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Something was wrong.
Recognising this, Sakurako sets down her drink and frowns.
It’s been a while since she’s last seen Reika but she was acting awfully weird today… weirder than usual, at least.
Sakurako watches as Reika continues to fidget with one of her curls blankly.
It’s been a good while since Sakurako brought up Takumi but none of Reika’s usual expressions had surfaced yet.
According to Sakurako’s empirical data, there was a particular way that Reika reacted every time she brought up her latest developments with Takumi.
Normally, as the conversation would start, Reika would be glib with a carefree smile that screamed ‘I don’t really caaareee~’ and respond with half-assed ‘I see~’s and ‘how nice~’s while being satiated with some kind of treat.
Then, if the conversation still stayed on Takumi and if Reika finished her dessert, she’d get the tiniest bit more grumpy.
The aforementioned grumpiness usually manifested in a mixture of three ways; bulging eyes, twitching smiles, or, well, actually the third only happened when Sakurako talked about what happened last Christmas, but the third was when Reika would start shooting off these laser-beam-like looks of unbelievable jealousy that lesser women than Sakurako would have been frightened by.
Anyway, the point was that there should have been some kind of reaction from Reika by now if things were normal.
But, contrary to the pattern Sakurako had come to expect, there just wasn’t.
No, far from it, Reika was just absent-mindedly nodding along to Sakurako’s every word with an expression that indicated that she wasn’t all there.
Just that was concerning enough but what really set off alarm bells in Sakurako’s head was the realisation that the tompouce in front of Reika hadn’t even been touched yet.
An untouched dessert ordered by Reika.
It was completely unprecedented and it was creeping Sakurako out.
They’ve already exchanged the customary “how have things been?” pleasantries with each other earlier but clearly there was something Reika was keeping from her.
Not one for tiptoeing with close friends, Sakurako cuts to the chase.
“Reika, something happened in your life, didn’t it?” She asks but it comes across more as a statement.
“EH-”
Reika jumps in her seat but her knees bang hard against the table, and she keels over immediately and clutches her kneecaps.
Despite the pain though, she manages to look at Sakurako- albeit startled and with faint tears forming faintly at the edges of her eyes.
“W… What makes you think that?”
Unperturbed, Sakurako deftly cleans up the small beverage spills induced from the minor Reika-made earthquake.
“That.” Sakurako points to Reika’s untouched dessert with her free hand. “And your body language.”
“Oh.” Upon being reminded of the tasty treat in front of her, Reika picks up her fork. Then after savouring a bite of tompouce, she looks at Sakurako again. “Body language though… Was it my eyes? I made sure to look straight at you.”
“You did. But you were trying too hard because sometimes you just stopped blinking.”
Which was honestly really freaky.
“So, what’s got you so worked up anyway?” Sakurako asks as she passes along the soaked serviettes to an attentive staff member.
“Uh…” Reika opens her mouth, about to say something, but she quickly shuts it again.
She does the same fish-like motion three more times before Sakurako has enough of waiting and takes her chances with guessing instead.
It’s easy to figure out someone’s weakness if you just observe them and Reika was an extremely easy target that Sakurako’s practiced on many many times before.
Initiating her cross-examination, Sakurako gives Reika a once over.
Let’s see…
Clenched posture…
A tight grip on her fork…
And…
Slightly flushed cheeks…
Oh.
Was that it?
“Did someone confess to y-”
“UGYAAHH–”
Reika suddenly yells as if a deeply repressed memory that she’s been desperately trying to keep herself from thinking about had just resurfaced back into her consciousness.
Reika’s sudden screaming was drawing a bunch of eyes to their table and Sakurako damn well feels her eardrums bursting.
Panicked at being exposed to both an influx of unwanted attention and the gradually increasing likelihood of going deaf, Sakurako delivers a swift kick to Reika’s shin under the table in hopes of shutting her the hell up.
“Ow! That hurt, Sakura-chan!”
The strange sounds that were being emitted from Reika’s throat ceased as Reika cries out in pain.
The shut the hell up shin kick did the trick.
“We’re in a public space, Reika. Control yourself!” Sakurako hisses.
All the stares from surrounding tables were making Sakurako conscious and she felt a bit bad about the kick but what caught Sakurako’s attention the most right now was that-
“Someone really did confess to you.” Sakurako mutters, in slight disbelief.
-that someone actually did confess to Reika for real.
It was a strange revelation for Sakurako.
She didn’t know quite how to feel.
It was like the news was both unexpected yet expected at the same time but, that being said, it wasn’t like Sakurako thought it was impossible for anybody to like Reika.
Sakurako would never admit it to her face, lest that girl gets carried away, but, objectively speaking, Reika had a unique charm about her and was inexplicably lovable.
In… fictional media, they called it ‘gap moe’, didn’t they? Sakurako thinks back to the shoujo manga Takumi’s older sister used to lend her.
Whatever the term was, Sakurako supposed it fit Reika to a T what with her initial flawless countenance shrouding a soft-hearted ditz who most people probably couldn’t help but be endeared to.
So, really, it was only a matter of time until someone who knew the goof underneath the mask fell for her.
It was just that Sakurako hadn’t expected anything to happen until after Reika’s left Zui’ran where her hallway presence allegedly bore similarities to nobles’ processions.
“N-no! Erm, um, well, maybe actually… but I’m sure it was just a flight of whimsy! Or a joke! Ah, well, he said it wasn’t but-”
Sakurako stares as she witnesses Reika actively trying to make sense of her own words.
A joke…?
Would there really be a bastard out there that would confess to the daughter of the Kisshouins as a joke? Especially with that older brother of hers?
If death was the punishment for that crime then it would be a mercy.
“Who was it?”
“... Someone from my year.”
So, despite the noble processions, it was a Zui’ran kid after all.
Reika did spend most of her time in Zui’ran so it made sense but to only give that much information…
How uselessly evasive.
“Give me more details.” Sakurako drills down on her.
What was his name? What was he like? Did she even know much about him? How did the confession go?
“Ugh.” Reika grunts, not wanting to talk any more about her own potential romance for once. “Um, Sakura-chan, recently at school Akizawa-ku-”
“We can talk about Takumi later.”
Reika stumbles back, not having expected her failsafe to have, well, failed.
Sakurako really wasn’t giving up.
Pressured by Sakurako’s intense stare, Reika folds and surrenders a few more tidbits of information.
“Um, well, we do know of each other. He’s fairly popular…”
‘Popular’.
Keyword extracted.
Hearing that was enough for Sakurako to plunge a guess in.
“Is it the Kaburagi or Enjou guy?”
“GUHEH-” Reika almost chokes on her spit but gets herself back together before she causes another scene. “Why are those two the only options…?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Those guys are the definition of ‘popular’.”
Even in Yurinomiya, the Emperor and his friend were a common topic. It was to the point that Sakurako knew more about them than most of her classmates.
Reika squirms in her seat, looking as if she wanted to leave, but Sakurako holds her by her wrist, grip strength as strong as ever.
“... The latter.”
Oh man.
“You mean the Enjou Shuusuke confessed to you?”
In a reversal to mere moments ago, this time it was Reika’s turn to desperately try to calm a yelling Sakurako.
Sakurako didn’t even know Reika and him were close enough for that to happen. The exceedingly rare times where his name did come up in their chats, Reika had always looked disinterested. Just where did all this come from?
“Why are you so surprised? You’re the one that presented him as one of the options.” Reika says as she pleads for Sakurako to sit back in her seat.
Surprised?
In Sakurako’s eyes, it was natural to still be surprised. That man was practically an idol for crying out loud.
Even though she’s from a different school and her family’s prestige was never enough to really even exist in the same circles as the Enjous, Sakurako still knew more about him than she would most strangers.
He was second only to Zui’ran’s Emperor in terms of their age group’s most eligible bachelors. That man was a big shot. If the Yurinomiya girls knew about this then–
…
Sakurako wills herself to calm down, breathing out as she slowly sinks back into her seat.
She massages her temple and watches Reika again.
“… You’re blushing.” Sakurako notes.
“I-I am not-”
“Oi… do you actually like him or something?”
“Wha- have some delicacy! Are you an uncle, Sakura-chan? And no, I don’t thi… wait, I mean, no! I don’t!”
Although her face was as red as a tomato, Reika’s denial was scathing.
If Sakurako’s intuition was right then Enjou Shuusuke had a long road ahead of him; one mired with Reika’s self-sabotaging obstinance and insufferable density.
“You sure…? You’re blushing even harder.” Sakurako points out dully.
Was such a deep red really just from embarrassment?
“Ugh, it’s not… it’s not that. It’s just, it was… um, it was just unexpected from him… and it’s the first time anyone has even told me they were interested in me so I-” Reika’s words fall off to a mutter as she feebly tries to quell her warm cheeks with her hands.
The more Reika stumbled over her words, the more Sakurako was convinced that there was something more to the situation.
Reika rarely ever brought up the Emperor and his friend on her own initiative.
However, recently Reika has been making occasional complaints about ‘some persistent nuisances dragging her about here and there’.
Although she never elaborated on the identities of those ‘persistent nuisances’, citing client confidentiality (whatever that meant), Sakurako’s sixth sense tells her that it had something to do with Enjou Shuusuke.
Namely because Reika was using the same exact tone of denial as the one she had on when Sakurako once made an offhand comment about her sounding close to said ‘persistent nuisances’.
Reika was definitely hiding something and Sakurako was going to wring her out for everything she’s got.
Before everything else though, the first thing Sakurako needed to know were the details of the aftermath.
“... By the way, how did you respond to his confession?” She asks.
At Sakurako's probing, Reika lets go of her cheeks and, in a disconcertingly stark contrast to her previous waffling, answers the newest question simply.
“Oh. I turned him down.”
…
“WHAT?!”
--
Nearly one month later, Sakurako meets up with Reika again.
“A lot’s happened since last time.” Sakurako recalls Reika explaining over the phone tentatively before she proceeded to dump a bombshell that Sakurako spent the next half-hour losing her mind over.
So this time, as promised from that same phone call, Reika has her new boyfriend in tow.
The man stands out and, standing next to Reika who already stands out by herself, they make an especially conspicuous pair.
Enjou Shuusuke may not know it but he damn well owed Sakurako his life. At least that’s what Sakurako thinks- if she really did manage to help convince Reika to consider him as an actual option past her initial rejection.
“This, um, is Shuusuke-sama.” Reika mumbles and presents him like she herself was a bit unsure about who exactly she was introducing and what their relationship was.
Sakurako’s only ever caught glimpses of Enjou Shuusuke from a distance before; at Zui’ran cultural festivals that she mostly attended to keep love rivals at bay.
No man will ever match up to Takumi in her eyes and Sakurako was and is still a staunch Buddhist in a sea of Christians but, witnessing Enjou Shuusuke up close, Sakurako has to admit she sort of gets it now.
‘It’ being why so many girls at Yurinomiya talked about him like the second coming of his Lordship, Jesus Christ.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Enjou Shuusuke, Reika’s boyfriend.”
The Enjou Shuusuke greets Sakurako with a smile so radiant that it nearly made an unsuspecting passerby walk into a pole.
Radiant smiles aside; it was a relief that, between Reika and him, at least one of them seemed to know what their relationship was.
Sakurako bows her head in return.
“It’s nice to meet you as well. I’m Fukioka Sakurako. I’ve heard about you from Reika-san. Congratulations on your relationship.”
It was hitting Sakurako that this was Reika’s real boyfriend.
Not some imaginary one she had created in her head after finally being driven mad by lonely desperation, or “Romeo”, or some other shady master of the library type of character.
No, Enjou Shuusuke wasn’t a hoax; he was a real human being made of flesh and blood and maybe divine favoritism too who knows.
Sakurako may as well be forever surprised that a celebrity like him likes her best friend. She didn’t think their circles would ever overlap but, then again, Sakurako becoming friends with Reika in the first place was always a bit of an anomaly that wouldn’t have happened if not for Takumi’s sociable nature.
Life had a strange way of connecting people.
“Thank you. Reika and I have just begun dating recently so I’ve only heard about you not long ago myself. Still, I hope to get to know you better, Fukioka-san.”
If he could succeed in getting his girlfriend to believe that they were dating then that would be a ‘likewise’.
The sarcastic comeback catapults straight into Sakurako’s thoughts but it stays there unsaid.
The man looked and acted perfect but some of the information Reika had given her of Enjou Shuusuke didn’t quite mesh with the first impression she had just received of him.
She’ll have to keep watch.
There might be something underneath the surface– there typically was with people.
Sakurako may have had a bias but it was one that was substantiated by two out of three people in this interaction. It was just a matter of seeing if that assumption applied to the unknown third as well.
Plus…
“As Reika-san’s friend-”
Reika’s head snaps to her, a betrayed look plastered distinctly on her otherwise graceful features.
“... As Reika-san’s best friend,”
Take two.
Sakurako does a mental sigh and corrects herself.
Immediately the look of betrayal turns into one of goofy happiness, marking the first time she’s smiled since meeting up with Sakurako.
“I look forward to getting to know you better as well, Enjou-sama.”
… Plus, as Reika’s best friend, it was her responsibility to make sure she was safe from any con artists.
--
They meet again in a few weeks.
It’s been tough finding time with graduation fast approaching, but Sakurako makes it work on her part with some impressive schedule shuffling.
They invited Aoi as well but it was an obvious decline on her end due to the rigorous academic requirements needed for her desired university. The last time they saw her, poor Aoi was nodding off at the table. As such, Aoi couldn’t make it work and that was fine.
Now, as for Reika…
Sakurako glances over to the girl sprawled out half-dead on Sakurako’s kotatsu.
It was fairly obvious that this one likely didn’t make it work either but stubbornly wanted to hang out and play anyway; at least judging by how she begins freestyling mnemonics under her breath every single time she thinks Sakurako’s attention has waned.
It’s been a few weeks since Reika’s stopped being single but, contrary to what Sakurako would have expected, Reika has barely spoken about her new boyfriend at all.
Despite having met him for herself last time, Sakurako was still unsure what to make of Reika’s new boyfriend. Even though Sakurako was well versed in understanding people, she had a tough time reading him.
“Reika, is that man treating you right?”
Sakurako asks just as Reika was about to fire off yet another round of mnemonics.
Sakurako’s had enough. If this continued any longer, she was fairly certain that she’d be plagued with nightmares starring Reika’s zealous chanting.
Instead of being subjected to practice exam materials, she’d rather hear about that unfortunate sap of a boy that Reika was dating.
Back with Reika’s old crushes, Reika always took every opportunity to rave about how handsome, how dashing, or how cool they were and grandly retell every minor interaction she’s had with them.
This time with her actual boyfriend, she was radio silent. Only skittishly surrendering the tiniest morsels of information when asked.
If things were going well, wouldn’t Reika have started talking about taking up cooking classes again or something?
Forcing people to eat her abominable cooking was one of her preferred methods of showing love after all.
“Huh?! What are you saying all of a sudden, Sakura-chan?!”
Reika sits back up as her eyes widened at Sakurako’s unexpected question.
“Of course Shuusuke-sama is treating me right. Is there any reason you think he’s not?!”
Is that so…
Sakurako casts her a dubious look as she drums her fingers against the table.
“Why are you still so nervous whenever I bring him up then?”
She asks her directly.
As of now, the only thing Sakurako really knew of their relationship was that they went on dates at least two times a week.
Even if Reika was initially hesitant on him and didn’t seem to hold him too favourably, Enjou Shuusuke had the impression of being someone who’d know how to rectify Reika’s unease.
In Sakurako’s opinion, Reika’s love-crazed mode should have already activated by now. At least if he played his cards right.
“I, erm… there’s nothing wrong with Shuusuke-sama. Ah, well, maybe there was but-”
Then again, Sakurako was pretty sure she was playing ALL of her cards with Takumi right but they still weren’t a couple somehow.
So maybe he was just in a similarly unfortunate situation as Sakurako was and they both possessed the same problem of liking unbelievably dense people.
“-uh, well, to be frank with you, Sakura-chan. It’s just that I’m still not used to everything, so…”
Reika continues babbling but suddenly trails off as she glances down shyly at the cup in her hands.
It’s only because Sakurako is inadvertently familiar with Reika’s weird thought processes that she realises what she was doing.
Tea divination.
Of all times, why was she doing that now? In mid-conversation?
Sakurako may recognise Reika’s weird thought processes but she will never understand the mechanisms behind them.
She stares at Reika who squirms underneath her scrutiny but remains steadfastly focused on divining tea leaves.
Her behaviour really was different from all of her previous crushes.
Far from the ditzy and excitable persona she typically had when it came to talking about her loves, Reika was a lot more subdued this time…
Her behaviour was closer to a normal person’s; less fervent, more demure, and just a tad bit maidenly.
It was a very stark contrast to the desperate airhead Sakurako was used to.
‘Was Reika’s uncharacteristic quietness a good sign?’ Sakurako wonders.
“Oh, the leaves are…” Reika mumbles under her breath.
Based on Reika’s quick defense of him earlier, it doesn’t seem like Reika dislikes him or that it’s a doomed relationship but, from Sakurako’s brief encounter with Enjou Shuusuke last time, it didn’t take a genius to know which one of them was more certain about the other.
Stepping back on the situation, Sakurako found it kind of funny actually.
Reika didn’t realise it herself but she practically had the man wrapped around her little finger.
It was amusing to imagine Shuusuke of the Enjou family trying his best to get a girl to like him, much less that goofball.
Well.
To his credit, he was probably getting there. If not now, then eventually.
Surely not even Reika can resist the universal appeal of an earnest hot guy trying to get you to like him back.
It’s when Sakurako contemplates this that she sees the edges of Reika’s lips curl up at whatever the result was of Reika’s impromptu tasseography.
“Hm, well. Keep me updated if anything happens.”
This was love sickness, after all, Sakurako concludes.
The rest of their hangout goes by peacefully before Sakurako remembers a small eccentricity of Reika’s.
“Say, you mentioned Romeo blared off Orff’s Fortuna for you before, right? Does Enjou-sama have a theme song?”
“Oh, yes! It’s Satie’s Gnossiennes.”
Huh…
So he had a Reika-assigned character song too.
Satie’s Gnossiennes though…
What was the meaning of Reika assigning him this one?
Gnossiennes was a nice composition but, depending on how one interpreted some of the chords, it was just a bit…
Sakurako’s thoughts come to a halt as another one strikes her.
Has Reika assigned songs to every person in her life?
Morbid curiosity takes over Sakurako as she eyes Reika suspiciously.
“... What’s mine?”
“Schumann’s Arabeske1!”
--
“Sakura-chaaaan, you have to help me!!” Reika clings to Sakurako and wails like her life was about to end.
“Don’t squeeze my arm like that.” Sakurako immediately shakes Reika off of her.
“Ack!”
Reika stumbles back but recovers and quickly latches onto Sakurako again as if she were some damn leech.
“Waaaah!! I really mean it, Sakura-chan! Please… you’re my only hope! I don’t think I can survive this otherwise!”
“Just follow the instructions for once in your life and properly measure things and you’ll be fine.” Sakurako says through gritted teeth while trying to shake Reika off again.
“No! If he gets sick, I don’t think I can ever face him or Yukino-kun again!”
“Don’t you have a baker friend or something? Go ask her instead!”
“Wakaba-chan’s too busy travelling for all her entrance exams to help meeee!”
“Ugh…”
Sakurako finds herself in a dilemma.
She was planning to spend the day before Valentine’s in her own kitchen, alone, preparing for her own Valentine’s.
This year was supposed to be even more special for her and Takumi than last year’s. This was going to be the Valentine’s where she’d get him to confess his undying love for her for pete’s sake.
To actually achieve that result though, she was going to make them dinner and have a whole course of tiny desserts for him to sample afterwards.
Then, once he’s finished all the treats, the sun would be down with only the ambience from some candles and she’d-
… Well, anyway.
If Gordon Ramsay’s worst nightmare haunted her kitchen then the chances of finishing all the elaborate dishes she had planned on time would become significantly harder. If even one dish was missing then Takumi might finish all the food before sunset and that would postpone the long awaited confession for another time yet again.
Sakurako clicks her tongue as she tries to pry off Reika’s fingers.
With Reika around, would Sakurako even be able to concentrate? Just the fact that Sakurako fears of a kitchen bursting into flames the moment she takes her eyes off of that hazard was enough to give her a headache already.
But…
“Pleeaseee… Sakura-chaan…”
Just like Reika’s boyfriend, it seems like Sakurako also has a soft spot for this idiot.
That sentiment doesn’t stop her from shaking Reika off her arm just as roughly as she had done the previous times though.
Reika stumbles back again but Sakurako catches her by the wrist before she hits the floor.
“... Fine. You can come over in the morning but I’ll only give you an hour, got it?”
Sakurako can spare that much.
Reika gapes at Sakurako before erupting into a cheer.
“Really? Yay!! Sakura-chan, I knew I could count on you!!”
Sakurako sighs as she smoothens out the wrinkles Reika had made on her sleeve, half-heartedly listening to her friend prattle on about what sorts of treats might be good to cook.
For that girl to beg this much to make homemade chocolates though, huh…
Sakurako supposes things were going well.
She sends off a brief congratulations to Mr. Boyfriend in her head.
Then she grimaces when Reika ruminates about the viability of using blue cheese for a red velvet cake,
(“What if we called it a purple velvet cake?” Reika claps her hands together, seemingly surprised by her own genius.)
-aaaand Sakurako sends off her condolences in advance too.
--
“So Shuu-kun-”
“Shuu-kun?” Sakurako doesn’t fail to notice the new moniker.
“Ah.”
Things were going well indeed.
Not just relationship-wise, but legally too.
Reika had successfully survived Valentine’s.
No news of a poisoning incident has reached Sakurako’s ears and Reika wasn’t in jail, so Sakurako no longer had to be worried about being pinned as an accomplice to a homicide and-
… And, of course Sakurako was joking.
She tasted Reika’s tarte au chocolat.
While it wasn’t the best, it was passable and most definitely fit for human consumption.
She was sure if that was what Reika gifted, as agreed, and not a spontaneous new recipe then she’d have been fine.
Back to the matter at hand though…
“New nickname?”
“Mm, yeah…”
She was still a bit cagey but Reika’s been talking about her boyfriend much more openly than before lately.
Sakurako kind of looked forward to hearing about ‘Shuu-kun’ more.
--
“And then Shuu-kun-”
Never mind. Sakurako no longer looked forward to hearing about ‘Shuu-kun’ anymore.
In fact, she wanted it to stop pronto.
Several months later, Sakurako developed an adverse, almost allergic, reaction whenever she heard the word ‘Shuu-kun’. Just hearing it triggered a primal instinct within her that encouraged her to bash her head against the nearest wall in order to escape the flurry of Reika’s endless sappy blatherings.
Gods, was this what Reika felt like whenever she gushed about Takumi?
Talk about having a taste of your own medicine…
Sakurako made a note to reflect upon how she talked about Takumi around others in her next meditation session.
Wanting to find anything to distract Reika, Sakurako glanced around the room and her eyes chanced upon the grandfather clock on the other side of the cafe.
“Hey, Reika, isn’t it about time you head to your date?”
“Oh! You’re right. Sorry, Sakura-chan, I really have to go now! I don’t want to make Shuu-kun wait. He always tends to be early. By the way, Shuu-kun and I once met up in this cafe by chance and-”
Yes, yes… Sakurako gets it.
Sakurako waves her hand lazily.
“You’ll be stuck here if you go on like that. You can tell me next time.” She ushers her.
As exhausting as it was being subjected to Reika’s ceaseless romance-driven chattering, Sakurako bottles the weariness and sees her off with a smile.
It was annoying but… Sakurako didn’t dislike seeing Reika so happy.
--
“Fukioka-san. What a coincidence.”
Truly, it was.
By pure happenstance, Sakurako had come across Enjou Shuusuke at a newly opened patisserie.
Like always, he stuck out among a sea of people.
“Enjou-sama. How fortunate to encounter you here.”
She acknowledges him back with a small bow.
“Reika-san has mentioned that you’re not much for sweets-” -but that he had finished her Valentine’s dessert anyway- “so I am surprised to encounter you here.”
“Ahh, yeah. I’m really not much of a sweets guy.” Enjou-sama corroborates as much. “I just happened to pass by and thought Reika would appreciate something from here.”
“How nice of you.” Sakurako comments.
Enjou-sama shrugs.
“And you, Fukioka-san? Anything in particular drew you here?”
“My…” Sakurako furrows her eyebrows.
Should she say ‘boyfriend’s older sister’?
Technically, Takumi and her still weren’t ‘official’ yet.
Takumi’s mother had accidentally interrupted the mood Sakurako had set up back then so Sakurako was cursed again with having to wait for the next opportunity to incite Takumi’s confession.
Sure, she could confess herself but, after all this time she spent waiting and it feeling so damn close now, doing so felt like defeat.
… That said, speaking in brevity was fine though, right?
“... boyfriend’s older sister’s birthday is tomorrow so I thought of getting her a little something.”
Something about referring to Takumi as her boyfriend brought a deep satisfaction.
“Ahhh.” Enjou-sama nods understandingly. “Your boyfriend… Akizawa, right?”
“Yes.” Sakurako nods back, still speaking in brevity. “Do you know him?”
“Not really, but I know he’s a friend of Reika’s.”
Sakurako wonders how he knows that.
She was pretty sure Takumi told her that he and Reika rarely talked in school because she was often flanked left and right by a rather threatening girl group.
She misses the timing to ask though so the conversation dies there.
Sakurako racks her brain for more topics to bring up.
The only commonality they had was Reika so…
“Pardon me, Enjou-sama, but if I may ask something?”
“Sure.”
“Prior to when you and Reika-san had begun dating, were you two close?”
Sakurako takes the chance to satiate her curiosity.
According to Reika, they weren’t really close before but Sakurako couldn’t help but feel as if that was just Reika’s impression.
“Ah, well… I’ve always considered us to be friendly-”
The line moves forward. It was Enjou’s turn next.
“-but I’ve sort of gauged that was a one-sided idea, huh?” Enjou-sama chuckles, then points to a selection of baked goods and recites his order to the cashier.
Sakurako tactfully refrains from confirming his suspicions and just smiles politely while keeping her screams all internal.
So, on top of a longstanding one-sided love, Enjou Shuusuke also fostered a one-sided friendship with her?
Oh my god.
It was pitiful.
Reika seriously needed to reimburse Sakurako for all the hours she spent whining about nobody being interested in her.
The staff hands Enjou-sama his pastry box and he steps aside.
“Well, I’ll take my leave now so-”
“Enjou-sama.” Sakurako quickly interjects while the shopkeeper’s still busy with sorting out the register.
“Hm?”
“Reika-san seems really happy these days. Recently, you’re all she ever talks about.”
For a moment, Enjou-sama looks surprised.
Then he beams and Sakurako finds his expression surprisingly readable for once.
A flood of emotion- relief, gratitude, and joy - were all bared plainly in his normally inscrutable smile.
“... I’m glad to hear that.”
Enjou-sama’s signature amiable smile returns and he leaves for real this time, ending their encounter.
Sakurako turns her attention to the remaining pastries inside the display cabinet.
… The chocolate cornets were out of stock.
--
“Sakurako-san. I’ve only just heard in passing but is it true that you’re best friends with Kisshouin Reika-sama?”
At a gathering for the new Yurinomiya alumnus, the conversation pivots to Sakurako unexpectedly.
“I am.” Sakurako blinks but recovers smoothly.
It wasn’t like it was a secret after all.
Her answer makes the girls around her excited and they close in on her, nosy with questions.
Sakurako tries to answer them to the best of her ability; one by one.
“Are the rumours true? Does she really look like a princess?”
“Umm… I guess?”
When she was sitting still at least.
“She’s a Pivoine member, right! Has she ever described the Pivoine in detail to you? Specifically the summer party?!”
“Err… somewhat?”
Reika never described the Pivoine or its summer party in too much detail but Sakurako supposes that she probably knew the most about those topics among everyone in the group right now.
“Does Kisshouin-sa- ah! Hey!”
The next in queue was pushed aside by Maihama, who usually kept out of Sakurako’s way, but was spurred by a mysterious frenzy as she shoved her phone to Sakurako’s face.
“Oi, Fukioka! Is it true that she and Enjou-sama are dating now?”
“Personal space, Maihama.” Sakurako scowls and pushes aside the mobile device after having seen the candid photo of the merry couple.
The girls who had caught sight of the picture had begun squealing.
Maihama was late to the news as always.
Sakurako was sure everyone else in the room already knew about their relationship and that they were just warming up to ask about it as soon as the atmosphere felt appropriate enough to, but Maihama had just bulldozed that topic in like some kind of brute.
“Fukioka!” Maihama roars again. “It can’t be true, right?! That Reika-san and-”
Sakurako massages her forehead, feeling a migraine incoming.
To still be subjected to hearing about Reika’s relationship even when the girl in question wasn’t around…
It was hard being the best friend of Kisshouin Reika.