Both Amanatsu and Shinonome stood there, struck utterly speechless.
Their gazes were locked squarely on mine and Sakura's intertwined hands.
Now then, how on earth am I supposed to handle this?
For the time being, I released her hand and gave my usual casual shrug.
"Yo. Long time no see."
"No way! You can't just brush it off with a greeting like that!"
As expected, even Amanatsu isn't that simple-minded.
Her eyes darted around in pure panic as she sputtered in confusion, her face rapidly shifting from pale white to bright red.
"H-Hatsukade-kun, you really were deceiving me!"
"There are complicated circumstances behind this."
"Liar! You told me every single day that you were in bed with a cold!"
"That was unavoidable. More importantly, why are the two of you even here?"
"T-That's... because Sakura wasn't coming to school and I was worried, so Shii-chan and I tracked down the location to check on her... and also because I wanted proof that the boy in that photo wasn't Hatsukade-kun!"
What are you, stalkers?
And Shinonome was in on it too, huh.
I remembered there being an awkward rift between the two of them, but apparently they had smoothed things over.
"Amanatsu, I'm glad you and Shinonome made up."
"Eh... Yeah, thank you."
"Shinonome, your suspension is over, too, right? Has the tension in the classroom cleared up?"
"Me? W-Well, thanks to you... Wait, don't try to change the subject by creating a heartwarming mood—!"
Yelling at the top of her lungs, Shinonome glared daggers at me.
"Seriously, what is going on here?! Nakina and I had a heart-to-heart and worked things out, but nobody told me Sakura was throwing her hat in the ring! Why are you two holding hands?! We came all the way here out of worry, and you're telling me you two were enjoying a romantic getaway?! Skipping school for a secret escape to a seaside town is way too much youth drama for me to handle!"
As Shinonome vented at breakneck speed, Sakura stepped forward and pointed a finger straight up into the air.
"Wait, everyone, this is a misunderstanding! Subaru and I—"
Subaru!?
Amanatsu and Shinonome cried out in perfect unison.
This is hopeless. It's absolute chaos.
"I'm so disillusioned, Hatsukade-kun! After claiming you weren't interested in romance at all, you just immediately caved for the cutest girl!"
"If you weren't interested in the first place, don't go doing such misleading things!"
Why am I the one taking all the heat here?
If someone doesn't explain things soon, this is going to spiral into unnecessary drama.
Just as the thought crossed my mind, Sakura gave me a look that said, Leave it to me.
I decided to obediently follow her lead.
The whole reason Sakura had talked about running off on a journey was that her friendship with Amanatsu had grown strained.
It wasn't my place to blab about the details.
I wanted to leave it in the hands of the people actually involved.
"Before you start badmouthing Subaru, both of you calm down and let me explain from the beginning. First of all, do you really think he's the kind of shallow guy who'd hold hands with just anyone without a reason?"
"N-Now that you mention it... wait, wouldn't he?"
"T-Then why were you holding hands with Hatsukade-kun, Sakura?!"
"Well... because we're dating?"
!?!?!?
My head hurts.
Her order of explanation is fatally flawed.
That's only going to make the misunderstanding ten times worse.
I was an idiot for leaving it to Sakura.
"I can't believe this, Sakura, this is a total betrayal! I liked him first, and I confided in you so many times!"
"Yeah, exactly, that practically makes you a homewrecker! Besides, you already have your darling, don't you, Sakura?!"
As Amanatsu and Shinonome voiced their fierce outrage, Sakura sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.
"Ehehe, well, you see... that darling turned out to be Subaru."
—!?
"It turns out Subaru was the one who saved me back in elementary school."
"...Elementary school."
"If that's the case, does that mean I'm the one furthest behind?"
Both of them glared at me at the exact same time.
Give me a break already...
Looking dejected, Amanatsu fidgeted with her fingers and peered up at me.
"Hatsukade-kun, are you really dating Sakura?"
"..."
"You were holding hands because you're dating, right? Because, just like Sakura said, you're not the type of person to hold hands with someone who doesn't matter to you."
She places trust in me in the strangest ways.
Even so, summarizing this whole mess in a single sentence is impossible.
"I am dating Sakura, but only on the condition that it's strictly for one week."
"...What does that mean?"
"Ask Sakura for the details later. But the reason I skipped school this past week was that Sakura was talking about going on a trip even if it meant repeating a year."
"Does that mean... the message where I asked you for help?"
"Yeah. At that rate, Sakura was about to run away from school entirely. So I chased after her, and through a series of circumstances, we ended up dating."
"That really happened...? I-Is Sakura coming back to school?"
"She's agreed to."
Sakura nodded in confirmation.
"That's right, Nakina. We're not genuinely dating."
That should cover the bare minimum needed to explain things.
I looked at Amanatsu.
As I did, tears welled up in her eyes.
"Ugh, I'm sorry!"
With that sudden shout, she spun on her heel and bolted away.
...Why does it always end up like this?
◇
Why am I chasing after a girl two days in a row?
Sprinting down a gentle slope, I called out to her back.
"H-Hey, Amanatsu!"
"Ugh, don't come near meee!"
Passersby gave me bewildered, suspicious looks.
Glancing over my shoulder, I could see Sakura and Shinonome far in the distance.
Apparently, Shinonome was helping Sakura carry her heavy luggage, which made it impossible for her to run, so they had fallen behind.
Running wasn't easy for me either with my heavy backpack bouncing against my shoulders.
However, for better or worse, Amanatsu's chronic lack of exercise meant the distance between us was rapidly shrinking.
"Hey!"
"Eek!"
She made a sharp turn and darted down a side street to the right.
Chasing after her, I found Amanatsu crying in a flustered heap, trapped at a dead end... She's way too clumsy for her own good.
"Why are you crying?"
"Because, I... sniff... while Sakura was going through such a hard time, I was just being jealous that the two of you might be hitting it off!"
"..."
"I-I'm a failure of a friend. I'm the absolute worst!"
I felt the tension completely drain out of me.
I had assumed Amanatsu was crying because she couldn't bear the thought of Sakura and me dating, even temporarily.
"Both you and Sakura worry about each other like complete idiots, don't you?"
"Huh?"
"That's why I told you to just talk things out sooner. If you had, it never would have come to this."
"Hatsukade-kun?"
"Since we're on the subject, I'll just lay it all out. I told you before that I had no intention of dating anyone while I was in high school. I'm taking that back."
"W-Why!?"
"A lot has been on my mind. That doesn't mean I've fallen for anyone in particular... Just that, if the feelings are there, maybe giving romance a shot isn't so bad after all."
Hearing myself say it felt ridiculous.
Why do I have to make a confession like this in broad daylight?
Amanatsu furrowed her brows, looking like she was about to burst into tears again.
"Even so, someone like me who hurt you when you were already traumatized by a fake confession has no right to..."
"How long are you going to keep dragging that out? Move forward already."
"B-But, but—!"
Good grief, there really is nothing but high-maintenance people around me.
With her back pressed against the dead-end wall, I reached out and planted my arm beside her, cutting off her escape.
"Hatsukade-kun!?"
"Did you already forget? I didn't care about any of our classmates, yet you were the only one I kept my eye on. And the reason I forgave that fake confession in the first place was because it was you, Amanatsu..."
I locked eyes with her so she couldn't look away, making sure every word hit home.
"There's no way I could ever hate you, Amanatsu."
"—!"
"If anything, I'm leaning toward liking you."
"Ghk?!"