After school the next day, Yukino went home first to change clothes and tidied her hair in front of the mirror, wondering if she should try a new hairstyle.
Just as the thought came up, she immediately realized.
She was here to talk about serious business, not to think about hairstyles.
Yukino looked at her flawless reflection in the mirror with mixed feelings.
Is my self-control getting worse?
No, it's just that someone disturbed my heart.
Yukino decided not to think about hairstyles and left wearing a simple long dress.
Though she had only been to Makoto's house once, she already knew the route very well.
Even she was a little surprised herself: am I seriously memorizing his house's route so I can visit often later?
Yukino didn't dare think further along this line, fearing she would lose control of her emotions again.
If she messed up the rhythm before even seeing him, how could she win against him?
After adjusting her mood, the girl set out.
But she didn't arrive smoothly.
Near a street corner by Makoto's house, she saw him crouched by the roadside, holding a shopping bag in his left hand, and using his right hand to pet a chubby orange cat.
Maybe his technique was good, because the orange cat didn't struggle but comfortably squinted its eyes, occasionally making soft, cute meowing sounds.
"Your voice doesn't match your body at all. I thought you'd have a deep and powerful voice, but you're just a little guy," he muttered.
"Meow~"
Yukino watched Makoto muttering and felt an urge to cover her forehead in disdain.
You're really boring, complaining to a cat.
Even a cat lover like herself only quietly exchanges a few words with cats.
She simply walked up to him.
As she got closer, she immediately noticed Makoto's eyes shifted to her pure white legs beneath her skirt.
"A familiar and perfect leg curve," he even commented.
Yukino expressionless: "Do you always look at girls' legs first? You're such a pervert."
Makoto didn't look up: "You're overthinking. I just noticed you earlier."
"Earlier? I seriously doubt you're telling the truth."
"If I hadn't noticed you earlier, how could I have borrowed the neighbor's boss's orange cat?"
Makoto said as he shook the cat's paw at Yukino: "Come on, Momo, show Miss Yukinoshita your special skill."
"Momo is its name?" Yukino looked at the chubby cat in confusion.
Makoto understood and laughed: "I'm surprised too. The name doesn't suit its appearance at all. At first, I thought it was called Gas Tank."
Yukino gave him a "you're so stupid" look, gracefully smoothed her skirt, and crouched down to gently stroke the cat's head.
Feeling the touch, a faint smile appeared on her face, and she even became more interested in chatting: "You borrowed it in advance just to wait for me?"
Makoto admitted: "Yes."
Unconsciously, Yukino looked at his face: "Then may I ask, how did you know I'd be going out at this time?"
Makoto sighed: "Dear Miss Yukinoshita, you asked a dumb question."
Yukino put away her smile: "Speak normally."
"The answer is, I know you're always punctual."
"Oh."
Yukino didn't continue the topic, so as not to let him brag about how well he knew her again.
Honestly, it felt bad being so thoroughly understood.
Especially since he's the one she really wanted to beat.
Whether in academics or conversational rhythm, she wanted to win against him.
At that moment, Makoto stood up: "Want to see his special skill?"
"What special skill?" Yukino looked up in puzzlement.
Makoto snapped his fingers.
The orange cat, originally lying on the ground, suddenly jumped and performed a backflip under Yukino's curious gaze.
However, because of its weight or maybe not enough preparation, the backflip failed, and it fell flat on the ground.
Yukino was stunned but couldn't help smiling: "Interesting."
Makoto took out some pet treats, and the cat happily ate them, then lay back down.
Watching this, Yukino couldn't resist and reached out to pet the cat's head again: "Did its owner teach it that?"
"Yeah, I talked with the shop owner earlier. He said this orange cat used to be very agile, and a backflip was no problem."
Makoto crouched down again, reaching toward the cat.
Yukino thought he was petting it, so she didn't pay much attention.
Until she suddenly felt a hand on her knee...
The girl immediately shot a death glare.
"Sorry, I forgot to turn off the auto-aim, " Makoto said as he put his hand on the cat.
Yukino looked annoyed: "When will you change your perverted habits?"
"What's perverted about boys liking legs?" Makoto asked back.
"At least in my impression, normal boys wouldn't so openly tell girls they like their legs."
Makoto laughed: "Then may I ask, Yukino, how many male friends do you have?"
Yukino replied calmly: "I do only have you as a male friend, but that doesn't mean what I just said is wrong."
"Fair point, looks like I didn't think it through well enough," Makoto nodded.
Yukino looked at him in surprise.
This guy actually didn't continue arguing with me like usual?
Makoto seemed unaware, casually petting the cat for a bit, then got up by himself and said,
"Someone's feeling very aggressive today, looks like they want to take control… Hmm, I'll hold back for now, avoid the spotlight."
Yukino also stood up, her beautiful smile cold and without warmth: "That's right, that's exactly what I was thinking."
But Makoto didn't respond. "Let's go, let's head back first."
Yukino followed his steps, keeping that smile: "You've backed down twice in a row now. Haven't figured out how to respond yet?"
Makoto suddenly smiled: "So that's what you think? You're a bit naive, Yukino."
Yukino felt something strange about his smile but replied anyway: "If you only say things like that, then I'm even more convinced you're not ready…"
Before she could finish her victory declaration, a middle-aged man wearing an apron ran over.
As soon as he saw the fat orange cat on the ground, he immediately shouted at Makoto angrily, "Makoto, why are you secretly feeding my orange cat again? It's already so fat!"
"Run!"
Makoto grabbed Yukino's hand and quickened his pace without another word.
Behind them came the man's helpless shout: "You're running away again! How many times has this been?"
Yukino didn't even care about Makoto holding her hand this time.
She asked in surprise, "Didn't you say the orange cat was borrowed from you?"
"Yeah, because this shop owner's store is near my house. We've known each other for a long time.
So I borrowed the cat to stake you out early, but he didn't agree," Makoto said matter-of-factly.
Yukino was silent for a moment, her tone strange: "So basically, you just took that orange cat by force?"
"Not by force, it's a strategic borrowing. You saw just now, the owner knows me."
"I did see that, but I also noticed from his words that the reason the orange cat is so fat is because you often feed it?"
"I think more than that…"
Makoto paused, then smiled as he raised her soft hand:
"What I'm more curious about is, today you were clearly very aggressive, putting on the attitude of 'I absolutely won't let you take advantage,' but now, it seems like you still didn't guard yourself, huh?"
Yukino's face hardened; she quietly tried to pull her hand back.
But Makoto held it tightly; she couldn't pull away.
So Yukino gave up struggling.
At the same time, she turned her gaze away, no longer making eye contact with Makoto.
Because she was afraid that if they kept looking at each other, this guy would find out that she actually didn't dislike holding his hand.
Not only didn't she dislike it, she even kind of liked the feeling.
So she chose to hide it.
She thought he didn't know.
He pretended not to know.
After they got home and just sat down, the doorbell suddenly rang.
Yukino ignored the sudden quickening of her heartbeat from holding hands earlier and asked, "Did you invite someone?"
"No." Makoto shook his head. "It's probably Mayu-sensei. Earlier when I came home, she was still chatting with Hiratsuka-sensei at school; she should be back by now."
Yukino responded with an "Oh," losing interest.
Makoto went to the door and looked outside through the peephole, then froze for a moment.
The person outside was not Mayu.
It was Ichika.
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