94. The young man was undeniably shaped by the continuous influences around him.

Opening the door to the school rooftop, a cool autumn breeze greeted them. Tsukasa Jingūji strode onto the rooftop, followed closely by a girl.

Her complexion wasn’t exactly good; upon closer inspection, she looked somewhat haggard, the fatigue in the corners of her eyes plain to see.

She quietly trailed behind Tsukasa Jingūji as they entered the rooftop together.

To be honest, Sasami hadn’t expected Tsukasa Jingūji to take the initiative to speak to her so openly, in front of the entire class, under the gaze of all the students.

Had this been a few days earlier, it might have stirred a flutter in her heart. After all, not long ago, he had politely declined the homemade cookies she gave him, which had stung her deeply.

And now, for Tsukasa Jingūji to deliberately talk to her, even wanting to have a private conversation, there was clearly only one purpose.

“I’m sorry to have called you here all of a sudden and caused you trouble, Sasami,” Tsukasa Jingūji said.

This time, he didn’t purposely get her name wrong.

Looking back, it was truly unbecoming of him to pretend not to remember her name last time, especially when he actually knew it.

Clearly, the girl had come to him with sincerity, yet he had feigned ignorance just to exert pressure and make rejecting her easier.

No wonder Morihoshi Hoshino lectured him.

“Hmm…”

The girl before him looked shy, quite unlike the image Tsukasa Jingūji had in mind.

Though he hadn’t made any special effort to remember, if he wanted to, he could instantly recall memories of this girl from the classroom.

Sasami was the closest friend of Sakura Koji Sakura, always clinging to her side. Since Sakura Koji often had a scatterbrained streak, sometimes saying startling nonsense,

it was always Sasami who came to her rescue, clarifying and correcting Sakura’s words for others to understand—as if acting as a living annotation.

Tsukasa Jingūji recalled this quietly. He also noticed that while in class, Sasami often stole glances at him when others weren’t paying attention.

Girls harboring romantic feelings always tread carefully, reluctant to reveal their inner thoughts—this seemed a universal trait among high schoolers.

Though it was to make rejection easier, deliberately calling her by the wrong name was truly hurtful to a girl.

Tsukasa Jingūji resolved in his heart never to do such a cruel thing again.

Sasami’s eyes flickered as she clasped her left elbow with her right hand, tilting her head away, avoiding his gaze.

“Jingūji, you came to see me about Sakura, didn’t you?” she said softly.

As expected, she knew about Sakura Koji’s situation.

“That’s part of it, but before that, I have something to apologize to you for,” he said.

Sasami met his silence with a quiet gaze.

“Actually, I’m not allergic to eggs,” he confessed.

When the boy’s words fell, Sasami stood frozen for a moment, then lowered her head, revealing a wry smile tinged with self-mockery.

“So... it was really like that,” she murmured softly.

Tsukasa Jingūji didn’t miss the expression on her face. Though he didn’t really know what kind of girl Sasami was, and though he was a scoundrel who had made countless girls cry, deep down, he still couldn’t bear to enjoy such a scene.

If he could, he wanted to become the sincere person the student council president described.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for lying so casually,” Sasami said, pressing her lips together, silent.

She felt that the reason the boy now showed a completely different attitude was because of the argument she had with Sakura Koji.

Strangely, memories of their private moments together, mocking her, popped into her mind.

In truth, she had lied too.

Though she had said things like “We’re friends, but you don’t believe me” to Sakura Koji,

those words were somewhat polished, meant to sound noble and to mask her own shame.

That shame stemmed from having confessed her feelings to Sakura Koji and being rejected by Tsukasa Jingūji.

When these two things overlapped into one, she lost the courage to face either of them.

“Did you have a conflict with Sakura?” Tsukasa Jingūji asked.

Sakura...

Girls were always sensitive about such matters and immediately noticed how Tsukasa Jingūji addressed her by name.

So, he would call that girl by her name directly.

For lovers, this was natural and hardly surprising.

But Sasami found it hard to accept that the cold boy she once thought would never associate with anyone in the class was actually in a romantic relationship with her best friend.

“I’m sorry. She’s been a bit scatterbrained since she was young, but Sasami, you should know—she’s the kind of person whose innocence draws people close to her.

“You should be the one closest to her in school.”

“So what use is that? She still hides everything from me.”

“Sorry…”

Tsukasa Jingūji probably understood. Judging by Sasami’s attitude and using his head a little, he could guess what had happened.

Most likely, she had discovered the relationship between him and Sakura. Sasami had confessed to him recently, and Sakura knew about it.

Even if Sasami didn’t say it outright, Tsukasa Jingūji could come to the conclusion.

So, naturally, he took responsibility for the whole situation.

Even now, Tsukasa Jingūji didn’t want Sakura to be ostracized because of him, but undeniably, he had gone too far and placed too much weight on how others saw him.

“Why? Are you apologizing, Jingūji?” Sasami asked.

Tsukasa Jingūji thought for a moment before answering, “I guess… we’re childhood friends, for now.”

“...Childhood friends?”

“Yes.”

“Are you childhood friends and lovers?”

“No, just childhood friends—for now.”

To Sasami, the word “for now” carried a subtle implication that Tsukasa Jingūji wanted to take things further with Sakura.

But in reality, that word was meant to separate them from their past.

At this moment, such things were irrelevant; the key point was, they were not lovers.

In other words, they weren’t dating.

Sasami was confused by this fact. If they weren’t dating, if they weren’t lovers, then how come on weekends...

Ah, they were childhood friends, after all.

It was such a simple matter that Sasami wanted to call herself foolish.

“We grew up together. It would be a lie to say I never had those kinds of feelings for her, but we’re not dating now—that’s also true.

“I can’t know what you’re thinking right now; I’m just expressing what I know of that Sakura Koji.

“And you should know better than me what kind of girl she really is.

“Deception, concealment, lies—

“Those words don’t suit her at all. I’m the one projecting them onto her, and I deeply regret it now.”

The girl before him was silent for a long moment.

“Why are you telling me all this, Jingūji?”

“Maybe because I’ve grown tired of lying.”

He longed to grasp the sincerity that person spoke of. If he could hold onto it tightly, perhaps he could come one step closer to where she stood.

One more chapter before midnight.

(End of chapter)