What is the point of this?

Hugo stared at the laminated café menu.

It felt uncomfortably similar to the disaster at the Italian restaurant, except for one key difference: this time, he actually brought his wallet. He had dug into his childhood savings before leaving the house this morning. Since he never went out, never bought anything, and never had any hobbies, there was plenty in there. At least he wouldn't be held hostage over the bill today.

But the real question was why he was sitting here in the first place.

He lowered the menu slightly. Across the small booth sat the three girls, already bickering over which crepe to order, exactly like they had the other day.

How did it come to this? Hugo wondered, staring blankly at a picture of a strawberry parfait.

It had happened just a few minutes after the library meeting ended.

He had been packing his bag in the empty aisle, still trying to process whatever strange, main-character movie moment Shira had just pulled on him. He was ready to go home, lock his door, and ignore the world.

But then the heavy wooden doors of the library had swung open again.

Mina had marched right back in, still dragging a very tired-looking Yuri by the sleeve. Shira trailed a quiet step behind them.

"Hey! Why don't you join us?" Mina had blurted out, her voice entirely too loud for a library.

Hugo had frozen. 

"Join you for what?"

He knew exactly what she meant, but he needed a few seconds to come up with his usual flat refusal.

"We are getting sugar before my brain actually melts," Mina declared cheerfully. "Think of it as a project afterparty! To celebrate Yuri not killing us!"

Hugo had his excuse ready. He was just about to say no.

"Mina, you're wasting your breath," Yuri sighed, rubbing her temples like she was already dealing with a headache. "He's not going to come. Let's just go."

Hugo had completely agreed with Yuri. Her assessment was spot on. He opened his mouth to confirm it.

But then, the girl standing in the back finally spoke up.

"I wish you would join us, Narakami-kun," Shira had said quietly.

Her tone hadn't changed. It was the same polite, even voice she always used. But somehow, those specific words just cut right through his usual defenses. Before his brain could catch up and force out a 'no,' he just... nodded.

He had actually agreed.

Now, sitting in the noisy, brightly lit café, surrounded by the smell of roasted coffee and the chatter of high schoolers, Hugo stared at the menu and tried to make sense of his own actions.

Why did he say yes? Why did Mina's nagging and Yuri's annoyance bounce right off his armor, while Shira's simple sentence carried enough weight to make him completely abandon his own rules?

Hugo let out a quiet sigh. He scanned the menu one last time before ordering a single pancake. He had no idea what to get. The simplest option would have been to copy whatever the girls were ordering to avoid standing out, but that was the absolute last thing he wanted to do.

The contrast at the table became glaring the moment the waitress took their orders.

"You're really just eating that?" Mina asked, leaning over the table to inspect his choice. "You eat so little!"

"I just don't feel like eating much," Hugo replied with a slight shrug.

Dismissing his brief answer, the three girls immediately fell back into a rapid, overlapping conversation while they waited for the food.

Hugo listened to the endless stream of chatter, genuinely perplexed. How do they have so much to talk about?

Maybe it was because they actually had things in common. That was how normal people became friends, wasn't it? They shared the things they liked.

Things they like... Hugo stared blankly at the polished wood of the table. What do I like? And if I don't like anything... what does that make me?

"What do you think about this, Narakami-kun?" a bright voice cut through his internal audit.

Hugo blinked. Three pairs of eyes were staring at him from across the booth.

"About what?" Hugo asked dumbly.

Yuri let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. "He wasn't even listening."

Mina leaned forward, shoving her phone screen directly into Hugo’s face. It was a photo of the three girls, likely taken at some other café. Before Hugo could even process the image, Mina’s thumb swiped to the next photo.

To Hugo’s absolute surprise, it was the exact same picture.

He looked dumbly from the screen to Mina.

"Which photo is better?" Mina asked expectantly.

Hugo briefly wondered if this was a coordinated prank or some new, highly advanced form of bullying. He waited for someone to laugh and admit it was a joke. Nobody did. They were completely serious.

He genuinely pondered the screen. Yet, he couldn't spot a single detail that was different. He pointed randomly at the screen.

"This one?"

Mina immediately groaned and slumped back, while Yuri’s posture straightened in victory.

"See? I told you that was the better composition," Yuri said, looking vindicated.

"But there's a shadow over half my face!" Mina complained. "I like the other one better."

"My eyes are half-closed in that one, Mina."

Confused, Hugo looked over at Shira, silently asking what the actual stakes of this argument were.

"They just want to post something on social media," Shira explained.

Hugo gave a slow nod. He didn't understand what the fuss was about, but he wasn't interested enough to ask.

"Are we boring you?" Shira asked, her pale eyes studying his face.

Hugo denied it immediately. "No. Why do you ask?"

"It's just... You haven't spoken a single word since we sat down."

"That's just how I am," Hugo replied flatly.

"..."

Shira seemed to ponder how to continue the conversation, but the silence stretched on as nothing came to mind.

Fortunately, the waitress returned with their food, cutting through the awkward atmosphere before it could fully settle. Hugo looked down at his plate. The pancake was mathematically too small for the price they were charging. Yet, he picked up his knife and fork without complaining.

Before he could take a bite, a sudden, bright flash caught his attention.

Shira was leaning back, her phone angled over her elaborate crepe, rapidly clicking photos.

"What are you doing?" Hugo asked, his curiosity overriding his silence.

"Taking photos," Shira answered, as if stating the most obvious fact in the world.

"I can see that," Hugo said. "But for what?"

Shira paused. She lowered her phone, and their eyes met.

"It's for my social media page," she said. She turned her phone around, sliding it across the table to show him her open profile.

Hugo’s eyes immediately caught the bold number at the top of the screen. 2.6k followers.

"And what do you get out of doing this?" Hugo asked, genuinely trying to understand the logic.

Shira placed her phone face-up on the table and thought for a moment. She offered a small, careless shrug.

"I just like doing it," she said softly. She tapped the screen, opening the comments on one of her posts. "And... people seem to like it."

Hugo took a slow sip of his juice, still wondering what the actual point of all this effort was.

Is it to show off? Broadcasting, 'Look how great my life is?'

He watched as Shira meticulously adjusted the contrast slider on her screen. Her face was completely blank. The polite, untouchable smile she usually wore around the school was nowhere to be seen. As her thumb tapped the 'post' button, she looked less like a teenage girl enjoying her weekend and more like a tired employee clocking in for a mandatory shift.

He lowered his glass, the soft clink of the ice cubes completely masked by Mina and Yuri suddenly breaking into a loud argument over a stolen strawberry.

Hugo looked away, turning his gaze out the café window toward the busy street. He didn't know much about social dynamics, and he certainly didn't understand the appeal of being perceived by thousands of strangers. But as he listened to the mechanical click of Shira locking her phone screen, he was certain of one thing.

Whatever Shira Umi was doing with that account, it wasn't just showing off, he concluded.