"Eh~, what a coincidence. Then why don't you go first, Ichinose?" Kushida said with a sweet smile.
Ichinose stirred her coffee with a spoon, looking a little embarrassed.
"Actually... someone wrote me a love letter and asked to meet me so she could confess."
Kushida's eyes lit up, her expression turning gossipy.
"Wow! Just as expected of Ichinose! You're so popular!"
"Don't say that! I'm really troubled by this too."
Kushida's smile faded slightly as she asked curiously, "Do you want to reject her?"
"Mm." Ichinose nodded gently. "I don't like her, but I don't want to hurt her."
"I see..." Kushida pondered it, then suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Wait a second!" Kushida asked in a tone of confusion and surprise, "Did you just say 'she'?"
Ichinose's face instantly turned red, but she still nodded in admission.
Kushida leaned back against the sofa and sucked in a breath.
She had seen plenty in her time, but she had never encountered something like this.
Was this really that exciting?
Kushida remembered something else: Shinomiya's failed blackmail scheme.
The girl who liked Ichinose... wasn't that Shiranami Chihiro?
But why had Ichinose come to her for help? What could she possibly do?
"Ichinose, how do you want me to help?" Kushida cautiously probed.
"Actually..." Ichinose seemed too embarrassed to say it aloud. She pressed her legs together and rubbed them back and forth. "I wanted to ask whether you've ever dealt with something like this. Kushida-chan is really popular, after all!"
Kushida froze at that. Being popular wasn't enough to run into this sort of situation!
"Ah... I really haven't encountered anything like this. Sorry," Kushida said apologetically.
Ichinose looked somewhat disappointed, then voiced her request.
"Then could you ask Shinomiya-kun to pretend to be my boyfriend?"
"No!!" Kushida immediately rejected her