Hasegawa Toru's Favorite Thing to Do...

Of course, as the one who'd suggested it, Sakayanagi Arisu readily took responsibility for paying for dinner.

Just as Toru Hasegawa thought the meal would end as uneventfully as usual, Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly said:

"Would you mind taking a photo with me?"

"I'd mind a lot, actually." Toru glanced sideways at Sakayanagi Arisu. "You're way too easy to read. I'm not interested in you, thanks."

He'd already experienced the flatness firsthand. Whatever lingering hopes he'd had were gone.

"Oh, you figured me out?" Sakayanagi Arisu showed none of the embarrassment one might expect after being exposed. "But plenty of people must have seen us eating together in the cafeteria two days in a row."

Toru Hasegawa: "???"

Wait. Let him sort out the situation so far.

He and Sakayanagi Arisu had indeed eaten together these past two days—except for lunch today.

Then, that afternoon, he'd introduced Sakayanagi Arisu and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to everyone...

No way...?

Was he about to shoot himself in the foot?

"Finally caught on? From the moment you walked into the cafeteria with me, you had no choice."

Sakayanagi Arisu smiled and leisurely brought another bite to her small mouth.

Rumors didn't need to make sense. Even a story built on nothing could cause quite a stir, and this time, there were plenty of facts to support it.

With a little embellishment, a story moving enough to bring people to tears would be trending at school tomorrow.

Its title would be: "Shocking! The Untold Story of Hasegawa and Sakayanagi"

The story would recount in detail how Sakayanagi had pursued Hasegawa, loved him in vain, and was eventually rejected. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka might even make an appearance.

And Toru Hasegawa's actions that afternoon would fuel the rumor.

"...You're not seriously going to use a cliché scheme like that, are you?"

Toru was stunned. If she really did that, it wouldn't just hurt his reputation—Sakayanagi Arisu's would suffer too!

"I don't mind. You still have time to think it over. In a little while, I might start crying."

"What if I recorded this?"

Sakayanagi didn't answer. She only smiled at Toru.

Toru had actually understood all along. In the face of rumors, every explanation was futile, even if he had ironclad proof.

People only believed what they wanted to believe.

In a way, that was a pointless thing to say, but at that moment, Toru was suffering the consequences.

He shouldn't have walked straight into the trap Sakayanagi Arisu had set for him.

However...

"But I refuse!"

Toru wouldn't let her take advantage of his kindness. He rejected the way out Sakayanagi Arisu had left him. "You've taken advantage of other people's goodwill time and time again, Sakayanagi. You've really disappointed me!"

Without looking back, he left the Student Cafeteria, leaving Sakayanagi Arisu alone behind him.

As it turned out, by the next morning, nothing suspicious had appeared in the class group chat or on the school forum. Toru let out a huge sigh of relief.

He might have left so decisively the night before, but in truth, he'd been anxious.

Sakayanagi Arisu's tactic had been vicious. If she'd really carried it out, his plans to find a girlfriend would have gone up in smoke.

After this incident, the image of Sakayanagi Arisu in his mind had grown even more vivid.

"Still, that group Ike invited me into had some pretty interesting conversations."

To be honest, Toru respected Ike quite a bit.

He was the same person inside and out. Whether in real life or online, he was completely open about his determination to get a girlfriend.

Maybe there were girls who liked that type, surprisingly enough.

After having breakfast at the Student Cafeteria, Toru went to the Class A classroom.

"Good morning, Kamuro."

He greeted Kamuro Masumi, but she ignored him as if she hadn't heard.

"I know I wronged you, so you can yell at me all you like."

If you messed up, you had to own it. Toru humbled himself before Kamuro Masumi.

At those words, Kamuro Masumi finally looked at him.

"What happened was my fault from the very beginning. I'm not blaming you anymore."

She wasn't blaming him, yet she was deliberately ignoring him? Toru knew she was lying.

Still, as long as they could keep talking, that was enough. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"We've got swimming class today, right?" Toru brought up a topic.

To his surprise, Kamuro Masumi looked at him as if he were an idiot. "You're not the same kind of guy as those boys, are you?"

"No. Anyway, that was a huge leap in conversation. I just wanted to talk with you about swimming class."

"Oh." Kamuro Masumi wasn't sure whether she believed him. "I'm pretty confident in my swimming. If the boys and girls are split into groups, I should be able to get first place."

She hadn't seen how well anyone else could swim, but Kamuro Masumi was certain she could take first.

Toru nodded thoughtfully. "I'm not very confident in my swimming. I can only just manage to swim, so I hope I can improve."

"Want me to teach you?"

Kamuro Masumi said it out of the blue.

Toru Hasegawa: "???"

"Was that a bit sudden? I guess so." Kamuro Masumi muttered to herself, not realizing that Toru had heard every word.

"Let me guess. Sakayanagi told you to, right?"

"Huh? Of course not."

Kamuro Masumi flatly denied it while winking at Toru.

Toru Hasegawa: "..."

All right, he got it. Sakayanagi Arisu was a brat.

The morning passed quickly. Because of Sakayanagi Arisu's speech the day before, everyone in Class A kept up the appearance of being model students.

During lunch break, Toru saw Sakayanagi Arisu get up and walk toward him.

"What?"

Things hadn't gotten worse, but they hadn't gotten better either. Toru was starting to get impatient with the silver-haired girl standing in front of him, who was barely any taller than him when he was sitting down.

"This is an apology for what I did yesterday. I'm sorry."

In a surprising turn of events, Sakayanagi Arisu apologized to Toru and held out a pink lunchbox.

"...It's fine. You didn't actually go through with it, did you?"

After a moment's silence, Toru realized he didn't seem to have any other choice.

He still had three years to spend with her. What else could he do?

Of course he'd forgive her!

Toru took the lunchbox Sakayanagi Arisu offered and opened it. It looked pretty good.

He glanced at Sakayanagi Arisu standing beside him, then bit into one of the little sausages.

"..."

"When did you make this?" he asked in a low voice.

"Last night. Is it good?"

"Don't you know you're not supposed to leave a lunchbox overnight? This has already gone bad! And it probably wouldn't have tasted good even when it was fresh!"