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「*Wait, you had a boyfriend!?* I yelled, confused.」

In a seat on the second floor of Mac’s, I quipped to the empty air. In front of me, Miyu covers her mouth to stifle her laughter.
Since we don’t know how long Ruka’s errand will take, and since it was also getting late, we decided to break up the party then and there.

After that, Miyu and I casually wandered around the station.
Then the topic of what to have for dinner came up, and Miyu said, 「I want to eat teriyaki burger,」 so I followed her to Mac’s without any resistance.
It’s probably as payback for me eating out yesterday. Thanks to this, I’ve been eating hamburgers for practically 3 meals straight. Well, I don’t really mind it; I like hamburgers, after all.

「Then Misaki, does that mean you also thought that Ruka might be…」
「Well, frankly, a little. After all, she was a bit weird ever since she first talked to me.」
「*Hmーph*, cheater.」
「Wait, why though?」

Miyu giggles to herself. Although she called me that, she’s in really high spirits right now. It’s actually a bit gross.
Neatly folding the now empty burger wrapper, she let out a heavy sigh.

「*Haah*, still, it’s such bad timing.」

She’s been saying this the whole time.
What Miyu’s referring to is the premature cancellation of my skirt lifting.
Apparently, she wanted to enjoy my cosplay for a bit longer, but since Ruka was in a serious mood, Miyu read the room and kept it to herself.

「You were saved by the skin of your neck.」
「What the hell, you were going for the kill?」
「What I couldn’t do this time, I’ll be sure to achieve next.」
「There won’t be a next time, you hear? In the first place, I’ll never wear that again.」
「The school uniform’s skirt is fine with me, you know? I like school uniforms, after all.」

She casually revealed her fetish.
Is that why she nags me about my casual clothes but doesn’t complain about my uniform?
　
「Rather, Miyu, you weren’t the one who fought me, so I don’t have any obligation to you.」
「Alright then, want to fight me next?」

She had the eyes of a challenger.
Miyu’s gaming skills are worse than Ruka’s. She can’t win against me.
Or is she perhaps not challenging me to S*per Smash, but a different kind of smash instead? Like an ear-licking battle, or something?
Miyu flexes her shoulders and muffles a yawn.

「*Fwa～ah*… I’m really tired today. Once I get home, I want to take a long, long bath.」
「*Huh*? Didn’t you say that you were going to stay over?」
「*Hmーmn*, maybe not today. I’m exhausted.」
「*Eh*? *Ah*, r-really? It’s not like I…」

I was taken by surprise by how quickly she turned it down. Miyu told me she’d stay over earlier today, so I may or may not have had some expectations…
Miyu’s eyes were staring right at me.　

「That’s hot.」
「… W-what do you mean by that?」
「Yesterday you were so hesitant, like, 『*Eh*? You’re staying?』 but now you suddenly want me to come and stay over. I guess since you couldn’t do it with Ruka, you want to do it with me, *huh*?」
「No, I am not thinking that at all! I’m going to get angry, you know!?」

I don’t care if it’s her jealousy speaking, but that isn’t funny at all. Jeez.

「I’m kidding; don’t get angry. To be honest, there really was no need for me to come along today.」
「So you *were* monitoring us.」
「Still though, I got a nice video out of it.」
「About that, could you delete it? I didn’t give you permission to video, you know? That’s a legit voyeur film.」
「Can I take a video?」
「Don’t ask permission after the fact. Gimme your phone, I’ll delete it.」
「*Nooo*, you *caaan’t*.」
「Saying it cutely won’t work.」
「*Eh*～ No way～ Misaki, please? Can I keep it～?」

Upturned eyes at full max.
Begging Miyutan is too hot.
Is this a new technique? It’s blatantly bad acting, but that’s good in its own way. So you *can* do beg if you tried.
I took out my smartphone.

「Then let me have begging Miyu in exchange. Look at the camera and beg.」
「No way, stupid.」
「The difference.」

Not to lose, Miyu raised her own smartphone.

「Then I’ll allow it if Misaki begs first.」
「What is this exploitation loop going on?」

As we were fooling around, the smartphone in my hand started ringing.
I took the call. It was Ruka.

「Where are you right now? Are you home already?」
「No, we’re at the Mac by the train station.」
「*Ah*, really? I’ll be there in a moment, so could you wait for me?」

Leaving only these words, she cut the call.

「After meeting up, I broke up with him in person.」

Arriving here a few minutes later, that was the first words out of Ruka’s mouth. Perhaps rushing here, her breathing was a bit haggard. Ruka took one of the seats from the neighboring table.

「I only talked to him a little at school, and I didn’t particularly like him. Since I had nothing to do after the entrance exams were done and no real reason to refuse, and since the people around me told me to try, I accepted him. But after graduation, we went to different schools, so things naturally cooled off. We haven’t seen each other for a month.」

Stopping to breathe, Ruka looks down on the table. The drink she brought with her doesn’t even have a straw on it yet.

「Even when we go out to play, the most we’d do is buy some snacks and go to the arcade center for a while; it wasn’t that fun, didn’t feel exciting either. Playing with you two was much more fun for me.」

Since Ruka suddenly started her monologue, we became silent listeners.
Opposite of earlier, our table has gone quiet. Ruka’s tone being so indifferent plays a part in it, and as we were waiting for Ruka, the customers around decreased.

The boy confessed to her, she accepted it, and so they ended up dating, but there wasn’t any passion there, so she broke up with him.
That I understand.

But why?
I can understand wanting people to talk to right after a breakup.
But is that it?
If that’s the case, then instead of us, she could’ve consulted her other friends who know about her situation.
　
From Miyu’s expression, I can see that she also has the same question on her mind.
Even after Ruka finished talking, there was a weird silence. Eventually, seemingly noticing this, Ruka clapped her hands.

「… *Oh*, right! As for why I went out of the way to come here…」

As though remembering it, she stabs the straw into her cup and takes a sip of her drink.
Vigorously setting her drink down, Ruka stared at me as she spoke.

「I like you, Misaki.」