A woman's instincts are truly a terrifying force.

“I have the complete set of that author’s manga. Next time, I’ll bring it from home for you to see.”
“Really! I... uh... I-I don’t need it!”
“Didn’t you just say you wanted to read it?”
“I never said that! Besides, we’re not that close, are we?”
“Oh, come on~ Aren’t we both friends of Jinguuji?”
“I’m not his friend.”
“But you two call each other by your first names, don’t you?”
“That’s because of our families...”
“How nice. I wish I could call Jinguuji by his first name too. His reaction would be so interesting.”
This woman is still hung up on Luna, isn’t she! Just give up already!
Sakurakouji Sasa thought this to herself.
Jinguuji Luna, watching the two girls walking ahead of him, felt conflicted. He glanced toward a side street, pondering whether he should slip away unnoticed.
But then he remembered Sasa’s lack of discretion—if she let something slip, things would only get worse. He had no choice but to follow them.
He suddenly began to look forward to going to school; at least there, these two wouldn’t cross paths.
Would Monday hurry up and come!
Originally, if Hoshinomori Hoshino and Sakurakouji Sasa hadn’t shown up, Jinguuji Luna planned to buy something to eat at the FamilyMart next door.
But now, it wasn’t his decision to make. He silently followed the two girls, and then...
All three entered the FamilyMart convenience store.
After choosing their food and drinks, they queued separately to pay.
A sign at the register read, “No smoking under 20,” with four girls sporting oddly colored hair—pink, yellow, blue, and red—printed on it, apparently a tie-in with an anime.
Jinguuji Luna didn’t watch anime, so he had no idea where it was from.
When they left the convenience store, the three sat at the outdoor tables.
If you asked how the boy felt at that moment, Jinguuji Luna would only say today had taken a strange turn—he was sitting at a table with his ex-girlfriend and his childhood friend.
Staring at the unopened pineapple bun in his hand, Jinguuji Luna fell into thought.
“I’m starting now.”
The voices of the two girls reached his ears. Jinguuji Luna silently tore open the packaging and began to eat mechanically.
Unlike his silence, the two girls beside him chatted happily.
Seeing Jinguuji Luna not saying a word, Sakurakouji Sasa assumed it was because of Hoshinomori Hoshino, and that he felt awkward.
After all, not every couple remains friends after breaking up.
Thinking this, Sasa couldn’t help feeling a bit pleased.
What Hoshinomori Hoshino thought didn’t matter; as long as Jinguuji Luna ignored her, Sasa felt that was enough.
As for Hoshinomori Hoshino, ever since she read that diary, she became especially interested in Jinguuji Luna, and developed her own purpose.
She watched Jinguuji Luna closely, as well as his interactions with Sakurakouji Sasa, trying to glean information about him from Sasa.
Thus, the three sitting at the same table harbored different thoughts.
“Ugh~~ Why is there tomato?” Sasa saw the juicy slices nestled in her sandwich, her mouth immediately pursed into a pout.

Jinguuji Luna glanced at the girl: “I haven’t started mine yet. Want to swap?”
“But I want the veggies and ham inside. Luna, help me eat the tomato.”
“Are you a child?”
“I can be one right now.”
The boy sighed and pulled out the tomato slices from her sandwich, eating them in a few bites.
“As expected of Luna-chan.” Sasa gave a thumbs-up.
“Don’t call me ‘chan.’”
Sasa openly shot a glance at Hoshinomori Hoshino, as if warning her not to entertain ideas of “getting back together.”
But Hoshinomori Hoshino only rested her chin in her hand, watching their exchange with great interest.
Sasa was even more confused now. Her eyes flickered as if she’d thought of something, then bent over to look under the table, finally relaxing.
“What’s wrong?” Jinguuji Luna asked.
“I wanted to check if you two were secretly holding hands or touching thighs under the table.”
“Have you been reading unhealthy manga lately?” Jinguuji Luna lightly tapped her head.
After that, since she had club activities at school, Sasa left alone. Jinguuji Luna sighed about how tough athletic clubs were.
Before leaving, Sasa pulled Jinguuji Luna aside and lectured him, mostly about “not rekindling old flames.”
Jinguuji Luna clearly had no such intention; finally, Sasa left, looking back at him every few steps.
Once Sasa was gone, Hoshinomori Hoshino, sitting across from Jinguuji Luna, gently set her empty milk carton on the table. She leaned forward, her chest softly pressed together, hands resting against her cheeks, eyes brimming with laughter.
“Hey, Jinguuji, may I ask you something?”
“I’m not good at riddles.”
Hoshinomori Hoshino understood he was being evasive and ignored it, asking, “Could it be that you like Sasa?”
“What kind of ‘like’?”
“The kind between unrelated male and female high schoolers—what else could it be?”
“No one said high schoolers can’t have pets.”
“So you want to keep Sasa as a pet?”
“I meant we feed each other.”
“Like a couple’s ‘Ah~~ open wide’ sort of thing?”
“How did you get that idea?”
“Because your eyes were on her the whole time, not once looking at me. It made me feel competitive—female instinct is frightening, even I startled myself.”
Obviously, her last words were a lie.
The reason for her words was simply that Jinguuji Luna kept a close eye on Sasa out of concern for her tendency to blurt things out, though he couldn’t say so.
The boy sighed quietly, suddenly recalling memories. He leaned back in his chair, gazing at the cloudless autumn sky of Jiyugaoka, his eyes growing distant as he softly murmured to himself.
“Sasa is... special.”
Hoshinomori Hoshino arched a brow. “Special?”
He had no intention of explaining. Seeing this, she could only silently sip her boxed milk, the carton gradually making a crumpling sound.

Lunch ended simply, and Jinguuji Luna prepared to return to the bookstore. He asked Hoshinomori Hoshino, who said she needed to go home to deal with documents brought from school.
Jinguuji Luna wanted to ask why she’d come today, but swallowed the words. If she changed her mind and followed him to the bookstore, it would be more trouble than it was worth.
Since there were no trash bins on the street, Hoshinomori Hoshino neatly folded the empty food wrappers and put them in her shoulder bag, tossing the empty milk carton into the bin beside a vending machine.
“Oh, before we part, I should apologize to you.” Hoshinomori Hoshino turned to the boy.
“Apologize? For what?”
“Well, I said something excessive to you before, didn’t I? Honestly, I wanted to apologize at school, but couldn’t find the right time.”
Jinguuji Luna opened his memory palace, searching for a similar conversation.
He found it.

[I really hate people with no sense of self, you know. Just hollow shells that only cater to others. Don’t you think... it’s terribly empty?]

“President, don’t worry about it. I didn’t take it to heart.”
“Jinguuji, you’re surprisingly magnanimous. I was ready for you to respond harshly.”
“I’m not so sentimental that I’d lose my appetite over criticism from a girl my age.”
“Hmm... Jinguuji, you always talk in circles. Can I take it as you being shy?”
“How did it come to that?” Jinguuji Luna asked, puzzled.
Hoshinomori Hoshino burst out laughing, and Jinguuji Luna didn’t even know what she was laughing about.
“Hey, Jinguuji, I’m becoming more and more curious about what kind of person you are. What should I do?”
“A person like me is best kept at a distance.”
“Why?”
“You wouldn’t want to know.”
“The more you act mysterious, the more you provoke my curiosity. Why not just tell me everything you know, and I promise I won’t bother you again.”
Jinguuji Luna hesitated for a moment, then asked,
“President, you mentioned before that you might have experienced memory loss, right?”
“Mm-hmm, do you know something?”
The boy shook his head.
“What you’ll never forget, you never will. What you’re bound to forget, there’s no point keeping. If it’s forgotten, it’s insignificant.”
Not getting the answer she wanted was expected. The girl laughed softly. “As it happens, among Murakami’s many books, I dislike ‘Norwegian Wood’ the most.”
With that, Jinguuji Luna said nothing more and turned to leave.
Under the autumn sky, the clang of the railway crossing grew urgent and rhythmic, red lights flashing. The boy drifted with the crowd to the other side, as the barrier arm came crashing down behind him.
“Jinguuji!”
The train thundered past, the cold wind tousling the boy’s bangs.
Her voice did not reach him.