250 You Two Arent Even Close to My Level (1/2)

”Mika and I just happened to be shopping around here, and we thought that this store seemed interesting, so we decided to check it out. We didn’t expect to see you here,” Chiaki said naturally.

She made it sound so believable. Mika, who was standing beside her, chose to remain silent.

”Oh... what a coincidence,” Seiji muttered, still dazed.

”Who’s this beautiful girl sitting across from you? Are you on a date?” Chiaki turned to Yukari and smiled.

”She’s—” Seiji started.

”I’m Yukari Asamiya, from Year 1, Class 3.” Yukari was no longer smiling; there was a sharp look in her eyes as she faced the tomboy. Hello, it's nice to meet you... You don’t know me, but I know you two, Chiaki Wakaba... and Mika Uehara-san.”

”You know us?” Chiaki's smile faded when faced with Yukari’s imposing manner.

”Yes, many people know you... the two good friends that are often by Harano-san’s side,” Yukari said lightly, placing extra emphasis on ‘good friends.’

Chiaki's smile looked rather forced, and her eyes shot sparks. Yukari looked directly into Chiaki's eyes, radiating an imposing aura.

Mika remained silent; her eyes swam with a wistful look.

Seiji was rendered speechless. Was this... the legendary hellish battleground between women? Why did it become like this!?

It wasn’t difficult for him to come up with the answer. He only told about the date... whoops, the time and place of the meeting with Yukari to one person.

For Chiaki and Mika to show up here precisely at this time, it was highly likely that they received information from that person.

Even though it might have been a coincidence, Seiji felt that... this was most likely the case.

‘Shika-chan...’ He felt somewhat conflicted as he thought about how his adopted younger sister had probably created this situation.

He was about to speak up and say something, but the purple-haired girl beat him to it.

”Since we coincidentally met here, why don’t you sit down together with us? You two are Harano-san’s good friends, and I've wanted to have a good chat with you, so this is an excellent opportunity.”

Yukari’s words were very direct; they didn’t seem to contain any trace of falsity at all.

Chiaki blinked at this. ‘As expected of the ‘Princess,’ she mused.

Just this short first meeting with Yukari caused Chiaki to understand why Yukari had a nickname which she could only inwardly exclaim at.

‘Mika, you have such an incredible opponent.’ Chiaki glanced at her good friend before sitting down at the table.

Mika sat down as well. Both of them ordered coffees from the waiter that came by.

After that, everyone remained silent for a little while.

”I see... I thought that you two were having a date, but in the end, it's just communication between friends about a common interest.”

Chiaki strongly emphasized the last few words of her sentence. It was a counterattack against Yukari.

Yukari smiled faintly. ”Indeed, Harano-san and I have some common interests. I’m very happy about this and had lots of fun chatting with him earlier. By the way, Wakaba-san and Uehara-san, do you two like light novels? What novels have you read?”

Yukari made another stab. Her riposte was rather difficult to deal with for Chiaki.

If she had to answer, she would say, ”Of course I like light novels,” but her passion was only at a normal level. It was probably not even close to Yukari’s or Seiji’s level.

Chiaki wasn’t aware just how much Yukari liked light novels, but she could sense her imposing manner, which seemed to say ”You two aren’t even close to being on my level.”

The purple-haired girl’s eyes revealed self-confidence and resolution, and she was surrounded by an atmosphere which wouldn’t be shaken by anything whatsoever.

‘I can’t just answer her like this and let her control the flow.’ Although this thought passed through her head, Chiaki didn’t know how she should answer.

”I don’t like light novels,” a voice said calmly. It was Mika. She looked at Yukari and answered her question calmly.

This was the first sentence she had spoken since entering the manga coffee cafe, and her response surprised Yukari.

”That’s because I’ve never even read light novels before, and only learned about them recently, so I can’t say that I like them,” Mika continued. ”But... I like the light novel that Seigo wrote,” Mika said in a resolute tone, looking towards Seiji.

”Harano-san wrote a light novel?” Yukari was surprised yet again.

”Yep. Seigo didn’t tell you? His story was published in a magazine, and Chiaki and I both read it and thought that it was great.” Mika looked towards Yukari and smiled.

There seemed to be a strong force behind her smile.