"Ah, Sawamura-kun knows me?"
A gentle voice rang out. Standing by the blackboard, Megumi Kato tilted her head slightly, her small face showing a hint of puzzlement:
"But what do you mean by 'Yukinoshita is responsible for me'? Yukinoshita... you mean Yukino Yukinoshita, right?"
There was only one person with the surname Yukinoshita in all of Toyogasaki High School, so Megumi naturally wouldn't mistake her.
But why would Eriri Spencer Sawamura say that Yukino Yukinoshita, who had just transferred in, was responsible for her?
Hearing Megumi's question, Eriri first gaped, then suddenly clutched her head and crouched down by the door in agony:
"Ahh, what am I even doing?!"
Somehow getting dragged into the love triangle between Luo Shu and Utaha, then accidentally revealing things to Megumi Kato—had she forgotten to check the almanack before leaving home today? How unlucky could she be?!
Meanwhile, Megumi, watching Eriri, set down the blackboard eraser and asked with mild curiosity:
"Sawamura-kun, are you in some kind of trouble?"
Hearing this, Eriri looked up at Megumi and sighed weakly:
"I really... don't even know where to begin..."
After catching her breath, Eriri asked Megumi: "By the way, why are you here?"
"Me?" Megumi Kato blinked in surprise, then calmly pointed at the armless Venus statue in the centre of the art room:
"Our class has art this afternoon, and I happened to draw cleaning duty today, so I came to tidy up at lunchtime. Is that strange?"
"Not strange, but it really screwed me over." Eriri tugged at her hair, making it even messier: "After running out, I instinctively came to the art room. I really am..."
It wasn't that Eriri had never been the centre of classmates' gossip before, but becoming the topic because of some cheesy romantic drama was a first.
This unprecedented experience had completely broken her defences, so she'd naturally fled to the most familiar place in the building - the art room - to take shelter.
Megumi seemed slightly surprised by this:
'Did I cause trouble for Sawamura-kun~?'
"No, I was just venting. You've got nothing to do with this."
Eriri naturally couldn't respond to that, since the matter had nothing to do with Megumi Kato at all:
"...I just can't accept reality right now."
"Ah, I see."
Upon hearing this, Megumi suddenly understood. She turned towards the teacher's desk, where her bag was placed, took out several sweets from it, and walked over to Eriri:
"Would you like some candy?"
Seeing this, Eriri blinked in surprise but didn't refuse.
Perhaps because she knew this woman would eventually become Luo Shu's Familia just like her, she didn't feel particularly guarded against Megumi.
"Thanks, you're oddly nice." Eriri accepted the candy, ate one, then asked curiously: "But why give me sweets?"
"I heard classmates mention that eating something sweet can help with heartbreak."
Megumi replied in her gentle voice. Then, noticing Eriri's suddenly frozen expression, she paused:
"Did I say something wrong?"
At this point, Eriri looked on the verge of tears:
"How do even you know about that stupid incident?"
"Huh?" Megumi tilted her head slightly before explaining: "Because all the girls and boys in class were talking about it this morning... so I heard some things."
"Everyone was talking?" Eriri's voice immediately rose several pitches as she clutched her head in agony: "My reputation!! How did it get ruined like this?!"
"Ah?"
Hearing this, Megumi felt somewhat awkward. She understood what Eriri meant - that the morning's campus-wide news wasn't what everyone thought it was.
But there wasn't much she could do about such things.
Thus, Megumi could only offer comfort:
"If it's a misunderstanding, maybe explaining more times, taking it slowly, might help things improve?"
"...I guess that's all I can do." Eriri had to admit this made sense.
At this point, even if she had a hundred mouths, explanations would be difficult. She could only let the matter gradually fade from attention before clarifying further.
After all, she and Luo Shu had no special relationship - just Familia and god, oh wait, that was something she couldn't mention. The closest analogy would be that of a servant and a master...
"Wait, servant and master sounds even more misleading!!!"
Watching Eriri scream while pulling at her hair, Megumi's expression nearly cracked.
'Is Sawamura-kun perhaps a bit too excitable?'
'But come to think of it, what's this about servant and master?'
'Is that the relationship between Sawamura-kun and third-year Senior Luo?'
Even as a high schooler herself, Megumi suddenly found high schoolers incomprehensible.
"Ah!! Why did things turn out like this?!!"
Eriri violently unwrapped several more candies, stuffing them into her mouth and crunching loudly.
Just then, the classroom door on the opposite side slid open, and a bespectacled boy entered while rubbing his chin:
"Huh? Why do I hear what sounds like Eriri's voice in the art room? Am I imagining things?"
"Eek!!"
Hearing this voice, Eriri froze instantly.
Meanwhile, Megumi responded gently:
"It's not your imagination, Aki-kun."
Tomoya Aki turned towards the voice, looked at Megumi, then blinked in confusion:
"Um... who are you again?"... As he finished speaking, he finally spotted Eriri crouching by the classroom door from across the room and exclaimed in surprise:
"Eh? Eriri, you're actually here!!"
Witnessing this reaction, Megumi Kato muttered under her breath as usual: "My my, it seems I've been overlooked again."
Eriri crunched noisily on her candy, shooting Tomoya Aki an irritated glance:
"What, can't I be here? What gives a mere childhood friend the right to say that?"
Though reluctant to admit it, because their families lived close by and they attended the same school growing up, Tomoya Aki really did qualify as her childhood friend.
"No... I'm just surprised you'd come to the art room at this time..."
Tomoya scratched his head before suddenly realising:
"Ah, right, having just had your boyfriend stolen by a second-year senior, you would be the type to hide away and cry."
"Seems like adding fuel to the fire," Megumi quietly remarked from the sidelines, as if she weren't even there.
Hearing this, Eriri's face darkened as murderous impulses surged within her:
"Who says I'm the type to hide and cry? And since when did Utaha Kasumigaoka steal my boyfriend?"
"Her? As if she could?! Hmph!!"
Silence fell after her outburst, but before two seconds passed, a knocking sound came from the door.
Then Utaha Kasumigaoka's languid voice rang out:
"Pardon the intrusion, my unafraid Sawamura-kun~ I've brought your rumoured boyfriend along~~"
Eriri's expression instantly froze.