“… What does that mean?” Kondo Haruka asked in return.
“I mean, Classmate Kanzaki might have just been being a bit too cautious. It could just be a minor issue that isn’t really that serious,” Koharu Miura said, speaking the words she had just arranged in her head in a flash.
“Cautious? A minor issue?” Kondo Haruka narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Miura, Sou wouldn’t have that kind of distracted look on his face or rush away and leave me in the classroom alone just to go to the Student Council Room over some trivial ‘minor issue.’ For a person like him who knows his boundaries, if he’s in a hurry to do something, it must be because he thinks it’s quite important.”
Kondo Haruka leaned forward, and the combined pressure of being both an athlete and a childhood friend instantly enveloped Koharu.
“Maybe… it was just to verify if it was important or not?” Koharu Miura leaned back slightly, trying her best to avoid Kondo Haruka’s aggressive aura.
“— He cares so much about you, and you’re trying to say he’s making a mountain out of a molehill?”
Koharu Miura felt an unprecedented sense of trouble. She had a premonition that the more she tried to explain, the worse it would get.
If she didn’t calm Kondo Haruka down quickly, with her impulsive personality, she might actually drag Koharu to the police station.
When that happened, forget about investigating Arisa Kiyono — that person would definitely stay as far away from her as possible.
‘Calm down.’
Kondo Haruka wasn’t an unreasonable person. Especially when it came to Sou Kanzaki, she considered logic quite seriously and strictly.
Back in the Nurse’s Office, it was Koharu’s own flawless reasoning that had helped her clear the air and resolve her own crisis.
‘To deal with Kondo Haruka, I have to find words she can’t refute.’
Koharu Miura took a deep breath, and her tense, uneasy shoulders slowly relaxed. S
he no longer avoided Kondo Haruka’s gaze; her clear eyes were now filled with an extremely serious light.
“I’m sorry — I know you’re worried about Classmate Kanzaki, and you’re worried about me, too, Kondo.”
Koharu Miura’s voice reached Kondo Haruka’s ears clearly.
“But precisely because he is Classmate Kanzaki, I think we should trust his judgment more. Both me and you.”
“Classmate Kanzaki always acts with restraint, right?”
“I’m saying, if he really thought my current situation was dangerous to a certain degree, what would someone with his personality do?”
Kondo was stunned, her aggressive aura faltering slightly. “He would… he would solve it.”
“How would he solve it?”
“By calling the po — ?”
Koharu Miura followed her lead, and the moment Kondo Haruka started to speak, she cut herself off.
Koharu Miura knew that Kondo Haruka had taken the bait.
“… Just like you said, if he really felt it was dangerous, wouldn’t it be enough to just call the police? Would Classmate Sou Kanzaki not think of that?”
If he really thought it was a violent threat or a stalker situation that required police intervention, he would have definitely suggested I call the police immediately.
“But he didn’t, right?”
Hearing Koharu Miura’s words, Kondo Haruka was completely stunned. She opened her mouth as if to argue but found she couldn’t find a way in.
The girl with the reddish-brown curls stared at Koharu for a long time.
The sound of the music and the beat of the drums coming from the KTV booth hammered against both of their hearts during the subtle silence between them.
After a long while, Kondo Haruka slowly leaned back against the sofa.
Her tense shoulders slumped slightly as she deflated, and the sharp look in her eyes lost much of its edge as her suspicion faded.
“… What you’re saying seems to make some sense.”
She curled her lip, her tone carrying a hint of defeat but mostly the relief of being convinced.
“Was I really just overthinking it? Seeing his expression yesterday, I thought you had actually gotten into trouble with the Underworld or something. Since even Sou hasn’t gone that far yet, then it should… indeed not be as serious as I thought.”
Hearing those words and seeing that the most difficult hurdle had finally been cleared, Koharu Miura breathed a long sigh of relief in her heart.
Although she was soaked in a cold sweat, at least her life was saved for now.
“Exactly.”
Koharu Miura gave a relieved smile, looking like an ordinary, somewhat shy girl who had been shown concern by a friend.
“Classmate Kanzaki… might just care about his friends too much. Actually, it might just be some sort of prank, or… anyway, it shouldn’t be anything too serious.”
The atmosphere finally relaxed.
The colored lights swept across Kondo Haruka’s face.
Although her expression was still a bit awkward, most of that scrutinizing intent had vanished.
She raised her hand and took a large gulp of the fruit soda she had been holding.
Seeing this, Koharu Miura also took a sip of her own drink.
Then, just as she was beginning to relax —
It was just a casual comment.
Just a question following the flow of the conversation.
Even from the strictest perspective, Kondo Haruka’s next question couldn’t be considered abrupt, or a way of making things difficult for Koharu Miura, or an attempt to pick a fight.
The reddish-brown haired girl asked casually, “— Well, since it isn’t that serious, what exactly happened to you? And what kind of message did Sou receive?”
Koharu Miura, who had already planned to lie back and relax, felt her heart skip a beat again.
‘Wait.’
Although she had successfully downgraded the “danger level” through logic, the actual content of “what exactly happened”…
‘Did I really have no way of escaping that?’
Koharu Miura’s brain began to whirl at high speed again.
How should she explain it? She hadn’t considered that at all.
Once the topic of the livehouse came up, she was worried she would expose Arisa Kiyono’s identity… That was the one thing she had to avoid at all costs.
“That… well, it was really nothing.”
Koharu Miura stammered, her eyes beginning to wander. Out of guilt, she subconsciously reached up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear.
“It was just some… slightly embarrassing misunderstanding. Maybe some classmate saw me on the street and thought I was doing something strange, so they…”
As she spoke, she tried to find a way to change the subject.
“Anyway, it’s nothing — oh, right! Can you hear the song playing right now? It’s coming from the booth behind you. It sounds so familiar, but I can’t remember the name…”
“Miura.”
Kondo Haruka’s voice rang out again.
Only this time, it wasn’t just calm and indifferent. It was a voice filled with a hint of irritation within its coldness.
Koharu Miura’s body froze. She looked up and found Kondo Haruka narrowing her eyes at her.
The hostility from before was gone, replaced by a mixture of annoyance and worry that said “you’re actually trying to lie to me again.”
“Your way of changing the subject is terrible.”
Kondo Haruka set down her soda can with a soft clink. Her reddish-brown curls bounced on her head like fire.
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