Fourth Period Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

"Hayama?"

"...Hey."

He lightly raised a hand in brief greeting, the silver gleam of his watch peeking out from beneath his cuff.

The whole year's plans began on New Year's Day.

I had a strong feeling that my ominous premonition of a turbulent year had hit perfectly.

Conclusion 1: Yui's story 10. Yukino Haruno was up to something.

The soft jazz playing in the café seemed especially loud now. Normally, I probably wouldn't have minded this volume.

But until a little while ago, I'd been listening to all those New Year's songs in the department store—"ding... dong dong dong ding! clang~"—and the contrast with the jazz had made me constantly notice the store's background music. Even after sitting down, I still couldn't settle.

My wandering gaze drifted across the table, landing on the people beside and opposite me. Since it was a table for four, Yuihama sat across from me with a confused smile on her face.

The reason for her confusion sat right beside her.

Yukino Haruno was beaming, a stark contrast to Yuihama's slightly stiff smile.

After running into us, Haruno had briefly wished us a Happy New Year, then promptly moved over to our table.

"Feels like it's been ages since I last saw Hachiman and Sister Hama."

"Ah, yeah! What a coincidence!"

"Right──"

"Right──!"

They were both smiling and looked like they got along wonderfully, but no matter how I looked at it, they were just going along with each other's act. Listening to that exchange made cold sweat run down my back.

How had things turned out like this...? I nervously kept stealing glances at the seat diagonally across from me.

Haruno met my gaze and let out a meaningful laugh, slowly narrowing her eyes.

Her eyes were like those of a beast that had