Ichinose looked somewhat angry.
"That would be great. I'd get a girlfriend for free."
Hearing such a shameless remark, Ichinose gave a wry smile.
"Anyway, thank you for today. Otherwise, I probably would've agonized over it for a long time. That would've hurt Chihiro too."
Kamio Tatsuya waved a hand, signaling that she needn't be so polite.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going."
That should make them even over what he had accidentally said that morning.
That evening, after returning to his dorm, Kamio Tatsuya picked up his phone and sent Sakura Airi a message.
[Will tomorrow be okay?]
A long time passed after he sent it, but no reply came. Was she busy?
After an unknown amount of time, just as Kamio Tatsuya was meditating in his chair, the phone on the desk suddenly chimed.
[Y-yes, I'm sorry. I don't know if I can do it.]
[You don't need to apologize. You haven't done anything wrong. No matter what, just do what you want to do.]
A long while passed again, but Kamio Tatsuya still received no message from Sakura.
The next day, after arriving at school, Kamio Tatsuya saw Sakura sitting quietly at her seat as usual, her head lowered as she stared blankly at something.
It seemed she still hadn't overcome it. Oh well, there was nothing wrong with that.
After placing his bag on his desk, Kamio Tatsuya took out his phone and began typing a message.
[Don't force yourself. After school, I'll come to get the camera from you.]
When Sakura saw Kamio Tatsuya's text, her hand immediately moved to her phone, ready to reply.
But I... Delete.
I can do it... Delete.
She typed and deleted over and over again. After a long time, Sakura finally tapped send.
[I'm sorry. I'm too useless.]