“Don’t you think that if you just play things down, people will act like it never happened?”
Kondo Haruka paused, her expression becoming somewhat helpless.
“That kind of hesitant look just makes people even more curious, okay!”
“And, Miura, I’ll be honest with you.”
“Even if you brush it off now, I’ll definitely go ask Sou for the full story later.”
“Even though that guy is tight-lipped, when I’ve pestered him with questions since we were kids, he can rarely hide things from me completely.”
“You might as well tell me the truth now.”
This sentence left Koharu Miura completely without a move.
That’s right… Haruka would absolutely do something like that.
Whether Kanzaki Sou would explain things clearly to Haruka was one thing… but if Koharu didn’t speak up here, Haruka would definitely go to Kanzaki to find out.
At that time, she would definitely find out that Koharu had been reported for going to the livehouse.
From Koharu’s own perspective, the fewer people who knew about the livehouse, the better — especially those closely related to Kanzaki Sou.
And Haruka was exactly that person.
The more people involved with the livehouse, the greater the possibility of Kiyono Arisa being exposed, and the higher the chance it would impact the plot.
The System hadn’t appeared for a long time. When she last checked the Goodwill Interface, Kiyono Arisa’s avatar hadn’t appeared yet.
It would be best if this state could be maintained until winter vacation, when Kanzaki Sou was supposed to meet Kiyono Arisa.
If Haruka went to confront Kanzaki Sou now, things would go south.
In this already distorted world, once there were too many lies, it would be like a castle built of sand, liable to collapse at any moment.
Koharu Miura looked up and happened to run into Haruka’s worried gaze.
Even though Haruka usually treated her with some wariness like a love rival, at this moment, the pure concern she showed upon hearing that a classmate might be in danger couldn’t be faked.
This sense of integrity was practically identical to Kanzaki Sou’s.
‘If I still lie at a time like this, I won’t be able to live with myself.’
Koharu Miura gave a bitter smile.
It seemed some truths had to be told, even if it was only a trimmed version.
The girl sighed softly and put down her cup, leaning back against the sofa cushions.
“Alright, I surrender. Kondo, you’re really sharp.”
Haruka’s expression relaxed slightly.
“Actually, the situation is quite embarrassing.”
Koharu lowered her head, her voice muffled, sounding like someone with a sense of guilt born from shame.
“Last Wednesday night… actually, it was me, Yui, Mio, and Yuzuki. We secretly went to Sakuragicho to hang out without telling our families.”
“That area is a bit more adult-oriented, after all.”
As Koharu spoke, she quietly observed Haruka’s reaction.
This fact was true, except she withheld the part about the livehouse and seeing Kiyono Arisa there.
“As it turns out, we must have been seen by some classmate while we were there. There are a lot of people in that area, so there might have been students from our school.”
“And then?” Haruka pressed, leaning forward slightly.
“Then… that person probably thought it was inappropriate for us to go to such a place, or maybe it was just a prank.”
Koharu let out an extremely awkward, bitter smile. Because she truly felt this way, her expression was quite convincing.
“They wrote an Anonymous Report Letter and sent it directly to the Student Council.”
“The letter explicitly listed the names of the four of us, saying we were being indiscreet outside of school and frequenting entertainment venues that require a guardian’s presence. They wanted the school to handle it severely.”
“Kanzaki… the reason he said he felt a security threat was that he happened to see those report letters at the Student Council.”
“He probably thought that since the student who wrote the report saw us there, it meant they were there too. So, many students might be hanging out there without guardian supervision.”
After finishing, Koharu summarized in a deeply depressed tone, “So, that’s the whole truth.”
“It’s just that I got caught and might face school discipline. Plus, because other students might have been there, Kanzaki was concerned. I also find it so embarrassing… considering I might be punished for something like this.”
In the booth, the music happened to end.
The two could hear the voices of people in the next booth.
However, Haruka was like a petrified statue, maintaining her listening posture, completely stunned.
Five seconds later.
Ten seconds later.
“…Huh?!”
Haruka suddenly let out a cry of pure absurdity. Her expression looked as if she had just heard the biggest joke of the year.
“That’s it?! Miura, after all that, the reason Sou thought you were in a bad spot, rushed to investigate, and was worried sick… was just because you guys went to Sakuragicho to play and someone sent a report letter behind your back?”
“Y-Yes. Isn’t that serious enough? What if it goes on my record…” Koharu responded weakly, playing the “Model Student’s panic” to the limit.
“Serious, my foot!”
Haruka slapped her thigh hard. Her voice drowned out the accompaniment of the next song that had just started, startling Yui Hori, who was just picking up her juice, into nearly dropping her cup.
“That’s Sou! That’s the Kanzaki Sou who stays calm and handles everything no matter how big the problem is! He actually made such an end-of-the-world face over a grade school tattle-tale level of nonsense, and even told me it was a threat caused by an unknown person?”
“Miura, are you trying to kill me with laughter?”
Haruka bent over, covering her forehead.
“I can’t… is there a screw loose in that guy’s head?”
“Or has he been in the Student Council for so long that he treats even small things like major criminal cases?”
“Miura, are you sure you aren’t joking? Where’s the danger? Aside from the danger of school discipline, could the person have put a bomb in the report letter?”
Looking at the exasperated Haruka, a complex emotion rose in Koharu Miura’s heart at that moment.
‘It seems… I’ve really gotten through this.’
Haruka completely believed the explanation of overprotection triggered by a small matter.
After all, to someone with Haruka’s carefree personality, being reported for going to an entertainment venue without a guardian… really didn’t count as a serious matter.
It was 100,000 miles away from an actual real-world security threat.
However, only Koharu Miura herself knew.
The reason Kanzaki Sou said those things and did those things was definitely not because he was making a mountain out of a molehill.
…Now, she just hoped that after accepting this explanation, Haruka wouldn’t go to confront Kanzaki Sou again.
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