Chapter 568

"No... Miyuki, why on earth are you with Matsuda... and since when...?"

Tetsuya clutched his head like a man on the verge of losing his mind.

Watching him, Miyuki replied.

"We got a lot closer after he saved me on the subway the other day."

"You mean that groper incident? But you had already..."

"I had it handled beforehand, sure, but just having a familiar face there was a huge comfort. And after talking to him, I realized he's a good person."

"A good person bullies his classmates?"

Honestly, there was no arguing with that.

Matsuda did have a history of bullying students in their class, including Tetsuya—even if it was only mild harassment.

At least he hadn't resorted to physical violence.

Of course, if he had, she wouldn't have fallen for him in the first place.

"Miyuki, what are you thinking? Why him, of all people... This is just a joke, right...?"

Miyuki's eyebrow twitched at Tetsuya's barrage of questions.

She could understand him asking what she was thinking.

But asking why it had to be Matsuda "of all people" sparked a flare of anger.

And calling it a joke made annoyance surge right through her.

Given what Tetsuya had suffered, and how she used to look at Matsuda like a mortal enemy, his reaction made sense.

Still, it felt like he was looking down on Matsuda, and she didn't like that at all.

I guess this is why people say you always side with your own.

Regardless, Matsuda had personally handled the mess she started... well, strictly speaking, she hadn't started it, but he had taken care of the situation with Samoyama, who had blown things out of proportion.

If so, it was only right that she tie up the loose ends with Tetsuya herself.

To ensure the two of them didn't clash.

"I told you, I'm not joking. Since things turned out this way, we shouldn't call each other or hang out alone anymore. I'm sorry."

"Miyuki...!"

"We can still chat sometimes. On the app."

"No, that's..."

"Anyway, enjoy your meal and head home. I have to make a call..."

Cutting Tetsuya off, Miyuki pointed at her Cell Phone and walked down the street without waiting for his reply.

She had gone entirely out of character to do this much; Matsuda had better treat her well.

But thinking it over, she realized her actions might cause trouble.

Tetsuya might bring her up to Matsuda.

Given his current state, it was highly likely.

'Is it going to happen again...?'

It felt like just yesterday she'd resolved to stay out of things. What if her meddling ruined everything again?

Anxiety welled up inside her, hitting harder since she'd already messed things up once before.

But it wasn't like she could tell two classmates to stay away from each other...

"Haa..."

Letting out a sigh heavy enough for an old woman, Miyuki slowed her pace.

Lost in thought, she ended up wandering out of her neighborhood, her feet carrying her straight toward Matsuda's house.

She really must like him.

To do this unconsciously.

Turning around, Miyuki stopped by the Convenience Store for no real reason, just to kill time.

She was afraid of running into Tetsuya.

Honestly, it was a little funny. She hadn't done anything wrong, yet she felt uncomfortable facing him.

She should have been confident about it, but she just wasn't that type of person.

Just openly telling Tetsuya that she was seeing Matsuda had been an achievement in itself.

Grabbing a drink and paying for it, Miyuki stepped out of the Convenience Store, squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them again to stare at the can.

Without thinking, she had grabbed a horribly unpalatable Grass-Flavored Drink.

Nothing was going her way. Not a single thing.

Wearing a thoroughly deflated expression, Miyuki called the person she wanted to see the most right now.

That person was, of course, Matsuda.

"Hello."

His deep voice came through the Cell Phone before it could even ring twice.

Miyuki popped the tab on her Grass-Flavored Drink, swallowed a mouthful, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Watching TV."

"Anything good on?"

"Not really."

"Why do you sound so blunt?"

"Are you picking a fight?"

"Jeez..."

He was acting like that without even knowing what she had just done.

It felt unfair. Of course, Matsuda had no way of knowing, but he still seemed so infuriatingly aloof.

"Jeez? Are you about to curse at me?"

"No, I wasn't."

"Your mouth has gotten pretty foul."

"Me?"

"You."

"Has not."

"Has too."

"Stop being so childish, will you?"

"You too."

They sounded exactly like elementary schoolers.

But it was still fun. In truth, any conversation with the person you liked was bound to be wonderful.

After sharing some more idle chatter with Matsuda, Miyuki headed home. Finding Midori looking puzzled, she asked, "Why the face?"

"Tetsuya just left."

"Without eating?"

"Yeah. He said something suddenly came up and headed out. Weren't you two going to hang out?"

"No, we weren't."

"Really? Did something happen at home? Did he say anything else to you?"

"Um... no, he didn't."

Given the shocking news he had heard today, he must have headed back right away.

She could have been honest with her mother, but she believed relationship issues were best kept strictly between the people involved.

"I'm worried about him. You should check in on him later."

"Okay."

Giving a less-than-honest answer, Miyuki went upstairs and lay down on her bed.

She wished the weekend would hurry up and arrive. Of course, she planned to visit Matsuda's house and do a few things before then anyway.

"What happened to your place...?"

Miyuki's face scrunched up as she took in the snack bags scattered all over the tatami floor.

Lying on his side and propping his head up with an arm, Matsuda replied casually.

"I ate."

"Who replaces a meal with snacks...?"

"I do, sometimes. I was going to clean up, but you showed up unannounced."

Matsuda wasn't usually this messy.

If anything, he leaned toward being a neat freak.

So what on earth was this disaster? It was unbelievable.

As Miyuki thought this, she noticed an unfamiliar scent lingering in the room.

It was a faint, slightly annoying odor she wouldn't have caught if she hadn't been paying attention.

"You do this sometimes? Stop lying. You had a guest, didn't you?"

"How did you know?"

"It's obvious just by looking. Who was it?"

"Takashi."

"Takashi? Watanabe Takashi?"

"Yeah."

In the past, Watanabe Takashi had dropped out of the Academy after the Superi circle fell apart.

He was supposed to help out with his father's business, but as the timeline shifted, that had never happened.

She didn't like it. She wanted to spend sweet time alone with Matsuda, and it felt like there were far too many interruptions.

Still, Watanabe Takashi had his own sense of loyalty and wasn't the type to harm Matsuda, so she figured it was fine if they hung out a little.

Under the condition, of course, that he didn't try to interfere with her and Matsuda's relationship, and that he never spoke to her.

It wasn't that she hated him, but his behavior was so vulgar she didn't want to associate with him.

Letting him meet Matsuda occasionally was something she could tolerate.

"If he's going to visit someone else's house, he could at least clean up after himself before leaving...!"

"He just came by to say goodbye about an hour ago. I didn't want to make him work, so I told him to just leave it."

"Huh...? Say goodbye?"

"He says he's going to help with his dad's business. He's moving down to the countryside."

At those words, Miyuki snapped her head around.

An unhideable look of delight bloomed across her face.

He was leaving all on his own. It seemed the grand premise of fate hadn't changed after all.

She had gained a newfound respect for Watanabe Takashi.

"Really? You must be sad."

"That doesn't sound very comforting. And why are you turning your head away?"

"Because it's dirty over here too, obviously."

Brushing off his question, Miyuki started picking up the trash right in front of her.

Seeing this, Matsuda got up from his mattress and helped Miyuki clean up the pigsty of a living room.

Once it was spotless, Miyuki scanned the living room with a satisfied expression and said, "Try to keep your room clean."

"Stop nagging."

"I'm saying this for your own good, Matsuda-kun. Why do you always take it the wrong way?"

"You sound like a mom. Got it."

"Good. Now let's study."

"I don't want to."

"Why?"

"I told you clearly earlier, didn't I? If you're going to make me study, you can just go rest at home."

"I thought you were just saying that."

"I meant it. Let's just watch TV."

"Then we watch for exactly two hours, and we study after that."

A scoff slipped past Matsuda's lips.

He seemed dumbfounded by her constant pestering to study every single time she came over.

Without replying, Matsuda turned his eyes back to the TV.

Miyuki plopped down right next to him without asking for permission. She debated whether or not to lie down before deciding to just stay sitting.

Because she had a feeling Matsuda might pounce on her if she did.

Of course, that wouldn't be a bad scenario, but she wanted their first time to at least be somewhere else.

For instance, at the Lodging during a trip to the beach, right as the mood naturally ripened—that would be perfect.

Just imagining it was enough to make her flush.

Did Matsuda know she felt this way?

Even if he did, she hoped he could hold it in just a little until the weekend.

Nudge.

Lost in her thoughts, Miyuki felt a sudden dull nudge against the small of her back. Startled, she whipped around.

"Wh-what are you doing...?"

"What."

He was playing dumb, but that was definitely his doing just now.

Was he messing with her?

She didn't know. But one thing was certain: ever since their kiss at the playground, his desires had been growing with time, just like hers.

She had a feeling they were going to spend the whole weekend being intimately tangled up together. Should they just go alone?

Going with her family and then slipping away didn't seem like a bad idea either...

But she was afraid of ruining things if she actively tried to set something up.

She would just have to figure it out when she got there.