Chapter 24: Nino Feels Wronged
Lunchtime.
"Sakurai-kun, I forgot to bring my bento today~! Let's go eat at the cafeteria together!" Fujiwara Chika found Sakurai in Class 2-A, waving at him from the classroom door.
ヾ(＾∇＾)
Inside the classroom, nearly all the male and female students turned their eyes toward the two of them.
A smaller portion of them also glanced at Hayasaka Ai, who was sitting beside Sakurai Saki.
There were quite a few small rumors going around about the three of them, gossip saying that two bishoujo were fighting over Sakurai Saki, with some even escalating the story to the level of violence.
From there, a number of "strange creative works" were born—like in previous issues of the magazine published by Shuchiin's Media Club, one story had a title something like — [The Tragic Battle Between the Ojou-sama and the Gyaru Over a Boy]. No one knew exactly who submitted it, but the writing was quite good, and it had already been serialized for several issues.
Sakurai had a few guesses—it was probably those girls from the Media Club.
Always obsessed with grabbing headlines, never studying seriously.
What did other people's love lives have to do with them? Sakurai Saki absolutely hated that kind of trashy tabloid-style snooping.
（￣へ￣）
What burned the most was, those girls actually wrote really well. The plot was engaging, the endings often had twists—Sakurai Saki almost believed it himself while reading.
The part where Ai-chan brought a knife to Fujiwara's house to steal him back.
ଘ(੭◌ˊᵕˋ)੭▬ι═ﺤ Σ(°ロ°)
The main character, Sakurai, watched it with great enthusiasm.
Under everyone's watchful eyes in the class...
Sakurai Saki glanced at Hayasaka Ai, then decisively stepped out.
As for whether this action would make Ai-chan sad… probably not, right?
Sakurai felt like their relationship wasn't that close yet—at most, there was just a bit of mutual liking. As for Secretary Fujiwara… that tiny face of hers was practically screaming, almost carving the words "I like you" across her forehead—Sakurai Saki couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to.
Chika: (♡ˊ͈ ꒳ ˋ͈)
Hayasaka Ai watched Sakurai walk off with Fujiwara Chika, chatting and laughing. Her gaze briefly revealed a trace of sadness, then she turned and chatted with a classmate beside her.
A moment later, the two pushed their desks together, and Hayasaka Ai also took out her bento.
"Sakurai-san… is gone. Hayasaka, aren't you going to chase after him?"
Ai-chan shook her head, saying nothing. Her face briefly looked downcast—anyone with sharp eyes could see it right away.
(｡•́︿•̀｡)
Quite a few students in the class also noticed the scene and began to murmur and gossip.
'Keikaku Doori~' Hayasaka Ai took in every reaction around her.
(≖⩊≖)
Sometimes, a temporary setback could become the perfect setup for a counterattack.
The power of public opinion was no joke.
Secretary Fujiwara, when it came to love, had no scheming ability at all—she was way too naïve.
But naïveté had its advantages—her actions were easy to predict.
If you encountered one of those strange girls who treated love like a runaway train barreling forward without brakes, now that would be trouble.
The kind of woman you couldn't read—that was the most terrifying.
One second she's cold as ice, the next second she's suddenly confessing her love—way too scary.
If her confession failed, she might just pull out a kitchen knife and start stabbing wildly—both the lover and the romantic rival.
(｀㊥益㊥)づ▬ι═ﺤ♡
Hayasaka Ai hoped that she'd never encounter such a crazy love rival in her entire life.
'But I really don't have much free time.' Hayasaka Ai sighed inwardly while eating.
Working until 9 PM every day was one thing. But the moment she returned to her room, she was always pulled into heart-to-hearts by Kaguya-sama.
That was fine too, but lately all the topics had been so weird—and once they started, it would go on for several hours.
After writing behavioral reports about the young lady and sending them to the main household, it was already close to midnight.
Because of that, the time she could spend playing games to build rapport with Sakurai had drastically decreased.
And yet, Kaguya-sama still told her to "quickly conquer" him?
(눈_눈)
How's that even possible~
So depressing~
"( – ⌓ – )
————
Elsewhere, while Sakurai was hurrying toward the cafeteria, the five Nakano sisters were also on their way there—even faster than Sakurai.
Nakano Itsuki glanced at her sisters beside her who were chatting as they walked. Inside, she was thinking of a way to apologize to Sakurai.
If you do something wrong, you have to apologize! That was Nakano Itsuki's belief.
'I just don't know if he'll forgive us or not… Haizz…'
"Itsuki! What are we eating for lunch today?" Nakano Yotsuba suddenly leaned in close.
"Meat buns?" Itsuki was still lost in thought.
"Eh? I think tempura udon sounds way better. Let's eat that together." Yotsuba said, then turned toward Mikku.
Miku replied flatly, "I want to eat matcha cake."
"Eating sweets at lunch isn't good. You'll gain weight," Nakano Nino chimed in, trying to advise.
Nakano Miku glanced sideways at her sister and said coldly, "What's it got to do with you?"
(¬_¬)
Nino's face darkened. She stayed silent for a few seconds.
It was just a minor argument with that tutor yesterday, right?
Did it really have to get to this point? Was she really being treated this way? Weren't they sisters? That guy was just an outsider, wasn't he?
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
"Miku! You're mad at me because of that guy?! Isn't he just a tutor? We can get another one! There's no shortage of people in Tokyo! The world doesn't stop spinning without him!!" Nakano Nino couldn't take it anymore.
"Don't fight…" Nakano Yotsuba could feel the mood turning awkward again and quickly tried to calm things down.
"Let's not argue anymore. Let's all go apologize to him later. He already said he'd quit tutoring anyway, which kind of aligns with what Nino wanted. You got what you wanted," Nakano Ichika spoke up, putting on her big-sister tone.
"I'm not apologizing to him!" Nakano Nino had originally planned to say sorry.
But now? That thought was gone.
Yotsuba was always bad at saying no to people, fine. But even Miku—who usually got along with her best—was arguing with her. And Ichika too, and Itsuki as well...
One by one.
'I didn't do anything wrong!! I just didn't want some stranger coming in and messing up our home, why is everyone blaming me?!' Nakano Nino felt deeply wronged.
A few seconds later.
Tears began to fall uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, hot droplets soaking into her shirt.
"Hu hu~" Nino sobbed while wiping her tears, speaking in desperation as if pouring out her entire heart: "It's all my fault! Hu hu~ Everything is my fault! Just dump everything on me, hu hu~ is that what you all want!?"
"You all… just go on, hu hu~ have your lunch, I'm not going anymore~"
With that, Nino turned and ran off in the opposite direction.
"She ran off~"
Nakano Yotsuba watched her younger sister's back disappear and didn't know whether she should chase after her or not.
"I'm hungry," Miku said flatly.
"Let's buy her something to eat later," Itsuki suggested, looking at the growing crowd of students heading toward the cafeteria. Nino was already nowhere in sight.
At this point, chasing her would be pointless.
————
On that same path.
"Sakurai-kun, what do you feel like eating?" Fujiwara Chika asked the boy walking beside her—Sakurai Saki.
(♡ˊ͈ ꒳ ˋ͈)
Today was the last day of the "bet."
Forgetting her bento was obviously just an excuse. Otherwise, how could she have managed to go to lunch with him?
"Probably pork cutlet curry rice," Sakurai Saki thought for a moment and answered.
"Then I'll eat the same thing as you~" Fujiwara Chika instantly responded.
Suddenly, as the two of them were halfway there, a commotion stirred ahead of them.
"Eh? Eh? Eh!? What's going on up there? Some big event? A mysterious murder case? Or maybe someone's about to confess!?" Fujiwara Chika's eyes sparkled with excitement.
ヾ(｡✪ω✪｡)ｼ
She grabbed Sakurai's sleeve, about to pull him forward to check it out.
Sakurai had no choice but to let her drag him along.
Moments later, a familiar figure burst out from the crowd.
At breakneck speed!
"Thud!!"
The three of them collided hard.
Sakurai instinctively wrapped Chika in his arms to protect her from getting hurt.
After getting up, he looked up—and saw a tear-streaked face, a mix of shame and fury.
"Scumbag!!" Nakano Nino, sitting on the ground, clutching her forehead from the impact, shouted with teary eyes.
"Ugly pig!! Shut your damn mouth!!!" Sakurai Saki didn't hold back either.