If dark clouds were forming in Kai’s heart, then a storm was raging in Kotobuki’s. Kai’s first instinct was right on the mark—Kotobuki still hadn’t warmed up to Jun. To someone as shy as Kotobuki, a girl who’d get right in her face at first sight was like a natural predator. The “normie” aura that Jun exuded from every pore made it clear that she belonged to an entirely different world.
Now, why would Kotobuki ask to hang out with such a formidable foe? Kai wasn’t able to reach the answer himself, but the truth was by no means complicated. Kotobuki first laid eyes on Nakamura’s “girl friend” during their date two days ago and the sight shocked her. Of course, Kotobuki had heard plenty of stories about her—Kai told them quite frequently. She even knew enough about this friend to give Kai advice over a string of predicaments they’d found themselves in not long ago. But discovering that this friend was such a bombshell turned out to be quite the bombshell for Kotobuki.
Looking back, she realized that she had made some wild assumptions. She imagined Jun was a boyish troublemaker, or was maybe just super chill, but generally not the type to give off feminine vibes. But in a good way, of course; Kotobuki had a girl like that in her own class who she held in high regard.
But reality was ruthless. When Kotobuki found out that Jun Miyakawa, aka Kai’s best friend, was a ten out of ten hottie, she nearly fainted. Her thoughts couldn’t help but spiral downward: If Nakamura spends five days a week with such a cute, clingy girl, won’t he eventually fall for her? Are they seriously not dating?!
Even after she came home from the date, she rolled around in anguish on her bed...until she had an idea.
I have to be sure. I need to check with my own two eyes.
What was Kai and Jun’s relationship really like? Of course, Kotobuki didn’t think that Kai was hiding the fact that they were lovers. That’d be cheating, which was a level of cowardice Kai just wasn’t the type to stoop to. Kotobuki had spent her life observing people, so she was confident in her call.
But I can’t deny the possibility that Nakamura might come to fall for that person, thought Kotobuki before she buried her face in her pillow and bit the cover in sorrow. Just entertaining the thought tugged at her heartstrings, but she couldn’t run away from the truth.
That said, it took Kotobuki quite a long time to realize that the esteem she held for Kai early on was in fact the first crush of her life. Kai was a reliable mentor, but also a bit naive (in an oh-so-dreamy way!), so it was perfectly plausible that he just didn’t know how to differentiate between like and love with this girl friend of his.
And on top of that, how does that woman feel about Nakamura? If anything, this was the bigger issue. Now that she had been made painfully aware of how unreliable Kai’s word on the matter could be, she was left with almost no idea of who this Jun Miyakawa girl was.
I mean, in what universe is going to a guy’s house five days a week not a sign of being in love?! She’s like, locked on to him! No, I bet she’s been acting like she’s already his girlfriend! Actually, forget that, I wanna go to his place five days a week! Kotobuki pounded her covers in a tantrum as she lay flat on the bed.
But upon further thought, the laws of the universe might not apply to someone like Jun. It wasn’t just her well-proportioned face that was out of this world (because Kotobuki was confident that two could play at that game). Jun’s particular aura made one feel that she came from a different plane of existence. Kotobuki had never imagined what went through the heads of those who mastered the path of the normie, so there was no personality too outlandish to be a possibility. Maybe she was a man-eater who was so used to having a smorgasbord of college boys and working adults on speed dial that she treated a mere high schooler as little more than a pet hamster. Or maybe she was committed to the path of yuri, in which case she wouldn’t have any romantic interest in the opposite sex to begin with.
Oooooh, the more I think about it, the less I get it! Kotobuki, still face-down on her bed, went as still as a corpse.
But it was because she didn’t get it that she had to confirm it with her own two eyes. She would have Kai let her in on their little hangouts. She’d spent enough time observing people; if she could see how they always acted, she was confident that she would soon uncover the truth of how they felt. And no matter what future she saw...
I won’t lose to her! Kotobuki lit a fire beneath her otherwise weak, flinching heart.
So, in short, Kotobuki came over to Kai’s house looking for a fight.