"Good at it? I wouldn't say that." Hayakawa Haku drank his porridge with his head down. "We have someone at the table whose parents run a restaurant, you know."
Ogata Rizu immediately straightened her small body, causing a sudden turbulence in her chest area.
"Eh? Rii-chan can cook too?" Furuhashi Fumino looked at Ogata Rizu in disbelief.
"Yes, I've been helping out at the restaurant since I was little, and I've picked up a few things by immersion," Ogata Rizu said calmly. "It's normal for a child who grew up in a restaurant."
Furuhashi Fumino fell silent, picking up a black, unsightly pickled vegetable and listlessly looking at it for a couple of seconds before putting it in her mouth.
Watching Ogata and Hayakawa chatting cheerfully, she felt like she was living in a completely different world from them.
After breakfast, the three left the house together and soon arrived at the train station.
Taxi service in Japan is excellent, but the prices are astonishingly high, so both office workers and students are accustomed to using the train, a cheap and common mode of transport.
The three boarded the same train. Once on board, Furuhashi Fumino suddenly remembered something and hurriedly pulled the two of them into a corner of the train car.
"What is it, Fumino?" Ogata Rizu stumbled from the sudden tug, nearly falling onto the nearby handrail. Fortunately, Hayakawa caught her. She looked at Furuhashi with some displeasure.
"Rizu-chan, and Hayakawa-kun, haven't you noticed something wrong?" Furuhashi Fumino had a horrified expression. "We just casually boarded the train. That's not right, is it? There must be a problem somewhere."
"Uh..." Hayakawa Haku looked confused. He thought for a long time before looking at Ogata. "Did we take the wrong train?"
"No," Ogata Rizu stated with certainty. "Osaka Line 4, heading to Ichinose Station. There's no problem at all."
"That's not what I mean!" Furuhashi Fumino looked like she was about to faint, speaking urgently. "This is the train line that goes straight to our school! And it's the peak time for morning commute to school! That means there will definitely be a lot of our school's students on this car!"
"..." Ogata Rizu and Hayakawa Haku exchanged glances, then both gave Furuhashi the same blank stare that essentially said, We have no idea what you're talking about.
"Why are you so clueless?!" Furuhashi Fumino's face was flushed. She leaned closer to the two of them and whispered, "If students we know, or even classmates, see the three of us together, won't people figure out that we're living together?"
Furuhashi kept her voice to a minimum, feeling the heat rising in her breath as she sensed Hayakawa's presence so close to her.
"Hmm... isn't that overthinking it a bit?" Hayakawa Haku frowned slightly. "You just said there are many students from our school on this train. Isn't it normal for the three of us to be on this train? Why would people jump to the conclusion of cohabitation?"
Don't just casually say the word "cohabitation" out loud!
"That is true," Ogata Rizu pushed up her glasses, her calm face showing agreement. "That doesn't follow logically."
Rizu-chan, why are you always taking Hayakawa-kun's side?
"You blockhead!" Furuhashi Fumino grabbed Hayakawa's collar, looked straight into his eyes, and said with shame and indignation, "It's fine for you two, of course! You both took this train before, and you live close by, so you can just say you left together because your homes are near each other. But I don't take this train! I usually take Line 2 to go home! If friends who have been to my house suddenly see me on a different train, they'll know I'm not going home! If they always see me on the train with you, they'll definitely jump to the conclusion that we're living together!"
Hayakawa Haku: "..."
That doesn't sound entirely unreasonable.
"So what do you want to do?" Hayakawa Haku sounded a bit helpless. He suggested, "Should I just get off now and wait for the next one?"
"That would make you late," Ogata Rizu said without hesitation. "The next train is in 15 minutes. Including travel time, you'll be late before you even arrive."
"Getting off isn't necessary," Furuhashi Fumino didn't want Hayakawa to get off either, so she whispered, "Just keep a little distance from me... don't be too close, otherwise, people will see and misunderstand."
Huh, were we close before?
Hayakawa was confused, but he nodded anyway. "Alright, I'll stand over there."
Saying that, he walked over to a nearby handrail, looking like a stranger to the two girls.
"Phew..." Furuhashi Fumino sighed slightly in relief, but looking at Hayakawa standing all alone in the distance, she felt a subtle sense of guilt.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Hayakawa-kun, I really am sorry. Although it looks like I'm isolating you, I truly don't mean it that way. But for some reason, the girls in my class are always mysteriously paying attention, and if I'm not careful, it will definitely cause a stir at school. That would affect both our studying and our living arrangements! I'm doing this for your own good!
In any case, I'm very sorry. Whether you want me to perform a dogeza apology or make you a bento box as compensation, I'll work hard to do whatever it takes to earn your forgiveness.
"Fumino." Just as Furuhashi Fumino was internally apologizing wildly, Ogata's voice suddenly came from beside her.
"What is it, Rii-chan?" Furuhashi Fumino was startled and quickly looked at her with a smile.
"I'm going over there," Ogata Rizu said calmly, pointing at Hayakawa not far away.
Furuhashi Fumino: "..."
Huh? Huh?! Huh?!
"W-why?" Furuhashi Fumino's voice trembled, and her hand shook slightly.
"Why? Because I want to use this time on the train to ask Hayakawa-kun a few questions about our studies. Time is very precious right now," Ogata Rizu said as a matter of fact. "And you don't need to worry about the rumors. Didn't you just say that Hayakawa-kun and I live very close, so an explanation is fine? Don't worry about it."
"...Yes, that seems fine," Furuhashi Fumino's voice sounded like a soul floating out of her mouth. "I'm relieved."
"Then I'm going over," Ogata Rizu nodded. "See you at school."
Saying that, she left.
"Regarding essay writing, it is indeed the biggest point-scoring area in liberal arts exams, and there's basically no way to predict the topic. You can only rely on consistent practice. I have a few techniques here..."
"I see, I see, I'm making a note of that..."
Furuhashi Fumino felt the coldness of life as she watched the cheerful conversation between Hayakawa and Ogata in the distance, and then looked at her own solitary figure.
Was I the one who got isolated?