For the hundredth time, Chihaya Anon felt that inviting Kaito to pretend to be her boyfriend was the most correct decision she had ever made.
Looking at her three junior high school friends who had turned into statues, the girl's lips curved slightly, undoubtedly a proud arc.
'Stunned, aren't you?'
Kirigaya Touka, dressed like a blonde gyaru, even forgot to lick the lollipop in her mouth. It fell to the ground, and she didn't even notice.
The energetic Kurata Mashiro now had her mouth wide open, showing no signs of her usual cheerful personality, only drooling with an "aba aba."
Even the calmest among the three, Yashio Rui, forgot to blink, her long eyelashes trembled slightly, her entire being as if frozen.
"Everyone, long time no see."
Chihaya Anon clapped her hands, trying her best to appear calm and breezy, though the smile on her lips was like catkins stuck on a branch, no wind could blow it off, "Sorry, the traffic was a little heavy on the way… Kaito and I didn't arrive late, right?"
"President Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Chihaya!"
The first to snap out of it was Kurata Mashiro, the short-haired, sweet-looking girl snapped to attention with a swoosh and stammered without daring to look at her, "N-N-N-No… not late at all!"
Kirigaya Touka beside her also came back to her senses. Though dressed like a gyaru, it was actually just to better blend into her class's social circles. She was a born-single fake gyaru, she didn't even dare approach handsome guys on the street.
But now, faced with the fantastically handsome boy who was even more stunning than she imagined, she couldn't help probing for information, "This is… President Chihaya, your boyfriend?"
"Ahem, that's right," Anon lightly coughed, "His name is Kaito, my boyfriend. You can just call him Kaito."
She then turned to Kaito and introduced them in turn, "This is Kurata Mashiro, Kirigaya Touka, and Yashio Rui, all good friends from my junior high days."
"Good afternoon, Mashiro-san, Touka-san, and Rui-san."
Kaito gave a slight nod, then thought for a moment and offered a polite smile, "It's nice to meet you all. First time meeting, please take care of me."
"H-Hey hey…", Kurata Mashiro, like a newspaper zombie who had eaten a charm mushroom, extended her hand with a silly grin, "Kaito-kun, you're too polite. Just call me Mahsiro…"
Since she was a good friend of Anon's, Kaito didn't refuse and lightly shook her hand.
Kirigaya Touka was a little envious and squeezed the silly Mashiro aside, also extending her hand with a serious tone, "Calling me 'Touka-san' and such sounds too distant. Just call me Touka, all my friends do."
Kaito shook hands with her as well, brief touches and releases.
Finally, only Yashio Rui remained.
This black long straight girl in a long skirt looked quite like a refined young lady and was the quietest of the three.
She was silent for a while before extending her soft, fair fingers, reporting her name calmly, "Rui."
She paused, then said, "Anyway, let's go into the restaurant first and talk."
———
The family restaurant wasn't big, but looked lively enough, most guests were groups of female students, with a few couples mixed in.
They chose a quiet, inconspicuous corner to avoid outside disturbance.
Mashiro, Touka, and Rui naturally took one side of the sofa booth, while Anon and Kaito sat on the other.
The restaurant's menu had plenty of variety. Their specialties were creamy mushroom pasta and omurice, not expensive, but very tasty.
Kaito never forgot today's purpose: to play the role of Anon's boyfriend.
During the meal, he would naturally share dishes with the girl, and occasionally even pulled out a tissue to wipe the oil and crumbs from Anon's mouth corner. Considerate to the extreme, yet so dazzlingly handsome, he could easily melt the heart of any woman.
Anon's little face turned red.
She had never experienced such attentive service from Kaito before. Even though it was all pretend, it made her heart thump wildly, 'If only this was real...'
Her little hand under the table couldn't help lightly grasping her boyfriend's hand, wanting this warmth to last a bit longer, and longer. If this were a dream, may it never end.
Kurata Mashiro and Kirigaya Touka had originally saved up a stomach full of questions, but upon seeing this scene, they turned sour like lemons, even the omurice on their plates lost its flavor.
Being single was bad enough, but watching your friend in a relationship was worse.
Especially when the one your president friend was dating… was such a leg-weakeningly handsome boy.
Even the usually calm Yashio Rui had a very complicated mood.
After personally seeing President Chihaya's boyfriend, she no longer suspected that he had deceived the president with sweet talk.
On the contrary, she developed new doubts.
'Could it be that President Chihaya has something on this Kaito-kun?'
'Or perhaps… they aren't actually a real couple, but something like a rental boyfriend arrangement?'
After all, plots where someone rents a boyfriend via an app to fool friends were very common in novels and anime.
Unwilling to give up, Rui had been secretly observing the interactions between the two throughout dinner, trying to find a crack.
But from beginning to end, she found no sign of strain on Kaito's face.
Hawk-eye + pinhead combo: appraisal complete, doesn't seem like acting.
'Which means…'
'They're really in love?'
Realizing this fact, the girl's heart sank, with a tinge of bitterness.
But even she herself couldn't tell if this bitterness was because the president's heart had been taken by another boy, or… for some other reason.
———
Dinner ended, and it was just six o'clock in the evening.
Tomorrow was the weekend, no need to wake up early for school, so Kurata Mashiro suggested going to karaoke together.
Kirigaya Touka immediately agreed. She didn't want to part with President Chihaya so soon either. Although she couldn't do anything to the president's boyfriend, she could still enjoy the eye candy.
Yashio Rui had no objections either, just silently nodded.
Anon was also tempted. She hadn't forgotten that she and Kaito were only a pair of pretend lovers. If they parted from Rui and the others now, there would be no more reason to keep acting.
Like Cinderella in a fairy tale, no matter how happy the moment, once midnight struck, she'd return to normal.
So… She looked at Kaito beside her with hopeful eyes, tugging lightly at her boyfriend's jacket and softly pleaded, "Kaito, can we?"
Among the five present, four wanted to go to karaoke.
Kaito didn't spoil the mood, he just gently ruffled the girl's hair.
"Of course."
Since he had agreed to pretend to be Anon's boyfriend, at least within the agreed time frame, he would fulfill his duty as a boyfriend, treating Anon the way he would a real girlfriend.
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