At 6:30 in the evening, Sawamura Haruno was successfully dragged out of sleep by the alarm on his phone.
With his eyes still closed, he relied purely on instinct to grab the phone from the bedside table, fumbled a couple of times, turned the alarm off, tossed the phone back, rolled over—and went right back to sleep.
—Of course, that wasn't going to happen.
He had plans tonight. It was about time to get up and get himself ready.
After dawdling around for quite a while, Haruno finally climbed out of bed, still looking half-dead, and headed for the bathroom. He stood blankly under the shower for a bit before his consciousness slowly returned.
Yawning, he turned on the shower. Warm water streamed down his face, and the young man closed his eyes in comfort.
The living room outside was quiet—Maki probably still hadn't woken up.
That made sense. She'd drunk like she was trying to die earlier. There was no way she'd be up before ten or eleven at night. The only problem was how he was going to explain things to Mana later.
Would she think he'd deliberately gotten her sister drunk?
…No. Probably not.
Mana was gentle and understanding. She'd likely be able to guess that Maki had insisted on drinking.
"Still… I wonder if I'll be able to send Maki back tonight."
Haruno thought about it and quickly dismissed the idea.
In her current state, even if he sent her home, she'd probably just end up arguing with her family again, storming out, and repeating the cycle. Until she got past this so-called "rebellious phase," peaceful coexistence with her family seemed almost impossible.
The real question was what Mana would say later.
If she asked him to keep letting Maki stay here… should he refuse, or agree?
Haruno couldn't come up with an answer. Since he was meeting Mana anyway, he decided to deal with it when the time came.
After a quick shower, he changed into clean, casual clothes. Before heading out, he deliberately checked on Maki.
As expected, she was sprawled out between the sheets, fast asleep. Her top had ridden up halfway, exposing her pale little stomach.
Haruno glanced a couple of times, had no intention of going in, quietly closed the door again, and headed out to meet Mana.
The place they'd agreed on was in Shinjuku, chosen specifically because it was close to both their homes.
It was a restaurant they used to frequent back in high school.
Haruno arrived early. Mana wasn't there yet.
After giving the staff Mana's phone number, he was led to the reserved table. Resting his chin on his hand, he waited patiently.
This restaurant held many memories for him. It wasn't just where he and Mana used to go on dates—it was also the first "proper" restaurant he'd ever entered in this life.
Back in high school, he'd moved from a small town near Osaka to Tokyo to study, and by coincidence, he ended up in the same class as Miyazawa Mana.
Even back then, her looks were already enough to make her the most popular girl in school.
Haruno, having started his second life over, naturally couldn't help feeling a bit of superficial attraction at first—but what really brought them together was something far simpler: borrowing notes and books together at the library.
"Feels like a lifetime ago…"
Haruno sighed softly. High school had been over three years ago already. His memories from his previous life felt even further away—so distant that he could barely remember his old classmates' names or faces.
Just as he was lost in nostalgia, the person he'd been waiting for finally arrived.
Jingle—
The restaurant door opened, the wind chime by the entrance ringing crisply, as if welcoming the perfect woman who had just stepped inside.
Haruno looked up instinctively.
Amid the pleasant sound of the chime, he saw a familiar face.
She looked exactly like Maki—yet somehow different.
Graceful eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, pupils as dark as lacquer. Long, smooth hair flowed down like a waterfall, reaching just past her waist. Her skin was pale and delicate, like fine jade—so soft-looking that one might wonder if it would sink under a single poke.
There was no doubt about it.
She was a flawless beauty.
Unlike Maki—who often wore a cold expression and looked at people with indifference—Mana always seemed to be smiling.
Her gaze wasn't icy, but gentle. There was a soft warmth about her, the kind that made people unconsciously relax. Even when the waitress's greeting trembled slightly from nerves, Mana met her eyes politely and thanked her with sincerity.
"…Can someone like her really have that kind of secret?"
For some reason, Haruno suddenly remembered what Maki had said at lunch earlier that day.
He couldn't believe that Mana—who looked so elegant and proper—could have that kind of hidden desire. It wasn't that people couldn't have another side, but the contrast felt too extreme.
Perhaps because of the power of first impressions, he simply couldn't reconcile "Mana" from Maki's mouth with the girl standing in front of him now.
"Do I look good?"
By the time Haruno snapped back to his senses, Mana was already seated across from him.
"I spent a long time getting ready," she said with a smile. "After all, I'm meeting my ex-boyfriend tonight."
Seeing his slightly dazed reaction, Mana couldn't help teasing him.
"So? Compared to the first time we came here together, which time do I look better?"
"Next time," Haruno replied instantly.
"Huh? That's… not the answer I expected."
Mana froze for a moment. She'd meant to tease him, only to find herself caught off guard instead.
Even so, the surprised look she showed only made people's hearts beat faster.
"It's been a while," Mana said with a smile. "You've gotten a lot better at talking to girls, Haruno. Back in school, you wouldn't even look at me properly."
"It wasn't that I didn't want to," Haruno chuckled. "It was that I couldn't."
"The only classes we shared were big lectures. You always sat way up front, surrounded by people. No matter how good my eyesight was, it was hard to see clearly."
"If you wanted to look," Mana said softly, "you could've come and sat next to me."
She smiled playfully.
Just then, the waiter arrived with the menus. Taking them, Mana stopped teasing and turned her attention to choosing food.
Yes—it really had just been playful banter.
Haruno understood that clearly.
The reason was simple: if they were still dating, Mana would've deliberately chosen a seat beside or behind him.
That small habit… hadn't changed.
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