“So to sum it up, it’s a story from way back before she grew up, so her size was different then, but Haruka’s boobs were firm.”

“What kind of summary is that? Wait—hold on. Hideaki, did you like Haruka!?”

“No, it’s not like that. It’s just that Haruka was the closest person around who had boobs.”

“What do you mean ‘had boobs’? Don’t make it sound like some kind of special skill. All women have them. Or wait—is this a flat-chest discrimination thing?”

“Eh? Yōji, do you prefer flat chests?”

“No! That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Well, anyone can have them, sure, but you don’t just grope anyone. I’m sure even you get that much, right, Yōji?”

“Yeah, I guess. But doesn’t that still mean you had a special feeling toward Haruka?”

“No, no, not anything that deep. More like—look, just think about it casually. Haruka’s face, if we’re just going by her portrait, is top-tier, right? Putting aside any emotional stuff like love, if I’m gonna grope someone, I’d want it to be a cute girl.”

Yōji’s “Don’t call it a ‘portrait’” went ignored.

“And besides, if you’re going to touch someone, wouldn’t it be better if it’s someone you know rather than a stranger? Like, if you had two girls with exactly the same specs as women, wouldn’t you be more curious about the one you know? You get what I mean?”

“Hmm… Do I? I kinda do, but I kinda don’t. I mean, I get what you’re trying to say overall, but putting that aside, I guess I just don’t really want you doing that kind of stuff to Haruka.”

“Huh? Wait—sorry, Yōji, do you like Haruka? Or are you two secretly dating and I just didn’t know? If that’s the case, seriously, I’m sorry. I touched her boobs back in elementary school, so you guys definitely weren’t dating yet back then. Can we call that a safe zone?”

“No no no no no no no no. We’re not dating, and that’s not what I meant. It’s just… not as much as with you, but Haruka is also a really important friend to me. So I’d prefer if you didn’t do that kind of thing to someone who’s a close friend. That’s all.”

Yōji shot that down with some serious force.

Which just makes it feel even more suspicious… but still, Yōji’s not the kind of guy who would lie just to hide the fact that he’s dating someone.

“I see. I guess that makes sense from your perspective, Yōji. You’re a good guy. But I’m not gonna promise that I won’t do anything to Haruka from now on.”

“Why not? Well, I guess as long as you remember that I feel that way, it’s fine. I mean, even me saying it’s okay as long as it’s not Haruka makes me kind of a hypocrite. By the way, if you’re gonna be a man of your word, I’m totally fine with doing it with Haruka too, okay?”

“Wait, so being a man of my word means going up to Haruka and saying: ‘I’m about to touch your boobs now’ —is that it?”

“Yeah, that’s the idea.”

“You’d totally get slapped.”

“You never know. There might be a chance.”

“No way. Not happening.”

“Anyway, while we’re at it, should we tell Haruka about the time-stopping thing too? She’s got a lot of perspectives and she’s pretty sharp. I feel like she might come up with better ideas than me.”

“If we bring Haruka in, we won’t be able to run our slightly pervy Time Magic Seminars anymore.”

“That’s true.”

“Yeah, so it’s a no.”

“Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I just remembered—might be better not to use time magic too much around Haruka. It was a while ago, but she once said: ‘Sometimes Hideaki looks kind of blurry to me. Does that ever happen to you, Yōji?’ She asked me that, and back then I had no idea what she meant, so I just said no. But thinking about it now, that might’ve been because Hideaki was using Time Halt on her in pervy ways, and not on me. So that was the difference?”

I averted my gaze from Yōji.

“Hahaha. You know how Hideaki’s always been worried that his position shifts just a tiny bit between before and after using Time Halt, and that might cause a bit of an afterimage for others once time resumes? We just tested that, and turns out, it does look that way to me, just like Hideaki feared. So maybe Haruka had been noticing that for a while already.”

“Haruka’s seriously way too sharp.”

Yeah, probably.

Damn it, I want to use time magic on Haruka. But I don’t want her to find out. What do I even do with this dilemma…