Translator: Haruto.

The bus that I was waiting for earlier left already, so Mahiro and I boarded another one that arrived twenty minutes later.

“This thing is full…” I remark.

“Yeah… I guess most people feel like going to the mall on the weekend, especially in the summer,” responds Mahiro.   

“Oh, I know what that’s like.” Particularly when you live in more rural areas, places like the Ae*n Mall can easily become your only hangout spot.

The bus is full of young people, no doubt because summer break has begun. There are no empty seats so Mahiro and I have to remain standing.

“I bet you won’t fall no matter how hard the bus shakes with how sturdy you are, Kasashima-kun.”

“You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”  

I’m actually a pretty soft guy on the inside, you know?

Besides, the roads around here are in pristine condition, which means that all I’ve really got to do is be careful when the bus comes to a stop.

“U-Um…”

“Hm?”

We hear a voice coming from behind. It belongs to a young woman with brown straight hair.

“Would you like to take my seat…?” she offers nervously while raising her head slightly.  

I’m not the type to make weird assumptions. Her offer must have been directed at…

“Thank you for the offer, but I’m fine. Just stay there, okay?”

…the ever so dashing Mahiro.  

“B-But…”

“Hmm… How about you take her seat, then, Kasashima-kun?”

“Come on, you know I can’t do that. Why would you even ask that?”

“You did say your body wasn’t as sturdy as it looked.”

“That’s totally not what I said. What I meant was that I might not be as tough as I look, but that’s beside the point… No guy would take a seat away from a girl.”  

And more importantly, I’m a hundred percent sure that she was offering her seat to Mahiro… but well, I’m just going to keep that to myself.

“As you can see, we’re both okay, really. Please just stay in your seat, miss. I’ll be much happier if you do,” Mahiro says.  

I thought the girl wouldn’t back down that easily, but all it took was a gentle smile from Mahiro to put the matter to rest. It’s not just the girl, though. All the other passengers who have their eyes on us look elated watching that smile.

“Man, our school’s ‘prince’ is something else… You’re so used to dealing with this kind of stuff.”

“It’s easy to get used to something when you do it all the time.”

“All the time…”

In contrast to the way Rina can just shoot people down without a care in the world, Mahiro tries to be tactful when turning them down, huh.

“Here we are!” I stretch my arms out to the sky.  

We’ve finally arrived at the mall. Judging from the great number of buses parked in front, I can safely assume the place is packed.

“Well, see ya.”

“Oh, come on, don’t say that.”

“Hm? We’re heading to different places, though.”

“When I heard you were going to buy a swimsuit, I also got the urge to buy a new one. Can you come with me?”  

“Um, that’s the kind of stuff you should do with Yuito, and I’m not about to be his replacement, so just leave it for some other time, alright?” I say, beginning to walk away from Mahiro.

Setting up weird flags is way too freaking easy in this world, which is why we have to take the safe route and go our merry separate ways—

“Hold it.”

“Urk?! W-What is it…?”

Mahiro grabs me by the neck all of a sudden which causes me to make some strange sound.

“…Look over there.”

“Where?”

“Those two people wearing hats.”

“Hm?” I follow Mahiro’s gaze but don’t see them at first, so I try squinting my eyes a little and…

“The boy with the black hat is Yuito,” Mahiro says.

“Huh? For real?”

I can’t see his face well, but now that she mentions it, I guess he does resemble Yuito a little.

“The girl beside him looks like she’s trying to hide her identity. She’s wearing both a newsboy cap and round glasses…”

A newsboy cap is like a type of beret with a long bill, right?

I can’t see her face that well either, but with that hat and those glasses, she does appear to be in disguise.

“…So this is the reason Yuito said he was busy? Hmm…” Mahiro’s displeased tone sends shivers down my spine.

She’s standing right next to me, but I don’t dare peer at her face. I’m afraid of what she might do if I make eye contact.

Well… This certainly spells trouble… real trouble. I have to find a way to calm her down…

“H-Hey, maybe it’s not Yuito. It’s hard to tell from afar. Besides, haven’t you heard we all got like three doppelgangers?”

“…”

“…Haven’t you?”

Mahiro puts her hand to her chin as if in deep thought. Alright, I think it’s working…

“Kasashima-kun…”

“Let’s just ignore them, and…”

“Now you must come with me.”  

“What?”

“If that’s really not Yuito, we’ll just let them be, but we need to make sure of it and two sets of eyes are always better than one, so let’s go, shall we?”

“Figures…”

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