If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 6

Flag 6: The Very First Quest

After a few days—

As their life together began, the Quest House buddies became more and more united with each passing day.

However, this should be due to the fact that they had pretty good chemistry to begin with.

Only, for especially-low-chemistry Souta, other people actively approaching him was fine, but he would almost never take initiative to talk to others.

For example, while the other four were chatting in the living room furnished with a soft sofa, coffee table, and soft carpet and constantly enticing people to join in, he would look at the happy atmosphere from the hall and directly pass by despondently.

Akane noticed this with her sharp eyes, and while worrying about his sad aura, she thought:

Are you sad because the coffee table isn’t soft?

But if even the coffee table was soft, guests might spill their drinks and never come back. No, the current softness ratio was just right so that this wouldn’t happen — Akane would later figure this out. She should have figured it out immediately, right?

Come to think of it, was it right to exclude Souta and just chat there herself? We need to go find him — although they all had this kind of thought, the situation had started with just Akane and Nanami chatting, with Kikuno joining in later and Megumu also joining in. Everything happened naturally, so they definitely didn’t exclude Souta on purpose.

Aside from the aforementioned situation, Souta exuded a sad aura no matter what he did, which always tortured Akane’s girlish heart.

A lonely profile that broke people’s hearts.

Although the amount of times Souta showed that depressing expression when he was with everybody decreased a lot, Akane still wanted to completely eliminate Souta’s sad aura, so she made up her mind.

First, in order to prepare for her operation, Akane consulted Kikuno, who should know Souta best.

“Eh? You want to make Sou-kun happy?”

After hearing Akane explain the important thing they needed to discuss, Kikuno asked this question.

Akane nodded seriously. Kikuno zoned out for a moment, then her whole body trembled as she hugged Akane tightly.

“Kikuno-senpai!?”

“Akane-chan, you’re such a good kid! Welcome to the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance!”

“Huh, there’s an alliance like that?”

“Akane-chan is the esteemed second member!”

Seems like a rather lonely alliance.

“Then, what kind of activities has the Sou-kun Happiness Alliance done so far?”

“Looking at Sou-kun when he’s happy is really soothing for the soul!”

“Its purpose is actually the opposite!?”

When Akane is with normal people, she should always garner retorts. But Kikuno, who’s able to make Akane retort, should really reflect on herself. Maybe she only becomes stupid when encountering something related to her little brother.

“Oh... So you want Sou-kun to be happy. Hmm... Of course a boy’s happiness comes from having a wonderful romance with a girl, I think.”

“Romance?!”

Kikuno proposed an unusually difficult solution, and Akane crossed her arms and pondered it.

She didn’t want to brag, but whether it was because of her innocent nature or her status as a rich heiress, it was difficult for boys to approach her. In her life so far, Akane hadn’t had any fate with love that could be called romance.

“I understand it now! Let’s implement the Souta-kun Romance Operation!”

Speaking of which, the contents of the operation hadn’t been planned out before. In other words, it wasn’t an operation at all.

Even Akane would discover this fact when it was time to implement it. But she couldn’t think of any good ideas, so she consulted Nanami this time.

“…Thou wantest Souta to have a romance?”

Nanami scoffed.

Akane scoffed in response.

“Why is Akane laughing too?!”

“I thought it’s better to laugh than not…”

“We cannot understand your motives!?”

The secret is: Akane didn’t know what her motives were either. But she made it so obvious, one could say it practically wasn’t a secret. Then it isn’t a secret, right?!

“Thou really likest Souta——...”

“I always felt that from the first time I met Souta, my chest tightens and I want to do something for him.”

Seeing Akane become shy, Nanami, who’d half-jokingly made an offhand comment, suddenly frowned.

“… So thou fellest in love at first sight?”

“Huh…?”

“Hast thou never fallen in love at first sight?”

Akane shook her head repeatedly.

“Huh…? Huh…? This is… love at first sight…?”

“……”

Nanami unflinchingly stared at the panicked Akane.

“N-no, no! It must be… I-it’s not like that…”

“Nevermind~ It’s fine, treat it as Our misunderstanding. Let’s not talk about that for now. Why didst thou come to ask Us such a thing?”

“Because Nanami is an charming girl, you’re definitely a love veteran or bateren

Nanami, who had fought desperately with her pitiful romance power level, said with resentment:

“… Ask boys about a boy’s romance.”

This is surrendering without a fight.

Akane felt as if Nanami had secretly refused to offer her advice and wandered around the dormitory dejectedly.

“Boys… are there any reliable boys…”

“You called, Mahougasawa-san?!”

Megumu jumped out of the laundry room, where he had been washing his clothes in the laundry machine, and Akane let out a strange cry of “Uwaahh!?”

“There is no boy more reliable than this man among men — Touzokuyama Megumu!”

“Um…”

Megumu, dressed in casual clothes, wore a girly knitted sweater, honeycomb shorts, and striped kneesocks. His zettai ryouiki was very dazzling and brimming with cuteness. Add to that his bow necklace which further enhanced his femininity.

Even Akane seemed to think that his femininity was higher than her own. Rather than Megumu’s reliability, Akane was more confused about whether she could even consider Megumu a boy.

“Come on, if you have a problem, just discuss it with one! Just ask this one — who, because his manly body odor is too strong, relies on washing clothes to remove his manly body odor — known as the boy who always exudes the fragrance of soap and flowers!”

“Megu-chan, that would just increase your femininity, though.”

Megumu’s eyes lost their luster.

What’s more , only he thought it was a manly body odor, but it actually smelled sweet. Therefore, Megumu always exuded a sweet fragrance of soap and flowers.

But if this continued, Megumu would be unwilling to help. In order to try to make Megumu’s eyes regain their brilliance, Akane held Megumu’s hand with a tense smile.

“Uh! Oh! I-I do have something I want to discuss with a boy! A boy! A man among men! Megu-chan, are you willing to lend an ear?!”

“Well… if you don't mind one’s rising femininity, one will just listen to you…”

Although Megumu’s eyes hadn’t completely regained their brilliance, he seemed willing to help out. So Akane asked with a bright smile:

“Actually, it’s this…”

When Akane finished explaining her goals, Megumu’s face turned red. He hid half of both hands in his sleeves and pressed his fingers against his mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. His whole person seemed much cuter.

“O-one isn’t very good at romance…”

“You hate the chewy texture?”

“What are you talking about?!”

“Salmon roe.”

“Why did the topic suddenly turn to salmon roe?!”

“I suddenly brought up the topic of romance and you seemed burdened, so I changed the subject.”

“What kind of weird consideration is this?!”

Anyways, since Megumu seemed only reliable on the topic of salmon roe, Akane gave up on discussing romance with Megumu.

Speaking of fearing romance, Akane herself also… repeated what she did before. Not knowing what to do, she dejectedly wandered around the dorm while crying out “Ah…” or “Ugh~” They say that when Souta saw her, he thought, Is that a zombie game…?

Of course, Souta didn’t particularly go over to show concern. Kikuno, seeing Akane at the same time, was giddy with excitement and said to her:

“I’m telling you, Akane-chan! I thought of many ideas afterwards, and I want to ask Akane-chan to date Sou-kun so that he can open his eyes to romance. What do you think of this idea?”

“N-no, not happening! I think Souta-kun would want to find a more charming girl than me!”

Maybe she learned a new move after seeing Megumu’s, but she hid half of her hands in her sleeves and pressed her fingers against her mouth, making an “Ahhhhh~ >x<” expression. Her whole person seemed much cuter, her femininity increasing by a huge leap.

“Mmm! Akane-chan is very charming though, and Big Sis thinks you two are a good match... But if that’s the case, how about introducing an charming girl Akane-chan knows to Sou-kun?”

“Good idea!! Or should I say good taste!!”

“Taste...?”

The topic of salmon eggs seemed to still linger somewhere in Akane’s mind.

That night, Akane stopped wandering around and stayed in her room, struggling to write a list of girls to introduce to him.

Upon conjuring up the image of a girl on the list getting along well with Souta and imagining his very happy smile, Akane’s joy slowly surged up like the warmth of basking in the sun during the winter… But—

“…Huh?”

Suddenly—

Akane felt a piercing pain in her chest and stopped writing the list.

However, that only lasted for a moment.

Akane immediately returned to work writing the list…

Swish! With the sound of curtains being drawn, the dazzling morning light shone directly onto Souta’s face. As he gradually regained consciousness due to the light, his body lying on the bed was continuously shaken. Then, a sweet sound, like the chirping of a bird, passed into his ears.

“Good morning!”

“Mm… Good morning…”

“Haaah… Whoa!” Seeing Akane’s face so close to him as she enthusiastically came to wake him up, Souta was immediately startled awake.

“Huh?! What’s going on?! Why is Akane in my room?! Where’s the door lock?!”

“I opened it without permission.”

“You can’t open it without permission, right?!”

Just outside the wide-open door, Nanami came out of her room to take a morning shower and happened to pass by. She poked her head in from the hall and took a peek with sleepy eyes.

“What’s up… Why’s it so noisy this morning…”

“Is it better to be noisy like this during the night?”

“Disturbing people’s sweet dreams!!”

Nanami, no longer sleepy after her roar, looked inside Souta’s room again and found Akane leaning over the bed where Souta was lying.

“This…! Why are ye behaving so outrageously so early in the morning!!”

“No, no! This is French behavior!”

“You’re not French!”

It’s hard to say whether everything French people do is French behavior.

“Th-this is just a step of the operation to wake Souta-kun up and make him happy! I was reading a shoujo manga before, and it said that boys who get woken up by girls in the morning are very happy! Nanami, come and wake Souta-kun up too!”

“Oh, thou art just a Souta, yet thou enjoyest the luxury of being woken up by a beautiful girl…”

In Nanami’s opinion, just waking Souta up was too revolting, so she looked at Souta disdainfully, full of mockery and contempt. She only looks disdainfully at our poor Souta.

“Th-that’s not it! No, I should say, I didn’t ask her to do that! By the way, Akane, how did you open the door of my room?!”

Although Souta’s mood was low, his energy was high. This could be said to be a very unfortunate state.

“I borrowed the spare key from Kikuno-senpai.”

“Huh?! Why does Okiku-nee have a spare key to my room?!”

“She said that was Big Sis’s privilege.”

““Big Sis’s privileges are really terrifying!””

Nanami and Souta shouted in unison. Seeing how close the two were, Akane felt lonely and whispered a complaint.

“Hmph, you guys left me out again, acting so in sync… But it doesn’t matter. I just want Souta-kun to be happy.”

“Yes… But right now, my lock isn’t working at all, and the happiness of staying in bed in the morning is gone. I’m in quite a distressing situation…”

“Dejection…”

Akane’s eyes welled up with tears because she had deprived Souta of happiness.

“Souta, don’t make Akane cry!”

“Oh… what a headache. Ah~ I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m really happy. I’m so lucky to have a girl come wake me up in the morning... It’s like, uh, since I’ve almost never tasted the feeling of happiness, I don’t know how to distinguish between happiness and unhappiness.”

Souta was hit in the back of his head by Nanami’s Princess Punch and frantically consoled Akane.

But after hearing his consolation, Akane unexpectedly cheered up.

“Ah! I actually made you worry about me, Souta-kun! But… I really like how Souta-kun and Nanami are so considerate.”

“…I can’t compare to Akane.”

“Heeheehee… ah, I accidentally started to taste happiness. Really, I should be letting unlucky Souta-kun taste it.”

“I don’t need it…”

That said, being told that you have bad luck isn’t very pleasant, and it made Souta a little depressed.

His sad aura emerged, causing Akane to panic.

“Ah?! No problem. Souta-kun has me here. The Souta-kun Happiness Operation exists for this purpose. I want to introduce my charming friend to Souta-kun. She’s the type of… charming girl that you would want to date!”

““…Uh-huh.””

Seeing her abruptly begin to speak unbelievable words again, Souta and Nanami still couldn’t help but look at her in wonder despite the fact they were slowly getting used to her behavior.

“This is the charming girl I recommend, Nanami Knight Bladefield.”

“I’ve already known her for a while!”

Souta complained without even looking at Nanami, who was pushed forward. Because he didn’t need to look at her to know her.

“You’ve got a keen eye for identifying charming girls. You’re really good at it, Souta-kun.”

“……”

I think it was my keen eyes that were able to recognize Nanami at first… Souta began to recall that past. However, because many things happened in this short period of time, when he began to recall it, he even felt that it was a long time ago.

However, Akane interrupted his reminiscence.

“How about it, do you want to date Nanami?”

“Why must We date Souta, nyaa?!”

Akane looked very disappointed.

“Why dost thou have a ‘That’s impossible…’ look on your face? We are the one who should say that’s impossible!!”

“Nanami isn’t an idiot.”

“Who said that to thee—?!”

Nanami roared at Akane, calling her a dumb idiot.

Since the door was open, it was Kikuno’s turn to poke her head in and take a peek at Souta’s incredibly noisy room.

“…I say, you three, I told Megumu to get you because you were late. But he just came back scared and said that there was an early-morning love triangle crisis in Sou-kun’s room, huh?”

“““It’s not a love triangle!!”””

The three people in the room retorted at Kikuno together.

Then, after shouting, Akane covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.

“Wow!? We were just in sync…!! Finally… I finally did it…!! This way, I am also in sync with Souta-kun and Nanami!!”

Akane then held the two’s hands and started dancing, and the matter was left unsettled just like that. Everyone packed up, ate the Big Sis Breakfast Kikuno made for everyone, and then went to school.

Lunch break.

Souta stood up and left the table alone to go somewhere else...

“Souta-kun, where are you going?”

…But Akane grabbed the corner of his shirt to stop him. As for why she grabbed the corner of his shirt, it wasn’t because she thought, Go die, you dirty piece of trash! Rather, if she had hugged him from behind and said, Where are you going, Sou-kun~? it would seem too intimate. Why is this so extreme?

Also, the latter has apparently been patented the doting Big Sis.

“Sou-kun, it’s time for lunch. Where are you going? Is something going on? Do you want Big Sis to come with you?”

Big Sis’s doting was clearly beyond imagination.

“No... I’m just going to buy lunch.”

“There’s bento, though!”

As he said this, Megumu took out a cute tote bag and put it on the table. Incidentally, since he couldn’t carry that bag in the morning, Souta ended up carrying it for him.

“Is there a portion for me…?”

“Yep, I made it with Kikuno-san. Akane-san and Nanami-san also have a portion.”

“You didn’t have to do that… I can eat the bread from the cafeteria..."

Seeing Souta’s reclusive attitude again, Nanami, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:

“Thou art an idiot, Souta! This idiot Souta! Stop talking nonsense and just accept their goodwill! More importantly, if they didn’t have the girlish motive of making lunch boxes for thee, We wouldn't be able to take a share of the spoils!”

“Okay…”

After listening to Nanami's words, Souta sighed helplessly.

However, this sentence made Megumu smile.

"Nanami-kun is so gentle… If only you got one, the gentle Souta-kun would feel bad. You said ‘We want it too’ in order to make it hard for him to refuse, right?”

“Huh?!… Th-that’s not the case…!!”

Souta had taken it literally, thinking that Nanami was selfish and smiling thinly, but now his eyes widened and he stared at Nanami, who blushed and fumbled to deny it.

“Is that so, Nanami?... Look at you, pretending to be an evil bastard.”

Souta, who himself didn’t really have any right to be criticizing people on pretending to be evil, smiled wryly.

“A-are ye idiots? Thinking too highly of me!? W-We ask for a lunchbox out of selfishness…!!”

Regardless of the truth, Nanami, trying so hard to hide her gentleness, ended up making everyone to look at her with warm eyes.

“D-d-d-do nyaat look at me like that—!!”

“Uwaahhh—!!”

Poked in the eye by Nanami, Souta screamed on behalf of everyone.

Souta, who was eating lunch alone a few days ago, found himself having a lively and warm meal with the five members of the Quest House group in the blink of an eye.

“It's better to eat with a lot of people. Even 800 people would be no problem.”

“So many!!”

“If we want 800 people to have lunch together, I think it would be better to hold a banquet.”

“Eh, you’re continuing on that topic?!”

Kikuno unexpectedly brought up Akane’s words again, and this unforeseen situation shocked Megumu.

“The atmosphere at a banquet might be inexplicably awkward, though.”

“So individualism is the way to go after all!”

“Too extreme!!”

The conversation between Miss Heiress and Her Princess Highness, who were very used to banquets, was very high-class.

“One or All, and All or 1.”

“Isn’t it for?” Megumu asked.

“It’s not for.”

“No, it is for, though! For has gotta be correct, right?!” Souta exclaimed.

“Looks like the boys like for.”

“This isn’t a matter of preference—!!”

“Sou-kun’s retorts are really no-holds-baran…”

The baran at the end of no-holds-baran doesn’t refer to the green plastic Yamagata leaf that separates the side dishes in the bentos Souta and co. were currently eating. Speaking of which, although baran is the common name, its official name seems to be haran. If the common name were also haran, why would it take so many lines to explain haran? It’s really a pity to think about this. In any case, we shouldn’t talk about something so off-topic.

“By the way, Sou-kun, is the omelette Big Sis made delicious?”

“Yep… I see there are two kinds of omelettes. Why is that?”

“That’s made by one”

“Oh, this is delicious too. Sweet omelette.”

Megumu had been smiling shyly and timidly, perhaps because he wasn’t confident about the taste. But after hearing Souta’s words, he made a cute little “I did it♡” victory pose like a little girl.

“Sorry… I’m sorry, Sou-kun… If I’d known earlier, Big Sis would’ve also made sweet omelettes for Sou-kun… Because Sou-kun liked to eat salty omelettes when he was little, so Big Sis accidentally… I’m such a useless Big Sis who doesn’t understand Sou-kun’s preferences… I’m sorry…”

Megumu was overjoyed, but Kikuno was quite depressed.

So doting!!

The doting Big Sis’s words and actions shocked the students who were eating in the classroom.

“Okiku-nee, you’re being too dramatic. Besides, I really like Okiku-nee’s omelette too!”

“Sou-kun... has grown into a kind-hearted little brother…!”

Big Sis was deeply moved.

Akane leaned over from the side.

“How does my omelette taste?”

“Huh? I haven’t eaten it before…?”

“Based on the current conversation, I thought I could get an answer of ‘It’s delicious’, but it was a failure.”

“What’s with this feeling of confrontation…?”

Nanami put an octopus sausage into her mouth and cast a weird look at Akane’s strange behavior.

“By the way, Akane, what happened to the introduction thou wast talking about this morning? We can’t be the only choice, right…?”

“It felt like Nanami would fail, so that was something like a throwaway option.”

“What does that mean…?”

Although she didn’t want to date Souta at all, it was still quite unpleasant to be told as much. This is a woman’s heart.

“Heeheehee… Now comes the main event. I think Souta fits better with girls who are a bit assertive.”

“Ah, Big Sis might also agree with this.”

On this basis, the three or four girls (?) present are all a bit assertive in different respects.

By the way, when Souta saw the defeat flag raised above Akane’s head, he kind of wondered what was up with that; but he just wondered and didn’t take any particular actions.

“I’ve already sent a text, she should almost be here.”

In the blink of an eye—

The classroom door was violently flung open and a female student barged in.

“Fuhahahahahaha, Mahougasawa Akane-kun!! What business do you have with this student president Seiteikouji Mimori?!”

Just then, for some unknown reason, everyone except Akane seemed to see a failure flag above Mimori’s head. But you can roughly tell the reason, so it wasn’t really unknown… So why it said “Just then, for some unknown reason…” is the real unknown.

As the word “unknown” went through Gestaltzerfall, Akane pushed Souta forward.

“Please go on a date with Souta-kun around campus.”

“Huh?!”

Mimori froze for a full thirty seconds.

Afterwards, she turned her back to everyone, took out a comb and portable mirror to comb her hair, reapplied lip balm, and secretly made “Ah~ Ah~ Ha! Uh-huh!” sounds to warm up her voice. She also said in a very cute voice “Annoying… everyone’s looking…” After practicing her lines, she thought to herself, Very well! Yours truly’s constant daily practicing is all for today!, struck a victory pose, then faced Souta and co. again.

“Can’t be helped! Since you’re so insistent, how can a student president who exists for the students refuse? What a headache, Akane-kun!”

“You’re laughing so happily and having a headache at the same time!!”

The unprecedented response shocked Akane silly.

Moreover, because Mimori made a cute expression that strayed completely from her original personality, the people around her couldn’t help but take a step away from her.

“N-no big deal. Hatate-kun too, if you had told yours truly earlier, yours truly would’ve helped you embezzle any amount of student council funds when renovating the dorm…”

“No, no, don’t embezzle…”

“Alright, stop dilly-dallying in a place like this, now we’ll let the young people chat on their own!”

Although the matter hadn’t been fully discussed, Souta and Mimori were kicked out of the classroom at Akane’s urging.

Next, not long afterwards—

Souta, feeling particularly tired, saw three or four girls (?) waiting for him with sparkling eyes as he entered the classroom.

Only Nanami pretended to be uninterested, but from the way she kept glancing at Souta, it was clear that she was actually quite interested. Just like how people look at bra straps visible under summer uniforms.

“What’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the student president go?!”

“Not very well…”

Akane asked, ready to lean forward at any moment, and Souta gave a vague response with a pale face.

“Maybe Souta was actually the only one there, completely alone.”

“Then what was with me?!”

“The student president’s ghost.”

“Nooooooooooooo!! Nonononono!! One is super scared of ghosts and stuff—!!”

Megumu screamed super cutely and covered her ears like crazy.

“Then what’s the result, Souta-kun? How did your time alone with the ghost of the student president go?”

“Megumu’s making so much noise nearby, I can’t hear what Akane said at all.”

“Huh? What? Souta-kun, I can’t hear you at all.”

Looks like the ultrasonic waves emitted by Megumu drowned out all the surrounding sounds.

“Megu-chan, thou art very noisy.”

“Mmph!!”

Nanami stopped Megumu’s paranormal ultrasonic waves by stuffing leftover rice balls from lunch into his mouth. A little later and ghosts would have been attracted by the ultrasonic waves. Really dangerous.

“So, what's the result? Are ye closer? O-oh yeah, We don’t care, but Akane and Kikuno are particularly concerned.”

“It’s passable… I guess.”

Souta’s expression was extremely difficult to describe, but Akane, who was thinking positively, interpreted this vague statement in a positive way. She smiled and said:

“Really? That’s great!”

But—

When the image of Mimori and Souta getting along well with each other appeared in her mind…

…Akane’s chest felt pierced again.

Strange… why…?

It seemed very happy...but also seemed very lonely.

She appeared about to cry, but smiled awkwardly. From the head of Akane who was full of confusion—

“…Huh?!”

——Souta saw a love flag raised…

That day, after returning to the dorm, someone knocked on Nanami’s door.

When she opened the door, she saw Souta standing in front of her, not even out of uniform yet.

“What’s wrong? What’s with the sad face? No, Souta always makes this face.”

“……”

Souta couldn’t refute her extremely harsh words and forced a smile.

“That’s it. Just smile a little. Otherwise, even the people looking at it would be infected with depression.”

As they spent more time together, Souta was able to feel the encouragement in Nanami’s harsh words and carefully-crafted evil facade. He knew that it was Nanami’s clumsy expression of gentleness, so he put on a gentle smile.

“…Yeah. Thank you, Nanami.”

“Wh-why art thou thanking me? Weirdo!”

Nanami said this flustered, perhaps not realizing her own gentleness. Souta felt that this clumsiness was also very much like Nanami and quite liked it.

“…So? What dost thou want from me?”

“Hmm… it’s hard to put into words…”

Seeing Souta hesitate, Nanami guessed that it might be something not for others to hear, so she could only reluctantly invite Souta into her room.

“So, what is it? If it’s something trivial, We shall spread word to the News Club that thou art actually a soccer recruit.”

“But as for soccer, I’ve only ever played intramural soccer with my friends before, though?”

“When the time comes, a lot of expectant people will come to thou respectfully and ask you to join the soccer club. Just wait, thou shalt need to explain, deny, and reject them one by one, then suffer.”

“What an incredibly effective way to completely crush someone’s spirits!!”

Souta, whose mind was somewhat drained by the retorts, felt that all his worries were gone and it was easier for him to speak up; however, it was hard to say whether Nanami had considered such a long-term view at the beginning.

“Actually… it’s like this. I hope you don’t tell anyone about this… Akane… just… raised a love flag…”

“……”

Nanami had an indescribably irritated expression on her face.

“Uh, I also recognize that you would think that it’s impossible for someone so popular like Akane to be interested in a guy like me. But the love flag was really raised…”

“Art thou an idiot?”

Nanami still had an irritated expression, frowning even harder as she declared:

“That kind of thing is obvious at a glance.”

“What…?”

“Didst thou not notice…? It’s because thou only carest about looking at flags that thou dost not notice people’s feelings, idiot.”

Nanami sighed as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Really…? Was it like that… No, but, didn’t Akane ask me to date Nanami or the student council president…”

“……”

Hearing Souta’s rebuttal, Nanami plopped down on the chair and crossed her arms.

“It was a private conversation between girls, so We didn’t intend to tell you… but forget it.”

Nanami just looked up at the ceiling and told Souta about the conversation during lunch when Souta and Mimori went out and only the girls were left.

……

…………

………………

When Akane packed up her empty bento and took out her dessert bento, Nanami asked something that suddenly occurred to her:

“But, Akane, since thou wantest Souta to be happy so much, why not just date him and make him happy? What’s the point of forcing it on other people?”

“Huh…”

Seeing Akane at a loss for words, Kikuno joined in the conversation as well. She assumed a position with her hands clasped together and her body leaned forward, looking like she wanted to join in very badly.

“That’s right. Big Sis thinks Akane-chan and Sou-kun are a good match– Ah, but Nanami and Sou-kun and Megu-chan and Sou-kun are good matches, though?”

“Thou shalt not think about strange things! We do not fall in love with other people’s lovers, so thou needest not to worry!”

Although Akane felt that this wasn’t entirely the case, she deliberately remained silent, thinking that based on Nanami’s belligerent aura she’d be scolded if she said something wrong.

Megumu was forced into the center of discussion. He was terrified of this situation, but he tried his best to muster up courage, twisted his body cutely, and joined the conversation with a trembling voice:

“One sees Akane-chan do a lot for Souta-kun, so one always thought that Akane-chan likes Souta-kun.”

“N-no, no… I… I…”

“……”

At first, Akane violently shook her hands in denial, then lowered her head slightly, hesitating. Seeing this, everyone waited quietly for her next words.

“I definitely can’t make Souta-kun… No, no matter who I date, I definitely can’t make them happy…”

After saying this, Akane displayed a dejected expression.

Seeing her inexplicably distressed look, Nanami and co. were speechless.

Nanami didn’t know what Akane’s real thoughts were, nor did she know what part of Akane’s words were true. But she figured there must be a reason why Akane was so stubborn.

Nanami always thought that this was Souta’s knot to untie.

………………

…………

…

“…Anyway, that’s what happened.”

Nanami observed Souta’s reaction as she narrated. He seemed to have an idea in his mind.

“There’s a flag next to Akane’s love flag… I think it’s probably a trauma flag… It and the love flag seem to come as a set.”

“…Oh.”

Nanami confirmed that her suspicions weren’t completely wrong, uncrossed her arms, and raised her chin.

“Whenever Akane’s love flag waves grandly and powerfully, the trauma flag also wriggles painfully.”

“After all, falling in love with Souta is a painful thing.”

“……”

On that point, Souta was quite aware of that. Knowing that he can’t be helped being told that, he sighed and leaned against the wall.

“…What do you think I should do, Nanami?”

“Why ask Us?”

“I can’t think it through by myself… I don’t know what I should do. It’s because, for a long time, I haven’t… thought about myself… Though saying this is pretty embarrassing.”

“What can We do~ Everybody comes to Us for help… After all, considering my pedigree and prestige, it can’t be helped!!”

Nanami, self-importantly sticking out her flat chest, was sympathetic, and Souta was unable to respond.

“Getting back to the point… if even thyself doesn’t know what to do, how can other people know?”

“I feel like I’m… just torturing Akane…”

“…Then, dost thou want to try to keep a little distance? After all, Akane has been clinging to thee lately… No, Kikuno and Megumu are the same.”

Nanami didn’t mention herself at all, smiling with slight mockery.

“Keep my distance…? …You’ve got a point.”

While this approach was very passive, this might be the only way to deal with Akane, who can quickly recover even if her flag is actively broken.

Although the question of whether trying to deal with Akane is right or wrong remains up in the air.

After this delicate conversation ended like this, remaining unclear as to whether it had been resolved or not, Nanami and Souta walked out of the room and ran into Akane and Kikuno in the hall.

“Oh? What did you two sneak around and do? Can you tell Big Sis about it too?”

Kikuno approached Souta with a smile, looking like a clingy Big Sis who really wanted to take care of her little brother.

“No… We weren’t sneaking around…”

“Then, what did you do?”

Kikuno asked happily.

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to control her little brother’s actions very badly.

“…Nothing, just talked a bit.”

“Oh? Talk about what? Can you let Big Sis join in~?”

Explanation: Clingy Big Sis wanted to improve her relationship with her little brother very badly.

“Nothing… nothing worth mentioning…”

“Huh — so it’s something you can’t tell Big Sis about… Sou-kun left Big Sis and became independent, Big Sis is so lonely…”

Kikuno’s body was full of only sisterly love, making her dejected. Souta was in a dilemma.

"Ah. B-but Big Sis thinks Sou-kun and Nanami are a good match. Aahhh, but Mimori and Akane will be sad… As a big sister, who should I support? Ah, but no matter who Sou-kun chooses in the end, remember that Big Sis will always stand on Sou-kun’s side!"

“Uh…”

Faced with this almost soliloquous sisterly love, not only Souta but also Akane and Nanami took a step back.

“So, Big Sis will keep Sou-kun and Nanami’s passionate affair in the room a secret from Akane-chan.”

“Akane is right beside us though!?”

“…Huh?”

For Big Sis’s great love often ignored everything else except her little brother and was blind to everyone else. How terrifying.

Akane, hearing the secrets being whispered in front of her, seemed to have a little bit of a headache. She looked back and forth between Nanami and Souta and said:

“L-listen… I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that Nanami and Souta-kun were in that kind of relationship…”

“What kind of relationship?!”

At Nanami’s retort, Akane’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.

This blatant misunderstanding of hers was obviously influenced by Kikuno’s words just now.

“If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have made a fuss and would’ve given you two my blessings a long time ago!”

“Thou art making a fuss with those random assumptions—!!”

Nanami felt that the conversation between her and Akane was completely unproductive and she couldn’t help but clutch her head in frustration.

This world is really full of busybodies… Souta thought from a distance.

“Hmph! Kikuno-senpai, leave this place to the two young people, let’s excuse ourselves!”

“Y-you’re right! Sorry, Sou-kun! Big Sis is too intrusive!”

As if they would die if the misunderstanding was resolved, Akane and Kikuno did not give people a chance to resolve the misunderstanding. After nodding to each other, they raised their hands to indicate “Please take it slow!” while mouthing “Heehee, being young is great” and jogged away.

“… Why did things turn out like this?”

Having been paired with Souta without her consent, Nanami said, her expression collapsing.

“B-but, anyways, this means there’s hope of keeping my distance from Akane… right? Right?”

“Don’t drag other people into thy own affairs!!”

“Ack!!”

Nanami grabbed Souta’s neck and fiercely threw him to the ground. She glared at Souta resentfully, turned her face away with a harrumph, and left with heavy footsteps.

Kikuno and Akane, who had pretended to leave but had actually hidden in the bathroom to spy on the hall, felt sorry for the two with an “Oof!”

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun, he—!”

“I think it’s because Nanami is jealous that Souta-kun spent a lot of time talking to Kikuno-senpai and me.”

“Of course not!!”

Because the two just happened to be in the direction of Nanami’s movements, Nanami heard their conversation in its entirety, causing her to roar in anger.

That evening—

In the kitchen, Souta was peeling potatoes with full concentration like a chef apprentice. Kikuno, who was cooking nearby, and Akane, who was helping, approached him with a meaningful chuckle like “Heh heh heh…”

“Sou-kun. Big Sis wants to ask Sou-kun for something.”

“…What's up?”

Because he usually found himself being doted on, whenever he meets a doting Big Sis getting ready to spoil him, Souta is completely unable to mount resistance. That is what happens when you fall into a Big Sis’s perfected Control Domain. For a fish, this so-called “Control Domain” is the sea, or maybe a river. Doesn’t matter which of the two.

Or maybe a pond. Didn’t we just say it didn’t matter which?

“Big Sis forgot to buy carrots. Could you run an errand?”

“Okay, no big deal.”

Souta, who had been worried about what he would be asked to do, smiled in relief.

However, Akane interrupted as if it were her turn to take the stage:

“Since you’re going out, why don’t you go with Nanami?”

“Uh…”

“Ah, you’re right! Since it’s dangerous to carry carrots alone! That’s a good idea!”

“……”

It seems asking him to buy carrots was not the goal in and of itself.

Souta, feeling a headache coming on, looked at Nanami — she was currently on the sofa in the living room next to the dining room next to the kitchen reading a book — and sent a plea for help.

“……”

The conversation that Kikuno and co. were purposely having with a certain person had already long reached Nanami’s ears through the dining room, but Nanami pretended not to notice.

Looking closely, there was an angry “#” mark on her temple, showing that she had heard something unpleasant. Or maybe her blood pressure was very high. She was clearly still so young.

“So! You and Nanami have to go together, Sou-kun!”

“Coming back late is fine, too!”

“……”

Kikuno and Akane rushed over and stuffed a shopping bag and wallet into Souta’s embarrassed hands

The two urged Souta to “Hurry, hurry, be careful on the road” and pushed his back forcefully, and Souta began to have nowhere else to go. In other words, he was cornered by the animation.

Since Kikuno and Akane had expectant attitudes of “I’ve created an opportunity for them!” and both of them had “Cornering Complete” flags raised above their heads, Souta’s escape route was cut off and he had no choice but to walk towards Nanami, who was ignoring him to the end.

“No wonder… Nanami?”

“Whaddaya want?!”

She seems to be angry already. How scary.

“C-can you go shopping with me?”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I thought so…”

Souta was about to go back dejectedly, but when he saw Kikuno and Akane slightly grumpily standing behind him, he gasped “Huh?!”

“No, Sou-kun! Girls are very shy, you have to be more sincere and actively ask her out!”

“That’s right, Souta-kun! Nanami’s a tsundere, you have to work hard before she enters her dere phase. Though she’s a delinquent tsundere.”

“Who’s the delinquent tsundere?”

Nanami was hit dead-on by the groundless claim. She couldn’t ignore it this time and snapped. This was the tsun phase. Or maybe the snap phase. The time period when you take and send lots of selfies in that yellow app.

“Sou-kun, why don’t you try asking Nanami again? Oh, do you want Big Sis to ask her with you? Hmm? Hmm?”

The doting Big Sis… dotes habitually… Nanami thought thusly and looked up from the sofa at Souta and Kikuno, fed up.

Souta had a look on his face saying “What should I do?” and pleaded at Nanami for help again.

“Don’t look at Us!”

Nanami was apoplectic. Speaking of which, “apoplectic” has two p’s and two c’s. How complicated. Feels like this issue has been discussed elsewhere already, but for some reason we’ll keep doing it.

“Akane-chan, as a Big Sis, I really want to help Sou-kun! What can I do to convince Nanami?”

A doting Big Sis’s doting on her little brother knows no limit.

“How about an errand fee as bait?”

“That's great! Sou-kun, here’s the errand fee. Use the errand fee as bait, okay?”

Kikuno proudly presented someone else’s proposal, and Souta forced a smile in cold sweat.

“Uh no, I heard it very clearly... Hear that, Nanami? There’s an errand…”

“Don’t want it!!”

Since the distance was very close, if Souta could hear it, Nanami certainly couldn’t fail to hear it, so Nanami immediately refused before Souta finished speaking.

Seeing Nanami glaring at him as if to say “These idiot siblings!”, Souta almost cried. He was willing to ask anyone for help, whether they were a god or a buddha. He must be thinking that he might as well go pray at a temple.

“Jeez, fine! Just need Us to come, right? We will go!”

As a result, Nanami suffered such a fate due to her caring personality of being unable to say no when asked.

“Hey, come on, Souta! What art thou still stalling about for! Stalling Souta! Stall-ta!”

“Don’t give me random nicknames!!”

Stall-ta made an aggrieved cry.

Seeing Nanami walking furiously and taking the lead, Souta desperately followed her. Kikuno shouted at his back:

“Ah! Ah! Sou-kun! Hand! Hand! You have to hold hands!”

“We shall absolutely not do that!!"

Before Souta could answer, Nanami replied heatedly. This was the heat phase. Don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty fiery.

Nanami and Souta left the dormitory and took a bumpy ride on the tram, finally arriving at a place known as the campus shopping street, where there were many shops, half of which were run by students engaged in club activities.

After buying carrots as instructed at the supermarket in the school shopping street, the two left the supermarket.

During this period, the two remained silent.

Either their relationship is so bad that it is irreparable, or they are so indifferent to each other that it is irreparable, or they are so desperate to buy things that it is irreparable. In any case, it can be said that their relationship is irreparable.

“…By the way, Souta.”

On their way back, Nanami finally spoke, her tone clearly indicating her rage. Souta was so frightened that he shook uncontrollably.

“What’s up, Nanami…?”

“We have been curious this whole time.”

“Um…?”

Her roundabout way of speaking made Souta tilt his head in confusion.

“Ever since we left the dorm— what’s up with these two following us this whooooooooooole time?!”

Nanami’s teeth were grinding not because of sleep bruxism, but because she was wholly subjected to an irritation bordering on wrath.

Then, the unrivaled troop of Kikuno and Akane — thinking that they were stalking unnoticed — hid behind the cake shop’s sign board and observed Nanami and Souta.

“Oh! They finally started a conversation, Kikuno-senpai!”

“Them two being so immature is also a problem, Akane-chan!”

“I keep feeling like they’re looking at me.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hands! Hold hands!”

It seems that Big Sis just wants her brother to hold a girl’s hand no matter what.

“Ah, they seem to be coming this way.”

“Sou-kun! Now’s the time! Hug her from behind!”

“Hugging, my foot!!”

Because they were busy peeping, they didn’t notice that Nanami had already approached them face-to-face.

“Huh?! Nanami, nonono! This isn’t stalking!”

“…Then what is it?”

Akane was fiercely cornered by Nanami. She was cornered by the animation.

“…K-Kikuno-senpai, it’s not like that, isn’t it?”

“Nuh-uh, Akane-chan. Can’t believe you were stalking people. Good thing I came to stop you.”

“An unexpected betrayal!!”

Having been reprimanded by Big Sis with a “Naughty!” gesture, Akane was hit hard.

“Okiku-nee…”

Even Souta couldn’t let them get away with it scot-free. So the two of them sincerely apologized and the four of them went back to the dorm together.

“Ahh!! Everyone’s back! That’s great!”

Seeing Nanami and the others coming back together, Megumu, who was panicking in the dorm kitchen, rushed over to Souta with tears in his eyes and gave him a girl hug.

This so-called girl hug consists of leaning towards someone, holding their chest with both hands, and embracing them. It is an elegant way of hugging.

“Wh-what's wrong, Megumu?”

“When one came back, one saw that the food was half-cooked and felt like there were people there until just now, but there’s nobody there, so it’s just like the Mary Celeste! One was so scared!!”

The Mary Celeste was a ship involved in a mysterious incident. According to the urban legend — they say that all the people on the ship disappeared into thin air, and it became an unmanned ship drifting on the sea. The half-eaten breakfast on the ship was still hot, as if everyone was still sitting on the ship safely until a moment ago. How terrifying.

Seeing Megumu sob, Nanami also smiled bitterly:

“It’s okay, Megu-chan. You have a very vivid imagination…”

“That’s right, Megu-chan. Do you think that the us that just returned are really the us that Megu-chan knows?”

“What is that? How terrifying!!”

Akane said something strange, scaring Megumu into violent trembling. But was it really strange? If what she said was true… Mulder, you’re sick, you’re not thinking straight.

“Or maybe Megu-chan accidentally intruded into our domain?”

“How scary, how scary! Souta-kun, how scary!”

Kikuno also joined Akane’s evil prank. Megumu was trembling all over. He was no longer hugging Souta gracefully, but instead tightly wrapped his hands and legs around Souta's body, holding him in a state of imprint clinginess. Imprint clinginess was also called koala-clinging in the old days, and it was a sleeping technique showing a strong will to never separate.

“Both of you, please stop scaring Megumu… If he gets scared and moves out of the dorm, we’ll have to find a new dormmate again.”

“This means that in Souta’s mind, Megumu is just someone who fills up the dorm population quota.”

“Ah—!!”

Megumu’s spirit was already cornered by the animation, and Nanami added the final straw, causing him to open his mouth and start crying.

“J-just kidding, that was just a joke, okay?! Don’t cry, Megu-chan, why are you crying?!"

“Nanami’s too much.”

“That’s right, bad Nanami!”

“Ye have no right to speak!”

Kikuno, successfully pushing the bad-guy status onto Nanami, patted Megumu's head and said “Good boy, good boy” like a nanny comforting a child.

“I’m sorry, Megu-chan. Nanami can’t stand other girls being close to Sou-kun, so she couldn’t help but make fun of you. Just forgive her, okay?”

“That’s not it——!!”

Nanami was furious at the unfounded rumors.

So Nanami and co. had dinner later than usual — for one, because everyone ended up running out to buy stuff that they really didn’t need to buy; for another, in order to comfort Megumu. But…

“Ah, Souta-kun, you should sit in my seat from now on.”

“Well… I’m fine with that.”

The seats at the table were changed, which made Souta have a question mark in his head for a moment. But when he saw that Nanami, who seemed to be in a bad mood, was next to the new seat, he immediately realized the intention.

Moreover, the chairs were placed so close together that Nanami and Souta's shoulders were almost touching.

“Was going to say, Akane…”

As long as Akane and Souta could keep their distance, Nanami would have originally preferred to ignore it. But perhaps because she was getting annoyed at being paired together for no reason, Nanami sighed deeply and looked at Akane with a stern face.

“Ah! Ah! You don’t have to say it, I know everything, Nanami!”

“Hmm… What dost thou know…”

That might just be the kind of personality Akane has, but ever since she came to this dorm she keeps going a little too far with it — at this thought, Nanami pouted slightly.

“Would it be better for the two of you to sit facing each other at a private table?”

“You don’t know anything at all!!”

The little princess felt dizzy.

“Nanami has entered her tsun phase…”

“It’s not the tsun phase, not the dere phase, nor the dog phase!!”

People in the dog phase will have dog ears, and will pee when they are happy. In other words, drowning in happiness. Although they always feel that they have lost something important from a human perspective, they can’t help it because they are dogs. The most important thing for dogs is bones. When they get bones, they will drown in happiness.

Big Sis Kikuno, ecstatic to see her little brother sitting side by side with a cute girl, poked Souta’s shoulder with a smile.

“Hurry up, Sou-kun. Say ‘Open up~♡’ to feed her, open up♡”

“We will absolutely not eat it!”

Souta obediently picked up some of the beef stew with his chopsticks and was about to bring it to Nanami’s mouth. At the same time, Nanami raged.

“Hey~ Nanami, just eat it. Souta’s so sad…”

“Thou doting Big Sis…”

Nanami glared around angrily. Next to her, Souta absent-mindedly fiddled with his chopsticks and beef stew. He saw Megumu glance at him a few times with big, round eyes, so he said “Open up~♡” and fed Megumu.

“There’s a bromantic taste to it!”

Megumu was talking so giddily that Souta didn’t know how to answer him, so he pretended to be expressionless and nodded vaguely.

After dinner ended in a mess, it was Akane and Nanami’s turn to wash the dishes, but...

“Souta-kun, can you switch with me? The next time it’s your turn to wash the dishes, I’ll do it.”

“… Yeah… I’m fine with that.”

“Then thou shouldst switch with Us, Souta.”

Hearing Nanami was about to change it, Akane hurriedly tried to stop her.

“N-no no. Nanami has to wash the dishes with Souta-kun and say, ‘F-feels like we're newlyweds ♡’!”

“Why did it almost turn Megumu-like?!”

Megumu, who was wiping the table even though it wasn’t his chore, was surprised when his name was suddenly called.

“Anyways, We just don’t want to! We shall absolutely never pretend to be newlyweds with Souta!”

A tsundere…

A tsundere…

A tsundere…

Akane, Kikuno, and Megumu looked at Nanami with inexplicable gazes.

“Ah, but on a related note, after you finish washing the dishes, you two can take a bath together, right?”

“Who would want to take a bath together?!”

Kikuno, who had no authority, abused her non-existent authority to grant permission. But Nanami, the house prefect, vetoed it without using her authority.

“Souta-kun, you’re a pervert!!”

Megumu weakly hit Souta with something between a slap and a push, dealing zero damage. Then, he ran away to his room.

“…Megu-chan’s crying.”

“Sou-kun, a girl’s heart is very delicate. If you don’t treat her with the utmost care, it’ll be bad.”

“Uh, okay…”

Souta thought it was strange that they were worried about Megumu’s girl-heart since he pursued masculinity. Plus, at the end of the day, Kikuno was the one who hurt Souta, so he deliberated how to retort and finally decided to give up on it.

Afterwards, of course, Nanami and Souta did not take a bath together. However, Souta, who was about to enjoy some barley tea after taking his bath, happened to meet Nanami in the hallway.

Nanami, who had been quite angry recently, saw Souta gently raise his hand to greet her. She turned away with a snort and reached out to grab the door handle of her room. If she was ticked off, that means she isn’t on the list anymore.

Anyways, Nanami suddenly stopped as she was about to enter her room. She looked at the unbelievable scene in her room and began to suspect that she was dazzled.

“…Soooouutaaaaaa!”

“What?!”

When his name was suddenly called in a threatening tone, Souta felt his heart palpitate and turned his head at the same time. If instead his liver palpitated, then he’d been drinking too much.

“What’s going on with this—?!”

Nanami’s eyes narrowed as she yelled, and her expression became like a cat whose food was taken away.

“You asked me what’s going on… what’s… going on with what?”

Following Nanami’s finger pointing towards her room, Souta was speechless and froze in place.

In the middle of Nanami's room, which was a bit large because it was originally a double room, there were pink and blue mattresses for two people. The two mattresses were close together, and heart-shaped pillows were placed side by side.

“It wasn’t me…”

“Of course I know that!”

Souta did think, Hey, why are you yelling at me? But if he said it out loud, it might just add fuel to the fire, so Souta remained silent and turned his eyes from the furious Nanami back to the paired futons.

“…That futon does come from my room.”

“That one’s my futon! Those guys pulled it off the bed! Akane! Akaneeeeeee!!”

Nanami’s roar echoed through the hall.

“What’s going?”

After a moment, Akane opened the door and poked her head out. Then, Kikuno followed leisurely even though she was not called.

“Thou darest ask Us what’s going on?! What’s going on with this?!”

(monotone) “Oh my, I didn’t expect you two to have such a close relationship.”

“It’s so monotone, it’s like reading from a script!”

Although the culprit was instantly revealed, the whole world already knew before it was revealed.

“What dost thou intend, Akane!? …No, We already know what thou intendest.”

(monotone) “Haha, I wish you two happiness.”

Akane wasn’t even listening to Nanami.

“That’s enough! If We two can just sleep together lovey-dovey like this, wouldn’t that be weird?!”

“It’s not weird, but…”

“But what?”

“We two sounds like you’ll have many Wiis, too. It’s really cute.”

“Akaneeeeeeee!”

Akane, who didn’t listen to others carefully, made Nanami angry. By the way, “We two” means “us two”.

Seeing the two arguing, Souta murmured his thoughts:

“By the way, that pillow is a Yes/No pillow…”

The Yes/No pillow is used by lovey-dovey couples. When they want to be affectionate, they turn the Yes pillow to the front. When they want to concentrate on sleeping without even looking at their partner, they turn it to No.

“What art thou looking at now… Why are both of them No?!"

“Yes isn’t good, okay— Big Sis thinks you can’t go to that stage yet.”

Kikuno poked Nanami and Souta’s foreheads with her finger and said, “That’s naughty!”

“It’s all too early, alright?! No, it’s not a matter of earliness! Who would want to use this kind of thing, regardless of whether it’s earlier or later?!”

Nanami gradually went insane… Little by little, Souta began to distance himself from.

Seeing her frantic look, Akane might have become uneasy too. Akane crossed her arms over her chest with a Hmm~, then looked at Kikuno.

“See, Kikuno-senpai. Nanami isn’t Japanese, so putting their bedding side by side doesn’t suit her tastes.”

“Hmm… but I even thought she’d be very touched.”

“That’s not the issue!”

There was a gradual gap between the two sides’ understandings. Souta felt that the matter could no longer be resolved and wanted to take his futon from Nanami’s room as soon as possible, but he could not find the opportunity and was at the end of his rope.

“That's enough! Now We understand!!”

“You finally understand!”

Although they were probably talking about different things, Akane happily grasped Nanami’s hand.

“Since Akane wants to help Souta find a girlfriend so much, Akane should just date him!!”

““Eh…!!””

Nanami uttered a critical sentence that could be considered an irreversible statement, and Akane and Souta froze together.

Then, they awkwardly looked at each other’s faces.

The countless friendship flags above Akane’s head fell down like dominoes, and were reborn one by one as imposing love flags, standing tall.

Translator notes and references

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