Ayaka quietly nodded, but the warmth inside her chest slowly disappeared on the way home.
She knew Haruto better than anyone else, and whenever he said he wanted to have fun, someone would always become the center of his attention until he eventually grew bored.
Ren was a good person, the kind of person who would probably apologize even when nothing was his fault, so for the first time Ayaka wanted to disobey Haruto.
Unfortunately, every time she thought about refusing, another memory appeared instead. Haruto had praised her. He even called her cute.
Those simple words quietly repeated inside her head until guilt and happiness became mixed together and she could no longer tell which feeling was stronger.
Ayaka still brought Ren to the tree house in the end.
She had spent the entire day hoping Haruto would forget about him, but the moment she climbed the wooden ladder, Haruto was already sitting by the window reading a novel while his friends gathered around him.
