Time passed quickly, and as the sun was about to set, Rikka climbed back up the rope.
The five Nakano sisters took their respective test papers and went home, and Ginko did the same.
After giving Hakuto a kick, she silently opened her parasol and boarded the train.
However, there was still one person remaining by Hakuto's side—Nao, who was waiting for him at the café downstairs.
Looking at the brilliant sunset, Hakuto frowned. "The president should've left by now, right?"
Although Nao had said she would wait for him, several hours had already passed, and whether she was still there remained uncertain.
But since they had made an agreement, Hakuto decided to go check the café.
He slowly walked downstairs and entered the café near his apartment building.
Cafés in Sakuragaoka were quite popular, especially with the existence of maid cafés.
Scanning the interior, Hakuto's gaze finally landed on a white-haired girl resting her head on a table in the corner.
He naturally recognized her—it was Nao, the one he was looking for.
He walked over and sat down across from her.
She was resting her head on her arms, and the cup of coffee beside her had already gone cold. It was clear she had been waiting for a long time.
Seeing this, Hakuto sighed instinctively. It seemed like she had spent most of her day sleeping...
"You're not even worried about catching a cold..." He took off his jacket and gently draped it over her without waking her up.
After all, since she had waited so long for him, it was only fair that he waited a little for her in return.
He then ordered two lattes from the server, replacing her cold coffee.
Looking at Nao, Hakuto could more or less guess what had happened today.
But he didn't dwell on it.
The situation had already passed, and Nao was smart enough to stay hidden and not let Ginko and the others find any evidence.
"What a ridiculous love triangle..." He shook his head. "How did it come to this? All I wanted was to make some money..."
As he spoke, he recalled memories of his past life from a few days ago.
From what he understood, that must have been his first life—the one where Otosaka Shunsuke never activated his ability.
If his memories were correct, that version of himself had indirectly saved all the ability users in Sakuragaoka.
In that sense, he was sort of a savior...
Even though Otosaka Shunsuke would have eventually been rescued without him, that didn't erase the fact that he was the one who had originally saved Otosaka Shunsuke from the research institute.
It was like a person who could earn a million yen on their own, but someone else helped them earn it earlier.
Would that person shamelessly say, "Even without you, I would've made that million yen eventually!"?
Because of Hakuto, Otosaka Shunsuke's self-rescue storyline never happened. So, he figured he deserved some credit.
Not that he cared. Titles and fame were the last things he wanted.
"But seriously... my past self was really nothing like I am now..."
Spending 300,000 yen just for a figurine? There was no way his current self would do that!
And saying something like, "What if I die tomorrow? Just buy it!"
He could hardly believe that had come from him. No—was that even something a normal person would say?!
Live in the moment, huh... He actually admired his past self's optimism.
And then there was Otosaka Shunsuke, who, because of a single promise, still hadn't come to find him even now.
Should he be praised for keeping his word? Or was he just too stubborn?
If it were Hakuto, and there was a powerful, free labor force available, he wouldn't care about some promise!
After all, with time travel, whatever happened in the future was up to him to decide!
Of course, that was assuming he didn't run into Sarah Sean... otherwise, he'd have to deal with a whole lot of questioning.
Time passed quickly. Hakuto had been sitting across from Nao for about two hours now. The golden hues outside had faded into darkness.
Even the coffee he had ordered for her had gone cold.
He hadn't expected Nao to be such a deep sleeper. He even started wondering if the side effects of his computational ability had transferred to her.
If not for the fact that she was still breathing, he might've thought she was dead!
But he didn't wake her. After all, he owed her a huge favor...
Just as he was ordering another latte for her, she finally stirred.
"Mmm..." Under his gaze, Nao slowly sat up and stretched.
"Mm... ah... Hakuto?" She looked at him, still half-asleep.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah... awake..." She rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"
"Eight in the evening."
She glanced at the darkening sky outside and yawned.
"When did you get here? And why didn't you wake me up?"
"I just got here, and then you woke up. Why would I wake you?"
"Tch... so you were planning to wake me, huh?"
"Otherwise? You expect me to just sit here waiting for you forever?"
"Hah? Do you know how long I waited for you? I didn't even have lunch! I practically slept through the whole day!"
"Yeah, yeah, the great President is the best."
She scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. That was when she noticed the jacket draped over her.
"This is..." She picked it up and looked at him. "Yours?"
"Obviously." Hakuto chuckled. "Did you think some random handsome guy covered you up out of kindness?"
"And you're gonna tell me that 'random handsome guy' is you, huh?"
"Like I said, obviously."
"Narcissist..." She tossed the jacket back at him, but then she realized something—he had been waiting for her for quite a while.
The lingering warmth on the jacket said it all.
"Huh? My coffee isn't cold yet... pretty high quality, huh?"
"High quality, my ass! If you had any basic physics knowledge, you'd know I just ordered that for you!"
"Hah? Why so aggressive? I haven't even settled the score for what you did to my forehead yet!"
"Oh? I still have the pictures. Want to see?"
"You're asking for a beating!"
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