The rooftop is a place that often appears in romantic comedy anime, especially those set in high school. From here, you can gaze at a sea of white clouds, a blue sky, and enjoy the warm sunlight along with the refreshing breeze.
Right now, on the school rooftop, Tetsuya, Megumi, and Marin were sitting on a long bench, eating lunch together.
"Kato-san, your homemade tempura looks really delicious! Let's trade!" Marin, cheerful and full of energy, looked at the contents of Megumi's lunch box with sparkling eyes.
"Sure," Megumi nodded expressionlessly, the complete opposite of Marin.
Marin laughed happily and took a shrimp tempura from Megumi's lunch box. In return, she gave Megumi a piece of karaage chicken from her own.
Marin took a bite of the shrimp tempura, and her eyes immediately lit up. "It's delicious! Kato-san's cooking is amazing!"
"Kitagawa-san's cooking is good too," Megumi said as she ate Marin's karaage, commenting as calmly as usual.
Tetsuya, sitting between them, glanced back and forth while calmly eating his lunch. He couldn't help but laugh inwardly.
One was lively and bright, while the other was quiet and expressionless.
It was a perfect yin-and-yang combination.
"Oh? Look at this. Kouhai-kun with his two girlfriends."
At that moment, the door to the rooftop opened, and a beautiful yet sarcastic voice rang out. With the sound of footsteps, the first thing that came into view was a pair of long legs wrapped in elegant black stockings.
Utaha approached with a smile on her face, though her brow twitched slightly as she suppressed her irritation.
She knew her kouhai always came here during lunch break, and she had planned to eat with him while discussing novels and writing, supposedly to help improve his writing skills.
Of course, that was just an excuse. The real reason was that she wanted to spend lunchtime with her kouhai.
But who would have thought that two other girls had beaten her to it?
Utaha knew Tetsuya was extremely popular, not only because of his looks, but also because of his intelligence. It wasn't rare for girls to swarm around him or even try to become his girlfriend, all of which ended in failure.
She also knew Megumi and Marin; they had met before. Still, being beaten to the punch was very unpleasant. She felt a little annoyed.
"Kasumigaoka-senpai!"
Marin was startled and greeted her cheerfully as usual, her face flushing at Utaha's words. Megumi was calmer, only giving a small nod as a polite greeting, though the tips of her ears turned slightly red.
On the other hand, Tetsuya could tell that Utaha was annoyed. He could practically smell the vinegar from here and couldn't help smiling.
"Good afternoon, Utaha-senpai. Don't be jealous, come sit down and have lunch with us too."
"Who's jealous? Fine. Since my junior invited me, this senpai will accept," Utaha rolled her eyes and chose to sit beside Megumi.
She opened her lunch box, and Marin immediately became interested, her eyes lighting up.
Utaha's lunch was more elaborate, and it also looked better.
Tch, tch. No wonder her figure is so good.
Tetsuya thought to himself as he swallowed a carrot.
"Tetsuya, want some?" Utaha picked up a side dish with her chopsticks.
"I do. Thank you, Utaha-senpai," Tetsuya nodded, then shamelessly leaned forward and ate the food directly from Utaha's chopsticks.
"!!!"
Utaha blushed fiercely, quickly pulling her chopsticks back and staring at Tetsuya, who was chewing, with a mix of embarrassment and irritation.
"W-What are you doing?! Why are you eating from my chopsticks?!"
After swallowing, Tetsuya replied, "Because you offered it to me."
"Don't eat directly from my chopsticks!" Utaha snapped shyly. "…Fine, you just wanted an indirect kiss from your senpai, didn't you, Kouhai-kun? You pervert!"
"No, no. Senpai is the one getting an indirect kiss from me. Besides, compared to an indirect kiss, I'd prefer a direct kiss from your lips."
"Y-You!" Utaha's ears turned as red as tomatoes as she glared at her shameless junior. "Tetsuya, since when did you become so lewd and shameless?"
"This isn't shameless—it's honest," Tetsuya replied straightforwardly.
Utaha sighed, trying to calm herself and ease her embarrassment by eating her lunch.
On the other side, Marin and Megumi were stunned.
Marin was dumbfounded, her mouth hanging open in shock. Megumi, however, felt a sense of competitiveness well up inside her. She picked up a piece of shrimp tempura and fed it to Tetsuya.
"Tetsuya-kun, try mine too."
That's her side dish, right?! Utaha complained inwardly.
"Thank you, Megumi."
"How is it?"
"It's good."
That's her side dish, isn't it?!
Tetsuya gave a thumbs-up in praise, making Megumi smile faintly. Her reaction was different from when Marin praised her, which left Marin shocked and wanting to accuse Megumi of favoritism.
Still, Marin also fed Tetsuya. "Tetsuya-kun, try my karaage too!"
"How is it?"
"This is good too. Thank you, Marin."
"Ehehe~"
Marin let out a silly laugh, making Megumi shake her head inwardly.
Such a silly girl.
"…" Watching the three of them, Utaha's lips twitched.
You guys want an indirect kiss from Kouhai-kun too?!
…
The day grew late, and school had already ended.
Tetsuya walked leisurely down a quiet street bathed in orange twilight. At one point, he spotted Yotsuya Miko ahead, gloomy as usual, walking slowly with her head down.
Even from behind, her dark aura was painfully obvious. Just how much was this girl suffering?
"Aah!"
Suddenly, Miko tripped and fell, letting out a cry.
Tetsuya immediately rushed over and held out his hand. "Are you okay?"
"A-Ah… I tripped," she replied, lowering her head as usual.
Seeing the hand suddenly extended toward her, Miko was startled and instinctively looked up to see who it belonged to. When she saw Tetsuya's face, she was surprised, wasn't this one of her classmates at her new school?
Tetsuya's appearance wasn't something she could easily forget.
"T-Thank you…" Miko took his hand and tried to stand, but her expression suddenly changed, as if she had seen a ghost.
No, she really was seeing a ghost.
Evil spirits were ghosts, right?
Seeing her expression, Tetsuya frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I-It's nothing. It's just that my ankle… um, it's twisted."
"Did you see something?" Tetsuya naturally didn't believe it. She must have fallen because she suddenly saw an evil spirit in front of her, after all, she had almost stood up just now, so it clearly wasn't a sprained ankle.
She just saw another evil spirit, didn't she? Where was it? Behind me…?
Tetsuya turned around. He couldn't see any evil spirit, but he narrowed his eyes and stared sharply in that direction. He couldn't see it or even sense it, yet his intuition told him that the evil spirit was right behind him.
He stretched out his hand, grabbed at the air level with his head, and flung his arm to the side.
Maybe he was doing something foolish, or even completely useless. But in Miko's eyes, it was entirely different.
She saw the man suddenly ask a startling question, turn around, and grab the head of a terrifying evil spirit, one that only she could see!
Then, as if it were nothing at all, the man "wiped away" the evil spirit with a single flick of his arm!
Of course, "wiped away" didn't mean erasing its existence. To Miko, it looked more like brushing away dust or smoke with a wave of his hand, but that was more than enough to shock her!
Tetsuya turned back around and once again extended his hand, smiling faintly.
"Are you okay now?"