The familiar wavy auburn hair, tied into a ponytail, entered his vision.
"Oumae-san."
Mizuto wasn't sure how to describe Kumiko. He knew that she wasn't as beautiful as Yume, but somehow, the more he looked at her, the more charming she appeared to be.
If he had to say, if he married a woman as his wife, then this type of plain yet charming face was the most comfortable.
Still, he hoped that she didn't appear during this moment as his erection hadn't calmed down.
"What are you doing here? Where is Irido-san?" Kumiko asked curiously. She could see how sticky Yume was toward Mizuto, so she was surprised when she didn't see Yume anywhere.
"I was called by a teacher before."
"Ah, did you cause trouble?"
"...why did you also think that I had caused trouble?"
Kumiko laughed, then said, "Well, you seem like a trouble somehow." However, his answer made her heart skip a beat.
"Hmm... you know that I am a trouble, yet you still come to me."
"....."
Kumiko felt like she was tongue-tied as she was unable to say anything. He was smiling, yet at the same time, it was like he didn't smile. He appeared gentle, yet also dangerous, especially for her heart.
His words were ambiguous, as if trying to play with her feelings.
Yet, she couldn't hate it, and she liked this kind of play!
'Why is this guy so handsome!?'
If he wasn't so handsome, then would his words affect her heart so much?
"Are they your classmates?" Mizuto asked as she looked at the two girls standing around Kumiko.
"Ah, yes!"
"We're her classmates!"
While talking with Kumiko was fun, Mizuto knew that he couldn't ignore Kumiko's friends.
"My name is Mizuto Irido. Nice to meet you."
"I know you! You are the best student in our grade!"
"Yes! Yes! Your speech was great!"
"..."
Kumiko fell in silence as she watched her two friends fall so fast into Mizuto's clutch, but she also didn't deny that he was so handsome when he confidently made his speech in front of everyone.
This also made her wonder why he talked to her when she was just an ordinary girl.
Couldn't he just ignore her before?
Did he wish to make a friend for his stepsister?
Or was there a different reason?
'I can't!'
Kumiko knew that she needed to stop thinking, or else she might become conscious of him!
Nevertheless, the four of them quickly became friends and warmed up to each other.
Hazuki Katou and Sapphire Kawashima.
They were the two friends of Kumiko.
Hazuki had short, straight brown hair that curled at the bottom and was decorated with a red-pinkish hair clip. Meanwhile, Sapphire was a petite girl with messy and wavy chin-length blond hair.
"Please call me Midori instead of Sapphire!" Midori quickly said.
"I think that I will call you Kawashima-san."
"Ah, yes."
After all, their relationship wasn't so close that they could call each other by a given name.
Mizuto might not care about this, but he knew that if the others heard he would call Midori by her given name, they would care, and it was so troublesome when he thought about how to handle the aftermath.
"Aren't you guys going home?"
As his erection had calmed down, he didn't need to put his bag in front of his pants.
"No, we're going to visit the Concert Band club." Midori chirped.
"Do you want to go with us, Irido-kun?" Hazuki wished Mizuto would join since it was a rare chance to get to know a handsome guy, right?
Meanwhile, Kumiko stared at Mizuto's crotch curiously, wondering why he held his bag in front of his pants, but quickly looked away with a blush, realizing her indecent action.
"Okay." Mizuto also felt curious about the concert band club, especially after he saw their horrible performance. Moreover, he also wanted to check whether doing a club activity would give him more experience. After all, if possible, he wanted to gain more experience in a healthy way.
"That's great!"
"Let's go together!"
Watching her two friends, who became excited, Kumiko sighed helplessly and thought that this guy was definitely a source of trouble.
"Are you two like Oumae-san, who has experience in the concert band?"
"Yes!" Midori nodded with a smile. "I play the contrabass!"
"As for me, I play tennis," Hazuki said generously, without hiding anything that she didn't know anything about the concert band. "But I am interested in the concert band. How about you, Irido-kun?"
"I am just a little curious."
"Ah, then, please join the concert band!" Midori quickly said.
"Yes, yes! Let's join together!" Hazuki also nodded.
If they had such a handsome guy to join the club, then they would be more excited to train!
"....."
Watching two girls who tried to solicit him with all of their might, Mizuto felt a little helpless and glanced at Kumiko, who seemed to try to erase her presence as if she didn't have anything to do with them. "Let me think about this matter for a while. Moreover, the musical instrument for the concert band isn't cheap, right?" He knew that the musical instrument wasn't cheap and definitely cost a lot of money.
"Well..." Midori was flustered since she knew that the musical instrument wasn't cheap.
"Eh? Is it expensive?" Hazuki was dumbfounded.
Kumiko looked at Hazuki helplessly and said, "It isn't cheap. It might even cost hundreds of thousands of yen, depending on the type of musical instrument you play."
"Wh-What..." Hazuki felt her feet shaking.
Not everyone who came to this school was rich. Many parents used most of their salaries for their child's education, and as a child, they knew that well, and because of that, they didn't want to trouble their parents that much.
If this was a public school, those acts might rarely be seen, but this was a private school, and most who came to this school were more mature than others, especially in terms of understanding.
"But you shouldn't be too worried about this since usually the school should have the musical instruments that we can use for the club activity," Kumiko said.
"Ah? Really?" Hazuki's heart felt better.
"Yes, though, you might need to buy your own mouthpiece."
Musical instruments aside, they should prepare the mouthpiece so the school's musical instruments can be used by others and are easier to clean.
"Moutpiece? How much is it?" Hazuki felt a little sensitive toward the money of money.
"About this much..."
"That's great! It's cheap!"
Kumiko then looked at Mizuto and asked, "Do you still want to come with us?"
"Why not? We're about to arrive at the clubroom. It will be a shame if I don't come to watch, right?"
Still, he had to say, Kumiko was really blunt.
"Well, that's true." Kumiko nodded.
The four of them walked together in the quiet corridor to the second building, climbing through the stairs to the 3rd floor, and then arrived at the music room on the corner of the school building where the concert band club was.
"We have arrived!"
As Hazuki and Midori were excited, Kumiko and Mizuto stood behind them, watching the concert band club through the window door.
"That's the trumpet, isn't it? I like those. That's awesome!"
"Look, Hazuki-chan. That's euphonium."
"Where?"
Mizuto didn't think too much about their conversation. Instead, he thought that while there were many people inside, there didn't seem to be many new students who were interested in the concert band. Except for him, there were only three girls before him.
Still, as Kumiko, Hazuki, and Midori were having a conversation, he noticed one of the club members suddenly approaching their direction and this person made a quiet gesture toward him as she wished him to keep quiet about what she was about to do.
This person was the bespectacled beauty that led to the performance of the concert band at the school entrance earlier.
Still, what he didn't expect was that this female upperclassman would put her palm against the window opposite of Hazuki, then close her eyes softly as her pink, thin lips puckered up, moving gently forward, and was about to kiss the oblivious girl.
"...."
At this moment, Mizuto wondered why there were so many weirdos in this school.
Still, watching the kissing face of this female upperclassman, even if she was a weirdo, she was beautiful.