“Really, Cyrus...? Ah, let me see. You haven’t overcome your aversion to women—in fact, it’s gotten worse. And now you’re saying you don’t mind being single? Hmm, what can we do about that?” said Ryou with a vexed expression.

Hold on, did Cyrus just say what I think he said? You’re giving up already?! What about your feelings for Maria? Cyrus, are you really telling you can’t succeed in love without the help of a villainess who’s supposed to get in your way?! I chided Cyrus in my head in the style of a straight man in a comedy duo. But then I heard another voice suddenly chime in from another direction.

“Umm, Cyrus, do you remember me?”

It was Haru who said this as she approached Cyrus.

As she slowly stepped closer to him, her pretty black eyes misted over, I couldn’t help but remember a term I used to hear used in Japan to describe an idealized beauty—Yamato nadeshiko, a term which was also used to refer to a kind of dianthus flower.

But of course, with a misty-eyed beauty suddenly approaching him, Cyrus was starting to look flustered.

If Ryou hadn’t been holding on to his shoulders, he definitely would have backed away slowly, then fled.

“U-Umm, I don’t believe I’ve ever been acquainted with a woman matching your description,” said Cyrus.

“Cyrus, it’s me, Haru. When we were children, I often used to play with you and my brother,” said Haru.

Cyrus’s eyes widened.

“Haru... Wasn’t Ryou’s little brother called Haru? Wait, you’rethat Haru?”

“Yes. My hair was short back then, and I always used to wear boys’ clothes, since they were easier to move around in. I had an inkling that you might have mistaken me for a boy back then, but actually, I’m a woman.”

It seemed that Haru had had a more boyish appearance when she was a child, leading to Cyrus being mistaken about her gender. He had once told me that, when he was a kid, there were no girls his age around in his hom