At the moment their gazes met, it wasn't just Sawamura Haruno who froze—
Miyazawa Maki froze as well.
On the way to the cafeteria, after being forcibly dragged along by Uemura Rena, Maki had still been thinking that there was no way she'd run into him so easily—or into Mana, for that matter. After all, there were plenty of students on the Komaba campus.
It was rare for her to come to the University of Tokyo at all. Saying she wasn't at least a little curious about the place would be a lie.
Besides, Uemura Rena was surprisingly strong. Maki couldn't break free no matter how hard she struggled, so she gave up and figured she'd just come eat at the cafeteria. While she was at it, she could even take advantage of the fact that she looked exactly like Mana to tease this overly familiar girl a little.
She had already played out the whole scenario in her head:
Later in the afternoon, when the other party went to class together with Mana, Uemura Rena would be staring blankly at Mana—who had her long, smooth hair back then—with a completely dumbfounded expression.
…Well.
Now it was her turn to be the dumbfounded one.
"What's wrong?"
Uemura Rena noticed that Maki had suddenly stiffened in place and turned back in confusion.
"If we don't hurry to the second floor to grab seats, all that'll be left later are places where the air conditioning doesn't reach."
"No—"
"Huh? What's wrong with you today?"
Uemura Rena frowned slightly and looked Maki up and down suspiciously.
She noticed that Maki's gaze seemed fixed on a certain spot. Following her line of sight, she saw Sawamura Haruno and Mine Shiori sitting together—both of them looking back in their direction at the same time.
"Huh?"
Uemura Rena let out a puzzled sound.
"Who's that sitting across from Sawamura Haruno?"
"How would I know…"
Maki's expression grew complicated. She didn't know who that petite girl was, but since they were eating together, there was really only one possibility left, wasn't there?
No wonder Sawamura Haruno had looked so uninterested in her yesterday.
So it was because he already had a new target.
…Did he actually like this kind of figure?
If she didn't know this was a university, she might've mistaken that girl for a middle schooler.
"Oh—"
Before Maki could fully process things, Uemura Rena suddenly spoke with a look of sudden realization.
"I get it now."
"?"
Get what?
"Honestly, Mana, you still have feelings for Sawamura, don't you?"
Uemura Rena leaned in mysteriously and whispered,
"You said last time that you'd already let go of that relationship, but your expression right now really doesn't look like someone who's moved on."
"I—"
Maki opened her mouth slightly, completely at a loss for words.
Was this girl's imagination that powerful? She figured all of this out on her own?!
…No, wait. Thinking about it carefully, wasn't this actually a perfect opportunity?
She could take a small revenge on Mana and vent her frustration over Sawamura Haruno's "double standards" yesterday.
At that thought, Maki's eyes immediately lit up.
She cleared her throat and lowered her voice as well.
"Well… maybe a little. Do you know that girl sitting across from him?"
"I don't," Uemura Rena replied casually.
"She seems like she's from the Faculty of Education or something? I've never really paid attention to her. But that doesn't matter!"
She grinned mischievously.
"Let's go sit with them. We'll say there aren't enough seats upstairs and ask to share a table. You and Sawamura are high school classmates anyway—he wouldn't be able to refuse outright."
That suggestion hit Maki right in the heart.
She'd been worrying about how to come up with an excuse to go over, and now this "overly familiar" girl had basically built the perfect stage for her.
Perfect.
They'd do exactly that—go share a table, and give both Sawamura Haruno and Mana a little "trouble" to deal with!
After settling on their battle plan, Maki didn't rush over immediately. Instead, she followed behind Uemura Rena to buy food first.
While standing in line, the two of them quietly discussed how to probe the relationship between Sawamura Haruno and that petite girl later.
"That is Mana, right? She actually cut her hair," Mine Shiori said in surprise.
"But she still looks really good with short hair. No wonder she's the most popular girl on campus."
"Most popular girl?"
Sawamura Haruno pulled his gaze back and looked at her in confusion.
"Oh, it's something the school's official Twitter account does," Mine Shiori explained patiently.
"They hold polls to rank the prettiest girls in each department. When the semester just started, the one with the highest popularity was Miyazawa Mana."
"…Why would Todai have such a pointless event?"
Sawamura Haruno's eye twitched slightly.
"And Miyazawa Mana would actually participate in something like that?"
That didn't match the Mana he knew at all. She didn't seem like the type who'd actively join this kind of shallow popularity contest.
"As long as someone posts a photo, it counts as participation," Mine Shiori said with a light smile, brushing her hair behind her ear.
"And these things are pretty common. There was even a 'Miss Todai' vote before."
"Mana's really popular in that sense," she added.
"I'm in the same club as her. I often see people surrounding her asking for her LINE."
"I see…"
Sawamura Haruno's gaze remained fixed on Miyazawa Maki, who was now following the girl beside her to buy food.
Judging by the situation, that girl was probably a Todai student as well—maybe she'd mistaken Maki for Mana.
What confused him was that Maki didn't seem angry at all.
Wasn't she the one who hated being mistaken for her sister the most?
As he was watching, Sawamura Haruno suddenly let out a quiet, "Huh."
After buying their food, the two girls walked toward them with their trays. When their gazes met again, Maki's lips curled upward slightly, her expression clearly mischievous.
"Well, what a coincidence, Haruno."
As they got closer, Maki spoke first.
"I didn't expect to see you eating here too. The first floor seems pretty full—would you mind if we sat together?"
"What are you plotting now?"
Sawamura Haruno looked helpless. He could already guess her objective.
She was probably planning to use that identical face of hers to stir up a little trouble for Mana at school.
After all, plenty of male students in the cafeteria were already looking in her direction.
No good. He had to find a way to warn her quietly.
However, before he could say anything, Mine Shiori—who was sitting across from him—answered cheerfully:
"Sure."
"The second floor is under maintenance for the air conditioning," she added.
"So everyone's been coming to the first floor instead."
Mine Shiori shifted inward and made space, smiling gently.
"If you don't mind, let's sit together. We're all classmates who sometimes attend the same lectures anyway."
"…Huh?"
Faced with Mine Shiori agreeing so easily, Maki was clearly caught off guard.
This wasn't quite how she'd imagined it.
She'd agreed just like that?
Or was it that she didn't know Miyazawa Mana was Sawamura Haruno's ex-girlfriend?
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