also with a flushed face, but not as embarrassed as Hamazaki Reina, Kurumizaka Ruri stood with hands on her hips, teasing her.
On the other side, Sasaki Yukina, arms crossed and leaning sideways on the sink edge, nodded in agreement:
"Exactly, exactly, look at us, then look at you. Really embarrassing, Reina~"
Ruri sneaked off, watching adult videos without them knowing and knew a bit more about those things, so, some resistance was expected, but Yukina, why are you mocking me?
Feeling unfair inside, Hamazaki Reina snorted and said:
"Yukina, don't pretend. When you peeked earlier, you stuck your hand inside your shirt, right? You even touched the back of my head. And now you still have the face to laugh at me.."
Hearing her words, a faint glistening blush gradually appeared on the girl's already rosy, soft face, as she raised her eyebrows to retort.
"..No, I was just.."
Clap clap~
Before she could finish, Kurumizaka Ruri clapped her hands and spoke.
"..Class is about to start, stop talking about these things, anyway you all are the same.."
"..Instead of discussing this, why don't we talk about the current situation?.."
"..The current situation?.."
Sasaki Yukina and Hamazaki Reina looked at each other, waiting for her to continue.
Fanning herself as if to ward off heat, Ruri, still flushed, said seriously. "..Although the result isn't much different from what we thought, the people are obviously not right.."
"..The purple-haired one, if Ruri isn't mistaken, should be Natsuha Shionomiya, from the same class as Sasaki... The auburn-haired girl, I don't recognize her.."
"..And that reddish brown-haired twin-tail girl is definitely not Sakuragi Otome.."
"..Ruri, are you saying Sasaki is cheating?.."
Sasaki Yukina jumped in as the latter shrugged and spoke.
"..That's obvious.."
"..So, should we continue or not?.."
Clearly, Sasaki was different from what they thought, he didn't seem that honest.
Although she had expected Sasaki wouldn't be honest, she didn't expect him to be this dishonest... three girls, huh.
Ruri spoke calmly, with no clear emotion.
Unsure of her meaning, Hamazaki Reina, who had the highest favorability toward Sasaki, was the first to speak:
"..It's nothing, right? They just got ahead and did what we wanted to do first; maybe they have the same idea as us.."
"..Reina sure does like Sasaki a lot, what about you, Yukina?.."
Teasing Reina with a smile, Kurumizaka Ruri glanced sideways at Sasaki Yukina.
"..I..."
Having experienced Sasaki's foot massage, Yukina's feelings for him were not low either.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have agreed to her partner's ridiculous demands.
Also, what they wanted to do was to steal a crush... stealing one person's crush wasn't really different from stealing four.
Besides, the fact that many were after him only proved their good taste.
Sakuragi Otome, and those three girls just now... pick any of them, their figure and looks were no worse than theirs.
If they could steal Sasaki from them... that would really show off their own charm.
Not wanting to give up easily, Sasaki Yukina pondered for a moment, then met the two girls' eyes and said.
"..I'm the same as Reina.."
"..Ok~ then there's no problem.."
Squinting her eyes and lightly clapping her hands, Kurumizaka Ruri said with a smile. "..Let's continue the original plan, but since someone's already ahead, we need to slightly change our strategy.."
"..What do you mean?.."
Hamazaki Reina asked aloud.
"..I mean…"
Taking out her phone and opening the video she recorded while spying, the girl proudly lifted her chin and said.
"..If softness doesn't work, we can get tough.."
Taking the phone handed over by Ruri, Hamazaki Reina and Sasaki Yukina huddled together and watched for a while, then looked up and said:
"..Ruri, you don't mean... that's too despicable.."
Before Kurumizaka Ruri could reply, Reina continued:
"..But I like it.."