Having apparently exhausted her excuses for gathering material, Utaha Kasumigaoka did not linger. Holding her notebook and smiling brightly, she walked down from the rooftop. Compared to when she had arrived, her steps merely seemed much lighter.
"Sogo, now that I've found you, you won't be able to escape..." But the moment she stepped off the rooftop and into the school building's hallway, she looked at the open rooftop door and made up her mind. "I won't let you leave..."
Only then did she clasp her hands behind her back, notebook in hand, and head toward the classroom with light steps. She seemed to have shed a little of that aloof, untouchable air, instead giving off the impression that this was how a high school girl ought to be.
This unconscious change...
Today had probably been a dreamlike day for Utaha Kasumigaoka. She had originally intended to ask what was going on between her Sogo, Ako Tamaki, and Yukino Yukinoshita...
Yet before she could even ask, Sogo had given her the most direct answer.
Whenever she thought of that kiss, the corners of Utaha Kasumigaoka's lips unconsciously wanted to curve upward. So a gentle, romantic, indecisive light novel protagonist really did not suit Sogo at all!
If not for what came afterward, Utaha Kasumigaoka thought that kiss alone could have left her drifting happily through a week—or perhaps a month.
But...
After kissing her, that infuriating Sogo had kept provoking her!
If she had not still been able to control herself, she might have fallen out with him right then and there.
Still...
Once Utaha Kasumigaoka calmed down, she noticed something odd. Even as Sogo provoked her, he always went along with whatever she said, preventing the little spark of anger inside her from ever truly catching fire. That indirectly