All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

With group chats and private messaging apps, the number of times friends called each other directly had indeed been decreasing.

Because of that, whenever a call from a friend came through, one would subconsciously wonder: Did something happen? Why are they calling so urgently?

Back to the point—after dinner and a bath, Megumi Kato sat on her bed, just about to start a video call with Kotomi. But before she could dial, her phone rang first.

A glance at the caller ID—it was Yui.

For a moment, Megumi thought that Yui had somehow found out about her relationship with Kotomi. Since Yui also seemed to have feelings for Kotomi, perhaps she couldn’t accept it and was calling now to declare war.

”Megumi, good evening. Do you have time right now?”

”I do. What’s up?”

Megumi replied with a light smile, though a hint of vigilance rose in her heart as she thought to herself:

Ever since I started dating Kotomi, I’ve thought more than once about finding a chance to tell Yui and Yukino about our relationship. But every time I discussed it with Kotomi, she would say very seriously that we can’t tell anyone yet.

She does have a point. High school life is pretty packed—we’re at school almost every day, with fixed schedules. It’s not like university, where you can skip campus entirely when you don’t have classes.

If we make our relationship public now... even though dating in high school isn’t unusual, we’re both girls. A relationship between two girls... it would definitely attract some confusion or strange looks.

Keeping it secret and dating quietly would save a lot of trouble.

But... there are so many girls who like Kotomi. If we made it public, it might even scare off those scheming foxes who have their eyes on her.

Unfortunately, Kotomi refuses to let me say anything. Once she gets back from Kyoto, I should find a time to talk to her about it again. Even if we don’t go public yet, telling Yui and Yukino a little shouldn’t be a problem, right?

That way, I can also test whether Yui has any intention of ”wanting to date Kotomi.” If she does, then hopefully she’ll back off. If not, then everyone wins—and we might even get their blessings.

Although Megumi thought all this in her mind, she was still paying full attention to what Yui was saying.

”Actually, I’m standing in front of a capsule toy machine right now. It seems a bit different from the usual ones.”

”A capsule machine? What’s different about it?” Megumi asked curiously.

Speaking of capsule machines, I remember Aimi seems to really like them. She once tried to collect a full set and accidentally spent all her allowance. In the end, Kotomi even gave her some of her own allowance. I haven’t teased Aimi about that yet—next time we meet, I definitely will... Megumi thought.

”Most machines—you just pay, turn the knob once, and that’s it. But this one is different. After paying, you can turn the knob as many times as you want, and when you’re done, you just tap it once to get the capsule.”

”Oh... I’ve never seen one like that before. Or maybe it’s just because I don’t buy capsule toys much. Aimi might have seen one—she was really into them for a while. What happened next?”

”Well, a little girl told me that if I use my lucky number for October as the number of turns, I might get something I like. But I don’t know what my lucky number is this month.

”So she said, ’Then you can call a friend and ask them to suggest a number as your lucky number.’

”I thought that made sense, so I called you, Megumi.”

Hearing Yui’s explanation, Megumi more or less understood.

”I see—you want me to suggest a number... Oh, wait. Kotomi and Yukino should both be with you, right? Is Kotomi there?”

Just as she was about to give a number, Megumi suddenly realized something. Yui was with Kotomi and Yukino. If Yui was playing with a capsule machine, they should be nearby—so why call her instead of asking them?

A possibility quietly surfaced in Megumi’s mind.

—Kotomi isn’t with Yui?!

Could it be that Kotomi had gone off somewhere alone again?

At that thought, Megumi immediately grew uneasy. If Kotomi were with Yui and Yukino, then at least Yukino would be there to keep an eye on her.

But the moment she imagined Kotomi going somewhere alone, Megumi felt a surge of anxiety—worried that Kotomi might run into danger, or worse, that she might be meeting another girl in secret.