Kaiwa mo shinai tsurekko no imouto ga, naganen issho ni baka yatte-kita Netoge no friend datta

“T-That is…”

The person there was none other than Nanjo Rin.

She stood near the ticket gate, looking restlessly around at her surroundings.

It looked like she was here to meet up with a date. Every now and then, she would restlessly check her hair in a compact mirror. I could tell that she wanted to look extra nice for that special someone in her life. 

“Did Nanjo-san take the train?”

“Kuu~ she’s as cute as usual, but that over-the-top outfit is just foul play!”

“For just who is she… don’t tell me, her boyfriend?!”

Nanjo Rin’s house was a high-rise apartment building. Stopping at the station was obviously too out of the way for her.

Who the heck was she waiting for here—- no, please no…!

“Oh, there you are, Yoshida-san!”

“Huuuh?!”

Nanjo Rin, upon setting eyes on Shiyori, made a bright expression and trotted in our direction. Her smile was such that even those who were looking at her couldn’t help but smile. However, the person, to whom that smile was directed at, was instead confused and looked here and there restlessly, in the end, trying to hide behind my back…

“… Why is Kurai-kun together with Yoshida-san?”

“… We just happened to be going on the same train.”

Somehow, Nanjo Rin cast a rather suspicious look unintentionally at me.

“– Don’t tell me, did you catch hold of some weakness, Yoshida-san…”

“… AS IF.”

“What is up with this? No way! For real…!”

“It’s all a misunderstanding.”

If you looked closely, Nanjo Rin wasn’t even looking at me. She was just looking at Shiyori, focusing all her attention on her. She would occasionally glare daggers at me, sometimes throwing words like, 『You know what’s going on in here, so help me out!』

“Now, now, I won’t get in your way, so you guys can go ahead now.”

“You don’t have to tell me that! Let’s go, Yoshida-san!”

After having said that, Nanjo Rin took the hand of Shiyori and ran toward the direction of the school.

Nanjo Rin usually got along with almost everyone.

When Shiyori saw her treating me like that, in a way that she had never seen her interacting with anyone before, she kept looking at me and Nanjo Rin alternately in a panicked state.

“Fuehuew!?”

And with that, Shiyori could only leave in bafflement as she was left with no other choice but to follow behind her friend.

***

This morning as well, I was again a little taken aback by Nanjo Rin’s actions.

Normally, you wouldn’t expect someone to ambush you in front of the train station today after already treating you that way yesterday.

With that being said, I was a little worried about her getting out of control every now and then, but I knew that I could handle her.

With that thought in mind, I observed Shiyori and Nanjo Rin who were in the class next to mine.

“Haa… Such a blessing for the eyes…”

“What are you even talking about, Koutora?”

“Haha, even though Subaru also came to see them.”

“… I won’t deny those claims.”

There weren’t as many as yesterday, but there were still quite a few people in our class who came to get a glimpse of Shiyori.

Also, I was sure people were thinking that I had made an excuse to come to this class, but I had come here on an errand since my friends had asked me to help them out with some things.

—Princess of the Sun and Princess of the Moon.

Koutora used to say that, but now from what I could see, even if it did seem a little strange, the saying especially seemed true at this time.

“I prefer this color more, what do you think, Yoshida-san?”

“Um, well, I’m a bit on the…”

“The combination of raspberries and whipped cream is good as well, isn’t it? What do you like, Yoshida-san?”

“Hauu~”

Nanjo Rin was actively talking to Shiyori at this time.

It could be clearly seen as a lively, gorgeous, and bright girl like the sun itself while on the other hand, a quiet girl, neat, and calm girl like the moon, seemed to be having a friendly conversation with one another.

In fact, many men, like Koutora, were staring at them with eager faces.

However, by nature, Shiyori was the type of girl to devote herself to her studies. She was probably not used to being the center of attention. From time to time, it appeared that she seemed to be feeling overwhelmed by all the attention.

That was why, to me, rather than the two of them getting along well with each other, it seemed more like Rin was spinning her around in circles.

And so, what happened next was something I was expecting all along.

*** 

《I’ll feed you a maiden’s homemade bento, so come to our usual place as soon as possible.》

As the lunch break came around, I got a text message from Nanjo Rin that said that. 

《Actually, I’m allergic to fried chicken.》

《The risk of a maiden gaining weight happens to be direr.》

Disgruntled, I decided to head for the emergency stairs as if giving in to her demands.

“I kept you waiting.”

 “LATE!”

“I’ll give you this, so please excuse me for my lateness.”

“Nn… fine.”

What I offered to her was a plastic bottle of oolong tea. Realizing that I couldn’t avoid fried chicken h**l, I had bought it when I was in the convenience store along with the rest of my purchases.

And in exchange, I was given some fried chicken packed up in Tupperware.

It really seemed like even Nanjo Rin was interested in the obtaining of collaboration avatar skins herself.

“Even though just the other day, you were laughing at someone having fried chicken for lunch.”

“Coming to face with this, I now know how you feel… Come to think of it, won’t you have some as well?”

“… I’m still on the way to acquiring it.”

“… T-that was my bad.”

 “Well, I don’t particularly hate fried chicken.”

“Fufu, even though you’re allergic to fried chicken?”

… Somehow, if I didn’t get my own collaboration avatar skin now, I felt that I would be seen in a suspicious light now.

I thought so after seeing her chuckling lightly.

Fortunately, the amount of fried chicken that was handed over to me was less than when it was the case with Shiyori.

If it was this much, even Nanjo Rin wouldn’t have an upset stomach later on.

While thinking about such things, the two of us started munching on the fried chicken in front of us.

“…”

“…”

We were completely silent throughout the rest of our meal.