The entire way home, Utaha was completely out of it.
She didn't even remember how she unlocked her door, closed it, or changed her shoes.
By the time she snapped back to reality, she was already standing on the rug beside her bed.
Lifting her gaze somewhat awkwardly, her wine-red eyes fell on her messy bedding.
The next second.
Utaha suddenly threw her arms out and face-planted onto the bed.
Hugging the pillow tightly, burying her face deep into it, her thighs repeatedly kicked up and down against the mattress, making a series of thump thump sounds.
"Next weekend, aquarium."
"Aragaki-kun invited me to the aquarium! Is this a date? Is this really a date?"
Rolling around on the bed while clutching the pillow, her muffled voice brimmed with indescribable excitement.
It was so sudden, so overwhelmingly pleasant.
"But."
Stopping her rolling, Utaha lay on her back and slightly loosened her grip on the pillow, revealing a few messy strands of hair and the curved, smiling corners of her wine-red eyes.
Staring straight at the ceiling, the corners of her mouth beneath the pillow lifted slightly.
"I never knew Aragaki-kun was the proactive type."
"To invite a girl out so directly... and a girl he's only known for less than two weeks."
Wait, why is he so smooth at this!
A sudden, unpleasant thought flashed through her mind, and her expression instantly soured.
Thinking about it, even though he always maintained a "pure and proper" image around her, did that really guarantee he was a harmless, innocent guy? Not necessarily. With his looks, even if he wasn't a seasoned playboy in middle school, he probably had plenty of experience.
Besides, looking at how naturally and calmly he invited her today—a girl he'd only hung out with for a couple of weeks—
Hmm... suspicious. Could it be that I'm just his new target!?
The moment that thought crossed her mind, various scenes drawn by a certain R-18 doujin artist simultaneously flooded her mind.
Especially that classic trope line: "You don't want your secret to get out to everyone, do you?" It sent a rush of blood straight to her head.
"I've become the prey! What a humiliation!"
Gritting her teeth, Utaha hugged the pillow and bounced to her feet.
Standing barefoot on the soft comforter, her clenched fists looked ready to punch some notorious playboy to death. She was about to loudly declare, "I'm the hunter! Just you wait, Aragaki-kun..."
Buzz buzz——!
The phone someone had casually tossed on the small round table suddenly vibrated.
The next second, a fair hand grabbed it.
"Oh, it's just a LINE notification."
At first, her tone sounded disappointed.
But when she unlocked it and saw the sender's name, her expression instantly grew tense, and her tapping became unusually cautious.
[Aragaki: Did you get home safely, Kasumigaoka?]
Staring at the message, Utaha froze for a few seconds.
How should I reply? "Yeah, I'm home"? Or "I've arrived"?
Logically, she didn't even know what she was agonizing over.
After all, it was just a standard, formulaic check-in message.
No matter how she phrased it, the core meaning would be the same.
[Kasumigaoka: Yeah, I'm home. How about you, Aragaki-kun?]
After a few minutes of agonizing, she finally hesitantly typed out this plain, utterly ordinary reply.
"Phew...." Watching the message send, she just sighed in relief.
The next second, Miyahito replied instantly.
[Aragaki: Just got home too.]
....How do I reply to this?
Staring at the phone, Utaha froze again.
Unlike the previous message with a set answer, this time she really had to think.
Her fingers hovered over the screen for a long time. She typed a few characters, then deleted them.
After a few more minutes of agonizing, unable to come up with anything good, she gave up and typed:
`[Kasumigaoka: Okay, get some rest early.]`
As soon as it sent, Miyahito replied instantly as before.
`[Aragaki: Yeah, you too.]`
`[Aragaki: Good night.]`
Staring blankly at the chat screen, Utaha's expression turned slightly disappointed as she tossed the phone onto the table.
Hugging the pillow tightly, she sat on the rug with her knees drawn up, burying her face in it.
After a long while.
"But... but...."
I still wanted to keep chatting a bit longer.
....
Aragaki Residence.
"Sigh....."
Sitting on the living room rug, left knee bent with his forearm resting on it, Miyahito stared blankly at the phone in his right hand.
Looking at the sparse few lines on the screen, he couldn't help but sigh in disappointment.
Tossing the phone onto the rug beside him, he stared up at the ceiling, suddenly muttering to himself with a hint of regret.
"I was too impulsive today."
The moment Utaha agreed to his invitation, Miyahito had indeed been thrilled—no, "ecstatic" wouldn't be an exaggeration.
But afterward, while walking her to the subway station after she left the park,
Utaha hadn't said a single word the entire way.
She hadn't even looked at him once.
Naturally, Miyahito couldn't miss that bizarre atmosphere.
At first, he didn't understand why.
But after she entered the station and he was walking home alone, replaying the entire event over and over in his head,
he realized his invitation had been far too abrupt.
Even though he'd considered that "inviting Kasumigaoka to the aquarium alone" might make her uncomfortable, and explicitly mentioned bringing Tooru and Yuki along, he still overlooked the most crucial point.
Their relationship hadn't reached the stage where they could just go on outings together. Plus, he hadn't considered whether Utaha would even get along well with Yuki and the others.
This likely gave Utaha the illusion that "Aragaki-kun has ulterior motives."
Moreover, when he invited her, he'd been far too calm... so calm it made it seem like he was highly experienced at asking girls out after knowing them for only a few days.
As smooth as a seasoned playboy.
"Impulse is the devil. Can't change it now."
"I'll just have to figure out how to fix it when the time comes."
Heaven knows, aside from his sister Ayase, Aragaki Miyahito had genuinely never proactively invited a girl out before.
12 AM. Finishing the last song, Miyahito stood up from his chair and stretched.
Just as he was about to pick up his phone to message Kosaka Akane about scheduling a meeting at the agency to finalize the theme song fees, A message notification popped up on LINE.
[Kasumigaoka: Aragaki-kun, why the aquarium?]
[Kasumigaoka: Do you often invite girls to the aquarium for dates?]
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