Then she asked curiously, "By the way, Makoto, what made you suddenly want to spread this around?"
Fushimi Makoto didn't hide the truth. "Because people at school have been spreading rumors about me and Kasumigaoka-senpai. She came to talk to me about it specifically. She didn't want the gossip to affect our friendship, so we started looking for a way to deal with it."
Nakano Itsuki's attention, however, was elsewhere. "Are you close with Kasumigaoka-senpai too?"
"What do you mean, 'too'?" Fushimi Makoto asked deliberately.
Nakano Itsuki's eyes flickered. "Miura and Yukinoshita from my class both seem to be really close to you."
"That just means I'm popular."
"Is that all it means?"
"Think about it. Ichika, Nino, and you—we're all close too."
"That's true, I guess..."
Nakano Itsuki trailed off.
What she really wanted to ask was: You're so close with so many pretty girls. What are you going to do with all these friendships when you get a girlfriend?
But the moment she thought of the word girlfriend, she somehow found herself getting upset.
So she didn't ask.
Fushimi Makoto tactfully didn't press her. Instead, he changed the subject. "How are you and Yukino getting along, Itsuki?"
"Huh? Yukinoshita?"
Nakano Itsuki paused, then slowly replied, "We're getting along all right. Everyone at school says she's really hard to approach, but whether we're in the clubroom or just run into each other during the day, she's never acted like the rumors say."
Fushimi Makoto smiled. "Looks like I was right."
"What do you mean?"
"I told her before that out of you five girls, you're the one who gets along with her best."
Before Nakano Itsuki could ask why, Fushimi Makoto explained, "It's because you're so focused and diligent when you're working. That happens to be the kind of