Aha. So she was from the next town over. If memory served, Keika High ranked about as high or even higher than Tsubakioka High when it came to test scores and academic reputation… It just went to show that you should never judge a book by its cover.
Next, it was the middle girl’s turn.
“Hello. I’m Umi Yuzuki,” she said. “I think I’d prefer not to reveal my age… But it’s a pleasure to meet you all the same.”
The woman named Yuzuki smiled bashfully. I had to admit, the simple fact that she was keeping her age a secret made me all the more curious to know how much older she actually was. Surely she couldn’t be more than college-aged, could she?
I turned my gaze on the last of the three girls: the plainish one who went to the same high school as me. It was her turn to introduce herself—yet, for whatever reason, she just stared at me in silence.
“…Do you really not recognize me?” she asked, eyeing me dubiously.
“Wait, huh?” I blurted out, fairly certain I’d never even seen this girl before in my life. “Er, sorry… Have we met before?”
The girl gaped at me like she couldn’t believe her ears, then rolled her eyes and shook her head in disappointment.
“Not sure if I should feel insulted, or what. Here, does this help?”
The girl took off her glasses, and my memory was jogged in an instant.
“Wait!” I said. “Is that you, Nashimoto…?”
“Correct. Nagi Nashimoto. We were even in the same class back in freshman year, assuming you haven’t forgotten that as well.”
D-dang, I couldn’t even tell it was her… It was crazy to me just how much a pair of glasses completely changed her overall appearance. Even beyond that, one would think I’d have recognized her from her voice. I felt pretty bad now; the only lame excuse I could muster was that I’d been a complete loner who kept to himself back in freshman year, but that was hardly enough to excuse such a massive flub.
In any event, I now knew all three of these girls’ names: the tanned one was Eriri Momozawa, the mature one was Umi Yuzuki, and the plain one was Nagi Nashimoto. Cool, got it. Pretty sure I can remember all of that.
“Okay,” said Sera. “Your turn now, Sakuma.”
“R-right, yeah.” I cleared my throat. “So, uh…I’m Sakuma Kamiki…and I’m a sophomore at Tsubakioka High.”
“And I’m Itsuku Sera! Also a sophomore at Tsubakioka High!”
“Yes, we already know that, thanks,” said Nashimoto, and Momozawa cackled like mad. I was not a huge fan of this group rapport.
The waiter came out with my Viennese coffee and set it in front of me.
“Tell me,” said Yuzuki as I stirred the tuft of whipped cream into the coffee, “did you have some particular reason for coming here today, Kamiki-kun? Or did you just come for coffee?”
Right, how could I forget? I’d come here to have a chat with Sera about Ushio, and he’d completely derailed me the moment I walked in the door. How was I supposed to broach that subject now? The thought of talking about it one-on-one with Sera was already unappealing enough, and he had three unexpected allies here, so it could effectively turn into four-on-one. What if I said something critical of him, and the three of them started lambasting me for it like Momozawa had last night? I’d be at a complete disadvantage if there was any conversational strife whatsoever.
Who were these girls to Sera, anyhow? It seemed safe to assume that Momozawa was probably his girlfriend, but I found it a little hard to believe that Yuzuki and Nashimoto were as well. Especially the latter—she’d never struck me as the type to go around partying with playboys in the past.
“So, just to be clear…” I said, leaning over to whisper to Sera so that the three girls couldn’t hear.
“Yeah, what’s up?” he replied, leaning in as well.
“Are these three just friends of yours, or…?”
Right away, he turned toward the group. “Hey, ladies, Sakuma here wants to know what kinda relationship we all have with one another!”
Oh, gee! Thanks for shouting it from the rooftops, asshole!
“I mean, isn’t it obvious?” said Momozawa. “We’re in love, duh.”
“In a word, yes,” Yuzuki added. “I suppose you could say we’re dating.”
“Yeah, I mean…we’re going out with each other, I guess,” said Nashimoto.
Welp. Guess that settles that.
It seemed they really were all his girlfriends, even if none of them had actually used the word. And despite some other hedging language, it seemed they all considered him their boyfriend as well. If this were any other relationship, these three would surely be throwing hands at each other (or Sera) the moment they found out about one another, yet this appeared fully consensual for every party involved. Still, I couldn’t help but think that somehow, Sera must have tricked them into this and that they were victims here in some form or fashion. I refused to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Did you already know that Ikkun will typically date multiple women at a time, Sakuma-kun?” Yuzuki asked me with a sweet smile.
“Yeah, more or less…”
“I see. Then I suppose I shouldn’t have to elaborate any further.”
She was right; objectively speaking, I could comprehend what was going on here. But from a purely subjective standpoint, my mind refused to accept it. I knew that was my own personal biases talking, and I certainly wasn’t going to judge these women for their choices or tell them they shouldn’t date who they wanted to date. Assuming they were all happy with this arrangement, what business was it of mine?
And yet, in my heart of hearts, I didn’t buy that this relationship could truly be as harmonious as it looked on the outside. There had to be some sort of catch.
Perhaps sensing my inner conflict, Yuzuki let out a gentle laugh. “Did you think we’d all be shallow, sex-crazy bimbos or something?”
“What?! No, I—”
“You thought to yourself, ‘Surely no self-respecting woman would want to date a guy like him, so they must all be either simple-minded or delusional’… You assumed we’d been manipulated, didn’t you?”
“N-no, that’s not true at all…”
“You’re a terrible liar, you know,” she said with another laugh.