Hakuto sat in his seat, completely dumbfounded. No matter how much he had planned, he never expected to run into Shirayanagi Yumi here.
He had thought that after the whole Otosaka Yuu incident, the two of them would have no further contact.
But reality had other plans.
"Long time no see, Shirayanagi. What brings you here?"
"We just saw each other the day before yesterday… And who is this?"
There was no way around it. Plans never kept up with reality, so Hakuto had no choice but to play along.
Still, strictly speaking, neither of the people sitting here were his actual clients. Nino was at best one-fifth of a client, and even then, the "service" he provided was just tutoring.
"Allow me to introduce—"
"Nakano Nino, first-year at Toyosaki."
"Shirayanagi Yumi, first-year at Hino no Mori."
Hakuto couldn't come up with a better introduction. Social situations like this really weren't his forte.
"Hinomori?" Nino had heard of that school before—it was one of the few that rivaled Toyosaki.
"I thought you were an exchange student at Hoshino Umi?"
"Well, it's a long story… To put it simply, I joined the student council at Hoshino Umi and was sent to Hinomori on an official task, where I ended up meeting Shirayanagi."
"Calling it a coincidence… If it weren't for Shiratori, my best-case scenario would've been ending up in a coma."
Meanwhile, a short distance away, the four sisters observing the scene immediately perked up when they saw Shirayanagi appear.
"Is this… a love triangle?"
"Who is that girl? I've never seen her before."
"She looks like she's wearing a Hinomori uniform… I think her name is Shirayanagi Yumi?"
"Yotsuba, your ears are way too sharp!"
"No, no, I just happened to hear it…"
Ichika watched the scene unfold, sensing that something was definitely off. Or rather, she had felt that way from the very beginning.
From Ichika's point of view, Nino and Hakuto's conversation on the street earlier already seemed suspicious.
They had been talking normally—well, sort of—but Ichika could tell that Nino was growing more and more impatient.
Then, out of nowhere, Hakuto pulled out his phone. For some reason, the moment Nino saw it, she immediately tried to snatch it from him.
Ichika had thought that was the end of it. But then Hakuto pulled out his phone again, this time with a smirk on his face.
That was when Ichika knew something was seriously wrong, though she chose not to say it out loud at the time.
"That bastard Shiratori… He didn't take some kind of compromising picture to blackmail Nino, did he?"
"Huh? Ichika, what did you say?"
"N-Nothing… Nothing at all."
Ichika wasn't ready to share her suspicions with the others. After all, she had no proof. But the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
Nino had been resisting Hakuto the whole time, but the moment he took out his phone, she obediently took his hand and followed him.
Ichika might have wanted to push Hakuto and Nino together, but definitely not like this!
Meanwhile, Hakuto was still trying to figure out how his perfect plan had been completely derailed by the sudden arrival of Shirayanagi.
Hoshino Umi, Toyosaki, Hinomori…
A three-way standoff!
Hakuto couldn't understand it no matter how hard he tried. This café wasn't even close to Hinomori, so why was Yumi here?
"So you're telling me… Shiratori went to Hoshino Umi as an exchange student, then got assigned a task at Hinomori, and by pure coincidence, ended up saving you from getting hit by a truck…?"
Nino calmly pieced together Hakuto and Yumi's words, then turned to Hakuto, raising an eyebrow.
"Another coincidence?"
"Haha…"
Hakuto almost laughed in frustration. The tutoring job from before couldn't be called a coincidence—that had been something he planned out from start to finish.
But this? Unless he suddenly gained the ability to predict the future, there was no way he could have expected it.
After exchanging a few more polite words with Yumi, she returned to her seat.
"A blessing in disguise… at least it was Shirayanagi who showed up."
Because right now, Yumi didn't have any romantic feelings for Hakuto—or at least, not much.
What she felt was more of a deep gratitude toward her savior.
But if Ginko had come instead, things would have gotten messy. Actually, forget Ginko—if even Nao had shown up, he would have been doomed.
As for Nino, she didn't seem to be particularly affected by Yumi's presence.
"How long is your exchange program at Hoshino Umi?"
"Three months. Why?"
"Nothing… I was just wondering if the delinquents at school would start rioting once you're gone."
"Rioting? That's a bit much, isn't it? It's not like they're some kind of gang."
"It was just a figure of speech."
Nino wasn't entirely wrong. The reason the delinquents at Toyosaki had been keeping a low profile was entirely because Hakuto was there to keep them in check.
Now that he was leaving, even if it was only for three months, Nino had a feeling problems would start popping up.
"If anything happens, just call me. Since I'm in the student council, I have a lot of freedom at Hoshino Umi."
"Even if you didn't say that, I would've done it anyway."
Nao: ??! I gave you this privilege so you could call back to start fights?!
As the two continued chatting, the café's waiter arrived with their order, setting everything down gently on the table.
"Your order is complete. Please enjoy."
"Thank you."
But after the waiter left, Hakuto noticed something off—there was an extra item on the table that he definitely hadn't ordered.
Coffee and egg tarts—those were correct, since he had ordered them himself…
But could someone please tell him where this heart-shaped cake came from? Some kind of promotional giveaway?
"Did you order this?"
"I thought you ordered it."
Nino glanced at the small heart-shaped cake sitting on the table.
There was even a little tag placed deliberately next to it, as if someone wanted to make sure the recipient knew exactly what it was.
Nino instinctively read the words on the tag.
"Couples' Special Cake?"
"??!"
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Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute]
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