Part-3 Ch-01 Ep-04

The new study method I had adopted turned out to suit me far better than I had expected. 

With my earphones in, no unnecessary noise reached me, and I had set things up so that the background music changed when it was time for a break, which made switching my mood much easier.

More than anything else, the greatest advantage was that I could immerse myself in what was right in front of me without forcing myself.

And so today as well, I was continuing my studies in the library, my problem book spread open before me, earphones on.

Maki, who was almost always seated beside me, had been summoned by our homeroom teacher and was absent for the moment.

Just the fact that Maki was not next to me made me feel unexpectedly lonely, as though half of my own body were missing.

It was a sensation I had rarely experienced before.

Perhaps it was because the density of the time we spent together had grown so much greater, and Maki’s presence had come to reside so deeply within my heart.

Even today, when Maki, having been called by the teacher, said, “……I don’t know when it’ll end, so you can go home first,” I was the one who replied, “Eh, I’ll wait in the library.”

During our second year, when I had committee duties or other responsibilities that kept me late, I used to tell Maki to go home ahead of me.

That reversal of roles compared to last year made me feel slightly embarrassed, while Maki looked both apologetic and quietly happy, which felt new and refreshing to me.

Resetting my focus, I continued studying on my own while waiting for her to return, when suddenly a shadow fell across my notebook.

When I looked up, Seishuku-san was standing there, gesturing with her hands as if to ask, “Is the seat next to you okay?” I nodded in response and removed my earphones.

“What’s up?”

Had she really come all the way here just to talk to me?

As I asked, Seishuku-san briefly glanced at the seat beside me and said, “Ichinose-san isn’t here today, huh.”

“Yeah, she got called by Tobesen.”

“Hm, called by Nitobe-sensei. For what?”

“I don’t know. Probably something about future plans or career paths. I got stopped the other day for the same thing.”

“I see. He really is that attentive, Nitobe-sensei.”

“……Y-Yeah.”

There was something suggestive in the way she said it, and what Seishuku-san was implying came across to me whether I wanted it to or not.

He was the seventh capture target, our homeroom teacher since our first year, the one who had been watching over us from close by all this time.

That person was none other than Jun Nitobe-sensei himself.

“This is my first year having him as a homeroom teacher, but he’s a good teacher.”

Since Seishuku-san had been in a different class until now, this was likely her first meaningful interaction with Tobesen, or rather, Nitobe-sensei.

“Well, he was originally a hard-to-capture character anyway. The heroine would have to be extremely proactive to make him fall. He’s that kind of impregnable fortress. So I don’t think you need to worry about Ichinose-san.”

“Yeah……”

“But he does have that adult appeal, doesn’t he? For students, the only adults they usually have close contact with are their parents or school staff.”

“……Whose side are you on, Seishuku-san?”

At her slightly teasing tone, I couldn’t help pursing my lips and responding in a sulky voice.

She let out a small, troubled laugh and said, “I really am on both of your sides, you know.”

“More importantly, how are things with Inuino-kun?”

Inuino Ken-kun was also the sixth capture target, a boy one year younger than us.

He had a puppy-like atmosphere and used to be one of my favorite characters.

“Hm, nothing in particular so far.”

“He was supposed to have an event in the final year too, so be careful.”

“Got it.”

As Seishuku-san began to stand, saying it was about time, I asked, “Eh, you’re leaving already?”

I had assumed she would stay and chat for a bit longer. Conversations with Seishuku-san inevitably tended to revolve around capture targets, so I had wanted to talk about plenty of other things as well.

“Yeah, I just came to return a book. Asahina-kun is waiting for me too.”

“I see.”

As always, the two of them seemed to have built a very close and harmonious relationship.

Thanks to that, I no longer needed to be wary of Asahina-kun, who had once been a capture target, so their good relationship was something that genuinely made me happy as well.

“By the way.”

“Yeah?”

“Nagase-san, do you always wear earphones in both ears?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “……Maybe it would be better to wear just one?”

“Well, Ichinose-san is the type who becomes completely absorbed once she starts concentrating, so if there’s no problem, isn’t it fine?”

A problem, a problem. I thought about it and then answered, “Not really, I guess.”

Probably.

When someone wanted to talk to me, having my uniform hem tugged or my shoulder tapped actually felt kind of nice.

Ah, but lately, when it was just the two of us, I felt like there had been more moments where I noticed Maki staring at me. If that was making her feel lonely, that was not what I wanted.

When she came back, I should ask her right away, I thought.

“Maybe I should ask Maki too……”

“Hm, well, yeah. But if it really bothered her, Ichinose-san seems like the type who would say so herself.”

I wonder about that.

If anything, Maki is honest about her own desires, but she never does anything I truly dislike, and she always puts me first.

Yeah, I should ask her, I thought, waving to Seishuku-san as she left the library.