*The reason I reply so quickly is because I've been trained.

The message has already been read.

About five minutes had passed since the message came.

'This is Nakayama. What's the matter?'

But Kirari was still stiff before that sentence.

(As usual, I have no idea what he's thinking!!)

Thinking back, she had never really understood her classmate, Kotaro Nakayama, since middle school. He didn't seem to have any facial expression, he didn't seem to enjoy anything he did, he didn't seem bored, he seemed passive but not annoyed, in other words, he was just hard to understand.

After he became a high school student, his inorganic personality became a little better, but... when it comes to writing, it still seems to be difficult to reflect his emotions.

(I'm sure Ko-kun's girlfriend will be in a lot of trouble. ...He's too blunt, so she'll get worried that he might not like her and turn into a yandere~.)

(TLN: Too late for that, she already is.)

It was an impression that was not far off the mark, but Kirari dismissed it in an instant.

(...I mean, there's no way that's true. He seems to be in a good mood with that Shiho Shimotsuki, there's no way she's turning into a yandere~)

Kirari didn't know that ... Shiho was actually quite a rather serious girl ..., so she laughed lightly and shrugged her shoulders.

Well, her escape from reality is about to end. She looked at the time and saw that it had been 10 minutes since she had read the message. He might get suspicious if she didn't reply soon, so Kirari decided it was time to get back to him.

'I'm sorry if I startled you out of the blue.'

'No problem, it's fine.'

The reply was instantaneous. Kirari's eyes widen again at Kotaro's quick response.

（I wonder if Ko-kun likes this kind of exchange more than I thought?)

...Well, it's just that Shiho sulks if he doesn't reply right away, so instant replies have become a habit of his.

At any rate, Kirari was relieved that he didn't mind.

However, they are not close enough to chat with each other right now..., so Kirari decided that no further introduction was necessary, and decided to go straight to the point.

“This is sudden again, but there is actually something I want to apologize for…”

"Apologize? I'm not mad at you."

Yes, of course you aren't.

Even Kirari knows that Kotaro is not angry.

But she wanted to apologize anyway to make things right.

"I slapped you last time, didn't I? I've been feeling sorry about that for a long time, and I really wanted to ... apologize, so I got Ko-kun's contact information from Azu-chan."

She sent a slightly longer text.

Then, Kotaro's reply was only slightly delayed.

(...Maybe you're also angry about remembering! Yes, ... these things should usually be apologized in person, not in writing! Ugh, did he think I wasn't sincere enough...!)

She is tormented by anxiety and unintentionally wants to type more sentences. However, Kirari restrained herself from sending more texts to the person who didn't reply to her, as it would sound heavy hearted.

For now, she opens her light novel and attempts to calm herself down by reading. However, since her mind was being pulled by Kotaro, the contents did not enter her mind at all.

As it was, she pretended to be reading, but her thoughts kept going round and round in her head.

(If I don't get a response, I'll call him... Then I'll make arrangements to meet him, and I'll have to apologize properly...)

And that was when she was thinking about the arrangements that were about to be made.

"…Eh?"

Suddenly, a blonde came into view.

She glanced sideways and saw a Western-style beauty with big b*****s stealing a glance at her. She may have thought she was hiding in the shadows, but because of her useless flesh, parts of her body ... especially her b*****s were not hidden at all.

(Hey, that's Mary, right?)

Kirari was puzzled by the presence of a classmate she happened to find.

Then she also noticed that she was observing her, and was confused.

(What does she want? No... I have a bad feeling about this...)

Mary is dangerous - Kirari's intuition tells her.

Or rather, Mary looked like she was planning something, so she was wary...

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