"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell, Ebina? Do you need to rest?"
After coming out of the clothing store, Yumiko Miura keenly noticed that Ebina Hina's expression seemed strange and couldn't help but express concern.
Don't let Yumiko Miura's very normie-like appearance fool you—people often thought she might not be good at caring for others, but that was all prejudice.
Although Yumiko Miura did indeed act a bit arrogant and even had a somewhat imperious feeling when ordering others around, she was quite caring toward her friends.
If her personality was truly terrible, Ebina Hina and Yui Yuigahama wouldn't consider her a friend.
"...It's nothing. I just thought of something unpleasant."
Facing Yumiko Miura's concern, Ebina Hina just shook her head, indicating she was fine, and didn't explain why her expression was strange.
That was natural—how could she tell Yumiko Miura and Yui Yuigahama that Shin hadn't even thought about dating just one girl!?
Ebina Hina had found it strange before—why were there always so many girls around Shin, and they all seemed very close to him?
Now thinking about it, it wasn't that Shin had never chosen one from those girls—it was that Shin had chosen all of them. This guy had selected everyone!
Logically, Ebina Hina should tell Yui Yuigahama and Yumiko Miura about this and let them understand the situation around Shin.
But seeing the happy smiles on their faces when interacting with Shin, Ebina Hina didn't know how to bring it up for a moment.
After all, they both seemed quite satisfied now. If she spoke up, wouldn't that just make their mood become awkward?
Ebina Hina wanted to maintain the current atmosphere and didn't want to be the one to ruin it... So after hesitating, she still didn't say what she had discussed with Shin on the spot.
Even if she was going to say something, it would have to wait until she was alone with either Yui Yuigahama or Yumiko Miura.
It wasn't that Ebina Hina necessarily wanted to sabotage their relationship with Shin. As a friend, she just felt it was necessary to make this matter clear.
After all, for ordinary girls, Shin's behavior should be quite difficult to accept.
After eating lunch, the next destination for Yumiko Miura and the others was the aquarium—how should I put it, it was also one of the standard date locations for Japanese people.
In fact, Shin remembered that Chika Fujiwara's itinerary yesterday had included the aquarium, which they were supposed to go to after lunch and rest.
However, Chika Fujiwara had obviously overestimated her own and Kaguya Shinomiya's stamina. After dragging Shin to a hotel for an afternoon rest, they didn't have the extra energy to go to the aquarium in the afternoon.
Who would have thought that the place they didn't get to yesterday afternoon would be made up for today with Yumiko Miura and the others? Life was truly unpredictable.
However, when everyone arrived at the aquarium entrance, they saw quite a long queue at the ticket booth.
Thinking about it, it was the weekend now, and as a place frequently visited by dating crowds, the aquarium naturally wouldn't lack tourists at this time.
Although a special case like Shin, one guy bringing three girls, was probably unique to him alone.
After some discussion, Yumiko Miura and the others quickly made a decision.
"Then, Shin and I will go queue up. We'll leave the drinks and such to you two."
Yumiko Miura happily waved at Ebina Hina and Yui Yuigahama, unable to hide the smile on her face.
Because there were too many people queuing, they decided to split into two groups—one group would queue to buy tickets, while the other would go buy snacks and drinks.
The reason Yumiko Miura was so happy was naturally because she had been grouped with Shin—this way she could be alone with him.
Of course, Ebina Hina looked at Yumiko Miura's very excited expression with a calm heart.
Because she knew very well that Yumiko Miura was a weakling who didn't dare take the initiative when it came to romance. Even if she was alone with Shin, there probably wouldn't be any progress.
On the other hand, Yui Yuigahama beside her showed a somewhat disappointed expression. It seemed she also wanted to be alone with Shin.
"Let's get some crepes."
After buying the bubble tea that was currently quite popular among normie high school students in Japan, Yui Yuigahama spotted a nearby crepe shop.
Thinking they could eat crepes in the aquarium later, Yui Yuigahama suggested.
"Mm, I don't mind."
Ebina Hina naturally had no objection and followed Yui Yuigahama to queue at the crepe shop entrance.
The queue here wasn't very long—at least compared to the aquarium, it was much shorter. However, this did give Ebina Hina a good opportunity.
She looked at Yui Yuigahama, thought for a moment, then carefully chose her words and asked:
"Yuigahama, you know about Miura's feelings for Shin-san, right?"
Although this question was phrased as a question, it was actually a statement—although Yumiko Miura hadn't said it directly, her friends had all noticed many of her behaviors.
Yui Yuigahama had even helped Yumiko Miura invite Shin several times. To say she didn't know about Yumiko Miura's feelings would be impossible.
"Mm... I know."
Sure enough, Yui Yuigahama answered Ebina Hina's question in a low voice, and the answer was just as Ebina Hina had thought.
"Then if Shin-san already had a girlfriend... what would you do?"
Seeing this, Ebina Hina nodded and pressed on—she didn't say that Shin's girlfriend was Yumiko Miura, but Yui Yuigahama should fill in the blanks herself.
She also wanted to know what choice Yui Yuigahama would make.
"I... I won't give up."
Yui Yuigahama hesitated for a moment, but finally stammered out her thoughts.
She looked at Ebina Hina very seriously, her gaze determined, as if she had already prepared herself mentally.
"Although it might sound strange... but if it's Shin-san, I want to stay by his side no matter what."
"I see..."
Ebina Hina rubbed her temples with a bit of a headache—it was one thing for Shin to be strange, but even Yui Yuigahama had become strange too.
However, since Yui Yuigahama had already made her choice, she couldn't really advise against it and could only silently support her in her heart.
She just didn't know what Yumiko Miura's thoughts were... Surely Yumiko Miura wasn't the same as Yui Yuigahama, right?
"Is... is it really that strange...?"
Seeing Ebina Hina show a helpless expression, Yui Yuigahama asked somewhat uncertainly.
"You know it's strange yourself."
Ebina Hina retorted but didn't mean to tell Yui Yuigahama to give up.
How should I put it... Seeing how happy Yui Yuigahama was just from shopping with Shin, she really couldn't bring herself to tell Yui Yuigahama to give him up.
Although there seemed to be many girls around Shin, as long as Yui Yuigahama could accept it, that was fine.
To be continued…