In the outside world, Tomoya remained adamant about finding Megumi so that she could remain his main heroine. However, as someone from an ordinary family, how could he possibly locate a "background character girl" in this vast sea of people? Therefore, he approached Eriri to ask for help.
After all, only Eriri, coming from a prominent family, had the means to help Tomoya find Megumi.
By pure coincidence, Eriri had just received her acceptance letter from the High School for Advanced Nurturing and had not yet had the chance to sign it when Tomoya came to visit.
Thus, Tomoya discovered that Eriri intended to look for the "bastard" who had once hurt her at that school.
Given that Megumi was always by that man's side, it was certain that Megumi was also at the High School for Advanced Nurturing. Tomoya high-handedly took Eriri's acceptance letter and, without any logical reason, wrote his own name on it, intending to take Eriri's place at the school.
Eriri was just about to stop him, but Tomoya's next words froze her in her tracks.
"Have you forgotten what you did to me when we were kids? Just consider this acceptance letter as compensation."
Tomoya waved the High School for Advanced Nurturing acceptance letter in his hand. Eriri fell silent instantly. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
And so, Tomoya took the letter that should have belonged to Eriri and headed toward the High School for Advanced Nurturing.
Eriri sat slumped on her sofa, remaining silent for a long time. Meanwhile, Sayuri was busy packing her daughter's things and was unaware of the situation. Only after she finished did she ask Eriri if she was ready for school.
Eriri immediately burst into tears in Sayuri's arms.
Sayuri found it strange. "What's the matter?" she asked, patting her daughter's back to comfort her.
Eriri finally stopped crying and explained that Tomoya had just come by and taken her acceptance letter.
Sayuri's face instantly darkened with rage. She looked at her daughter in disbelief and kept tapping Eriri's forehead with her finger.
"What is going on inside your brain? How could you just give away an acceptance letter your mother worked so hard to get to someone else like that?"
Eriri kept complaining about the pain and begged her mother to stop tapping her head, then spoke with a gloomy face:
"It's because... I owe him from when we were kids."
Sayuri knew what had happened between the two of them as children. Her daughter had cared too much about her pride as a child, leading her to lose Tomoya, and later, Ryunosuke.
(It feels like she truly deserves this...) Sayuri thought to herself while opening her folding fan. Her daughter was purely reaping what she had sown; she couldn't blame anyone else.
Eriri bit her lip and clenched her fists, asking her mother if she could get another acceptance letter.
Sayuri closed her fan. "Do you think a High School for Advanced Nurturing acceptance letter is like a head of cabbage that you can just get anytime? I exerted all my energy just to get one, and you went and gave it to someone else."
Eriri felt desperate. If she wanted to see Ryunosuke, she had to have that letter. She pleaded with her mother to find her another one.
Being shaken back and forth by Eriri, Sayuri could only roll her eyes. She was fed up with helping her foolish daughter; her heart was weary...
Thinking she would never be able to see Ryunosuke again, Eriri wailed loudly. Sayuri just sat by the tea table, propping up her chin and watching without the slightest intention of helping. She almost felt like crying herself at her daughter's stupidity. For Eriri's own good, she couldn't pamper her anymore, lest her bad traits worsen. Giving Eriri a little lesson was a good choice.
Eriri knew she had done something stupid, but what was the use of regret now?
On the other side, Tomoya had taken the letter toward the High School for Advanced Nurturing. At this moment, Ryunosuke was still unaware of this.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
At this time, Ryunosuke was being taken for a walk by his senior, Ibuki.
The reason was to say thank you for finding her a job. Ryunosuke looked at her with confusion; hadn't she already thanked him last time by inviting him to watch a movie?
Ibuki was still wearing the same pale yellow dress as that time. She appeared a little awkward. Ever since Ryunosuke had been gone for a month, she had begun to be honest with her own feelings.
Ibuki took a deep breath and asked the man beside her, "Where are we going for our walk?"
Ryunosuke asked back, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you? You're the one who invited me out... Ow! That hurts!"
Ibuki reflexively swung her handbag at Ryunosuke's face. "You insensitive man!"
Seeing Ibuki angry, Ryunosuke felt bewildered.
Did he say something wrong?
Ibuki led him toward a park bench, and Ryunosuke sat down beside her. Both of them stared toward the basketball court, watching schoolmates play without anyone starting a conversation.
The sound of cicadas chirped in the trees. It was now July, the peak of a very scorching summer.
Ibuki's sweat trickled down her cheek and fell to the ground. Ryunosuke was experiencing the same. Even though they sat in the shade of a tree, the breeze that blew still felt hot; it didn't help much to cool the atmosphere.
Ryunosuke got up to buy two ice creams to ward off the heat, then asked Ibuki what flavor she liked.
Ibuki replied "whatever," saying she ate anything and wasn't picky about food. Ryunosuke quickly returned and handed an original flavored ice cream to Ibuki.
Ibuki accepted it with both hands and said thank you, then began to lick it with her small tongue. She noticed Ryunosuke's ice cream was pink, clearly a different flavor from hers. She looked at her own ice cream, then at Ryunosuke's, and spoke in a tone that seemed nonchalant:
"Can I taste yours?"
"You can taste mine too..."
Before Ryunosuke could agree, Ibuki had already snatched the ice cream from his hand and swapped it with her own.
Seeing her start to eat his ice cream without any hesitation, Ryunosuke was forced to lick Ibuki's ice cream in return.
Ibuki licked Ryunosuke's ice cream; her ears felt burning hot, but she didn't show it on her face. She put on a very good front. However, when she saw Ryunosuke looking indifferent, for some reason, she felt annoyed.
Whatever she was thinking, Ibuki suddenly snatched her ice cream back and returned Ryunosuke's, saying that the taste was bad and they had to swap back!