I made my way to the third-floor empty classroom with a rice ball in one hand.
The room was located in a wing housing the science and home economics labs; unless there was a class in session, the area was virtually deserted.
(Wait, I thought this room was usually locked...)
Despite my doubts, I placed my hand on the sliding door, and it opened with a click.
Inside, there were only about six desks and chairs clustered at the front; the rest of the space was vacant.
"You're late, Ryouta~"
When I stepped inside, Miyama was already there, mid-lunch.
"S-Sorry."
I offered a quick apology as I set my rice ball down on the desk next to her.
"Is that all you're having for lunch again, Ryouta?"
"Ah, yeah."
Miyama looked at me with a worried expression, likely because my meal was just a single rice ball, exactly like yesterday.
Part of it was simply because I was short on cash, but I also had a small appetite to begin with and didn't require much food.
Miyama, on the other hand, was hungrily devouring a takeout version of the katsu curry she had been eating the day before.
(Just how much does she love katsu curry?)
"You really went to the arcade yesterday, didn't you?"
"W-Well, you went through the trouble of telling me about it, so I felt like I had to."
"Even so, most people would just flake if they really didn't want to go, right?"
"Is... that how it is?"
"As I thought, you're a really earnest guy, Ryouta~"
Miyama spoke through a mouthful of katsu curry.
(I couldn't tell if she was praising me or making fun of me; it was a fine line.)
"By the way, Ryouta, do you like Yuria or something?"
"Wh-What? No, no way."
It would be downright presumptuous for a lowly nobody like me to claim I liked Ichinose.
"Is that so? You're always stealing glances at Yuria, so I just assumed you liked her."
Are you kidding me...? So there was another witness to the "staring-intently-at-Ichinose’s-thighs" incident besides the victim herself.
I would have to make sure to look at her thighs and chest in moderation from now on...
"I see~. I totally thought you liked Yuria, so I decided to help you out."
"H-Help?"
"Yeah. Actually, Airi was planning to go to the neighboring town's arcade yesterday to check things out for herself. But when I heard from you that things were happening between you and Yuria, I stepped aside and let you handle it. I thought Airi could be the Cupid of Love~"
Cupid of Love, my foot. This girl was a total airhead.
If Miyama had gone there in my place yesterday, the Beautiful Girl Trio would be on the verge of total collapse right now!
"Regardless, who did you hear that from? The info about Ichinose being at that arcade, I mean."
"From a friend in another class. She commutes from the neighboring town and apparently saw Yuria entering the arcade near the station. Another friend gave me the same info, so it piqued Airi's interest."
"Heh... you have a lot of friends. You have a broad social circle, Miyama."
"Huh? My face isn't broad, it's tiny! I use a beauty roller all the time, you know! Look, look!"
Miyama desperately tried to prove her point, leaning toward me while striking a cutesy pose.
That wasn't what I meant at all.
"But in the end, Yuria wasn't there, right? I guess my friends must have misidentified her."
"I... I wonder..."
"If I asked Yuria directly about going to an arcade, she wouldn't give me an answer, would she?"
"I wouldn't know about that."
There was no way she could answer.
She could never admit—not even if her life depended on it—that the one and only Yuria Ichinose frequented an arcade specifically to win prize figures of busty bishoujo.
"Come to think of it, Ryouta—this morning, before Airi and Yuria arrived, weren't you talking to Rui-chan about something?"
"Eh...?"
"Airi was curious about that. What were you talking to Rui-chan about?"
Had Miyama invited me to lunch again just to dig for that information?
And this time, instead of the school cafeteria, it was in an empty classroom where we could speak one-on-one...
(Well, from Miyama's perspective, I'm the only person who knows her secret. It's not strange for her to be wary if she sees me talking to her close friend, Kuroki.)
I suppose this meant I still didn't have Miyama's trust. It was to be expected, but it still stung a little.
"I'm not so loose-lipped that I'd go around blabbing about your secret, you know. Is that what you're suspicious of?"
"Eh? What do you mean? Why are you bringing that up now?"
Miyama licked her spoon, looking at me with a blank, somewhat vacant expression.
...What?
"N-No, I just mean... I thought you were probing me because you thought I might have leaked the secret."
"Sigh... Ryouta, you don't understand Airi at all! Airi isn't capable of doing anything that complicated, you know? If I suspected you of leaking the secret, I'd just ask you straight out!"
"Is... that so?"
"Actually, what Airi wants to know isn't about you, but why Rui-chan was in such a good mood!"
G-Good mood...?
What did she mean by that?
I tried to recall the conversation I'd had with Kuroki.
(She didn't seem particularly happy to me...)
"Rui-chan, you see... whenever she's talking to boys, she always has a super serious face."
"A... serious face?"
"How should I put it? It's like her eyes are screaming at the person she's talking to, 'I have zero interest in anything you're saying.'"
"Does that mean she's a man-hater like Ichinose?"
"Hmm, she doesn't seem to be a man-hater like Yuria, but... it's more like she looks down on boys?"
Looks down on men...?
Certainly, Kuroki was a perfect superhuman; her academic and athletic abilities were far superior to any of the boys in our year.
Because she was so perfect, did she harbor some twisted belief that the opposite sex was inherently inferior to her?
"In other words, Kuroki doesn't hate men, but she views them as an 'inferior species' that is beneath her...?"
"Ah, that might be it! Airi is too airheaded to really get it, but that's probably where she and Yuria differ!"
Yuria Ichinose was the type of man-hater who simply didn't want to associate with men, preferring the company of her female friends.
In contrast, did Kuroki subscribe to some biased ideology where she didn't even consider men to be on the same level of existence?
Was that what Miyama was trying to say?
(If that's the case, Kuroki has a pretty nasty personality...)
"And yet, Rui-chan looked like she was having fun when she was talking to you, Ryouta..."
"I-Is that so?"
"I thought so on the day of the seat change, too. She was in a good mood when she introduced you to us."
Now that she mentioned it, Kuroki had seemed unusually cheerful when she was explaining to the other two that we had attended the same middle school.
"I know! Rui-chan must like you, Ryouta!"
"Hah?"
What was this busty airhead talking about?
"That's why her expression softened only when she was talking to you! I'm sure of it!"
"That's way too simplistic... Kuroki and I had zero contact until the seat change, you know."
"But you were in the same middle school, right?! I bet Rui-chan fell for you somewhere you didn't even notice! Kyaa!"
The busty airhead squealed, cupping her cheeks with both hands.
This was hopeless...
"Ah... Airi just thought of something good~"
I had nothing but a terrible feeling about whatever she was thinking.