Kanda Sōta panicked.
"Aoyama-san, have you been tricked by him?"
"You actually trust a disgusting fat loser over me?"
His voice rose, his heart filled with unease.
"Kanda-kun..."
Nanami frowned slightly. She had originally thought Sorata was a decent classmate.
"Kanda-kun, who I choose to be friends with really has nothing to do with you, does it?"
"Why are you trying to interfere in my personal life?"
She raised her voice too, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation.
"I'm just worried about your safety. What if he's deceiving you?" Sorata said anxiously, watching her expression.
"I'm fine, Kanda-kun. But please stop meddling in my private life."
Nanami took a deep breath. She thought of her family.
They had tried to interfere with her dream of becoming a voice actress, strongly opposing her.
Forcing their will on her, calling it concern.
She had worked so hard, studied like crazy, and was lucky enough to get into Shuchiin. Thanks to her excellent grades, she received a full scholarship.
That covered tuition.
But for living expenses and voice acting school fees, she worked part-time and scrimped to get by.
Her life was tight.
The argument between her and Kanda Sōta grew intense—borderline a shouting match.
Classmates around them started turning their heads, curious.
Nanami awkwardly bit into her simple rice ball, feeling like she was sitting on pins and needles under everyone's gaze.
"I..."
Sorata felt like he'd been hit with a critical blow. His mouth opened, but no words came out.
He wasn't her boyfriend—he had no right to control her private life.
"But... but..."
Sorata looked conflicted and still didn't leave.
"Kanda-kun, please go back to your seat. I'd like to finish my breakfast."
"And I really don't appreciate everyone staring at me like this."
Nanami chewed her rice calmly and spoke coldly.
A moist breeze carried the scent of fresh grass and flowers into the classroom.
It looked like it was going to rain today.
"Aoyama-san, I just don't get it..."
"That guy might be approaching you with bad intentions. Aren't you worried?"
Sorata voice had deflated like a balloon.
"Kitakami-kun isn't like that. He has other friends, and..."
Nanami's sentence was cut off by the bell for morning reading.
"Forget it. If you're just worried about me, then don't bother, Kanda-kun." She waved him off, looking down at her breakfast.
"He has other friends?"
"That disgusting fat loser? Aoyama-san, you..."
Sorata tried to continue, speaking poorly of Yoru right in front of her.
It made Nanami very uncomfortable.
He insulted her friend and tried to meddle in her personal choices.
"Kanda-kun, that's enough. Morning reading has started."
She held back the urge to snap at him.
She was the type of person who would fight for a friend she recognized as her own.
Especially when that friendship was tied to deep guilt.
"What are Kanda and Aoyama talking about?"
"No clue, maybe they're arguing over something?"
"Why'd they stop? Come on, keep going. I wanna see what happens..."
"The student council's discipline officers are doing rounds. You better sit down and shut up."
Hearing the chatter from around the room, Nanami put on a cold face.
"Damn it!"
Sorata stomped his foot in frustration and returned to his seat with a grim face.
The sudden stomp startled Nanami. Her hand trembled, and the rice ball nearly fell from her hand. She muttered nervously,
"So aggressive..."
---
Back at his desk, Sorata slumped over, feeling extremely frustrated.
Why would Nanami trust that fat loser and ignore his sincere feelings?
"No way. She must've been tricked!"
"I'm going to confront Yoru and get to the bottom of this!"
He couldn't just watch the girl he liked hang around someone like that.
Of course, whether he was a fat loser or not didn't matter.
What mattered was that the girl he liked was with another guy—that alone was uncomfortable.
With that thought, Sorata made up his mind.
After morning class ended, he didn't approach Nanami. Instead, he peeked into Yoru's classroom but hesitated.
He decided he'd confront him after school.
All day, his mood was wrecked, his mind consumed by this situation.
As soon as school ended, he ran downstairs to wait for Yoru.
After school, Yoru followed his usual routine and headed to the Service Club.
Down the stairs, changed shoes, straight to the club building.
Sorata trailed him, hesitating again when it mattered most.
In the end, he just watched Yoru walk into the club building.
"Damn it!"
Sorata clenched his fists and threw a punch in frustration.
Why was Yoru getting close to Nanami? What was his purpose?
"No. I need to expose his true nature to Aoyama-san."
From the very beginning, Sorata had subconsciously seen Yoru as a romantic rival and assumed the worst of him.
He hung around the club building, skipping his own club entirely.
It looked like rain was coming—dark skies and thick clouds gathered.
But he still didn't leave.
Meanwhile, inside the Service Club…
Yoru, the so-called disgusting fat loser, was getting a one-on-one tutoring session from the school's icy beauty, Yukino.
"Looks like it's going to rain hard. Yukinon, should we wrap up early?" Yuigahama checked the time and suggested leaving since there were no more club matters.
"You go ahead. I brought an umbrella," Yukino replied calmly.
She had already noticed the weather since morning.
The skies had been gloomy from the start.
A breeze picked up around noon.
It looked like a storm was coming. She just didn't know how long or how heavy it would be.
"I brought mine too," Yoru added, glancing out the window.
It was only four o'clock, but the sky looked like it was already six.
"Then let's continue. We'll do a full review next week." Yukino resumed the lesson.
Yuigahama said goodbye and left the club building.
Because of the approaching rain, most students had already left campus.
"Why hasn't he come out yet?"
Sorata squinted at the sky, watching leaves get carried by the wind.
The air was heavy and damp.
It was going to rain any minute.
He couldn't wait any longer. He ran into the club building, determined to find Yoru.