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21st Meal
Six-person Group Lunch Part 1
Tired: Hiyori’s POV this chapter
“You guys! I think Mahiru has been acting strange lately!”
It's lunchtime at Utatane Private High School, in the first-year class's classroom.
A girl with glasses slammed her hands on her desk and shouted among the four men and women eating lunch at the four desks. The remaining three—Hiyori Kotsubaki and the two boys—looked at each other quietly.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Various!”
Fuyushima Yukiho—A female student with glasses—looked at Hiyori with a sharp look on her face.
“What do you think about that, Mom!?”
“Who’re you calling a Mom?”
When she quickly quipped, Minamida Ryuo—A dusky blonde male student—laughed frivolously, “It’s true that Kotsubaki acts like Asahi’s Mother, right?”
Hiyori then lightly hit Ryou on the back of his head before opening her mouth.
“...’Various things,’ huh? Did something changed to Hima?”
“Various things are various things! I don't know but lately, Mahiru seems to be even more sparkling and happy than before, you know!?”
“Is that so? Pretty sure Mahiru has always been like that, right, Yuzuru?”
Ryou then turned his attention to Yunomae Yuzuru—A boy with black-rimmed glasses—who gave off an impression of being intelligent person.
He snorts as he pushes up the bridge of his glasses and looks at Yukiho with cold eyes.
“Hmph, you make too much of a fuss about everything. Why don't you try to relax a little?”
“You're so annoying, Four Eyes. You're the only one I don't want to talk to.”
“Wha—!? Who’re you calling Four Eyes!?”
“I'm talking about some guy with painful glasses who pretends to be cool~”
“Y-You bastard…!?”
“‘You bastard’? Aren't you the only one who uses language like that these days!?”
Hiyori places her chopsticks in her lunch box, as if she had grown accustomed to Yukiho and Yuzuru's bickering, which had begun before she knew it. Hiyori also knows that there is no end to the bickering between the bespectacled duo.
These four, plus Mahiru and one other, have been close friends since the junior high school days. However, it would be more accurate to describe them as a “Group of Frenemies” rather than “Group of Good Friends.”
“...But, now that you mention it, doesn't Asahi come home early these days? We used to hang out in the classroom after school before.”
“R-Right!? She’s strangely happy and eager to get home!”
“...Are you sure you're not imagining things?”
“No way–! I know I’m not imagining it!”
Then Yukiho, who has a small chest, asserts in a confident voice,
“That thing is definitely—A man!”
“PFFT!! *cough* *cough* *cough*!”
“A-Are you all right, Yuzuru?”
Ryou called out in concern to Yuzuru, who was instantly choked up, but the bespectacled man stood up and kicked his chair.
“Don't say strange things out of your own imagination! Yeah, there’s no way Asahi would think of a man!”
“What are you talking about? She's got good looks and personality, so it's not surprising that she has at least one boyfriend! Right, Hiyori?”
“Don’t ask me…”
Hiyori, sipping her bottled tea without interest, mulls over how she should respond to the question. Because, while Yukiho's fantasy is not entirely correct, it is also not completely wrong either.
Mahiru has been going to a certain man's place almost every day recently—Whose name is Yamori Yuu—A college student who lives in the room next door to Mahiru's apartment.
(I'm sure if anyone found out that she was going into a guy's house, it would definitely cause trouble…Especially Yukiho.)
She can't say anything about it, as Hiyori herself was wary when she heard that Midday was going to an unknown college student's house…But in Yukiho’s case, she would simply want to go and see the place for the fun of it.
And Mahiru probably wouldn't approve of it. She is a very loyal person and would not want to cause unnecessary trouble to a neighbor who is taking care of her for free. That is probably why she has not told the truth to anyone in the group except Hiyori.
“Ahh…I can't really imagine that Hima would be in a relatio—”
Hiyori's plan to let the situation slide for the time being but she was interrupted by a bright girl's voice from behind her back.
“I’m back~! The cafeteria was so crowded, so it wa–”
“Oh, Mahiru! Great timing!”
…Hiyori couldn't help but sigh and cover her eyes when her best friend returned at the worst possible time…
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