After about two hours of shopping, the girl seemed a little tired.
Every floor of the mall had a rest area, complete with milk tea and other fruit juices—another major draw for most girls.
When they got tired from their shopping spree, they could sit down, sip a cup of milk tea, recharge, and then dive right back into more shopping. It was like a charging station.
"Kamisaka-kun, let's rest over there for a bit," Kato Megumi said, pointing to some nearby seats.
Yuto nodded.
The two of them walked over and sat down.
The girl, who had maintained a calm and gentle demeanor the entire time, finally showed a hint of fatigue on her face.
She placed her shopping bags to the side and let out a soft, relieved sigh.
All her movements were quiet. Especially the sigh—most people would have easily missed it.
"I told you earlier, you know," Yuto said with a smile. "If you get tired, you can let me carry the bags."
He smiled at the girl.
He had offered to help carry her things right from the start, but she had refused. She simply didn't want to trouble someone she had just met.
"I felt it would be rude to trouble Kamisaka-kun when we've only just know each other," Kato explained, her calm eyes meeting his with a hint of helplessness.
"Wait here a moment." Yuto chuckled softly and stood up, leaving the girl with a puzzled expression.
"Wait..." She started to call out as she watched him walk toward the counter, but he simply waved her off.
Yuto returned to their seats holding two iced milk teas.
He handed one to the girl.
She looked surprised, but after a brief moment of hesitation, she took the drink.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
When the girl had sat down earlier, Yuto had noticed tiny beads of sweat on her forehead.
They were subtle, but he had still spotted them. It was already summer.
Though the season had just begun, the temperature was rising fiercely.
Even with the mall's air conditioning, the sheer number of people rendered it almost useless.
Yuto didn't feel the oppressive heat, but the girl, being an ordinary person, was still affected.
At a time like this, a sip of ice-cold milk tea was refreshing.
The girl brushed her hair aside, then took a sip of the milk tea.
A rare expression of comfort and relaxation appeared on her usually calm face.
Yuto smiled softly.
During their time together, he had noticed something special about her.
Or perhaps "special" wasn't the right word; it was more like how everyone has their own unique personality.
The girl was simply more composed than most. It was as if rationality dominated her every action.
Because of this, Yuto paid close attention to every fleeting emotional shift on her face, cherishing each one.
Seeing an expression other than her usual calm made him feel, strangely, as if he had discovered a hidden treasure.
"Kamisaka-kun, what are you looking at?" Kato asked, her eyes filled with curiosity as she set down her milk tea.
"Nothing," Yuto replied with a smile, choosing not to tell the truth.
"Mm." The girl listened to Yuto's words and let out a small, sulky "hmpf," her cheeks puffing out slightly.
She looked adorable!
"So Kato can make expressions like that too?"
Seeing her cute expression, Yuto couldn't help but murmur.
Hearing his words, the girl froze as if she'd been caught doing something wrong.
Her expression returned to its usual calm, but a flicker of embarrassment and awkwardness appeared in her brown eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh? Why are you apologizing?"
"I shouldn't have shown that side of myself to you, Kamisaka-kun."
Yuto looked into her eyes and saw that she was genuinely sorry for her earlier sulkiness.
He sighed inwardly, feeling more confused by the girl before him than ever.
"It's fine. I don't mind at all. Besides, you were sulking because of me, weren't you? I'm the one who should be apologizing..."
"Hmm, now that I think about it, you're right."
It seemed Yuto's words had made her realize something.
She nodded in agreement, leaving him both speechless and amused.
'This girl... she's truly something else.'
"Kato."
"Yes, Kamisaka-kun? What is it?"
"Why does it feel like everyone subconsciously ignores you?"
Perhaps because of their recent exchange, Yuto felt his relationship with the girl had... improved slightly?
After a moment of silence, he finally asked the question that had been bothering him throughout their walk.
A girl who was constantly overlooked, who went unnoticed unless she spoke first—the situation struck Yuto as deeply strange.
Hearing his question, Kato blinked a few times.
Her eyes showed no significant emotional shift; instead, they held a hint of resignation.
"I think... it's because my presence is too faint?" she said, sounding a little uncertain.
Her words made Yuto pause and reflect.
He thought back on his interactions with the girl.
'That seems to be it. Her presence really is quite faint.'
Yuto carefully compared her to others. If an average person had a brightness of ten, the girl felt like she only had a brightness of three or four.
And if he compared her to Utaha and Asuna, their brightness would easily break a hundred.
Yuto could understand why Utaha and Asuna drew so much attention—they were stunningly beautiful.
But he couldn't understand why Kato was practically invisible, because she was beautiful too.
"So that's really it, huh?"
"Ah... Kamisaka-kun, are you deliberately trying to hurt my feelings...?"
Hearing his agreement, the girl's face turned pale with disappointment.
"No, no, that's not what I meant at all! Please don't think that," Yuto quickly explained.
But she still seemed upset.
Her eyes held genuine sadness. Having such a low presence truly bothered her.
Seeing the girl's dejected expression, Yuto couldn't help but sigh in frustration. Then, a question came to mind.
"Kato, don't you have any friends?"
"I do, but..."
At the mention of friends, a hint of helplessness flickered in her eyes.
Yuto's mind raced.
'With such an abnormally low presence, even if she makes friends, their interactions probably aren't like those of normal friends.'
"They sometimes overlook me too," she said, leaning forward slightly. Her gaze shifted away, and her voice grew soft and gentle.
A subtle trace of resignation and melancholy laced her words.
Yuto felt a pang of sympathy.
"But you surprised me a little, Kamisaka-kun."
"How so?"
"I didn't expect you to notice me at the supermarket yesterday."
Her wistful words reminded Yuto of the previous morning.
She had been standing behind the old woman, and at that moment, he had been the only one to notice her.
"Well, you were standing right there. It would have been hard not to notice you."
Seeing the hint of joy in her eyes, Yuto spoke softly.
"But no one noticed me before," she countered.
As she brought this up, her dejection had vanished. Instead, her eyes sparkled with a newfound liveliness.
"Kato, have you ever wondered why you're like this?" Yuto couldn't help but ask.
The girl sipped her milk tea gently, her expression thoughtful.
"I don't know," she admitted after a moment's consideration.
She had tried to figure out why her presence was so weak, but it felt like an innate trait she'd had since birth.
She didn't know when it started, nor did she know how to change it.
Yuto's face showed a hint of frustration at her answer.
He began to recall his interactions with her. The more he thought about it, the more he felt she was just an ordinary girl.
There seemed to be nothing unusual about her.
Her personality was easygoing and approachable, nothing special.
Her behavior was polite and proper, also nothing special.
Her speech was calm and friendly, rarely raising her voice—again, completely ordinary. Every aspect of her was ordinary and unremarkable.
An unreliable guess began to form in Yuto's mind.
'Perhaps... it was precisely because Kato Megumi was so ordinary in every way, never standing out in any aspect, that her presence was so weak.'
She never spoke loudly, nor did she do anything to attract attention.
Combined with her perpetually calm expression, people would simply start to ignore her over time.
After Yuto shared his theory with her, the girl fell into deep thought.
A moment later, she nodded gently.
"Maybe it really is just as you said, Kamisaka-kun." At that moment, Kato found herself agreeing with his words.
"In that case, maybe we could try to change things a bit," Yuto suggested in a speculative tone.
The girl tilted her head slightly, her hair swaying gently with the movement.
She looked at him with curiosity.
Though her fair face remained calm, there was a faint hint of anticipation in her eyes.
"How would we do that?" she asked.
"If you don't mind, I have a rather half-baked idea," Yuto said, looking at Kato.
He felt the thrill of conducting an experiment, coupled with a keen desire to see if his theory was correct.
"Let's try it, then," the girl agreed with a nod.
...
"Kamisaka-kun, are you sure this will work?"
"I don't know."
"Seriously...?"
"Didn't we agree from the start that this was just an experiment?"
"...Alright."
They were in a women's clothing store.
The girl was inside the fitting room, while Yuto waited outside. Their recent exchange had been about his little experiment.
The rustling sound of fabric came from the fitting room as the girl changed clothes.
Yuto's keen senses picked up every sound, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation, wondering what she would look like.
Sshh—
The soft hiss of compressed air sounded as the door was pushed open.
The girl slid the fitting room door aside, and Yuto's gaze immediately turned toward it.
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