Riona and I got home, did chores, and were each doing our own thing. Her lying on my bed reading a book was so normal at this point I couldn’t even mock it.
She had her guard fully down in a boy’s room. If I were a less-controlled guy this would be a disaster.
“Ryouya, are the play and three-legged on track?”
“The play, after being battered by the director, I finally lost the embarrassment and started getting praise. The three-legged is — fine.”
“Good. Looking forward to the actual day.”
“Yeah, not embarrassing Reona is the goal.”
Riona was in a different class and hadn’t seen our rehearsals; the question made sense. One week till the festival, time to lock in.
“Are you or Reona doing anything at the after-party?”
“I have nothing planned. I’m not a stage type.”
I’d asked, fishing for the rumor’s truth. Riona was confirmed-not-doing-anything. True — Riona on stage is hard to picture. Even in the play she was crew, not performer.
“Nee-chan, on the other hand, I can’t speak for.”
”…Wait, what?”
“She told her friends she wants to do something surprising, but I don’t know what specifically.”
I’d been hoping for the rumor is false; this answer pushed it the other way.
But — it could just be that something Reona said got broken-telephone-game’d into the rumor. In transmission, statements morph dramatically.
So nothing was clarified. Asking Reona directly would be the most efficient path; I lacked the courage. That was why I’d fished with Riona.