I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

She rolled her eyes at him, then picked up her finished afternoon tea set and walked towards the back of the bar.

"—This time I'll treat you, but don't do it again."

Hearing his voice behind her, the blonde girl paused, then seemed to chuckle softly.

"Hmph, not everyone can have the blessing of an angel, so you'd better cherish it."

Tenkuji Yu suddenly realized, clapped his hands and laughed, "I get it, you're not a religious fraudster, you're just a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) sufferer."

Gabriel laughed heartily, "Hahaha, you should just go to hell already, you damn siscon senior!"

The rare exchange between senior and junior colleagues came to an end. The blonde girl continued working listlessly, while Yuu Tenkuji sipped her coffee in a corner seat, waiting for time to pass.

As the sun set and the streets outside the window were bathed in golden light, as if soaked in orange juice, the flaxen-haired girl pushed open the door as lightly as a cat.

Good evening, everyone!

"Oh, Aya-kun is here." Standing behind the bar, the mustachioed owner smiled and waved. "I've prepared four kinds of coffee beans for you today. Try a blend."

"Uh... I just want to learn how to brew regular black coffee, the other experienced people don't drink it. Besides, isn't blending coffee a more advanced technique..."

Isshiki Hachiman complained and wailed, but her steps were not hesitant at all as she walked smoothly toward the staff break room.

My gaze casually swept over the few customers, and as I hurried past a certain seat, I made eye contact with someone holding an empty coffee cup and smiling broadly.

"..."

"..."

As if to pay tribute to her frozen in place with coffee, Tenkuji Yuu raised his wrist and smiled, "My coffee-making skills are clearly better than the boss's, why don't you come to me to learn? Or are you trying to give me a surprise?"

With her small mouth agape, Ichiro Yu stared at him blankly, like a stone sculpture. A blush gradually rose on her delicate collarbone and quickly spread to her fair and soft cheeks.

"You and I……"

Incoherent words escaped her throat, and after a long while, she gritted her teeth in anger and embarrassment, then slammed her hand on the table: "Why is Senior here?!"

"I just suddenly felt like having a cup of coffee," Yuu Tenkuji said calmly.

Like an angry Shiba Inu, Isshiki Hatake's face flushed red as she glared at him fiercely: "Stop lying! You said your coffee is better, so why did you come and drink the manager's coffee?"

"Um, could you please be considerate of my feelings..."

The shopkeeper with the mustache clutched his chest, on the verge of tears, but neither of them paid him any attention.

“That’s right, it’s a lie.” Yuu Tenkuji nodded and put down his empty coffee cup. “Because I knew through some means that you would be secretly coming to the manager to learn coffee-making techniques at this time, so I came early to wait for you.”

"Huh?!"

Iroha Isshiki stared wide-eyed in disbelief, then crossed her arms in horror and unleashed a torrent of merciless words: "Eh? Why? Is senpai a stalker? To be honest, that's disgusting... Can you please mend your ways and pursue Iroha in a normal way? Senpai's behavior has truly shattered my worldview. I'm so sorry, I can't accept it!"

Unfazed, Tenkuji Yu lazily propped his head up with his hand, smiling as he watched the whorl of hair that peeked out from the top of her head when she bowed deeply, and spoke slowly and deliberately:

"So you want to attend the fireworks display tomorrow night with someone as disgusting as me?"

"Fireworks display? With my seniors?"

Isshiki Hana reflexively raised her head, her eyes shining, and said without hesitation, "I'm going! I absolutely have to go!"

"..."

"..."

The moment their eyes met, the sunset glow of the entire city seemed to fall on Aya's face.

Chapter Forty-Six: A Shadow Far Away Yet Close at Hand

In this trial world, the relationship between Yuu Tenkuji and Iroha Isshiki is probably somewhere between senior and junior, but below lovers.

He knew she had feelings for him, but he had always masked them with jokes and teasing. However, since he had no plans to have a girlfriend, he didn't confront these feelings, maintaining a distant relationship and treating her, whom he valued highly, in his own way.

She knew that although he valued her, he wouldn't accept her confession, so she always stayed by his side as a junior, never expecting him to do anything on his own initiative. She simply cherished the current distance where they seemed to be able to touch each other at any time, and neither wanted nor dared to welcome any changes.

Just like falling in love with your best friend, every day you spend with him is filled with sweetness, but when you part, you are in so much pain that you can't breathe because you can't hug him.

If he didn't know his own feelings, perhaps he could have pretended to be oblivious and fooled him...

Unfortunately, the senior was not only intelligent, but also decisive when it came to girls. He bluntly stated his ruthless attitude of "I know you like me, but I don't intend to reciprocate," leaving her with no choice but to maintain the status quo, enduring the bittersweet feelings of unrequited love, and hoping that time would gradually shorten the distance between them.

As long as no unexpected love blossoms from the sky, and feelings develop over time, it's a god-like situation!

Even so, she was still afraid.

I will still find myself involuntarily in a passive situation.

If either of them takes a step forward, the senior who likes to tease the juniors and the junior who likes to tease the seniors may all disappear.

Iroha Isshiki didn't want to face that kind of future, so when Yuu Tenkuji came to the cafe to find her just to invite her to the fireworks festival the next night, she was so surprised that she couldn't speak for a moment after she finally realized what was happening, and she even couldn't believe her ears.

"Um, senior... you're not kidding, are you?"

Yuu Tenkuji smiled helplessly: "It's not like this is the first time we've gone out together. Is there any need to be so surprised?"

"That's what they say... Ah, I get it!"

With a sudden realization, Iroha slapped her hand, letting out a sigh of relief mixed with slight regret. "Senpai, you already made plans with Kanade, right? I knew it. It'll be the same as before, the three of us going somewhere together... Honestly, don't use those kinds of vague terms..."

Before she could finish speaking, Tenkuji Yu calmly said, "No, I didn't ask her out, and I don't plan to."

"...Huh?"

"I was planning to go just the two of us, unless you really don't want to be alone with me, in which case I'll go ask Li Hua or someone else if they're available..."

"No, wait! That's not what I meant. Don't make that decision on your own!"

She instinctively and frantically waved her hands, but then slowly stopped. She looked at him with slight hesitation, as if she hadn't recovered from her shock yet, and there was still a hint of disbelief in her eyes.

"S-senpai...you need to think this through, okay? I'm taking this as a date invitation..."

Even as she spoke softer and softer, and her confidence waned, Yuu Tenkuji could still hear her clearly.

He didn't meet the uneasy gazes of the two people who had already landed on the ground, but simply said in a casual tone, "Then let's just assume that's how it is. Anyway, I'm planning to go with only you."

“If you have no problem, we’ll meet at the riverbank at 5:30 tomorrow night and then slowly walk to the Shinto shrine grounds.”

I see……

Even such a simple response left Isshiki unable to utter a word due to a strange sense of suffocation. She could only stand there speechlessly, watching him pick up the bill and walk towards the checkout counter.

I want to look forward to it, yet I dare not. I feel uneasy, yet I am hopeful. My heart is beating faster and faster, and my ears are burning hot. I don't want to be overwhelmed by the surprise, but I can't help but let my mind wander.

How should I describe this feeling? And what should I say to him to express my overwhelming joy?

After paying the bill, Yuu Tenkuji pushed open the door and went out.

Finally, only this sentence rang out as the bell rang crisply, coinciding with the footsteps stepping onto the street bathed in the evening glow:

"Senior, even if it's just a misunderstanding... can I have some hope?"

"..."

Yuu Tenkuji stopped and turned around.

Her expression was more serious than ever before, and her bright, moist eyes, like the surface of the sea, solidly reflected his figure.

Unable to endure any longer, even if it might lead to utter ruin, they must break free from the cocoon to transform themselves—this embodies such resolute courage.

Even with its back to the sunset, the scenery is still breathtakingly beautiful.

Yuu Tenkuji didn't speak, but simply smiled slightly and gave her that familiar reassuring look.

He then waved and disappeared into the world outside the glass door.

The gaze that followed him was soon swallowed up by the last rays of the sunset before nightfall.

……

Back home, just as Yuu was about to go upstairs, she met the gaze of Kasugano Sora, who had just opened her bedroom door.

"Welcome back," she said softly, her eyes behind her thin-rimmed glasses calm as still water, her slender white fingers tucking a strand of silver hair behind her ear. "Where did you go?"

"Coffee shop, dinner will have to wait a bit."

"No rush, I'm not hungry." Kasugano Sora closed the door, her body seemingly covering the crack in the door.

Just as she was about to enter her room, Yuu Tenkuji didn't notice her subtle movement. He simply said casually, "Don't eat too many potato chips. If you're really craving them, I can make you perfectly healthy potato chips. You won't have to buy those junk foods outside."

"Idiot, what's the point of potato chips if they're not junk food?" Kasugano Sora said matter-of-factly, arms crossed.

"Fine, I really can't do anything with you..." Shaking her head helplessly, Yuu Tenkuji chatted with this 'fake sister' for a few minutes before preparing to go back to her room.

Just before closing the door, he suddenly remembered something and said to Kasugano Sora, who was about to come downstairs, "By the way, are you really not going to the fireworks festival tomorrow? Although I made plans to go with a girl, she should agree if you want to go with me."

Without stopping, Kasugano Sora said without turning her head, "No. Going shopping in a crowded place like that, I think you want me to die."

"Fine, if you don't want to go, that's fine too." Tenkuji Yu shrugged, looking indifferent.

Sure enough, this wasn't the jealous younger sister he knew...

He didn't react at all when he heard that he had invited a girl to the fireworks festival.

This system is garbage; it can't even create a character from memory!

"Then stay home and rest. I'll make you dinner before I go out. I should be back before midnight, right?"

"Whatever makes you happy."

With a nonchalant remark, Kasugano Sora descended the stairs, her long, calf-length silver hair swaying behind her, gleaming with a soft, translucent luster.

Tenkuji Yu noticed something else.

"Where's your hairband? When did you stop tying your hair up?"

She used to always wear her hair in pigtails, but lately she seems to be wearing her long hair down more and more often, and those two familiar black ribbons are nowhere to be seen.

Even if it's just a trial space, does the younger sister want to change her appearance?

"You only just realized? I haven't been tying it up for a long time~"

She answered lazily, her raised hand quickly disappearing at the bottom of the stairs.

Hearing the girl's light, cat-like footsteps extend from the entrance hall to the living room, Yuu Tenkuji, with a rather subtle expression, returned to her room and closed the door behind her.

"A long time ago? How long ago is that..."

Was it from April, the month he began his trials?