But by now, how much she cared about Fushimi Makoto had far exceeded what she could even understand.
Especially when she thought about how she'd been the one to suggest calling him Makoto, and how he'd agreed.
The girl's heart started beating faster.
She felt a little nervous, but also a little happy.
The kind of happiness that made her secretly giddy.
Nakano Itsuki clenched her fists, not daring to think in a certain direction.
After all, she knew that whenever Ichika mentioned Fushimi Makoto at home, her smile grew a little brighter.
"Itsuki, what's wrong?"
Nakano Ichika had noticed that her sister was acting strangely, too.
"N-nothing." Nakano Itsuki shook her head guiltily.
That might have been fine, but the moment Itsuki looked guilty, Nakano Ichika grew suspicious. "You're acting really weird."
Nakano Itsuki looked a little embarrassed and avoided her sister's gaze.
Nakano Ichika remembered how Itsuki had just tried to get closer to Fushimi Makoto. Pretending to ask casually, she said, "Have you and Makoto been meeting up on your own lately? You two seem closer than before."
"We're friends!" Nakano Itsuki blurted out, her whole body tensing.
By coincidence, Yukino had said the exact same thing.
And the person Yukino had been talking to was her older sister, too.
"I was just asking. Why are you so nervous~?"
Nakano Ichika teased her in her usual playful tone.
But an alarm went off in her heart at that very moment!
What was going on?
First Nino, and now Itsuki?
Did all my sisters have an inside traitor?
"I'm not nervous."
Nakano Itsuki answered hastily.
She even repeated herself. "I really am not."
Nakano Ichika looked at her with a smile. "I know."
She remembered a line she'd seen online: Some people, if you miss them, you miss