The atmosphere around us had clearly changed.
We entered the girls' goods section, a space awash in pastel and vivid colors, fragrant with flowers and soap.
It was filled with clothes, accessories, socks, kitchenware, and of course, fashionable underwear. For me, this otherworldly place was somewhere I couldn't stand to stay for even a second.
"It should be around here."
Yukino said it casually, but I was already exhausted beyond recognition.
"Yeah, somehow getting lost four times... Your sense of geometry must be terrible."
"The one thing I never wanted to hear you criticize me about was math..."
"Private university Literary Stream departments don't look at math scores, so I gave up from the start. I didn't care even if I came in last."
"Last... What did you even score?"
"Nine points. I heard it was the lowest score. That information came from my own results."
"...Wouldn't that make you repeat a year?"
After being ordered by my teacher to attend remedial classes, I took a make-up exam. But the exam used questions straight from the remedial handouts, so if I memorized them, I got points. Honestly, from a teacher's perspective, making students repeat a year was a huge pain, so they used stopgap measures for nearly everything except attendance.
"So, what are we buying?"
"Hmm... Something practical that can withstand long-term use."
"So office supplies or stationery?"
No matter how I thought about it, those didn't seem like gifts for a girl.
"I considered those too."
"You actually considered them..."
"But I thought Yuihama-san might not like them... She probably wouldn't be happy if I gave her something like a fountain pen or a tool kit."
"...A wise judgment."
I couldn't imagine Yuihama happily squealing, "Waaah, I've always wanted this screwdriver set! It even has hex wrenches! Oh my