The train sped along.
Yukimura Suzune found it difficult to continue their previous topic, so she changed the subject.
"By the way, I forgot to ask you for that novel yesterday. Have you read it yet?"
"Not yet. You read it first—I still haven't finished my manga."
As he spoke,
Natsume Chikage took Tokyo Love Story out of his schoolbag and handed it to Yukimura Suzune.
Yukimura Suzune accepted it. Looking at the title, waves stirred in her heart as she murmured softly, "Tokyo... Love Story."
As she spoke, she couldn't help looking at Natsume Chikage.
She realized that, unlike before, he wasn't playing on his phone. He was simply quietly reading his manga.
At that moment,
she recalled her conversation with her mother yesterday.
She hadn't expected that, after everything that had happened, once her mother learned about Natsume Chikage's circumstances, she surprisingly hadn't objected to her continuing to see him.
So did that mean... Mom approved of Chikage too?
At that thought, the waves in Yukimura Suzune's heart rose one after another.
At school,
after sending the other students away, Natsume Chikage let out a slight sigh of relief and headed alone to the shoe lockers to change his shoes.
He had just changed them
when a beautiful girl appeared before him.
With the beauty mark beneath her left eye and her intellectual air, no one else at school could be like this except Tsukishima Rin.
Tsukishima Rin smiled sweetly.
"Morning, Chikage."
"Morning, Rin."
Tsukishima Rin looked at Natsume Chikage, puffed out her cheeks slightly, and reminded him, "Don't forget that you're going out with me after school today, okay?"
"If you forget, I'll definitely get mad!"
Natsume Chikage smiled. "I definitely won't."
"But have you decided where we're going to buy the birthday present?"
The two chatted