Chapter 32: Embarrassment lasts longer than you think (3)

Aya and Mizuki.

Two of Takamori Academy’s representative young ladies.

Even though these two are young ladies, they seem to visit convenience stores quite often, so much so that their routine is noticeable.

Mizuki went straight to the chocolate corner without hesitation, and Aya naturally went to the drinks corner and hesitated between iced tea and black tea.

Then, today’s Aya chose the black tea from this morning.

‘What… should I choose?’

I naturally moved to the dessert corner.

And, I stopped in front of the shelf where the pudding was displayed.

‘It was delicious last time.’

And…

The indirect kiss…

‘Waaaaaah…!’

I screamed inwardly and felt my face get hot.

At that time, Mizuki came up to me and poked my shoulder, saying playfully.

“Oh~ Pudding again?”

“Ahhhhh! Th, that, just… Yes, pudding would be good! Ahaha.”

I avoided eye contact for no reason and hurriedly picked up the low-fat milk pudding.

Then, Aya came up next to me and said with a faint smile.

“It was pudding last time too, right?”

“Th, that…”

I stammered awkwardly.

Then Mizuki said with an amused expression.

“Nice. Then is today Rina’s pudding time~? Ayaring, is that enough for you?”

“Yeah, milk tea is enough for me.”

“Okay, okay, if you’ve decided, let’s move along.”

Mizuki smiled brightly and headed for the checkout.

And at that moment, Aya glanced at me.

Ah, those beautiful and clear blue eyes… ah…

But unlike last time, this time Aya only had the black tea from this morning in her hand.

“Eh… Aya, you’re not buying pudding this time?”

“Yeah, Mizuki bought a big chocolate.”

“Ah… I see.”

Only then did I look at the chocolate in Mizuki’s hand.

It was a Fe○ro chocolate with more pieces than last time.

So… today Aya and Mizuki will share the chocolate.

I held the pudding in my arms and carefully headed for the counter.

But strangely, I felt like Aya’s gaze was constantly on me.

‘…Aya, what are you thinking again?’

Somehow, being conscious of Aya’s gaze made me unnecessarily nervous, and my heart felt fluttery.

As soon as we came out of the convenience store, we headed to a nearby park.

As expected, it was a park owned by the Takamori Foundation, and in fact, it was Asakura family’s park.

We sat on the bench we visited last time at the convenience store, and we were feeling the peacefulness of the after-school.

When I looked up, the cherry blossoms were now over, and green sprouts were sprouting between the bare branches.

A warm breeze blew and my hair fluttered, and I felt like spring was slowly coming to an end.

“Then, dessert time~!”

Mizuki said in an excited voice, unwrapping the chocolate.

Aya also quietly opened the lid of the black tea from this morning and took a sip.

I carefully opened the lid of the pudding and picked up a small plastic spoon.

But…

Aya glanced at me.

“……?”

I was puzzled for a moment.

A strange expression that seemed to want to say something but didn’t.

And… I know.

What that expression of Aya’s is.

‘…Could it be that you’re eyeing my pudding?’

But Aya quickly looked away and opened her mouth in a calm voice.

“Rina, about the promotion story you mentioned at the student council earlier.”

“Yeah?”

“Will promoting through SNS really be effective?”

I stopped trying to scoop up the pudding and nodded.

“Yeah, it’ll definitely be effective. These days, companies think viral marketing is more important than simply handing out flyers.”

“Hmm…”

Aya folded her fingers lightly and fell into thought.

“Then, how are you going to do it specifically?”

This time, Mizuki stepped in.

After speaking, she put the chocolate in her mouth in one bite and mumbled, which was quite cute.

“…First, we need to create an official festival account for the academy, right?”

“That’s right!”

I immediately affirmed Aya’s suggestion.

“Takamori Academy’s festival itself is a traditional event, right? If there is an official account that can promote it, students can easily participate, and companies can also get information through the official account.”

“Then, who will be in charge of managing the account?”

Mizuki asked playfully.

“Hmm… the student council will have to take care of it. But it would be burdensome for us to manage everything, so it would be good if the promotion team takes care of some of it and we also encourage students to participate in content.”

“Then that means I’m in charge? Rina~ you’re pushing work onto me~?”

“Th, then I’ll help too.”

To Mizuki, who gave up the treasurer position to me, I was pushing even more work onto her.

Even I thought I was trash.

So I had no choice but to say that I would participate too.

It’s only natural for the person who caused it… to take responsibility.

“Content participation, for example?”

Aya asked, her eyes shining.

“Posting photos or videos taken during the festival preparation process, and revealing some events in advance on SNS. For example, posting teaser promotions like ‘A special performance will be held here on this day!'”

“Oh~!”

Mizuki exclaimed and clapped.

“Rina, you’re really good at this! Shouldn’t you have been in charge of planning?”

“Th, it’s not to that extent…! Aya is better than me…!”

I waved my hand in embarrassment.

But then, I met Aya’s gaze.

No, I realized that Aya’s gaze was directed at the pudding I was eating.

“……”

I was momentarily flustered.

Aya was still quietly sipping her black tea without saying anything,

But she was subtly glancing at the pudding…

‘…What, do you want some…?’

Aya’s behavior started to bother me strangely.

I unnecessarily put strength into my hand and scooped up the pudding, then hesitated and said quietly.

“Aya… do you want to try some?”

At that moment.

Aya’s eyes wavered slightly.

“…Huh?”

“Ah…”

I realized it belatedly too.

‘Ah, this… I was eating this…’

‘Ah, this… indirect kiss…’

“Ah, no, that’s not it!”

I hurriedly shook my head, but it was too late.

Aya momentarily hid her expression and smiled quietly.

“…Can I really have some?”

“Ah, ahhh… yes!”

I felt my face getting hot, but my hand, unlike my will, was already scooping up the pudding and holding out the spoon.

“Oh~ Rina, you’re so kind! Ayaring, you’re lucky?”

“Yeah! Thank you.”

Aya naturally took the pudding from the tip of my hand and ate it slowly.

At that moment, a short but… definite silence passed.

I swallowed and froze,

And Aya chewed quietly and smiled slightly.

“Yeah, it’s delicious. I should have bought pudding too.”

“Ughhhh…!”

I couldn’t say anything more, and just bowed my head.

My heart had already reached its limit.

‘Ah, I’m already retired.’

My heart was overloaded, so my face was hot and my mind went blank.

‘Aya ate my pudding… Aya used my spoon… Uaaaaah!!’

I felt like steam was rising from my head.

Leaving me, who was weakly slumped on the bench, Mizuki was casually debating about the SNS account, and Aya was quietly looking at me.

“Rina, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Aya’s soft voice was heard.

I struggled to regain my senses and waved my hand vaguely.

“Uh, yeah… I’m okay…”

“Really?”

Aya tilted her head slightly, and continued to speak calmly with a nonchalant face.

“Come to think of it, Senior Tachibana said to give her a concrete plan.”

“Ah, that’s right!”

Mizuki clapped her hands and chimed in.

“Then, first of all, influencers and celebrities will definitely be included, right?”

I listened to the conversation between the two, still in a daze.

Perhaps thanks to the title of a prestigious noble academy?

Among the students of this academy, the friends who use personal SNS basically have many followers.

Among them, one of the four beauties of Takamori, and currently the most influential idol, Kasumi Laira.

The so-called ‘Sapphire Diva’ has over 2 million followers on SNS.

“Miss Kasumi will definitely be included, right?”

Aya asked naturally.

“Of course! Kasumichan is a must~ I’ll contact her tomorrow.”

Mizuki nodded confidently.

And she naturally put chocolate in Aya’s mouth, and fiddled with her smartphone to find candidates.

“And the next candidate is…”

Mizuki listed a few names.

I, still half out of my mind, took out my smartphone and searched for the names Mizuki mentioned on SNS.

‘Wow…’

Every time a name was mentioned, the number of followers was all at least 10,000.

I didn’t know there were so many influential students…

As expected… Mizuki seems to have no people around her because she hangs out with us, but in reality, she had a huge network.

Mizuki was naturally aware of the influential figures of the academy.

‘Is this why they say the world of nobles is different…?’

I thought that while staring at the screen blankly.

It really wasn’t just a school I was attending.

Among them was the ‘purple knight’ senior who confessed to me for the first time.

This person has 120,000 followers, wow. She also does Utaite activities.

And the fact that I failed to confess to her, the rumor has spread…

“Isn’t this enough?”

Aya took out a notepad and organized it neatly, then said.

“Hmm~ good! Then I’ll start contacting them tomorrow morning! Rina, you have to help too~?”

Mizuki said with an enthusiastic expression.

I finally came to my senses a little and said softly.

“Ah… yes! And I’ll report to Senior Tachibana.”

“Good! Ayaring is busy with the main planning, so let’s all work hard.”

Mizuki said, clenching her fist vigorously.