"I'm always professional, so there's no way I'd be mad at him."
Answering calmly, Yukino tucked the phone against her shoulder and walked to the kitchen.
After brewing a cup of hot tea, she picked out a book and sat on the sofa.
Her half-dried hair was wrapped in a bath towel, fully revealing her soft, captivating white neck. Moisture kissed her clear, slender collarbone. The graceful curves of her slim figure were faintly visible through her pajamas. She looked like a beautiful statue freshly carved from ice crystal, enough to make any man feel parched just looking at her.
"If there's nothing important, don't disturb my reading."
Yukino sipped her tea. Her tone remained cold and distant.
"Of course there's something important."
Knowing that if she kept teasing, her moody little sister might hang up on the spot, Haruno dropped her playful tone and said casually, "Same as always, how was school today? Was he flirting with other girls?"
"…Nee-san." The teacup was set down slowly. Yukino frowned and asked seriously, "If you really care, why not just ask him yourself? You must have his number. I only see him for less than an hour a day. Why do you always ask me?"
Haruno replied cheerfully, "There are plenty of reasons. Which one do you want to hear?"
Her words were almost equivalent to pick which way I'll fool you. Whatever she said definitely wouldn't be the truth.
"…Forget it, this is the last time." Yukino sighed in resignation, her voice slightly lower. "Do whatever you want if you're going to be a creepy stalker secretly gathering info on others. At most, I'll just pretend not to see… But my debt to you ends here. From now on, I won't answer any more questions about him!"
Haruno muttered with a disappointed tone, "Haiz, fine. I'll have to spend time and money cultivating spies at Sobou High. Falling in love from afar is such a hassle…"
Yukino instinctively pressed, "Besides, I don't understand why you'd fall for him. Just because of his performance at the autumn exhibition?"
"Why do I like him? For a lot of reasons, you know. But you wouldn't understand if I told you, so I won't~"
It was always like this whenever Yuu was brought up.
Her laugh, like a little girl hiding a secret, was cheerful and mischievous.
It made Yukino feel like this person might have gone crazy from falling in love.
"Truly incomprehensible…"
Lowering her gaze, her fingers gently traced the words on the book's page. Yukino let out a faint sigh. "I suggest you give up quickly. Not to mention he doesn't seem interested in you at all, that guy is…"
(A reckless guy who admitted he's unfaithful with feelings.)
(A scumbag who betrayed her trust and casually said he'd cheat alongside Yuigahama-san.)
(Someone like that, no matter how capable, doesn't deserve to be pursued…)
"A what?"
Her sister's curious voice rang in her ear. Yukino blinked, as if waking from a dream, and bit her lip unconsciously.
"…A guy surrounded by girls every day. Dealing with women is easier for him than eating. Just as insincere as you."
She still couldn't believe the friend she acknowledged would give the worst possible answer in that situation.
There had to be something hidden.
Unless she saw the truth with her own eyes, with Yukino's character, she wouldn't jump to conclusions about her friend.
…Her mockery of him didn't count.
"That's great. Doesn't that make him perfect for me?"
Haruno hummed happily, as if oblivious to the pause.
Yukino firmly ignored her. After briefly recounting how she chatted during lunch with him, Yuigahama, Iroha, and Kanade at the Service Club today—without mentioning a word about the compatibility quiz—she ended the call.
Setting down her phone, Yukino leaned gently against the sofa's backrest. She closed her eyes slightly, exhaling all the silence in her chest.
"That guy… What is he really thinking? Did he give that answer to make Yuigahama-san tie with me, or because he didn't want to lie to me…"
She didn't understand, didn't know.
She suddenly realized she didn't actually know him.
She'd only been fooled by an unconscious sense of compatibility…
Amid her flowing black hair, Yukino quietly opened her eyes. She looked at her own palm.
Fragments of memories flashed through her mind. The moments she'd experienced since meeting Yuu seemed to appear in the lines of her hand.
Two major events were the autumn exhibition and the Kyoto competition. But the ordinary days of interaction were countless—during lunch breaks, after school, she'd occasionally argue with him in that small, well-ventilated classroom about their differing ideologies, trying her hardest to shut him up.
Gradually, just with a glance, they knew what the other was thinking. They also acknowledged each other's strengths and talents.
"That's exactly why I got my first male friend…"
Yukino gently clenched her hand. A confused murmur slipped out unconsciously.
"Then why does it feel like I've forgotten so much? The him from before and the him now are different. So unfamiliar, as if he's not the same person?"
Recalling—
What was missing, something important from Yuu's life, that made him the way he is now?
Constantly questioning and answering herself, Yukino still couldn't find the right way out. Everything felt like a mirage. Even she couldn't be sure.
After sitting and daydreaming on the sofa for a while, she sighed helplessly. She closed the novel she hadn't read a word of, finished her half-cold, bitter tea, and stood to head to her bedroom.
"Overall, that guy's character is reckless and good at attracting attention. That's definitely true."
As for whether he was a two-timing scumbag, purely as a friend, Yukino didn't have much right to comment. At most, she could only criticize him a bit.
(Romantic relationships don't define everything. Besides, he hasn't done anything concrete—since when did I start convincing myself like this?)
Thinking while walking, thinking while eating, thinking while showering, thinking while brushing her teeth…
Even before bed, Yukino was still thinking about things related to Yuu.
After grappling with unease for half the day, she finally relaxed the furrow in her brow, as if relieved, pulling up the blanket and closing her eyes. She murmured faintly:
"Tomorrow… I should be able to talk to him properly."
An anxiety she wasn't even aware of. A hope to return to normal.
After all, Yuu was one of Yukino's few friends.
"Tenkuji… kun."
The night enveloped her fragile form with gentleness.