The following Saturday.
I had been researching consultants since early that morning.
Ms. Shizune was right—there were all sorts of consultants. There were strategic consultants who helped clients expand their businesses, accounting consultants who optimized financial operations, and various others specializing in fields like business restructuring, HR, or IT.
While Takuma-san seemed to be a strategic consultant, I figured I should start with IT consulting. It would be the easiest way to leverage the knowledge I already had.
I wasn't sure if it was really that easy to get into, but that was exactly what the Management Game was for—testing the waters. The deeper I dug into the business world, the more impressed I became with the game's high level of practicality.
It was showing me what my future possibilities could look like.
(I'd like to push a little harder, but...)
I checked the clock; it was nearly noon.
"...Right. That's enough for now!"
I muttered to myself, half as a reminder, and snapped my laptop shut.
Ever since Tennoji-san mentioned that I was pushing myself too hard, I had made it a rule to rest as much as possible from Saturday afternoon onward. I'd feel bad making her worry again.
She had said her own grades went up once she found some emotional breathing room, so I decided to take her word for it and avoid burning out.
(...Maybe I'll go take something to Hinako.)
It was almost time for lunch, so a drink would be just the thing.
I swung by the kitchen to brew some tea, then headed for Hinako’s room.
"Hinako, are you in?"
I knocked, and a lethargic "Mmm" drifted through the door.
Inside, Hinako was slumped against the back of her chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"I’m... so... tired..."
"You worked hard. I brought some tea."
I placed the cup on Hinako’s desk.
It looked like she had been busy with the Management Game too. On her screen, the Konohana Group’s AI Employees were bustling about at a frantic pace.
"...Oh, this is delicious," Hinako murmured after taking a sip.
"Really? It’s the brand Tennoji-san recommended..."
"...Actually, it tastes terrible."
"Huh!?"
Why!?
"Just kidding....It’s delicious."
"I-I see. That’s a relief..."
All that effort measuring the steeping time and the temperature of the cup had been worth it.
"No matter the tea leaves... if Itsuki brewed it for me, it’s all delicious....No matter the tea leaves."
"Hinako..."
I was touched by how much she seemed to enjoy it.
Though the way she kept emphasizing "no matter the tea leaves" was a bit concerning. Hinako had been treating Tennoji-san as a rival lately; this was likely an extension of that.
"Itsuki, are you taking a break for the day?"
"Yeah. I'll probably do some prep and review for my classes after dinner, though."
I was planning to work on Sunday, too, so I just wanted to get a head start today.
"Itsuki... you seem good lately."
"Have I?"
"Yeah. You seem... relaxed."
Maybe she meant I had more composure.
Thinking back to when the Management Game first began, Hinako had brewed tea for me countless times. I had let her because she seemed to want to, but I'd rarely returned the favor back then. I hadn't realized it at the time, but I must have lacked the mental bandwidth to notice my surroundings.
"I think I’ll follow your example and stop for the day, too..."
"...In your case, Hinako, I'd call it 'slouching' rather than 'relaxing.'"
I gave a wry smile as Hinako closed her computer and slumped onto the desk.
Watching her, it occurred to me that her natural laziness was probably what kept her from burning out like Tennoji-san and I did.
"Want me to rub your shoulders?"
"...Please."
Hinako sat up, and I began to knead her shoulders.
(Wow, they're stiff...)
I kept quiet to avoid making her self-conscious, but her shoulders were much tighter than I'd expected. She looked like a delicate young girl, but she was still the Young Lady of the Konohana Group. A weight of responsibility I couldn't even imagine must have been resting on those shoulders.
"Nngh... ahh..."
As I worked on her neck, Hinako let out a contented sigh.
The least I could do was help her unwind for a while.
"Itsuki... you seemed troubled yesterday. Are you alright now?" Hinako asked, still facing forward.
"Yeah. I've decided to become a consultant."
"I see....I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do."
She said it with a soft, content smile. I'd have to do my best to live up to that expectation.
"How are your shoulders? Is this alright?"
"Mmm... they feel lighter. To thank you, I’ll rub yours next."
Once I finished with her shoulders, Hinako moved behind me. I sat back in the chair, and her slender fingers pressed into my shoulders.
(Ah... that actually feels great.)
I hadn't studied that much today, so maybe it was lingering fatigue from last night. I'd stayed up late researching consulting after my talk with Ms. Shizune.
"..."
Suddenly, Hinako’s hands stopped moving.
At the same time, a strange sensation brushed against the back of my head.
...What is she doing?
I glanced toward the window. Hinako hadn't noticed, but I could see her reflection in the glass.
She looked almost entranced as she leaned in toward my head. And then... sniff, sniff... she was smelling me.
"...Hinako?"
"!"
She jerked her face away instantly.
"W-W-What...?"
"No, just now..."
"I-I didn't do anything...!"
Hinako shook her head, her face turning bright red. She was so flustered that beads of sweat were forming on her brow.
(...I should probably wash my hair later.)
Maybe I'd had a case of night sweats. Keeping up with personal hygiene was a part of proper etiquette, after all.
◆
At one in the afternoon, after lunching with Hinako in the manor’s dining hall, I found myself in the kitchen washing dishes.
"Heh. So that's what you're doing these days."
Beside me, Yuri nodded along as she listened to my story.
Yuri was on duty as a member of the manor's kitchen staff. She had been working part-time here on weekends ever since summer vacation.
"Honestly, though, I'm worried about trying to consult with zero track record."
"Yeah, consulting seems like the kind of business where trust is everything."
I handed her a clean plate, and she dried it and shelved it with practiced ease.
"I mean, I'm happy for the help, but you really should go relax. Washing dishes is literally my job."
"I've got nothing else to do, so let me help. I cleared it with Ms. Shizune, anyway."
"...Well, if you say so."
I'd been doing chores since I was a kid, so this was actually a good way for me to unwind. Cleaning and dishwashing were satisfying because you could see the progress right away.
"Actually, sales at the diner have been down a bit lately."
"...Really?"
"Yeah. We usually bring in enough that we aren't really worried, though. I wonder if a consultant would be able to fix something like that."
The Hiramaru Diner, a local favorite for everyone—they had the mental fortitude to shrug off a small dip in sales.
Still, Hiramaru was a place that had looked after me for years. I couldn't just ignore it, so I tried to think of why sales might be down.
"...Hiramaru’s main revenue comes from the set meal menu, right?"
"Yeah. The daily special is definitely the best seller."
"I noticed it during the summer, but there are a lot more bento shops near the station now. Are you competing with them?"
"...Do bento and set meals really overlap that much?"
"The target audience is close. Plus, those chains have lower overhead."
I suspected they were fighting over the same pool of commuters heading home.
"The other shops sell side dishes too, and they can offer flexible discounts. For someone who worked late, discounted food is a huge draw."
"They sell based on price, so you could differentiate yourself by focusing on quality. Hiramaru's special is great because it's only five hundred yen, but you could try raising it by a hundred yen and using better ingredients instead..."
"I see..."
They'd probably have to start by adjusting their suppliers.
The daily special currently relied on being cheap, but if the alternative was a race to the bottom with corporate chains, focusing on quality was the smarter move. Hiramaru's food was genuinely good—they had a real shot if they played it that way.
"Look at you, you're already doing it."
"Huh?"
"Wasn't that exactly what a consultant does?"
She said it so naturally that my brain short-circuited for a second.
"...I see. This is also consulting."
Maybe I had been overthinking it.
The job was basically being a manager's right hand. When I thought of it that way, it wasn't all that different from what I'd been doing already. Lately, people in my class were constantly asking me for advice. That was the core of consulting.
I still needed to study, of course... but maybe there was no reason to be so anxious.
"Here, have this as thanks for the advice."
Yuri handed me a cold cup.
"...What’s this?"
"A prototype dessert. Tokoroten Ice Cream."
What kind of combination was that?
Inside the cup, ice cream was perched on top of tokoroten jelly. I took a spoonful of the mixture and gave it a try...
"It’s good!?"
"Yes! If you like it, then it's a winner!"
The ice cream was a rich raw caramel that paired perfectly with the clean taste of the tokoroten. Keeping the ice cream soft from the start was a smart move—it melted and coated the jelly perfectly.
"I’m gonna add this to our menu."
"I think it's a good idea, but are you really going to decide just based on my reaction?"
"Huh? Who do you think trained your taste buds?"
...True enough. I hadn't been eating her experiments since I was a kid for nothing.
"Can I go get Hina—Konohana-san? Since we've got some, I'd like her to try it."
"Oh, sure, I guess..."
Since I usually called her "Hinako" at the manor, I almost accidentally used her name in front of Yuri. I'd go find Hinako in the dining hall and let her try it.
"Ah, Itsuki-san."
Ms. Shizune caught me on my way to the dining hall.
"I’m sorry to bother you during your break. The dry cleaning has arrived; would you mind helping me carry the clothes?"
"Of course."
Ms. Shizune also knew that I enjoyed doing chores for a change of pace. I didn't have anything better to do in my room, so I decided to throw myself into the manor work today. I was drawing a high salary; I wanted to earn my keep.
"Hinako. Yuri made a dessert just now—"
After calling out to Hinako in the dining hall, I went to help Ms. Shizune.
◇
Intrigued by the promise of a delicious dessert, Hinako headed for the kitchen.
There, she found Itsuki’s childhood friend, Hirano Yuri.
"Um... Itsuki-san called for me, so I'm here..."
"Ah, yeah..."
They shared an awkward bow.
"..."
"..."
A minute of silence followed.
(T-This is so awkward...)
Hinako stared at the floor, her lips pursed.
There was a reason for this awkward silence. At the end of summer break, Hinako had experienced love for the first time. And the one who'd taught it to her was the girl standing before her.
But at the very last moment, Yuri had declared herself Hinako's rival.
...We are in love with the same person.
Since that realization, Hinako and Yuri had been avoiding one-on-one encounters. They'd swapped shoujo manga through Ms. Shizune, which kept things simple, but facing each other directly was bound to be nerve-wracking.
"...How are things going?" Yuri asked in a small voice.
By "how things are going," she obviously meant—how things were progressing with Itsuki.
How should she answer? Should she bluff, or tell the truth about her lack of progress?
Hinako fired up the high-performance brain she'd inherited from her parents and—
"...Th-Things are going perfectly."
She decided to bluff.
"H-Heh. Is that so? I see..."
Yuri tried to act like she didn't care. It was likely a bluff... but since Hinako was also bluffing, she couldn't point it out.
A fruitless time passed.
"...Specifically, what have you done?"
"Huh?"
Hinako blanked for a moment. In a panic, she began recounting recent events.
"W-Well. Just the other day, using the manga I borrowed as a reference, we went into the bath together—"
"—Wait a second."
Yuri’s face contorted.
"D-Did you actually try to pull off a manga move in real life...?"
"? Yes, I did... Is something wrong?"
Shoujo manga was a textbook of love for Hinako. What was wrong with using a textbook as a reference?
As Hinako tilted her head, Yuri looked at her with a pained expression.
"Look, Konohana-san. Manga isn't reality. If you try to pull that stuff in real life... it's a bit extreme."
"Pardon?"
"I mean, I gave them to you to help you learn, but they're still just fiction... If you do stuff like that in the real world, you'll probably just creep him out."
"!"
Hinako was speechless. Had she really been that far off the mark?
"Th-Then, for example... pressing against someone in a swimsuit while casually showing skin, like in that manga... in reality, that would be...?"
"...If you do that in reality, you're basically a pervert, right?"
"A-A pervert!?"
Hinako’s face twitched.
"...Eh? Wait, did you actually do that?"
"I-I didn't. I didn't do anything like that."
"No, no, no... from your reaction, you definitely did."
"I didn't. I swear I didn't."
Hinako stubbornly denied it, her face turning bright red. Yuri's eyes practically screamed "You totally did" as she stared her down.
(Was I... actually creeping Itsuki out...?)
She remembered the incident in the bathroom. So that was why Itsuki’s reaction had been so strange then...
"How about you, Hirano-san?"
Desperate to change the subject, Hinako turned the spotlight on Yuri.
"...As for me, nothing in particular has happened."
"Oh... I see."
Hinako gave Yuri a pitying look.
"Ugh, don't look at me like that. Besides, in the first place, you're the reason Itsuki and I were separated, aren't you?"
"............I am truly sorry for that."
"Agh! It was a joke! I was kidding, don't look so sad!"
Yuri panicked as Hinako looked genuinely apologetic.
"Look, I'm getting to work here part-time now. If anything, I'm grateful for the experience."
"But... I feel like a villain in a manga..."
"I told you before, didn't I? Manga and reality are different. I don't hold a grudge against you, Konohana-san."
Yuri seemed to be speaking from the heart. She wasn't just kind; she was strong, Hinako realized. She didn't blame others; she looked at things positively. That was why she didn't harbor grudges. She was the type to look at her own faults before pointing fingers.
"Here, have this as thanks for the advice."
Yuri handed the cup to Hinako.
Right, the whole point was a tasting. Hinako took the cup, tilting her head at the bizarre combination, but once she tried it...
"...It’s delicious. It has an unusual texture."
"Right? Heh, I outdid myself on this one."
Yuri beamed as she watched Hinako eat, daintily covering her mouth. The two of them locked eyes and burst into laughter simultaneously.
"Phew... enough. It's too much if we get all tense every time we're alone."
"I agree."
Hinako felt the same way.
"It's probably not even that rare to fall for the same guy," Yuri said, straightening her back and stretching.
Now that she mentioned it, it made sense. Someone she found attractive was naturally going to be attractive to others too.
"So, um, it’s okay if we just act normal, right?"
"...Yes. I would like to stay on good terms with you as well, Hirano-san."
There was no need for their relationship to be dramatic like some manga, or even for them to take it so seriously. There were no villains here. No protagonists. They could just be themselves.
As they always were, normal—
"...Hehe."
"What is it?"
Hinako let a smile escape, then shook her head.
She'd been the Young Lady of the Konohana Group for as long as she could remember. Watching ordinary people live their peaceful lives from the sidelines, she'd assumed her own path would always be restricted.
But love was different.
When she was in love, she was just an ordinary person...
No matter how flawlessly she played the part of the Young Lady, she couldn't maintain the facade when it came to this.
"I'm... just a normal girl right now, aren't I?"
Yuri tilted her head at Hinako’s murmur.
"Hirano-san, won't you eat with me?"
"Ah, yeah. I think I will."
Hinako lightly tapped the chair next to her, prompting Yuri to sit. Yuri sat down, her expression stiffening slightly.
"What’s wrong?"
"It's just... you're so beautiful, Konohana-san. I get a little nervous sitting next to you."
"Oh, I’m nervous too. You are a wonderful person, Hirano-san."
"Whoa... I didn't know you could make jokes like that."
It wasn't a joke... but she decided not to say anything more to avoid making her even more self-conscious.
In fact... maybe she could even show her her true self. Surely Yuri would understand. She'd likely accept Hinako Konohana's lazy, self-indulgent side as just another part of being "normal."
She thought that... but ultimately decided against it.
This secret was something she wanted to share only with Itsuki. It was a bit selfish, perhaps, but Hinako hoped she could be forgiven.
A girl who was Itsuki's childhood friend, who had a strong heart, and who knew so much more about the world than she did... Hirano Yuri.
Hinako Konohana found herself feeling jealous of her quite often.