Chapter 38: Futaba and Hitomi

“But I’m also You-kun’s fiancée, aren’t I? Why won’t You-kun look at me?”

You paused, then laughed.

“Futaba, you weren’t looking at me, so how do you know I wasn’t looking at you?”

Futaba’s smile froze for a moment before returning to normal.

You didn’t give her time to react, continuing in a casual tone.

“So you admit you were watching me just now?”

The air was silent for two seconds.

Mai stood nearby, eyes wide, mouth slightly open.

She looked at You, then at Futaba, her mind churning a few times before she processed what You had said.

Then she let out a snicker.

“That’s right, Futaba-nee. If you weren’t looking at You-kun, how would you know he wasn’t looking at you?”

Her voice was sweet, her tone innocent.

But those big eyes clearly held a look of “Finally it’s my turn to watch your drama.”

The smile on Futaba’s face froze.

“Divine Child—”

Her voice was still that light, airy tone, but much slower than usual.

“You’re being sophistical.”

You laughed.

“Then go ahead and refute me.”

“You-kun, you’re amazing.”

Mai’s voice drifted over from the side, sweet, with an air of enjoying the spectacle.

“Futaba-nee is stumped.”

Futaba opened her mouth, then closed it.

She realized she couldn’t refute it.

She fanned herself twice, her smile becoming natural again, her tone teasing.

“That’s right, You-kun. I was watching you just now. And—I’m actually quite jealous~”

This threw You off.

If it were just him and Futaba, he could press the advantage, attack again, and leave that stubborn troll girl Tsukuyomi Futaba with nowhere to run.

But Mai was standing to his right.

Hearing Futaba’s blunt words, he felt the atmosphere on his right side growing increasingly dangerous.

And he swore, this time it was definitely not his imagination!

If he continued pressing the attack like this, a hellish scene (shuraba) was bound to erupt.

That would be terrible.

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead as he tried to change the subject.

“Haha, the weather is really nice today.”

***

Hearing this, Futaba breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Good, good, I got through that wave. But he’s getting harder to handle. If it hadn’t been for Mai, I would’ve capsized just now. Tsukuyomi Futaba, how did you become like this? Weren’t you supposed to always be the unflappable Futaba? How disgraceful.’

As for Mai, hearing You’s words, the dangerous aura around her dissipated considerably.

She moved closer to You and took his arm again, holding it even tighter than before.

“You-kun, let’s go. There are still plenty of shops ahead we haven’t visited.”

Her voice was sweeter than before, but You felt there was a hint of hidden threat in it.

Futaba watched Mai holding You’s arm, watched the smile on her face.

That indescribable feeling welled up in her heart again.

She hated this feeling.

Hated that she was starting to get involved, no longer in complete control.

She glanced at You’s back.

He was being pulled forward by Mai, his profile clearly lit by the sunlight, still wearing that same smile.

She looked away and quickened her pace to catch up.

The three of them continued walking.

Mai walked on the right, holding You’s arm, her steps as light as if she were about to skip.

Futaba walked on the left, a person’s distance away, her parasol resting on her shoulder, its shadow covering most of her face, making her expression unreadable.

You was sandwiched between the two, feeling grateful.

‘Good, good, I didn’t mess it up this time.’

He felt he had won this round.

Futaba had directly admitted that statement, making it harder for her to dodge his probing next time.

Plus, her expression had just slipped—that was a good sign.

He glanced at Futaba.

She was walking with her head down, the parasol’s shadow covering most of her face.

He couldn’t see her expression.

You looked away.

‘Can’t rush. This step today is enough. For now, I need to placate little Mai first. Ah, I was too naive. Thinking back, if I hadn’t invited Futaba in the first place, this would have been just a date between Mai and me. No wonder Mai got angry. I’m such a stupid man.’

The three walked along the street, none of them speaking anymore.

The sun shone from overhead, shortening their shadows underfoot.

The distant mountains turned a deep blue-green in the afternoon light, and at the border with the sky’s pale blue, there was a faint white mist.

***

When You, Futaba, and the others (including Chihaya) returned to the inn, the sun had already begun to tilt westward.

Chihaya was sitting on the corridor, a laptop on the low table in front of her, a document on the screen.

She was typing with her head down when she heard footsteps and looked up.

“Back?”

Her gaze swept over the three of them.

Mai was holding You’s arm, beaming, eyes sparkling.

Futaba walked behind, wearing that standard, flawless smile.

You walked in the middle, his expression a bit ambiguous—hard to tell if it was happiness or guilt.

Chihaya’s gaze lingered on Futaba for an extra second.

She couldn’t see anything.

Then she looked at Mai.

Mai’s smile was happy, genuinely happy.

Her eyes curved into crescent moons, and the corners of her mouth hadn’t dropped since she entered.

Her little sister had never been good at pretending.

Chihaya had a good idea.

Whatever happened on the road, the result was that Mai was satisfied.

That was enough.

“How was the shopping?” she asked.

“Super fun!”

Mai let go of You’s arm and trotted over to sit beside Chihaya.

“You-kun bought me a wind chime. It’s light blue with clouds painted on it, super pretty.”

She took the wind chime out of the bag and held it up to Chihaya.

The glass refracted tiny specks of light under the lamp.

Chihaya glanced at it and smiled.

“It looks nice. The color suits you, Mai.”

“Right!”

Mai carefully put the wind chime back in the bag and hugged it like a treasure.

Chihaya’s gaze shifted to You.

“And you?”

“Me?”

You paused.

“I had a pretty good time too.”

Chihaya looked at him for two seconds, then didn’t ask further.

Her gaze moved to Futaba.

“And Futaba?”

“I had a great time too.”

Futaba smiled, her voice light and airy.

“Hakone’s streets are quite interesting.”

Chihaya nodded and didn’t press further.

Hitomi sat on the other side of the corridor, holding a cup of tea, her gaze fixed on the hydrangeas in the courtyard.

You walked over and sat down beside her.

“Did you sleep well?”

Hitomi’s fingers twitched.

She didn’t turn her head, her eyes still on the cluster of blue flowers.

“Mm. Slept a bit, much better.”

Her voice was very soft.

You noticed she wasn’t looking at him.

From the moment he sat down until now, her gaze hadn’t shifted his way at all.

It was as if she was deliberately avoiding him.

You thought about it but couldn’t figure it out.

Just this morning, this gentle older sister had given him a nice view on purpose.

Now in the evening, she wouldn’t even look at him.

Weird.

Maybe she was still half-asleep.

Yeah, that must be it.

“What do you want to eat tonight?” he asked.