***
On impulse, Xiao Chun Miura secretly enjoyed the moment, knowing full well her words had been a bit deliberately teasing.
For that brief instant, even though she usually felt conflicted about such feelings, she found no resistance in her heart.
Kanzaki Sou spoke a few more words to ease the tension between them, and just like that, the topic about Kondo Haruka was quietly set aside.
“——Sorry, Miura-san, I’ve taken up so much of your time.”
After the conversation about Kondo Haruka ended, Kanzaki Sou seemed to have finished saying all he wanted and shifted the topic.
“Since you were browsing the bookstore, Miura-san, I won’t bother you anymore.”
As he spoke, Kanzaki Sou walked along the Corridor toward the front of the Bookstore.
“I’m heading to the Checkout Counter now, Miura-san.”
“Ah……um——”
Seeing Kanzaki Sou getting farther away, Xiao Chun Miura panicked and called out to him on impulse.
“Mm?”
Kanzaki Sou stopped and turned around.
“Is something wrong?”
“——I…I’m leaving too.”
Xiao Chun Miura replied.
“……Hmm……Are you not going to keep looking around, Miura-san?”
Kanzaki Sou tilted his head thoughtfully, eyes widening slightly, “That manga doesn’t seem finished yet.”
“……Actually, I’m not really interested in that manga.”
The long-haired girl narrowed her eyes.
That line came out rather fluently.
***
At the Checkout Counter, Kanzaki Sou paid for his book and put it into a simple cloth bag.
“Thank you! Please come again——”
The Shop Clerk’s farewell echoed behind them as the boy and girl left the Bookstore, one after the other.
The refreshing air on the street swept away the heavy atmosphere from inside the Bookstore. The faint scent of laundry detergent on Kanzaki Sou drifted into Xiao Chun Miura’s nose.
“……”
Xiao Chun Miura walked behind him, unsure where to put her hands and feet.
In her mind, the thoughts of “Let’s split up quickly” and “Is it really over just like this?”
Tangled together. She couldn’t figure out whether she wanted to part ways with Kanzaki Sou as soon as possible or felt unwilling to end this chance encounter so abruptly.
As they reached the Side Path in front of the Bookstore and were about to rejoin the bustling crowd of the Shopping Plaza, Kanzaki Sou suddenly stopped.
“Miura-san.”
“——Ye-Yes!”
Xiao Chun Miura, lost in thought, jumped at his voice and looked up to see Kanzaki Sou turning to her.
“If it’s rude of me, I apologize in advance, but I’m curious—what are your plans from here, Miura-san?”
“My plans……um……”
“Do you have any scheduled arrangements?”
“……”
Xiao Chun Miura frowned slightly.
“No……no, I don’t——”
“Then, what time do you plan to go home?”
“This……”
She thought for a moment.
“Around four or five o’clock, maybe……”
Kanzaki Sou glanced at his watch.
“Hmm——So, a little over two hours left.”
“Miura-san.”
After confirming the time to himself, Kanzaki Sou spoke to her again.
“Yes!”
“Would you like to go somewhere together?”
The boy with messy hair gave a small smile, his gentle gaze meeting Xiao Chun Miura’s eyes through his glasses, as if politely asking for her opinion.
“There’s a Dessert Shop nearby with good reviews——”
“Eh……That is——”
“I’d like to go with you, Miura-san.”
***
Xiao Chun Miura felt her brain stop working.
As if under some strange spell, she accepted the invitation, and even after sitting down inside the shop, it still didn’t feel real.
——Her mind was filled with, “This way, we don’t have to part right away.”
Even she couldn’t understand why things turned out like this.
To begin with, this clearly wasn’t what she wanted.
If she had to say, among the “specific things she wanted to do,” Xiao Chun Miura was much more inclined toward “parting with Kanzaki Sou as soon as possible.”
Because that option was the one she could control the most…no matter how much regret might come afterward, choosing it would grant her temporary stability.
It was concrete and feasible and aligned with at least one of her desired outcomes.
If there had been other “specific” options, Xiao Chun Miura wouldn’t have minded considering them.
But.
But no matter what——the current situation wasn’t something Xiao Chun Miura would have picked from a list of “clear choices.”
***
She sat quietly on a comfortable chair, staring at the open menu on the table.
Eat……dessert?
With Kanzaki Sou, just the two of them?
Ridiculous.
——Eating dessert alone in a shop with the male lead!
For any female character, wouldn’t this be considered a date??
It’s a 100% affection event, right?! In the game, except for main heroines who could enter the route, the male lead wouldn’t eat dessert alone with any other character in a dessert shop!!
And now, she’s actually here with him??
——A date!!
“Uuugh……”
“Miura-san?”
Kanzaki Sou, sitting across from her, looked over. Seeing Xiao Chun Miura’s dark expression, he seemed to realize something and spoke with an apologetic tone.
“Ah, sorry……Are you not interested in this kind of thing?”
“Girls have strict standards for desserts……Maybe I wasn’t considerate enough.”
“——Eh?”
“No, it’s not like that……”
Xiao Chun Miura hurriedly replied.
He seemed to have misunderstood.
No, it’s not like she’s uncomfortable because of the dessert……
“Um……I……”
Xiao Chun Miura opened her mouth.
The words “I want to leave” hovered at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t say them.
——Because Kanzaki Sou’s sincerely apologetic face radiated a kindness that made it impossible to refuse.
Being looked at with such an expression, she just couldn’t bring herself to say, “Thank you for your kindness, but because of my own reasons, I can’t accept, so I’ll be going home now.”
Xiao Chun Miura’s heart tightened.
……On the way to the shop earlier, Kanzaki Sou had explained.
He was inviting her for dessert to thank her for helping revise the Poster, and as a way of expressing gratitude on behalf of childhood friend Kondo Haruka.
The shop itself was a budget-friendly, family-oriented place, so it didn’t create any misleading atmosphere and felt safe to dine in.
But even so, because of her own feelings, Xiao Chun Miura still felt somewhat—no, quite uncomfortable.
That’s right, in reality, Xiao Chun Miura might think it was exactly as Kanzaki Sou said.
But “here,” the situation was different.
This was a world where his romance was intertwined with her own survival. She couldn’t separate the consequences and changes that events brought and treat them as mere trivialities.
……From start to finish, she had been swept along by an irresistible atmosphere, but did she really have to go on and eat dessert alone with him like this?
The sense of wrongness scratched at her heart like feathers, making her squirm in her seat.
……If she refused, would it make her seem petty?
Would he think she was cold, unable to take things lightly, or difficult to deal with?
A storm of complex emotions clashed within Xiao Chun Miura’s mind.
She was still the same as before, holding onto conflicting hopes.
——Only now, the feeling of “wanting to escape” was a little stronger.
“……”
“I’m sorry, Kanzaki-san.”
After a moment’s silence, Xiao Chun Miura answered softly.
“……No, I should be the one apologizing. I should have confirmed your preferences first, Miura-san.”
Kanzaki Sou gave an apologetic smile, “Next time, I’ll check ahead——”
“It’s not that, Kanzaki-san.”
Xiao Chun Miura raised her voice slightly.
Her desire to “say something” was conveyed to Kanzaki Sou.
“……Um.”
“Treating me as a guest or expressing thanks……I haven’t done anything worth being treated to this extent……Making the Poster was just something I did in passing, it wasn’t hard.”
“Regarding Kondo-san, I want to talk to her more, too……If I can become friends with her, I’m sure we’d come here together someday.”
“So……um……”
“There’s no need to treat me; when it comes to paying, I’d like to pay for myself……Is that okay——?”
Her quiet words still reached Kanzaki Sou’s ears clearly over the noise of the shop.
“……”
“……”
“……Alright, then let’s do as you wish, Miura-san!”
In the silence that hung between them, five seconds felt as long as five minutes.
When Xiao Chun Miura, unable to suppress her curiosity, finally looked up with a trembling gaze, Kanzaki Sou’s voice sounded again.
She happened to see the gentle smile on his face, as soft as a spring breeze.
As if he’d heard something that made him genuinely happy.