Thanks to the home study session, the midterm tests ended without issue, and a brief period of calm returned. However, that was just from my perspective — for Iori, who was busy preparing for the upcoming Suzakura Festival, things were anything but calm. Recently, she had been skipping her part-time job at Cyberia along with Kobayashi-san to focus on the preparations.

Cyberia, which had been experiencing chaotic days, had also settled down somewhat as Suzakura students shifted their focus to the festival preparations. By around 9 p.m., there were barely any customers. Since today happened to be an all-male shift for the first time in a while, we ended up switching to full-on casual talk mode.

For some reason, I had been called into the kitchen, where I found myself surrounded by the muscle-bound Souda and the blonde pretty boy Mishima. Both of them were undeniably the star players in the kitchen.

“Natsuki, I’ve got something I want to ask you,” Mishima said, roughly throwing his arm around my shoulder. Mishima was a university student and someone I owed a lot to — when Suzakura students flooded in just to see Iori, he respected my selfish request and worked hard to manage the crowd. I couldn’t hold my head high around him; I couldn’t even point my feet in his direction when I slept.

“Natsuki, be honest — you’re dating Tachibana, aren’t you?”

It felt like I had been smacked on the head with a hammer. Only a handful of Aotaka students knew about me and Iori dating. How did university student Mishima know about it?

When I froze up, unable to say anything, Mishima let go of me and turned back to Souda. “See? Told you.”

“Whoa, seriously? I had no idea,” Souda muttered in surprise.

“You’re too obsessed with muscles to notice people. I’ve got sharp instincts for this kind of thing,” Mishima shot back.

The two of them carried on, ignoring me completely. Apparently, they had placed a bet on whether I was dating Iori, and Mishima was now claiming his victory. He slapped Souda’s shoulder, grinning. “You owe me ramen on the way home.”

“Ramen, huh… man, that stings… Still, Natsuki and Tachibana, huh? I never thought Tachibana seemed like that type.”

“Yeah, I thought the same at first. But Natsuki, you guys probably started dating around summer, right?”

“Yeah… how do you even know that?”

He had even nailed the timing. There must have been something that Mishima, with all his experience, had picked up on that I couldn’t see.

“Actually, ever since around that time, I started noticing that Tachibana was watching you more often. Even from the kitchen, it was obvious, so it must’ve been pretty intense.”

“Wait, seriously? I never noticed at all.”

“She’s good at picking moments when you and other customers wouldn’t catch on. That’s when I realized — oh, these two are together.”

“You’ve got a sharp eye, man,” Souda said with a mix of admiration and teasing.

I barely registered their words as I stood there, still reeling. Iori had been looking at me that much? I felt happy, embarrassed, and… still happy.

“Looks like you’re loved, Natsuki. As a man, you’ve got to respond to those feelings properly,” Mishima advised.

“Yeah… but what should I even do?”

Iori was important to me, and I believed I was treating her well, but I wasn’t sure what kind of actions would make her happiest. Honestly, I didn’t know. Experience was supposed to teach you these things, but I was sorely lacking in that area. After all, Iori was my first girlfriend.

“Hmm… figuring that out together is part of the fun of young love, but as your elder, I’ll give you a little hint. The Suzakura Festival’s coming up soon, so that’s perfect timing.”

With that, Mishima leaned in and whispered some advice in my ear. Beside him, Souda added his own wisdom: “Building muscle’s important too.”

Thank you, both of you — truly.