"——Hey! Is this true? That famous Hokkaido University, when did this happen??"

"Well……?"

"why did not you tell me?"

"...This, because I only learned about it from Misaki-sensei yesterday."

"Is that so..." Yuuko nodded her head repeatedly, took a big gulp of grapefruit soda, and then took a deep breath to calm down her excitement.

"Sayu-chan!"

"Well?"

"Congratulations~~~!"

As she spoke, she stretched out her hands and held Sayu's hand, her face with light makeup showing joy from the bottom of her heart.

"You are really awesome for being recommended by Hokkaido University!"

"Um, um...Thank you, thank you." Sayu agreed at a loss, and then showed a soft and charming smile,

"So, so what? What major do you plan to study?" Masaka Yuko asked with great interest.

"Well... I think I'll probably choose between educational psychology and media studies, right?"

"Hey~~Educational Psychology and Media Studies? Yeah! Very suitable! Very suitable for you, Sayu-chan——!"

"Well... well, you don't have to be so loud, why don't you calm down first and have something to drink?"

Sayu said in a soothing tone while pushing his cup of mojito over.

"Okay." Yuuko nodded vigorously, biting the straw and took a sip of the drink.

"Ah, that wouldn't be..."

"Cough cough, cough cough... Wow, it's so spicy!"

Seeing her covering her mouth and coughing, Sayu couldn't help but smile bitterly, and then took out a handkerchief from the pocket of her skirt.

"After all, it contains mint, so use this one."

"...Well, thank you." Masaka Yuko whispered her thanks as she took the handkerchief.

Then he quickly took a sip of his own grapefruit soda to offset the pungent mint taste in his mouth.

It took a while to calm down.

"Sorry, I'll wash the handkerchief before returning it to you."

"It's okay~ I shouldn't have given you that drink, just be fine."

Yuko couldn't help but raise her head, stared at her for a long time, and asked in confusion: "But why can you be so calm? Sayu-chan."

"Huh?"

"Most people would be very excited after receiving a recommendation from that famous school, right? But Sayu-chan doesn't seem to be like that... Aren't you happy?"

"Well... to say that I am happy is to be happy, probably..."

"Probably? No, think about it carefully. You have mentioned this topic several times since the beginning of college, right?"

"Is... like this?" Sayu put a smile on his face, then looked down at the table, not knowing what he was thinking.

"?"

Masaka Yuko blinked, confused by her abnormal state, and couldn't help but asked suspiciously: "Don't you mean...you don't want to go to Hokkaido University...?"

"..."

After hearing this, Sayu was silent for a while, then raised a finger to place it on the rim of the glass and gently rubbed it along the curved edge.

"……I don't know either."

Masaka Yuko looked at her, and suddenly felt that the girl at this moment was inexplicably strange, and there was a vague sense of detachment from her body, which seemed a bit unreal.

"Sayu-chan...?"

"Um?"

"where are you going……?"

"Eh?"

"do not go……"

Hear the words.

"Well……?"

Sayu's hand movements paused slightly, and then he raised his head in confusion, and the expression on his face returned to the same liveliness as usual.

"What are you talking about? Yuko."

"..."

Yuuko stared at her, his eyes roving over her face inch by inch, and then shook his head in confusion.

"...No, I just suddenly felt that Sayu-chan seemed to have gone to a very far away place."

"Hmm...? What you said is so strange."

"So you won't leave, right? Absolutely - you won't leave, right? Sayu-chan."

Sayu was silent for a moment, "Yuko, where do you plan to go to college?"

"Eh? Me?"

Yuko Masaka thought for a moment and said, "I will probably stay here. Although it may not meet the standards of Hokkaido University, a more ordinary university should be fine."

"Don't you want to go out and have a look?"

"Go out and take a look...?"

"Well, places like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, etc."

"...Well, it's not that I don't want to, but I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to be too far away from home. It's fine if I just go there for fun. As for the rest..."

Yuko suddenly came to her senses at this point and asked, "Sayu-chan, do you want to go to school outside?"

"..."

Sayu didn't answer immediately. He just held the straw between his thumb and forefinger and stirred the drink in the cup unconsciously while slowly weaving his words.

"...I have been living in Hokkaido since I was a child. Except for study trips, I have never traveled far away."

"Although there is nothing wrong with this, I still feel that... I still want to go out and live independently."

After she murmured in a low voice, a somewhat lonely smile appeared on her face, and then she fell into silence again.

——Crack.

The ice cubes floated and sank in the drink in the cup, making a pleasant sound from time to time.

"..."

Masaka Yuko came back to her senses, lowered her head to think for a moment, then raised her head and asked: "So Sayu-chan, where do you want to go?"

"Well..."

Sayu groaned and let go of the straw. He subconsciously put his hand on the lapel of his shirt and held down the cinnabar bottle in his shirt.

It was as if there was a "clicking" sound of small round beads inside, which made people feel calm.

This is a habit she has developed recently.

Although I can't give any reason.

But whenever she feels depressed, just touching this vial can calm her down, which feels like a placebo effect...

"Sorry, Yuko."

Sayu took a deep breath and said softly: "I want to go to Tokyo."

"Tokyo...have you told your family about this?"

"……not yet."

Masaka Yuko continued to ask: "What about Hokkaido University?"

"If I want to say...I'm going to try to get into a school in Tokyo first and wait until the end to make a decision. If I can pass the exam, I will go to Tokyo. If I can't..."

"Should I go to Hokkaido University?" Yuko said the next sentence before she could.

"...Well, that's it." Sayu nodded lightly in affirmation.

"I see." Yuko Masaka held her chin and nodded slowly, "Yeah~! If that's the case, it'll be fine. I think your family should be able to accept it."

"...Don't you blame me? Yuko."

"Um??"

"Because, if I get admitted to a university in Tokyo, I won't be able to stay with you. Is it okay for you to be alone...?"

A brief silence.
To be continued...