Phew, looks like she's finally calmed down.
I patted Amanatsu on the head as she stood stiff as a board.
"Do you get it now?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Then let's head back."
"...It's not fair that Sakura's the only one."
"The only one what?"
"I was the very first person you got close to, but you still call me by my last name... I want you to call me Nakina."
Amanatsu said this with her face burning bright red.
"Let's go, Nakina."
"J-Just one more time."
What a pain.
"Nakina."
"Guh, i-impossible... I can't breathe, I can't even take a single step."
You're the one who told me to say it. What are you even doing?
As I turned around in exasperation, I found Sakura and Shinonome standing right behind me before I'd even noticed, looking at me with half-lidded, judgmental eyes.
"Womanizer."
"Fraud."
Why has Sakura turned against me, too?
Did I really do something that bad?
"...Standing around talking like this is just a waste of time. I'm sure everyone has things they want to say. For now, let's head somewhere we can relax and talk properly. Leave it to me—I know just the place."
"Just out of curiosity, where would that be?"
At Sakura's question, the corners of my mouth curled into a smirk.
"A famous shop that serves this town's signature specialty."
Naturally, its online reviews boasted a high four-star average.
The customer satisfaction rate was off the charts, and I'd been wanting to check it out at least once.
Its name...
Seaside Octopus Cracker Shop: Takobee (Pets Welcome).
◇
As expected, my instincts were spot-on.
"Pets welcome" meant there were customers who brought their dogs along.
As I looked around while nibbling on my octopus cracker, I spotted all sorts of adorable little dogs.
What is this fluttering excitement in my chest...?
Surrounded by such heart-melting, protective-instinct-stirring cuteness, I felt like something inside me was about to shatter its limits.
And then there was this octopus cracker.
Lavishly using an entire local octopus, it was packed with the concentrated, savory essence of the octopus itself.
It was leagues ahead of the store-bought crackers you find at the supermarket.
Heh. A smile spread across my face unbidden.
Crunching on her cracker with a crisp, pleasant snap, Amanatsu stared at me with murky, dead eyes.
"What about our Hulk...? This is cheating on him."
"Don't forget about Pii-chan, either! That's totally cheating!"
Why would it be?
"Rooney wags his tail at literally anyone, so he doesn't have a special sweetheart anyway!"
You, please just be quiet for a second.
"It's my prerogative to think every good dog is cute, isn't it?"
"...Dog philanderer,"
Nakina muttered resentfully.
Now you're just making things up.
Well, it seems this is hardly the time to leisurely enjoy octopus crackers and the charms of adorable pups.
Sitting around a table on the terrace, we all looked at one another.
Who will be the first to speak...? That probing tension drifted through our exchanged glances.
The first to raise her hand was Sakura.
"I need to apologize to Nakina first. My explanation earlier was half-baked, after all."
"...Sakura."
"I'm sorry, Nakina. Even after promising to support you so much, I ended up betraying you. I didn't know either—that my darling was actually Subaru. When I realized, I had no idea what to do. At first, I thought about giving up. Because to me, friendship and love are just as important as each other..."
"But," Sakura said, her brows knitting into a troubled smile.
"In the end, I just couldn't. I can't help falling in love with Subaru. I've adored him ever since we were kids, and I've spent my whole life thinking only about him. I even tried to physically put distance between us by repeating a year, but a certain someone wouldn't let me,"
she added, shooting a meaningful wink in my direction.
"That's why I'm not going to back down, and I don't plan on holding back. I'm definitely going to date Subaru—that's how I feel right now. An apology might not be enough for you to forgive me. I know I couldn't blame you if you cut ties with me, Nakina... but these are my honest feelings. I'm so, so sorry!"
Sakura bowed her head.
Seeing her standing proud after putting everything on the line, Nakina's eyes went wide, and fresh tears welled up in them.
Springing up from her seat, she forced out a choked, anguished voice.
"...No... I was the first one to get close to Hatsukade-kun. I don't want that."
Sakura shrank back slightly at those words.
However, Nakina quickly pressed on.
"But the thought of losing you as a friend, Sakura, is just as unbearable... So I forgive you."
"Nakina!"
"Ugh... besides, I understand painfully well why you'd fall for Hatsukade-kun."
Cheeks flushing bright red, Nakina glared at me with eyes full of pure spite and thrust an accusing finger in my direction.
"Actually, isn't all of this entirely Hatsukade-kun's fault in the first place?! I bet you've been doing the same kind of things you just did to me to everyone else, haven't you?!"
"What are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean."
"I'm talking about pinning me against the wall and patting my head!"
When Nakina shouted that, Sakura chimed in with, "Come to think of it, he did that to me too," and Shinonome agreed, "He did it to me as well."
"What's so wrong with that? Is it really something to get mad over?"
"You have zero sense of boundaries!"
"Hmm."
I see.
My dad does that to my mom all the time, and back in the day, I used to do it routinely with my childhood friend, so I assumed it was just the natural thing to do when comforting or praising someone.
Now, though, I'm a first-year high school boy stepping onto the messy stage of romance.
I should probably be more mindful of these things and work on fixing them.
"Understood. I will refrain from doing any of that from now on. After all, physical contact with a girl you're not even dating isn't a good look."
"!?"
Glared at by Sakura and Shinonome with expressions that clearly screamed Look what you've done, Nakina broke into a cold sweat and began flailing in a panic.
"W-Well, that's a bit too extreme in the other direction! It feels kind of lonely, or rather... maybe on a case-by-case basis, every once in a while?"
Then what was the point of this whole conversation?
That makes the criteria far too vague... No, maybe searching for a single correct answer is my own bad habit.
Perhaps what Nakina is trying to say is that romance is fundamentally ambiguous from the start—there are no clear-cut right answers, and everything is just one big gray area.
"Fine, I get it. I'll do my best to handle it appropriately."
"I wonder if you really will..."
Just as Nakina slumped back into her seat with a dejected tilt of her head...
"Wait just a damn minute!"
Shinonome slammed her hands onto the table with a loud bang, jumping up to take her place.
"Isn't it completely messed up that I'm the only one being left in the dust here?! In the first place, I haven't even told Hatsukade that I like him yet, but you guys are already driving the conversation forward assuming that I do!"
"Wait, seriously? Even you, Shii-chan?!"
"It's complicated enough already, Sakura, so shut up! Zip your lips!"
"Y-Yes, ma'am."
Sakura quickly clamped both hands over her mouth and nodded rapidly.
"Hey, Hatsukade!"
"What?"
"Ugh! I told you I had something to tell you once my suspension was lifted, but when I showed up at school, you weren't even there! And while you were gone, I was literally going through hell for an entire week trying to make up with Nakina, so what on earth is even happening anymore?!"
Just what went down between the two of you?
"On top of that, every single day, my mom and dad have been having these totally clueless, awkward expectations, pestering me about when Hatsukade-kun is coming over to visit... Aaargh, this is the absolute worst!"
Clutching her head in her hands, Shinonome caught her ragged breath, then spoke up with an embarrassed expression.
"I-I like Hatsukade too, okay...? Damn it."
Pouting her lips, she turned her face away as if sulking.
"After you saved me like that, how could I not?"
She looked away petulantly.
"...I'm not just some extra tagging along behind Nakina and Sakura."
The marble inside Shinonome's half-finished bottle of ramune sparkled brilliantly as it caught the sunlight.
Hearing someone express their feelings so directly and earnestly is far more dazzling than I'd ever imagined.
I swore that I would change.
In that case, I should convey what I'm feeling right now with honest words as well.
"Shinonome."
"W-What?"
"I like you too."
"...Heart flutter."