The fact that the recent events between himself and Yukino had gone unnoticed by his closest friends, Eriri and Utaha, yet were discovered by Iroha, left Chisato feeling somewhat conflicted.
Only now did he start to notice certain subtle abnormalities in his daily life.
No wonder Iroha hadn't been messaging him on LINE as frequently as before, nor had she been sending him those carefully edited selfies and interesting photos to assert her presence.
It turned out that she had witnessed his meetings with Yukinoshita and misunderstood the situation.
Right now, Iroha must be feeling terrible.
In every sense of the word, when a girl has openly expressed her affection for a boy, only to find that a close friend has made a move before her, the feeling of "betrayal" must be incredibly painful.
If her emotional state were unstable or extreme, this situation could easily spiral into something dramatic.
Although the reality of the situation was entirely different, based on what Yui had told him, Iroha had undoubtedly fixated on that misunderstanding and was overthinking things.
All in all, as long as he didn't reveal Yukino's true situation, convincing Iroha that there was nothing between them shouldn't be too difficult.
There was no other way. He just had to come up with some excuse to brush things off.
Still, Chisato felt a pang of guilt. It was one thing to deceive Iroha in The Sims, but now he had to do the same in real life.
Even though this was ultimately to prevent further complications, it was still, at its core, a lie.
He kept reminding himself that it was all for the sake of Yukino and Iroha's friendship. Only then did that nagging discomfort in his heart fade slightly.
There was no other option but to do it. What else could he do?
After staying at the Yukinoshita residence for about half an hour, Chisato decided it was time to leave.
Yukino didn't try to stop him. She also stood up and followed him to the entrance, watching as he put on his shoes and left.
Only after he disappeared from view did she gently close the door and return to the living room.
This had become second nature to her. Ever since these meetings had begun, she had repeated this routine daily, so she didn't think much of it.
But when she met Yui's hesitant gaze and noticed the slight blush on her face, she suddenly realized something was off.
From a friend's perspective, her interactions with Chisato just now had been far too natural—almost too much so.
Come to think of it, she had never explained why she and Chisato had suddenly become so close.
Yui was a kind person. She hadn't asked outright, but that didn't mean she wasn't curious.
The fact that Yui had gone out of her way to tell her about Iroha's situation proved how much she valued their friendship.
Faced with such a considerate friend, Yukino averted her gaze, placed her left hand on her right arm, and hesitated, her lips parting slightly as if to speak, only to fall silent.
A restless, anxious expression settled on her face.
"It's… It's okay, Yukinon!"
Yui, sensing her friend's distress, quickly reassured her.
She had always been perceptive when it came to handling relationships and didn't want Yukinoshita to feel pressured because of her.
"You don't have to explain anything to me. I trust you completely. There's no way you'd do anything to hurt Isshiki! That's all I need to know, right? Right?"
Her words were less of a question and more of a hopeful declaration of truth.
Finally, to Yui's relief, Yukino slowly but firmly nodded.
"Of course. That goes without saying."
"Then that's all that matters."
Yui giggled and, in the next moment, threw her arms around Yukino in a tight hug.
"Uh… You're hugging too tight…"
"Hehe, Yukinon smells really nice."
"I swear…"
…
"As expected, things really are inconvenient without you around."
As Chisato stepped out of his apartment building and looked up at the sky, a dark-winged creature descended, flapping its wings before perching on his shoulder.
During the time he had been staying at Kazusa's place, the bird had grown quite close to her.
Most of the time, it stayed with Kazusa instead of following him around. If it had been with him at the library that day, it would have warned him when Iroha saw them.
But now that he had learned about the situation from Yui, it wasn't too late to fix things.
He had already thought of an excuse Iroha would accept before he even stepped out of Yukino's house.
Now, the real challenge was how to bring it up naturally.
Yui had explained everything to him behind Iroha's back. Unlike guys, girls' relationships were far more delicate and sensitive.
The fact that university dorms with only four girls could still have eight or nine separate group chats was no joke—it was absolutely real.
The best approach was to act as if he had noticed something was wrong on his own, prompting Iroha to bring up the issue herself.
Then, he could step in and correct her misunderstanding, all without revealing that Yui had tipped him off.
Chisato closed his eyes, lightly tapping his forehead with his fist.
Just thinking about it felt like a hassle.
No choice. He had to deal with it today.
He needed to clear up Iroha's misunderstanding so she could feel better, and so that Yukino could finally stop sighing in distress every now and then.
After a moment of thought, he first sent a message to Hitori, letting her know he had something to take care of and would be late today.
Then, he opened LINE, found Iroha's chat, and sent her a simple "?" before immediately following up with another message.
While waiting for her reply, he stepped into a nearby bubble tea shop.
He rarely visited such places. Eriri and Utaha didn't care for them either. But Iroha, despite her appearance as a cool and composed girl, had a notable weakness for bubble tea.
This was simply a way of playing to her preferences.
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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