“By the way, Ooboshi, did something happen between you and Kageishi-san from the advanced class?” Takamiya asked.
“No, siree, nothing at all!” My voice cracked; the sharpest of questions had come out of absolutely nowhere. If she could switch off her impressive, animalistic sense of smell for just a little bit, that’d be great, thanks. “Wh-Why d’you ask?”
“Why d’you think? I’m not just sayin’ stuff at random, y’know. Look over there.” Takamiya pointed over to the tables where the advanced class was sitting—which included Midori, of course.
“Wow, Kageishi-san, I didn’t know you liked fried food that much!”
“What, oh, um, yes... Strange, this food group has a terrible effect on one’s brain power, and yet I’ve piled my plate with it... Perhaps I have a secret wish for my body to wither away from the inside.” Midori let out a hollow laugh from behind her plate, which was loaded with foods wrapped in golden breadcrumbs.
I looked down at the plate in front of me.
It was an exact copy of hers; everything on it was the exact same shade of golden brown.
“See?” Takamiya grinned, smug.
I groaned.
The fact that we’d picked out a similar breakfast obviously proved nothing, but Takamiya’s illogical hunch that it meant something was annoyingly right on the money.
Takamiya leaned forward, begging me to spill the juicy details. Maihama said nothing, but her eyes were sparkling with obvious curiosity. Muscleman Suzuki had also jumped on the bandwagon, poking me in the ribs with his buff elbow in an effort to get me to talk.
With the pressure piling on me, I was struggling to come up with a response when help came my way—from an unexpected direction.
“It’s my fault Aki’s acting so weird.”
The entire group spun around to face Mashiro.
She started to explain matter-of-factly while deftly using her chopsticks to pick out the bones from her fish. “We broke up. It was my idea, and I don’t think he was expecting it, which is probably why he’s filling up on empty calories. This has nothing to do with Midori-san.”
“Oooh, is that all?” Takamiya sighed. “I guess it’s only natural his mind’s all messed up after gettin’ dumped by you. Now it makes sense.”
“Wait, Asuka-chan, didn’t you hear what she just said?!” Maihama turned to Mashiro. “U-Um, Mashiro-chan, is it true? Did you and Ooboshi-kun really break up?”
“Wait, they broke up?!”
“This is why you need to listen more carefully to people, Asuka-chan! That was the most important part of what Mashiro-chan said!”
“Sorry! I guess my brain ignored it because it was high on the list of stuff that would literally never happen. So, wait, you guys broke up? But you were all over each other! Or is the honeymoon period over or somethin’?”
She really thought Mashiro was that shallow, huh? Though I don’t know how else she was going to interpret it, with the timing as sudden as it was.
“We broke up,” Mashiro repeated simply, unperturbed by the girls’ confused reactions. “There’s nothing more to it than that.”
Suzuki shot me a worried glance from the seat next to me, the bicep peeking out from under his rolled-up sleeve twitching. Could this guy not keep his muscles still, even when he was being sympathetic?
Maybe I could give him a break, actually. This news was as much of a surprise to my classmates as it was to me. Perhaps even more so, since they didn’t know that our relationship was fake from the start.
“Wait, this is actually horrible... Today’s the best day of the class trip, where you get to do whatever you want, and now...” Takamiya’s gaze flicked between Mashiro and me repeatedly. She was rough around the edges, but she sure was kind; she seemed as concerned as though this were her relationship coming to an end. “Hold up a sec. If you guys are done, you’re not gonna be hanging around each other today, right? Right? Which means we get to hog Mashiro-chin for the entire day! So this is actually great! You just gotta put a positive spin on it! Yahoo!”
“Who the heck says ‘yahoo’ when their friend breaks up with her boyfriend?” I said without thinking.
Forget what I said about Takamiya being kind. She operated solely on instinct, regardless of morality. I had to admit, though, in some cases—like this one—it was very convenient of her.
“Where d’you wanna go, then? We could go grab some dessert, like some ujikintoki, if you wanna! ...Ack!”
Mashiro pushed Takamiya’s face away with one hand. “Stay away from me. I’m not gonna eat anything with you.”
“Hwuah? Hyua nowth comthingh wiff utth?” Takamiya asked, her face still the shape of a boxer’s who’d just had it punched in. I think she said something like: “You’re not coming with us?”
Mashiro’s face was perfectly composed as she said, “I’m spending my free time with Aki. Just Aki.” She looked at me. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“Huh?”
For a second, I had no idea what she was asking me. The rest of the group seemed just as confused; they were all frowning at Mashiro too. Only Ozu’s gaze had softened as he murmured an, “I see,” under his breath, like her intentions were totally obvious (they weren’t). You’d think he could let me in on this secret instead of being unnecessarily mysterious about it.
“You don’t want to?” Mashiro asked.
“It’s not that. It’s just... How do I put this?”
As I fumbled for an answer, Mashiro stared intently at me. So intently, that I didn’t even feel like pointing out she was going to get dry eyes unless she started blinking soon.
I couldn’t even begin to guess what she was thinking—she was the one who ended our fake relationship. What did that mean for her feelings towards me? Did she still like me, or not? There was no denying the possibility that she broke up with me because she was genuinely over me.
But then, thinking back to how she acted towards me before this class trip, I was pretty sure she still felt just as strongly as she had on the day she confessed to me. That was the very reason I wanted her to have good memories of this trip, regardless of our fake relationship.
I didn’t know what she was thinking, but I knew how I should answer her question.
“All right. Let’s spend the day together.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Apparently deeply satisfied with my response, Mashiro gave a curt nod.
Now I was sure I was doing the right thing. Similarly satisfied, I took a bite of my fried chicken.
“I don’t understand. You guys broke up, but now you’re going out together?”
“It’s like a reverse honeymoon! It makes literally no sense but I’m here for it anyway! Talk about blessed!”
“So, you’re like...friends with benefits now?”
“Wait, what’s that? That sounds dirty!”
“That is dirty and gross, and there’s no way that’s what this is about! This is what I hate about guys! They can’t keep their minds outta the gutter!”
“Wait, is it true that Ooboshi is two-timing and Tsukinomori-san’s dropped to second place?”
Hold on. When did all these spectators get here? And what was with those rumors? It sounded like they were just making them up on the spot.
Our table was surrounded by other students listening in. Somehow, most of these students had caught wind of the fact that my (fake) relationship with Mashiro was over, but that we were going out on a date today for some reason anyway.
Word was going to get out about this eventually, so I guess it didn’t matter too much, but I would’ve preferred it if they had saved all of that for later. I spotted Midori in the corner of my eye; she caught my gaze, and I felt a prick of guilt.
“Is there anywhere you wanna go in particular?” I asked Mashiro after breakfast, as we returned our empty trays and cutlery.
“Yes,” she said immediately. The answer must have been ready in her head this entire time, because she wasted no time in saying,
“Tenchido Eternaland.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Wait, where am I in all of this? Where are the hot yaoi scenes, primarily featuring Ozuaki?”
“Nowhere and nowhere.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding! I’m Murasaki Shikibu-sensei! Everyone loves me! And just when they were thinking I was pure comic relief, they got to see me act all sexy and serious just before the class trip and decided to add my teacher persona to their spank bank—I mean, I’m sure there are some people who reacted like that—so I’ve gotta be in this volume somewhere or you’re gonna piss off all my fans!”
“That’s why I invited you into this section. This space is usually reserved for me and Aki, but today’s an exception.”
“Wait, what does that mean? Oh no! What have I done?! I’ve come between you and Aki!”
“Okay, you can get outta here now. You’re starting to piss me off.”
“What?! Now you sound like a total sadist! Stop wasting it on me and save it for your beloved Aki!”
“I’m just saying your time will come.”
“Oh, is that all? Heh heh. Now I’m raring to go!”