Jitsu -A different story-

Again, Kazumi and Shizune expressed everything they felt at that moment, the exercise routine was already over, but before they thought about what to do next, Shizune wanted to dig a little deeper.

"So... When are you going to introduce me to the person who has you trapped right now?" Shizune said it in a somewhat peculiar way, but Kazumi understood perfectly.

"Well, it's not that I don't want to introduce her to you or Kurono, it's just that I want to wait a little longer." Kazumi said that because she still didn't know how everything would turn out, she wouldn't like to introduce her and that a week later nothing would work, so she wanted to be sure to make their relationship strong.

"I understand, in any case, I will be very interested in meeting her." Shizune didn't ask anything else since Kazumi's attitude had become quite clear to her, although she wanted to ask her at least what her partner's name was, but she didn't have time to do so since someone more had arrived with them at that precise moment.

"Looks like you are done too." Kurono's voice was quite clear as she said something quite obvious.

"I just finished my routine, Kurono-kun. I was thinking of going to look for you." Shizune got a little closer to Kurono as she said that, she could tell Kurono's effort when seeing the state he was in, but that was already quite common for her.

"Seriously, you've become a bit slow, I remember that at your best you even had enough time to do one last exercise or lift some weights, has Shizune softened you up a bit?" Kazumi jumped into the conversation on her own, and something was on her mind at the time.

"First of all, I think I've never had a kind of best moment, besides I'm just enjoying the process of exercising, I'm not looking to break any records, the routine I do is enough for me." Kurono knew that he would not achieve anything arguing with Kazumi, but keeping quiet was also not an option.

"Well… I guess that makes some sense. What do you think Shizune, is Kurono attractive enough, or would you like him to try harder?" Shizune was surprised by that question, not because she came out of nowhere, but because she, subconsciously, imagined Kurono's body in all its splendor.

"I... I prefer Kurono-kun the way he is, I'm not saying the changes are bad, but I know he's fine with himself right now, and... I'll still like him regardless..." Shizune seemed to be talking to herself, but both Kazumi and Kurono heard that perfectly.

"Okay, I can't do anything if I ask Shizune's opinion, I don't know what you did exactly, but she's still madly in love with you." Kurono also heard that, but didn't say anything, he would keep his thoughts to himself, although he felt a strong need to hug Shizune a little. "Anyway, let's leave it at that. Shizune is done, so I guess you'll take a shower before you leave. Shizune tried really hard so she deserves it. By the way, Shizune almost fell off the treadmill, thank goodness Shizune was able to catch her balance, Shizune is very lucky on these occasions. It's true, Shizune made me laugh a lot, Shizune is very funny, and Shizune…"

Kurono was trying to calm down, he wasn't an idiot, he knew what Kazumi was trying to tell him by repeating Shizune's name so many times, and although it was very obvious, he appreciated that Shizune was quite distracted with her own thoughts.

"You're having fun, aren't you?" Kurono walked over to Kazumi to talk to her a bit in private.

"I don't know what you mean, is there something funny, maybe I should tell Shizune... By the way, Shizune is a very pretty name, have you tried saying it many times?" Kurono closed her eyes because she wanted to ignore the smirk on Kazumi's face. "Okay, I'll stop, it's just that you told me you were going to change that, but I keep hearing you call her "Shizune-chan" and it makes me doubt your seriousness."

Kazumi walked away from Kurono to go back to Shizune, he was quite aware of what Kazumi was saying and knew that he was just hesitating for no reason, but he wanted to find the right moment.

…

In the end, both Kazumi, Shizune, and Kurono went to take a quick shower, obviously in separate places, with no accidents involved. They were now at the entrance to the gym, and it was quite noticeable that, outside, the moon and stars graced the sky, but before anything happened, something snapped out of Kazumi.

"Eh…?" It had been a simple expression of confusion and that was due to what she had just heard.

"I hope you don't reject me this time, after all, you can't make the same excuse as always." Shizune said that as she crossed her arms.

What had happened was that Shizune had just invited Kazumi to dinner, it wasn't the first time she had done it, but Kazumi always said that she didn't want to interrupt Kurono and Shizune's alone time, but now, Shizune had told her that the dinner was in the apartment she lived in, which meant she couldn't answer directly.

"I really don't want to bother you, your daughter and her husband will be there too, right?" It was true that Kazumi's attitude was quite relaxed and she didn't care much about other people's opinions of her, but even she thought that she would feel a bit out of place.

"Please Kazumi. Do it for me, okay?" Shizune did that because she really wanted to thank Kazumi in some way, plus Rena had told her that she wanted to meet Kazumi since she had told her a lot about her.

"Sigh... It's fine, just let me go change in my office and fix some things." Hearing that, the happiness on Shizune's face was quite clear. "Wait for me and Kurono in his car."

Shizune didn't quite understand why Kazumi was asking her to do that, but she didn't want to do anything to change her mind, so she also told Kurono that she would be waiting patiently for them in the car.

Again, Kurono and Kazumi were left alone, and Kazumi took advantage of the moment to get back at him by using her hands to squeeze Kurono's head with her fists.

"And what was that for?!" Kurono obviously had to shake her off before letting that question out.

"Don't think I didn't see how you made fun of me!" Kazumi was in the front row, from what she could see as Kurono had covered his mouth as he avoided eye contact with her.

"Ah, so that's why." Kurono understood everything.

"You're not even going to deny it?"

"Why should I? You always say that I can never go against Shizune, but your case seems to be the same."

"How do you want me to refuse if she makes that puppy face about to cry? Before I was only considerate of you because I don't want to be the third wheel during your time as a couple."

"Yes, I really appreciate that, but Shizune was serious, he wants you to come to dinner with us." Kurono knew Kazumi's intention, but now she had no way to get rid of it.

"Yeah, don't think I'm going to run away or anything, just give me a few minutes... I really don't want to make Shizune sad, after all, it seems like I'm closer to her compared to her dumb boyfriend who can't even call her by her name as normal" And leaving that last comment, Kazumi's figure disappeared inside the gym with that low blow to Kurono.