Please note: These are OPTIONAL side stories from Maika’s POV that sometimes come with the release of each light novel volume (to celebrate its publication). This one should be read after part 15.

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          I couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous of Shiori. Just a little.

          The reason why was because I was currently stuck at cram school. One of my lectures had just ended, and we were now in the middle of break time. I still had two more classes to go before I could go home. It wasn’t that I was upset, but with it being spring break, this hardly felt like a vacation at all.

          ―― But I was the one who had agreed to do this.

          I’d promised my parents that I would attend cram school over the break. With my third year of high school right around the corner, I figured it was a good idea to start preparing for the entrance exams. But there was still a part of me that wanted to go out and have fun—a pretty big part, actually. So, I felt a bit envious of Shiori, who had told me she wouldn’t be going to cram school over the break. She was probably enjoying every moment of it right now.

          I wonder what she’s up to today?

          A picture of my best friend’s face drifted into my mind.

          If Shiori were here right now, she’d probably complain about how much she didn’t feel like studying. With that thought in mind, I took my phone out of my bag and saw a message from her. All it said was, 『I’m bored.』

          「That’s so like her.」

          In person, Shiori was always chatty, but her texts were usually just a few words, like we were close enough friends that she didn’t have to be careful with me. I replied,『Well, I’m at cram school,』 and then started doodling a portrait of her in my notebook.

          She can be so absentminded sometimes.

          She’d drift off in class, barely paying attention until a teacher would scold her. She’d usually take her homework seriously, though—if only she’d do the same in lectures.

          Next to the doodle, I scribbled, “Concentrate!”

          Shiori and I had been in the same class since our first year, spending time in the classroom and hanging out afterward. Our other close friend, Ami, ended up in a different class this year, but I hoped the three of us would be together again for our third year.

          I drew Ami next to Shiori and wrote, “Cheerful!” over her head. Just as I was about to start doodling myself, I heard a voice from the seat diagonally in front of me calling my name. I looked up.

          「I didn’t know you were so good at drawing, Utsunomiya.」

          「I’m not that good. These are just doodles.」

          I replied to Honda-san, who was looking over at my notebook. We went to the same high school but were in different classes and separate friend groups, so we didn’t usually talk much at school. Still, somehow, we ended up talking a lot here at cram school and got along well.

          「They look pretty good to me. I can’t draw to save my life.」

          「I really don’t think I’m that good.」

          「Oh, come on, no need to be so modest.」

          Honda-san said with a smile and then casually added, “Oh, did you know Ibaraki-san has a part-time job?”

          「She does? Where?」

          I asked Honda-san, who was sitting diagonally in front of me, and with a grin, she replied, “At a family restaurant.”

          「A family restaurant, huh.」

          「Yeah, I went with my parents the other day, and we happened to run into her there. It’s kind of hard to picture her working at one, right?」

          「Yeah, that’s pretty surprising. She doesn’t seem like someone who’d work at a family restaurant. I would’ve expected her to work somewhere else.」

          「Right? Honestly, I didn’t think Ibaraki-san would work at all. Doesn’t she seem more like the type who’d always be out having fun? I bet she could get a bunch of guys to pay for things for her.」

          The image I had of Ibaraki-san was that she was “cute but short-tempered,” and Honda-san’s comments only reinforced it.

          Ibaraki Umina—she was in the same class as me, yet she felt like a distant figure. So distant, in fact, that rumors about her had made their way to my cram school. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was like at work.

          「Is Ibaraki-san a good worker?」

          「What do you mean?」

          「I was just curious about how she was with customers.」

          「Oh, she was actually really friendly.」

          Honda-san said, as if it surprised her too.

          「Really? I didn’t expect that.」

          I’d repeated this so many times, but it really was surprising.

          Maybe it was a bit unfair to say, but I had a hard time picturing Ibaraki-san taking her job seriously. Her other friends seemed more suited to part-time work.

          I couldn’t resist asking,

          「Were any of her friends there too? Like Sendai-san, for instance?」

          「Nope, didn’t seem like it. But if Sendai-san worked there, I bet she’d be really popular.」

「You mean, you think she’d be more likely to get confessed to?」

          「Yeah. Ibaraki-san’s cute but flashy, so I imagine she’d be harder to approach. But if Sendai-san worked there, doesn’t she seem like she’d attract more attention?」

          「I don’t know which one of them would be more popular, but I can see Sendai-san being better suited for the job.」

          Just like how Ibaraki-san was a distant figure to me, so was Sendai-san. All I really knew about her was that she was friendlier than Ibaraki-san, with a reputation as a people-pleaser. Although the rumors about her weren’t as intense as the ones surrounding Ibaraki-san, I’d still heard whispers that she was the type to “get around.”

          Even though we were in the same class, we’d never actually spoken before. So, I couldn’t tell if any of the rumors were true or not—I just gossiped about them with my friends from cram school, and I doubted I’d ever have any direct interaction with either of them.

          「You’re right. Well, either way, they both seem really popular.」

          「Yep.」

          I gave a short reply, twirling my mechanical pencil around with my fingers.

          It’s not that I didn’t look up to people like them, but popularity wasn’t something you could gain just by wanting it. Besides, it wasn’t like I wanted to be close with them anyway. I’d already chosen the friends I wanted to stay close to.

          As I glanced down, the portraits I’d doodled in my notebook—the ones Honda-san had praised earlier—came back into view. Suddenly, I heard my phone vibrate. When I checked, I saw another message from Shiori that read, 『Want to go see a movie when you’re done?』

          「Is that your friend?」

          「Yeah.」

          I replied.

          Shiori’s invitation was tempting, but if I met up with her after class, it would be too late to catch a movie.

          If I were to go with her today, I’d have to rush to get home.

          She’d seemed a bit down when I last saw her the day before yesterday, so if possible, I’d rather talk with her without feeling pressed for time.

          After a moment’s hesitation, I texted back with, 『Can we move that to tomorrow?』

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