Woodland Orchard Restaurant, in a secluded corner.
"Sogo, why did you deliberately say those things on the phone just now..." After leaving the private room, Mai Sakurajima returned to her seat and asked in confusion.
"Mai, do you know how people can quickly form a bond with one another?" Before she could finish, Sogo Doma fiddled with a five-yen coin.
"I don't. Though I do know that five yen sounds like 'forming a bond.' But that joke is way too old..." Mai Sakurajima jabbed.
"..." Sogo Doma's expression stiffened as he played with the five-yen coin. After an awkward pause, his eyes darted around, and he put on an utterly nonchalant expression. "Mai, I wasn't fiddling with this five-yen coin just to make a joke..."
"Uh-huh~!" she replied with obvious disbelief.
"Look, if we treat this five-yen coin as a person..." How could he let someone call his joke stale? Thinking that, Sogo Doma placed the coin on the table, then lightly pulled it apart with his fingers. Another five-yen coin appeared on the table. "Then these two five-yen coins represent a man and a woman..."
"You know magic too!?" Mai Sakurajima's lips twitched. Just how many hidden talents did this guy have?
"Just a little trick. If I couldn't do this much, I wouldn't have told that waitress I'd perform a magic trick for her when we first talked in the café..."
"..." Mai Sakurajima remembered now. So everything he had said had been true. She had thought it was merely an excuse at the time, and had even been wondering how she could comfort him and help him recover from the awkwardness if it didn't work out...
"There's no need to dwell on little tricks like that. Back to the point—if these two five-yen coins are a man