On the morning of April 4th,
Utaha woke up very early. Gazing at the sky outside the window as it gradually brightened, there was an indescribable restlessness in her heart that she could not shake off.
This feeling had been there since the day before yesterday.
Even she herself did not know why.
And today, April 4th, that restlessness had grown even stronger, as if there were an extremely important, extremely important promise scheduled for today.
"What did I forget?"
Ever since this inexplicable sense of agitation appeared, she had gone through her memories in chronological order, carefully reviewing them one by one.
But there was nothing wrong.
Nothing at all.
And as for a promise…
Utaha rarely made promises with anyone. If she truly had made one, she would definitely remember it clearly.
Besides, who could she even make a promise with?
At school, she did not have any particularly close friends, nor classmates she could really talk to. As for teachers, that went without saying.
So promises like that… really…
"Ahhh… this is so annoying…"
Feeling irritated, Utaha lay back down on her comfortable bed, intending to close her eyes and catch some more sleep. But her mind was unusually clear—she could not fall asleep at all.
"Forget it. I'll just go to school early today. And besides, sleeping early and waking up early is good for your health—"
Her words abruptly stopped. Utaha's eyes widened slightly.
Those words—
Who had said them to her?
It seemed like something said by someone extremely, extremely important to her.
But she could not remember.
That intense sense of déjà vu, that hazy, unreal feeling—
"It's like this again… again…"
It felt as if countless ants were crawling over her body—irritating, unbearable, yet with no identifiable source.
She had had enough.
"Mom, I'm heading out to school…"
After getting dressed and washing up, she had no appetite for breakfast. She grabbed a slice of bread and left for school.
If she stayed at home, she felt she would be crushed by this inexplicable sense of irritation and gloom.
Faced with her daughter's willfulness, Utaha's mother could only smile bitterly, having no real way to stop her.
At least her daughter was far more capable than her peers and did not require much supervision.
It was just that Utaha's condition over the past three days had been rather poor, making her think that Utaha had gone through a breakup.
Only heartbreak could make a girl remain anxious and distracted for several days in a row.
…
Thirty meters away from the main gate of Toyogasaki Academy, a casually dressed man holding a bouquet of flowers caught the attention of students heading to school.
From time to time, they cast curious glances at him, whispering guesses to their classmates about his purpose.
Because of the bouquet, most people speculated that he was preparing to confess to a girl, though quite a few also guessed he might be confessing to a young female teacher at Toyogasaki.
Many people deliberately slowed their pace, hoping that the woman the man was waiting for would appear soon and satisfy their curiosity.
"Could it be Sawamura-san?"
Toyogasaki's two great beauties.
Sawamura Spencer Eriri—blonde hair, blue eyes, twin tails, polite and refined, with an aristocratic air—had always been the focus of attention among the boys at Toyogasaki.
She and another girl—Kasumigaoka Utaha, with her long black hair, white headband, literary aura, black stockings, and long legs—were known as the two school idols of Toyogasaki Academy.
"No, no, I think there's a high chance it's Kasumigaoka-senpai…"
"The moment I look at that guy, I feel like he's into petite blonde twin-tailed girls. How could it not be Sawamura?"
"Heh, clearly Kasumigaoka-senpai with her black stockings and long legs is more appealing. Just imagining being—"
The man speaking sank into his own fantasies. Several people around him took a step back to keep their distance, all expressing that they did not know this pervert.
"Even you, a lolicon, are backing off. You're a pervert too!"
"I just happen to like girls who are lolis, okay? I'm absolutely not a lolicon. Look at my pure eyes—"
"Pure my ass. Who doesn't know you watch adult videos every night to 'generate electricity' by yourself…"
…
The argument happening somewhere did not attract much attention.
The students' gazes remained fixed on Haizaki.
"He's coming, he's coming!"
With one person's shout, the surrounding Toyogasaki students all turned their heads. Even quite a few who had already entered the campus chose to turn back.
Gossip was human nature.
Especially for these vibrant, youthful boys and girls.
They were eager to know who this audacious man's target was—and how ruthlessly he would be rejected.
As for success?
Impossible.
How could it possibly succeed?
No matter which girl at Toyogasaki it was, they could not bear to see her taken by some outsider.
The girls were precious treasures of Toyogasaki—there was no way they would be captured by someone from outside.
"So it really is Sawamura!"
When they saw the man start walking forward, many students followed his direction and spotted the blonde twin-tailed mixed-blood girl, Sawamura Spencer Eriri.
At that moment, the blonde girl was laughing and chatting with two friends as they walked toward the school gate.
But the strange atmosphere around them finally made Eriri notice the man holding flowers walking toward her from not far away.
A… a confession?
She really could not think of any other possibility.
"Sawamura-san, we'll leave you to it then! We won't disturb you."
The two girls with her quickly waved and jogged away.
Eriri, who had reached out to stop them, froze in place. She felt abandoned.
Traitors.
That was the label she placed on her two companions in her heart.
Standing alone, Eriri felt somewhat panicked.
Being confessed to in front of so many classmates felt like a public execution, bringing with it a suffocating sense of embarrassment.
This was the first time Eriri had encountered someone choosing to confess to her in such a public setting.
"Um…"
Watching the other party approach step by step, Eriri clenched her fists and lowered her gaze.
"Classmate, I don't even know you. I think this kind of thing shouldn't be rushed. I think you should—"
"You should…"
Her twin tails swayed slightly as the blonde girl gathered her courage.
"You should first get to know me—ha…"
No one was there.
Yes, the man who had been right in front of her was gone.
Eriri froze in shock.
Then she noticed everyone's gaze focusing behind her. She immediately turned around, and what she saw made her furious.
That bastard had abandoned her and was confessing to that black-stockinged, cow-chested woman instead.
Is he blind? What's so good about her? Is this guy an M or something?!
"Kasumigaoka-san, I like you. Please go out with me!"
Standing in front of the long black-haired girl, Haizaki spoke sincerely.
But his voice was faintly hoarse.
Finally…
I've finally seen you again…
Utaha.
…