If it was just childhood friends, Kondo Haruka didn’t have the proper status or qualifications to interfere with Kanzaki Sou’s friendships.
So from the perspective of a childhood friend, no matter what reason Kondo Haruka had for targeting her, Kanzaki Sou wouldn’t find it reasonable… Because in the end, the relationship with Xiao Chun Miura was something Kanzaki Sou chose himself, and it had nothing to do with Kondo Haruka as a childhood friend.
In Kanzaki Sou’s eyes, he hadn’t provoked Kondo Haruka either. To him, it was just his new friend being targeted unreasonably by a childhood friend… He’d definitely think it was nonsense.
But if he didn’t think she was being unreasonable, then this whole line of logic no longer held.
——Could it be that Kanzaki Sou was influenced by something Kondo Haruka said, so now he actually has some kind of “opinion” about me…?
For a moment, Xiao Chun Miura panicked.
At times like this, it would really help to know Kanzaki Sou’s favorability towards her!
She couldn’t judge his attitude at all!
Xiao Chun Miura propped herself up, blankly sprawled on the bed; after thinking for a while, she reached for her phone nearby.
“——”
“……Hiss.”
She opened LIME and stared at the friend account with the ID SS, frowning in conflict.
On impulse, she wanted to message Kanzaki Sou…
But thinking carefully, what reason was there to message him?
Before, it was to ask about Midterm Exams review references, but the interactions from that topic had already ended with the conclusion of the Study Group.
Eh?
——What reason was there to talk to Kanzaki Sou?!
Was there really no other topic to talk to Kanzaki Sou about besides the Midterm Exams… It really seemed that way!
Xiao Chun Miura’s thoughts became jumbled.
In the end, it was just like when she was wondering how to “deal with” Kondo Haruka before the sports festival… Whether it was with the girl with maroon curls or with Kanzaki Sou himself, she was always thinking “I should do something.”
…But she never actually had any real plan to act on.
“No way……”
Xiao Chun Miura slumped back onto the bed in defeat—then, finding the position uncomfortable, turned onto her side, facing up.
Of course, there was no answer on the empty ceiling, no matter how much she wished for one.
“I can’t just do nothing……I shouldn’t be like this!”
Xiao Chun Miura rolled back and forth on the bed, almost throwing a tantrum.
She even had a sudden, inexplicable thought.
If Kanzaki Sou was actually a hardcore bass enthusiast in private, really into music… Then she deliberately went to his workplace after hours to set up a secret live performance—only to be caught by him.
After that, would he invite her to join a band?
And the band’s name would be something like Soda Drink Production Line——
Xiao Chun Miura rolled her eyes.
——That was way too ridiculous.
…And why bass, anyway?
Normally, people would think of guitar, right?
Bass barely has any presence.
…I don’t get it.
Maybe sometimes inspiration just hits out of nowhere, impossible to explain.
…Xiao Chun Miura shook her head.
It’s common for delusions to go on for hours once they start; she couldn’t let herself keep running wild with nonsense.
That said…
Xiao Chun Miura stared at the LIME interface.
Even after several minutes, not a single word had been typed; in the end, she could only throw down her phone and scratch her head.
Ahh——I don’t know how to start a conversation!
There’s no topic to use as an opener!
…Being unable to find something to talk about with Kanzaki Sou wasn’t just because Xiao Chun Miura and him weren’t that close yet.
“Gu—eh——”
In the first place, I’m not even a real high school girl studying here!
There’s no clue what “I” should be interested in.
Though she’d played so many Text Adventure Games, most were from the male protagonist’s perspective… Xiao Chun Miura had little knowledge about how high school girls spent their private lives or how they interacted with same-gender friends.
She had no idea what ordinary girls of this age would be interested in… She couldn’t even imagine what topics they’d chat about with friends.
——Ever since arriving in this world, Xiao Chun Miura’s mind had been full of Kanzaki Sou. Her social interactions in her own Class were practically negligible.
…Luckily, as a naturally introverted background character in the game world, even if she didn’t talk to anyone, classmates didn’t seem to think there was anything different about the girl called Xiao Chun Miura.
But still!
If she didn’t socialize, wouldn’t she end up just like this, having no idea what girls usually talked about?!
The end result was that she couldn’t even have a normal conversation with Kanzaki Sou on a day off like an ordinary girl.
…Though even if she knew what girls usually talked about, that didn’t mean those topics could be used with Kanzaki Sou.
——But in any case, even knowing a little would be better than this.
Lying on the bed, Xiao Chun Miura’s eyes were empty, as if she’d lost all hope.
She could feel destiny slipping through her fingers… A faint sense of helplessness squeezed at her heart like a tightening fist.
***
About ten minutes later, Xiao Chun Miura crawled off the bed.
She silently walked to the wardrobe, searching through the clothes piled inside for an outfit that seemed acceptable for a girl.
It wasn’t like she’d thought of a good idea.
Xiao Chun Miura stared wide-eyed, a sense of hopelessness seeping from her gaze.
If anyone were nearby, they’d probably feel the overwhelming resentment emanating from her.
…After racking her brain, Xiao Chun Miura’s conclusion was.
——Ah, mm, let’s not do anything for now.
In this state, she couldn’t say anything to Kanzaki Sou anyway.
Astronomy and such were topics he was interested in, but suddenly messaging him about that would just seem weird—especially since there was no relevant context.
Midterm Exams and Library Committee work… One topic had ended for now, the other didn’t have anything to talk about in the first place.
And so, these were the only topics she could possibly connect with Kanzaki Sou on.
A relationship like “classmates at School”… Ultimately, there was nothing much to develop from the start!
Why was she only realizing this now!
——Having only fully grasped this ten minutes ago, Xiao Chun Miura gave up thinking altogether not long after.
Because they’d spent several hours together every day, she’d assumed her relationship with Kanzaki Sou was no longer that of strangers.
But to say they were normal friends… It didn’t even resemble an ordinary friendship.
Was she just overthinking things?!
Come to think of it, what do normal friends of the opposite gender even talk about?!
“……”
With thoughts like this swirling endlessly in her mind—same-gender, opposite-gender—the tangle of topics changed along with her mood, and by the end, even Xiao Chun Miura herself didn’t know what she was thinking.
——So she went blank.
“……Mm——this one should be fine to wear?”
Xiao Chun Miura pulled out a plain shirt and a pair of casual women’s slacks.
Compared to skirts, she really should get more used to pants.
…Xiao Chun Miura decided to go out for a walk.
Might as well wander around this unfamiliar City.
It was precisely because she hadn’t gotten used to life here, or socialized like girls her age, that she felt so out of place.
Xiao Chun Miura could only comfort herself this way.
——Maybe going outside would help.
Though the chance of solving her problems by just walking around was practically zero… She might just want to clear her head.
“Whatever.”
“The stress is already maxed out… If I don’t give my brain a break, I won’t last.”
Halfway through changing, Xiao Chun Miura’s hands suddenly slowed.
“Though it’s unlikely… Since I can’t even start a conversation at home—maybe I’ll run into Kanzaki Sou if I go out?”
“Haha.”
“——It’s not like I’m the protagonist of a Text Adventure Game, triggering events wherever I go.”
“I’m overthinking it.”
She laughed self-mockingly and buttoned her shirt.