"I was the one who confessed first."
Faced with Shiina Hiyori's trembling question, Shikime Natsu answered without a moment's hesitation, without the slightest attempt to conceal anything — open and direct, just like that.
The instant those words reached her ears.
The smile on Shiina Hiyori's face froze, just for a beat — inevitably, unavoidably.
She had already braced herself for this. Deep down, she had half-suspected it might be the answer.
But...
When those words actually left Shikime Natsu's mouth. When she heard the truth with her own ears.
Her heart still clenched — a sharp, involuntary squeeze.
It felt like a slender needle had found the softest place inside her chest and pressed in, ever so lightly.
Not painful. Just a slow, spreading ache — dense and bittersweet.
Still... as a literary girl with good upbringing, Shiina Hiyori quickly composed herself. The stiffness vanished from her expression in an instant, and the quiet, serene smile slipped back into place.
"I see... so that's how it is."
She lowered her gaze, gently nudging the tamagoyaki on her plate with her spoon, voice soft — carrying a thread of loneliness so faint it was almost imperceptible.
"It seems... Natsu really does like Kamuro-san a great deal."
After all, someone as exceptional as Shikime Natsu — someone close to perfectly put-together — would only take the initiative to pursue someone, only work up the courage to confess, if his feelings were genuine.
"Yes."
Shikime Natsu gave a small nod, offering that single, unambiguous word of confirmation.
That one syllable landed like a mallet strike, hitting her heart all over again.
She had already known the answer. She had been the one to ask.
And yet...
Why was there still that inexplicable weight in her chest? That inexplicable ache?
Was it jealousy? Because the person she liked had eyes only for another girl?
Was it envy? Envy for a girl named Kamuro Masumi, who had earned such open, wholehearted affection from him?
Or was it...
A touch of something that could only be called covetousness? That another girl had stepped into his heart before her — had claimed that particular place?
Or perhaps...
All of these feelings were tangled together right now, a knotted mess that couldn't be cut through or sorted out.
But no matter how turbulent the storm inside her. No matter how sharp the bitterness.
Shiina Hiyori knew one thing with absolute certainty —
She must not let it show.
She absolutely could not let the disappointment, the jealousy, show on her face.
To hear that someone else had found happiness and respond with a sour expression — that would be an inexcusable breach of manners.
More importantly...
If Shikime Natsu saw her like that — the image he held of her would surely crumble.
She didn't want that.
No girl wants the person she cares about to see her at her worst. Every girl wants to show her best self to the one who matters most.
And so.
Shiina Hiyori drew a quiet breath, pressed the bitterness back down, and coaxed the faint, composed smile back to the corners of her lips.
She lifted her head. The light in those violet eyes had dimmed just slightly. The smile on her face held its shape through sheer effort as she looked at Shikime Natsu and gently spoke again.
"In that case..."
"Congratulations, Natsu."
"Being able to be with someone you truly like... that really is a wonderful thing."
"Mm."
Shikime Natsu looked at her and gave another small nod.
No matter how perfectly Shiina Hiyori's smile was constructed. No matter how sincere her voice sounded.
But...
The loneliness in those violet eyes — that, she could not hide, no matter how hard she tried.
The eyes, after all, are the windows to the soul. The emotions written in a person's gaze cannot be easily concealed — least of all for an ordinary high school student.
At least... Shiina Hiyori herself sensed that her act wasn't quite seamless. Perhaps, she thought, before agreeing to come to Shikime Natsu's room — before she had even seen him — she should have practiced her expressions in front of a mirror. A small miscalculation...
It was at that moment that Shiina Hiyori's gaze drifted, almost on its own, to the side.
And then it stilled — fixed on a corner of the bedside table.
There, resting quietly in that corner, was a delicate hair clip.
That was...
A girl's hair clip.
The style was fairly ordinary, nothing particularly distinctive — but...
Shiina Hiyori had seen it before. She hadn't crossed paths with Kamuro Masumi many times, but as someone who prided herself on her eye for detail — a reader of mystery novels, through and through — she had considerable confidence in her powers of observation.
She was almost certain: that was Kamuro Masumi's hair clip.
The moment her eyes landed on it.
Shiina Hiyori's gaze went slightly, involuntarily distant once more.
Under ordinary circumstances, a girl's hair clip wouldn't just casually end up left behind in a boy's room.
Unless...
Unless that girl had spent a considerable amount of time here. Long enough, perhaps, to have... stayed the night.
If the hair clip was here, then that meant...
"The two of them... they really are quite close."
Shiina Hiyori couldn't help but note it inwardly, the words touched with a quiet bitterness.
The level of intimacy between them — it was probably far beyond anything she had imagined.
Shikime Natsu had of course caught the shift in Shiina Hiyori's gaze with his usual sharpness. He followed her line of sight, and spotted the small hair clip that had been forgotten in the corner of his bedside table.
It had been left behind last night, when Kamuro Masumi had stayed over and accidentally overlooked it.
"..."
Shiina Hiyori snapped back as if she'd touched something electric, quickly pulling her gaze away.
She felt warmth creeping into her cheeks, and her thoughts had dissolved into something close to chaos.
To cover for herself, she bowed her head again and forcibly redirected her attention to the tamagoyaki in front of her.
"Th-this tamagoyaki is really delicious."
She fumbled for words, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere — trying to steer her own thoughts elsewhere:
"Natsu's cooking really is as wonderful as ever. I wonder when I'll ever reach this level."
"You flatter me. If it's Hiyori, I'm sure you'll get there in no time."
Shikime Natsu replied with a quiet laugh, drawing his gaze back from the hair clip. Then he spoke again, unhurried, matter-of-fact.
"That hair clip is Masumi's."
"..."
The hand holding Shiina Hiyori's chopsticks paused, just slightly.
She gave a small nod and murmured a soft "mm."
This much...
She had already figured out, of course.
It was just that...
When Shikime Natsu said it so calmly, so openly — a heaviness settled over the girl's heart, heavier than she wanted it to be. She hadn't wanted to feel this heavy about it at all.
She had come to Shikime Natsu's room wanting to stay cheerful — to spend a quiet, pleasant afternoon with him, just like always.
Only... she understood now. Shikime Natsu was already with someone else. Which meant the days of 'just like always' could never quite return.
The leaden feeling that had settled in her chest left Shiina Hiyori completely at a loss for what to say next.
At a moment like this...
Knowing that the person she liked not only had a girlfriend — but that the two of them had grown close enough that her things were still lying in his room — this was, by any reckoning, not exactly an ideal atmosphere for cheerful conversation.
Watching Shiina Hiyori bow her head again and fall into wordless silence, focused entirely on the food in front of her as if she were trying to disappear into the plate —
Shikime Natsu, of course, understood the tangled conflict quietly playing out inside her.
But... now that he had decided to lay everything out in the open, he might as well drop all the bombshells at once.
"Actually..."
Shikime Natsu looked at her and spoke up again, his tone easy and unhurried.
"Besides Masumi..."
"I have another girlfriend."
"I think Hiyori has probably heard her name before — Sakura Airi."
"..."
Upon hearing that, Shiina Hiyori went completely still.
She slowly lifted her head. Those violet eyes were wide open, filled with sheer disbelief and shock.
Another... girlfriend?
Sakura Airi?
Just a short while ago — a matter of days, really — Shikime Natsu had still been single.
But...
How much time had actually passed?
How long had it even been?
And somehow Shikime Natsu had ended up with two girlfriends?!
This development...
Wasn't it just a little too fast?
At least from Shiina Hiyori's perspective — a girl who treasured the classic sensibilities of literature — this speed was frankly absurd. Borderline preposterous.
And yet.
From another angle, this was also proof — undeniable proof — of just how much charm Shikime Natsu possessed.
To have captured the hearts of two girls with entirely different personalities, simultaneously.
As for whether the two of them knew about each other — Shiina Hiyori already had her answer. Of course they did. Both sides had to know.
Because... knowing Shikime Natsu's character, there was no way he would ever conceal one from the other. Case in point — right now, even though she and Shikime Natsu weren't in any kind of romantic relationship, he had still told her plainly: he had two girlfriends.
Still... even so. When Shiina Hiyori heard Sakura Airi's name, something stirred inside her that she couldn't quite name.
A feeling she couldn't articulate despite all the books she had read. And after hearing it, all she could manage was a quiet "mm" before her mind went completely blank — she couldn't summon a single thread of conversation.
Somehow...
Coming to Shikime Natsu's room today had really not been the right call.
Nor had it been good timing.
The waves had hit one after another, and she was struggling to stay afloat.
"I, um..."
Shiina Hiyori dropped her gaze, her voice gone slightly dry.
She felt, in no uncertain terms, that she was not in a good state right now.
Maybe...
Once she finished this meal, she should find some excuse and slip away.
Even though she had already steeled herself. Even though she had already made up her mind not to let go.
But...
Now that this extra piece of news had landed — now that she understood how far things had already gone between Shikime Natsu and the others, further than she had ever imagined...
Shiina Hiyori realized she had overestimated her own emotional resilience.
All she wanted right now was to retreat to her own quiet room, rest properly, and give her thoroughly scrambled feelings some time to settle.
But just as she was mentally picking up the pace — planning to eat faster and find an opening to excuse herself —
Shikime Natsu's voice cut through her thoughts once more.
"Hiyori."
He set down his chopsticks, his gaze gentle as it settled on her, and asked, out of nowhere:
"What kind of person do you think I am?"
"?"
At that sudden question.
Shiina Hiyori had been ready to stay quiet for the rest of the meal — just eat in silence and leave. But now that Shikime Natsu had spoken, and of all things asked what kind of person she thought he was, there was simply no way she could stay silent.
She lifted those violet eyes slightly, taking in the rather striking face across from her.
A brief pause.
Then she answered slowly, with the most honest assessment she had.
"Natsu is... a very good person."
"Very kind. Very considerate. And very clever."
She added a quiet footnote in her heart:
And... extraordinarily popular with girls.
You could even say — a little too popular. It seemed like every pretty girl in this school had some kind of connection to Shikime Natsu, some intersection with him, one way or another.
Once she had said all that.
Shiina Hiyori drew a quiet breath, as if steadying herself.
Since things had come this far. Since she was already here, and already knew what she knew about Shikime Natsu...
Then...
She might as well take this chance and say everything clearly.
She looked at him, summoned her courage, and turned the question around — her violet eyes locked directly onto Shikime Natsu's, full of nerves, her voice carrying a faint, barely-controlled tremor.
"Then... what about Natsu?"
"What is Natsu's opinion of me?"
Shiina Hiyori had made her decision.
She had already resolved not to let go.
So from here on...
As long as Shikime Natsu's view of her wasn't fundamentally bad — as long as he didn't dislike her —
Then...
She was going to confess!
She had briefly wondered if it was too soon, if it might come across as too forward.
But.
Now that she knew he had gained a second girlfriend in the span of just a few days — and who knew how many more might follow —
Shiina Hiyori thought to herself:
All that so-called composure and waiting — it was completely pointless now.
If she kept waiting, there might not even be a spot left in the queue!
Faced with the girl's gaze — full of expectation and threaded through with nerves —
Shikime Natsu's smile softened just a little more.
He spoke slowly, his voice quiet and unhurried.
"Hiyori..."
"Is a very wonderful girl."
"Quiet, and very gentle, and incredibly considerate. We share the same passions, too."
He paused there.
Those amber-gold eyes looked directly into Shiina Hiyori's, and he continued, word by careful word.
"And furthermore..."
"She is a girl I like very, very much."
Shiina Hiyori had already worked up her courage, ready to confess.
But hearing those words from Shikime Natsu —
She froze completely.
Her mind went blank for a brief, suspended moment.
Just now...
What had Shikime Natsu just said?
He said...
That I am... a girl he likes very much?
Very much?
Then... was that the kind of "like" one has for a friend, or the kind between a boy and a girl?
Shiina Hiyori sat there in a daze, her eyes losing focus for a moment, as if she were genuinely checking whether she had misheard.
After all... she hadn't actually asked Shikime Natsu whether he liked her. She had only asked what his opinion of her was — though, well, "like" was certainly a part of an opinion, technically.
Shikime Natsu, naturally, caught the adorably baffled look on Shiina Hiyori's face.
The smile at the corner of his lips deepened just a touch, and he continued, those amber-gold eyes still holding that easy, unhurried warmth.
"So, Hiyori."
"Would you... like to be my girlfriend?"
"..."
This time.
Shiina Hiyori heard it perfectly clearly. With those words, Shikime Natsu had defined what "like" meant — not the fondness of friends, but the feeling between a boy and a girl. The kind that meant he wanted her to be his girlfriend.
By the time her brain had finished processing all of that —
A rich, vivid flush had bloomed across that fair, delicate face at a speed visible to the naked eye, spreading all the way to the tips of her ears.
This plot...
Was moving just a little too fast, wasn't it?!
This was way too sudden?!
She hadn't even had time to process it!
What kind of turn was this?
She had simply followed Shikime Natsu back to his room for dinner, asked a few things, mentally braced herself for a blow to the heart... and then, yes, steeled herself to maybe test the waters a little.
But... she hadn't even played her card yet. She had barely made a move — and somehow Shikime Natsu had already turned the whole table and confessed to her first.
And what's more...
All of this had happened before she could even open her mouth to confess!
It was almost as if... Shikime Natsu had seen right through her intentions all along. As if he had known she was about to confess, and simply beaten her to it.
Could it be...
That her feelings had really been that obvious? Had she really looked that much like someone about to throw caution to the wind and go all in?
Shiina Hiyori's gaze drifted back to Shikime Natsu.
At this moment, in this scene.
Looking at this man — who had just calmly informed her he had two girlfriends, then turned around in the very next breath and confessed to her with complete sincerity —
Shiina Hiyori's feelings right now could only be described as complicated. There was the sweetness and joy of having the person she liked confess to her, and then... something else, something harder to name.
Shikime Natsu really was quite the devoted romantic — devoted to many, that is. Extremely, thoroughly devoted.
They had literally just been talking about Kamuro Masumi and Sakura Airi. Kamuro Masumi's hair clip was still sitting on his bedside table. And yet... now he had turned around and made his move on her.
Not that Shiina Hiyori had herself been planning to confess to him in exactly this situation, mind you. The only difference was who got to say the words first — and it turned out that honor had gone to Shikime Natsu instead of her.
Shiina Hiyori's gaze met Shikime Natsu's once more. A soft blush crept up the curve of her delicate ear. She gave the tiniest, gentlest nod, and in a voice just barely loud enough for herself to hear, she whispered:
"Mm..."
____
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