Sandy was staring at Nino.

Sandy:[It's that scary girl! He said her name was Nino…Is that really who I have to…?]

Sandy was hiding behind a shelf filled with cosmetics. Due to their meeting at Takebayashi's school, he had the worst possible memory of her.

Sandy:[She looks sad for some reason, a complete opposite from how she was treating me back then...But, if I go to her, she might get even madder. Maybe she's the type to change emotions to massive extremes in a second!]

Sandy was ready to leave, but she saw Nino's eyes beginning to get watery as she gripped the item she was holding with great force. As if on cue, she suddenly noticed it and wiped her eyes quickly and looked around in a panic. Sandy instinctively hid behind the shelf again so as to not get caught. Nino stopped, then sighed and began to move again.

Sandy:[She's really scary...and I've been told not to interact with any of the sisters any more than I had to...But she's acting nothing like what I've been told. It's not often I'm alone like this, I can at least see what's wrong.]

The flamboyant boy followed Nino until he saw her sitting down in the staircase leading to the school rooftop. As Sandy slowly kept inching closer, Nino turned towards his general direction. Nino, having her face slowly turn into that of disgust, sighed again.

Nino:"Why couldn't it have been Fuu-kun? Get out here, you creep."

Sandy:"T-There's no one here!" [Am I an idiot!?]

Nino:"Are you an idiot?"

Sandy:[She said it!]

Clearly defeated, He came out of his hiding spot in shame, showing himself to Nino.

Sandy:"How did you know it was me, pray tell?"

Nino, not wanting to deal with him, pointed at him.

Nino:"You put on way too much makeup! That crap is going to hurt you in the long run."

Sandy:"But don't I look wonderful?"

Nino:"About as wonderful as paint thrown at a wall."

Sandy:"Oh, how mean. Here I am worried about you, even when I shouldn't."

Nino:"The hell are you doing that for?"

Sandy:"Well, you just looked so sad back there."

Nino stepped back.

Nino:[Was it so obvious?] "I was just feeling down over the price of that cream, that's all."

Sandy:"Really? Aren't you quite wealthy?"

Nino was foiled again.

Nino"I-It was the quality of-"

This time, Nino had stopped herself.

Nino:[That would be mean to say that about their product…]

Sandy by this point, wishes he had popcorn with the mental gymnastics that were on display.

Nino:"Th-The quality of that cream was so fantastic, it put me to tears."

Sandy:"But you said you were feeling down."

Nino:"Will you shut up and accept my reasoning!?"

Sandy:"I'm pretty slow when it comes to that, I apologize. I have just the right makeup to hide your pain."

Nino:"I'm so done with you."

Sandy:"But really, what made you feel down? Issues with friends? Issues with grades? Issues with family?"

Nino:"I'm gonna walk away now."

Sandy:"Aha! That must be it! Is it your sisters or your dad?"

Nino:"I'm not telling you!"

Sandy:"It's your sisters!"

Nino:"Like hell it is!"

Sandy:"So you've crossed that out, which means it's your dad!"

Nino got taken aback with how she was swept up in the conversation. Her current state of being had led her to basically tell him everything against her will.

Nino:"Why you…!"

Sandy:"I understand, I had massive problems with my parents accepting me. They would always want to change me."

Nino:"..."

Sandy:"But maybe, in your case, it could be his fault?"

Nino:"It's not his fault!"

Nino now felt defeated, she had been utterly defeated by this annoying guy with too much makeup.

Sandy:"I've hit the jackpot, it seems. Well, I don't know every detail of your relationship with him. But, know this! You should have a good, long talk with him."

Nino:[...Fuu-kun already wanted to do that…]

Nino's mood went back down upon remembering when Fuutarou was trying to get her to come with him. After that, Nino just looked at Sandy before walking away.

Nino:"You've won this round, now leave me alone."

Sandy:"Fine fine. But I'm rooting for you!"

Nino:"Yeah, yeah."

As she was walking away, Sandy thought to himself.

Sandy:[She's definitely not as scary now. That was a nice memory. Good luck, Nino-chan, I hope you and your father can make amends...I just hope my advice was good enough seeing as...I never made amends with my original parents.]

…

Miku:"This is where you've been, Itsuki?"

Itsuki, despite looking miserable doing her self assigned assignments, was still deep in her commitment to finish. She looked to be alone. Miku walked up to her and grabbed her shoulder, causing Itsuki to jump.

Itsuki:"Ah! I-I'm sorry, Shimoda! I swear I'm not having trou-M-Miku?"

Miku:"Y-Yeah, that's me. Are you alright? that was a pretty wild reaction to someone grabbing your shoulder."

Itsuki:"N-No need to worry! I'm just figuring out the steps to this problem for Yotsuba."

Itsuki then looked out the window.

Itsuki:"My, the festival is almost closing for the day."

Miku:"Have you really been here all day?"

Itsuki:"Yep! Working diligently! Speaking of Yotsuba, have you seen her? She said she was going to come over for the answer to a question."

Miku:"So you haven't heard. Although it makes sense if you really were here all day…"

Itsuki:"Heard what?"

…

Itsuki:"No way…Why didn't you call us?"

Miku:"Out of battery...Forgot to plug it in when I went to sleep yesterday…"

Itsuki:"Oh, right. I suppose that wouldn't be on your mind…"

Miku:"In any case, I've been doing some of her tasks in hopes that will alleviate her total work."

Itsuki:"That's good. Well, as long as Yotsuba is resting."

Miku:"You're not going to visit her?"

Itsuki:"I would love to, but I must finish this work."

Without delay, Itsuki began to write once again.

Miku:"..."

Silence filled the room. During this time, Miku closed her eyes. She thought back to when Ichika announced her departure and how Itsuki was acting, this wasn't a simple one time occurrence. The Itsuki from before would run to her sister to see if she was okay. Something had happened to Itsuki, and whether she already knew what it was or not, it didn't matter. Miku was really getting angry. She had just seen what happened to Yotsuba, Miku herself experienced some of that intense pressure, and now Itsuki was torturing herself. After a little bit of time, Miku spoke to Itsuki again.

Miku:"Itsuki...This isn't healthy!"

End of Chapter 71