After the Obstacle Race was over, Mahiru's friends rushed around her as she safely returned to the finish line in first place. Her face was completely white from the powder she got from looking for candy balls, but she smiled shyly as she wiped it off with the towel Aki handed her.
“...Hmph, I knew it was going to be exactly what I expected.”
“Don't look so proud of yourself. I was betting on her to win.”
Two figures watch the Mahiru in the crowd from one step away. One is Yunomae Yuzuru, who’s coolly pushing up the bridge of his glasses, and the other is Kotsubaki Hiyori, who’s somehow dressed in a long-sleeved jersey in this heat.
And that's when Ryo Minamida, a dusky blonde boy, sighed as he saw the two of them start throwing glares at each other again.
“!!!”
Mahiru, the girl in his line of sight suddenly shook her shoulders and looked around, then her expression lit up with a flash.
She quickly informs her friends at her side and rushes toward the assembly tent near the first-year bleachers, where the parents and guardians of the general audience have gathered.
“O-Onii-san! You really came!”
“!”
Hiyori and the other five members all look up at her voice.
“Oh—It’s Mahiru. I’m sorry for coming late.”
“No, it’s all right! A-Are you done with your classes?”
“Yeah, it ended a while ago…That idiot(Aoba) decided to skip out in the end, so she'll probably come back later.”
“I-Is that so?”
“H-Hey Hiyoriii!! Is he the ‘Onii-san’ that she’s talking about!?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“Hee~ So that’s him~? He’s normal than I thought~”
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When Hiyori nodded to Yukiho, who looked at Mahiru happily talking with a man who looked like a college student and asked her in a whisper, Aki said something rude and ran her eyes over the man's appearance.
He appears to be taller than the average height of the boys in their class…although this may be due to the slightly smaller Mahiru standing next to him. His physique is not that stout and he is rather slender. The face—if anything, it gives the impression of being lacking in features. If they were to put it better, they would say that he has a plain and simple face, but if they were to put it worse, they would say that he has a mob face.
His clothes are not particularly fashionable, and he looks like the kind of guy you could find anywhere if you really look for him. However, to such a man, Mahiru smiled the biggest smile of the day and said happily, “Please listen to this, Onii-san!”
“I got first place in the Obstacle Race just now!”
“Hee~ That’s great. I don't even remember playing an active role in the Sports Festival in my life.”
“Fufufun~~!”
“I see, So that's why your face is so white.”
“EHH!? I-Is there still some white powder on it!?”
“Yeah, on the side of your cheek and on the bridge of my nose. You also had it up on your hair, so I didn't know who you are for a moment, you know?”
The man smiles at her as she blushes and hurriedly wipes the pointed-out area with a towel. In that friendly situation, the sound of teeth clenching each other could be heard beside Hiyori.
“...But, it’s too bad…If it had been a little later in the day, Onii-san could have seen it…”
“You're still going to get a few more after this, aren't you? I'll make sure I watch you then.”
“Really!? You promise!?”
“Yeah. If you have time, do you want something to drink? Since you’re here, I'll buy you some.”
“Yey~! Let's go to the cafeteria then! It’s this way!”
“All right, All right. But, just don’t pull me too hard, okay?”
“Hee~...” Yukio looked over to see Mahiru walking away with the man's arm in tow while saying something as if amazed.
“I-It’s not what I expected…but, that ‘Onii-san’ really seems to get along with Mahiru.”
“I felt that Asahi was one-sidedly pining for him. It was like that when I saw him before.”
“Huh~? Do you that Onii-san, Ryou~?”
“N-No! I-I-I just happened to see it”
“What's with that suspiciously flustered look…?”
Ryou makes a gesture as if he had slipped up unintentionally, and Yuzuru hears it and gently looks away…There was no way they could say that they had been beaten up by Mahiru’s “Mom” for stalking her before.
And as for the best friend of the two, the girl who had caused such trauma to both of them, she looked at Mahiru as she left, and then smiled.