The first gathering had ended smoothly.

  A lot had been discussed and crified, making it a crucial meeting for the future.

  As they rode home in the car, Hayasaka turo g Kaguya sitting beside her.

  ---

  "Miss Kaguya, what do you think?"

  "About what?"

  "The whole 'iwining of fate' thing."

  Kaguya shook her head, uned.

  "The diary is a thread, not a ."

  "And Amamiya's as show he has no i in f anything."

  "What if all of that is just an act?"

  "It's not."

  She shook her head agaiing Hayasaka's specution ht.

  "If Amamiya wao trol our fate, it would be far easier thahink."

  "All he'd have to do is interfere just a little in our stories, and he'd get what he wanted."

  "Sanzenin Nagi has her weaknesses."

  "So do I."

  "He knows them but has he ever actually tried to exploit them?"

  "Even he himself said that fate iwining with him only makes our e with him closer, not necessarily more intimate."

  Through multiple iions, Kaguya had already formed a solid judgment of Ren's personality.

  He wasn't the type to talk much.

  He wasn't sociable.

  He did things quietly and rarely engaged with strangers.

  At first gnce, he seemed cold and indifferent.

  But beh the surface, he was someoh deep thoughts, someone who could endure loneliness a temptation.

  He kept a certain distance from girls, always maintaining a level of politeness.

  But wasn't that politeness also a form of detat?

  "On top of that," Kaguya tinued.

  "Based on our iigation, he's lived alone since childhood."

  "Other than part-time jobs, he barely has any social life."

  "Exactly."

  Kaguya was now certain.

  She smirked slightly.

  "Hayasaka, don't you think Amamiya is actually... quite det?"

  "Setting everything else aside, I don't dislike guys with his kind of personality."

  "At least someone like that wouldn't talk behind my back."

  She despised betrayal.

  She hated people who gossiped behind her back.

  And since Amamiya knew her story, he also uood what she loathed.

  More importantly, he wasn't the type to spread rumors or meddle in others' business.

  From that perspective, his "dull" personality was actually rather appealing.

  "As for status..."

  Kaguya let out a soft, self-mog chuckle.

  "It was Amamiya who gave us the opportunity to speak on equal footing."

  "This gathering may have seemed like a versatioween equals."

  "But the truth is, if Amamiya didn't allow it, none of us would have the right to treat him as an equal."

  "The Shinomiya name means nothing to him."

  Hayasaka fell silent.

  It was true.

  At this gathering, they hadn't been equals, Amamiya Ren was the oh all the power.

  A, he had never looked down on them or acted arrogantly.

  If anything, he had been overly polite.

  That alone proved that he didn't have the kind of personality that would make people resent him.

  "So, does that mean Miss Kaguya has decided to accept it?"

  "Yes."

  Kaguya nodded.

  "No one predict the future, but at the very least, I see no harm in being friends with Amamiya."

  "As for what happe, that will depend on how things develop."

  She wasn't oo specute too far ahead.

  If the retionship grew naturally, then deeper iions wouldn't be a problem.

  Recalling the attitudes of the others, Kaguya chuckled.

  "Besides, I wasn't the only ohinking this way."

  "Suzuki Sonoko and the others seem to feel the same."

  Hayasaka thought back to the atmosphere at Amamiya's house earlier.

  No one had explicitly stated it, but in the end, they had all silently agreed to tihis e.

  There was o say it out loud.

  They would just wait and see where things led.

  "Miss Kaguya."

  "Hmm?"

  "I was just w… do you think Fujiwara is thinking the same way as you?"

  Kaguya's amused smile froze instantly.

  She turned her head stiffly toward Hayasaka.

  "Hayasaka, you n up unpleasant topics?"

  Just hearing that name gave her a headache.

  Fujiwara Chika was the embodiment of chaos.

  ---

  Kaguya let out a deep sigh, rubbing her forehead before shifting her position in the seat.

  "What's happening at Shu?"

  Even after transferring to Teitan High School, she had Hayasaka keep tabs on things back at Shu Academy.

  "There's some specution about your transfer, but nothing major has happened."

  "The only noticeable thing is that the President seems… kind of depressed."

  Kaguya simply this news.

  "The President should have learned by now that sometimes, he o yield."

  "When he found out I was a Shinomiya, he should have knower than to indulge in fairy-tale fantasies about me."

  "What happens in romantic stories doesn't apply to me."

  Even if she hadn't read the future diary, she still wouldn't have chosen Shirogane Miyuki.

  It was simply too unrealistic.

  "The pressure from my family alone is something he could never overe."

  "Let alone everything else."

  Hayasaka nodded in agreement.

  "Yeah, it's just not realistic."

  Miyuki Shirogane was undeniably impressive as Shu's student cil president.

  Academically, he had even surpassed Kaguya in most areas, except for the entrance exam.

  But at what cost?

  The ridiculous hours he spent studying, the ck of proper rest…

  The stant dark circles under his eyes and his relian bck coffee told the whole story.

  But even if he excelled in academics, would that alone be enough to challehe Shinomiya family?

  Of course not.

  Maybe his talent had caught Kaguya's attention at some point.

  But that was all.

  Because in the end, talent alone wasn't enough to matter in the grand scheme of things.

  Now that she had truly stepped away from her former life, any ce of Shirogane shaking Kaguya's world had pletely disappeared.

  Hayasaka, seeing no point in tinuing the topic, shifted the versation.

  "Miss Kaguya, I just got a report."

  "Fujiwara Chika is waiting for you."

  ---

  "…She actually showed up."

  Kaguya sighed, as if she had known this was iable.

  There was no escape.

  "Fet it. Let's just go bad meet her."

  "As much as she always turns everything into a mess…"

  "She is my friend, after all."