Before even reaching the family restaurant called cono, Kyousuke spotted the girl waiting by the signboard.
She wore Toyogasaki's sailor-style uniform.
The neckline wasn't particularly low, but with her fair, delicate skin, it somehow gave the illusion of seeing something dazzlingly beautiful.
Her slender neck, the smooth line of her collarbone, and that fragile, youthful thinness unique to teenage girls—it all came at him in one overwhelming rush.
Her long legs stretched out beneath the black pleated skirt, unadorned, yet the healthy glow of her skin and their perfect shape alone could make anyone cheer.
Black leather loafers, a chestnut schoolbag—simple, yet striking.
No wonder women in their thirties still longed to wear a uniform again.
This was the kind of charm no one could easily resist.
Kato Megumi—an ordinary seventeen-year-old girl in an ordinary school uniform. And yet, there she stood, unnoticed by the restaurant staff despite her presence.
As Kyousuke looked over, Megumi brushed her bangs aside with one hand.
For girls, taming their bangs was apparently a lifelong battle.
With his keen senses, he could clearly see her little pink lips purse in faint dissatisfaction.
He chuckled.
Catching these small, unguarded moments—when a girl fretted over her appearance—always amused him.
But when it was Megumi, it felt doubly cute.
She always claimed her looks were plain, yet here she was secretly fussing over them.
This was the real Megumi—girlish, adorable, and impossibly charming.
More importantly, this was her before meeting him.
Anyone would feel happy knowing their date had taken the time to prepare.
Perhaps because she stood there too still, too noticeable against the flow of passersby, Megumi's hand froze mid-motion.
Her dark, bright eyes lifted, scanning forward—
Across the small plaza before the restaurant, across the crosswalk, across the bustling crowd, Megumi saw Hojou Kyousuke.
Saw those smiling eyes focused solely on her.
'Uwah…'
A tremor ran through her.
It was like a current arcing from her heart, surging through her body, or maybe like his gaze flowed straight into her chest.
The feeling of being the only one in someone's eyes set her cheeks aflame, her palms hot.
'There it is again…'
Her life usually felt transparent, unnoticed.
Yet Kyousuke's gaze was different.
Even in a busy crowd, he could find her instantly, and always with that unwavering focus.
It was as if she weren't ordinary at all—as if something about her shone in a way that only he could see.
'Geez…'
How should she put it? Being looked at this way made her embarrassed… but it also felt really, really nice.
Though her heart fluttered, Megumi's face only showed a brief pause before softening into her usual calm smile.
She lifted a hand in greeting.
Kyousuke smiled back and walked over.
"Good afternoon, Katou-san. Sorry—did I keep you waiting long?" he said gently.
"Good afternoon, Hojou-kun."
Megumi shook her head, her movements graceful as she glanced up and down at him, then smiled.
"Not at all. This place is closer to Toyogasaki, so I just got here early. Shall we go in?"
She couldn't help but think, Hojou-kun really stands out.
She had been standing there unnoticed for quite some time, but the moment he arrived, the waitress by the door practically leapt to open it for him.
"Mm." Kyousuke smiled, stepping forward to hold the door himself.
"Welcome, sir, ma'am!" the waitress greeted brightly. To Megumi's relief, she didn't only look at Kyousuke but smiled at both of them.
"How many today?"
Megumi held up a peace sign. "Two."
"Right this way. Here are your menus."
They were led to a window seat.
Kyousuke, who could eat the same set meal for years without complaint, had little interest in the menu.
Instead, he slid it across to Megumi like a gentleman and took in the restaurant.
Brown walls with simple patterns, a cheerful and airy atmosphere, and impressively spacious booths—though labeled for four people, they could easily fit six.
The cushions were soft enough, and everything felt clean to the touch.
'No wonder business is booming,' Kyousuke thought.
For a student-friendly place, affordable food was important, but comfortable booths perfect for group hangouts were the real draw.
It was still club activity time, yet plenty of students in uniforms already filled the seats around them.
Naturally, they weren't diligent types like him and Megumi—they were couples.
He turned back to her.
Megumi sat with her head slightly bowed, her hair falling to hide part of her face.
From his angle, Kyousuke could see her long lashes, focused eyes, and that cute nose.
Wait.
Something was different.
Her lashes looked thicker than before, curling upward more dramatically.
Her nose tip glowed too naturally—sure, her skin was good, but not that flawless. And her cheeks carried a soft blush that perfectly suited her face.
Her eyes… was that eyeshadow? Faint, but enough to make them seem larger.
"Hojou-kun, if you keep staring at me like that, I'll get embarrassed~"
Her lighthearted voice snapped him from his thoughts.
He realized now why he could study her so clearly—she had tilted her face up, openly letting him look.
Though she teased him, her expression remained calm as ever.
Three responses came to mind:
Because you're too cute, I couldn't help but stare.
The lighting here really brings out your makeup—you look even prettier.
Ah, I was just looking at the menu, honest.
Kyousuke chose—
"Katou-san, I didn't know you were this good at makeup," he said admiringly.
Her hand rose to brush her cheek. "Does it look weird?"
"Not at all. If I didn't remember what your lashes looked like before, I wouldn't even know you were wearing any." He gave a firm nod.
"Really? Thanks, that's a relief. But this is nothing special. In Japan, girls don't leave the house without makeup~"
Megumi lowered her head again, leaving even Hojou Kyousuke unable to read what was on her mind.
'Hojou-kun actually remembered my makeup from last time?'
'He even remembered what my eyelashes looked like?'
She tried to think it through, but at best she could narrow down which mascara she'd used last time to three possibilities.
'So even the version of me that I'd already forgotten… still exists in Hojou-kun's memory?'
The realization made her grip on the menu tighten ever so slightly.
Then a new question popped into her head—Next time, should I go with last time's look, or today's? The thought left her faintly troubled.
"By the way, Hojou-kun, did you shower at school before coming here? Your body wash smells different from the one at the dorm," she asked, her clear eyes lifting toward him.
When Megumi said this, she wasn't trying to prove she remembered how he was before, or to show off her powers of observation.
She wasn't even trying to say he cared about the date more than she did.
What she wanted to express was simple: you must've gone to a lot of trouble, showering and still making it here so quickly.
"Haha, I couldn't just show up with a whole day's worth of dust on me. That'd be way too sloppy," Kyousuke replied with a laugh.
He didn't call out her little act of feigned nonchalance.
As someone who loved baths, he could easily shower twice a day even while lazing around at home.
In school, he had no shortage of options: the kendo club's advisor room, the baseball team's showers, even Yukari's help sneaking into the teachers' lounge.
The faint chill of their first moments together melted away after just a few words.
They shared a glance—and both broke into quiet smiles.
Just then, the waitress returned with ice water and hot towels.
"Thank you for waiting."
Megumi shifted to her bag, pulling out a cute pink wallet. From it, she produced a brightly colored voucher.
"Excuse me, I'd like to use this," she said, handing it over.
"Of course, one Couple's Set Menu. Let me confirm: it includes these items… For the staple, would you prefer rice or bread?" the waitress asked, jotting notes.
'…Couple's set?'
Kyousuke blinked.
'Didn't she call it a two-person set when we talked about it?'
He sneaked a glance at her, but she sat there calmly confirming details with the waitress, looking perfectly composed.
That only made him wonder if he was overthinking it.
After all, the word "couple" wasn't restricted—man and woman, two men, two women, even elderly pairs could call themselves couples.
And of course, a "couple's set" simply meant a set for two people.
It's not like there'd ever be a "couple's set for three or four," right? …Right?
He almost wanted to grab the voucher himself to check if it said "limited to one man and one woman."
"What's wrong, Hojou-kun?"
Megumi turned back once the order was placed, her serene face showing no clue that she knew what was running through his mind.
"…Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Kyousuke replied.
Now it finally made sense why every table around them had pairs of couples.
Clearly, this restaurant had gone all-in on distributing couple's meal vouchers.
"The set menu's mains are a little small, so I ordered two extra hamburg steaks for you. We can add more later if needed. Is that okay?" Megumi asked.
"Sure," Kyousuke answered casually.
He already knew why the portions were small.
That was the gimmick of a couple's set—plenty of pretty little side dishes that weren't filling, but not enough main course.
The whole point was to encourage ordering extras.
Easy money.
He sipped from the brown water glass, ready to start tutoring before the food came.
But to his surprise, Megumi pulled out a packet of wet wipes and began wiping down the table.
"Hm? What's this about?"
"I noticed you're particular about cleanliness, Hojou-kun. If our books got dirty, it'd bother you, wouldn't it?" she said lightly, glancing up at him.
'Oof—Katou, don't say something that heart-melting with such a calm face…'
Kyousuke blinked, then accepted a wipe from her and joined in.
Meanwhile, the waitress had just passed the order to the kitchen and was about to return to check on the handsome boy's needs.
But when she turned, she froze.
The pair were bent over the table, seriously wiping it down themselves.
Her eye twitched.
'Wait, do they… hate my cleaning?'
The thought struck like lightning, leaving her short of breath.
She quickly fetched a clean towel and hurried over.
"I'm terribly sorry! It's my fault for not wiping the table properly. Please, let me do it again." She bowed deeply, already crouching to reach the table.
"Eh?"
Megumi hadn't expected that.
Her usual serenity cracked, and she blinked in surprise.
Seeing the waitress crouch down, she quickly spoke up:
"No, not at all! The table was already very clean. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
The waitress paused, puzzled.
"I just… wanted to wipe it again for him," Megumi explained sincerely.
"…?"
The waitress froze.
She'd seen countless couples in her time: sharing a drink with two straws, feeding each other bites, wiping each other's mouths—even mouth-to-mouth feeding once or twice.
But this—this quiet, natural thoughtfulness—hit her harder than anything.
It wasn't the boy's devastating good looks. It wasn't some flashy, showy way of flirting.
It was simply the girl's genuine, unforced kindness.
"I'm so sorry for the trouble," Megumi apologized again.
"No, no, it's on me," the waitress said quickly, waving her hands.
She made a silent vow to personally wipe the bottom of their plates later so this sweet, considerate girl wouldn't have to worry.
Only after the waitress left did Megumi let out a long sigh of relief.
"You got us noticed, you know. Guess studying really does pay off," Kyousuke teased.
"Yeah. If I took my workbook out to the restaurant entrance, I'd probably draw even more attention," Megumi deadpanned.
"Hahaha!"
With the table spotless, they began unpacking their study materials.
"…Wait, these are all problem sets?"
Megumi's voice, usually so calm, cracked as she stared at the mountain of books Kyousuke had stacked up—thicker than an encyclopedia.
"Yup." He nodded with a grin.
Her eyes went wide in shock, making her look impossibly cute.
"Um, Hojou-kun… I don't think I'm doing that badly. And honestly, my goals don't require that much effort, you know~?"
She spoke carefully, torn between not wanting to waste his kindness and not being able to endure that avalanche of problem sets.
Kyousuke chuckled inwardly at her pained expression, enjoying it for a moment before splitting the stack in two.
"Hahaha, relax—I'm teasing you. These are the ones I've already finished. I just brought them so you can look through when you have time. I've written down detailed solution steps in all of them. This one is the only book I prepared for you."
"…"
Megumi's face briefly showed a fleeting look of disappointment and quiet resentment before she softly spoke:
"I thought Hojou-kun's plan was to make me collapse from overwork just so I'd finally get noticed."
"Hm? So you figured it out? If improving your grades still isn't enough to draw attention, that was my backup plan."
Watching him get carried away with his own mischief, Megumi wrinkled her nose ever so slightly, then replied calmly:
"My only worry is that no one would notice if I fainted. Looks like I should start practicing how to fall tonight—something that makes a big enough sound to draw attention, but without actually hurting myself."
"Oh? If you really manage that, maybe you could even release a tutorial video online. I bet people who need to fake heatstroke would find it super useful."
"Since you've accepted the job of making me stand out, shouldn't this 'falling technique' research also fall on you? I'll just handle applying medicine to your bruises and doing your laundry afterward."
"Hah, fair enough. In that case…"
Between their banter, the two of them had already spread their books out.
Megumi studied the liberal arts, so Kyousuke could really only help her with foreign languages, Japanese, and math.
For everything else, memorization was still the main approach.
Naturally, the practice sheets he'd prepared for her were focused on those three subjects.
Now Megumi was bent over the exercises he had just passed to her, while he was checking the homework he'd given her last time.
Huh? She got all of them right?
As he read through, Kyousuke let out a soft sound of surprise.
Her handwriting was neat and elegant, pleasant to look at.
More importantly, Megumi hadn't just solved the problems—she had corrected her own mistakes, carefully writing out the proper steps beside them.
With Kyousuke's level, it was obvious she hadn't just copied answers.
She had genuinely reflected on her errors and absorbed the methods he'd taught her.
That much was clear from the way she handled the later exercises.
"Megumi, how much time did you spend on all this?" he asked in astonishment. This wasn't something that could be done half-heartedly.
"Hmm how long did I spend? I don't really remember anymore"
Megumi tapped her cheek with the end of her pencil, a faint smile flickering in her eyes.
"I just felt I couldn't dump everything onto you, Hojou-kun… so I tried my best."
"That's all."
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