After a brief discussion about where the band could go for their outing, and finishing their desserts, Kamigawa Saku and Chihaya Anon left the café together.
"It's still pretty early."
Kamigawa Saku glanced up at the sky and then checked the time on his phone, casually remarking on it.
As summer approached, the days grew longer, and it got dark later. Since they hadn't spent much time eating or chatting in the café, evening was still a ways off.
"Yeah," Chihaya Anon agreed before asking, "So, what should we do next?"
"You're asking me?"
Kamigawa Saku blinked in surprise.
"Well, to be precise, I'm asking if there's anywhere you'd like to go," Chihaya Anon said with a playful smile, tilting her head to look at him. "I can come along with you."
"Or, if you have a little wish, like the one I had earlier, I can help you fulfill it."
"You granted my wish, so naturally, I should return the favor!"
"..."
Her suggestion made Kamigawa Saku instinctively pause to think.
This was clearly a good opportunity to maintain their relationship by letting her fulfill a wish of his.
Of course, if he were to base his wish on her earlier example, it couldn't be anything unreasonable.
But coming up with a wish on the spot wasn't easy.
At the moment, other than his goal of staying single, he had no other specific desires.
"Sorry, I don't have anywhere I want to go right now, and I can't think of any little wishes either," Kamigawa Saku said after a moment.
He could've made something up, sure.
But doing so felt like a waste of this chance.
It would be better to save this opportunity for later, just like he had with Kita Ikuyo.
Who knows when it might come in handy?
"Well then, just let me know whenever you think of a wish. I'll help you fulfill it," Chihaya Anon replied matter-of-factly.
"Huh?"
Kamigawa Saku was caught off guard.
It was rare for things to go exactly as he hoped without him even having to ask.
Honestly, this was perfect.
If he'd needed to ask her to delay fulfilling his wish, there was no guarantee she would've agreed.
He'd even prepared a backup wish just in case.
The fact that he didn't need to use it was a relief.
But... wasn't this almost too smooth?
It felt as though Chihaya Anon herself wanted him to hold off on making a wish.
Kamigawa Saku wanted to keep his wish in reserve to have an excuse to spend time with her later.
Could it be that she was thinking the same thing?
Maybe she hoped he'd use the wish later as an opportunity to see her more and maintain their connection.
But for that to be true, she'd have to have some special feelings for him.
Yet if that were the case, why had she turned down his offer of a private reward earlier and instead suggested a group outing for the band?
Wasn't that contradictory?
Unless... she had realized he was testing her and changed her approach at the last second?
No, he couldn't dwell on this any longer.
If he got stuck analyzing all these details and possibilities, the questions would just keep multiplying.
"What's wrong?"
Chihaya Anon's voice brought him out of his thoughts. She looked at him with concern, noticing his dazed state.
"Nothing."
Kamigawa Saku snapped out of it and tried to act nonchalant.
At the end of the day, his determination to stay single often made him overthink things.
Sometimes, there was no need to analyze everything so deeply.
This was one of those situations where it wasn't worth being overly suspicious.
After all, hadn't he once pretended to be Kita Ikuyo's boyfriend for a whole day?
During that time, thanks to winning a game, he'd earned the right to ask Kita Ikuyo for any reasonable favor.
If he ignored the fact that they'd been pretending to be a couple, his situation with Chihaya Anon now was remarkably similar to back then.
The only difference was that instead of a favor, it was a "wish" he could make.
And their personalities were quite similar too.
It had been nearly a month since that day with Kita Ikuyo, and what had come of it?
Nothing.
Despite doing something as ambiguous as pretending to be a couple, their relationship hadn't changed at all.
With that in mind, there was no reason to be so concerned about his dynamic with Chihaya Anon.
As long as he kept his distance and avoided overly intimate situations, casual outings weren't worth worrying about.
He just needed to be mindful.
"So, what do you think about my suggestion earlier?" Chihaya Anon pressed.
"If you don't mind, I'll save my wish for later and trouble you with it then," Kamigawa Saku replied.
"I don't mind at all. If I did, I wouldn't have suggested it," Chihaya Anon said with a smile.
She shifted her gaze to the road ahead and added, "Since you don't have anywhere you want to go and plan to save your wish, why don't we just wander around for now?"
"Sure."
Kamigawa Saku agreed without hesitation.
---
After a while of aimless wandering, Chihaya Anon turned to Kamigawa Saku and said, "Don't you think we're acting like a couple of idiots?"
"Why would you say that?"
Kamigawa Saku tilted his head, his expression one of genuine confusion.
"Well, it's already summer, and here we are, wandering around aimlessly in this heat. Isn't that exactly the kind of thing only idiots would do?"
Chihaya Anon glanced down at their overlapping shadows on the pavement.
Since the sun hadn't set yet, its rays were still beating down relentlessly.
"No, the only idiot here is you," Kamigawa Saku countered. "You're the one who suggested we wander around. I'm just following along under duress."
"Don't use that excuse to distance yourself from me!"
Chihaya Anon shook her fist in mock protest.
"Actually, it's not that hot today," Kamigawa Saku said, steering the conversation in another direction. "The temperature hasn't even hit thirty degrees. Wandering around for a bit is totally fine."
"That's true. A little heat isn't unbearable," Chihaya Anon admitted.
If she hadn't thought they could handle it, she wouldn't have suggested wandering in the first place.
"So, what now? Should we keep walking, find somewhere to rest, or just call it a day and head home?"
Kamigawa Saku asked for her opinion.
"How about we take a break at that convenience store?" Chihaya Anon pointed at one nearby. "And grab some ice cream while we're at it."
"That was your plan all along, wasn't it?"
Kamigawa Saku followed her gaze toward the convenience store.
"All that talk just for an excuse to get ice cream."
Chihaya Anon pretended not to hear him and continued, "Summer is all about ice cream, isn't it?"
"Don't forget watermelon, the beach, and air conditioning," Kamigawa Saku added.
"Either way, eating ice cream is an essential summer activity," Chihaya Anon declared, already heading toward the convenience store.
Kamigawa Saku, feeling "obligated," followed her.
---
"Saku, which one's good?"
Chihaya Anon stared at the variety of ice creams in the freezer and sought the advice of the resident snack expert.
"I'd recommend this brand."
Kamigawa Saku picked up a matcha-flavored ice cream and held it up briefly to show her.
"Then I'll go with this."
Chihaya Anon picked a strawberry flavor from the same brand after a quick glance.
After paying, they left the store, ice creams in hand.
"If your recommendation turns out bad, I'm making you compensate me," Chihaya Anon warned as they found some shade by the store and unwrapped their ice creams.
"How about I buy you ten ice creams as compensation?" Kamigawa Saku suggested offhandedly.
"I'm not settling for such a shallow apology."
Tossing the wrapper into a nearby trash can, Chihaya Anon used the provided spoon to take a small bite of her ice cream.
"Well, how does it taste?" Kamigawa Saku asked as he watched her take her first bite.
"…It melts in your mouth," Chihaya Anon said, pretending to evaluate it seriously.
Kamigawa Saku couldn't resist. "Melts in your mouth? Isn't that a weird thing to say about ice cream?"
"Fine, then let's say it's pretty good." Chihaya Anon revised her verdict.
"Great, now I don't owe you compensation."
Kamigawa Saku laughed and started on his own ice cream.
But after just a few bites, he noticed Chihaya Anon staring at him.
"Why are you watching me while I eat?" he asked, setting his ice cream aside for a moment.
He already had a guess.
In a typical galgame scenario, this was the part where the female lead would ask to try the male lead's ice cream.
The male lead would agree, and in return, the female lead would offer a bite of hers, leading to an indirect kiss.
This was classic CG-worthy material—something a galgame expert like Kamigawa Saku could easily predict.
So, he mentally prepared himself for her to say those exact words.
Instead, Chihaya Anon surprised him.
"I'm starting to doubt something I've always believed."
"What do you mean?"
Kamigawa Saku was genuinely puzzled.
Was this something they'd talked about before, and he'd somehow forgotten?
"Remember what I said earlier?" Chihaya Anon began to explain. "That guys who focus on their work look really cool."
"Oh... yeah, I remember," Kamigawa Saku said as the memory clicked.
"Well, when I saw you working seriously at the café earlier, you did look cool," Chihaya Anon said with utmost sincerity. "I didn't doubt it then."
"But now, watching you eat ice cream, you still look just as cool. And that makes me question the accuracy of that statement."
Kamigawa Saku couldn't help but laugh. "Whether I'm working or eating ice cream, I'm still just eating. How is that any different?"
"It is different. One is eating seriously, the other is eating casually. But if both give off the same impression, it proves something."
Chihaya Anon paused deliberately, letting the suspense build.
"What does it prove?" Kamigawa Saku played along.
Fixing her gaze on him, Chihaya Anon said slowly, "That good-looking people look great no matter what they're doing, whether they're working or not."
"That's common knowledge. Did it really need proving?" Kamigawa Saku retorted, though he let out a relieved sigh.
So that's why she'd been staring.
Thank goodness.
He'd nearly forgotten his goal of a single ending.
There was no way this story would head in such an ambiguous direction.
Only developments like this fit the single-route narrative!
It meant he wasn't heading down Chihaya Anon's route.
Sure enough, his single ending was progressing smoothly.
"Oh, by the way, your behavior just now proved something else too," Chihaya Anon added unexpectedly.
Pulled from his celebratory thoughts, Kamigawa Saku looked at her curiously. "What else did it prove?"
"That's a secret," Chihaya Anon said with a mysterious smile, clearly enjoying keeping him guessing.
"Even if you beg me, I won't tell you what it is."
"Why bring it up if you're not going to explain?" Kamigawa Saku said, exasperated.
"I had to say it so you wouldn't be completely clueless," Chihaya Anon replied matter-of-factly.
"Alright, fair enough."
Not that he really cared about this so-called secret.
As long as his single ending was still on track, that's all that mattered to him.
---
Chihaya Anon didn't say anything more, just continued smiling at him.
What it proved was simple—the saying "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
To her, whether he was eating seriously or casually, Kamigawa Saku always looked handsome.
And maybe that was exactly what the saying meant.
---
T/N: I decided to translate it again, because I just love this story, I was focusing on the other's but now since I got a decent amount of them stockpiled I can keep going with this! Even if were hundreds of chapters ahead of the others...