[A/N: A male character appears, the story is still shoujo-ai/yuri.]

According to my childhood friend, “Motivation won’t come unless you start doing it and for summer vacation homework too, what matters is getting yourself motivated,” apparently.

I agree with that, it’s best to get annoying things done quickly and use the remaining time to have fun.

…Well, the very person who says this sometimes ends up clinging to me or Hina in tears, though.

So, as for that childhood friend, Sakura Ayuri, what is she up to right now… she isn’t here, apparently today she’s doing homework at the library together with Sumire-san.

Then what am I doing right now, you ask…

“Huh? You want to go out with Ayu?”

“…Yeah.”

It was summer vacation.

The ones waiting for me after calling me out to my usual café were Hina with a troubled look, the very person who summoned me and a boy I’ve known since elementary school, Shinohara Kengo plus his friend Katsuragi Yuya, making three people total.

“Kengo, are you serious? Did the heat mess with your head?”

“Sakura is your friend, alright?”

“I was curious too~ you said you wanted to consult me about Ayu-chan, so I called Gin-chan like you told me to, but why do you want to date my Ayu-chan?”

She just said ‘my,’ didn’t she?

“Now now, wait a second, you two. Kengo does have his reasons, you know, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Oooh~ Like what?”

She’s scary. I mean, Ayu, Hina and Kengo have known each other since kindergarten and yet… it’s not just hostility, the pressure is intense.

“Remember the last field trip? On the bus ride home, Sakura-san sang and everyone got really hyped, right?”

“So I’ve heard. I was asleep though.”

“And after that, among the boys in class, people slowly started saying ‘Sakura-san might be kind of nice,’ and then…”

“And that made kindergarten-era childhood friend Kengo-kun start panicking… is that it?”

“Pretty much.”

Kengo protests next to us with a “That’s not a fair way to put it,” but that doesn’t matter. What I’m more curious about is…

“The field trip was like May, right? Ayu doesn’t look like she’s been confessed to or anything, so why panic now?”

It’s already July, you know.

“…You’re not wary of the boys in class, but of Ayu-chan’s growth, right?”

“Well…”

“Bingo~”

…Ah, I see.

Ayu looks like a tiny little kid at first glance. Up through middle school, even if a guy showed interest, it was usually directed at Hotaru-senpai next to her or Hina or at worst me, Ayu herself barely got any attention.

But we’re in high school now.

I don’t know when Kengo started liking Ayu, but after hearing those rumors among the boys, he panicked, realizing ‘Sakura in high school is someone guys will see that way.’

Once summer vacation starts, his chances to interact with Ayu naturally decrease and he probably imagined someone else approaching her in the meantime.

“So how does that turn into consulting us? Just confess on your own if you want.”

“Yeah~ just confess on your own and get totally crushed~”

“Why ‘crushed’ instead of ‘rejected’!? We’ve known each other since kindergarten and elementary school, aren’t you guys a bit cold!?”

Well, you know? We went out of our way to come here in this scorching heat and then got hit with this topic… you know?

“…I want your cooperation. There’s a fireworks festival coming up, right? So please! Somehow, could you set things up so Sakura and I end up alone together at the fireworks festival!”

Bang, Kengo slammed both hands on the table and bowed his head. Honestly, that startled me, I thought the water on the table was going to spill.

“Just invite her yourself, say you want to go just the two of you.”

If you don’t say it clearly, she’ll definitely say ‘Let’s all go together!’

“…If I do that without saying anything, Momozono (Hina) would be scary. Saying stuff like, ‘I won’t forgive you~’”

Well, in reality, though Kengo doesn’t know this, we already have plans as a group to go to the summer festival, so asking like this was actually the right move.

“Please! I’m begging you! I’ll pay for everything here!”

“Eeh~ A fireworks festival with Ayu-chan is priceless though~”

…To begin with, something only I know—Ayu, even if she calls herself one, is a reincarnator with memories of a past life and her past-life gender was male.

I don’t really know what her romantic preferences are like now, but it’s hard to imagine this going well…

I was worrying about that when—

“…Eh, sounds fine to me. Why not let them go?”

“Eh?”

…Honestly, that was the biggest surprise today. I never expected this person to push things along. Well, I knew she worked here part-time and it’s not strange she overheard us, but still.

“Hotaru-senpai!?”

“Yeah, I think it’s fine. Ayu-chan’s spring has come, huh… even if it’s summer.”

The reason this café is our regular spot is simple. It’s run by a relative of Hotaru-senpai and through that connection, she works here part-time.

But still, it’s really unexpected, I thought she’d react like Hina and get angry or oppose it.

“Is that really okay!?”

“I’ll allow it if there are conditions. While the two of them go around the food stalls, Ginoko-chan and the others keep a close watch from the shadows. Also, share the route you’ll take and where you’ll watch the fireworks beforehand, how about that?”

“Hotaru-senpai!!”

I haven’t seen Hina make that kind of sound in ages… though now’s probably not the time to be watching calmly.

It’s unlikely, but if this continues it could turn into a fight, so I need to calm Hina down.

“Hina, stay.”

“Hm~ Hina-chan, you probably imagined this too, right? The moment Kengo-kun said he wanted to consult you about Ayu-chan. Even looking at this group, I thought it might be the case.”

“Th-that’s… true, but…”

“No way…”

Even Hotaru-senpai, who isn’t that involved with him, had already seen through Kengo’s feelings. Poor guy.

“And Kengo-kun isn’t a bad person. I think Hina-chan knows that better than I do, right? That’s why you thought you’d at least hear him out.”

“That’s… yeah…”

“Kengo, now’s not the time to be embarrassed.”

That’s absolutely true. Even I haven’t seen these two talk things out this seriously in a long time. Though that odd sense of calm does remind me of Ayu a bit.

“If you’re that worried, you can step in if Kengo-kun does anything weird while you’re watching, right? Then you can feel at ease.”

“…”

“Hina-chan, you want Ayu-chan to be smiling, don’t you? I don’t think it’s right for Hina-chan (you) to overdo it and bind her on your own.”

“…Yes.”

…Why is it that a classmate’s love life turns into this kind of atmosphere without the person herself even being here?

Caught in the middle, I honestly want to rush to the library right now and complain to the root cause herself.

“Alright! Then let’s all think up the fireworks festival grand plan together! Go!!”

Seriously, in this atmosphere? This person has such a gap. Even if she’s unexpected, everyone’s clearly still wrapped in a gloomy mood after that.

Also, aren’t you supposed to be working?

* * *

Even with the heavy atmosphere lingering, under Hotaru-senpai’s cheerful leadership that ignored it entirely, we managed to roughly put together a plan.

Hina looked unconvinced to the very end and the guys, looking slightly apologetic toward her, eventually dispersed.

“Thanks for staying behind, Ginoko-chan.”

I stayed behind alone, drinking a refill of cola. I hadn’t ordered it myself, I stayed because Hotaru-senpai seemed to want me to and this showed up.

“Well, with all the glances and winks, anyone would get curious…”

“Hina-chan didn’t seem to notice…”

“With how down she was, noticing would’ve been harder…”

At my words, senpai murmured apologetically, “Did I do something bad to Hina-chan…”

…Though honestly, if anything, Hina might’ve been overreacting a bit.

“Still, it’s unexpected. I thought you’d get angry like Hina or oppose it, senpai.”

“Hm~ You’re curious why I pushed things along?”

“Very curious.”

Honestly, that’s why I stayed.

“Then I’ll announce it! Deke-deke-deke—” [TL: Like a drum roll.]

“Do you really need to build it up like that?”

“Den! Because this plan definitely won’t work!!!”

“Huh? What!?”

What is this senpai even saying? Did I mishear?

After stirring everything up, saying all those nice things to Hina and persuading her, getting all hyped about planning and then this!?

“Eh, you’re that surprised?”

“I am!”

“But Ginoko-chan, you were thinking it too, right? Even if Katsuragi-kun is a good kid, will this really succeed? It was written all over your face.”

I was thinking that!

‘But that’s because I know Ayu is a former-male reincarnator!’

…Those words almost came out, but I barely swallowed them back.

Normally, I’d never even come close to saying something like that, but it shocked me that much.

“…I mean, since senpai was giving advice, I thought maybe you had some insight that’d really hit Ayu in a way I don’t know.”

“Hahaha, you’re overestimating me. I think there’s still lots about Ayu-chan that I don’t know myself.”

“Well, that’s…”

With that said, I couldn’t respond. People often know far less than they think, even about things they believe they understand.

Even I, knowing Ayu is a reincarnator… no, maybe because I know, I’ve ended up understanding her even less.

“Ah, don’t misunderstand. We planned it properly, so it should go well. Normally, it’d at least lead to them becoming a couple or serve as a trigger.”

“…I’m not doubting that. But the way you put it makes it sound like Ayu isn’t normal so it won’t even be a trigger.”

If you didn’t know the secret, you’d probably just see her as a slightly dumb high school girl who can sing well.

“Mm, that part connects to ‘this plan won’t work.’ Want to hear it?”

“…Well, at this point.”

“Thanks. I also want to ask you something later, so share this with Hina-chan too, okay? From how she looked, she probably won’t talk to me for a while.”

“Understood.”

“Alright then, the reason it won’t work is…”

And so time passed and the fireworks festival drew closer.

What would become of Hotaru-senpai’s predictions and analysis, I couldn’t even begin to imagine at the time.