CH 250

“Mika and I just happened to be shopping around here, and we thought that this store seemed interesting, so we decided to check it out. We didn’t expect to see you here,” Chiaki said naturally.

She made it sound so believable. Mika, who was standing beside her, chose to remain silent.

“Oh… what a coincidence,” Seiji muttered, still dazed.

“Who’s this beautiful girl sitting across from you? Are you on a date?” Chiaki turned to Yukari and smiled.

“She’s—” Seiji started.

“I’m Yukari Asamiya, from Year 1, Class 3.” Yukari was no longer smiling; there was a sharp look in her eyes as she faced the tomboy. Hello, it’s nice to meet you… You don’t know me, but I know you two, Chiaki Wakaba… and Mika Uehara-san.”

“You know us?” Chiaki’s smile faded when faced with Yukari’s imposing manner.

“Yes, many people know you… the two good friends that are often by Harano-san’s side,” Yukari said lightly, placing extra emphasis on ‘good friends.’

Chiaki’s smile looked rather forced, and her eyes shot sparks. Yukari looked directly into Chiaki’s eyes, radiating an imposing aura.

Mika remained silent; her eyes swam with a wistful look.

Seiji was rendered speechless. Was this… the legendary hellish battleground between women? Why did it become like this!?

It wasn’t difficult for him to come up with the answer. He only told about the date… whoops, the time and place of the meeting with Yukari to one person.

For Chiaki and Mika to show up here precisely at this time, it was highly likely that they received information from that person.

Even though it might have been a coincidence, Seiji felt that… this was most likely the case.

‘Shika-chan…’ He felt somewhat conflicted as he thought about how his adopted younger sister had probably created this situation.

He was about to speak up and say something, but the purple-haired girl beat him to it.

“Since we coincidentally met here, why don’t you sit down together with us? You two are Harano-san’s good friends, and I’ve wanted to have a good chat with you, so this is an excellent opportunity.”

Yukari’s words were very direct; they didn’t seem to contain any trace of falsity at all.

Chiaki blinked at this. ‘As expected of the ‘Princess,’ she mused.

Just this short first meeting with Yukari caused Chiaki to understand why Yukari had a nickname which she could only inwardly exclaim at.

‘Mika, you have such an incredible opponent.’ Chiaki glanced at her good friend before sitting down at the table.

Mika sat down as well. Both of them ordered coffees from the waiter that came by.

After that, everyone remained silent for a little while.

“I was just chatting with Asamiya-san about light novels… what we felt about them after reading,” Seiji said, breaking the silence. “When I was purchasing light novels at the bookstore, we coincidentally ran into each other, and I learned that she was also really fond of light novels, so we arranged a time to chat about them.”

“I see… I thought that you two were having a date, but in the end, it’s justcommunication between friends about a common interest .”

Chiaki strongly emphasized the last few words of her sentence. It was a counterattack against Yukari.

Yukari smiled faintly. “Indeed, Harano-san and I have some common interests. I’m very happy about this and had lots of fun chatting with him earlier. By the way, Wakaba-san and Uehara-san, do you two like light novels? What novels have you read?”

Yukari made another stab. Her riposte was rather difficult to deal with for Chiaki.

If she had to answer, she would say, “Of course I like light novels,” but her passion was only at a normal level. It was probably not even close to Yukari’s or Seiji’s level.

Chiaki wasn’t aware just how much Yukari liked light novels, but she could sense her imposing manner, which seemed to say “You two aren’t even close to being on my level.”

The purple-haired girl’s eyes revealed self-confidence and resolution, and she was surrounded by an atmosphere which wouldn’t be shaken by anything whatsoever.

‘I can’t just answer her like this and let her control the flow.’ Although this thought passed through her head, Chiaki didn’t know how she should answer.

“I don’t like light novels,” a voice said calmly. It was Mika. She looked at Yukari and answered her question calmly.

This was the first sentence she had spoken since entering the manga coffee cafe, and her response surprised Yukari.

“That’s because I’ve never even read light novels before, and only learned about them recently, so I can’t say that I like them,” Mika continued. “But… I like the light novel that Seigo wrote,” Mika said in a resolute tone, looking towards Seiji.

“Harano-san wrote a light novel?” Yukari was surprised yet again.

“Yep. Seigo didn’t tell you? His story was published in a magazine, and Chiaki and I both read it and thought that it was great.” Mika looked towards Yukari and smiled.

There seemed to be a strong force behind her smile.

“I really enjoyed his short novel, and the only drawback was that I thought it was too short; it wasn’t enough for me to read at all. I’ve already become Seigo’s fan. In the future, I’ll read anything that Seigo writes, and I’ll like his other stories as well.” There was a passionate fervor in Mika’s voice.

Yukari’s expression changed as she noticed Mika’s passion.

Chiaki also noticed and inwardly exclaimed: ‘Mika… you really have changed. In a good way.’

Chiaki was proud of her friend’s growth.

Seiji also felt Mika’s passion and was slightly moved. “Mika…”

“Seigo, I’m really looking forward to your next novel… before you finish your new novel, could you recommend some good stories to me? I’ll read them all.” Mika said that to Seiji as her face began flushing red in embarrassment.

Even though she had matured, some things were still the same. She still became shy easily.

She was relying solely on her willpower to not be surpassed by her opponent. She expressed her true feelings confidently and without hesitation. After she said these words, her instinct to be embarrassed reasserted itself.

‘So cute.’ Seiji felt that the shy, embarrassed girl in front of him was rather cute and couldn’t help but feel moved

“Okay… I’ll give you some recommendations; I hope that you will enjoy them,” he said without thinking.

When he regained his senses, he discovered that he had already given her a promise.

Both Yukari and Chiaki saw how he reacted. The purple-haired girl’s expression turned slightly grimmer, and the tomboy inwardly whistled.

‘Nice one, Mika!’

This helped ease them into the topic of conversation, and the most importantly of all, it attracted Seiji’s attention.

This was a victory.

However…

“It’s wonderful that Uehara-san is willing to join us light novel fans in becoming one,” Yukari said. “I’d also like to hear Harano-san’s recommended light novels, and see if there are any differences from the ones I would recommend, and we can chat about these.”

The purple-haired girl instantly reorganized and continued her attacks.

Chiaki scrutinized Yukari’s expression and judged that she was just the same as earlier; her imposing manner hadn’t decreased in the slightest.

‘As expected, she’s an incredible person.’

They continued to chat, and the girls exchanged many verbal spars.

…

When Seiji finally left the manga coffee cafe, he was in a happy mood.

At the very beginning, it seemed to him like this place would transform into a hellish battleground between women, but that seemed to disappear after they chatted a bit, and everyone seemed to be having fun… on the surface.

Yep, on the surface.

What about in actuality? Seiji didn’t know, nor did he want to think too deeply about it. To him, he had fun chatting about light novels, and that was enough for him.

After this, he figured he would go around with Mika and Chiaki and find a place to eat lunch together.

Right now, though—

“Asamiya-san, I had fun chatting with you today. See you next time.”

“I had fun as well. Let’s have another coffee together sometime. See you later.”

Mika and Chiaki smiled as they said goodbye to the purple-haired girl; it was as if it had been decided from the very beginning that they would split up after leaving the manga coffee cafe.

Yukari kept her smile. “It was great to meet and chat with the two of you; you’re both really nice people… I look forward to our next meeting.”

The three beautiful girls exchanged smiles; it was a beautiful scene for any bystander.

Only Seiji, who was close to them, felt as if he could detect something invisible clashing between them in midair.

‘It’s just my mistaken impression, yep, nothing but a mistaken impression. They’re just saying friendly goodbyes to each other; there’s nothing else to it.

‘But… is that really the case?’ a voice asked from the deepest part of his heart. ‘Just what am I supposed to think of it then, bastard!’ Seiji shouted in his mind.

“Harano-san…” Yukari called out to him softly, snapping him out of his daze.