"Amane-san, are you asleep?"
Amane-san, who was chatting with Karuizawa, saw the message on her phone.
Amane-san, who had originally planned to reply that she wasn't asleep, thought about it.
Then she pouted and chose to pretend she hadn't seen it.
Hmph.
Is she thinking of her now?
Is she still asleep?
She must want her as a body pillow.
I've seen right through you~
Amane revealed a smug smile.
She even hummed a tune.
She continued to ask Karuizawa what kind of small gifts girls liked.
Originally, Amane intended to ask boys like Hirata, who seemed very popular with girls, for advice.
But then she thought, if there was someone in Class D who was both trendy and understood girls' preferences...
That person would probably only be Karuizawa.
Although there were some unpleasantries.
Karuizawa was quite enthusiastic in recommending some cute little trinkets to Amane.
Just then.
Her phone received another message.
"Read"
Oh no.
Amane covered her face.
She forgot that the most annoying thing about this chat app was that...
Sometimes she wanted to pretend she hadn't seen it, but as soon as she looked, it would show as read.
How could she pretend to be asleep now?
"I was just taking a bath, not asleep yet. Is there something, Horikita-san?"
Amane replied casually.
The reason she replied was because... when she checked the message, the second sentence also showed as read.
If she pretended to be asleep again...
Horikita might really bang on the door.
Her message quickly showed as read.
However, Horikita didn't reply immediately.
She wondered if something was wrong.
Amane continued chatting with Karuizawa.
After about ten minutes.
Karuizawa said she was going to sleep.
They wished each other goodnight.
But when Amane looked, there was still no message from Horikita.
So she immediately intended to reply.
But at that moment, her cowlick suddenly perked up.
No.
She had a strange feeling about this!
Logically, someone as lacking in common sense as Amane should appear particularly naive in all aspects.
However, when it came to love, she seemed to be self-taught.
"If I reply to Suzune now, it means I care about her more, and then... I'll lose the initiative. Hmph~ Let's see who can last longer."
Amane put her phone aside.
Then she buried her head in the covers.
But her ears remained perked.
Constantly paying attention to Horikita's messages.
Things were exactly as Amane had thought.
Horikita felt a little disappointed when she saw that Amane seemed unwilling to reply to her message.
Then she saw that glaring "Horikita-san."
If time could flow back, she would definitely slap her past self.
Why did she have to make her change her way of addressing her?
Horikita wanted to apologize to her.
But she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Especially since she didn't know if Amane still cared about her.
Horikita assessed her own state.
If she asked Amane,
"Can we still be friends?"
If Amane refused.
Horikita felt she might not be able to control her emotions.
In the past, she didn't care about others' words or opinions.
Nor did she care about having something like friends.
Every time she saw scenes in classic literature where people sacrificed themselves for friendship.
Horikita would only respond with a sneer.
Because friendship was the last thing she needed.
She could also... live alone, my ass!!!
Her good friend was pushed away by herself, and then became intimate with others.
She could only watch enviously from behind.
How could that be right?
Horikita Suzune, was your brain fried back then?
Couldn't she have discussed it with her beforehand if she wanted her to escape the rumors?
Why insist on some private sacrifice?
Only caring about her own self-move.
Now the person is gone, are you happy?
She doesn't even want to call you Suzune.
She could only wait eagerly for the other party's reply.
When... did you become this pathetic?
Is it so hard to lower your head and say sorry, I was wrong?
Perhaps... if it were someone else, she could even kneel and beg for forgiveness.
But facing her was Amane.
She didn't want to... ruin her image in Amane's heart.
Perhaps Amane approached her because she liked her cold demeanor, who knows... "Horikita Suzune, you're getting quite good at making excuses for yourself now."
Horikita Suzune mocked herself as she looked at her reflection on the phone screen.
What to do next?
If she replied to her directly, would it seem like she was too eager to chat with her?
Or should she wait for her to approach her first?
That way, she could also maintain some initiative.
But Horikita waited and waited.
Until one in the morning.
There was still no message from Amane.
Could she have fallen asleep?
Or did she simply have no interest in continuing to chat with her?
Anxiety made Horikita pace around the room.
If she continued to avoid it like this.
Their relationship probably wouldn't progress at all; she had to take the initiative!
Horikita still couldn't resist and sent a message.
"I accidentally fell asleep just now. Are you asleep?"
Hmm.
Girls' chats are full of lies.
However, this message didn't show as read.
This was because... Amane... had really fallen asleep.
Amane, who had buried her head in the covers, was sleeping soundly at this moment.
She hadn't heard the notification sound at all.
And so, Horikita waited almost all night.
Fortunately, the next day was the weekend.
Otherwise, Horikita wouldn't have been able to attend class in that state.
Early in the morning, Horikita heard strange and excited noises coming from Amane's room.
But Horikita couldn't resist the heavy sleepiness and collapsed on the bed, falling asleep.
The message on her phone had turned to "Read" at some point.
Amane got up early today on purpose.
After grabbing a free breakfast at the bakery, she headed towards the shopping center.
Today, she was going to buy some small gifts that girls liked.
It's best if it's the kind of gift that anyone, regardless of relationship, would accept.
Amane-san spent a long time choosing.
Finally, she settled on a necklace worth 20,000 points.
It even had a heart-shaped pendant in the middle.
Of course.
Amane-san's focus wasn't on the pendant.
It was the price.
This necklace actually cost 20,000 points.
Why don't they just rob someone!
A pork chop only costs 170 points.
A pound of pork only costs 450 points.
A necklace actually costs the equivalent of 44 pounds of pork!
Although I don't know how Amane-san managed to compare such things to pork.
Nevertheless, Amane-san was greatly shocked.
You don't know the cost of living until you run a household.
Things for socializing, it's better to buy less of them in the future.
After buying a necklace, Amane-san carefully selected a package.
Then she planned to give it to someone as a gift.
When she passed by Horikita-san's door.
She happened to meet Horikita-san, who was about to go downstairs to throw out the trash.
"Amane-san... morning."
"Good morning, Horikita-san."
Horikita-san saw the gift in Amane-san's hand.
"Is it a gift someone gave you, Amane-san?"
It's normal for people to occasionally give Amane-san small gifts.
However, this time the packaging was very exquisite.
It made her curious.
"I plan to give it to someone else..."
Give it to someone else?
Could it be... Horikita-san's eyes brightened.