After suffering a crushing defeat at school, I lay on my bed in my room, locked in a staring contest with my phone.

On the screen was the class group chat on LINE. Right after the class shuffle, people had actually talked in it a little, but now that it was September, not a single message had been sent.

Everyone had started hanging out with their own little groups by now.

I opened up the member list. Sure enough, Yarai-san’s account was there too. Her pfp was an adorable orange tabby cat—probably her pet.

With a face that beautiful, not using a selfie for her pfp felt almost like she was showing off. That’s totally irrational, but still.

“…No, I mean, it’s normal to add a classmate as a friend, right?”

I muttered that excuse aloud, even though no one was around to hear it, and sent her a friend request.

…Are Yarai-san and I even friends? Kinda doubtful.

Did I really kiss someone I can’t even call a friend? And it was my first kiss too.

The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got.

Feeling a storm of emotions welling up in my chest, I tried to figure out what to message Yarai-san. I mean, something like “just added you on a whim~” would probably be fine, but—

*“It’s Kaidou-san! What’s up?”*
“Gah—!”

Her message popped up out of nowhere on the chat screen with a ping. She must’ve noticed I added her and immediately reached out.

And now I’d accidentally opened the message. From her perspective, it must’ve shown as read the instant she sent it. In other words, it was blatantly obvious I’d been staring at our chat the whole time.

It had been at least five minutes since I added her, which meant she knew I’d been agonizing over what to say this whole time.

*“Oh, I just realized I didn’t have your contact info.”*

No way I could put that embarrassment into words, so I made sure to reply as coolly as I could.

*“It’s already September, you know? You could’ve added me whenever!”*

Yeah, well, I didn’t have a reason to add you until yesterday.

*“Or wait—did you add me because you need something from me?”*

…Because I need something? Is she seriously saying this?

What, was yesterday all in my head? Did I hallucinate the whole thing?

*“Of course I do!”*

Before I knew it, that’s how I replied. I’d completely forgotten my original plan to start off gently with a conversation about makeup or something.

*“Shouldn’t you be the one reaching out first? Like, I don’t know, apologizing for yesterday?”*
*“Did I do something that bothered you?”*
*“You did! A lot! Actually, you’re still bothering me right now!”*
*“Sorry about that.”*
*“Don’t apologize when you don’t even know what you’re apologizing for!”*

Crap, I felt like the veins in my head were about to burst. I remembered laughing in history class when we learned that some pope died in a rage or something, but maybe this was how that felt. I’m sorry, Pope Gregory VII. I finally understand—people can die from pure indignation.

*“Yesterday, you forced a kiss on me, didn’t you?”*
*“Ah—yeah. I did.”*

Thank god. So I hadn’t just made that up in some delusional daydream.

*“See? That was clearly a huge violation, right?”*
*“Hmm, but you didn’t really seem like you hated it, so I figured…”*

*You didn’t seem like you hated it.* There it was again. Just where was this girl even looking?

Even now, with me obviously furious, how could she say something like that?

*“And what exactly are you basing that on? Because I’m telling you right now—I didn’t want it.”*
*“The vibe. And, like, your face.”*
*“That makes zero sense.”*

She was so impossible to talk to, I felt like I’d accidentally wandered into another world.

Or maybe she’s the one from another world? That honestly made more sense. She looked and acted like she didn’t belong here in the first place.

*“Then how about we try it again? I’ll take a photo this time. Maybe that’ll help convince you.”*
*“…What?”*

What the hell was she saying? Doing something I hate just to prove that I hate it? That’s so backwards it’s almost impressive.

And yet… a part of me wasn’t entirely against the idea.

Because at this rate, we were getting nowhere. Yarai-san seriously seemed to believe I wasn’t mad.

In that case, maybe it would be better to go along with her ridiculous plan—just so I could shove the truth in her face the moment she kissed me.

*“Fine. Let’s do that. But if I look like I hate it, you better apologize.”*

And so, my battle began.

There’s no way I’m losing to Yarai-san.

…I’m jinxing it, aren’t I?