She Clearly Was the First Person he Met

"Fujiwara-san, there's no reason for you to say this to Kamikawa-san."

Since Ren exposed Chika's lie and became a victim like Yotsuba and Itsuki, Nino's attitude towards her has changed significantly.

It would be embarrassing if she had just given lessons to her two sisters and then turned around and got deceived by Chika.

Fortunately, that didn't happen.

"Hahaha, it's okay, that's not the point."

Chika awkwardly laughs and tries to take over the situation.

"Fujiwara-san, without lying, can you tell us why you want us to try it?" Nino takes a deep breath and continues asking this question.

"Many of you are really suited to help test the table game." Chika says truthfully, "Apart from you, I couldn't find any other candidates for testing at the moment."

"Don't you have friends?" As she says this, Nino realizes something is off and quickly corrects herself, "No, I mean, can't you ask your other friends to help you try it?"

"Of course, but that's not enough." Chika says helplessly, "I don't have a good relationship with others, and I can't trust them, so I can only ask for your help."

Some people who have a good relationship with her come from the table game club. They create this table game together, so the trial game won't have much impact.

Looking for Kaguya? That's even more impossible. Chika can't think of anyone who could play a table game with Kaguya.

As for Hayasaka, she always feels a bit unreliable, and none of Hayasaka's female friends seem interested in table games.

As for the others, even though she asked, she could only hear some compliments and didn't get any useful information at all.

Overall, asking Ren and the others is the best choice.

Not only is the number of people sufficient, but they are also very reliable, and the reviews they give are quite helpful. The only downside is that they don't agree to help with the trial.

"Do we have a good relationship with you? If I remember correctly, we should have only met twice." Nino asks.

"Of course, I trust you enough." Chika agrees, "It doesn't matter even if we've only met twice. From Yotsuba-san and Itsuki-san, I feel that Nino-san is also a very good person."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to be friends with you too, Nino-san."

"Don't try to use your friendship to make me agree to help with the trial. I won't be fooled."

With the wisdom gained from Itsuki, Nino is still very wary of Chika's friendship.

"I won't use that trick twice. I just want to be friends with you, Nino-san." Chika explains, "Also, you and I are the only ones here who are not friends, and the atmosphere is always a bit strange."

"You and I are not friends." Ren refutes her statement.

"Eh?"

Chika is stunned, not expecting his answer.

"Aren't we friends?" She asks in surprise.

"Why would we be friends?"

Ren remembers that he never promised to be friends with Chika.

"This..." Chika is silent for a moment, unable to think of a reason to argue, "But we've known each other for a long time."

"Just because we've known each other for a long time doesn't mean we're friends." Ren says without hesitation.

"And you're still my assistant!"

Chika doesn't forget this; Ren is her assistant as a love detective, and it's somewhat absurd that they're not even friends.

"An assistant, but not a friend."

The difference between an assistant and a friend is significant.

"Then how did you become friends with Kaguya-san?"

Chika remembers this; as Kaguya's close friend, she knows that Ren and Kaguya have become friends.

It's embarrassing that she and Ren are not friends, but he is friends with Kaguya.

Clearly, they are both classmates and she met him first.

Ren answers honestly: "She wanted to be friends with me, and I agreed."

"What do you mean Kaguya-san initiated becoming friends with you?" Chika asks suspiciously.

She always thought Ren initiated becoming friends with Kaguya, but she didn't expect Kaguya to take the initiative.

"Yes." Ren confirms.

Hearing that, Nino can only look at him.

As a celebrity at Shuchi'in Academy, she knows a little about Shinomiya Kaguya. She heard people say that she's very difficult to get along with and seems to avoid strangers.

Therefore, she is still surprised that Ren became friends with Kaguya.

However, it's not important, and she doesn't need to care about it at all.

After all, she and Kaguya have no connection.

"Is your relationship not good?"

After observing Chika and Ren's interaction for a while, Yotsuba, who hasn't spoken for a long time, asks hesitantly.

The last time she walked with Ren, she met Chika, who seemed very familiar with him, and she thought they had a good relationship.

But it never occurred to her that they weren't friends.

"I don't know. My relationship with Kamikawa is quite complicated."

Because Ren denies that they are friends, Chika removes the suffix -kun as a small revenge.

"Very complicated?"

Hearing that, Itsuki, who is still concentrating on eating noodles, becomes energetic.

"Yes, the kind that's very complicated."

After recalling her experiences with Ren so far, Chika says with full emotion.

She and Ren are not only a love detective and an assistant, but also rivals, and she hasn't defeated him yet, so their competitive relationship hasn't been canceled.

Thinking carefully, she can understand why Ren refused to be friends with her.

Their relationship is already so complicated; wouldn't it be even more complicated if they were to become friends again?

"Can you tell me?" Yotsuba asks.

Nino and Itsuki don't speak, but they continue to stare at Chika.

"The story is long."

Feeling that they all seem to care about this issue, Chika starts to ignore it.

Itsuki quickly says, "It's okay, you can talk slowly."

She really wants to know more about Ren and find out what happened between Chika and Ren.

"Did you make a mistake? I didn't say I wanted to talk about it."

Chika proudly smiles, without thinking at all.

On the one hand, she doesn't want to say it, but on the other hand, she hasn't defeated Ren, so it's somewhat embarrassing to say it.