"..." Yukinoshita remained silent, shifting her gaze to the torrential rain outside the window.
"Heh~" Hoshimi chuckled lightly, rubbing Yukinoshita's delicate foot. "I didn't expect you to be such a good girl. Your family must have told you not to look for the person, right?"
Yukinoshita's expression disappeared completely. She stared at the rain outside, lost in thought.
Hoshimi continued to massage her small foot and went on, "If someone gets hit by a car at the start of the school term, they'd definitely need to go to the hospital to recuperate. The duration varies, but at least it would take a week, right?"
"Taking a week off right at the beginning of school isn't hard to investigate. If you put in some effort to ask around, you could definitely find out."
"But now it's been a year, so it might be a bit tricky to find them. If the person your driver hit was a third-year student back then..."
"It wasn't me who hit them!" Yukinoshita coldly corrected Hoshimi's mistake.
"Fine, that was my slip of the tongue. Let me continue. If your driver hit a third-year student back then, they should have graduated by now, and it would be impossible to find them."
"If it was a second-year or a first-year student at the same time as you, then there should still be a chance to find them now."
"So, do you want to look for them?"
Yukinoshita silently watched the rain, as if she hadn't heard Hoshimi's question.
"Coward..." Hoshimi muttered softly, then asked, "Where's your home first aid kit? Let me help you with the sprain again."
"The lowest shelf in the study," Yukinoshita's hearing suddenly returned.
Hoshimi stood up, went to the study, and fetched the home first aid kit. Not finding any white towels, he looked up at Yukinoshita, "Is there a spare towel I can use for a cold compress?"
"There are spare towels in the bathroom cabinet."
Hoshimi got up again, found a towel in the bathroom, soaked it in water, wrung it out, and brought it back to apply a cold compress on Yukinoshita's ankle. Holding the cold towel in place with his left hand to prevent it from falling, he continued to rub Yukinoshita's delicate foot with his right hand.
Yukinoshita, feeling ticklish on the sole of her foot, coldly said, "Hoshimi! Have you had enough?"
"I'm just collecting my payment, it's completely legitimate." Hoshimi replied righteously.
Yukinoshita gritted her teeth, wanting to kick this shameless intruder away. But after thinking it over, she didn't act. She was afraid that if she kicked him, Hoshimi would use it as an excuse to retaliate against her tonight. She couldn't afford to lose the peaceful night she had earned by exchanging her secret of living alone.
Frustrated and annoyed, Yukinoshita turned her head to watch the torrential rain outside, not wanting to deal with Hoshimi anymore. Out of sight, out of mind.
But while she couldn't see Hoshimi, she could still hear his voice.
"By the way, Yukinoshita, you didn't say if your driver hit a boy or a girl."
Yukinoshita's hearing failed again, and she stared at the rain without a word.
"Was it a girl?"
No reaction from Yukinoshita.
"A boy?"
Still no reaction, but a slight, almost imperceptible ripple appeared in her eyes.
"Seems like it was a boy." Concluding this, Hoshimi continued to rub her delicate foot. This time, he avoided the ticklish spot on her sole.
"....." Yukinoshita glanced at the now silent Hoshimi, a hint of confusion in her eyes. How did Hoshimi figure it out? She had shown no reaction. Could he read minds?
No, that couldn't be it. If Hoshimi could read minds, he wouldn't have fallen into her trap earlier. Or did he judge by the pulse in her foot? But that didn't make sense either. Her heartbeat hadn't accelerated.
Unable to come to a conclusion, Yukinoshita gave up thinking about it. She lay on the sofa, quietly watching and listening to the rain.
Hoshimi also fell silent, and the living room atmosphere gradually grew still.
The sky grew darker, and the rain heavier, making one wonder if a typhoon had brought all the seawater ashore. Fortunately, the heavy rain didn't last long. After a short while, it began to let up.
Having been in the living room for a long time, Yukinoshita started to feel cold. She rubbed her icy arms.
"Feeling cold?"
Hoshimi's sudden question caught Yukinoshita off guard. She glanced at him, then nodded evasively.
"Where's the air conditioner remote?"
"In the drawer right in front of you..."
Hoshimi took out the remote from the drawer and set the temperature to 24°C.
"That's too high," Yukinoshita reminded.
"24°C is just right," Hoshimi retorted and put the remote back in the drawer.
They stopped talking, and the room was filled only with the sound of the air conditioner and the rain outside.
Yukinoshita looked at Hoshimi, her thoughts unknown, then suddenly asked, "Hoshimi, do you have feelings for me?"
"Hm?" Hoshimi looked at her strangely, "You're just realizing this now?"
Regarding the girls who appeared in his dreams, Hoshimi could honestly say they were all his type, so having feelings was normal. It was strange, though. Hoshimi didn't know how his dreams chose people to bring in, but they were always beautiful girls, all his type.
It was strange. Was this the so-called dream come true?
"Hoshimi, I didn't expect you to answer so frankly," Yukinoshita said, her icy blue eyes filled with an unknown emotion as she stared at him.
Hoshimi smiled, "Yukinoshita, I didn't expect you to ask so directly either."
Talking about this topic, Hoshimi slightly relaxed his movements. Instead of rubbing her foot, he moved his hand up to her soft calf.
Yukinoshita glanced at his hand, her voice slightly icy, "Hoshimi, you know you're like a grade-schooler, right?"
"Oh?" Hoshimi smiled, "You mean like a grade-schooler who teases the person they like to get their attention?"
Yukinoshita didn't respond, but her expression seemed to agree.
"Haha~" Hoshimi chuckled briefly, squeezing her soft, slightly springy calf, "I'm different from a grade-schooler. I tease you just for fun, because your reactions are interesting."
"Hmph!" Yukinoshita snorted coldly, "That's why I say, Hoshimi, your personality is really bad."
Hoshimi didn't argue, flashing a bright smile at her, showing his white teeth.
Yukinoshita frowned, turning her head away to avoid his smile.
She'd rather he showed no expression than see him smiling like that.
===
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