The four of them walked into the cafe together. Since school had just let out, there were already plenty of students inside, sitting in twos and threes-some chatting, some working on homework, some simply enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee.
Sakura Airi clearly knew the place well. She led the group straight to a table by the window without a moment's hesitation.
"Let's sit here!" she said with a smile, then settled naturally into the seat beside Shikime Natsu.
After all... she was Shikime Natsu's girlfriend. There was nothing the least bit improper about sitting right next to him.
Horikita Suzune watched Sakura Airi claim that spot as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and something complicated stirred in her chest.
She didn't dwell on it, though. She just quietly took the seat across from Sakura Airi.
Hasebe Haruka sat down beside Horikita Suzune, which put her diagonally across from Shikime Natsu.
And so the four of them were settled.
...
A waiter came over soon after and set several menus on the table.
Shikime Natsu picked one up, flipped through it, then passed it to Sakura Airi beside him.
"Order whatever you want to drink. My treat today."
"Mm~"
Sakura Airi took the menu, but she was in no hurry to read it. Instead she turned her head, eyes crinkling into a smile as she looked at Shikime Natsu.
"Oh, right, Natsu..." she said.
"Has your class finished writing its exam questions yet?"
Hearing the question, Shikime Natsu nodded.
"Already taken care of."
Sitting across from him, Horikita Suzune couldn't quite suppress a flicker of admiration at that.
This guy, Shikime Natsu... he really was something else.
How long had it even been since the Papershuffle exam was announced?
From the teacher's explanation of the exam format to now, only a handful of days had passed.
And yet Shikime Natsu had already drafted a complete set of questions.
That kind of pace... was frighteningly fast.
Of course, this was only the moment he'd been asked about it. For all she knew, he'd finished the whole set on the very first day the exam was announced.
If it had been anyone else, Horikita Suzune wouldn't have believed them capable of it.
Writing a complete, well-formed exam meant combing through mountains of material, weighing difficulty and distribution over and over, pouring in enormous amounts of time and energy.
But if it was Shikime Natsu... then it was entirely possible.
That man simply couldn't be measured by ordinary standards.
And that thought left Horikita Suzune with a tangle of feelings she didn't much enjoy.
She hadn't realized it, but somewhere along the way, her estimation of Shikime Natsu had climbed astonishingly high.
High enough, even, to surpass her own brother.
Not that this was unreasonable.
However outstanding her brother was, he still fell within the bounds of what a human being could be.
Shikime Natsu, on the other hand... Horikita Suzune was fairly convinced he wasn't human at all.
She had never met a single person who could reach that level of perfection in academics, athletics, socializing, and every other odd thing under the sun.
It was absurd.
And the thought that she'd be stuck in the same environment as him for nearly three more years...
Horikita Suzune could already picture herself thoroughly and completely overshadowed by Shikime Natsu.
Pinned down. Unable to move an inch.
She turned the thought over in her mind, then let out a small sigh.
Once Sakura Airi had finished ordering, Shikime Natsu slid the menu across to Horikita Suzune.
"Well, thanks for treating us, Natsu."
Hasebe Haruka showed no trace of hesitation, accepting the menu he handed over as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
It was while the two of them had their heads down over the menus that Horikita Suzune noticed Sakura Airi press herself right up against Shikime Natsu's face-unmistakably a kiss.
She might have been looking down at the menu, but she wasn't so blind that it escaped the corner of her eye.
Naturally, Sakura Airi was his girlfriend, so doing something like that was perfectly ordinary. Nobody was going to lecture her about propriety.
"You..."
Shikime Natsu laughed a little helplessly, then reached out and ruffled her hair.
Horikita Suzune kept her head down and acted as though she hadn't seen a thing. As for maintaining her expression, she was more than capable-cool and aloof as ever.
Still, in her opinion, that sort of behavior from Sakura Airi was a bit too intimate. At the very least, it wasn't something one did in front of outsiders.
Sakura Airi clearly didn't see it that way. She seemed entirely unbothered by being watched, and just as unbothered by people knowing about her relationship with Shikime Natsu.
That kind of straightforwardness... honestly, Horikita Suzune possessed it too. Just not when it came to matters of romance.
And while her thoughts were wandering, another scene surfaced unbidden in her mind.
It was back on the Deserted Island.
Shikime Natsu giving her a massage, helping her fever break.
That had been... rather intimate too, hadn't it?
Her lying facedown on his shirt, his hands traveling across her back...
Even now the memory of that sensation was still-no. She shut it down at once.
No, no, no. That had been nothing more than an ordinary massage.
Compared to kissing, the difference was enormous.
The nature of the two things was completely different.
One was treatment. The other was an expression of affection.
So they couldn't be mentioned in the same breath.
Horikita Suzune told herself as much, drew a deep breath, and forced the whole mess of stray thoughts back down.
Of course... for her, that particular memory remained vivid as ever.
Enough. No more thinking about it.
She gave her head a small shake and dragged her attention back to the menu.
After all... dwelling on something like that with Sakura Airi, his girlfriend, sitting right there was in extremely poor taste.
Even as a memory, it wasn't appropriate.
It was right then that Hasebe Haruka spoke up.
She leaned forward slightly, folded her hands on the table, and adopted an air of frank curiosity, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Shikime Natsu and Sakura Airi.
"So, speaking of which..."
There was a lazy note in her voice, and an inquisitive one underneath it.
"Natsu, there's something I want to ask you."
"What is it?" Shikime Natsu set down his menu and looked at her.
Hasebe Haruka wound a strand of her blue hair around a finger, then asked her question.
"I know how Airi feels about it, being your girlfriend..."
"But what I'm really curious about is this."
"You have this many girlfriends. What exactly goes through your head?"
The moment the words were out, the atmosphere around the table turned delicate.
Horikita Suzune, head bowed over her menu, went still for the briefest instant.
She kept up the pretense of indifference, eyes fixed on the page in front of her-but her attention had shifted entirely.
Gossip like this had never interested her.
In the past she'd considered other people's affairs none of her business, not worth understanding and certainly not worth the time.
But right now there wasn't anything else to listen to.
And they were only waiting on their drinks anyway.
A little eavesdropping wouldn't hurt.
So she told herself, holding her pose over her drink while her ears pricked up.
...
Shikime Natsu smiled at the question.
He leaned back in his chair, those pale golden eyes perfectly untroubled.
"Nothing in particular," he answered, his tone even.
"They're willing to place their lives in my hands. So of course I answer their expectations."
"That's all?"
Hasebe Haruka tilted her head, the slight upward slant of her eyes carrying a hint of you're sure about that?
"That's all."
Shikime Natsu nodded.
Hasebe Haruka was quiet for a moment, then pressed on.
"Then... one more thing."
"I've heard..."
She paused, meeting his gaze directly.
"That you basically turn nobody down."
"That as long as it's a cute girl confessing, you'll say yes."
"Is that... true?"
It was a sharp question.
Listening from the side, Horikita Suzune thought back over Shikime Natsu's usual conduct-and honestly, it did seem to line up.
Everyone orbiting him was some variety of cute girl. Not that she cared, of course. It was simply a fact.
However thoroughly Horikita Suzune shut out the world around her, even she knew that one person having that many girlfriends was extraordinarily strange-and that those girlfriends all getting along peacefully was stranger still.
Shikime Natsu let out a soft laugh at the question, shook his head, and denied it.
"Not quite. Everyone I said yes to was someone I already knew well."
"It's not as if I'd accept just anyone who confessed. I got plenty of love letters back in middle school, but my first girlfriend was Masumi."
"I was the second one."
Sakura Airi cut in hurriedly from beside him. She could have been the first-she really could have-but she'd hesitated, held back just a little, and lost her place in line. She should have made her move sooner.
Every time she thought about it, a small pang of regret came with it.
"Mm."
Shikime Natsu patted Sakura Airi's head with a smile.
Watching the two of them, Hasebe Haruka decided not to push the questioning any further.
And it was at that moment that Horikita Suzune thought of Sakayanagi Arisu. A girl he already knew well-that applied to her too, didn't it?
Even now, though, Horikita Suzune couldn't work out how Sakayanagi Arisu had ever become his girlfriend, given how vicious that girl's personality was.
Could familiarity alone really account for it?
No-perhaps it was because both of their personalities were equally vicious. Framed that way, it actually made a certain amount of sense.
Still, Horikita Suzune couldn't begin to picture which of the two, Shikime Natsu or Sakayanagi Arisu, had confessed first.
And then it hit her: she was overthinking things. She had no business caring about romantic gossip in the first place.
Getting a free drink out of Shikime Natsu-that was the real business at hand.
No matter how much time had passed, Horikita Suzune still hadn't forgotten how this guy had swindled her out of nearly all her Private Points back at the start of the school year.
Yes... exactly like the way Sakayanagi Arisu had tricked her into becoming Shikime Natsu's maid. Horikita Suzune held grudges quite well, thank you.
...
While her thoughts were still drifting, the phone lying on the table lit up. Horikita Suzune picked it up and saw who had messaged her.
[Sakayanagi Arisu]
The name gave her pause.
Sakayanagi Arisu?
Why on earth was she messaging her out of nowhere?
Puzzled, she opened the message.
[Sakayanagi Arisu: Horikita-san, why not try confessing to my darling?]
"..."
Horikita Suzune froze completely.
Her hand stopped where it was, those wine-red eyes locked onto the line of text on the screen.
Confess... to Shikime Natsu?!
What kind of joke was this?!
What was Sakayanagi Arisu even babbling about?!
She drew a deep breath, forced down the irritation rising in her, and lifted her head.
And then she saw something that left her even more speechless.
Not far away, at another window seat, Sakayanagi Arisu sat at complete leisure.
She was in her uniform, silver hair spilling over her shoulders, a steaming cup of coffee at her elbow. That trademark teasing smile sat on her lips, and those violet eyes were aimed squarely-unmistakably-at their table.
She was eavesdropping on their conversation in broad daylight, without the slightest attempt at concealment.
And on top of that, she'd deliberately sent a message to needle her about it.
She definitely hadn't been there when they came in. Had she switched seats on purpose?
"..."
The expression that crossed Horikita Suzune's face was quite something.
That girl... honestly, there were no words.
She inhaled deeply, lowered her head, and typed out a line at speed.
[Horikita Suzune: What kind of joke is this?]
Send.
Then she raised her head and looked toward Sakayanagi Arisu.
Sakayanagi Arisu took out her phone, glanced at it, and gave a soft laugh.
Her slender fingers tapped lightly at the screen.
Moments later, Horikita Suzune's phone buzzed again.
[Sakayanagi Arisu: I'm not joking at all. I think Horikita-san and Natsu suit each other rather well. Besides... haven't you already become friends with Shiki-san? Taking it one step further wouldn't be out of the question, would it?]
"..."
Reading that message, Horikita Suzune felt her temple throb.
One step further? Who wanted to take anything one step further?!
She and Shikime Natsu were ordinary friends. Nothing more!
At most you could tack on the roles of "servant" and "person who once received his help."
But that was the extent of it!
There was absolutely nothing else going on in her head!
So she told herself, fingers flying across the keys as she replied.
[Horikita Suzune: He and I are ordinary friends. There is nothing else between us. Kindly stop causing trouble.]
Send.
Then she looked up toward Sakayanagi Arisu again. Having read the reply, Sakayanagi Arisu's smile only deepened. She lifted her coffee cup, took a small sip, and set it back down at an unhurried pace-that perfectly relaxed manner of hers practically begging to be smacked.
Exactly the same insufferable attitude as Shikime Natsu.
Just as Horikita Suzune assumed the messages had stopped, her phone buzzed once more.
[Sakayanagi Arisu: Ordinary friends, hm... Then has Horikita-san ever considered becoming a not-so-ordinary friend?]
"..."
Horikita Suzune's mouth twitched at the corner.
What was this girl actually after?
Was she teasing her, or testing something? Was this coming from Shikime Natsu?
Her gaze landed on Shikime Natsu across the table, then slid away almost at once. No-even he wouldn't stoop to something like this.
Horikita Suzune turned her phone facedown on the table and stopped looking at it entirely.
Beside her, Hasebe Haruka noticed the change in her.
She tilted her head slightly and asked, curious, "Something wrong?"
"It's nothing."
Horikita Suzune shook her head, her expression settling back into calm.
"Just... someone sending me some tedious messages."
"Tedious messages?"
Hasebe Haruka blinked.
"Mm."
Horikita Suzune nodded without elaborating, and seeing that, Hasebe Haruka let the matter drop.
____
👻🔥Seek: Walnut-chan on P a t r e o n🔥👻
🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: Rewriting Fate in New Eridu — find it on The_Mikudayo
📚 40 chapters ahead at Walnut-chan — every supporter directly speeds up the translations
Let's hit these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter for the public!