"Well then, I am off." Meil waved us off as he left the house.

"Y-Yeah, have fu... I-I mean, be back soon, okay?!" I corrected myself.

"Hm, you sure you don't wanna run after him?" Muscle guy laughed at my misery.

"Ugh, I made a promise with him not to neglect my studies from now on, so I'd rather get things done with you first..." I pouted, "So then, what are you even here for? Come on, let's get to studying!"

"Humu, actually girlie, my studying is way more fun than just cramming books into your brain!" He donned a devious grin, "See, I like putting things into practice way more than I do in theory, so for today, we're gonna be conducting our research outside."

Oh? Well, that's a plot twist. On the other hand, I'm surprised I didn't expect such a thing from a muscle head like him. Meil was the one who instructed him to stay at home with me, so I didn't expect this guy to just blatantly disobey him like that. Eh, whatever the case, I could use some fresh air anyways, so I don't mind.

"Where're we going then?" I asked as I put on my shoes.

"Hehe, isn't it obvious?" He put his index finger up to his lips, "We're gonna go tail him!"

"Tail Meil!?" I jolted, "B-But what if we get caught!? A-And besided... I don't wanna get in the way of his d-date..."

"Oh nah, I was just joking about those two being in a relationship." He shook his head, "Didn't you hear what he said? He just has some loose ends to tie, and she just so happens to be the only one who can help. I can tell from the way they act when we're all together at the coffee shop that there's nothing between them, at least not yet."

"Thank Prylos! Don't scare me like that!" I shook him about as he put on his boots, "Still, I've been meaning to ask - What do those loose ends even mean?"

"Why do you think we're tailing him?" He gave me a side glance, "Truth be told, no one really knows what's going on with him anymore. He seems to have stumbled upon a large sum of money, but no one knows from who or from where. All we know is that it's affecting him greatly - He's gotten super paranoid, and now he seems to have brought Jelena in on it as well."

Huh? So that's how he got this house and everything in it... But wait, not even his closest friends know how he got the money? And hold on, did he just say paranoid? That must be why Meil was so adamant about pressing me for answers regarding the uštipak recipe! So wait, did he actually think I was gonna poison him? If I recall his words correctly, he said that he didn't not trust ME, per se, but rather... everyone in general? Was that what he was alluding to?

"Ugh, I don't get anything that's going on..." I grabbed my head as we walked out of the house.

"Heh, I can imagine." Muscle guy commented, "I bet you expected things to go way differently when you first came here, huh?"

"Yeah, not quite the student life I had expected." I added, "Feels way more like a love drama than a vanilla romcom."

"So you weren't joking back then?" He continued walking, "You're serious about him?"

"Of course! Meil is super cool!" I spat out the first description I could think of, "Besides, the reward last night was..."

"Reward?" He furrowed his brows at me, "O-Oi, what's got you so red in the face? The fuck did that aloof idiot do!?"

"Fufu, that's a secret~!" I teased him a bit.

"...Ah, what the hell am I imagining? Meil's not like that." He saw right through my tease, "Unlike a certain perverted brat, he's a lot more innocent in the mind."

"Did you just call me a pervert!?" I raised my voice, "I am absolutely NOT gonna let that slide! The bratty part I've come to accept, but calling a young girl perverted? That's crossing the line!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Hey, shut up for a second." He suddenly put his arm out so as to stop me from turning the corner, "While you were busy whining, we made it to their meet-up spot."

"Wait, really!?" I hastily peeked my head around the corner of the building we were hiding behind, "Whoa, he's really there! A-And those flowers..."

"Yep, he brought them again." Muscle guy clicked his tongue, "Why would he insist on hiding their relationship if he keeps being so obvious about it? Meil's not like that, there's gotta be something more to it..."

Grr... I hate to admit it, but Muscle guy is right. Meil is definitely way too cautious to be acting this obvious. If I know him well, and I do, he's definitely got something else he's covering up with this. Yeah, these flowers are just a distraction for the real thing.

"Hey~!" Waitress girl skipped over to him the very moment she spotted him, wearing a beautifully accented red-black dress, "Sorry I was late. Did I make you wait long?"

"No, it is alright. Your dress is very cute." Meil replied with an unthinkably out of character appraisal, "Here. These flowers are for you."

"Aww, geez~! How many times do I have to tell you - You don't have to bring me flowers on every single date!" She smiled before giving him a loving hug, "Thank you."

"Tch, what's that guy planning..." Muscle guy continued observing from afar before looking over to where I was, "As far as I know, he's never shown any interest in a woman, though you're free to correct me on that... Huh, o-oi! Calm down!"

"Can't... Too much... Shocking... Wanna die..." I uttered as I melted into the dusty pavement below us.

"Pull yourself together! We won't assume anything until we know for sure that they're dating!" He desperately tried to cheer me up, "Ugh, shoot! They've already left for the first place of the day!"

"Already!?" I got up within seconds, "Then no time to waste! After them!"

***

Uuuugh, why am I even here? I'm literally spying on my crush's date with another girl! How horrible of a person can I be! Seriously, it's his business whom he chooses to go out with, and given by how much fun they seem to be having at every single location, you just can't help but feel like a total idiot tailing them!

"This restaurant is quite nice." Meil praised, "You found a really nice spot."

"See, didn't I tell you? I've been here way longer than you have, so I know my restaurants, haha!" She then noticed something about Meil's face before reaching over the table with a napkin, "Aw geez, you've got a bit of food on your face. Try not to embarrass us here, would ya'?"

"I can't take it anymore." I gagged from seeing such a sickeningly happy sight, "I'm gonna go home and lie down for a couple days to recover..."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Stop! Don't get up!" A disguised Muscle guy stopped me from getting up from the table and leaving, "They'll spot you if you get up now, so at least wait until they leave."

"But I can't~! Ugh, no wonder Green girl didn't get your signals, you really don't know how delicate a woman's heart is!" I tossed a nasty remark out of habit, "No, never mind a woman, ANY gender really wouldn't like to just sit back and watch from afar as their crush is having the time of their lives with another partner."

"Ugh, don't talk about her now." He got all depressed again.

"...Sigh, you really are hopeless." I fiddled with my own disguise as I explained the situation to him, "You do realize that self-care can only get you so far, right? Eventually you're gonna need to learn to face her again properly someday."

"No, I don't agree, actually." He surprisingly shook his head, "I do still think if Kiria as something more than a friend, but the cold hard truth is that she will never see me as anything more than a sibling. And besides, even if I did confront her again after all this time, she's just too kind, so she'd probably just agree out of guilt or something. I don't want that. If there was a girl who would genuinely accept me, my only wish would be to make her as happy as can be."

Noble words, but there's just no thought behind them. This guy's spouting nonsense in the second conditional, but he doesn't even realize that the girl he likes actually wishes to genuinely reciprocate these feelings. Pssh, what an accursed situation these two have found themselves in. Both wish to be in a relationship, but because this bonehead blocked himself off with the idea that she could only ever accept him out of guilt, neither one could ever find themselves in a situation where they could approach one another without being misunderstood. Seriously, the situation is so sad that it almost made me forget about the two damned lovebirds right across the room from us, happily enjoying their date.

"Say ahh~!" Waitress girl fed him a piece of steak with her fork.

"Mmm! Is it me, or have they cooked your steak better?" He remarked.

"No, silly! It's the dressing!" She giggled back.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! What the hell!? Feeding each other, giggling like fucking students in love!? A-Actually, I guess they are students in love... No wait, they can't be! Meil's never shown this side of him, not just to me, but apparently to the others in his friend group either!

"Just what the hell does this girl have that I don't!?" I bit into the bread if not purely out of frustration.

"Age?" Muscle guy mentioned.

"It's not that, okay!?" I desperately inspected her from head to toe, "Height? Must be because of her heels. No, she's not wearing any heels, instead she has on a pair of those way comfier shoes that kind of look like heels, except they don't have the stilt part at the back. So she's just naturally super tall?"

"You didn't notice?" Muscle guy rudely interjected.

"I'm examining her, dipass! Shut the hell up!" I shouted in a whisper, "And for your information, I was too focused on her slim physique back then to notice her height. Ah, that must be it! She's got the perfect body proportions for a woman! Her breasts aren't that much bigger than mine, maybe a cup higher, but her waist is slim and her butt is pretty sizeable."

"So what? You're saying Meil's an ass guy?"

"I certainly hope not..." I looked down at my own not so mature hips, "But still, he's spending a lot of money. They went to the arcade, walked through the park where they bought tons of snacks, rode around in a carriage for a scenic view of campus..."

"Damn, that carriage was super hard to follow on foot..." Muscle guy massaged his thighs, "But you're right. That amount of money is too much to just sling about, even if you're on a date. Something's up."

"Right, you don't think anything bad is gonna happen?"

"Maybe... No wait, I think I got it!" He donned a smug grin as he explained his theory, "The only reason a guy would spend so much money on a single date is because he plans on doing something crazy that day!"

"Crazy?" I gulped, "L-Like what?"

"Propose, of course!" His voice got a bit too loud, making everyone in the room turn to our table.

After a brief pause, everyone started clapping for us, thinking Muscle guy to be the one proposing to me. Ugh, what the hell, not in a million years! And why is no one talking about how much younger I am!? Gasp, could it be? Did my disguise actually make me look older!?

Looking over to Meil and Waitress girl's table, I started panicking after I noticed it was empty. Quickly grabbing Muscle guy by the wrist and rushing out, we were stopped by one of the waiters, who had asked us for payment. Ah, that's right, we sat around here as well! Although we only ordered some cheap juice. Ugh, what do we do? This place is too expensive...!

"Hey, about that..." Muscle guy got up close to the waiter's ear and whispered, "You just saw what happened. Don't worry, I planned the entire outing out today, including paying in advance for everything. Just ask your superior."

"A-Ah, of course, sir!" The waiter smiled, "I take it she said yes?"

Eh? Is Muscle guy seriously gonna lie about the proposal to get us out of having to pay? Damn, that's cheap. Ugh, but what do I do? It feels weird to lie in this situation... Fuck, I really should just say "Yeah" and be done with it, but now that all this attention is on me all of a sudden, my face got super red and everything I do feels embarrassing...

"Yeah, she's a bit shy about it though." Muscle guy filled in for me as he patted the waiter on the back, "Hey, we'd like to continue our celebration today, so if you could just..."

"Y-Yes! Right away sir!" The waiter moved aside, "Congratulations."

"A-Ah, yeah..." I couldn't even muster up the courage to look up at them as we made our way out of the restaurant, once again with a loud applause following us.

"Dammit Meil, what the hell are you making me do...?" I cried a bit as we made our way through the streets to follow them.

"Just shut up and follow them." Muscle guy heartlessly replied, "I think I saw them go through that alleyw...eh?"

"What's wron... huh?" I traced back to where his eyes were looking, only to see the one thing I didn't want to see, "M-Meil?"

"Huh?" He turned around, his face warping to one of abstract horror, "N-Nelly, Kevin!? What are you...!?"

"Hoo boy, looks like we got caught with our pants down." Waitress girl cackled as she wiped the lipstick from his mouth, "Welp, it was fun while it lasted, Meil, but it looks like the jig is up."

H-He... He kissed someone. Willingly. He was making out with Waitress girl. In front of my very eyes. Fuck... Fuck...!