In the rest area, Hasebe Haruka was still holding the Terminal, engrossed in what she was reading.
Amikura Mako returned with the dumplings she had just bought. Even from a distance, she could see her friend grinning foolishly at the screen. When she drew closer, she noticed that even Haruka's ears were red.
"Haruka, why are you sitting here by yourself? What are you looking at that's got you so happy?"
Hasebe looked up, saw who it was, and immediately lowered the Terminal onto her lap, her face brimming with barely contained smugness.
"Mako, how did you know Bei-Bei confessed to me? How did you know he's my boyfriend now?"
Amikura Mako looked utterly bewildered.
How did I know what?
Was that what I just asked?
"Wait... what did you just say? What confession?"
"It happened just now."
Hasebe answered cheerfully, turning the Terminal's screen toward her.
"Bei-Bei even added me to the group."
Amikura Mako looked at the screen, then at her friend, unable to find a response for quite some time.
How did it happen so fast?
I only went to buy some dumplings, and she already has a boyfriend?
The last time something happened this fast was... the last time.
Just last night, they had huddled under the covers and promised to stick together through thick and thin. How had Hasebe wrapped everything up in a single morning?
Amikura Mako hid the bag behind her back and feigned outrage.
"Haruka, you're no longer my sister! How could you sneak ahead of me without telling me a thing?"
"Oh~ now that you mention it, I suppose you have a point."
Hasebe let out an affected sigh. "I'm a woman with a boyfriend now. Technically speaking, Mako and I no longer belong to the same world."
Amikura Mako's eyes