CH 71

“Moouu~…”

As they traveled by a train to their destination, Kasumi sat next to Yō, her cheeks puffed out in a grimace.

“Don’t be so blunt…”

Kasumi’s whole body showed that she was in a bad mood, and Yō warned her with an exasperated sigh.

Then Kasumi looked up at Yō with an argumentative look in her eyes.

“Favoritism.”

That was all Kasumi said, and now she turned her gaze out the window.

Apparently, she had no intention of discussing it.

The reason for Kasumi’s bad mood was that Yō, who had just come between Kasumi and Marin, had taken Marin’s side.

Naturally, Kasumi was not amused that Yō did not take her side, and she was sulking like now.

“It’s because Kasumi-chan was involved, no matter how you look at it. And yet you’re still sulking, you’re sure as annoying as ever.”

Then, Nagisa provoked Kasumi, as if to pour an oil on the fire.

Thanks to this comment, Kasumi’s eyes, which were filled with murderous intent, turned to Nagisa.

“If you’re up for it, then let’s go outside and I’ll take care of you.”

“There’s no way I can get out since the train is still moving, right? You’re also not very good at fighting, are you? Are you really going to cry out to Yō-kū for making you cry again?”

“That fact doesn’t exist.”

“Oh, you’ve forgotten? You were the one who came at me.”

Kasumi and Nagisa began to argue with each other.

Yō had expected Kasumi to get involved with Marin, but he hadn’t expected Kasumi and Nagisa to fight, and his head hurt like hell.

Marin was in a different mood from the Nagisa she knew, looking at the two of them alternately and fidgeting, and it didn’t seem like they were in the mood to hang out.

“You two need to calm down. Or rather, when did you two really start getting along so terribly…? It wasn’t always this bad, was it?”

In Yō’s memory, Kasumi seemed uncomfortable when Nagisa appeared, but when it was just the two of them, they got along surprisingly well.

But now they were so far apart that they could have started a scuffle.

Just what on earth had happened to them without Yō’s knowledge?

“Well, if I had to say, it’s your fault, isn’t it?”

When Yō asked the question, Nagisa replied while holding a plastic bottle of water in her mouth.

In response, Nagisa seemed to be right, as Kasumi turned away from her with a pout.

“Why are you blaming me again…? I clearly didn’t do anything, did I?”

“They say the only person who doesn’t know about their fault is the person himself. Did you know? Ever since that night between you and Kasumi-chan, Kasumi-chan has been calling me night after night.”

“Eh, really?”

With the unexpected information, Yō half-unconsciously turned his gaze to Kasumi.

But Kasumi wasn’t looking at him, she was looking out the window at the scenery outside.

She seemed to be indicating that she did not intend to enter the conversation.

“That’s right. It was good at first, because all she did was just cry to me.”

“At first…?”

“Yes, it was only during the middle that it got bad. What do you think she said to me?”

“No, I don’t know…”

“She started saying it was because I was messing with Yō-kun. I only had a cat-eared character because Yō-kun likes cats.”

“…………”

Hearing Nagisa’s words, Yō turned his gaze to Kasumi again.

And then Kasumi, who should have been gazing at the scenery until just now, closed her eyes with her arms folded.

She seems to have started sleeping.

“―No, you don’t. That attitude, you know it’s your fault, right?”

There was no way she could fall asleep in those few seconds that had passed, and there was a little sweat running down Kasumi’s face, something she never had before.

In addition, her closed eyelids were twitching, and it was obvious to anyone who looked at her that she was pretending to be asleep.

“Not really, it’s not my fault.”

Perhaps deciding that she couldn’t escape, Kasumi opened her eyes and began to insist that it wasn’t her fault.

However―

“Then look me in the eye and say it. Why are you lying to me while blatantly turning away from me?”

Of course, there was no way such words could be understood in this situation.

“…I don’t know.”

“Don’t think you’ll be forgiven if you say you don’t know. If Nagisa is this angry, you must have said something worse than that.”

“Well, she yelled at me and took it out on me pretty badly.”

When Nagisa complained, Yō looked into Kasumi’s eyes again.

Then Kasumi’s eyes wandered, and she finally looked at Marin as if asking for help.

Naturally, Yō and Nagisa were able to follow the movement of her eyes, and they both thought of the same thing.

How could have she asked Marin for help?

However, they didn’t dare to intervene, as they were curious about how Marin would react in this situation.

As for Marin, who had been asked for help―

“For now, just say you’re sorry, okay?”

―With a smile on her face, she gave Kasumi a perfectly honest answer.

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Author’s Afterword:

I’ve been working late the last few nights, so I’m sorry for the lack of updates!