“What’re you up to, Brain?” Mimimi asked me as I was on my phone in the audience seats. “DMing girls?! You’re cheating?! You’re making moves?!”
“No, that’s not it. Don’t talk like Mizusawa.” I openly showed her the screen.
“Ah…”
“I’m messaging Haruka-chan.”
It had been a week since I had sent Haruka-chan that concerned message after coming back from Cocoon City. She still had yet to reply. But I continued to make an effort to text her sometimes so it would be easier for her to respond once she had sorted out her feelings.
“I said we’re trying to help out her sister’s student council.”
“…I see.”
Today, we had taken over a project that had stalled because of Hinami’s absence, and we had come to ask someone to be a guest. I had wanted to tell Haruka-chan about that, especially since she’d followed in her sister’s footsteps as a student council president herself.
“Since we have inherited Hinami’s story as the perfect student council president.”
“Ah-ha-ha! That’s right.”
The three of us had come together for more than just helping the student council… There was the very important reason of protecting what Haruka-chan believed in.
“She’s still in middle school, after all. I’ll be her listening ear, too, if anything happens!” said Mimimi. She maintained a comfortable distance—not intruding too much while also not being apathetic. She always did her best to respect others with her actions, and she would say just the right thing. At the moment, I was making this situation an excuse to take advantage of that.
“…Yeah, thanks.”
“Huh? Fumiya-kuuun.” A nasally voice tickled my neck. “You decided to come? It’s been so long.”
“Whoa?! …Hey, Rena-chan.”
“?!” Kikuchi-san’s shoulders twitched at the name. Well, that was no wonder.
The person walking up to us was indeed Rena-chan.
She was wearing clothes that hugged the lines of her body, as usual, with something like a collared shirt underneath it today, giving both a fake sense of modesty and sexiness at the same time. She had what I guess you’d call a hairband on her head, with a sort of goth-ish hair decoration on it—it gave her the air of an alt girl who nerdy guys would go crazy over. I had run into the person I least wanted to see in a place like this.
Kikuchi-san was clearly tense.
“Someone you know, Brain…?” Mimimi asked.
“Yeah, more or less…”
“Huh…”
I had hardly said anything, but that was enough for Mimimi to give me a really serious look. Rena’s existence itself had to make her an enemy of women. I thought so, too.
“F-Fumiya-kun…,” Kikuchi-san said.
I mean, from where Kikuchi-san stood, Rena-chan was the biggest reason we had fought before, and she was the kind of person who set the alert level at SSS. She had a sweet smell about her—some kind of berry and vanilla—as she slid right up to me. I’d smelled it many times before, and it brought back memories.
“Huuuh? Someone’s calling you Fumiya-kun!”
“!”
Rena-chan eyed Kikuchi-san with an attitude that was challenging but also condescending and calm.
“Huh? So, so? Who’s she?” Rena-chan demanded as she took my arm very smoothly. Her softness touched my arm for just an instant, but—
“I told you—” I immediately knocked her aside—but right then.
“Please stop it!” Kikuchi-san’s voice was clear like spring water, but this time, there was a rare roughness in her tone.
She had made herself clear.
“Hmm? Why are you the one saying that?”
“B-because…” Kikuchi-san stood up and glared at Rena-chan. “I-I’m Fumiya-kun’s girlfriend!” She had tears of desperation in her eyes as she staked a claim.
But Rena-chan was unbothered, glaring back at her. It was fair to call Rena-chan’s gaze evaluating, and Kikuchi-san’s face twisted up. She seemed overwhelmed.
“Ah. I see. I’ve heard all about you.” She smiled, bending over to be at her eye level. “How cute,” she said with a snakelike grin.
The way she said that word, it wasn’t like Kikuchi-san was cute in a threatening way—she was saying “cute” like you would of a little sister or a pet, in an unconcerned manner toward something that wouldn’t harm you.
Kikuchi-san must have sensed the condescension, or there was something she couldn’t stomach. She bit her lip, drumming up her courage, and took one step toward Rena-chan. “U-um!”
Though her gaze was drifting downward, she was doing her best to look Rena-chan in the eye. Her cheeks were red, and you could tell she was wound up as tight as she could go. Rena-chan, on the other hand, was grinning in amusement, calm and cool. That smile really did remind me of Hinami.
“I have something to say to you!!” Unusually, there was sweat on Kikuchi-san’s forehead, and her voice was raised desperately.
Despite this, Rena-chan was completely unperturbed. She really was quite a nuisance. “Hmm? What is it?”
“P-please stop…”
“Hmm, stop what?”
And then Kikuchi-san glared at Rena-chan, face bright red, and said: