-----
-----
One sentence from Yurikawa Hana instantly plunged the little group of three into a brief, awkward silence.
A few seconds later, Yotsuya Miko finally processed what had been said.
Her face flushed red in an instant.
She hurriedly turned to look at Hana.
"Ah… H-Hana, why would you suddenly say something like that…?"
But Hana was smiling brightly, completely unfazed by Miko's embarrassment as she spoke.
"Eh~ I'm just asking."
"It's not like that's some super private topic."
"Right, Asher~?"
Under Hana's bold, teasing gaze, Asher couldn't help but clear his throat.
"Uh… well…"
Miko was so embarrassed she didn't even know what to say anymore.
She knew her best friend was bold.
She just hadn't expected her to be this bold.
And bringing up a topic like this was honestly mortifying.
After all, she and Asher had only met yesterday.
Yet today Hana was already asking questions this awkward.
Still… for some reason—
Even while she was dying of embarrassment, Miko found herself secretly anticipating what Asher might say next.
It was a strange feeling.
One she had never experienced before.
Seeing Hana's openly curious expression, Asher paused for a moment, then smiled and spoke.
"Miss Yotsuya?"
"She's pretty cute, and she's got a nice figure too."
"If this were at school, she'd probably be really popular, right?"
"Heh, that's where you're wrong." Hana chuckled and glanced teasingly at Miko beside her.
"Our Miko here is totally a ten out of ten kind of beauty, but when she's dealing with people she doesn't know, she's super cold."
"She barely socializes at school, let alone anywhere else."
"But, Asher, you're actually the first guy friend Miko's ever had~"
"So that's how it is…" Asher nodded, half understanding, half confused.
Their casual back-and-forth had already left Miko completely overwhelmed, her head spinning as she struggled to figure out how to react.
She felt like she could barely face Asher anymore.
All because of Hana.
Blurting out these weird topics out of nowhere.
Watching Miko clearly on the verge of mentally shutting down, Hana was now certain about her earlier suspicion.
Once she had her answer, she stopped teasing this clueless, zero-experience-in-love idiot any further.
"Alright, alright, I was just joking earlier."
"Honestly, Miko is pretty popular. She just doesn't realize it herself."
"And look, that's the phone shop we were talking about."
"I know the owner really well. My headphones, my phone, everything's bought there."
"With me around, I'm sure we can pick out a phone Asher will be happy with."
"Come on, let's go!"
Perfectly timing the subject change, Hana pointed excitedly toward a smart device store along the commercial street.
The other two gladly dropped the topic and followed her toward the shop.
…
Not long after.
When the three of them came back out of the phone store, Asher was holding a brand-new smartphone that looked pretty decent.
Worth mentioning—
Thanks to Hana's connection with the shop owner, Asher not only got the phone at a great price, but also managed to get a SIM card set up at the same time.
"Well… um… Asher, should we exchange contact info?"
Seeing that Asher now had a phone, Miko gathered her courage and spoke up again.
This time, Asher didn't disappoint her. He easily exchanged numbers with her.
"Me too, me too!"
Hana obviously wasn't going to miss out on something like this.
From her perspective, Asher and Miko had a very real chance of developing into that kind of relationship.
As Miko's best friend, and since they were all friends now, of course she needed his contact info too.
After exchanging contacts with both girls, Asher looked at them with genuine gratitude.
"Miss Yotsuya, Hana, thank you."
"It's getting late, so I'll head out first."
"I'll treat you both to a meal next time."
"Yay! We'll be waiting, Asher~!"
Before Miko could say anything, Hana cheered in response.
"Alright, see you."
"Bye, Asher!"
"Goodbye, Asher."
After saying his goodbyes, Asher turned and left without hesitation.
Miko stood there, staring at his retreating figure for quite a while before finally snapping back to reality.
"Hm? You back with us?"
"I thought you were going to keep staring at Asher's back until it got dark~"
Miko's faint sense of loss vanished instantly, replaced by flustered panic.
She turned red and hurriedly looked at Hana.
"H-Hana, what are you saying?"
"M-Me and Asher aren't like that at all!"
"Oh~ is that so?" Hana replied with a teasing look.
"So you don't have those kinds of feelings for Asher?"
"O-Of course not. We only met yesterday…"
"Wow, that's great!"
"If you don't like him, then I'll just—"
"Hehe, I thought you were into Asher. Since you're not, I don't need to hold back anymore."
"Huh?!"
"H-Hana, are you saying… you want to pursue Asher?"
"What, is that not allowed?"
"I mean, Asher is handsome. If I don't move fast, with all those thirsty girls at our school… sheesh."
Hana smacked her lips exaggeratedly and shook her head.
"I-I… I don't know…" Miko murmured, lowering her head as her fingers nervously twisted the hem of her clothes.
Seeing Miko fall into that strange, unsettled state again because of Asher, Hana let out a barely noticeable sigh.
Kid… you've changed.
You're not the Miko I knew anymore, the one who stayed calm no matter what.
Hana gently patted Miko's head, her voice softening.
"Alright, Miko. I was just joking."
"It's getting late. We should head home too."
"....."