Late at night, Amane, who was once again being used as a body pillow, quietly opened her eyes.
Since Horikita had completely wiped out her savings,
she had to seize every opportunity to quickly replenish them.
She turned off her phone's shutter sound and flash.
Using the bright moonlight of that night,
Amane took a photo of Horikita's cute sleeping face.
"Her sleeping face is indeed the cutest."
Amane carefully put away her phone, then returned to her body pillow form.
She gently snuggled into Horikita's arms.
Only after she felt the human body pillow in her arms fall asleep,
did Horikita open her eyes.
Honestly.
She never learns.
She even takes stealth photos while sleeping, not honest at all.
Next time, she won't tell her bedtime stories.
Horikita looked at the peacefully sleeping Amane.
On an impulse, she gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
When she realized what she had done,
Horikita immediately wanted to reach up and touch her own face.
But her arm was holding Amane.
She certainly couldn't reach.
But even without touching, she knew.
She must be excessively red right now.
Why did she do such a thing?
Amane is a girl!
Between girls... such an act should be considered a prank, right?
Yes, it must have been an impulsive prank.
After finding an excuse for herself, Horikita closed her eyes again.
Pity.
Just a little more.
She would have seen Amane's involuntarily upturned lips.
The next day after school.
The 'scamming for food and drink' duo.
I mean,
Horikita and Amane arrived together at the Palette cafe.
As soon as she entered, Amane saw Wang Meiyu and Ichihashi Ruri chatting there.
As for why they weren't drinking beverages at the cafe,
it was because... it was too hot.
It hadn't been long since class ended.
The two of them had actually rushed over so quickly.
It was clear at a glance that Kushida had arranged them as decoys.
Indeed.
The unprofessional decoy, Wang Meiyu, winked at Amane.
Then she picked up her drink and left with Ichihashi Ruri.
Amane immediately ran over and occupied the seats.
"What do you want to drink?"
Horikita glanced at Amane.
Then she bought a glass of milk.
"I want coffee, but Suzune, you'll definitely still buy me milk. I keep telling you I'm not a child anymore. It's Suzune who needs a supplement..."
Amane's voice trailed off abruptly.
Horikita's sharp gaze sent a chill down Amane's spine.
"Drink less coffee in the future, so you don't always stay up late, insisting that I tell you stories. Oh, by the way, where's the person who's treating you to parfait?"
Horikita glanced out the window.
Kushida was not yet in sight.
Since Amane had agreed that if she brought her here, Kushida would buy her a parfait.
Logically, she shouldn't break her promise.
To get a certain idiot something delicious to eat,
Horikita had really worried herself sick.
"She should be here soon. Here she comes."
Amane saw a familiar figure enter.
He quickly pretended to be chatting with Horikita.
Horikita also put on an expression that warned people to stay away.
When Kushida saw the two of them, to avoid being too abrupt, she also bought a drink.
She looked like she was planning to find a seat, then walked over to them.
"Isn't that Amane-san and Horikita-san? What a coincidence, I didn't expect you two to come to a place like this."
Kushida's way of greeting was a bit old-fashioned.
But coupled with her gentle smile, it didn't make people feel abrupt or annoyed.
"What a coincidence, Kikyo-chan. Hmm, I see there are no seats left in the store. If you don't mind, why don't you sit over here?"
Amane enthusiastically greeted Kushida.
"Eh? Wouldn't that be rude? I saw that you two seemed to be chatting, wouldn't I be disturbing you?"
Kushida said politely while observing Horikita's expression.
She wanted to see if Horikita was willing to accept her presence.
"I don't mind."
Horikita replied coldly.
Kushida didn't seem to mind Horikita's attitude.
"Then I won't be polite."
Kushida sat down accordingly.
Amane, seeing that the task was complete, felt it necessary to hint at Kushida.
"Suzune~ I want to eat a thousand-layer parfait, buy it for me, buy it for me!"
Amane hugged Horikita's arm and swayed back and forth.
Horikita immediately knew what Amane wanted to do.
So she sternly said,
"What's so good about it? If you keep eating so many sweets and get fat, I won't be responsible."
Seeing Amane's hint,
Kushida quickly spoke up to persuade.
"Horikita-san, don't be angry. It's okay to eat some occasionally. And for girls, a preference for sweets can be said to be a woman's nature. Since I interrupted your conversation, let me compensate you a little."
Kushida casually ordered two thousand-layer parfaits.
"Kikyo-chan, aren't you eating?"
Amane looked at Kushida curiously.
"Actually, I can't eat things that are too cold. Please enjoy them to your heart's content, don't be polite with me."
Who would be polite with you?
Amane looked at the tall thousand-layer parfait in front of her with sparkling eyes, full of excitement.
"I'm going to dig in!"
Click.
It was the sound of a camera.
Amane looked back.
It was a cute girl holding a phone, seemingly taking a picture of Amane.
"I'm so sorry, I just saw your expression while eating was very cute, so I couldn't help but take a picture. If you mind, I'll delete it immediately."
Seeing that the other person was a beautiful girl and used polite language, she must be a well-mannered good girl, so Amane thought about it and decided not to fuss about it.
Hmm.
It had nothing much to do with her being cute.
"It's fine, it's not like I can't be photographed or anything. I was just curious and took a look. I'm Miyako Amane from First Year Class D..."
"My name is Shiina Hiyori, from First Year Class C. Nice to meet you."
Shiina Hiyori.
That name sounds quite nice.
"Since we met here, it must be fate. How about we exchange contact information?"
Amane skillfully opened her ID.
"Eh? Okay..."
Shiina seemed surprised that Amane would ask for her contact information. After a moment of stunned, she picked up her phone and added her.
After Amane accepted Shiina's friend request,
She actually took her parfait and moved her chair to Shiina's table.
Horikita and Kushida both looked a bit unnatural.
"Amane-san seems to really like making friends."
"Mm."
Especially making friends with cute girls.
This wasn't specifically referring to anyone.
Don't overthink it.
She said it herself.
"In that regard, she's quite different from Horikita-san. I've noticed that Horikita-san rarely talks to anyone other than Amane-san and Ayanokoji-kun."
Kushida's observation skills were quite sharp.
Ever since Ayanokoji scored high in swimming,
Coupled with his good looks, he was already a hot commodity in Class D.
However, because he always had a poker face,
Rumors of him being difficult to get along with started circulating from who knows where.
As a result, the three of them were almost becoming a small clique.
But for Kushida to say this, the next step would probably be... "If possible, I hope I can become friends with Horikita-san. What do you think?"
It came, as expected.
Now it was just a matter of stalling until Amane finished her parfait.
Horikita looked back at Amane.
Don't just focus on flirting with cute girls!!!
Hurry up and eat!