Makoto first accompanied Utaha to buy a charging cable. Along the way, they attracted quite a few stares.
Most of them were from men.
A beautiful girl like her naturally had a high turn-back rate—and even more so once they entered the mall.
"There are quite a lot of people at this hour," Utaha suddenly said.
Makoto replied, "It's a good thing I came with you—otherwise someone would've definitely tried to hit on you."
"Then should I be thanking you?"
"No need to be so formal. But if you insist, cash is fine."
"...Heh."
Utaha let out a laugh that was hard to interpret.
As if casually, she said, "Before I got to know you better, I thought you were the serious type."
"And now?"
"All my guesses were wrong."
"That's what they mean by 'practice beats theory.'"
"With my level of knowledge, I can't agree with your interpretation of that phrase."
"That's fine—we can debate it later if you want. I'm free."
Makoto added with a smirk, "Though you should be prepared. I like to improve during debates."
Utaha: "..."
There he goes again with that "improve."
She had a sneaking suspicion Makoto was teasing her about the way she had taken the initiative earlier.
When they finished shopping and stepped out, they unexpectedly ran into Hayama Hayato and his group.
Both sides were caught a bit off guard.
Hayama's group was surprised: Fushimi is out on a date with Kasumigaoka-senpai? Are the school rumors true?
Makoto was surprised: This might be the first time I've seen Hayama without any girls around.
There were five boys in total, including Hayama Hayato and one familiar face—Aizawa, who had once shared milk with Makoto and helped out during the short film shoot.
Two of them held unopened game console boxes, so Makoto guessed they had come to buy games.
Utaha remained composed. With Makoto's short film dominating school gossip, she didn't worry about romance rumors.
Besides, even if gossip about her and Makoto did spread now, she wouldn't try to stop it.
After exchanging greetings, someone was about to ask about their relationship when Hayama cut in just in time:
"By the way, Fushimi, when do you have time to hop on for a game? It's been two weeks since our last match."
"Just now, the guy who wanted gossip got interested too: 'Oh yeah, Hayama was just telling us how good you are at playing Valorant, Makoto. Said you carried the team on a win streak last time.'"
"Hayama was exaggerating. We were just playing in low-rank lobbies," Makoto said with a smile.
"Can you take me along next time?"
"Sure."
At that point, Hayama Hayato said, "Makoto, I have something I want to talk to you about—just the two of us."
Makoto glanced at Utaha beside him.
"I'll go wait for you ahead," Utaha said, catching on immediately and walking away.
Once the others gave them space, Hayama pulled Makoto aside and asked, "You and Kasumigaoka-senpai aren't seriously on a date, are you?"
"Never expected you to be interested in gossip," Makoto teased.
"I'm only interested in gossip about you."
"…That sounded kind of gay, you know?"
Hayama knew he was joking, but still picked up his phone and hesitated for a moment.
"I still remember you telling me that you're 'pursuing every girl you're rumored with.' But looking at things now, I'm starting to think you weren't joking."
Makoto replied, "I never was."
Hayama didn't respond immediately.
He opened their group chat—one for gaming with a few mutual friends—and scrolled to a message Makoto had sent: 'No girls in heart, rank up like a god.'
Below it was a screenshot of a win streak.
Holding up the phone with a laugh, Hayama said, "You had us all fooled, man. Me included. And then you go off and start dating Kasumigaoka-senpai? That's misleading."
Makoto gave him a weird look. "I said 'no girls in heart,' not 'no girls around you.' Is that really so hard to understand?"
Hayama: "???"
After goofing around for a bit, Hayama dropped his smile and got serious. "Makoto, you better watch out for a love triangle situation."
Makoto sensed genuine concern and replied half-jokingly, "You're starting to make me think Yumiko's right—that you're secretly into me."
"Hah, my orientation's perfectly normal," Hayama said, giving him a pat on the shoulder.
"I helped out on your filming site. I can tell Ichika and some of the other girls have a thing for you. So…"
He paused. "Just don't end up getting taken out by a love triangle, okay? I'd hate to lose an interesting friend."
Makoto nodded. "Got it, Hayama-senpai."
After they split up, Makoto walked over to where Utaha was waiting, only to hear some commotion from Hayama's direction.
Utaha turned her head along with him and saw a middle-aged man in a suit grabbing a male student.
"You snuck out again?! Look at that Makoto from your school—he's out there making films with his classmates! Why can't you be more like him?"
"Dad, what are you even talking about? With my modeling and econ grades, how am I supposed to compare with him?"
"I think you're the one spouting nonsense. I mean, look at me—I'm handsome as hell, aren't I?"
"Dad, do you not have a mirror on you? Should I turn on my phone's front camera so you can see?"
There was a brief pause.
Then came the iconic scene: A father who had not yet disowned his son, pulled out a Seven Wolves belt.
Even Makoto couldn't help but admire the kid: "Brave soul."
Utaha chuckled and turned to look at Makoto. "Seeing that scene, I'm starting to seriously suspect something."
"What is it?"
"That from the moment you told me you had a way to handle the rumors, you'd already planned to use the principal's 'legendary past' to divert attention.
And after that, you used filming with Ichika and the others to seamlessly dominate school headlines."
Makoto laughed. "If I said I didn't think that far ahead, would you believe me?"
"You tell me—do I look like I'd believe that?"
Utaha shot back and walked off first with a little sway in her hips.
Clearly, after today's game of hunter and prey, Makoto had left her with the impression of being deeply strategic.
A formidable opponent—one not to be confronted directly.
Utaha suddenly thought: since that guy is so into her legs, maybe she could start from there and regain the initiative?
She was never one to accept defeat easily.
Just as they finished shopping and reached an intersection, they heard a dull thud and a girl's pained yelp from around the corner.
Makoto and Utaha looked at each other and moved forward in sync.
There they saw a blonde girl in a green tracksuit standing on one leg, grimacing in pain and clutching her other foot.
The pose was so exaggerated, it looked almost comical.
Stunt director—Tom.
If she started hopping on one foot while yelling, she'd basically be Tom from Tom & Jerry.
"Sawamura-san?"
Utaha was surprised. Just earlier, they'd been talking about her—and now here she was.
Makoto glanced past Eriri and saw a small soccer ball by the wall. Given her posture, he could guess what had happened.
"What are you two doing here?"
Eriri was nearly crying from the pain, but seeing two famous schoolmates suddenly appear, she quickly forced her foot down and tried to compose herself.
Utaha eyed her leg. "Looks pretty painful. You wouldn't be crying otherwise."
"I'm not crying!" Eriri snapped, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Utaha didn't argue. "How's your leg? Is it serious?"
Makoto added, "I suggest you at least get it checked out."
Embarrassed to be seen in such a pitiful state, Eriri put up a front. "It's just a little pain. I'm already feeling better."
Then Utaha noticed the soccer ball behind her. Her gaze sharpened. "Were you playing soccer in the street and hurt yourself?"
As soon as she heard "soccer," Eriri visibly blushed.
"I wasn't playing soccer! I was just reading a manga, saw the ball near my foot, and kicked it on impulse!"
Makoto picked up the ball and weighed it in his hand. "Unlucky—this thing's not even a real ball. It's filled with sand."
Eriri got angrier. "Who would do something so awful?!"
"I still suggest checking your foot. If your nail's damaged, it might bleed—or worse, ruin the shape of your nail," Makoto said.
Eriri froze, visibly panicked. But she'd just said she was fine. If she checked now, she'd lose even more face.
Utaha suddenly asked, "How far is your house from here?"
Eriri, confused but answering anyway, said, "Not far. About 20 minutes."
Utaha turned to Makoto. "You have medicine at home?"
"Yeah."
Utaha decided immediately.
"Perfect. I have things to do at Makoto's place anyway. Sawamura-san, you can come too. Once we're sure your injury isn't serious, you can apply some ointment before heading home."
Eriri hesitated. "Eh? But I'm really fine…"
"It's settled." Utaha's upperclassman authority kicked in.
Eriri hesitated for a few seconds before blushing and saying, "Then I'll be in your care."
With a senpai accompanying her, she wasn't too embarrassed to go to a guy's place.
Although she still felt awkward, her foot was more important.
And besides…
So Kasumigaoka-senpai and Fushimi are actually really kind?
Eriri thought happily.
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