Inside Class 3-4, the classroom was buzzing with pre-recess chatter.
"Yui, do you want to head down to the courts and play a match?"
Yumiko Miura invited Yui Yuigahama, desperately needing a physical outlet to vent the suffocating frustration boiling inside her chest.
Yumiko's mind was an absolute mess, and every single chaotic thought revolved around Haruto.
She still couldn't fully wrap her head around the reality of what had happened—she had actually sat there and watched the guy she had a crush on engage in raw, uninhibited sex with someone else on a live broadcast.
And to make matters worse, she had humiliated herself by getting swept up in the intense, horny heat of the moment right along with them.
Her emotions were swinging wildly between deep embarrassment, anger, and a humiliating sense of longing.
He explicitly told me he wanted to make me fall for him, but he hasn't done a damn thing since then!
He hadn't sought her out at all. Even over the entire weekend, when they easily could have spent time together, there hadn't been a single text, let alone a date.
How was a proud, high-status girl like her supposed to be satisfied with being ignored after experiencing something like that?
Naturally, Yumiko's fierce pride and stubbornness meant she refused to swallow her ego and make the first move.
Instead, she had planned to take out all her pent-up frustration and throbbing tension on a tennis court, violently smashing balls across the net.
However, to her absolute shock, Yui flat-out turned her down.
"Sorry, Yumiko, I can't today! I've already made plans with Haruto-kun."
"...What did you just say?!"
Yumiko's eyes dilated in sheer disbelief, her jaw slackening.
Since when is Yui involved with him?!
Before she could open her mouth to
demand an explanation.
Yui grabbed her bag, flashed an apologetic smile, and scurried off down the aisle, her face flushed with excited anticipation as she rushed off to her meeting.
"..."
For a paralyzed second, Yumiko's brain ground to a complete halt, spinning into a tornado of utter confusion and jealousy.
Had Haruto already sunk his claws into Yui behind her back?!
"Aargh!!!"
With a furious snap, Yumiko's grip on her tennis racket tightened so hard the synthetic grip creaked and groaned under the pressure.
He hadn't bothered to come look for her, but he was actively entertaining Yui instead?!
The blatant disrespect was too much to process.
It was completely, utterly unforgivable!
Knock, knock!
"Come in."
Yukino's cold, crisp voice drifted through the heavy wooden door.
Haruto pushed it open and stepped into the Service Club room.
The moment he crossed the threshold, Yui bounced up from her seat, grabbed his hand with eager familiarity, and practically dragged him toward the table where a neatly arranged plate of homemade cookies sat.
"Haruto-kun, you have to try these! I stayed up practicing forever and worked super hard on them this time!" she blurted out, her eyes shining with hopeful anticipation.
"Alright, let's see what you've got."
The two of them interacted with a casual, natural intimacy, completely bypassing any awkwardness—and entirely ignoring Yukino sitting quietly at her desk.
Yukino glanced up from her heavy tome for a brief second, her icy blue eyes taking in their closeness before she coolly returned her attention to her book, entirely uninterested.
She had no intention of sampling Yui's baking.
Remembering Yui's previous culinary abominations, Yukino privately assumed the cookies would taste like charcoal and despair, as if the pink-haired girl was cursed by the culinary gods themselves.
To her utter astonishment, however, the moment Haruto chewed and swallowed a bite, a flicker of genuine surprise crossed his face.
"Yui, you've actually improved drastically."
"Really?!"
Yui's face lit up, her eyes widening into shimmering pools of excitement.
"Yeah. The flavor profile is decent, and the texture is fine—definitely fully edible this time around."
Haruto's evaluation was blunt, but in the context of Yui's past attempts, it was high praise.
Hearing this, Yukino looked up again, her eyebrows lifting in mild shock.
For Yui to get a passing grade from him meant a miracle had occurred.
"That's so great!"
Yui pumped her fist in the air, spinning around with a radiant smile as she realized her relentless efforts had finally paid off.
Impulsively, she grabbed a cookie from the plate and turned toward the raven-haired club president.
"Yukinon! Do you want to try one too?"
Yukino, whose integrity and aversion to lying were absolute, opened her mouth to politely decline, terrified that a polite white lie wouldn't save her from the impending food poisoning.
"Go ahead, give it a shot. You'll be pleasantly surprised—especially considering how many hours you spent tutoring her,"
Haruto remarked smoothly.
Before Yukino could pull back or issue a refusal, Haruto reached out, plucked a cookie from the plate, and popped it directly into her slightly parted lips.
Yukino froze, her eyes flying wide open as his cool fingertips lightly brushed against her lower lip.
Instinctively, her jaw moved, chewing the pastry.
Crunch.
"!!!"
Her icy composure instantly shattered.
Her eyes dilated in disbelief—it wasn't terrible at all.
In fact, it was genuinely good!
"Well? How is it, Yukino?"
Yui leaned in, watching her with breathless nervousness.
"..."
Yukino swallowed the bite, her cheeks flushing ever so slightly with mortification as she gave a stiff, tiny nod.
"He... he is correct. It is not bad."
"Phew! Oh, thank goodness!"
Yui let out a massive, ragged sigh of relief, collapsing against the edge of the table in pure happiness now that both Haruto and Yukino had given her baking their stamp of approval.
"I'm not going to stop here, either! I'm going to keep practicing every single day until I make sure both you and Yukinon think my cookies are absolute perfection!"
Yui declared with a renewed, fiery burst of determination.
"..."
Hearing Yui casually toss around that painfully familiar nickname.
Yukino felt a sharp, stabbing migraine blooming behind her temples.
In her tightly ordered mind, they had only known each other for a handful of days; they certainly weren't close enough for such overly affectionate terms of endearment.
Moreover, the easy, comfortable chemistry between Yui and Haruto struck her as deeply peculiar—and irritatingly intimate.
After a tense moment of internal
deliberation, Yukino finally cleared her throat and spoke up.
"Yui. Could you please step outside for a brief moment?"
"Eh?"
Yui blinked, completely caught off guard as if she'd been struck by lightning.
Thankfully, Yukino quickly maintained her aloof facade, offering a thin excuse.
"There are certain... club matters I wish to discuss with Haruto-kun in private."
"Oh! You just want to talk alone about club stuff?"
Yui visibly deflated, pressing a hand over her chest as a wave of relief washed away her panic.
"Jeez, you scared me for a second there! I thought you were kicking me out because my baking was annoying you."
In truth, Yukino thought bitterly, you are quite annoying most of the time.
But out of basic politeness, she kept her expression neutral.
"Very well then. I'll leave you two to your discussion. Just let me know when you're finished!"
Yui smiled brightly, grabbing her bag and skipping toward the door.
She pulled the door shut behind her, but the second she stepped out into the empty hallway, her radiant smile instantly melted away.
Standing alone in front of the closed clubroom door, she crossed her arms, completely lost in a heavy maze of complex, anxious thoughts.
*****
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