Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?

"Eh……"

It turns out that Miss Futaba's personal charm is something that even people of the same sex can't ignore.

That's true, that kind of calm, decisive, rational and intellectual personality is hard not to be liked by girls - this is actually popular with both men and women.

"Hiroshimi-kun, do you have any good ideas?"

But just as Xingjian was lost in thought, Kato suddenly changed the subject and threw the topic back into his hands.

"what?"

"I want to know more about Futaba-san, so if possible, could you please tell me about her?"

Having said that, Ms. Kato nodded considerately.

"If it's something that's inconvenient to disclose to outsiders, it's okay if you don't force it... I'm just worried that I might accidentally do something that would displease her without realizing it."

But Kato has already said this...it seems unreasonable not to talk about it.

"Hmm...about that."

Xingjian rolled his eyes, and then expressed his thoughts while thinking.

"...That Futaba girl is quite cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Sometimes she says she hates you, but that's not necessarily the case."

Kato nodded seriously, acting like a patient and well-behaved listener as he looked at the boy staring at the table.

"She loves coffee, whether it's lattes or espressos. Sometimes when she's feeling agitated while solving a problem, she'll just make a cup of coffee and savor it, and she'll calm down quickly."

Every time Hoshimi picked out fragments from the past from his memories, processed them into a paragraph and spoke it out, Kato would nod slightly to indicate that he was listening carefully.

"...Actually, it's easy to get along well with her. All you have to do is treat her sincerely."

That girl wasn't really a stranger-free person - she was just worried about being hurt by other people's unintentional actions, so she kept herself to herself.

"...I see. Looks like I asked the right person."

Kato held his cheek with his palm and tilted his head slightly as he looked at the boy.

"Hoshimi-kun and Futaba-san, you're really good friends...you know each other so well."

"...Haha, but for quite a long time, her indifference made me think it was just wishful thinking on my part."

Hearing Kato's words, Hoshimi paused for a moment—and then quickly used a pure smile to cover up the slight hesitation and indecision before she spoke.

"But I think it's great that you're willing to be friends with her, Kato. That guy is pretty passive in that regard."

Futaba probably wouldn't be too resistant to having more good kids like Kato as friends.

"Well, next time if I find something confusing about Futaba-san, I wonder if I can ask Hoshimi-kun to explain it to me."

Kato tilted his head and chuckled softly, meeting Hoshimi's slightly wandering gaze with a humble and gentle expression.

Indeed, Futaba seemed to be a little bad at expressing her feelings - if any misunderstandings arose during the process of making friends, it would be difficult for her to explain.

"……certainly."

Although she didn't know what expression she should show at this moment, Hoshimi still politely smiled back at Kato.

----

I wrote until 4am yesterday. I guess I need to adjust my biological clock and go to bed early today orz

If I can get another update for the bosses, I will try my best. If not, I hope everyone will be gentle orz

Kasumigaoka Utaha is unlikely to be out of ideas: Chapter 6: They each have their own concerns (Part 6)

After struggling for a moment, Hoshimi decided to choose her words and told Kato what Futaba had told her.

After all, it’s not a good idea to keep it a secret, and Kato might slowly realize that something is wrong with the people around him.

"...I'm telling you, Kato."

Therefore, Hoshimi sorted out her thoughts a little, and when she told Kato the truth, she also made full mental preparations.

"Well?"

The black-haired girl sitting upright opposite him, holding the paper cup in both hands and sipping the drink gently, just made a sound expressing doubt - she ordered the same orange juice as Hoshimi.

"...Do you remember what I told you before about the paranormal phenomena in life?"

"Ah... is that what Hoshimi-kun was talking about last time, telepathy, body swapping, things that only happen in urban legends?"

“Well, well…”

The black-haired boy cleared his throat, then met Kato's gaze with a somewhat unsure look.

"What if I said...that this isn't just an urban legend?"

“…I see. I understand.”

Kato was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted and then gave a gentle smile to the serious boy.

"I know why Hoshimi-kun feels this way. After all, even after reading the Harry Potter series, I still think that a school like Hogwarts should exist in the world."

Her eyes conveyed a comforting expression of "I understand", but the more this was said, the more troubled Xingjian became.

Obviously, he was treated kindly as a person with a second-year syndrome.

"I'm not kidding, Kato, don't you feel that strange things have been happening around you lately?"

"Hmm... Hoshimi-kun, if you mean that a boy you've never met unilaterally announced that you were joining the club, and then inexplicably became his heroine, then that's indeed a bit strange."

Miss Kato tilted her head, her harmless little face showed no aggression at all, but the words that came out of her mouth were not so peaceful.

"Well, speaking of this...it does feel like everyone in our club has been acting a little weird lately."

The short-haired girl placed her index finger lightly in front of her mouth, looking as if she was thinking seriously, and quietly raised her head to look at the ceiling.

"Aki-kun seems to have been staying at home these past few days since the last comic convention and hasn't contacted us... You know, before, he would text me every day to say hello, regardless of my personal wishes."

What’s going on? This feeling of being a pervert is overwhelming.

"Not to mention Kasumigaoka-senpai. I wasn't that familiar with her to begin with, and we've barely had any contact since the holidays. On the other hand, Sawamura-san, the most active one, hasn't been around since summer vacation, but he suddenly showed up at a comic convention a few days ago and wanted to go to Hoshimi-kun's house for dinner, which surprised me a bit."

After saying this, Kato took a sip of the juice in his hand without changing his expression, and finally showed a half-smile to the boy.

"Speaking of which, the only thing I didn't expect was that Hoshimi-kun had become so close to Sawamura-kun without me even knowing... I'm a little disappointed."

What she probably wanted to express was that Hoshimiya Haru, who she regarded as a kindred spirit, was actually getting along better and better with Eriri without her noticing.

"...Actually, Kato, you might not believe this, but I almost got into a fight with Tomoya Aki again that day at the comic convention."

"Ah... well, I'm not surprised at all. After all, I've witnessed a similar scene once before."

Kato smiled and shrugged, not looking particularly surprised.

"But I can't interfere too much in your boys' affairs, and I also believe that you, Xingjian-kun, won't make things worse, so I didn't say anything."

Hoshimi just held her chin with her hand and raised her eyebrows when Kato made an expression that was not uncommon.

"Then, don't you feel something is wrong, Kato?"

"...?"

"Think carefully about what happened that day."

Xingjian paused, then gave an appropriate hint.

"That day at the comic convention, after I arrived at Namijima's booth, there was another person who also came, right?"

"…………ah."

Perhaps because she remembered something, a hint of astonishment flashed across Ms. Kato's usually calm and composed eyes.

Yes, the person who followed Hoshimi that day and came to Hashima and Aki was a little girl who looked to be in her early six or seven years old.

She has blonde hair, blue eyes, and twin ponytails. She bluntly calls Aki "Ryouya". The emotions flashing in her eyes and her usual coquettish tone make people feel very familiar.

"...Could it be..."

Kato was stunned when he noticed something was wrong, and Xingjian nodded to confirm her guess.

"...Well, the shrinking of her body is the abnormal phenomenon that happened to Eriri. Generally speaking, we call this symptom puberty syndrome."

"Puberty...syndrome?"

The short-haired girl rolled her eyes as if she understood something because it was her first time hearing this unfamiliar term, and then looked at Xingjian who looked calm.

"Well, let's put that aside for now... I'm actually more curious about why the shrunken Sawamura-san would have any connection with Hoshimi-kun."

There was a hint of frustration and curiosity on Kato's face, as if there were still many things I didn't know about.

"Well... because I was the first person to find her after she shrank, I've been taking care of her ever since."

"Eh... I see. So, the reason Sawamura-kun disappeared since summer vacation is because he's been with you, Hoshimi-kun."

“That’s roughly the case.”

"Well, that makes sense. No wonder Sawamura-kun acted so relaxed and at ease when we visited Hoshimi's house last time. It turns out you two have been living together for such a long time."

For some reason, Kato suddenly revealed a calm smile of "I see", but this did not make Hoshimi feel at ease.

How should I put it? I inexplicably feel that this smile is not as warm and gentle as usual.

"But it's a good thing that Sawamura-kun is in child form. Otherwise, if high school boys and girls of similar age lived together, there would be a lot of rumors and misunderstandings."

"indeed……"

Even though Kato's tone remained as calm as water, Xingjian felt a slight chill coming from behind.

"Let's get back to the topic of puberty syndrome."

Afterwards, he changed the subject with a strong desire to survive. Fortunately, Kato looked like he didn't want to dwell on this issue any further.

Hoshimi let out a long breath, cleared her throat as if she had prepared a speech of several hundred words in her mind, and then met Kato's calm and patient gaze.

"…Are you interested in hearing it? This isn't just an urban legend."

----

I woke up at 12 o'clock today. After breakfast, refreshment, coding and update, it was already afternoon.

Is there any big guy who can teach me how to quickly adjust my work and rest time? Thanks in advance orz

Kasumigaoka Utaha is unlikely to be out of ideas: Chapter 7 So, Sawamura Eriri starts thinking (Part 1)

Today is an ordinary day in the summer vacation, but it seems particularly precious.

Eriri Sawamura sat at the desk in the study of Kasumigaoka Utaha's house, curled up in the office chair where Utaha usually worked, staring at the computer screen and clicking the mouse absent-mindedly.

She was running Baboon 14's mission alone, a rare sight, but as usual - the reason I say as usual was because she would adventure in Eorzea when she had nothing to do.

As for why it is rare, of course it is because this time she did not team up with another boy to clear the dungeon, but was just wandering around aimlessly taking on side quests.

"... Are online games really that fun, Sawamura-kun?"

Sitting on the sofa next to her, watching her seat being occupied by a girl with blonde twintails without any complaints, Kasumigaoka Utaha supported her cheek with her hand and looked at Eriri's profile with calm eyes.

"You seem to be logging into this game every day these days while you're staying at my house. Don't you get tired of it?"

"Huh? Well, it's okay. Games are just for fun, after all. The real fun is usually the stupid teammates you play with."

Eriri skillfully manipulated the keyboard to move the virtual character on the screen forward, and was also able to answer Kasumigaoka Utaha's questions fluently.

"Oh - I almost forgot."

Having said that, she turned away with a wicked smile, her delicate and pretty little face full of complacency.

"You don't understand the social appeal of online games. After all, there's no one to play games with you."

"Ah, needing someone to play online games is the real tragedy, isn't it? It's not okay to have a body that's grown into a high school student, but still have the mind of an elementary school student who needs a dad's affection."

Kasumigaoka flipped through the book in her hand intently, smiling and fighting back with a relaxed attitude.

"Kasumigaoka Utaha, you—humph! I will never play games with you again, even if you beg me!"

"So I can escape this disaster? That's what I wish for."

This has become a common occurrence in their daily lives - during the few days that Eriri stayed at Shiyu's house, they would argue for hours about whether or not to add cheese to vegetable salad.

Eriri did stay to take care of Shiyu. Although she herself was unwilling to admit it, she finally proved it with her actions.

The blonde girl with twin ponytails glanced at the black-haired girl who lowered her head to read a book, and her hidden gaze was a little dim.

She really couldn't understand what kind of blow could make such a proud Kasumigaoka Utaha so devastated that she even thought about giving up writing novels.

——He's a guy who's as good as me, how can I give up so easily?