"Mitsuri?"
"Mitsuri?"
Looking at the girl who had been chatting one moment, only to inexplicably space out the next, her face growing redder for some unknown reason, Kanzaki Kumo called to her twice and waved a hand before her eyes.
"Ah! I... I'm listening!"
Like a little animal startled awake from a deep sleep, Mitsuri instantly stiffened, though her eyes still wandered, not daring to look at Kanzaki Kumo.
"Really? Then please repeat what I just said, Mitsuri."
Kanzaki Kumo cupped the girl's soft cheeks in both hands and lifted her slightly lowered head to face him.
"Kanzaki-oniisan said he wanted to go home with Mitsuri to see her family, and celebrate her birthday, and... mm-"
Mitsuri had already been imagining certain scenes that could never be aired. Now, meeting his eyes in such an intimate pose, her faintly flushed cheeks rapidly deepened in color, and wisps of white steam rose between her strands of hair.
Kanzaki Kumo had indeed been talking to Mitsuri about her birthday, thinking of taking the opportunity to go home with her to visit her family.
But the word "birthday" reminded Mitsuri of how Shinobu Kocho had been unable to get out of bed the morning after her birthday.
Besides, the girls did talk about such things in private. After all, it was something they would experience sooner or later, but innocent Mitsuri became terribly embarrassed whenever she heard anything related to it.
So now that Kanzaki Kumo had brought up her birthday, certain images inevitably flashed through Mitsuri's mind, and she completely missed what he said afterward.
Whether she was burying her head in the sand because she could not answer the rest, or because she was too embarrassed to meet Kanzaki Kumo's eyes, Mitsuri gently closed her large, pale-green eyes, leaving only her