Chapter 45: The Bespectacled Girl with Hidden Depths!
Minegahara High School, Class 2-1.
As usual, Azusagawa Sakuta sat around with nothing better to do, staring toward the school gate.
Ever since seeing that bunny girl in the library, part of his soul seemed to have been stolen away.
He desperately wanted to see Sakurajima Mai again.
Unfortunately, after that day, she vanished from his life once more.
Their encounter in the library had been the closest he'd ever gotten to her.
And the reason he kept staring toward the school entrance was simple.
He hoped he might catch another glimpse of her.
For reasons even Sakuta couldn't explain, he had the strange feeling that Mai was deeply important to him.
As though his life would somehow remain incomplete without her.
He'd even gone to Futaba Rio and asked whether he'd developed some new form of Adolescence Syndrome.
Her diagnosis had been much less dramatic.
He'd fallen in love.
Worse, he'd apparently managed to experience heartbreak almost immediately after falling for someone, which explained why he'd become so restless and distracted.
Perhaps all that wishing really did work.
While Sakuta's thoughts wandered, the person he'd been longing to see suddenly walked through the school gates.
In less than a second, the entire entrance erupted.
Screams rang out everywhere.
One person told another, then another, and before long the entire campus seemed to know.
The person causing all that chaos was none other than Sakurajima Mai, former nationally famous child actress and one of the hottest celebrities on the internet right now.
Mai had expected some attention.
Even so, the sheer enthusiasm still caught her off guard.
In the past, this would've frightened her.
Back then, she'd wanted nothing more than for people to stop watching her.
Now, however, she calmly accepted their goodwill.
Being noticed was part of being a celebrity.
And this was the path she'd chosen for herself.
'Saku-kun hasn't commented on me much lately, so I still don't really know what happens in my future.'
While dealing with the excited students around her, Mai found herself thinking about Saku's inner voice.
The last meaningful information she'd heard about herself had been almost two weeks ago.
What she knew of her original future was still extremely limited.
There were only two people she remembered clearly.
One was the original male protagonist, Azusagawa Sakuta, the man who was supposedly destined to become her husband.
The other was Futaba Rio.
According to Saku's thoughts, Futaba was an unexpectedly well-endowed girl who hid far more beneath her unassuming appearance than anyone would guess.
Mai could say one thing with certainty.
Saku had thought about Futaba far more often than he'd thought about Sakuta.
Since Mai hadn't returned to school until now, she'd never had the chance to approach either of them.
But now that she was here, she figured there was no harm in investigating.
Most importantly, she wanted to know whether Futaba could hear Saku's thoughts too.
If she could, then combined with what had happened with Yui, Mai would have a strong reason to suspect something.
Perhaps the heroines Saku talked about were all capable of hearing his inner voice.
That might even explain why his luck with girls had suddenly become so ridiculous.
After all, Saku was mysterious, unusual, and seemingly capable of revealing pieces of someone's future.
Who wouldn't become interested?
By the time Mai finally reached her classroom, her hand was already sore from signing autographs.
Then her classmates surrounded her too.
She didn't escape the enthusiastic crowd until the bell rang for class.
For the first time, Mai found herself slightly regretting coming back.
As the teacher droned on at the front of the room, she suddenly remembered her mother's question about university.
Mai quietly took out her phone beneath the desk and prepared to message Saku for his opinion.
Truthfully, she could attend almost anywhere she wanted.
With her academic ability and resources, most universities wouldn't present much difficulty.
Only a school with exceptionally high barriers, such as the University of Tokyo, would require serious preparation.
Before she could send the message, however, Saku's thoughts suddenly reached her first.
「So the school trip really is going to Kyoto. Looks like fate is surprisingly difficult to change.」
「Still, that's fine. I can watch some drama while I'm there and finally relax a little.」
「I've been way too tired lately. I haven't even had time to appreciate Utaha-senpai's black-stockinged legs or Michiru's massive chest. I need to give myself a break before I die of overwork.」
Yukino: '...You really must be exhausted if you're this excited just to watch someone else's drama.'
Yui: 'I feel like that drama might involve me. Come to think of it, Yukino and I haven't interfered with Hikki lately. Is he still going to self-destruct?'
Utaha: 'And here I thought I'd lost my charm. So you've simply worked yourself half to death. I'm almost as busy, though... A school trip, huh? Maybe I could...'
Michiru: 'Massive chest? What exactly is that supposed to mean?'
Megumi: 'I've acquired another piece of completely useless knowledge.'
Saki: 'So that's why you've been unusually calm lately and haven't been paying attention to all those vixens. Saku, keep it up! Your career comes first! Don't look at those women!'
'A school trip to Kyoto...'
Mai couldn't help imagining it.
'If I could go with Saku-kun...'
She entertained the idea for a moment before reluctantly shaking her head.
If she secretly followed him there, she'd probably ruin his school trip and create unnecessary trouble.
At least until Saku was willing to make their relationship public, Mai couldn't behave that recklessly.
It was disappointing.
Still, going to Kyoto alone with him someday would obviously be much better.
With that thought comforting her, Mai finished typing her message and sent it.
She'd already made up her mind.
Whatever university Saku planned to attend, she would apply there too.
He was only in his second year of high school, but Mai had absolute confidence in his ability.
If Saku decided he wanted to attend a certain university, getting accepted probably wouldn't be an issue.
And if they attended the same university...
They could study together.
They could spend more time together.
Mai wanted to experience an actual campus romance.
How was she supposed to do that if they weren't even on the same campus?
After sending the message, Mai forced herself to focus on class.
Unfortunately, the moment the bell rang, her enthusiastic classmates surrounded her again with questions.
That continued until the end of the school day.
Only then did their excitement finally settle down somewhat.
Even so, several girls still approached and invited Mai to go shopping with them.
If they had genuinely been friends, she would've happily accepted.
But Mai could tell most of them were only trying to become close to her because of her fame.
Being friendly acquaintances was enough.
She had no desire to force deeper relationships.
Besides, she had something else to do.
So she politely declined.
Her real destination was Futaba Rio.
After asking around, Mai quickly confirmed Futaba's situation.
She was the head of the Science Club.
The title sounded impressive.
In reality, Futaba was the club's only member.
Strictly speaking, that wasn't even enough people to satisfy the minimum requirements for a proper school club.
Which raised an obvious question.
How had Futaba managed to get past both the Student Council and the school administration and secure an entire laboratory for herself?
The more Mai thought about it, the less ordinary Futaba seemed.
Privileges weren't normally handed out for no reason.
Usually, only exceptional people received exceptions.
The Science Club was almost completely ignored by the rest of the school and had something of a ghost-club reputation.
Still, once Mai deliberately looked for it, finding the laboratory wasn't difficult.
She opened the door.
The person inside immediately looked over.
A petite girl in a white lab coat, her glasses concealing her true nature—every detail matched. Mai instantly confirmed that the girl was Futaba Rio.
There were also two boys nearby, separated by a window.
One stood inside the laboratory.
The other was outside.
Mai hadn't even had time to speak when the boy inside abruptly rose from his seat and marched toward her with extraordinary determination.
He stopped directly in front of her.
"Sakurajima-senpai."
His expression was deadly serious.
"I love you."
"Please go out with me!"
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