Beep, beep... Beep, beep...
"Yawn..."
It had been quite some time since I’d woken up to a morning without Sara-senpai.
Since we obviously both had preparations to make today, I had eventually managed to persuade her to meet up at the station instead of coming over.
Until recently, this would have been perfectly normal. Yet now, waking up to find she wasn't there felt lonely. I wondered if being together had become so natural that waking up alone felt wrong, or if I was simply letting myself become far too spoiled...
I washed my face and changed my clothes.
...Usually, while I was washing my face, Sara-senpai would have my clothes laid out and breakfast ready.
It had only been a single day—and the morning wasn't even over yet—but I was forced to realize once again just how much I had come to rely on her for everything.
I wanted to see Sara-senpai. And soon.
By the time I reached the station front where we were supposed to meet, I spotted Sara-senpai and Natsumi-senpai walking toward me.
"Good morning, Sara-senpai, Natsumi-senpai."
"Good morning, Kazunari-san."
"Morning, Takanashi-kun!"
The slight sense of melancholy that had been hanging over me vanished the moment I saw Sara-senpai's face.
As I was thinking that, Sara-senpai’s expression flickered as if she had noticed something. She walked straight up to me.
...Wait, she was close! Really close!
She reached out toward my neck, her fingers grazing my skin as she meticulously straightened the collar of my shirt.
"Please don't move... There, that should do it."
"Ugh... Sorry."
To think I’d show such a pathetic side of myself the very second we met up...
"There you go, doing that so naturally again... At this rate, Takanashi-kun won't be able to survive a single day without you, Sara."
Ugh... Natsumi-senpai's comment hit the nail right on the head. It was exactly what I’d been thinking earlier.
"If that happens, I will simply continue to take care of him, so it is not a problem."
In contrast to me, who was feeling rather dejected, Sara-senpai made this declaration with total composure.
I wondered if she truly understood the implications of what she was saying...
"Sara... you really are something else..." Natsumi-senpai muttered, her tone somewhere between awe and utter exasperation.
We headed to the platform to wait for Yuji. He should be on the train that was about to arrive.
The three of us stood there waiting, but honestly, we were drawing a lot of attention. Sara-senpai was striking enough on her own, but with Natsumi-senpai beside her, the effect was doubled.
Today, Sara-senpai was dressed in a stunning outing style. Her ensemble was primarily black and white with adorable accents scattered throughout—in short, it was an outfit clearly designed to be the end of me.
On top of that, she was wearing the hat I had given her as a present.
She was way too cute.
In contrast, Natsumi-senpai was wearing a denim miniskirt and a shirt—a simple, stylish look that felt very much like her.
"Sara-senpai... that outfit really suits you. You look... well, you look incredibly cute."
It took a massive amount of courage to say that, but I forced the words out.
Natsumi-senpai had told me before that Sara-senpai usually preferred very simple clothing and hadn't really bothered with dressing up like this in the past.
Apparently, the first time I went out with her, Natsumi-senpai had picked out Sara-senpai's clothes just to tease me. However, after seeing my reaction back then, Sara-senpai had completely changed her personal fashion sense to match.
"Eh? Um, thank you... Yes, I am very happy..."
She seemed surprised, as I didn't usually give such direct compliments, and she leaned into me with a bashful gesture.
At this distance, she tilted her head up to look at my face, just like she always did, and—
"Er... sorry to interrupt, but there are people watching. Can you two wrap this up soon?"
...?!
Yuji was standing there before I even realized it.
I hurriedly pulled away, causing Sara-senpai to make a slightly dissatisfied face.
Even that expression was cute... When she noticed I was staring at her, she looked down shyly, her cheeks flushing.
"Good grief... I haven't seen you in a while, and your condition has already deteriorated this much?"
"Can you see what I have to put up with now? ......Cut it out already, you stupid couple!"
...?!
"S-Sorry..."
"Kazunari-san, we have done nothing wrong, so there is no need to apologize..."
I felt like I had experienced this exact situation before.
"Well then, shall we do introductions?" Natsumi-senpai suggested, turning her gaze toward Yuji.
Wait, that was a bit sudden.
"Natsumi-senpai, I'll introduce him—"
"He's a guy, so he can handle it himself, right? Surely you won't say something boring like just your name, will you?"
Natsumi-senpai was usually very friendly, but she wasn't the type to make such unreasonable demands of a complete stranger.
"Guh... You're putting me on the spot..."
"Natsumi, it is rude to make such demands of someone you are meeting for the first time. Please forgive my friend."
Sara-senpai stepped in to help, seemingly finding the pressure on Yuji to be a bit much.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sara Satsukawa. Thank you for always taking care of Kazunari-san. I apologize for my rude attitude when we met previously. I expect we shall have more opportunities to meet in the future, so I look forward to getting to know you."
It was a very polite, formal greeting, perfectly in character for Sara-senpai.
I felt like there was something slightly odd about what she said... but she was being so sincere that I figured it was just my imagination.
"Ah, no... I'm Yuji Tachibana. Nice to meet you."
"And I'm Natsumi Yuzuki! Since Sara scolded me, I'll let you off the hook this time."
"......Well, thank you very much for that."
For some reason, Natsumi-senpai's energy felt a little strange.