He paused and turned around.
Yamada Ryo was hurrying up from behind, her bass case slung over her back.
Kei stood there for a few seconds. Once Ryo caught up to him with a light jog, he started walking again.
"Heading to the station?" he asked, not looking at her as he resumed his pace.
She nodded. "Yeah, we're going the same way, right?"
They now shared the same train station ever since he moved.
Back when they lived farther apart, their routes home didn't line up.
Kei nodded slightly. "Yeah, same direction."
As they turned a corner, a chilly gust of wind suddenly reminded Kei of the jacket he'd lent to Ryo.
"Speaking of which… Didn't you say on LINE you'd return my jacket?" he brought it up.
"Ah—totally forgot." Ryo blinked, then replied, "I meant to put it in my bag, but something came up and I forgot again."
Kei didn't mind—it wasn't his only jacket so whenever she returned it didn't matter much.
He simply nodded it off.
With the topic opened, Ryo glanced over at him as they walked and said:
"But since we're talking about LINE—suki-san, you totally ditched me back there and left me to face Nijika alone. That was way too selfish."
Her tone held a trace of complaint, though mostly stayed its usual flat, calm cadence.
"You've got some nerve," Kei sighed, clearly annoyed. "You totally brought that on yourself."
Ryo averted her gaze briefly, then looked back with an almost serious expression.
"Ah… But suki-san, if you hadn't brought it up again when we got to STARRY…"
"Brought up what? The part where you grabbed my wrist and ran, stole glances at me, declared your ownership, and got it all turned into a video edit?" Kei shot her a look as he walked.
"..."
She was quiet for a moment.
A faint blush spread across her usually emotionless face.
After a few seconds, she muttered, "Suki-san, let's not talk about it."
Her voice was still calm, a bit lazy as always, but if you listened closely, there was a tiny quiver in it—not something you'd catch unless you paid attention.
"Fine, fine... But weren't you the one who brought it up first?" Kei replied, half helpless.
"And let's not forget—you deliberately said stuff to make Kita misunderstand, and at the station you claimed to be my girlfriend..."
He stopped walking for a second, sighed, then raised a hand and lightly chopped Ryo's forehead.
"Don't joke around like that anymore."
Surprised, Ryo blinked.
It didn't hurt at all, but she still played along, putting both hands on her forehead.
Blinking again, she replied, "Aw, too bad. I actually thought it was kind of fun…"
"Well, it's not okay. You need to understand boundaries. Joking like that—what are you trying to do? Flirt with me? You've gotta start being a little more aware…"
Kei started lecturing, but Ryo cut him off mid-sentence.
Brushing her bangs aside, she spoke, "Oh… So that kind of joke is out. What about other kinds?"
"..."
Kei paused.
Then sighed deeply, giving up.
The lecture tone faded from his voice, replaced by sheer resignation.
"Whatever. As long as you're happy, Ryo-san."
"Got it, suki-san," Ryo said without hesitation.
"..."
"You're unbelievable..."
…
As for the awkward situation earlier, Ryo managed to deflect Nijika's suspicions by firmly insisting, "There's really nothing going on."
Nijika still looked doubtful, but didn't press further.
She could be a little selfish, sure, but she also knew pushing too hard could backfire.
She wasn't ready to lay everything out in the open yet.
Of course, Ryo had no idea about that.
Neither did Aoki.
The next day was the weekend. Kei spent all of Saturday reading at home and went to a bookstore on Sunday.
The weekend passed uneventfully.
Before he knew it, a new week had begun.
Usually, you'd expect students to be dragging their feet after the weekend, but that Monday morning, Kei noticed something odd, his classmates seemed unusually energized.
Not only had most of them arrived much earlier than usual, but their faces were practically glowing with excitement.
"…What's going on? Did Yuusha cast some kind of 'Smiling World' spell?" Kei asked the boy in front of him, Hikigaya, still confused.
"What the hell is 'Smiling World'..." Hikigaya rolled his eyes. "You seriously don't know? Hiratsuka-sensei mentioned it before—today we're voting on where to go for the school trip."
Kei thought for a second.
He had no memory of that announcement.
He must've been absent when Hiratsuka said it.
Not that it really mattered. A surprise vote was fine, too.
These things usually didn't hinge on just one person's vote anyway, and Kei didn't particularly care where they ended up going for the trip.
So, he decided he'd just vote on a whim.
"Oh, got it. Thanks," Kei nodded, then went back to his book.
"…Am I your class memo now?" Hikigaya muttered before turning around again.
The class buzzed with chatter until the homeroom bell rang.
At just past 8 AM, Hiratsuka Shizuka walked in carrying a stack of papers.
"Quiet!"
The moment she entered, her voice boomed across the room. Instant silence.
Kei, who'd been absorbed in his book, flinched and shot her a mildly annoyed glare.
She didn't notice.
He looked back down, and Hiratsuka began speaking.
"Starting Thursday, we'll begin our week-long school trip. Feel free to get excited."
"As I mentioned before, today we'll vote on our destination. You can choose from the locations listed in the school trip guide—Sapporo, Hakodate, and so on."
"But Paris is a no-go. Overseas trips are only for third-years. So Paris, Hawaii—don't even think about it."
She gave a quick summary, then clapped her hands to signal students could begin discussing.
Excitement erupted instantly. The class became a lively mess.
Kei, trying to read his French copy of The Little Prince, found it hard to concentrate amid the noise.
He forced himself to go over vocabulary in his head, word by word.
Then Hikigaya turned around and interrupted him again.
"Aoki, you got a place you wanna go?"
Kei, who had barely heard a word of what had just been said, looked up blankly and answered, "Paris, I guess."
…
In the end, Kei voted for Hakodate.
Apparently, that wasn't the popular choice.
After the class president tallied the votes, the winner was Kyoto.
Kei had been there once before—during a PVC original project event.
But even then, he hadn't done much sightseeing.
The only real highlight was a trip to the aquarium.
Still, Kyoto wasn't a bad place.
Kei glanced at The Little Prince in his hand and thought, 'Yeah... Kyoto's not bad.'
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