“You really do seem okay, Kou.”

“We were worried, you know?”

After what had happened yesterday, the three of us—me, Fuuka, and Kou—decided to skip school. I had talked to Kou directly on the phone yesterday and heard that the place where she got hit was okay, but Kou sometimes put on a brave front, so I talked with Fuuka and we decided to gather at Kou’s house. If we saw her face and talked, we’d know if it was true or false.

“I told you on the phone that I was fine, didn’t I?”

Yeah. She wasn’t lying. It seemed like it still hurt when she moved though…

“Well, it’s thanks to Shirosaki.”

The moment Kou mentioned the name of the male classmate who had saved us yesterday, the first to react to that name was—

“Right ♪. Shirosaki-sama was so wonderful…”

“Shirosaki-sama!?”

My voice and Kou’s overlapped perfectly. I mean, she was calling Shirosaki-kun with the honorific “sama”…? That would surprise anyone…

“Wh-what…? Both of you…?”

“You just called Shirosaki with -sama, didn’t you?”

“I-I did, but…is that wrong?”

“Could it be…Fuuka…”

“You fell for Shirosaki(-kun)!?”

Once again, my voice and Kou’s overlapped.

“…W-with something like that happening… anyone would fall for him…”

At our words, Fuuka blushed and played with her hair to hide her embarrassment. That expression was obvious to anyone who saw it. The face of a girl in love. Fuuka looked cuter than usual.

“That Fuuka…”

I thought the same thing as Kou. Fuuka had never been in love before. She naturally had never had any romantic stories. Well, that was the same for Kou and me too… until now…

“What do you mean ‘that’…”

“I mean, it’s absurd for that rough Fuuka to be in love. Ow!?”

“You always say one thing too many!”

That’s why you got scolded and hit for saying unnecessary things, Kou. And Fuuka…

“Kou.”

“What, Mizuki?”

“You’re the rough one, Kou. Fuuka is good at cooking, sewing, laundry, and housework in general, you know? Did you forget?”

I was also good at cooking… but I lost to Fuuka in everything else. I thought Kou’s way of speaking was questionable when she lost in everything.

“…Ah… come to think of it… Fuuka does have feminine aspects…”

“Rather than feminine aspects, I’m a woman! You’re also a woman, so you should be more feminine!”

“I’m fine as I am. I’m a woman who lives for her hobbies!”

“Sigh… you really are…”

You have zero feminine charm, Kou… Even now when the three of us were talking, she was wearing just boxer shorts on the bottom. On top, she was only wearing a T-shirt without even a bra…

And because she was sitting with her legs spread, I could sometimes see the same things I had…

“You should really stop wearing boxers.”

I really thought so too.

“They’re breezy and comfortable and easy to wear. I wear period panties during my period, so it’s fine, right?”

“You should really stop wearing boxers soon and switch to panties. And you should use panty liners, shouldn’t you? I taught you about them before.”

“That… somehow doesn’t suit me or something…”

“Doesn’t suit you… if you don’t want to stain your underwear, you should do it properly.”

“Mmm… I’ll think about it…”

“Well, let’s stop talking about Kou and… about Shirosaki-sama…”

“We’re going back to talking about Shirosaki again!?”

“I’m not asking you. I want to hear from Mizuki.”

“…Huh…? Me…?”

“Mizuki, tell me honestly. I can tell because we’ve known each other for so long. Mizuki has definitely fallen for Shirosaki-sama too… or at least is attracted to him, right?”

“Eh? What!? Mizuki too!?”

“Um… well… I-I do think Shirosaki-kun is cool…”

“Seriously!? Both Fuuka and Mizuki!?”

“I-I don’t think about him as much as Fuuka yet, just that he’s… n-nice… I think I might be… attracted to him…”

Was I also making the face of someone in love like Fuuka right now? I couldn’t tell myself, but when I thought about Shirosaki-kun, my heart made a pleasant thumping sound…

But… it would be bad to like the same person as my best friend, right…?

“It’s okay, Mizuki. In a long life, sometimes you end up liking the same person.”

Fuuka said those words as if she had read my heart.

“H-he’s really popular, that Shirosaki guy…”

“What about you, Kou?”

“Huh!? Wh-why would I!?”

“I heard from auntie.”

“I heard too.”

“What did she mean about you pouncing on Shirosaki-sama…? I wanted to interrogate you about that today too. It seems like nothing happened in the end though.”

“That’s wrong!? That was…”

“That was?”

“I-I thought I’d have him protect me…”

“Protect…”

“…You?”

What did she mean by protect…?

“That’s right. If he doesn’t protect me… I’ll… become their breeding cow… just thinking about it is terrifying… a man like me being continuously violated by men…” (trembling)

Huh…? She was seriously trembling…?

“…What are you saying, Kou? Did you read some perverted book or something?”

“Wait, Fuuka. Kou’s condition… this isn’t her usual chuunibyou…”

“…You’re right. She’s really trembling… what’s going on, Kou? First, what do you mean by ‘them’…?”

“That’s… I don’t know.”

“You don’t know…”

“I don’t know who they are or where they’re from… when it will happen… but… if Shirosaki isn’t there at that time, I know for sure I’ll meet such a miserable fate…”

“She doesn’t seem to be lying, does she, Mizuki?”

“Y-yeah. I think she’s telling the truth…”

We did know that when Kou said she was originally a man at every opportunity, she was being serious about it, but we thought it was just chuunibyou or maybe gender identity disorder. If that was the case, she would say it precisely because she seriously thought so.

And now I could tell that Kou was being serious just like those times.

“And… it’s not just me…”

“Not just you…?”

“Yeah… all three of us need to be protected by Shirosaki!”

“…Excuse me?”

It was natural that we were stunned and asked back, right…?