Haru waved wildly as if to shout "Over here!" across rows of vegetables and fruit stands. She seems to be conversing with another girl, whose back was turned to me so I couldn't make out who she was.

To find her talking animatedly to a random stranger at a grocery store seemed like a very Haru-thing, I thought.

When I came into view, their conversation was cut short. "Haru, did you get what you need?"

I heard a soft gasp from the girl that she was speaking with, dressed casually on a Saturday trip to the grocery.

"Sayaka?!"

It turned out to be Touko. Her eyes were wide with shock, like she was having a hard time coming up with a reaction. Then as if waking up from a trance, she suddenly rummaged through her bag of groceries to pull up a premium bar of chocolate and shoved it into my hands in a panic. "I missed you! Here you can have this! It's good for studying!"

"Mrrr..." Haru made a sound beside us. I can see her racking her brain to make the connection, but without success. "You two know each other?"

She could not have known Touko's face, as far as I'm aware. I did mention her a couple of times, but only enough to make sure that she was informed about who Touko was and what she was to me.

Touko's gears seems to be working too, until something clicked in place. "Wait, you called her Haru, so does that mean…?"

The last time I've met with her and Koito-san was a few months ago after attending the yearly cultural festival at our old school. We hang out at Miyako-san's café where the topic of Haru as my girlfriend was brought up for the first time. Touko seems to be going through the same memory lane as I am.

"Yes," I confirmed simply. Then, "Haru, this is Touko."

"Touko? Did you mean Yuu-chan's girlfriend? Nice to meet you!"

"Likewise!" Touko beamed.

For some reasons, I felt relieved that Haru associated her as Koito-san's girlfriend rather than my best friend and former love. I supposed because this was a surprising encounter, it didn't really give me enough time to prepare mentally.

"Say, do you guys have any plans tonight? Yuu's staying in and we're cooking!" Touko asked, her fists in front of her, the grocery bag swaying along with her sudden excitement.

"I haven't seen Yuu-chan in a long time!"

"You guys must talk a lot, huh?"

"Hmm she tells me lots of interesting information about Senpai after all."

Touko threw me a side glance, "Oh I can tell you more."

I chuckled at her childishness, "I am not sure if I like the sound of that." Admittedly, watching the two of them get along is very enjoyable.

"Well, what do you guys think? I don't even mind if you guys sleepover, honestly."

"Hmmm I don't really have anything important to do tonight…" Haru seems to be hesitating, but I think her lack of a solid response is just her wanting to know what I think first. "What about you, Senpai?"

The reason why Haru and I are together on a Saturday is that our exams week officially ended yesterday. We were out to do a little celebrating ourselves so I guess it wouldn't hurt to have others celebrate with us. In fact, I'm starting to get a little excited myself. "I guess we can go. Do you need us to bring anything?"

Before Touko can answer, Haru had an idea, "Maybe we can bring our leftover beers from my apartment? We can't finish them all by ourselves anyway." Then as an afterthought, she added, "Wait, none of you are underage, right?"

Touko shook her head. "Is Sayaka a heavy drinker?"

Haru considered it for a moment before giving an answer, "We haven't had that many drinking sessions really but I guess she's… average?"

"Finally!" Touko exclaimed, which caught some passersby's attention. "A department that you're not good at!"

"Why? Do you plan on challenging me to a drink off?"

"Of course!" Touko's eyes lit up a competitive flare that I've always been familiar with. "Well then, I better get going so we can prepare."

"Okay."

"I'll text you the directions!" Touko waved goodbye. "Nice to meet you, Haru-chan!"

"Nice to meet you too!" Haru replied with the same vigor.

With that, we went on our way.

The grocery store was conveniently connected to the train station so we were there in under 3 minutes. While we waited in line for the train, I took a quick glance at Haru who's deep in thought. I was just about to call out to her until she spoke.

"Sayaka-senpai?"

"Hmmm?"

"Yuu-chan's girlfriend... she's your high school best friend, right?" Haru spoke with hesitancy, but her eyes reflected a shaky curiosity which made me start wondering how this conversation will go.

"Yes."

"So... you guys spent a lot of time together."

"I suppose, but we ended up being in different classes in our third year."

"Right... She's your... high school crush too?"

"Hmmm? Yes," I answered simply.

At first, I had the sudden urge to deny, but what for? I figured it must have been the efforts I have put in trying to conceal my own feelings in the past that hearing it out loud made me put up my guard.

"I see..."

She looked away. Based on her body language, I can sense what she's trying to express. I'm intrigued about what she thinks of Touko so I feigned ignorance. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing! She's... really pretty... and nice. Hahaha," she admitted with a nervous laugh. "Do you guys hang out a lot?"

"Not lately, no," I answered coldly.

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm hanging out with you now."

"I guess that makes sense." She still doesn't sound convinced.

If I will put myself in Haru's shoes, I would surely feel a little threatened about Touko. Given the role that she played in my past life, she'd be a tough one to dethrone. But I certainly don't want Haru to feel that way.

Touko and Haru, huh? I suddenly found the idea entertaining. Touko, the stubborn person that she is against my noisy Haru. I almost let out a chuckle.

"Pretty, huh?" I threw her a dirty glance.

"Wha-?" She suddenly waved both her hands in front of her in panic. "You're prettier, of course! Like, a hundred times! Many times!"

"I only had my back turned for a couple of seconds and you're already talking to someone else."

"Wait, it's n-not what you think!" Haru fumbled with words as she tried to explain her way out.

The sun is just about to set when we got on the train as Haru fumbled with words.

This is going to be a fun night.