Translator: Haruto.

“You really just wanted shaved ice?”

“Yup.”

“…Alright.”  

Rina and I are taking a break near the food court. After this, we’re supposed to meet up with the others.  

“How is it?” I ask Rina.

“It’s okay.”

“I see.”

As to why she’s eating shaved ice, well…

…Treat me to something later.

Y-You got it!

When I tried to hold up Rina’s bikini top earlier, I ended up grabbing her boobs, so I offered to buy her something to eat as a way of apology. I thought she’d ask for something expensive, but she ended up choosing shaved ice for some reason.

I must ask, though…

“Is putting a bunch of syrups on your shaved ice some sort of trend?”

The various syrups Rina picked have turned her cup of shaved ice into quite a colorful thing.

Hibari’s was also pretty colorful. Is it a girl thing? Do they all like to mix tons of syrups together?

“…I like it…” Rina responds.

“Well, if you like it, that’s okay…”

To each their own, as they say.

Rina continues eating her shaved ice in silence, putting her hand to her forehead a few times as if she’s having a brain freeze.

As for me, I already had some with Hibari, so I’m letting my eyes wander around, watching Rina eat, and killing time however I can.

“Kasashima.”

“Hm?”

I glance at Rina and notice she’s eaten half of her shaved ice already.

“I’ll pretend you never touched my chest.”

“T-Thanks…”

Rina forgave me.

Phew, thank goodness. The protagonist should be the only one participating in those eroge-like moments.  

“…”                           

“Is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?” I ask Rina since she’s staring at me.

“…Nope. It’s nothing.”

“I see.”

I’m glad. I worried she’d take back her forgiveness for a second there.

For some reason, though, it’s kind of hard to keep a conversation going with her right now. She does reply to me whenever I talk to her, but I guess we’ve reached the limit of how close we can get. After all, my original role as the main villain aside, I’m basically a background character.

“Yuuji-kun! Rina-chaaaan!”

“Oh, Yuito… and Mahiro. You’re here!”

Yuito and Mahiro walk toward us waving their hands. The time for our group to meet up has come before I even realized it.

“I’m glad you were able to get a swimsuit, Yuuji-kun!” Yuito says to me.

“Y-Yeah, me too.”

It appears my little blunder had them all worried. I’m really grateful to Hibari for bringing me these shorts.

“From the looks of it, you’ve been enjoying yourself, Yuito,” I tell him.

“You bet! I played a ton at the pool, and I even rode a water slide a bunch of times!” replies Yuito with a wide smile, which has a rather soothing effect on anyone looking at it.

“Hmm…. So, you were hanging out with Rina, Kasashima-kun?” Mahiro asks, smiling as she looks at Rina and me.  

“Huh? Ah, um… Yeah, we happened to run into each other, you see,” I answer.

“Yup, I saw him by chance and felt sorry for him being all alone, so I decided to keep him company,” Rina says.

“Is that so?” says Mahiro.

“Ahaha, I guess…”

Rina was actually the one who asked me to hang out with her after splashing water on me with her water pistol, but saying that would just complicate things, so I’m going to agree with her version of the story for now.

“Ah! Yui-kun, do you want some shaved ice?”

“Totally!”

Rina’s talking to Yuito in a cheerful tone and with a playful smile on her face—quite different from when she talks to me.  

“Okay, then, open wide…”

“A-Aaah…”

They somehow got a “feeding event” started like it was the most natural thing in the world. Not the kind of stuff I like to watch, but I’m still impressed by how smooth the protagonist and the heroine are.

The spoon carrying the shaved ice moves toward Yuito’s open moth, but then—

“Hm! Delish!”

“Huh?!”

“M-Mahiro-chan?!”

A second before the spoon reaches Yuito, Mahiro grabs Rina’s hand, directs the spoon toward her own mouth, and eats the shaved ice.

“What are you doing, Sis?! Don’t get in the way of me feeding Yui-kun!”

“My private time with Yuito hasn’t technically ended just yet, which means that I’m the only one allowed to feed him right now,” Mahiro argues.

“Huh? Come on, that’s…” Rina glances at the large clock near the pool, and naturally, I do the same.

It is then that the clock’s big hand reaches 12.

“Okay, your time to have Yuito all to yourself has begun. Do as you please,” Mahiro says.

“I was just under 30 seconds too early! You’re so mean!” Rina exclaims.

Haha… Man, the two sisters are always the same when Yuito’s involved.

“We were supposed to meet at 12 on the dot, right? Is everyone here already?” Yuito asks.

“It’s just Mahiro-san, Rina-san, you, and me here… We’re still missing one.”

I was actually wondering where Tajima was myself.

“Ah, right, that guy… Umm…”

“Tajima,” I tell Rina.

“That’s it! Something-jima.”

“Tajima. Try to at least remember his name, Rina-san.”

He’s your classmate, you know?

Although, back when Yuito and I started hanging out…

Nah, there’s no way the Sumino sisters want to be my friends. Besides, those two only really care about you…

I don’t think so, though. Mahiro-chan and Rina-chan almost never remember people’s names, you know?

…I’m pretty sure we had a conversation like that.

According to Yuito, both Rina and Mahiro have trouble remembering the names of everyone except Yuito. Still, Tajima’s a member of our group today, so I wish they’d remember his name for the day, at least.

“Maybe Tajima-kun got lost?” Yuito wonders.

“He’s not a little kid. I’m sure he’ll be fine,” I reply.

If he does get lost, he can simply ask the park’s staff for directions. Besides, considering how easily that guy falls in love, it’s more likely that he just ran off chasing some pretty girl.

“I think we should look for him just in case,” Mahiro suggests.

I guess she’s right. Whether he’s lost or chasing skirts, we should probably go fetch him.

There’s a momentary silence.

We now need to figure out who’s going to look for him.

I’m sure I’ll have to do it, though. There’s no way the two sisters are going to leave Yuito behind to search for—

“Kasashima-kun and I will go,” Mahiro says all of a sudden.

“Huh?”

“You two? In that case, I’ll also—” Yuito begins, but…

“That won’t do, Yuito. He might come here while we’re gone, and we also can’t leave Rina alone, can we?” Mahiro interrupts him.

“Y-You’re right! Rina-chan’s cute so someone might hit on her like earlier this morning!” Yuito says.

“Yui-kun just said I’m cute! How nice!” Rina smiles widely.

She is a bit simple-minded when it comes to anything Yuito says or does, huh?

“And so, I think Kasashima and I should go, but… Is that okay with you, Kasashima-kun?” Mahiro asks me.

“W-Well, yeah, sure.”

I was planning to go look for him from the beginning, anyway.

***

“Now then, Kasashima-kun…”

“What is it, Mahiro-san?”

After leaving Yuito and Rina, we began our search right away, but Mahiro has now stopped walking for some reason.

“I didn’t just come with you to look for… umm… Tajima-kun.”

“Aaah, right, I figured you were plotting something…”

Why else would she choose to be alone with me and leave Yuito behind?

“Hehe, plotting? You don’t have to put it like that. I simply wished to chat with you as we looked for him,” Mahiro responds and resumes walking.

I match her pace to listen to what she has to say.

“Are you worried about something?” I ask her.

“Yeah. Nothing gets past you, huh, Kasashima-kun?”

“Thanks, I guess.”

I honestly don’t see another reason she’d want to talk to me, and I’m certain it involves Yuito…

“I’ll get straight to the point.”

“G-Go ahead.”

“Lately… I haven’t been able to make Yuito flustered.”

“H-Huh?”

“And I’m in dire need of more flustered reactions.”

“Okay?”

“Which is why…” Mahiro pauses for a second as if to give more weight to her next words.

“I want to learn from you how to get more flustered reactions.”

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