(Kazu POV)

Beep… beep…

I slept well… but I still felt exhausted…

Well – a lot really happened yesterday.

Now then, let’s get up and get ready.

………

Speaking of which, I got my first LINE from Senpai last night.

It was a message confirming that I could go to the flower garden during my lunch break again from today on, which made me happy.

We had exchanged LINE, but up until now I hadn’t had a chance to use it, and I hadn’t had the courage to send anything more than a simple message.

But the fact that Senpai sent it to me like this means we’re at least close enough to send each other messages casually.

… I still can’t believe I’m friends with that Goddess.

While walking to school, I vaguely looked around, but still I couldn’t see any signs of Senpai.

She mentioned that she saw me and Mio-chan from time to time, so I wondered if it was possible for us to meet…

Once I arrived at the school, I changed my shoes and headed for the classroom.

What a pain just to get into the classroom…

Even after what happened with Senpai, this class still has not changed for the better.

My concerns have not been eliminated.

*Rattle*, *Rattle*…

As I entered the classroom, I noticed that the usual rowdy crowd seemed unusually quiet.

Come to think of it, I didn’t hear any noise in the hallway today… I just realized that now.

…Speaking of which, did these guys have a connection with those morons from yesterday?

Maybe something happened… well, whatever.

As I was thinking about that, the hallway seemed to be getting noisier.

No, it’s not just my feeling, isn’t there a buzzing activity in the hallway…?

*Rattle*, *rattle*.

“Excuse me.”

!?

Senpai came!

She looks like she’s in a bad mood, but…

I was looking at her as if she was involved with those guys, but apparently she wasn’t and our eyes met.

As soon as it happened, Senpai smiled happily.

Senpai doesn’t usually smile, but her smile has a destructive power…

And then she came straight up to me.

“Good morning, Takanashi-san.”

“Oh, good morning, Senpai. What’s up? Is there something wrong?”

“No, I didn’t see you this morning, so I wanted to say hello before homeroom started.”

“I-I see. I’m sorry that you had to come all the way down here.”

Uwah… I’m being watched by everyone, even the people in the hallway…

I could see the people who seemed to have been hit by Senpai’s smile.

It’s too destructive… I don’t think I’ve ever seen Senpai make a face like that at school before…

I mean, I was a little charmed by it too.

“Fufu… what’s wrong?”

Senpai who probably didn’t realize that, tilted her head to the side.

That’s so cute…

“No, i-it’s nothing! I’m just happy that Senpai came to see me, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry for barging in on you so suddenly. It’s not that I had any particular business to discuss with you, but I wanted to see and talk to you… Oh, and by the way, as I told you yesterday at LINE, during lunchtime…”

“Yes! It’s alright! I’m okay with it!”

I interrupted Senpai, not letting her say anything else.

It’s not good to talk about it here, and I want to keep it a private secret… in more ways than one.

“… Hey, hey, didn’t she just say LINE?”

“…. What the heck is up with that guy? What’s the relationship between him and ‘Goddess-sama’?”

“… The fan club probably won’t stay silent.”

“… I’ve never seen her smile like that. What the he*ck is going on?”

Ah, this will turn out to be a bad thing…

Rather, there’s a fan club?

“Satsukawa-senpai! Good morning! It’s a rare opportunity to talk with you here…”

“Kyah! It’s my lucky day! There are other people here that also want to talk, so…”

The morons got carried away and started talking to Senpai.

Then, Senpai who had been smiling at me instantly returned to her usual expression…

No, she’s staring at them hard.

“Can’t you see that I’m talking to Takanashi-san right now? You’re in high school and you don’t understand that you’re being rude? It’s unpleasant.”

“No, it’s just…”

“We’re just…”

“There’s no reason for a stranger to suddenly talk to me in a familiar way.”

This… might be a problem if she doesn’t stop.

They’re the type of people Senpai hate the most.

However, did she speak this harshly before?

“Senpai, let’s continue later because we’re running out of time. Please disregard them.”

“… I apologize that our conversation was interrupted by…”

“No, I’m glad for all that you said.”

“Takanashi-san…”

Senpai looked and smiled at me like this.

Considering the situation we were in the other day, I feel very impressed.

They must have seen the smiling senpai and thought they had a chance…

“Sorry, Takanashi-san, but the people around us are in the way, so let’s meet again later.”

“Y-yes. See you later.”

She said “they are in the way”… very clearly…

“Well then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Smilingly, Senpai said that and left.

「「「「「……………」」」」」

The reason no one spoke to me was probably because they had no intention of getting involved with me, but for once I was grateful.

Thinking about the future, I’d better have a talk with Senpai…