Episode 106: Yuji Joins the Group

Beep beep… beep beep…

「Nn…」

It had been a while since I’d had a morning without Sara-senpai.

Since we had things to prepare today, I’d managed to persuade her to meet up at the designated spot instead.

Until recently, this was perfectly normal, but waking up and not having Senpai there made me feel lonely. I wondered if I’d simply come to feel that being together was natural, or if I was just being spoiled…

I washed my face and changed my clothes.

…Normally, while I was washing my face, Sara-senpai would have my clothes ready and breakfast prepared.

It had only been one day… and it was still only morning, yet I was forced to realize all over again just how much I’d been leaning on her.

I wanted to see Sara-senpai soon…

When I arrived in front of the station where we were meeting, I saw Sara-senpai and Natsumi-senpai heading my way.

「Good morning, Sara-senpai, Natsumi-senpai.」

「Good morning, Kazunari-san.」

「Morning, Takanashi-kun!」

That slightly lonely feeling seemed to settle down just by seeing Sara-senpai’s face.

As I was thinking that, Sara-senpai’s expression shifted as if she’d noticed something, and she walked straight up to me.

…Actually, she’s really, really close right now!

She reached out toward my neck and moved her hands as if to fix my shirt collar.

「Please don’t move… there, that’s fine.」

「Ugh… sorry.」

I can’t believe I showed her such a pathetic side right at the start…

「Doing stuff like that so naturally again… at this rate, Takanashi-kun won’t even be able to function without Sara, will he?」

Ugh… that was a comment that hit exactly on what I’d been thinking this morning.

「In that case, I will simply look after him, so there is no problem.」

Unlike me, who was feeling a bit dejected, Sara-senpai stated that quite calmly.

I wonder if she even understands what that means…

「Sara… you’re really something else…」

Natsumi-senpai muttered that in a way that could have been interpreted as either genuine praise or total exasperation.

We were waiting for Yuji on the platform; he was supposed to be on the train pulling in soon.

So, the three of us were standing there waiting for him… but to be honest, we were standing out quite a bit.

Sara-senpai alone is already a lot, but today Natsumi-senpai was there too.

Today, Sara-senpai was dressed in a stylish outing outfit, based on black and white with cute accents here and there… basically, she was wearing clothes with the full intent of killing me.

On her head, she wore the hat I’d given her as a present.

She’s too cute…

Natsumi-senpai, on the other hand, was wearing a denim mini skirt and a shirt; it was a simple outfit, but it felt very much like her.

「Sara-senpai… those clothes really suit you… um, you’re cute.」

It was a statement that required a fair amount of courage from my end, but I did my best to tell her.

I’d heard it from Natsumi-senpai before, but apparently Sara-senpai’s wardrobe used to consist mainly of simple clothes, and she’d never really dressed up like this.

The first time she did it was when we went out together and Natsumi-senpai had set her up with an outfit just to tease me, but after seeing my reaction, Sara-senpai had apparently changed her clothing preferences entirely.

「Eh, um, thank you very much… yes, I am happy…」

She seemed surprised since it was the first time I’d said something like that, but she snuggled up to me with a slightly bashful gesture.

And at this distance, she looked up at my face like she always does…

「Hey… sorry, people are watching, so is that enough?」

！？

Yuji was there before I knew it.

I flusteredly put a little distance between us, and Sara-senpai made a slightly dissatisfied face.

Even that expression was cute… I couldn’t take my eyes off her, and perhaps noticing that, she looked down slightly as if feeling embarrassed…

「…Geez, your condition has worsened quite a bit since the last time I saw you.」

「…Do you understand my struggle a little better now? …Knock it off, you stupid couple!」

！？

「S, sorry…」

「Kazunari-san, we have done nothing wrong…」

I feel like something similar to this has happened before.

「Well, should we introduce ourselves?」

Natsumi-senpai turned to Yuji and made that suggestion.

No, no, that’s a bit too harsh all of a sudden.

「Natsumi-senpai, I’ll introduce him…」

「You’re a boy, so you can do it yourself, right? Surely you won’t say something boring like just your name.」

Natsumi-senpai is a personable person, but she shouldn’t be the type to make such unreasonable demands on someone she’s basically just met…

「Gugh… so sudden…」

「Natsumi, it is rude to say something so unreasonable to someone you have just met. My friend is terribly sorry.」

As expected, Sara-senpai stepped in to help, seemingly finding it to be too much.

「To introduce myself again, my name is Satsukawa Sara. I am always in the care of Kazunari-san. I am sorry for my impolite attitude when we met before. Since I believe we will have more opportunities to meet in the future, I look forward to your support.」

It was a very polite greeting, typical of Sara-senpai.

I felt like there was something slightly off about it… but since it was her greeting, it must have been my imagination.

「Ah, no… I’m Tachibana Yuji. I look forward to your support.」

「I’m Yuzuki Natsumi! Since Sara scolded me, I’ll let you off the hook this time.」

「……Thank you very much for that.」

?

Natsumi-senpai’s energy was kind of strange.