"Tsurumi, are you... Bunta's girlfriend?"

It was too strange.

It was too awkward.

It was too inexplicable.

Didn't everyone row the boat to make friends?

Why would he ask such a logically unreasonable question?

After accompanying Masaharu Ninō for dinner,

They went to the lake to meet up with Marui and Yukimura.

The two of them who went to buy snacks were already sitting on a boat docked at the shore and chatting for a long time.

When he saw the boy and girl who were late, he waved at them and greeted them.

Even though there was quite a distance between them,

Seiichi Yukimura's gentle smile was almost shining.

As a dog, Lilo Tsurumi felt dizzy just by looking at him for a second or two.

Bunta Marui excitedly suggested that they split into two teams for the boat race.

The girl was also very interested in competitive activities.

But when she glanced at the smiling Masaharu Ninō, she felt that it would probably be terrible to be in a team with him.

He didn't look like the type who would seriously participate in the game.

Fortunately, the red-haired boy immediately decided on the team members.

He strongly expressed that he wanted to be in a team with Masaharu Ninō, but the latter only joked with him and didn't immediately respond to his invitation. The purple-haired boy turned his head.

He smiled at Lilo Tsurumi and said, "In that case,

Tsurumi Santoshi, please advise us next? "

It could be said that the results of the grouping were finalized.

Lilo Tsurumi had been in the Sports Association for fifteen years.

Most of the friends around her were above average in terms of looks.

Among them, there were Keigo Atobe, Kawase Ryota, and Momoi Mayuzumi.

Their appearances were especially good in Japan, and even her own brother looked very pleasing to the eye... Logically speaking, she should be very immune to good-looking faces.

But Seiichi Yukimura smiled at her.

Her heart became soft.

How could there be such a good-looking person in the world?

Tsurumi felt that as she rowed with him, the top of her head seemed to be evaporating, emitting pink gas.

Until Seiichi Yukimura smiled.

He asked her in a very gentle voice, "Tsurumi, are you … Are you Fumita's girlfriend?"

The black-haired girl was stunned by the question.

She met the young kite's purple eyes.

For the first time since they met, he did not dodge. Instead, he took the full brunt of the beauty attack head-on.

Then, he stammered a little when he clarified, "No.

That's not it.

You're wrong, you're wrong. "

"Yes." The young man's tone was still gentle. "I know. I was just joking."

"Eh?

Are you kidding me? "

"Yes, isn't it funny? Haha."

"Maybe I didn't get the humor, hehehe." She stuck out her tongue.

Seiichi Yukimura's low chuckle was as charming as his appearance. The end of his chuckle was like a feather, gently scratching the hearts of those who heard it, giving them a fascinating aftertaste.

Lilo Tsurumi realized that he was the same as Keigo Atobe. He was the kind of outstanding person who emitted dazzling light in his most daily words and actions.

…

In the end, before the sky turned dark, the four of them said goodbye to each other.

Bunta Marui sent Lilo Tsurumi to the station entrance in a very manly manner. Then, he grinned and waved goodbye to her.

They played to their heart's content for an entire day. Although the red-haired boy organized this event to introduce Seiichi Yukimura to the girl, in the end, the two of them did not exchange contact information.

Lilo Tsurumi felt that she would not have the chance to interact with the god-like boy in the future.

On the other hand, Masaharu Ninō forced the phone into the girl's hand and pressed on her shoulder to let her enter her email address.

Lilo Tsurumi was very depressed. This pale boy had a sloppy smile on his face. He beat her again and again in the rowing competition. After entering all the letters, she angrily glared at him.

He took back the phone and looked at the screen. He smiled at the unhappy girl.

Before Tsuru could respond, Marui Bunta snorted heavily from the side. "Hmph!"

…???

Then all of her questions were answered. On the way back, the red-haired boy asked her: "Don't you like our head?"

After a few exchanges, Lilo Tsurumi finally understood the crux of the matter. She incredulously raised her voice: "Are you trying to matchmake us two???"

Bunta Marui muttered: "If he still treats the tennis head as his girlfriend after he enters school, my three years of high school will be a nightmare."

"That doesn't mean your head will like me, right?" She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"But aren't you the most beautiful girl in the universe who is loved by everyone?"

"… Are you serious?"

The boy sighed softly: "Anyway, the plan has failed. Don't worry about it so much." When he said this, he looked quite worried.

Lilo Tsurumi felt a bit speechless. She resisted the desire to continue attacking the dispirited boy and changed the topic: "Shinura-kun asked me if I was your girlfriend."

"Ah?" Bunta Marui was very calm, "Don't think too much about it. He was just teasing you."

Lilo Tsurumi: "… So what kind of person are you trying to introduce to me as a boyfriend?"

Hearing this, the boy's eyelids twitched and he immediately excitedly grabbed her hand: "You actually saw through his nature?!

That's amazing!!! "

Lilo Tsurumi: "…"

As for how many times she was played by a bad man who liked to play with butterfly knives in Ikebukuro to develop such a keen sense of danger, it was a very long story.

So the girl just replied: "When your head smiled at me, the ahoge on the top of my head instantly stood up and issued a 'beep beep beep' alarm."

In the end, she received the red-haired boy's sparkling eyes of worship.

Later, it was quite the opposite of a very fulfilling day of sightseeing in Kanagawa. Lilo Tsurumi quickly experienced the joy of life as a dry girl. She stayed at home addicted to games and relied on takeout for three meals. The furthest she went out was to throw the garbage ten meters outside of her house.

During this time, People From Mukugaku kept persistently asking her to come out to play, but the girl's spirit was already eroded by the home heating and perfect takeout service. She really didn't want to wear so much and jump around outside, so she quite decisively rejected the other party.

Hyuga · current representative · Yue Ren immediately strongly condemned her: [If you stay at home any longer, you'll become a moldy mushroom!]

Lilo Tsurumi didn't care at all and replied: [If I stay at home for three days, I won't become moldy.]

And the fourth day of staying at home was a lively Christmas Eve.

In fact, when she went out last time, she had already seen a small Christmas tree in the window of some shops. There were many red and green flowers and golden bells hanging on it; there were elk and Santa Claus stickers on the glass; even the carpet was replaced with a green background with red words.

The festive atmosphere had already been quietly spread out from the subtle details.

Lilo Tsurumi's phone had been ringing non-stop since morning.

There were congratulatory emails from good friends, and also from people who weren't so familiar with her. It was worth mentioning that Masaharu Ninō, who forcefully asked for her email address last time, hadn't sent an email yet.

Maybe it was just a spur of the moment and he immediately threw it to the back of his mind?

Perhaps it was just a prank and he didn't even save it.

She thought back to the time when they were eating at the restaurant. The young man with the braid had a fake smile on his face and used a flirtatious tone to say some weird things.

That nonchalant attitude, as if he had already seen through her completely, revealed a sense of superiority and contempt … Of course, it was possible that she had misinterpreted the other party.

After all, she was someone who was described by her friend as' a match made in heaven for Atobe in terms of self-esteem '.

=

Lilo Tsurumi initially didn't think she was the self-respecting type until People From Mukugaku mercilessly shattered her fantasy.

"If that's what you think …" The man's lips twitched. "Why did you go against Atobe so much in the first place?"

Almost instantly, the girl came up with a series of rebuttals in her mind. They were all negative things about Atobe Keigo, but the boy blocked her mouth with a simple sentence.

"He didn't do anything to you," he said.

Lilo Tsurumi had no choice but to helplessly accept the fact that she was a 'prideful' person.

"Since kindergarten, you've been stepping on all the boys your age, and even now, you still occasionally exude a dangerous aura. You believe that violence is the fastest way to solve problems, and you've used your fists to threaten me 342 times … Is your perception of yourself 'humble and peaceful'?" Yuji Ninazhi cut in.

Lilo Tsurumi thought, … Whatever you guys say, I'm going to stick this setting to my head and never pull it down.

Asking this question with the word "A" made it seem as if if she denied it, she would immediately be met with a bunch of blablablabla preaching.

If you think you're so good at joking, don't make it your second nature.

… In any case, no matter what the truth was, she had a bad compatibility with this Masaharu Ninō guy with the mole on his lips.

It was worse than Keigo Atobe.

Keigo Atobe …

The girl lay on the bed, her eyes staring at the window. The bright sunlight that seeped through the gap between the dark curtains. She gripped the mattress that had wrinkled from the constant tossing and turning.

In a few more hours, the sky would be dark.

Her eyes moved to the phone that she had tossed to the side. Coincidentally, when her eyes landed on it, the screen lit up.

It was an email from People From Mukugaku.

She clicked it open, and when the content popped up, her heart skipped a beat.