After school in the afternoon, Sato carried his bag to the clubroom.
Black tea, cake...
The Light Music Club's afternoon tea sessions seemed to never stop. The young lady constantly brought all kinds of snacks from home.
When they went to the shrine for New Year's, he had even overheard them whispering about how many pounds they had gained again.
Although their voices had been quiet, his sharp senses still picked it up.
Still, he felt it was understandable. Anyone eating cake and cookies in the clubroom every single day would probably gain weight.
For girls, the three most important things were probably age, weight, and appearance...
Age and appearance were not things they cared much about yet, so the most important thing now was probably their uncontrollable weight.
So although Mio and the others were happily eating away, Sato still could not help reminding them, "Eat a little less, or next year you'll gain another three kilograms."
Gulp!
Someone swallowed hard.
Mio and Tsumugi stiffly turned their heads toward Sato.
Mio's pupils trembled slightly as she stared at him in disbelief.
"Y-you heard that that day?!"
The two girls stared at him intently.
Holding his elegant white porcelain teacup, Sato hesitated briefly before nodding under their nervous gazes.
In an instant, both girls froze.
"Y-you actually heard it..." Mio muttered blankly, looking completely broken.
"I'll never get married now!!"
The young lady puffed out her lips in grievance.
Sato: "..."
Had things really become that serious? Sato honestly could not understand the logic behind it.
"Huh? What happened?"
Ritsu, who had been studying manga together with Yui, finally looked up in confusion.
"Ah, nothing. We were talking about them gaining weight."
"Mio and Mugi gained weight?!"
Ritsu's eyes instantly lit up, as though she had discovered something interesting. She immediately looked toward Mio and Tsumugi.
"No, I didn't!"
"Don't say nonsense!"
Mio and Tsumugi simultaneously unleashed a combo denial attack.
They frantically waved their hands and shook their heads, absolutely refusing to admit they had gained weight.
Ritsu burst out laughing and pointed at Mio.
"Haha! You totally did!"
"I already said that when I went shopping for bras with Mio that day, her old size didn't fi..."
Suddenly, Ritsu's voice came to an abrupt stop, and her expression instantly froze.
"Ritsu!!"
Blushing furiously, Mio angrily pressed close enough to practically stick her face against Ritsu's!
H-how could you say something like that in public?!
But Ritsu remained motionless, still frozen in place. Only after a long while...
The dazed girl suddenly sighed, a lonely expression gradually appearing on her face.
Inside, she roared silently.
That's not gaining weight at all! That's just developing!
In the end, the clown turned out to be me!
At that moment, everyone seemed to feel like the background behind Ritsu had turned gray.
At that moment, Yukinoshita Yukino, who had only been secretly listening nearby, suddenly felt inexplicably wounded. She pursed her thin lips, the hand gripping her book page remaining motionless for a long time.
At that moment, Yui still looked at everyone in confusion.
Huh?
What happened?
She scratched her head curiously.
...
Ritsu had fallen into despair, sitting silently in her seat contemplating life.
Although Mio's face still carried a faint blush, she had more or less calmed down.
Looking around, there was only one boy present: Sato. Thinking about it that way, maybe it was not completely unacceptable.
She secretly sighed in relief.
Wait!
What was there to feel relieved about?! Even if it was only one boy, he was still a boy!
Mio's face instantly turned red again.
Seeing this, Sato felt completely baffled.
What exactly was Mio doing over there?
Practicing Sichuan opera face-changing techniques?
At that moment, Mio also noticed him looking.
Whoosh!
The girl instantly covered her chest. Her face bright red, she glared at him angrily and shouted, "Pervert!"
Sato: "???"
He stared at Mio in complete confusion, his mind full of question marks.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
Why is she calling me a pervert?
Then he noticed Mio clutching her chest. His gaze sharpened slightly as he instantly understood everything.
But... although the topic just now had involved that area, he genuinely had not looked!
"And you're still looking!"
As Mio's embarrassed and girlishly shy voice rang out again, Sato silently turned his head away.
It was over.
He knew any explanation now would probably be useless. Even if he jumped into the Yellow River, he would never wash this clean!
What kind of nonsense was this?!
Sato sighed faintly, but then suddenly thought of something else.
"Say..."
Everyone's attention shifted toward him.
Sato slowly said, "This semester is ending soon, right?"
"Yeah, obviously?" Ritsu looked at him strangely.
"Then next semester, doesn't that mean our club can start recruiting new members?"
The girls froze briefly before Ritsu suddenly cried out in realization.
"That's right! We can recruit new members next semester!"
"Huh? We'll get new members?"
Tsumugi asked excitedly.
"Ui! We can let Ui join!"
Yui's eyes sparkled happily. That way she could go to school together with Ui every day!
"Wait! Don't get excited yet!"
Sato helplessly interrupted the excited group.
"If we're recruiting, we need something attractive enough to draw in new students first, right?"
"We can perform! Perform our own songs! Then everyone will definitely become interested!"
Yui enthusiastically raised her hand as she spoke.
"But so far we only have one song. Honestly, I'm already tired of it!"
Ritsu suddenly sighed.
"So how about we practice a new song before vacation starts?"
Tsumugi suggested with a smile.