Even so, we are living in the present

Chapter 36 – Commencement of the Strategy

The bell rang to mark the completion of the school day.

After homeroom, the classrooms of the second-year class were still bustling with chatter, but it was gradually declining.

As scheduled in the morning, Kyosuke was heading to the library.

Not forgetting his club activity equipment, of course, he clutched his shinai (bamboo sword).

After hugging his beloved Yuu in the classroom where they were alone, they made a promise to meet again later.

“See you later.”

“Yeah, catch you soon.”

The first to leave the classroom was Kyosuke. As for the remaining Yuu, he was to await a call from his beloved partner that he had ‘entered the broadcast room’ before proceeding. Until then, he would simply wait, with tension intact.

“…”

In the quiet, isolated classroom, he opened the letter Kyosuke had handed him and looked through it again. After reading it over, he felt nothing. To begin with, he didn’t consider it to be a love letter. He even laughed at his own twistedness.

“… Haha.”

He swiftly dismissed the laughter that sprang from his emotions and folded up the letter.

“… Ah.”

Feeling a vibration in his jeans pocket, he pulled out his smartphone. When he checked it, it read ‘I’m in the broadcast room,’ as planned, and he left the classroom.

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“…”

After safely borrowing the key to the broadcast room, he lightly bowed as he stepped out the door and quietly shut it behind him. He then walked briskly to the broadcast room. From time to time, Yuu passed by other students, though he did not pay attention to them and silently ascended the stairs to make his way to the broadcast room. Opening the already unlocked door, he entered the broadcast room and closed the door with a heavy thud. At the back of the room, the two of them were seated on the carpet, as planned.

“Yuu, you’re safe.”

When Kyosuke gently spoke to him, Yuu gave a small nod, and Ayana gazed at him with delight. All that remained was to wait for the letter-writer to arrive.

And the time came shortly after.

The doorknob slowly turned, sending a metallic scraping sound as the door opened. All three of them stared at that one spot, and what eventually appeared was the person they had all predicted.

“…Yuka.”

Ayana was the first to mutter under her breath. Yuka, unable to contain her astonishment at the presence of the three, gripped the doorknob and peeked halfway through the half-opened door, not moving an inch.

“W-Why are you here… Ayana?”

Perhaps due to her expectations being so far off, her voice trembled and she questioned the scene in front of her.

“Hey, the letter to Sonohara──”

Not hearing the last word to question the truth that was about to be discreetly assembled, Yuka withdrew her hand from the doorknob and sped away.

“Yuka!!”

Ayana reflexively stood up and stormed out of the broadcast room after her, shouting her name to keep her back, switching the words that were interrupted in mid-sentence.

The door slammed quietly shut.

“… What is she doing here?”

As Kyosuke let out a sigh and grumbled in the broadcast room, which was now occupied by only the two of them, Yuu, who had been maintaining his distance due to the presence of other students, quickly leaned in close to him.

“Kyosuke, are you going to club activities?”

Kyosuke nodded of course, as if he wanted to get away from this place at once.

Both of them rose to their feet and were ready to leave when the door opened and Ayana returned.

“Oh no, I lost her.”

Upon her opening lament, Kyosuke’s question flew out of his mouth.

“Lost?”

“Mmm, I think she might have gone home.”

With a brief sigh, Ayana grabbed her things.

“I wonder what she was trying to do.”

Because nothing has been resolved about the letter to Yuu. Although they would have hoped to hear what happened from her, the fact that she escaped suggested that it must have been a situation she preferred to withhold from everyone apart from Yuu. When Ayana was not convinced, Kyosuke offered his thoughts.

“I guess we must have gotten in the way.”

“So, the purpose is to confess after all?”

“Maybe. Well, the results are evident.”

Although the two were talking of it as a love letter, Yuu didn’t like it and hugged Kyosuke’s arm with one cheek puffed out. No matter how he looked at it, he didn’t see it as a love letter.

“… You’re so carefree.”

“No, of course not.”

Kyosuke replied to his sulky partner with extremely earnest words. However, his partner’s words grew even keener.

“What if I came here alone and got stabbed?”

At the quiet, monotone tone of his voice, the atmosphere of the place froze.

“… Stop it.”

Kyosuke’s voice, laced with a faint hint of indignation, restrained him, and Ayana followed suit with a hasty denial.

“Y-Yeah, that’s right… why would Yuka stab Sonohara? Yuka is not that type of girl.”

“…”

Yuu did not seem convinced nor did he nod or reply. Amidst the awkward atmosphere, the three of them had to leave the broadcast room; Ayana went home while Kyosuke headed for the dojo.

And Yuu headed alone to the staff room to return the key.

“‘Not that type of girl’… huh.”

You don’t even recognize that wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“… Idiot.”

Releasing a low sneer that nobody could hear, Yuu crushed the letter in his pocket.

Afterwards, he watched his sweetheart engaging in club activities at the dojo as usual, and the two of them made their way back home side by side.

And so the rest of the day passed unhindered, as it always does.