On the busy street, Utaha walked ahead with slightly puffed cheeks, heading straight for the supermarket.
Behind her, Miyahito sighed heavily, carrying his girlfriend's schoolbag on his shoulder and his own backpack on his back, trailing behind his sulking girlfriend.
"Sigh... I'm not even the mastermind." Looking up at the frowning Utaha, who hadn't even looked back to check if he was keeping up, Miyahito muttered grievously to himself. "Even the accomplice gets a chance to defend himself. Sigh, so unfair."
The moment the words left his mouth, Utaha's voice reached his ears.
"What are you dawdling for?!"
Still grumbling about his girlfriend not listening to his explanation, Miyahito saw her stop at the crosswalk, arms crossed, impatiently urging him on with a frown.
Originally wanting to act tsundere and say "Hmph, just because you tell me to hurry doesn't mean I will, I'll lose face," one coquettish glare from Utaha instantly melted his resistance. He immediately beamed and hurried over like a happy puppy.
"Hey! Coming, coming!"
Walking up to the still-angry Utaha, Miyahito asked with a brilliant smile, "What do you want to eat tonight? I'll make it for you."
"...." Utaha didn't speak. She just silently stared at his... arm.
Seeing this, Miyahito didn't hesitate. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he slightly bent his arm.
Utaha then naturally slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, linking it lightly.
"Tonight, I want a feast."
"No problem! Say the word. Japanese? Chinese? Or French?" Puffing out his chest with a "just say what you want and I'll make it" attitude, Miyahito said confidently.
Utaha, linking his arm, shot a speechless glance at her proud boyfriend. Her wine-red eyes shifted slightly, and she replied casually, "I want French cuisine with Chinese flavors made from Japanese ingredients."
"....."
Wha... wha... what?
Looking at her boyfriend, who had just been acting all confident but now looked completely dumbfounded, Utaha couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Hehe, just kidding."
"....Utaha."
Well, gotta spoil my girlfriend, right?
"Mouth-watering chicken." Utaha struggled a bit, clumsily pronouncing a dish name in Chinese.
Then, under Miyahito's surprised gaze, she murmured something else, repeating it softly a few times until she got the pronunciation right.
She looked up, smiling brightly into his slightly startled dark eyes, and fluently spoke a sentence in Chinese:
"I want to eat mouth-watering chicken! Lizhuang white pork! And stir-fried celtuce."
"....Utaha." Utaha's sudden, fluent Chinese completely stunned Miyahito.
"Hmm?" Playfully blinking her wine-red eyes, Utaha smiled. "Did I sound... weird?"
"Not at all." Slightly dazed at first, Miyahito quickly recovered and replied casually in Chinese.
"No problem! Leave it to me."
"Mhm." A trace of doting affection unknowingly seeped into Utaha's faint smile. She lightly tapped the bridge of Miyahito's nose with her index finger, then spoke to her boyfriend in the tone of a ruthless boss exploiting her employee.
"If it doesn't taste good! You're eating it all by yourself!"
"Eh? That's unfair." Catching the playful mood, Miyahito played along, whining comically. "What if you actually think it's delicious but stubbornly say it's bad? Won't I be stuffed to bursting tonight?"
"Hmph, I don't care."
Tilting her chin slightly, Utaha looked like a queen for a moment, proudly raising her fair, slender neck. "The boyfriend of Kasumigaoka Utaha! Whatever you do, it has to be the absolute best!"
"Wait! Putting it like that gives me so much pressure!"
"Shikata nai~ It can't be helped. After all, you're my boyfriend now." As she spoke, Utaha's palm, already linked with his arm, unconsciously slid into Miyahito's hand.
Their fingers interlaced, holding on a little tighter.
"You can't escape now."
"So bossy?" Feeling the firm grip in his palm, Miyahito smiled doting-ly, his own fingers naturally intertwining tightly with Utaha's slender ones. He securely held her warm hand, enveloping it in his own. "Utaha, why do your words sound more like something I should be saying as the boyfriend?"
"Mhm mhm. 'You can't escape! Woman! Just stay honestly by my side!'"
"Ew." Seeing Miyahito try to act cool but failing miserably with an indescribable awkwardness, Utaha waved her hand in mild disgust. "Kimochiwarui! Don't talk to me like that. (Yuck)"
And so.
Surrounded by laughter and chatter that felt like a world meant only for the two of them, Miyahito and Utaha bought their groceries, along with snacks and drinks for their movie night. Laughing, teasing, happily, they returned to Miyahito's apartment.
"Utaha, where are my loungewear? I want to take a shower."
"Hmm?" Focused on preparing the fresh ingredients, Miyahito heard her from the kitchen and replied without looking up. "In my room on the second floor."
"The weather was nice yesterday, so I hung them out to dry. Haven't had time to fold them yet."
"Yeah, I know." Deliberately dragging out the syllable, Utaha confidently climbed the stairs toward his room.
Passing by Miyahito's personal music studio, also on the second floor, Utaha suddenly stopped. Her wine-red eyes fixed on the slightly ajar door with an indescribable feeling.
'Miyani is a singer. Miyahito loves music. And they both know Kosaka Akane...'
Silently, the conversation about Miyani she'd just had with Machida at the Shinobu building, along with her subsequent idle speculations, surfaced in her mind.
"It couldn't be that coincidental." Utaha lowered her head, smiling faintly to herself. "Things aren't that perfectly aligned."
Mumbling something vague to herself, her hand suddenly, almost uncontrollably, pressed lightly against the cracked door. Giving in to the impulse, she pushed it open.
Creak—!
A faint sound, barely audible if you weren't paying attention, echoed. Inside, the exquisitely decorated room, the instruments scattered yet orderly placed, and the sheet music messily spread across the desk came into view.
"Mhm, definitely no connection." Looking at the room, completely unchanged since the first time Miyahito showed her around, Utaha forced a relaxed smile. "So, it can't be that coincidental....."
Before she could finish, a piece of sheet music fallen on the floor suddenly caught her wine-red eyes. On the blank staff paper, only a title and a name were written. The title was nothing strange, but the name... was one Utaha knew all too well.
[Nandemonaiya (It's Just a Silly Little Thing) — Miyani]