Interlude: Severed from the Ordinary

—Idle chat during the preparation period.

"You know Mei... she's a little too nice, isn't she?"

"Huh? That's not a bad thing at all, is it?"

"No, I know, but... what is it? When someone's that nice, you can't help but wonder if there's something else going on, you know?"

"Well, I do sometimes think she's a little too angelic, but..."

"And she's way too lenient with mistakes, too."

"Oh, I've thought that too. Like, doesn't she ever get even a little pissed off?"

"Yeah, it kinda makes you wish she'd think about how hard we're working."

"And keeping the money stuff a secret was kind of her just doing what she wanted..."

"She does tend to decide a lot of things on her own. I mean, she's usually not wrong, so it's fine, but..."

"It's like... we're all just dancing in the palm of Mei's hand."

"Hey, that's not a nice way to put it. It's true she's working super hard for us."

"...Actually, to be honest, I was a little disappointed. Yeah, I'm not cut out to be a leader, and it was honestly super tough, but... I kinda wish she'd trusted me a little more."

"I'm the opposite, I guess... The expectations are so high sometimes that I just want to run away..."

"But she always helps you out if you're in trouble. If you can't do it, just say you can't, right?"

"True, you can just dump it all on her and she'll figure it out. Geniuses are really something else."

"I've thought this for a while, but... yeah. Unlike us, she's just not normal, is she? Kiyosato."

◆

—A certain group of girls' chat.

"Hey, news flash, news flash! I heard from a girl in Class B that Mei's group is a total mess right now!"

"Huh, a mess? You mean, like, a romantic drama!?"

"Apparently, there's a rumor that Mitaka-kun and Oomori-kun are fighting over Mei!"

"No way!? Wow, so that's what's going on!"

"Well, duh. It's Mei, you know? Of course the guys are gonna be all over her."

"And get this, when she got into trouble with a girl from the next class, the two of them swooped in to save her!"

"Ah, so like a princess being protected by two handsome knights? Must be nice to be pretty, seriously."

"...But if that's true, that's so not cool. Especially since Mei kept saying it wasn't like that with them."

"Exactly. In the end, she's just loving all the attention from two hot guys."

"No way, is she trying to get ahead of us without telling us...!?"

"Nah, you guys probably only think that because you're rooting for Mitaka-kun. There's no way Mei would do something like that."

"But, like, I heard they went to the pool together the other day. Isn't that super suspicious?"

"Ah, well, now that you mention it... I'd never go to the pool with a guy I didn't like."

"Which means Shinagawa is the only one left out. That's kinda sad in its own way."

"But wait, hasn't Miharu-chan always been close with Oomori-kun? She's not like that with any other guys."

"They're always reading together in the library. There was even a rumor they were dating at one point."

"Whoa, then it's a total train wreck! A love triangle? Or a love square?"

"They act like such a super close group of friends on the surface. I guess behind the scenes it's all drama."

"Kinda turns me off. It's like they're just playing at being friends."

"Well, that's just how it is with mixed groups of guys and girls, normally."

◆

—In front of the classroom after school.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm... I'm going home!"

"Huh? Me—"

"Huh?"

"—ei just took off running, like, for real... It's like she didn't even see us."

"..."

"So, what should we do with these snacks... Getting ice cream was a bad idea."

"...I've never seen Mei that frantic before... maybe ever."

"What, seriously...? If even you've never seen her like that, Miharu-chan, then what in the world happened in that class—"

"...Oomori-kun?"

"Huh? ...No, wait, hold on."

"...Could it be..."

"He beat me to it...?"