162. At the Station

Megumi Kato put away her phone and shook her head at Jiang Yu to indicate she didn't mind. Aki Tomoya let out a helpless sigh, wearing an expression that suggested he was quite used to it. It seemed this was something the previous version of Jiang Yu frequently did, which had already trained him to be accustomed to waiting a few more minutes.

Relieved, Jiang Yu noticed Megumi's outfit: a sleeveless white tank top layered under a bright gray hoodie, legs encased in skin-colored tights beneath a ruffled skort, and very ordinary women's casual shoes on her feet.

Having learned a painful lesson once before, he cleverly (in his own estimation) said to Megumi, "I think, Megumi, you're actually quite ordinarily well-dressed?"

Megumi, who was about to take out her phone again, paused for a moment. She looked at Jiang Yu somewhat strangely and replied flatly, "Should I say... thank you for the compliment at a time like this? Assuming Jiang-kun's remark just now even qualifies as a compliment."

Perhaps because they had already spent a month together in the same club, their forms of address were no longer as rigidly formal as adding a suffix to each other's full names from the very beginning. Take Megumi, for instance: she usually addressed Aki Tomoya simply as "Aki" or "Aki-kun." As for Jiang Yu, since calling him just "Jiang" felt a bit too stiff, she generally called him "Jiang-kun."

Well, it truly reflected the distance between them—they could be considered average friends, yet they fell far short of being close confidants.

As for the relationships among the girls... Jiang Yu figured he wanted to live a long life, so he tactfully never inquired about that sort of thing.

Yet, come to think of life since he had met—or rather, since he had become aware of Megumi's existence—Jiang Yu seemed to have addressed her casually as "Kato" right off the bat. Meanwhile, when it came to Utaha Kasumigaoka and Eriri, he put on quite a display of proper etiquette, calling them "Senior Kasumigaoka" or "Sawamura-san." He had no idea what kind of strange, irresistible force of nature caused this distinction...

Just as Jiang Yu was pondering these bizarre thoughts, he suddenly felt his calf get kicked. Although it didn't really hurt, this sudden blow still left him feeling somewhat dissatisfied.

He turned his head and saw Umaru Doma, who had just walked over and was retracting her right foot. Just as he was about to scold her a couple of times, he heard his little sister pout and complain discontentedly, "You're never this considerate toward Umaru, but you're so eager to suck up to Megumi-nee!"

"Uh..." Hearing this, Jiang Yu instantly froze in place. The reprimand that had been on the verge of slipping out was forcibly swallowed back down. He slowly turned his head, and what came into view next were Aki Tomoya's teasing gaze and Megumi's even more peculiar look.

With ten thousand alpacas stampeding through his heart, Jiang Yu could only manage a somewhat stiff, awkward yet polite smile while using his eyes to signal to his two friends that everything Umaru had just said was a misunderstanding.

In response, Aki Tomoya simply shook his head with an incredulous expression. As for Megumi... she seemed to subtly retreat a tiny step away from Jiang Yu.

Seriously, why do all of you love playing along with Umaru's acting?!

***

After a brief commotion, the four of them stood in front of the ticket vending machines. Jiang Yu stood behind Aki Tomoya, leaned forward past his shoulder, glanced at the screen, and asked, "Mister Producer, who arbitrarily decided on a sudden impromptu club activity, might I ask where we are actually heading?"

Aki Tomoya scanned the route map in front of him to search for his destination while casually answering, "Wago City."

"Eh? Isn't that in the neighboring prefecture?" Umaru suddenly popped her head out from under Jiang Yu's armpit. After glancing at the ticket price, she stuck out her tongue and exclaimed, "Whoa, the tickets are so expensive!"

As he bought the tickets, Aki Tomoya explained, "We're going on a bit of a trip today. Didn't I tell you all yesterday?"

Jiang Yu firmly shook his head and denied it. "No, you didn't."

Hearing this, Aki Tomoya halted his movements, turned around in surprise to look at the group, and watched as everyone shook their heads firmly to indicate that he had never mentioned it.

Feeling somewhat awkward, Aki Tomoya turned back around and began silently operating the ticket machine.

Finding himself extremely uncomfortable due to Umaru's posture, Jiang Yu sidestepped and ceded the entire space to her, saying rather irritably, "I'll pay for the tickets, so don't worry."

Umaru let out a soft huff, still seeming somewhat upset, and retorted, "Even without you, my brother, I can afford it!"

Hearing this, Jiang Yu let out a soft click of his tongue without saying much more. He reached out and lightly flicked Umaru on the forehead, provoking a soft squeal of protest from the young girl.

Megumi, who was playing with her phone at the back, witnessed this scene. A flash of what seemed like envy crossed her eyes as she spoke up, "You two siblings have a really good relationship."

"No way!" The two of them turned around to look at Megumi simultaneously and refuted her in unison.

"Don't copy me!" Realizing what had happened next, the two of them glared at each other with looks of utter disgust while once again uttering that exact same phrase in unison.

Seeing this, Megumi chuckled softly and shook his—her head. With a tone akin to someone soothing a couple of bickering children, she said to Jiang Yu and Umaru, "Alright, alright, aren't the two of you supposed to be buying your tickets now?"

Realizing he had lost his composure, Jiang Yu turned around feeling rather embarrassed. Aki Tomoya, who had been at the front earlier, had already purchased his ticket and was waiting for them near the entrance. Seeing this, Jiang Yu hurriedly bought two tickets from Chiyoda to Wago City and pulled Umaru out with him.

The girl's hand put up a symbolic struggle for a moment, but she soon obediently followed Jiang Yu away. Lifting her head to look at the figure walking ahead, the young girl trotted closely behind him, and a long-lost sense of relief welled up in her heart, just like... it used to be, a long time ago.

Feeling that Umaru had stopped resisting, Jiang Yu couldn't help but shake his head and silently sigh: She really is just a child...

Once all four of them had purchased their tickets, they entered the platform and waited for the train to arrive.

Megumi checked the arrival time of the next train on the notice board, thought for a moment, and said, "Since there's still some time before the train arrives, I'm going to run over to the convenience store."

Jiang Yu nudged Umaru, signaling her to go along. Facing his little sister's puzzled gaze, he explained, "Go use the restroom first. After all, the travel time is going to be quite long. Megumi probably thinks the same way, right?"

At the end of his sentence, Jiang Yu cast his gaze toward Megumi, who was already preparing to leave.

The bob-cut girl shook her head and said with a heavy sigh, "Going to the convenience store already implies that much, you're so dense."

With that, Megumi and Umaru headed off toward the convenience store together. Watching Megumi's retreating figure—her steps as steady as ever, completely devoid of any bounce—Jiang Yu muttered quietly, "If you think I'm dense, then stop spelling it out yourself..."

Suddenly, Aki Tomoya nudged Jiang Yu with his elbow and asked with a slightly helpless tone, "So, Megumi is quite ordinarily well-dressed, huh?"