Chapter 49: How terrifying!

“Hum hum hum~ hum hum♪”

Ishikawa Yuka stood before the mirror in her bedroom, holding outfits up against her body one by one.

She tossed the ones she disliked to the side and picked up the next to continue the comparison.

Although the appointed day was still far off, she simply couldn’t suppress her leaping heart.

“Miss Yuka is in high spirits today.”

“Waaah!”

The sudden voice gave her a fright.

Yuka spun around and found Emi bending over to pick up the clothes she had thrown on the floor.

“E-Emi… when did you get there…”

“I’ve been here from the very start.”

“Ugh…”

Yuka had talked a lot with Anmiya Marina today.

It turned out Marina had always regarded her as a “friend,” and it was Yuka who had unilaterally felt a distance between them.

This conversation had cleared up the misunderstanding, and they had even promised to go out together next time.

At this moment, Yuka had just finished dinner and was relaxing in her bedroom.

She thought she would pick out some clothes for her outing with Emi and her playdate with Marina while she was at it.

She had thought she returned to her room alone, but she hadn’t expected Yuko to have been following her all along.

Now her foolish behavior had been seen by someone…

Thinking back, wasn’t that behavior just too girly?

The image of a boy constantly trying on clothes in front of a mirror was simply too painful to look at…

Ah!

I just want to act like none of this happened!

It would be one thing if no one saw, but being caught red-handed—this is definitely going to become a dark history!

“Did something good happen?”

“Ah… well… I’ve become true friends with Marina. We even promised to go out together next time.”

Since she couldn’t hide it, Yuka simply came clean.

She was so excited precisely because she had opened her heart and become friends with Marina.

“Miss Marina… the young lady of the Anmiya family?”

“That’s right, that Anmiya Marina.”

Emi was also a daughter of a wealthy family and likely had some understanding of the social world and high society.

Mentioning the Anmiya family of the Lower Seven, she would surely know them.

“Being friends with Anmiya Marina… what did you promise to do?”

“Just going out to play… exactly what we’ll do isn’t settled yet, but we agreed to meet once before summer vacation.”

“The date is set, but I don’t know what we should play…”

Going out with Marina was great, but what would be fun to do?

Invite her to the house?

But just inviting her over didn’t seem quite right.

If it was like the tea ceremony with Shoko and the others it would be fine, but if there was no activity, wouldn’t just visiting the house be boring?

But she truly couldn’t think of what to do.

What do these first-grade young ladies of high society usually do for fun?

She had a real headache when playing with Shoko and the others last time; as expected, they probably wouldn’t play like ordinary children…

The last tea ceremony had ended smoothly.

But holding another tea ceremony just for the two of them with Marina didn’t feel appropriate.

She didn’t know if Marina wanted to participate in a tea ceremony, and the girl seemed quite skilled in Chado.

Last time she could gloss it over as being “for beginners,” but Marina seemed like an expert, so that trick definitely wouldn’t work.

Yuka’s own level was limited; it would be troublesome if she were asked to demonstrate a higher standard.

But when facing Marina, should she be more serious?

Go see a performance like Yuko suggested?

But Yuka had never seen things like plays before.

She didn’t understand them and didn’t know what was good.

What if the other person asked for her thoughts after watching and she couldn’t answer?

Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?

Emi also suggested going shopping or out for a meal.

That wouldn’t be difficult.

But while sixth-graders might enjoy shopping, isn’t it too early for a first-grader?

Back when Yuka was a child in her past life, she remembered that almost no lower-grade students liked shopping.

Upper-grade students might, but can a first-grader really enjoy shopping?

She was deeply skeptical.

As for eating… they already ate together in the school cafeteria normally, so etiquette shouldn’t be an issue.

In that case, should she arrange an itinerary of an outing plus a meal?

“What did you play when you were in first grade, Emi?”

“Me…”

Yuka noticed Emi’s expression darken for an instant, but it vanished so quickly she thought it was an illusion.

“I don’t remember…”

“I see. Sorry for asking a strange question. You can head back for today.”

Sensing that Emi was clearly unwilling to talk more, Yuka stopped and let her leave.

“Then, please excuse me.”

“Mmhmm. Goodnight, Emi.”

Watching Emi leave with her usual attitude, Yuka felt a strange sense of loneliness in her heart.

“Good morning, Marina.”

“Good morning.”

Today, Marina arrived at school before Yuka again.

This was normal; it would only be surprising if Marina were late.

“Would you like to ask Shoko and the others to have lunch together today?”

Yesterday, Yuka wanted to talk to Marina alone, so they had lunch together before going to the Salon.

Today she wanted to invite Marina to eat with everyone.

Although Marina’s small group and Shoko’s group didn’t have a good relationship, there shouldn’t be anything between Marina and Shoko personally.

Hadn’t Marina eaten with her and Shoko’s group before?

It should be fine…

“…Sorry, today isn’t convenient.”

“Ah… I’m sorry…”

She was rejected.

Did she have something else to do?

Well, those things happen.

Perhaps someone socially adept would say “Then let’s eat together tomorrow” to secure the next chance, but Yuka, with zero social skills, truly couldn’t say it.

She decided to ask again tomorrow and sat back down quietly in her seat.

“Good morning!”

“Good morning, Shoko-sama.”

“Morning, Shoko.”

“Good day.”

Today, Shoko also walked into the classroom full of energy, greeting the whole class.

The responses coming from all around showed her popularity.

“Good morning, Miss Yuka.”

“Shoko, good day.”

Shoko offered a loud greeting in front of Yuka.

Although she was used to it… thinking about it carefully, would this make people think she forced Shoko to do it?

But it was too late to worry about that now.

And so, today’s lessons proceeded as usual.

After school, Yuka, Shoko, and Marina headed to the Ōka Association Salon together.

Marina hadn’t been in the cafeteria during lunch.

Yuka didn’t know where she went or what she did.

Lately, Yuka had been eating with Shoko’s small group as a rule.

Because she was rejected in the morning, Yuka thought Marina had something to do and searched around but couldn’t find her.

Perhaps Marina went elsewhere to eat or went out.

Ōka Academy allowed students to go out at noon; although they couldn’t leave campus on their own, they could eat out if they were picked up.

These high-society children sometimes ate lunch with their parents.

The reasons varied: it might be to celebrate someone’s birthday, or the parents might be too busy and could only meet during lunch.

As long as there was a pickup and a legitimate reason, they could dine out.

Yuka, Shoko, and Marina had always eaten in the cafeteria, but occasionally there were exceptions.

Maybe she was taken out for a meal by her parents or grandparents, or she brought a lunchbox to eat elsewhere.

While eating a lunchbox in the cafeteria was fine, enjoying it in the courtyard like a picnic was also nice.

‘Maybe I’ll try eating somewhere other than the cafeteria next time too?’ Yuka thought.

The cafeteria menu was luxurious enough to not seem like elementary school meals and delicious beyond school standards, but eating it every day could get tiring.

It might be too early to be bored of it since school only started recently, but one gets tired of even the best food if eaten every day.

Carrying these thoughts, the three who entered the Salon separated as usual.

They came together, but once inside, they went their separate ways.

Yuka sat in the back with Yuko as per routine, and soon Shoko came over after finishing her factional socializing.

“Hah… social interactions are so tiring.”

“Haha…”

Yuka could only offer a dry laugh at Shoko’s words.

This didn’t sound like something a first-grader would say at all…

‘High society really isn’t for me,’ Yuka felt this deeply once again.

“By the way… what does Shoko usually do when going out with friends?”

“Eh! Me?”

“If it’s playing with Miss Yuka, being a guest in Miss Yuka’s room, seeing your room, or even just chatting would be enough.”

“Actually, I really want that! I want to enter Big Sister Yuka’s room!”

“I don’t want anyone else to beat me to it! I want to be the first person invited to Big Sister Yuka’s room!”

“W-Wait! Too close! Too close!”

Hearing Yuka’s question, Shoko, who had been sitting next to her, immediately slid off her chair and clung to Yuka’s chair and arm, looking up at her.

The distance was too close, she was being held tightly, and she was being looked up at with watery eyes—and surely it wasn’t good for the content of her speech to be overheard by others?

This was definitely not Yuka’s imagination.

“I can let you have the chance to be the first in the room.”

“Then I’ll be the second person invited to Yuka’s room, alright?”

“Um… Yuko?”

“It’s second place, right?”

“Ugh…”

How scary… Yuko was smiling, but her eyes held no mirth.

Why did they all want to enter her room?

She completely couldn’t understand.

However, Yuka had realized one thing.

Shoko had just said that just chatting was fine.

She knew that much.

According to her past life’s memories, girls seemed to especially love chatting.

Her impression was that even if they did nothing, they could kill time just by talking.

Of course, Yuka had never been part of such circles; this was just a summary of various information and impressions.

But looking at Shoko’s words and Yuko’s reaction, this should be correct.

Boys sometimes spent time just chatting about nothing too.

It wasn’t impossible.

Perhaps Yuka was overcomplicating things.

Seeing a performance, shopping, eating—all the things Yuko mentioned were ultimately for the sake of being with the other person and talking.

Watching a performance together gives you a topic to chat about, you can discuss products while shopping, and comment on flavors while eating…

In other words, everything is about creating shared experiences to serve as conversation topics.

So there’s no need to think too hard; just doing something together is enough.

Then, agonizing over whether “first-graders can enjoy shopping” was meaningless in itself.

As long as they browsed shops together and said trivial things like “this dress is so cute,” “this accessory is nice,” or “this suits you,” it would be fine.

Looking at it that way, going out shopping might not be difficult.

“Thanks to the two of you, I think I understand a little now.”

“……”

Hearing Yuka’s words, Yuko and Shoko exchanged a look, and then spoke:

“So… which girl is Yuka planning to ‘capture’ this time?”

“I’m the first one into the room! Make a promise with me too! I want to go play in Big Sister Yuka’s room next time!”

“Um…”

Just as she wanted to make a perfect conclusion, she was pressed for answers by the two scary girls, and in the end, she could only let the matter rest…