Kamizawa turned away, unable to keep watching.

She'd been anxious for days, weighed down by guilt over Yumiko.

Although Yumiko had practically fallen for Yukinoshita at first sight when she transferred in with her new look and, granted, Yumiko was never the sharpest when it came to complicated matters of the heart Kamizawa still couldn't help but feel partly responsible. If she hadn't run her mouth and suggested certain things, Yumiko might not have fallen this fast, this hard.

But then again… given Yumiko's hopelessly obvious behavior, maybe it was better to get hurt now than fall even deeper and be shattered later especially if Yukinoshita had actually been harboring feelings for Yui all along.

Go on, Yumiko. See the truth for yourself.

We'll always be your safe place to land.

But then...

"Perfect! Yukinoshita, Yui you're here too!"

Yumiko walked over quickly, smiling brightly. She gave the table in front of Yukinoshita and Yui a friendly little tap with her fingers.

Even in the quiet of the library, her voice, though lowered, carried a warmth that couldn't be suppressed. "I was just looking for you two in the classroom. Lucky you're both here!"

Ono tugged at Kamizawa's sleeve, her face full of question marks: Wait what is happening?

Wasn't this supposed to be one of those hostile "love-rival" standoffs? Or at the very least, a cold battlefield brimming with unspoken tension?

So why did Yumiko look like she'd just spotted her long-lost family?

Kamizawa fell silent, deep in thought.

Don't ask me. I'm just as confused as you are.

Yumiko, meanwhile, gave a tiny cough and awkwardly took the seat beside Yukinoshita twice as close as necessary, and far too obviously casual about it.

She thought she looked totally calm and natural. Composed, even.

"I've recently been invited to participate in a campus research project that seemed pretty interesting..." Yumiko began, eyes darting everywhere but the people in front of her. "So, I figured I'd start gathering basic case samples from people around me."

Yukinoshita nodded thoughtfully. "You're interviewing us?"

Seriously? Another interview?

Two in one day. Sobu High really had a thing for extracurricular research, huh?

Yukinoshita didn't find it strange at all, but Kamizawa could already see through Yumiko's painfully transparent little act. She didn't even need to hear the words; Yumiko's awkward, flustered energy said it all she was trying so hard to show off her half-baked moves again.

Kamizawa decided to try steering her delusional friend toward some clarity.

"You and Yui came here to study, Yukinoshita?" she asked, feigning casual interest.

That, at last, seemed to shake something loose in Yumiko.

Right. The girl she liked along with the girl she thought liked her back had gone off to the library together. Alone. Very intimately alone.

Yukinoshita casually lifted a sheet of survey questions she'd been holding and waved it. "Actually, I'm here to interview Yui too."

Yumiko accepted the A4 printout and skimmed the brief notes on the page. "Oh, this is about following up on Nishinomiya's case, right…"

She assumed Yukinoshita was helping her clean up the aftermath. Not only had she resolved that stressful incident, now she was stepping up to handle the loose ends too.

Yumiko's heart swelled with warmth and pride.

As expected of someone who secretly likes me so capable, so thoughtful!

But just as the little spark of suspicion lit up over Yumiko's head, Yukinoshita casually snuffed it out again with a single comment.

Kamizawa couldn't even be surprised anymore.

No wonder people used to think Yukinoshita had a thing for Yumiko. The way she handled her… it was like she had the blueprint.

Every time Yumiko started to doubt, Yukinoshita would do something that reassured her completely. Like now.

Yumiko patted Kamizawa's shoulder, all smiles and peace-and-love energy. "You guys are too sensitive. It's totally normal for girls to be close. And besides…"

She cleared her throat, then solemnly laid out the real topic. "My social studies project is about same-sex relationships in high school what people think about them and how they're perceived…"

Her tone was serious, her expression carefully neutral.

But the longer she spoke, the quieter her voice became, and the redder her face grew.

The group fell into stunned silence for a few seconds.

"Eh?!!!" ×3

Kamizawa, Ono, and Yui all let out the same shocked cry, loud enough to draw glances from nearby students in the library.

Yui, the most easily flustered of them all, immediately stood and bowed to the surrounding tables, cheeks blazing.

"Sorry! We were too loud!"

This group of famously pretty girls was already drawing curious stares. People had been trying to figure out what they were doing here together, and now those glances multiplied.

Ono looked like she wanted to grab Yumiko by the shoulders and shake her hard enough to slosh the water in her brain.

"Yumiko, what the hell are you even saying?!"

She was blushing furiously and her heart was racing for reasons she couldn't quite name. A quick side-eye at Kamizawa only made her cheeks hotter. Finally, she glared at Yumiko with a mixture of embarrassment and outrage.

"H-how can you say something so embarrassing out loud?!"

To lend credibility to her protest, she immediately dragged her fellow partners-in-crime into it. "Right, Kamizawa? Yui? You agree, don't you?!"

Kamizawa stared up at the ceiling, trying hard not to smile. "Kind of…"

Yui, face beet red, kept her gaze firmly on the floor. "I guess so…"

Yukinoshita: "..."

Wait a second. Am I the only one who's actually come out and said I like girls?

Why did this questionnaire feel so… specifically targeted?

Was everyone else just pretending to be shocked?

Suddenly, Yumiko felt a strange kind of pressure. For the first time, she caught a glimpse of what Yukinoshita might've gone through. Realizing the weight of it, she pushed her embarrassment aside and straightened up, adopting a serious tone.

"Kamizawa. Ono. Yui. We're part of a new generation now we can't keep clinging to outdated ideas. Yui, you're just being too conservative."

Yui ducked her head even further. "You think so…?"

Yumiko nodded firmly. "Definitely. There are too many strange and complicated things in this world for us to divide them neatly into good or bad. It's not about blindly accepting everything, but broadening your perspective learning more, seeing more. There's no harm in that."

Yui didn't dare look up. She just stared at the floor and whispered, "Yumiko… that actually makes a lot of sense…"

Yumiko was honestly stunned by her own eloquence. Was that really me?! That went way smoother than expected!

Of course. Her belief that was her magic.

Yumiko turned toward Kamizawa and Ono again, slipping seamlessly into philosophical mode. "If something exists, there's a reason it does. As long as it's not hurting anyone, I don't think we need to treat it with suspicion or rejection. That's the core theme of my research."

Kamizawa and Ono, who'd been quietly dating for over two years now, both froze like statues.

Excuse you? Discrimination? Us??????

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