Although Hakuto had no idea what Eriri was up to, he had a feeling it was going to be troublesome.
Before he could dwell on it any further, a voice came from the other side of the one-way mirror.
"Hey, hey~ Is anyone there?"
Hakuto and the girl sitting on his lap, Nao, both turned their heads to look. Nino had somehow seated herself on the other side of the mirror.
"Hm? Didn't she leave just now?" It was Nao's first time meeting Nino, so she naturally couldn't tell her apart from Yotsuba.
"This is someone else, not the girl from earlier," Hakuto explained.
"Huh~? Twins?"
"To be precise, quintuplets..."
"What the hell? And also, I just heard that girl call you 'Mr. Shiratori.' What's that about?"
"I'm a tutor. As the top student in my grade, making some extra money as a tutor isn't exactly hard to understand, is it?"
Hearing this, Nao, still sitting on Hakuto's shoulders, gave him a curious look.
"Quintuplets? A tutor? You really are lucky when it comes to girls..."
"Don't say it like that. I'm just a tutor."
"Sure, sure!"
Nao couldn't be bothered to argue with Hakuto. She leaned forward, pressing down on his head slightly, then picked up the microphone on the table.
Meanwhile, on Nino's side, she was about to leave after getting no response when a warm, mature voice came through the speakers.
"Hello, student. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Huh? I thought no one was here..."
Hearing someone respond, Nino sat back down.
Hakuto rolled his eyes instinctively as he watched Nao sit on him without a shred of guilt.
Well, if she wanted to sit, let her sit. She wasn't heavy anyway—he could just think of it as holding a pet.
However, Nao had no idea what Hakuto was thinking. She just found this "seat" surprisingly convenient.
"Welcome to the Hoshinoumi psychological counseling event. Do you have any worries on your mind lately?"
"Hey, can you stop copying my lines word for word?" Hakuto complained.
Nao ignored him, simply tightening her legs slightly in response.
"Worries? Me? I don't really have any... but I wanted to ask, what's the point of putting a mirror here?"
"This is just to help people face their true feelings. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Oh~"
Nino nodded. She didn't know much about psychology, but that explanation sounded reasonable.
She thought for a moment.
She originally had no interest in this kind of thing, but when she saw Yotsuba come out of the room looking all excited, jumping around as if she'd just overcome some emotional barrier...
More importantly, right after coming out, Yotsuba had been shouting about wanting to study! About taking first place in the class!
For a moment, Nino had seriously thought that someone had drugged her sister.
Her curiosity got the better of her, so she stepped inside. And it wasn't just her—the other three were still waiting in line outside.
But since she was already here, she figured she should at least talk about a problem, right?
That thought lingered in her mind, but no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't come up with any personal troubles.
Just then, she spotted the "GG" logo above her head.
"Hoshinoumi professional psychological counseling... Hoshinoumi..."
Looking at those three words, a familiar image of Hakuto popped into her mind.
She wasn't sure if this counted as a problem, but since she was already here, she might as well ask.
"Um... excuse me, teacher, do you know a student at your school named Shiratori Hakuto?"
The moment Nino mentioned Hakuto's name, Nao instinctively glanced down at the boy beneath her.
"Why are you looking at me? Am I a customer?"
"No... I'm just curious... never mind."
Nao was about to say something, but she decided against it and refocused on Nino.
"You mean that exchange student? Yeah, I've heard of him. He's probably working as a mascot at some booth right now."
"Honestly, I don't get it. Why did Shiratori become an exchange student? And why did the school even set up two booths for your Hoshinoumi program just for him?"
"Maybe because he's the mascot..."
Nao and Nino didn't dwell on Hakuto being an exchange student for long—after all, the person in question was sitting right there with them.
"Teacher, can I ask... our conversation won't be shared with anyone else, right?"
"I won't say anything. As for whether others find out, that's up to you."
Nao was telling the truth—she wasn't the type to gossip.
What Nino didn't know, however, was that the Hakuto she was talking about was sitting right across from her... with another girl perched on his shoulders.
Was this some kind of NTR plot? Absolutely outrageous!
"So, I have this... friend. She really likes Shiratori, but she feels like one of her sisters also has feelings for him... So, I wanted to ask, what should she do?"
Hearing this, Nao instinctively glanced down at Hakuto again.
"Why are you looking at me again? Is it really that hard to believe someone would like me?"
"You know that's not what I meant. This Nino is obviously making up a 'friend' out of thin air..."
"If you don't know how to answer, just give me the microphone and get off me."
"No way!"
Nao rejected the idea outright and turned her attention back to Nino.
"What should she do? Simple—tell your friend to stop liking Hakuto. That solves the problem at its root!"
The moment she said that, Hakuto almost lost it. He barely stopped himself from laughing out loud.
"You're a genius! This is a solution I wouldn't have thought of in two lifetimes!"
"Isn't it? What part of you is even worth liking?"
"Sure, sure, Madam President, you're absolutely right!"
Hakuto didn't bother arguing. If he heard someone liked Nao, he'd probably react the same way.
On the other hand, Nino had the same reaction. She wanted to scream—what kind of ridiculous advice was this?!
But to keep up the act, she had no choice but to endure it.
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