Kotomi Izumi loved Megumi Kato.
She loved her very, very much.
But for some reason, whenever she was spending time with other girls, the moment she received a call, a text message, or a LINE notification from Megumi Kato, her heart would start racing uncontrollably, almost instinctively—so fast it felt like it might burst out of her chest.
Just like now.
The instant she saw Megumi Kato's name flashing on her phone, Kotomi Izumi's heartbeat began accelerating wildly, and her expression gradually became... colorful.
Ayani Kika had originally thought it was just an ordinary phone call. But when she saw Kotomi Izumi's face suddenly turn pale, along with that hesitant look—like she was debating whether she should answer right away...
Ayani Kika understood in an instant.
She let out a soft laugh and teased, looking at Kotomi Izumi.
"Oh my, is your girlfriend checking in on you at a time like this? Let me see her name. Megumi Kato... what a lovely name. It reminds me of the phrase 'graceful in nature, gentle in heart.' Just from the name alone, she sounds like a very gentle girl who takes good care of you. You have three girlfriends—a golden long-haired girl, a black long-haired girl, and a shoulder-length pale pink-haired girl. Which one does Megumi Kato correspond to?"
On one side was the ringing phone in her ear, and on the other was Ayani Kika's question. Kotomi Izumi could only tug at the corner of her mouth and force a dry smile.
"Unfortunately, none of them. She has short black hair."
"..."
Ayani Kika, who had just been teasing her, fell silent.
She had thought Kotomi Izumi was juggling three boats.
She had not expected a fourth one to appear.
At that moment, Kotomi Izumi steadied her emotions and answered the call.
As soon as the line connected, Megumi Kato's gentle voice came through from the other end.
"Kotomi~ good afternoon. Hmm? Why does it sound a little noisy on your side? Where are you right now?"
Maybe it was just her imagination, but when Megumi Kato heard the noise around her, that originally gentle voice seemed to gain a faint layer of chill as she asked where she was.
A thin sheen of sweat gradually formed on Kotomi Izumi's forehead. Her mind began spinning rapidly.
She wanted to come up with an almost perfect explanation. But she knew Megumi Kato's personality well—if she stayed silent for too long, Megumi would definitely start wondering whether she was making something up.
And once that suspicion took root, even the most flawless excuse would still invite doubt.
"I'm eating at a restaurant right now. It's lunchtime, after all. And we're in the city center. There are a lot of companies nearby, so when it's noon, tons of office workers come in to eat. When there are that many people, it naturally gets a bit noisy."
"Oh, I see~ Are Yui and Yukino with you too?"
Once she learned that Kotomi Izumi was eating at a restaurant, Megumi Kato's tone softened immediately, returning to normal.
At the question, Kotomi Izumi first cast a slightly guilty glance at Ayani Kika, who was sitting across from her. Then she let out a dry laugh and said calmly,
"Of course. I can't just leave the two of them behind and sneak out to eat alone, right? We're at an all-you-can-eat yakiniku place. Yukino went to choose dipping sauces for the grilled meat, and Yui went to the staple food section to decide what to eat. Honestly, that silly Yui—who goes to pick staple food first at a yakiniku buffet?"
After saying that, Kotomi Izumi even cheered for herself a little inside, thinking she had done brilliantly.
When Megumi Kato asked whether Yui and Yukino were eating with her, it had sounded like a casual question. If she hadn't thought carefully, she might have just answered "yes" without elaboration.
Although she had also answered "yes," she had added extra details afterward—saying they were at a yakiniku buffet, specifying that Yukino was choosing sauces while Yui was picking staple food.
The implication was that the three of them were not sitting together at that exact moment.
That way, even if Megumi suddenly suggested a video call, Kotomi Izumi could accept it naturally—she would just have to avoid showing the table too clearly.
After all, she was in a tempura restaurant right now, not a yakiniku place. Whether it was a buffet or a regular yakiniku restaurant, the table would always have a grill plate. If Megumi saw that there was no grill on the table, the lie would collapse instantly.
Realizing this, Kotomi Izumi also became aware that her seemingly perfect excuse still had this small flaw. She could not help but complain inwardly.
Why did I say we were eating yakiniku? Saying we were at any random restaurant would have been safer than saying yakiniku...
Fortunately, Megumi Kato did not initiate a video call. Instead, she smiled and continued chatting.
"That does sound like her~ When we eat at school, Yui's attention is always on the staple food too. In that way, she's kind of like you, Kotomi. You really love staple foods."
In truth, Kotomi Izumi had slightly outsmarted herself.
From the very beginning, Megumi Kato had never planned to start a video call to verify whether she was telling the truth. She had only called because she had not seen Kotomi for several days and missed her.
It was simply unfortunate timing that Megumi chose this exact moment to call—while Kotomi Izumi was on a date with Ayani Kika.
"The only staple foods I really like are three: rice is number one, then noodles, and flatbread. Yui likes pretty much any kind of staple food."
"You don't like steamed buns, Kotomi?"
"It's not that I dislike them. It's just that if rice is an option, I'll definitely choose rice. If the staple food is steamed buns, then no matter how rich the dishes are, I never feel full. But those little steamed buns dipped in condensed milk—I quite like those. Though I treat them as dessert. Or the ones with meat or sweet filling... Wait, those aren't really steamed buns anymore. Those are called buns."
Although in Japan, many people simply call both steamed buns and filled buns the same thing.
As the topic gradually drifted into everyday chatter, Kotomi Izumi finally let out a quiet sigh of relief in her heart. At the same time, she cast an apologetic look at Ayani Kika, indicating that she would need to stay on the call a little longer.
After sensing her apologetic gaze, Ayani Kika shrugged generously, silently indicating it was fine—take your time.
"I see~ Oh right, Kotomi, do you want to eat lasagna?"
Megumi Kato suddenly changed the subject and asked whether she wanted to eat lasagna.
After saying that, Megumi Kato lowered her head and glanced at her hands.
Both her left and right hands were covered with bandages. As for the shallower cuts, she had simply applied alcohol and left them to dry.
Megumi Kato's knife skills were not very good to begin with. But to make the meat-sauce lasagna Kotomi loved, she needed to finely chop carrots, onions, beef, celery, and other ingredients while preparing the tomato sauce and meat sauce.
With her already mediocre knife skills, the slightest lapse in concentration would result in her cutting her fingers.
Over the past few days, while her parents were out of the house, she had been practicing over and over again. Although she had occasionally succeeded, she had yet to fully master the method for making lasagna.
Megumi Kato was actually very afraid of pain. Whenever the knife accidentally sliced her finger, she would cry out and tears would spill from her eyes. But for the sake of letting Kotomi eat the lasagna she made with her own hands, she kept comforting herself—Kotomi will definitely be happy when she eats it.
Using that thought as motivation, she repeated the process again and again. Naturally, the wounds on her hands gradually increased.
She had already more or less figured out how to make delicious lasagna.
Now she was just waiting for Kotomi to come back so she could cook it for her...
Looking at her scar-covered hands, the image that surfaced in Megumi Kato's mind was not the pain, but the blissful smile that would appear on Kotomi's face when she tasted the lasagna made by her own hands.
The imagined smile made the corners of Megumi Kato's lips lift into a sweet, expectant curve.
"Lasagna?"
Kotomi Izumi did not understand why Megumi Kato suddenly asked that. After thinking for a moment, she replied,
"Yeah, I'd really like to eat it. Come to think of it, it has been a while since I last had lasagna. I used to order it pretty often at a pizza place before. It tasted pretty good.
"Later, I ordered takeout from that same pizza place and got lasagna again. But when it arrived, the takeout portion was ridiculously small, even though the price was the same as in the store.
"On top of that, their signature baked rice with cheese and meatballs changed from pure cheese with meatballs to something bulked up with chunks of potato.
"After that, I never ordered lasagna from that place again. I originally thought about buying the ingredients and making it myself, but it felt like too much trouble, so I gave up."
When Megumi Kato heard Kotomi Izumi's answer, her heart leapt with joy. She hurriedly said,
"I understand now. Kotomi, after you come back from Kyoto, can you come to my house?"
Although Kotomi Izumi did not immediately understand what the first half of that statement had to do with the second half, she still agreed readily.
"Sure. No problem."
Originally, Kotomi Izumi had already planned to visit Megumi Kato as soon as she returned to Chiba. They had not seen each other for several days, so of course they would cling to each other and be lovey-dovey for a while. She also needed to give Megumi the souvenirs she had bought in Kyoto.
Of course, the most important reason was...
Recently, Yui Yuigahama had been far too weak, which meant the side effects of Kotomi Izumi's Queen of All Females constitution were on the verge of erupting at any moment.
Kotomi felt that her only hope right now was to rush to see Megumi Kato the moment she returned to Chiba and cling to her, using that to release the side effects of the Queen of All Females constitution.
Time always passed quickly during casual conversation. Kotomi Izumi glanced at the time and saw that ten minutes had already gone by. It would be impolite to keep Ayani Kika waiting any longer, so she changed her tone and said to Megumi Kato,
"Megumi, the signal on my end suddenly seems kind of bad. Hello... can you hear me?"
The tone Kotomi Izumi was best at imitating was the one people used when pretending they had bad reception.
"I can hear you. It sounds pretty clear on my end," Megumi Kato replied.
Kotomi Izumi pretended not to hear that at all. She repeated what she had just said, perfectly imitating the anxious frustration of someone unable to hear clearly because of poor signal.
She repeated herself several times. Megumi Kato patiently answered her again and again. It was not until the fifth time that Kotomi Izumi finally seemed to "hear" Megumi's response and said apologetically,
"Sorry, Megumi. The signal in the restaurant suddenly got really bad just now. It was cutting in and out on my side."
"It's okay."
"I really want to keep chatting with you, but since the signal keeps cutting out, I think it's better if we hang up to avoid that happening again. I'll call you back once I return to the hotel, okay?" Kotomi Izumi said, going along with the situation.
"Mm-hmm, okay."
As long as she could hear Kotomi Izumi's voice, Megumi Kato felt happy. So when Kotomi made that request, she agreed without hesitation.
After Kotomi Izumi hung up, Megumi Kato stared at the time displayed on her phone with sparkling eyes.
"If Kotomi is eating, it shouldn't take more than an hour and a half. Hehe. And if I count the time it takes for them to go back to the hotel from the yakiniku place... three hours should be enough! Hehe... in three hours, I'll get to hear Kotomi's voice again. I'm so happy~"
On the other side, after hanging up, Kotomi Izumi wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Receiving Megumi Kato's call so suddenly had truly frightened her.
After all, she had once been stabbed by Megumi Kato before. The psychological shadow still lingered. When Megumi had called just now, Kotomi had instinctively turned her head, half-expecting to see Megumi standing right behind her—phone in one hand, knife in the other.
Not good. Her lower abdomen was starting to ache faintly again. The wound had clearly already healed...
Kotomi Izumi rubbed her belly and picked up the lemon water from the table, taking a sip to calm herself.
When she set the glass down, she noticed Ayani Kika looking at her with a rather remarkable expression.
Before Kotomi Izumi could speak, Ayani Kika started first. She even clapped lightly as she spoke.
"Truly impressive~ Miss Izumi, I suddenly understand how you have the confidence to date four girls at the same time. Those words, those tactics, that acting—you're missing none of them. You wouldn't be able to support being this scummy without every single one."
"I-It's not that impressive. I was just born good at talking," Kotomi Izumi said, pretending not to hear the last part.
"Born good at talking? I think you were just born a little scumbag~"
Ayani Kika teased with a smile.
What Kotomi Izumi did not notice was that although Ayani Kika's words sounded like playful banter, the emotions swirling deep within her eyes were growing increasingly complicated.
"Kotomi..."
Ayani Kika suddenly called out.
"Hm?"
"After we finish eating, do you want to come to my house?"