I Went Out With a Losing Heroine, But Before I knew It, My Childhood Friend, Who’s Supposed to be Th

“Good morning, Akimi.”

　Yō kept his composure as much as possible and greeted Marin as if to show that he had nothing to be ashamed of.

　Then Marin, who was spacing out, came back to her senses and hurriedly bowed her head.

“G-good morning, Hazakura-kun, Nemoto-san.”

“Good morning, Akimi-san.”

　Kasumi returned the greeting to Marin, but Marin couldn’t help but stare at Kasumi’s face.

(Just like from what I’ve heard, she’s really close to Hazakura-kun… I can’t underestimate her after all…)

　Marin recalled her conversation with Nagisa last night and made up her mind again.

“It’s unusual to see you on the way to school.”

“Ah… well, a lot has happened…”

“Is there something bothering you?”

　Marin fumbled vaguely as if she was having trouble saying something, and Yō, who approached her, was worried that something might be happening to her.

　However, Marin immediately shook her head.

“No, there’s nothing.”

　The reason why Marin was late for leaving the house was because of the long phone call she had with Nagisa and for another reason.

　But Marin couldn’t say anything about it right away, and she squirmed in embarrassment.

　Seeing this, Kasumi looked up at Yō’s face with a frown, and opened her mouth.

“Yō, don’t take it too slow or we’ll be late, okay?”

“Oh, yeah, I know.”

　After being hurried by Kasumi and remembering that he didn’t have much time to get to school, Yō turned on his heel to head to school.

　However―

“U-umm, Hazakura-kun…!”

　When Marin called out to him, he stopped again and looked at Marin’s face.

　Then again, Marin fidgeted shyly and gave Yō an upward glance with a lot of heat.

　Kasumi had a bad feeling when she saw this, and she immediately opened her mouth to interrupt Marin, but Yō held up his hand to stop Kasumi from speaking.

“What’s wrong?”

　He then tilted his head towards Marin and asked her in a gentle voice.

　Kasumi stared at Yō with an argumentative look in her eyes, but Yō decided that it would not be a good idea to argue with her and swallowed his words.

　Marin, who is currently in a state of excitement, is unaware of the interaction between the two and opens her mouth to Yō in an embarrassed manner.

“Umm, actually I’ve made a lunch box for two people… Would you like to eat on the roof today?”

　It was an implied invitation to eat alone together.

　If Yō made such an approach, Kasumi could not ignore it, and she tried to open her mouth, hoping that this time.

　However, Yō stopped her again.

　In response, Kasumi began to smack Yō, while anxiously looking at Marin.

　As the students were already gathered near the school gate, they were having this exchange and people were saying, “Shuraba!? It’s a Shuraba right!?”, the people around Yō were happily saying this as they witnessed this exchange.

　If it was just Kasumi and Marin, everyone would just start to get worried, but now that there is a mediator which is Yō, they can now just watch the quarrel with a peace of mind.

　And the situation of a man being embarrassed by the enviable situation of being fought over by two beautiful girls was simply interesting and pleasant to watch.

　While gathering their gazes, Yō fended off Kasumi’s hand and opened his mouth to Marin.

“You wanted to talk about something?”

“Ah―yes…!”

　Marin nodded her head happily as Yō immediately understood what she wanted to say.

“That’s right. So don’t give us any strange ideas.”

　After showing Kasumi why Marin wanted to be alone with him, Yō told Kasumi, who was still hitting him.

　However, Marin’s demeanor only added to Kasumi’s anxiety, and she continued to look at Yō with a pensive look.

“Just so you know, you can’t just come to the roof by accident, okay? You already know that we will go to the rooftop at noon, and me and Akimi already know you’re planning to do that.”

“―Wha!?”

　And then, just as Kasumi was starting to look into getting in by an “accident” at noon, Yō made the first move, and a shocked expression appeared on her face.

　Seeing this expression, Yō couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

(I knew it wasn’t a coincidence when she showed up at the diner before…)

“Um…?”

“Ah, my bad. I’m fine with that.”

　As he gazed back into the eyes of the teary-eyed and pensive Kasumi, Marin called out to him, and he turned to her and nodded.

　This made Marin’s face bright and cheerful, while Kasumi’s face was gloomy.

　If there hadn’t been people around, Kasumi would have done everything she could to spoil it, but now she was under the scrutiny of everyone around her, and she knew that if she spoiled it here, it would only make Yō hate her.

　So she had no choice but to be depressed― the students around them who were watching the scene began to wonder what the relationship between the three of them was all about.

　Looking at their surroundings with a sideways glance, Yō began to think.

(Well, Akimi’s probably just asking for advice, but the matter with Kasumi is troubling…)

　When he saw Kasumi’s attitude that she clearly didn’t want Marin and Yō to be together, he was worried that Kasumi’s bad reputation would start to spread.

　Therefore, with a view to discussing it with Haruki as soon as possible, he took the school’s two most beautiful girls and walked into the school building.

(―Huh? Come to think of it, didn’t Nemoto-san… call Hazakura-kun “Yō”…?)