Sonoko: "...?"
Why did that sound strangely familiar...?
Sonoko scratched the back of her head, feeling like she should have been the one saying that.
Hearing it come from her doe-like best friend... felt a little weird.
Had she become a stand-in?
Sonoko shook her head, tossing that strange thought out of her mind.
Then she retorted, "What do you mean, forgetting the old love after finding a new one? Senior and I haven't even gotten together yet!"
"Oh, right, speaking of which, I've got an idea!"
"Next time, let's find a chance to play mixed doubles. We can invite Senior Fujino and Shinichi too, and have some kind of tennis double date..."
Sonoko had come up with an idea and was chattering away as she fantasized, practically surrounded by pink bubbles.
But halfway through, she sensed that something was off.
Looking up, she saw her best friend Ran suddenly tighten her grip around the tennis ball, a gloomy look crossing her face.
"Shinichi... that deduction freak..."
"Huh...?"
Sonoko froze. Then, with a boom, she suddenly felt something fly past the side of her head.
Meanwhile, Fujino had jogged to Beika Park for his morning exercise.
It was a day off, and Beika Park was full of children out playing and office workers walking their dogs.
Fujino glanced at them, then decisively took a detour into the small woods nearby.
Normally, he exercised at five or six in the morning, when there were fewer people around. Today, he had been delayed by that dark-skinned guy, so he could only find somewhere less crowded. After all, with his current physical condition, if he accidentally ran into some little brat who darted out from a blind spot while jogging...
That little Hachimi brat would get smashed into two Hachimi Wangwang crispy