"Alice. How did you get to work earlier? When I went to pick you up at home, Tina said you had already left for work?"

Alice, who was preparing for a cooking competition at the time, immediately turned around. She gave Rumi a puzzled and bewildered look in response to his question.

Alice hadn’t forgotten. It was impossible to forget that earlier that morning, while she was waiting for Rumi, Ashton had clearly said that his sister couldn’t pick her up as usual because she had to take Umi Hana somewhere.

That’s why, with Ashton’s persuasion, Alice agreed to ride with him to the office. Even though, in the end,...