Yuzuru and Hijiri first turned their gazes towards the girls each other had brought along.
Hijiri looked at Arisa, and Yuzuru looked at Tenka.
Then they turned their gazes to the girls standing beside them.
Yuzuru looked at Arisa, and Hijiri looked at Tenka.
Arisa wore a deeply troubled expression.
Then she stared intently at Yuzuru and gave a small nod.
(Please cover for this somehow.—)
He felt like he could hear those words.
“Fancy running into you again, Hijiri. And Nagiri-san.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s right, Takasegawa-kun.”
The earlier shock seemed to have vanished. Both of them spoke with calm expressions.
As expected of people from the Ryozenji and Nagiri families.
Their gazes then shifted to Arisa standing beside Yuzuru.
“I’m Arisa Yukishiro, in the same class as Takasegawa-san. It’s nice to meet you, Ryozenji-san, Nagiri-san.”
Arisa gave a small bow while wearing the artificial smile she usually displayed at school.
She looked every bit the model honour student.
“Likewise. I’m Hijiri Ryozenji, Yuzuru’s friend.”
“And I’m Tenka Nagiri, Ryozenji-kun’s classmate.”
After exchanging greetings, they moved to the main topic.
Hijiri made the first move.
“…So, Yuzuru. What exactly are you doing here with Yukishiro-san?”
“With her… we just happened to run into each other here. Right, Yukishiro?”
“Yes. Running into Takasegawa-san here was truly a coincidence… and since we were already here, we decided we might as well play some tennis together.”
It was pure improvisation with no prior planning, but Arisa played along perfectly.
There were even single-player facilities like batting machines here, so it wasn’t particularly strange.
Though whether you’d really coincidentally run into a classmate at a place like this was a bit questionable.
“…Are you two close?”
“Close enough that if we happen to run into each other, we might think about playing tennis together, I guess?”
“We are in the same class, after all.”
It wasn’t really an answer at all—but he had never intended to give a real answer anyway.
Hijiri probably sensed that Yuzuru didn’t want to elaborate, because he didn’t press further.
Now it was Yuzuru’s turn to ask.
“What about you two, Hijiri and Nagiri-san?”
“We also just happened to run into each other here. Right, Nagiri?”
“We were playing tennis until just now. We were thinking of going bowling next.”
Hijiri and Tenka said this while riding along with Yuzuru and Arisa’s lie.
(Ah, that’s definitely a lie,) Yuzuru thought.
(It’s so obvious this is a date.)
But he didn’t dig deeper.
…What mattered was that both sides had confirmed they wanted to keep this quiet.
“I see. …Let’s keep this between us. I’m not a fan of being the centre of gossip.”
“Yeah, I get it. …Same goes for us.”
Yuzuru and Hijiri silently agreed to keep each other’s secrets.
After seeing Hijiri and Tenka off, Yuzuru turned towards Arisa.
She furrowed her neat brows and asked—
“Do you think it’ll be okay?”
Hijiri’s pretty tight-lipped, so it should be fine. …And if he says anything, I can just spread rumors that Nagiri and Ryozenji are dating. They probably wouldn’t like that either, so I doubt they’ll talk about us.”
“I hope so.”
Arisa’s concern was understandable.
She didn’t know Hijiri’s personality—her impression of him was probably just a flashy guy.
Arisa, and Yuzuru too for that matter, didn’t know what Tenka was like either.
From her appearance and demeanor she seemed like a refined Yamato Nadeshiko. “Yamato Nadeshiko” refers to the idealized image of a traditional Japanese woman—graceful, modest, and refined.
But what was she really like inside?
According to Hijiri, she was “a woman like the devil.”
(But would someone go on a date with a devil?)
He didn’t really want to think about it, but maybe Hijiri had said that the same way a second-grade boy insults the girl he likes.
If that were the case, it would be absolutely hilarious.
Yuzuru decided he’d tease him about it someday.
“Do you think those two are dating?”
“Who knows… But even if they’re not officially a couple, they probably have some feelings for each other. Otherwise they wouldn’t come to a place like this alone together.”
Then Yuzuru realised something.
That statement was a massive boomerang aimed straight back at themselves.
“Takasegawa-san… were you setting that up for a retort?”
As expected, Arisa had noticed.
She spoke in a slightly exasperated voice, looking at him with somewhat cold eyes.
“…Our situation is a little different, isn’t it? We have to act like we’re a couple.”
He scratched his cheek as he made the excuse.
Since they needed to report to their guardians that they’d properly gone on dates as a couple—or rather, as fiancés—it was natural.
But normally, people wouldn’t go on dates unless they had at least some feelings for each other.
“Shall we play tennis?”
“Yeah.”
Feeling a faint awkwardness between them, the two quickly ended the conversation and started playing.
“There was a bit of trouble at first, but it was fun.”
On the way home, as he walked Arisa back to her house, Yuzuru muttered that.
Arisa nodded in agreement.
“Yes. And Takasegawa-san, you’re quite athletic.”
“You too. For someone who says you’ve only played in P.E., you were pretty good.”
At first they had only rallied the ball back and forth.
But after realising they were both reasonably capable, they played two actual matches.
Naturally, Yuzuru won the matches thanks to his superior strength and stamina.
Still, Arisa had put up a good fight.
If you removed the physical differences between men and women, they were probably evenly matched—or Arisa might even be slightly better.
“I’d like to try some of the other games next time. …They have bowling and darts too, right?”
“Yeah, they do. Let’s come back sometime.”
Without thinking much about it, they had already made plans to hang out again.
Yuzuru glanced at Arisa’s profile as she walked beside him.
The evening sun turned her flaxen hair golden and illuminated her beautiful features.
Her appearance, like a piece of art, was slightly softened.
It wasn’t the artificial, expressionless face she showed at school.
This one was natural and gentle—a face she only showed in front of Yuzuru.
“What is it?”
“I was just thinking… I’m glad we ended up in this kind of relationship. …The arranged meeting was a hassle, but I’m really glad I got to meet you.”
Yuzuru said this with quiet sincerity.
Arisa nodded slightly.
“Yes. I’m really glad I became friends with you too, Takasegawa-san. I wouldn’t go to places like that alone.”
She gave a small smile.
For just a moment, Yuzuru’s heart made a sudden thump.
For an instant, he almost felt like he had fallen in love.
Like he might have started to like her.
(…Nah, must be my imagination.)
But when he looked at her face again, those feelings didn’t rise up at all.
All he felt was that she was beautiful—like looking at a piece of art or a flower.
Realising that, Yuzuru felt a small sense of relief.
While they were talking like that, they arrived near her house.
Feeling slightly reluctant, Yuzuru was about to say goodbye.
But then—
“Yukishiro-san! …L-long time no see.”
A boy who looked about their age approached them.
Yuzuru searched his mental catalogue of faces, trying to match the boy with someone he knew—but found nothing.
He concluded the boy was probably from another high school.
“Kobayashi-san. It’s been a while.”
“An acquaintance?”
“A classmate from middle school.”
Arisa’s expression as she said that…
had returned to the usual mask-like face she showed at school.
Of course, her expressions were subtle to begin with, so unless you were fairly close to her like Yuzuru, you probably wouldn’t notice the difference.
“What a coincidence running into you here. …How’s high school?”
“It’s fun. How about you, Kobayashi-san?”
With that, Arisa smiled brightly.
Her usual practised smile.
Watching her go from a blank mask to a sudden smile made Yuzuru realise again how many boys must misunderstand her because of it.
“I mean… it’s normal, I guess. Um, who’s that guy?”
Kobayashi turned his gaze towards Yuzuru.
For some reason, Yuzuru sensed jealousy—almost hostility—in that gaze.
“I’m Takasegawa, Yukishiro’s classmate. Nice to meet you, Kobayashi-kun.”
Yuzuru stepped forward and gave a polite social smile as he introduced himself.
Kobayashi seemed slightly taken aback.
“O-oh… nice to meet you.”
And then he fell silent.
Arisa, who actually knew Kobayashi, looked towards Yuzuru as if to say, What should we do?
But Yuzuru and Kobayashi had no connection whatsoever.
Since both Arisa and Kobayashi had gone quiet, the conversation had essentially ended.
Perhaps unable to bear the awkward silence, Kobayashi suddenly spoke up.
“Right, I should get going. See you around, Yukishiro-san.”
With that, he ran off into the sunset.
Yuzuru pointed at his retreating back and asked Arisa:
“Wasn’t that guy… into you?”
“I don’t need you to tell me that.”
Arisa let out a deep sigh.
She looked utterly exhausted.
“If he’d just confess, it would be easier. I could clearly tell him I don’t like him.”
“Well… you can’t exactly say ‘I don’t like you’ out of nowhere when he hasn’t actually said anything.”
To keep hinting at feelings when you’re not interested.
(Even being a beautiful girl sounds exhausting,—) Yuzuru thought with a bit of sympathy.
And he also silently offered condolences to Kobayashi-kun, whose heartbreak was already guaranteed.
