Lunch break, Toyogasaki Academy courtyard.
"Hey." Holding her bento, Yoshikawa Yuki looked around with a sour expression, then turned her head and gently nudged Hori Kyoko beside her with her elbow.
"Hori, don't you feel like a lot of people have started dating recently?"
"Hmm?"
Hearing this, Kyoko subconsciously looked around.
Mhm... couples radiating the sour smell of romance were everywhere.
"Right, Hori....." Seeing her best friend nod in deep agreement, Yuki, who faintly felt a toothache coming on, sighed. "Yesterday, Ishii from Class G confessed to Nami from Class A. The day before yesterday, Keikawa-kun from Class E was caught cheating by his classmate Reika-chan. And there's that guy from Class C dating a second-year senpai...."
Listening to Yuki spill the tea on her classmates' romantic lives one by one as if reciting family heirlooms, Kyoko couldn't help but turn her head to look at her with a slightly shocked expression.
Rubbing her forehead with a slight headache, Kyoko reached out helplessly and lightly pinched Yuki's little cheek.
"Ouch, that hurts."
"Yuki, since when did you become so gossipy?"
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to pry." Covering the pinched spot on her cheek, Yuki pouted with a very wronged expression.
"Lately, everyone's been talking about these things."
"Fine." Kyoko shook her head helplessly.
It was true. Even when she was in class, she often heard the girls around her discussing who was going to confess to whom, or who was dating whom.
As the class clown of Class B, how could Yuki know less than her?
Thinking of this, and silently recalling the various 'intel' she had gathered recently, Kyoko casually agreed with Yuki.
"There really are a lot more couples recently, whether they're seniors or in our grade."
"When I went to the teachers' office, I even heard the teachers discussing whether they should start restricting it."
"No way." Yuki paused, then widened her eyes in deep shock, looking at Kyoko with a hint of curiosity and lowering her voice slightly. "Are there really that many?"
"Mhm, mhm."
Kyoko nodded seriously, looking at Yuki.
"Why is everyone choosing this time to confess? Is there some kind of secret?"
Pulling up her slightly long sleeves to cover her mouth a bit, Yuki narrowed her eyes and reasoned with great conviction, mimicking a protagonist from a detective drama.
"Is it because of spring? Nature is truly amazing... ouch...."
Taking a loving chop to the head from "Mama Hori," Yuki lowered her head pitifully, looking up at Kyoko.
"It's already September. Where is this spring coming from?"
Ignoring Yuki's accusatory glare, Kyoko couldn't help but look around, and her gaze involuntarily landed on a certain devilishly well-endowed, beautiful young lady sitting beside her.
Then, mimicking Yuki's earlier performance, she put on a look of having all the evidence in hand and nodded with full confidence.
"Yuki, I think I've found the answer to the problem."
"Eh? Really? What's the reason?" Her eyes sparkling with curiosity, Yuki looked at Kyoko and subconsciously followed her line of sight.
Stare—! X2
At this moment, Utaha, who had been looking down at her phone and occasionally replying to messages, looked up. Faintly sensing a gaze directed at her, she subconsciously turned her face and looked in the general direction she felt it coming from.
"Kyoko? Yuki?"
"Why are you looking at me?"
Facing Utaha's completely natural question, Kyoko, who was sitting sideways on the bench, and Yuki, who had her arms draped over Kyoko and her face pressed against hers, spoke in unison.
"That's right, isn't it? Yuki."
"Mhm, mhm, Kyoko is right!"
"?"
Listening to her best friends' cryptic conversation, a question mark slowly floated out of Utaha's head.
Tilting her head, her pretty face full of confusion, Utaha remained silent. She just looked at her two best friends, who were simultaneously showing the exact same expression of sudden realization, with a 'What are you guys talking about?' look.
"Well." Looking Utaha up and down, who was becoming increasingly gorgeous and charming, Kyoko turned to Yuki with a subtle tone. "After witnessing a confession like that, it's no wonder the guys are getting all fired up."
"Mhm, mhm, I think the girls are affected too."
Yuki nodded in agreement, then for some reason suddenly sighed, shrugging her shoulders and spreading her hands.
"A 'public couple' born under the witness of the entire Toyogasaki student body... just thinking about it, you know how big the impact is."
"True."
"...I feel, no, that's not right."
Finally catching on that her two best friends were subtly roasting her and Miyahito, Utaha shot a helpless glare at Kyoko and Yuki, who were whispering "quietly" loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What does this have to do with me and Miyahito? We didn't do anything."
"Yeah, yeah, you didn't do anything." Crossing her arms, Kyoko looked coldly at her best friend, who seemed to be sparkling like a 'winner in life'.
"Just confessing and accepting in front of the whole school, and being all clingy during summer tutoring."
"And!" Watching Kyoko count on her fingers, tallying them up one by one, Yuki—refusing to be outdone—raised her hand and added through slightly gritted teeth, "Not to mention them riding to and from school all lovey-dovey this semester, and exchanging gooey glances every time they walk past the classroom!"
"Yuki, you missed one point."
"What?"
"You forgot that these two use a complete matching set of everything? Water bottles, towels, thermoses. The only thing different right now is their uniforms."
"Oh, oh, oh, I forgot about that."
"...."
The more she listened to her two best friends listing things off one by one, the darker Utaha's face uncontrollably became.
"Kyoko... Yuki...."
Instantly sensing the dangerous tone in Utaha's voice, Kyoko and Yuki exchanged a glance, tacitly dropped their scolding expressions, and very naturally changed the subject.
"Where's that guy Tooru? How come we haven't seen him and Miyahito today?"
"No idea. The moment class ended, the two of them ran off who-knows-where."
"Ehh~"
Watching Kyoko and Yuki chat so naturally, as if nothing had just happened.
Utaha felt like she was about to suffer internal injuries from holding it in.
Letting out a helpless sigh, she muttered in dissatisfaction in a small voice.
"Miyahito and I aren't intentionally showing off our relationship."
We are a couple, after all.
Isn't it the most normal thing in the world for us to be together?
"Miyahito and Tooru-kun went to the Student Council."
"Eh? Why, Utaha?"
"Miyahito wants to join the Student Council."
"I see. As expected, if we want to know Miyahito-kun's whereabouts, we just have to ask you, Utaha."
"Kyoko!! (stomps foot)"