The next day.
Eager to find Hibiki Naegi and ask about the early arrival of the acceptance letter, Kotomi Izumi arrived at school earlier than usual. As a result, she surprisingly did not walk to school with gumi Kato today.
"Kotomi, did you have a fight with Kato?"
As soon as Kotomi entered the school gate, a female classmate stopped her and asked curiously.
"Why would you think that?"
Kotomi was puzzled but kept her signature charming smile. If she smiled like this in the classroom, both boys and girls alike would likely think—
Could it be that Kotomi likes ?
But at this mont, the person who had inadvertently stirred such misunderstandings was simply confused by her classmate's question. She felt like a series of question marks were popping up over her head. Today, she had rely left ho earlier than usual and hadn't walked with gumi, so why did that suddenly an they had fought or were upset with each other?
"I always see you and Kato coming to school together, so I just assud you two were really close and always walked to school together. But today, since you arrived alone, I wondered if sothing had happened between you two."
Oh, so that's the reason…
Kotomi let out a helpless chuckle but maintained her graceful deanor. With a cheerful tone, she replied:
"Not at all! gumi and I are very good friends. I just had sothing to do this morning, so I ca to school a bit earlier. gumi should be here soon."
Although Kotomi often acted like she didn't care, in reality, she was more aware of people's perceptions of her than anyone else. When a group of students had secretly voted her as this year's "Most Beautiful Student of Sobu High School," she had known about it imdiately. In her heart, she had silently approved—You all have excellent taste.
She only pretended not to notice, wanting to appear indifferent. But truthfully, she cared a lot.
"I see… Then, um, may I ask—what exactly is your relationship with Kato?"
The girl suddenly seed nervous. From what Kotomi knew of her, she wasn't the shy type. On the contrary, she was quite outgoing—a so-called normie who often hung out with friends at karaoke after school.
For soone like her to suddenly act so flustered, with that hesitant yet expectant look in her eyes, there was only one possible reason…
Oh, so that's what this is about.
Kotomi smirked. Dressed in her short-sleeved uniform and breezy sumr skirt, she looked as if she were still basking in the warm sunlight of early sumr. Placing a slender finger on her lips, she playfully said:
"You want to know what kind of relationship gumi and I have…? Hehe, why don't you take a guess~?"
With that, Kotomi turned and walked away, leaving the girl without an answer—only a lingering mystery that would undoubtedly fuel even more speculation.
What exactly is the relationship between Kotomi Izumi and gumi Kato?
As for how others might interpret her words, Kotomi didn't particularly care. She stepped lightly through the halls, heading directly toward the art clubroom to find Hibiki Naegi.
After all, she had been a mber of the Art Club for over a month now.
Every morning, Hibiki Naegi had a routine—she would stop by the clubroom to do a bit of cleaning and open the windows for ventilation. All the Art Club mbers knew about this habit, Kotomi included.
Taking off her brown leather shoes, Izumi Kotomi's legs were wrapped in a pair of ultra-thin black stockings, making her already flawless skin appear even more enchanting through the dreamy, misty black fabric.
As Kotomi stood in front of the shoe locker changing shoes, passing classmates—both boys and girls—couldn't help but glance at her legs and feet, their faces turning red as they hurriedly looked away.
Teenagers in their adolescence often spoke boldly but were quite naive in reality.
"Kotomi."
Shina Mashiro's voice suddenly rang out.
Kotomi, now wearing her indoor shoes, saw that Mashiro had also arrived at school early and greeted her with a bright smile. "Mashiro, good morning."
"Kotomi, why do you have dark circles under your eyes?" Mashiro pointed at the area around Kotomi's eyes.
Ah, she noticed. Kotomi laughed awkwardly. Because of the acceptance email, she had been too excited to sleep last night, only managing to doze off around 2 AM. Lately, she had been staying up late for various reasons, making it inevitable that dark circles would appear.
"I went to bed too late last night. Actually, I've been staying up late for the past few days, so I guess the dark circles just built up. Turns out, staying up late isn't such a great idea after all," Kotomi admitted with a small yawn.
"Was it because you were too excited after receiving the acceptance email?" Mashiro asked bluntly.
Kotomi's cheeks flushed red, and she hurriedly denied, "No way! It was just because I ate too much last night! Anyway, enough about that—Mashiro, you ca to school so early today. Were you planning to find Naegi-senpai and ask about the acceptance email?"
"Hmm? No, my cousin said there's a teachers' morning eting today, so she brought to school early because she was worried about coming alone."
As she spoke, Mashiro shook the plastic bag in her hand, revealing at buns and sweet soy milk she had bought from a convenience store for breakfast.
"I-I see…" Kotomi felt a little embarrassed. In the end, she was the only one in a rush.
"But if Kotomi wants to go find President Naegi now, I'll go with you. Otherwise, waiting in the classroom alone is boring."
"Great, let's go together," Kotomi nodded. After Mashiro finished putting on her indoor shoes, the two walked toward the Art Club.
On the way, Mashiro suddenly asked another question:
"Kotomi, your dark circles really aren't because you were too excited to sleep after receiving the acceptance email?"
"Of course not! I was just up late drawing manga—yeah, that's it! As a manga artist, having dark circles is totally normal, right?"
Tonight, I'm definitely going to bed early! Kotomi made a firm decision and casually took a at bun from Mashiro's bag.
As for the dark circles, other girls might panic if they had them—after all, middle school and high school were peak years for girls to care about their appearance. Having dark circles was sothing they couldn't tolerate.
Whenever they got dark circles, they would worry about how to get rid of them as soon as possible.
Kotomi cared about her appearance too, but when it ca to dark circles, she wasn't worried at all.
Because as long as she slept hugging Kazumi, her dark circles would magically disappear overnight.
Just one night's sleep, and they'd be gone without a trace.
Tonight, I'll sleep hugging Kazumi!
It had been too long since she last slept that way, and Kotomi really missed the feeling. Enjoying a perfect night's rest sounded amazing. And more than that, Kotomi could personally experience it.
If possible, I'd love to sleep hugging Kazumi-chan every night.
Kotomi excitedly thought to herself, determined to find an opportunity to make Kazumi agree to this request.
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