Yuto didn’t deny it. He didn’t apologize either. He just sighed, rubbed his face, and said the words Mika would later recognize as a warning label she’d ignored:
Yuto compared her to Saki constantly—but not in the early "you're better" way. Now it was: ano ko no kwari ni suki na dake
"I just like you instead of her."
She confronted him.
Mika laughed. Not bitterly. Just knowingly . Yuto didn’t deny it