'I really am a liar. What should I do now? Acting like I am hesitating, even though I had already decided from the start.'
'At times like this, I know it. Kou will definitely get off the train.'
There had never truly been a choice.
Futaba knew it. Kou would get off the train. From the very beginning, she had never intended to give him up.
The ending of Episode Six, delayed by an entire week back then, now unfolded clearly before Haruto's eyes.
"So this is a girl's inner world?" Haruto murmured, still immersed in the youthful emotions of the story. "It really is complicated."
At the same time, he felt completely lost. If this was how girls thought, then he suspected that no matter how long he lived, he would never fully understand their hearts.
The next morning, Haruto woke up early with dark circles under his eyes.
He had fallen asleep at two in the morning. Even though following memories in his dreams counted as rest in some sense, five hours of sleep was still far from enough, and his mind felt sluggish.
However, he had started to grasp a pattern in Shiori's memories.
It could not be a coincidence that the night he was unable to sleep because of Blue Spring Ride, he just happened to see that exact segment of her memories.
'So what determined which memories she showed me? Is it related to my subconscious?'
'If I am under pressure and desperately want to know a certain period of her memories, does the probability of seeing those memories increase when I fall asleep?'
Pressure came from deadline chasing.
Because he knew that if he could not quickly grasp the entire storyline of Blue Spring Ride, then in just a few weeks, he would be facing a very real serialization crisis.
More importantly, he did not want to disappoint Yukino, the editor who trusted him. She believed that a mere high school student like him would not stall, would not collapse midway, and would not abandon his work, which was why she fought for his serialization slot. At the very least, his first novel could not become a bad example.
Thankfully, the night before, he had watched the entire anime adaptation of Blue Spring Ride in one go.
After tidying himself up, putting on his school uniform, and slinging his bag over one shoulder, Haruto opened the door and headed to school.
"Haruto is actually a pretty decent guy," Kaito said cautiously. "Even though his family used to be well off, he never looked down on poorer students, and he got along with everyone."
"Oh right, at the end of last semester, he chased after Rin, for quite a while. They were really close for a time, but after this semester started, they completely stopped talking. I guess he hit a wall."
"Chasing Rin and dating her?" Reina replied coolly. "That sounds pretty irresponsible. Forget it, that is not what I am asking about. Kaito, what I want to know is not this kind of surface-level stuff. I want information that is less known and more… personal."
Reina stood in a quiet corner of the school, wearing the black-and-white school uniform skirt. Her figure was tall and slender, her appearance refined and elegant, long hair flowing down her back as she held her schoolbag with both hands. She was speaking with Kaito, her former middle school classmate, about Haruto.
'Less known. More personal?'
Kaito's expression turned strange.
'No way. Did Reina really have such terrible taste?'
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "What kind of personal information are you talking about?"
"Anything," Reina Fujimoto replied.
'Anything?'
Kaito lowered his head and thought hard. Finally, something came to mind.
"Well, last semester, a classmate of my mine mentioned during a chat that Haruto once said his ideal type was women with big chests. The mature, onee-san type."
He barely got halfway through before he noticed Reina staring at him as if he were a criminal, and he immediately shut his mouth.
'Hey, you said anything was fine. Why that look?'
Trying to ease the awkwardness, Kaito quickly changed the subject.
"According to some unreliable rumors, Haruto's father passed away unexpectedly during winter break, and his dad's small company left behind a huge debt, which bankrupted their family. I do not know if you are interested in that."
The rumor had spread among the girls after the opening ceremony yesterday. Kaito did not know if it was true, but he said it anyway.
"Bankrupt? His father passed away?" Reina had not expected something so heavy.
She fell silent for a moment, then spoke directly.
"What I want to know is this. Does Haruto have any hobbies? Like basketball, soccer, or… writing novels?"
"Probably not," Kaito said after thinking. "None."
"None?" Reina asked again.
"None," he confirmed.
"No one has ever seen or heard about him having hobbies like writing novels?"
"Writing novels?" Kaito laughed. "Why would that be his hobby? You must be misunderstanding something. That is like gambling. If you succeed, you win big. If you do not, you cannot even afford food. It is just like filmmaking. Movie stars look glamorous, but who remembers the extras?"
"Haruto is too smart to gamble his life on something like that. I have never heard of him doing that."
An awkward silence settled between them.
"I see. Thank you, Kaito," Reina said, smiling.
The smile was polite and forced, but it was enough to make Kaito's heart flutter.
For most boys, there was always a goddess during their school years. Back in middle school, and even now at High School, over eighty percent of the male students regarded Reina as that goddess.
Even knowing he likely had no chance, Kaito still felt happy just being a little closer to her.
"Um, Reina," he asked curiously, "why are you so concerned about Haruto?"