Hakuto was stunned when he heard Sayuri's words. He looked in disbelief toward the direction she was pointing.
Even though, in Hakuto's eyes, there was no one there, he quickly understood what was going on.
Seeing that Nao still refused to deactivate her ability, Hakuto had no choice but to bite the bullet and say,
"She's the student council president of Hoshino Umi Academy."
"Student council president? Since when did you start taking an interest in things like the student council?"
"I wouldn't say I'm interested…"
As he spoke, Hakuto discreetly moved closer to Nao, relying on his instincts. Then, trusting his gut, he reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Hmm? What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? Turn off your ability."
"Hmm? Oh, was I using it?"
The moment she finished speaking, Nao's figure appeared before Hakuto, her face carrying an innocent expression.
"Sorry for causing trouble. Hope you have fun, Sayuri-san."
Hakuto just wanted to get away from this situation as soon as possible. He was worried that Nao would pull some kind of stunt.
"Wait a minute!"
Just then, Sayuri stopped him.
"Is there something else?"
Hakuto held onto Nao's arm tightly. If she tried anything, he would immediately yank her away.
Sayuri reached behind her, trying to grab Eriri, but after waving her hand around for a while, she found nothing.
"If you're looking for Eriri, she left just now."
"Huh?"
Sayuri turned around in disbelief, only to realize that Hakuto was right—Eriri was nowhere to be seen.
"Ha… haha… It's fine, Hakuto."
"Then I'll be going now?"
"Mm."
Watching Hakuto walk away, Sayuri subconsciously clenched her fists. But she wasn't angry at him—she was angry at her own daughter.
Meanwhile, Hakuto pulled Nao back to the food stall that was selling beef tongue rice.
"Boss, another order of beef tongue rice."
"Did you bring me here just to buy food?!"
Seeing Nao's nonchalant expression, Hakuto felt at a loss. He was already exasperated enough for the day.
"Was it fun following me around while invisible?"
"Not really. I was just expecting to witness some dramatic scene."
"I must have been out of my mind to think you'd stay put."
"I thought you knew I was following you. You even reacted when I kicked you while using my ability."
"Do you want me to dump this beef tongue rice on your head?"
"Don't! That would be such a waste."
Meanwhile, Sayuri had found Eriri sitting at the doorstep of their house.
Eriri was squatting by the door, her head buried in her knees, looking utterly dejected.
"You didn't bring your keys, so why did you run back alone?"
Sayuri crouched in front of her daughter and gently tidied her messy twin tails. She could tell that Eriri's emotions were all over the place.
Seeing that Eriri didn't respond, Sayuri spoke again.
"What's wrong? Weren't you eager to talk to Hakuto when you saw him?"
She wasn't lying. Ever since that day, Eriri had been completely out of it.
It wasn't until Sayuri talked to her last night that she started to feel a little better.
"No! Who wants to talk to him?!"
Hearing the sob in her daughter's voice, Sayuri didn't know what to say.
She never expected that something like a "chasing after lost love" scenario would actually happen to her own daughter—though, in truth, she had seen it coming.
And Eriri's reaction was extreme. Just seeing Hakuto and Nao interacting had already left her in this state.
"Look at me and talk, okay?"
"No, no, no!"
Eriri shook her head, rejecting her completely.
Sayuri sighed. She had expected this.
The moment the contract ended, she knew this day would come just from how strangely Eriri was acting.
Back then, she had thought it was just a normal withdrawal reaction. But now…
After an unknown amount of time, Eriri finally lifted her head to look at Sayuri.
Sayuri immediately noticed her daughter's red and swollen eyes, but she chose not to point it out. Or rather, she chose not to say anything.
"Eriri, why do you think you feel this way?"
"What do you mean?"
Eriri rubbed her sore eyes. She wasn't sure what had happened—after seeing Hakuto grab Nao's hand, her mind just blanked, and she ran off.
By the time she realized it, she had already ended up here, feeling awful.
"Can you be honest with me? What do you think about Hakuto right now?"
Hearing her mother's question, Eriri instinctively averted her gaze and stammered,
"What… what else could I think… He's just… a friend…"
"If he's just a friend, then why were you crying?"
"Who… who was crying?! I just got smoke from the food stalls in my eyes, that's all…"
Yeah… even she didn't know why she had cried.
Hakuto chased after her for two years, and she never felt anything.
So why… Why was it only now that she felt so uneasy?
Why… why…
Seeing that Eriri was still trying to escape the truth, Sayuri couldn't help but feel a surge of frustration.
So she decided to stop holding back. Since her daughter had already reached this point, there was no reason to keep quiet anymore.
"Come with me."
"Where?"
"To find the feelings you threw away."
With that, Sayuri took out a key and unlocked the door. Eriri hesitated for a moment but then followed firmly behind her.
Sayuri led Eriri into her own room, then walked over to the closet and started searching at the bottom.
"Mom, what are you looking for?"
"For the things you never noticed before."
"What do you mean?"
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Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute]
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