It was already one week ago since Amano and I brought an injured cat to a vet so that his wound could get treated. Amano is so concerned about the kitten she checked up on him at the vet clinic every single day. Five days ago, the vet we spoke to finally found someone who’s willing to take him in. According to him, a pair of elderly couple who lives nearby the clinic has adopted him.

   The story doesn’t end there, though. After making a full recovery, the kitten somehow found out where Amano lives at and visits her everyday. Once or twice, I saw them playing together outside the apartment when I come back from school.

   ‘I really wish he would stop visiting me. What will I ever do if the landlord caught me?’

   She’s grumbling, but she’s playing with the kitten anyway. Naturally, she has the happiest look on her face.

   ‘No need to worry about that. I’ve been living here for more than two years, but I’ve never seen the landlord before. It’s like he doesn’t exist.’

   ‘Still, it would be bad if he actually barges into my room one day.’

   She picks up the kitten with her hands.

   ‘You can’t come here again, okay?’ she tells him.

   The kitten lets out a defiant mew. It’s like he could tell that she wants him to stop coming here.

   ‘Oh, what am I going to do with you?’ Amano sighs and puts him down.

   The kitten walks over to me and rubs his body against my leg. His leg looks perfectly fine now, and he has a red collar with a tiny bell attached to his neck so that people won’t confuse him for a stray.

   I reach down my hand and scratch his chin. He doesn’t mind and let me pet him. Seeing how he lets me do that so easily, I guess he remembered that I played a part in saving him.

   He stays a bit longer before finally leaving. Amano looks very lonely, but she’s doing her best to stop him from going back to his real home.

   ‘I just hope he won’t get hurt again.’ Amano says with a worried expression while watching the kitten leave.

   ‘I’m pretty sure he learned his lesson and became more vigilant of his surrounding.’ I assure her.

   ‘Even so, I’m worried. Soon I’ll start to come back late when my duty as the student council treasurer begins. What if he comes here and couldn’t find me. He might start freaking out and think something happened to me. Worse, what if he got stressed out he forgot to check his surroundings when he goes home? And…’

   She keeps on mumbling and mumbling. Man, she’s such a different person whenever a cat is involved. However, her mumbling stop the moment she sees Miiko coming back from her tennis practice.

   ‘I’m home.’ my cousin tells us.

   ‘Welcome back.’ I say to her. ‘You sure came back late.’

   ‘To be honest, this is nothing. My seniors are still practicing, you know? Now that’s dedication.’

   Amano, on the other hand, is cold towards her as usual and didn’t greet her. Naturally, Miiko isn’t fazed by her cold reaction at all.

   ‘Don’t you have anything to say to me, Maya-chan?’ Miiko says to Amano while clinging to her.

   ‘None at all except please go away.’ Amano tells her calmly while pushing her face away.

   ‘There’s no need to worry. I’ve taken a bath, so I don’t smell at all.’

   ‘That’s not the problem here. Now get off me.’

   ‘By the way, is it me, or have the two of you become somewhat closer?’ Miiko asks while looking at us curiously. ‘I always saw the two of you together these past few days.’

   ‘You’re just overthinking it. We happened to bump into each other, and I asked her about her school life and other random stuff. You know, just to be neighbourly.’ I say to her.

   ‘No offence onii-chan, but I find it hard to believe that you of all people would care about being a good neighbour.’

   I shrug. ‘I would care a little if the neighbour happens to be my junior.’

   ‘Well, if you say so.’

   Amano was wise in letting me do all the talking. She looks so nervous she would definitely have let her secret slip.

   ‘Just get changed. I’ll be cooking dinner soon.’ I say to Miiko in order to change the subject.

   ‘Got it. Would you like to join us, Maya-chan?’

   ‘No thanks. I prefer to eat alone.’

   ‘Oh, there you go again!’

   ‘It would be nice if you’re willing to join us every once in a while, though.’ I tell the loner. ‘I got quite a lot of fish the last time I went to the fish store owned by Motozawa’s parents. Having you would help us clearing up some of them.’

   ‘Well, if you put it that way…’

   ‘See, the two of you are close!’ Miiko accuses her.

   ‘You’re just overthinking it.’ Amano and I say at the same time.

   On the after-school time next day, it’s time for another consultation. This time, our client is another celebrity, or ex-celebrity. Meet Aomine Shigeru, a second year and a former child actor who was well-known as a prodigy in acting. Even though he has not been acting for almost ten years now, he’s still quite popular among the students, especially female ones. In other words, he’s a normie.

   ‘I’ll be in your care today.’ he says to us after he sits down.

   ‘So, what kind of love problem do you have?’ Nagano asks him.

   ‘Actually, I’m not really sure you can count this as a love problem.’ Aomine begins hesitantly.

   ‘We’ll be the judge of that. Just get on with it.’ I say to him impatiently.

   ‘Okay. So, I have two childhood friends, Sawa Yumeji and Tsuchida Keiko.’

   ‘Uh-huh.’

   ‘Keiko confessed to me in the past, but I rejected her since I’ve always loved Yumeji. However, Yumeji went and got herself a boyfriend. His name is Otsuka Tsuyoshi, and he’s one of our seniors who’s part of the Drama Club. I was heart-broken until Keiko suggested that the two of us to act as a lover to make Yumeji jealous and make her realize what she missed out on.’

   ‘Let me guess. It didn’t work.’

   ‘Actually, it did work to a certain extent. I always see Yumeji glaring at us while fuming. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to sway her. Eventually, I found out that the only reason Otsuka-senpai go out with Yumeji was to spite me.’

   ‘Did you do something to piss him off?’

   ‘He said he was jealous of my talent.’

   Wow. Talk about being petty.

   ‘Wait, he actually told you?’

   ‘Well, yeah. I was watching the two of them being all lovey-dovey during one lunchtime. Apparently, he noticed me watching them. When Yumeji excused herself and went somewhere, he came over and told me exactly how he felt about me, and said that he wanted to hurt me by being with the woman I love.’

   ‘Please tell me you recorded that conversation.’

   Aomine lowers his head down in shame.

   ‘No, I didn’t. It was so sudden I didn’t have the time.’

   ‘You complete idiot.’

   ‘I know, I know.’

   ‘Not everyone is as well-prepared as you are, Bandou-kun.’ Nagano mumbles.

   ‘Whatever do you mean by that, Nagano-senpai?’ Futaki asks her curiously.

   ‘Trust me, Haruka-chan. You don’t want to know.’

   ‘What happened in the end?’

   ‘Yumeji broke up with him after knowing the truth. From what I heard from her friends, that idiot was gloating about his achievement to his friends, and they happened to be there.’

   ‘Talk about a huge coincidence. Did you confess to her now that she’s single again?’

   ‘No. I realized that I start to have feelings for Keiko after going through the fake lover thing with her. Three days ago, I confessed to her.’

   ‘She rejected you.’ I predict once I see his expression.

   He nods in conformation. ‘She rejected me.’

   ‘But why? Doesn’t she love you anymore?’ Nagano couldn’t help but ask.

   ‘Isn’t it obvious? She’s just being petty after she got rejected by him. She used this opportunity to exact her pointless revenge.’ I say.

   ‘It gets worse.’

   ‘Oh, joy.’

   ‘Last night, her younger sisters told me that she suffers from amnesia-’

   I raise up my palm to stop him from continuing. ‘Let me guess. She remembers everything right until the part where she rejected you.’

   He looks at me in absolute shock.

   ‘How do you know that?’ he asks me.

   ‘Oh, come on! You can’t be this stupid! After she had her revenge, she still wants to be with you. That said, there’s no way she’ll just admit that she was being petty. So, she hatched out this having an amnesia nonsense.’

   ‘I agree with Bandou-senpai’s argument. The timing is too perfect for it to be a coincidence.’ Futaki adds.

   ‘But, there are some other things that she forgot, like how she doesn’t like eating sausages. I fed her some just now, and she had no problem with it.’

   ‘She’s obviously acting. How difficult can it be? It’s not like she’s allergic to it. And you’re supposed to be an acting prodigy? If ghouls can fake eat human food, she can fake eat food that she doesn’t like.’

   ‘Um, ghouls aren’t real.’

   ‘That’s what they want you to believe. Anyway, what about Sawa? I have a feeling that she’s not out of the equation.’

   ‘She still is.’

   ‘Well color me surprised.’

   ‘One day after she broke up with Otsuka-senpai, she came to my house and told me that she got into a relationship with him for my sake.’

   I roll my eyes. ‘Of course it is.’

   ‘You see, she is a successful light novel writer. However, she’s aiming much higher than that. She wants to be a successful screenwriter that can write out any scenarios. The only genre she’s weak at is romance, so she asked Otsuka-senpai to help her out.’

   ‘Did she perhaps revealed her feelings for you?’ Futaki asks him.

   ‘Yeah, she did.’ he admits while looking a bit embarrassed.

   ‘Is there anything else we should know?’ I ask him next.

   He thinks about it for a while.

   ‘No. This is about it.’ he confirms.

   Wow, just wow. What kind of crazy soap drama is this? I know he’s a former actor, but this is ridiculous.

   ‘Okay, then. I got one simple advice for you. Ditch them.’ I tell him.

   ‘What? Yumeji aside, I can’t abandon Keiko! What if she really has amnesia?’

   ‘She’s not physically nor mentally invalid, so there’s no need for you to take care of her~.’ Suzu says all of a sudden.

   That’s surprising. She’s actually taking part in giving out advice.

   ‘For starters, it’s not your fault that she lost her memories, right? So why do you feel responsible for her? Isn’t it really weird?’ she continues to say.

   Halfway through her sentences, she has stopped talking in a slow and laid back manner like she always does. It’s like she’s a completely different person. I couldn’t help but look at Suzu more closely. Upon closer look, it’s like she’s not just talking to Aomine, but also someone far, far away.

   ‘Well, there you have it.’ I say to Aomine. ‘For Sawa’s case, it’s even easier. If she wanted help in romance, she should have asked you, who’s also her crush. The fact that she chose a random stranger, and a jerk at that, over you means that she’s terrible at judging people’s character. If you associate her with too long, she might drag you down for trusting someone she shouldn’t.’

   ‘It’s not her fault! Yumeji is too pure and naive for her own good!’

   ‘Which is a nicer way of saying that she’s an airhead. Besides, if her first choice wasn’t you, what makes you so sure that you’re not her backup since her previous relationship has gone south?’

   He got tongue-tied for a while.

   ‘Not to mention that Sawa-san is a writer. I’m sure that she could weave out any number of excuses in the matter of seconds.’ surprisingly, it was Nagano who continues to hammer it in some more.

   ‘See? Even our blockhead of a president thinks she’s a hoax.’

   ‘Hey!’ Nagano protests.

   ‘You really have to cut her away from your life. Her and Tsuchida both.’

   Aomine looks really troubled.

   ‘You make it sounds so easy. We had been together since forever. There’s no way I can just cut ties with them.’

   ‘You could get yourself a girlfriend. That way, they would know better than to barge in between the two of you.’ Futaki suggests.

   ‘That’s pretty much impossible. Every time a girl tries to talk to me, those two would become jealous and ruins the atmosphere.’

   ‘Listen man, you really need to grow a spine.’ I say to him while doing my best to calm down. ‘Why on earth are you letting them push you around? They’re not your mom, and they’re definitely not your girlfriend. Who died and gave them the right to be jealous of the girl you’re close?’

   ‘Even if you tell me that, there’s no way I can just find a girlfriend out of the blue.’

   ‘True. You can’t rush this or you might ended up finding someone with, well, lots of flaws.’ Futaki says.

   ‘Just do your best in looking for one. We’ll try to assist you once you do. Just be a man and tell those pests off when they try to sabotage you.’ I tell him.

   ‘“Pests” are a bit too much, but I’ll do my best in looking for someone new.’

   As usual, we exchange contact information with Aomine since his case isn’t really solved. Nagano gets up from her seat not long after he leaves.

   ‘Well, it’s getting late, and I have dinner to prepare, so I have to excuse myself.’ she tells the rest of us.

   Futaki gets up as well.

   ‘Goodbye, senpais. I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.’ she says to us politely.

   And now, only Suzu and I are left.

   ‘Do you want to go and get ice cream or something?’ I ask the girl.

   She raises her eyebrows in surprise.

   ‘Oh my god~! Takkun the anti-social is actually inviting me to hang out~! It’s definitely going to snow tomorrow~!’ she says.

   ‘Now you’re just exaggerating. Are you coming or not?’

   ‘That depends. Is it your treat~?’

   ‘Well, sure.’

   Suzu finally gets up from her seat.

   ‘All right then~! Let’s go go go~!’

   Even though she was so enthusiastic about it, she starts to run out of stamina not long after we leave the school ground.

   ‘Hey Takkun-’

   ‘No.’ I interrupt her.

   ‘But I haven’t done talking yet~!’

   ‘You want me to piggyback you, right? The answer is no. Walk on your own two feet every once in a while.’

   She takes out her phone. ‘I’ll just call Seriseri then.’

   I reach out and take away her phone before she could taps the screen. ‘No you won’t. Don’t you dare trouble him for something so trivial.’

   ‘Hey, give that back!’

   Suzu tries to reach for her phone, but I made sure she couldn’t by stretching up my hand. Since she’s a head shorter than me, there’s no way she can take back her phone.

   ‘If you don’t piggyback me, or at least give me back my phone, I’ll sit on the ground and start to cry!’ she threatens.

   I shrug like I don’t have a care in the world. ‘Go ahead. I’ll have you know that I’m extremely immune to stares of contempt from bystanders.’

   She knows I’m serious, which is why she walks by herself in the end. By the time we reach a convenience store, she’s wheezing heavily. And she’s still sulking since I refused to piggyback her. That said, she cheers up fairly quickly right after we bought some ice cream.

   ‘Ice cream sure tastes better after a good workout~.’ she says while showing an expression of pure bliss after having a taste of her ice cream.

   ‘All we did was walking from our school to here.’ I remind her. ‘You can hardly call this a workout.’

   ‘It is for someone who rarely exercises~.’

   ‘You know, I don’t mind treating you at all, but is there a need for me to? I’m sure that with the money you have, you can buy up every single ice creams inside the convenience store.’

   ‘You don’t get it do you, Takkun~? Food tastes even better when you got it for free~. Rich or poor, it’s the free part that amplifies the taste~.’

   ‘I guess that’s something we all can agree on.’

   ‘Right~?’

   She’s not satisfied with eating just one ice cream, so I had to buy two more just for her. Not that I mind.

   ‘Thank you, Takkun.’ she suddenly tells me in a serious tone.

   ‘No need to thank me. Even if I’m saving up, I could still afford some ice creams.’

   ‘I’m not talking about the ice creams, though I am happy that you bought them for me. It’s for trying to cheer me up, and also not asking me any questions.’

   ‘Well, you should know by now that I’m not a nosy meddler. Just know that if you ever want to share your secret, I’m always here for you.’

   She nods. ‘Thank you.’

   I give back her phone so that she could call her butler Serizawa-san to pick her up.

   ‘Well, Takkun. See you tomorrow~.’ Suzu tells me as she’s getting inside the car.

   ‘Yeah. See you tomorrow.’