"Ah, I'm so tired... You two sure are relaxed."
Back inside the shop, Kamishiro looked a little jealous as he saw the two already eating lunch.
He could've been taking it easy like this too if not for—
"Well, can't help it. We didn't see you at all this morning,"
Aina said apologetically as she passed tea to Iori.
She'd looked for him but didn't see a trace of him the whole morning.
"..."
Kamishiro fell silent. Of course she didn't see him.
Because of Kōhei, he hadn't stepped foot into the shop all morning!
Just thinking about it, he glared over at Kōhei's spot—
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
Where the hell did that guy go?!
Kamishiro was dumbfounded. Since when did he have teleportation skills?!
Eventually, he found the damn wingman hiding behind Iori.
At this point, the wingman had already launched into action.
Out of nowhere, he piped up behind Iori:
"You two really get along, huh?"
(;?＿?)
"What are you up to now?"
Iori didn't know if it was just his imagination, but Kōhei felt off today.
Not just now—even this morning, the way he talked was weird.
"That earlier conversation was just like an old married couple."
Nope, not his imagination!
Definitely super weird!
"I just asked her to pour me a cup of tea,"
Iori defended himself, but Kōhei ignored him and went on:
"At this point—why don't you two just start dating already, right?"
"PFFT!!!"
Kamishiro, who had just taken a sip of water, spit it out.
He stared at Kōhei in disbelief.
Holy shit—this guy might be the boldest wingman he'd ever seen!
"Huh?"
While Iori was still trying to process what just happened, Aina lunged over and wrapped her arm around Kōhei's neck, dragging him out of the shop.
From outside, you could still faintly hear Aina shouting:
"Do you HAVE to be so CRINGE?!"
"..."
The atmosphere inside the shop turned awkward.
Recalling Kōhei's weird behavior today, Iori turned to the quiet Kamishiro with concern.
"What the hell's wrong with Kōhei today?!"
"…He's just, uh, probably mixing up reality and games."
Kamishiro looked away awkwardly and, trying to hide his guilt, quickly changed the subject.
"By the way, Kitahara, you're into those sexy, busty Onee sans, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, that's right. Wait—why are you asking?"
Iori looked at him suspiciously. Something about Kamishiro felt off now too.
Seeing that skeptical look, Kamishiro realized he might've pushed too hard.
He quickly explained:
"Remember yesterday's date got interrupted by the manager? Well, Aina Takahashi told me we'd regroup once we're back in Japan. She even said she'd bring a friend to Izu.
I heard she's a really gorgeous Onee san, so I figured…"
SLAP!
Before Kamishiro could finish, he felt his hand being grabbed—and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull it free.
Iori looked at him, eyes full of desire and a very serious expression:
"Take me with you, bro!"
"..."
Looking at the drooling Iori, Kamishiro's mouth twitched.
At that moment, he swore it felt like Iori was possessed by Yamamoto.
Scary! Is this what happens when you spend too much time with that toxic guy?
Note to self: keep your distance from Yamamoto in the future.
As for that "date" he just mentioned...
It was half true, half false.
The part about bringing girlfriends to Izu? Total lie.
What girl brings a guy to meet her besties before sealing the deal?
He'd actually turned down the Izu idea—it was too chaotic.
At least, for someone like Kamishiro, it was a bit much.
So instead, the next date location was set for Tokyo!
He even made it sound noble—saying it would help Aina Takahashi enjoy the date without worrying about work.
He'd acted all innocent, like he'd never been to Tokyo before, hoping she'd offer to show him around.
Aina Takahashi happily agreed.
After all, seducing someone works the same no matter the gender—home turf advantage is everything!
"Never been to Tokyo?"
"Tokyo date?"
To her, this was practically a free win!
Aina Takahashi could barely contain her excitement—this time, she was going to land that man!
Poor girl…
She didn't realize who the real prey was in this game~
Back to the main story:
Looking into Iori's sincere eyes, an idea suddenly popped into Kamishiro's mind.
His smile turned a little twisted.
"Ahem... Kitahara, you know, chances like this are rare.
If I were to tell Yamamoto and the others about it... what do you think they'd offer me?"
Kamishiro gave him a wicked grin, raising his eyebrows as he shamelessly hinted.
SWOOSH!
Iori didn't disappoint—he whipped out a Fukuzawa (10,000 yen bill)!
"Here's a deposit!"
Clearly, Iori was determined to get this opportunity!
Now, would Kamishiro, who knew the whole thing was a lie, actually take the money?
Of course he would!
And without the slightest bit of guilt!
This money~
Let's just call it a tuition fee. A valuable life lesson for Kitahara.
After all, if a scammer used this same trick in the future, it might cost him a lot more than a few yen…
Maybe even a kidney~
Thinking of that, Kamishiro couldn't help but praise himself inwardly.
"Kitahara's lucky to have a childhood friend like me who thinks of his future!"
Of course—
Kamishiro didn't forget to follow up with the "real" concern:
"By the way, Kitahara…
If you do end up hitting it off with someone—what about Chisa?"
"Chisa?"
"Yeah. I mean, she is technically your girlfriend, right?"
"Come on, you know that's just something Asuza san forced on us."
Iori waved it off casually. He didn't take the whole "dating Chisa" thing seriously.
That kind of thing only fooled the horny guys at school. If he believed it himself, that'd be just sad.
What kind of couple can't even hold hands in public?
"So even if tons of guys chase after her, you wouldn't care?"
"Of course not. But Chisa wouldn't accept them anyway. She loves the sea the most—she wouldn't care about that stuff."
As he said this, Iori dug into his bento like it was no big deal.
But as his longtime friend, Kamishiro still noticed something off.
Like—
Who the hell eats lunch with their eyes closed?!
Sigh. Noticing the awkward atmosphere, Kamishiro was about to change the subject—
When Kitahara suddenly opened his eyes and leaned over with a pervy expression:
"So who's that older lady? Is she a celebrity? Got pics?! Is she hotter than Aina Takahashi?!"
(???)
In that moment—
Kamishiro suddenly realized he'd completely misjudged the situation.
This guy wasn't acting weird during lunch—
He was daydreaming the whole time!!!
Hotter than Aina Takahashi? Are you serious?
Keep dreaming, you damn perv!!!
(?°?д°?)
Bang!
Just as Kamishiro was contemplating whether to use his "sinking method" once again...
The shop door opened.
The wingman returned!
And trailing behind the wingman was the main pilot, looking like all hope had been lost.
Aina had tried—she really tried to get Kohei to give up this unnecessary business.
She even used a what-if scenario!
What if she liked Iori~
（λ?_??）
That kind of awkward, unnatural behavior would only make things more complicated!
At the time, Kohei went silent after she said that. Aina thought he had finally understood—
But what she got was… a tsundere comment!!!
Aaaaaaaah!!!
At that moment, Aina seriously wished she could reboot Kohei's memory.
With no other choice, she decided to treat him like a little kid.
As everyone knows, when it comes to bratty kids, they have a rebellious streak.
The more you stop them, the more they want to do it, and they'll keep obsessing over it.
The best strategy to deal with these kids? Ignore them. Sometimes their interest disappears just like that.
With this in mind, Aina made up her mind: as long as Kohei didn't say anything outrageous like earlier, she'd let it be!
However, when she saw Kohei walking toward Iori, she couldn't help but tense up again.
Please, please don't do anything unnecessary!
Thankfully, Kohei didn't disappoint her this time. He just sat next to Iori and resumed eating his lunch.
"Phew…"
Aina let out a sigh of relief. Finally, it was over…
"You seem tense."
Kamishiro looked at her teasingly, as if catching a student secretly dating.
Even though Aina wasn't a young school girl, Aina's reaction was downright adorable~
"Eh? Wh-what? Not at all. It's just a bit hot outside," Aina quickly explained. No way she could let Kamashiro catch on!
If he said something like "Leave it to me," just like Kohei did...
That would be a scene so embarrassing she'd explode on the spot!
"Oh? Is that so?"
Seeing her flustered, Kamashiro didn't press further and shifted his gaze to Kohei.
Although he was curious how Aina had "handled" Kohei, now wasn't the time to ask.
Just sitting together quietly and eating lunch like this was fine too.
However—
Kamashiro and Aina were clearly mistaken.
Kohei hadn't given up his wingman duties!
He was just... charging up for a big move!
"Kitahara."
"Hmm?"
Still lost in his big-sister fantasies, Iori stiffened when he heard Kohei call out to him, eyes full of suspicion.
Today's Kohei was way off!
Kamashiro and Aina both turned toward them, with Aina shaking her head furiously at Kohei.
Unfortunately, this wingman had an incredibly strong sense of independence and wouldn't listen to his main pilot at all.
Ignoring Iori's wary expression, the wingman spoke up, "Do you like love fortune-telling?"
Pffft!!!
Aina nearly spit blood. Does this idiot not understand the meaning of subtlety?!
Honestly, she did enjoy love fortune-telling, even often brought it up herself during girls' get-togethers.
But the problem is—
That was during girls' get-togethers!
And now? It's just a regular lunch break!
Okay, that might still be fine if that were the only issue...
But!
Their last topic was about "pairing up two people"!
Bringing up love fortune-telling right now was just way too obvious!
Aina was in despair. All she could do now was pray Iori and Kamashiro were both idiots who couldn't make the connection.
Iori: "Hah? Why are you suddenly bringing up such gross stuff?"
Kohei: "Oh? So you do like it. What a pure-hearted boy you are~"
Iori: "Did you even hear what I said...?"
Turns out, prayers do work. Iori didn't connect anything to Aina and just figured Kohei's brain had gone numb from gaming.
Hmm...
Logically, Aina should've been happy about this outcome...
But she couldn't feel happy at all!
Only people who never considered the possibility of being a couple would miss such an obvious connection.
(*?????)
Heartbroken, Aina didn't even care whether Kamashiro had caught on. All she wanted now was to destroy this wingman!
Useless wingman!!!
Off to the side—
Kamashiro, of course, noticed the connection. But what caught his interest more was—love fortune-telling!
Yes, Kohei's random topic sparked another idea for testing Iori's future.
He happened to know a master of the occult!
After all, at the end of science lies mysticism—and love itself is pretty mystical~
With that, the highly action-oriented Kamashiro immediately called the occult Fortune master across the ocean!