Itsuki Gives the Most Important Thing!

Even during the autumn excursion, amidst fluctuating temperatures, students wore thick jackets and scarves, boarded the transportation bus one by one, and set off in the warm bus.

The tireless warnings from the teacher before departure echoed inside the bus. Outside the window, the scenery unfolded.

"Asada-kun, are you here?"

With a chocolate bar in her mouth, Itsuki handed one over.

In return, she had one in her mouth and a box in her hand.

"Yes, thank you."

Shinichi felt an inexplicable familiarity with that sentence as he accepted the chocolate bar.

He thought that if it were Miku, he might have taken it with his mouth... But he probably wouldn't dare to do such a thing on the bus.

Did they say that chocolates taste better when given by lips?

Setting aside these messy thoughts, Shinichi nibbled on the chocolate, and soon the second one entered his mouth.

He unconsciously bit into it with his teeth, then turned with subtle eyes.

Itsuki, who had successfully fed him secretly, sat back, covering her red ears with her long hair, then coughed with an upright posture.

"I'm just doing what a vice president should do."

"...I haven't asked anything."

Shinichi leaned against the window.

Itsuki peeked discreetly, but she didn't want to keep giving him chocolates. After hesitating for a moment, she asked.

"Asada-kun, something about Fumino and Rizu..."

"I know." Shinichi answered gently.

If the awkward atmosphere continued like this, no one would be happy.

They had been waiting for answers for a week, and he couldn't postpone it any longer.

Even if it ended up messy, Shinichi had prepared for it.

On the other hand, he had anticipated this situation since the summer vacation, so he specially developed their ability to teach each other.

After he left, they could go straight to their dreams, but he didn't expect that at that moment, he would part ways with another girl because he kissed them in front of them.

He thought Shinichi from the past would surely want to catch the current Shinichi and turn him into a pure fighter if he knew, right?

"Asada-kun..."

Staring out the window, Itsuki bit her lip slightly with a reluctant expression, as the vice president and assistant, she had always been assisted by him, but now she couldn't do anything.

If she intervened casually, it would only make everything more complicated. Not just her, but all the quintuplets.

Fumino had witnessed the conflicts between the five of them and Shinichi, and now it was their turn to witness the fight.

In the end, Itsuki gave him the most important thing, equally important to comfort.

"Asada-kun, please take another one."

"...Okay."

"If that's not enough, I have more here."

With a hint of embarrassment, Itsuki unzipped her bag and revealed her most important item in front of Shinichi.

Shinichi's eyebrows slightly furrowed, looking at the pile of snacks in her bag.

"...Even now, you sacrifice yourself to cheer others up. Itsuki is truly gentle."

"Eh? I'm not sacrificing myself? Who am I cheering up?" Itsuki looked confused, but after being praised by Shinichi, she felt happy.

Shinichi sighed. The same plot happened too often, and he didn't want to complain again.

The bus moved at a constant speed on the road. Itsuki in the back seat involuntarily fell asleep and drooled on Shinichi's shoulder. Meanwhile, Kashima in the front seat tried to get information from Fumino.

"Furuhashi-san, are you really not dating Asada-san?"

"No, why do you ask?"

As if surprised by her candidness, Fumino took the candy handed by Kashima and looked at her with curiosity.

"Well, I think you should know..." Kashima said with a slightly bitter smile, "Not only us in the Thorn Club, but maybe students in Class B have already decided that you two are a couple."

"We always talk quietly in class, and you are much closer than others. Anyone with a sharp eye can tell that your relationship is not just good friends..."

"That's it." Fumino said softly as she put a mint candy in her mouth, and the smile at the corner of her mouth became a little colder.

"Anyway, we're not hiding it..." Perhaps, they all wanted others to approve of such a relationship.

Labeling someone, declaring to others that "he's mine." is a form of possessiveness.

Only someone as slow as Itsuki couldn't realize that they were no longer just friends.

"Are you two fighting?" Kashima asked bluntly. Concern was one thing, but the main thing was to use this shameless curiosity to cover the real purpose.

"It's not really a fight, just a little... awkward?" Fumino looked a bit embarrassed, and she didn't know how to explain the current situation.

Emotions too complicated, no matter how she defined them, would be biased. The only certainty was that she and Rizu still liked him.

But precisely because of that, the three of them stopped moving forward. No one wanted to change this fact, and no one wanted to bother themselves.

Fumino sighed and turned to look out the window, hoping the passing scenery would erase the traces of sadness.

Kashima attentively, allowed her to enjoy the unique emotional scene of the literary girl. After about three minutes, she asked her a question while sharing potato chips:

"So, do you still like him now? Are you not planning to date him?"

Fumino distracted by the potato chips, reached out and unintentionally replied, "I'm not the one who decides whether to date or not. The one who is favored will always be confident. You should ask Asada-kun this question."

"Ask Asada-san...?" Kashima narrowed her eyes, a dangerous light flickering in them.

"Is it true, as the rumors say, that he's cheating with some girls, so he's afraid to have a relationship with you?"

"Uh..." Suddenly, she realized that she had spoken. Fumino looked awkwardly holding the potato chips. She hesitated for a moment but decided to speak on behalf of Shinichi.

She was afraid the Thorn Club would misunderstand, so she impulsively revealed Shinichi... Even though he's a scoundrel, this crime couldn't be punished by death.

If it really caused death, she might be the first to take action...

"It's between me and Ricchan. As you know, the three of us are good friends. Falling in love will change the relationship... I'm just hesitant about this issue..."

After bringing up something she had struggled with for a long time and explaining it emotionally, Fumino finally made Kashima reluctantly nod.

"Is that so? So, Furuhashi-san still likes Asada-san, but just because of many worries, you unofficially don't become his girlfriend and make an official announcement openly?"

"No need to make an official announcement about something like this..." Fumino's face turned slightly red, and she chewed on the potato chips to cover her embarrassment as her thoughts were revealed.

"I understand. I sincerely apologize for asking these strange questions." Kashima smiled and handed a bag of potato chips directly to her, "Can you help me finish the rest? I want to take a break."

"Eh? Is it okay?"

Facing Fumino's surprised expression, Kashima mumbled a few words and easily shifted her attention to the food, while leaning back slightly in her seat and closing her eyes to rest.

As she just mentioned, she just needed to rest.

However, only a few people on the entire bus noticed that one of her hands was in her lap, and the other hand was hanging outside the seat, in the aisle.

This was a blind spot from Fumino's perspective.

Kashima closed her eyes, moved her fingers, and tapped the edge of the seat with a specific frequency.

Soon. Someone sent a message through the hidden earphone beneath her hair.

"The plan remains the same, I understand."

Kashima nodded slightly, folded her hands on her knee again, but with a slightly satisfied smile on her face.

Moreover, currently, there aren't many high school students skilled in Morse code.