Ding-ling-ling~~~~
The bell signaling the end of the exam rang, and Hoshimi woke up. Resting his chin on his hand, he gazed ahead, his eyes somewhat dazed.
It wasn't until the teacher collecting the exam papers reached his desk that he snapped out of his thoughts. He hurriedly gathered his stationery and followed the crowd out of the classroom.
Every time he returned to reality from the ninety-ninth layer of his deep dream state, he always experienced a strange sense of disorientation, as if he were an amphibian suddenly thrown onto land from water. Though not dangerous, it would take him a moment to regain his bearings.
He had asked the "Doctor" before about this disorientation—why it happened and whether it would have any effects on him.
The "Doctor" had assured him there was no need to worry, explaining that this sense of dislocation was merely a small issue with his "time perception." Since Hoshimi had his dream abilities as a fallback, this small problem wouldn't affect him personally, though it might not be the same for ordinary people.
After hearing the Doctor's response, Hoshimi silently abandoned the idea of bringing other girls into the deep dream world for "fun."
What a pity—when he first earned a perfect score from Yukino, he had planned to take her to the ninety-ninth layer of the dream world for a super reward. But due to the "time perception" issue, he had no choice but to give up on that tempting thought.
"Hoshimi, where are you going?"
Suddenly, someone grabbed Hoshimi's wrist.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Hoshimi turned his head to see that Yukino had caught him, her expression indifferent.
He paused for a moment and then said, "Sorry, I just woke up and didn't notice you were waiting for me."
"Just woke up?" Yukino's eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Hoshimi, with his dream abilities, just woke up groggy? Could it be that he hadn't entered the dream world while napping?
Suddenly, Yukino recalled something.
It seemed that Hoshimi had told her before that when he took short naps during the day, he wouldn't enter the dream world. This must be one of those instances where he woke up groggy, right?
Convinced she'd figured it out, Yukino didn't question him further. She released his wrist and asked, "How was the exam?"
"Not bad, nothing too difficult." Hoshimi stood next to Yukino and, quite naturally, held her soft, pale hand.
"Hmm..." Yukino glanced at Hoshimi out of the corner of her eye but didn't mind his action. Instead, she said, "Let's head back to the classroom to pack up our things, then go to the Service Club."
"Hmm? We're doing club activities today?" Hoshimi asked, giving Yukino's soft hand a slight squeeze in confusion.
"What else would we do if we go back?" Yukino asked rhetorically, then coldly added, "It's better to continue with the club activities. Don't forget, Hoshimi, club participation also counts toward the student performance evaluation."
"Oh... fine..." Hoshimi replied, his heart remaining calm and unaffected.
For him, it didn't really matter—playing around here or elsewhere made no difference, only the form of play changed.
"Let's go." Yukino grabbed Hoshimi and headed toward Class 2-J's classroom.
...
Not long after, in the Service Club's clubroom, Hoshimi was lazily lying on the couch while Yukino busied herself making tea. The others, for some reason, hadn't arrived yet, or maybe they were on their way.
Swoosh--!
The door opened, and the person who entered was...
"Hoshimi, are you here?" Kotoko poked her little head through the doorway.
"I'm here~~" Hoshimi lazily raised a hand from where he lay on the couch.
Kotoko blinked and quickly ran over to him, taking little steps, before dramatically pretending to throw herself into his arms.
"Oooh~~ ugh~~"
Just as Kotoko was about to leap, a hand reached out from behind and grabbed the collar of her shirt, stopping her flight mid-air.
As a result, Kotoko's collar tugged at her neck, causing her to let out a frustrated sound as she rubbed her neck and turned to look behind her.
Seeing Yukino, who was expressionlessly retracting her hand, Kotoko said in mild annoyance, "Yukinoshita-senpai! Are you trying to kill me?"
"Sorry, I was just preventing you and Hoshimi from getting hurt," Yukino apologized without an ounce of sincerity.
"Tch~" Kotoko clicked her tongue, turned around, sat on the couch, and mumbled quietly, "Revenge is revenge, why come up with so many excuses? All I did was provoke you a little. Is this really necessary?"
"..."
Yukino glanced at Kotoko, pretending not to hear her muttering, and turned back to continue making tea.
Watching Yukino's back, Kotoko's eyes gleamed as she feigned pitifulness, nudging Hoshimi who lay beside her.
"Hoshimi-senpai~~ my neck really hurts~~"
"..." Hoshimi had no choice but to sit up and look at Kotoko's neck. "Let me see where you're hurt~"
"Right here~" Kotoko raised her head, revealing her swan-like pale neck.
Without any suspicion, Hoshimi leaned in to take a closer look. Kotoko, seizing the opportunity, pressed his head against her neck.
"Mmm~~ Hoshimi-senpai~~ it tickles~~" Kotoko suddenly raised her voice, as if trying to attract someone's attention.
And it worked—Yukino, who was making tea, turned her icy gaze toward them.
Kotoko smirked, openly provoking Yukino with her expression.
In an instant, the atmosphere between Kotoko and Yukino became tense.
Yukino's icy glare grew colder, and the pressure around her dropped to a new low, even lower than her previous lowest point.
The colder Yukino's gaze, the wider Kotoko's smile became, her purple eyes gleaming with obvious provocation as she stared at Yukino.
Sigh! Hoshimi, still pressed against Kotoko's neck, sighed internally.
This was karma... If it weren't for him taking Kotoko to Yukino's apartment last Saturday to stir up trouble, the tension between them wouldn't have escalated, and this situation wouldn't be happening...
So, what should he do? At the very least, he needed to ease the hostility between these two.
If he couldn't resolve the current conflict, it would be even worse if Kasumigaoka got involved later.
After thinking for a second, Hoshimi gently bit Kotoko's neck.
"Mmm~~" Kotoko trembled, and her grip on him subconsciously loosened.
Taking the opportunity, Hoshimi broke free, patting Kotoko's head. "Kotoko, lying is bad behavior. You need to be punished."
Hoshimi looked toward Yukino. "Yukino, please make Kotoko a cup of sweet-max tea."
"..."
Yukino glanced at Hoshimi and then turned back to prepare the overly sweet tea.
She took out a clean cup, poured in half a cup of sugar, and then added just enough tea to barely cover the sugar.
Since it was "sweet-max," there had to be more sugar than water, right?
Heh~! Yukino let out a cold laugh, placing the cup of sweet-max tea on the table in front of Kotoko.
"Here's your sweet-max tea. Enjoy." Yukino made a polite gesture of invitation.
Seeing the half-cup of sugar, Hoshimi's eye twitched, and he couldn't help but complain inwardly.
Yukino, oh Yukino, who did you learn this from? How did you become so naughty?
You're adding tea to sugar, not sugar to tea...
"Yukinoshita-senpai, is this how your family brews tea? As expected of the prestigious Yukinoshita family from Chiba, your tea-making skills are truly one of a kind~"
Facing Yukino's full display of malice, Kotoko didn't hold back her sarcastic response.
While saying this, she even took out her phone, ready to snap a picture of the overly sweet tea. "Such a unique tea! It would be a shame not to take a picture. I'll capture this moment and have my dear mother show it to the Yukinoshita family head at their next ball, to see her beloved daughter's craftsmanship."
Click—!
The flash went off, but Kotoko didn't capture the tea; instead, she got a picture of two hands covering the cup.
One was Hoshimi's, the other Yukino's. Hoshimi's hand was underneath, and Yukino's on top, showing that Hoshimi reacted even quicker than Yukino.
"Ahem~" Hoshimi cleared his throat and withdrew his hand, allowing Yukino to take the cup of special tea.
"Yukino, brew another cup," Hoshimi calmly said to her, then turned to Kotoko and subtly added, "Kotoko, there's no need to bother your mother with small matters. We can resolve this internally, much better."
Kotoko puffed her cheeks, muttering under her breath, "So biased, always protecting her..."
"..." Hoshimi was at a loss for words and could only use both hands to pinch Kotoko's soft cheeks.
This little girl was far more destructive than Yukino. Yukino at least followed certain standards in her actions, but Kotoko, with her special background and experiences, had no such reservations.
In a way, Kotoko could be described as someone who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals.
Against someone like Kotoko, if Hoshimi didn't show bias, Yukino wouldn't stand a chance...
It wasn't that he underestimated Yukino, but Kotoko was truly tricky to deal with. Even if Yukino's older sister were here, she probably wouldn't be Kotoko's match.
Let's not forget, Kotoko's ability to gather information is unparalleled. It's easy for her to gain an advantage by knowing more than her opponent.
Just like now, Kotoko had already discreetly figured out everything about Yukino, while Yukino knew very little about Kotoko—whatever information she had came from Hoshimi, the middleman who always intervened...
Whoosh—!
"Yukinon~ Yahallo~"
The door suddenly swung open, and Yuigahama burst into the tense atmosphere of the club room, as lively as ever, like a clueless deer walking into a strange setting.
After greeting Yukino, Yuigahama finally realized something was off. Her expression stiffened, and she instinctively shrank her neck.
"Good day, Yuigahama-san," Yukino, holding that overly sweet tea, turned and responded to Yui's greeting.
"Yukinon..." Yui cautiously stepped closer to Yukino, deliberately avoiding the couch where Kotoko and Hoshimi sat.
Yukino, holding the tea cup, walked over to the tea-brewing table. Without turning around, she asked, "Yuigahama-san, would you like some tea?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Yuigahama nodded eagerly like a pecking chick.
Whoosh—!
The door opened again, and Hachiman walked steadily into the club room, hunched over.
The moment he entered, Hachiman immediately sensed the unusual tension in the air.
Without drawing attention to himself, he quickly glanced at everyone in the room.
Hoshimi and that first-year girl were sitting on the couch, the girl looking down, seemingly sulking, while Hoshimi was pinching her cheek with one hand and holding her hand with the other, as if trying to comfort her.
Yukinoshita, the club president, and Yuigahama were at the tea table by the window, with Yukinoshita brewing tea and Yuigahama watching with a confused expression, as if she wanted to ask something but didn't dare.
After silently observing the room, Hachiman tried to make himself as invisible as possible and discreetly sat down on the single-person sofa.
He pulled out a book from his bag, reading while continuing to keep an eye on the situation in the clubroom.
The issue was actually quite clear—today's tense atmosphere was undoubtedly caused by the club president and that first-year student.
The two of them obviously had a conflict, and the center of that conflict was...
Hachiman glanced at Hoshimi with a look of admiration.
The center of the conflict was this very same Hoshimi, who was trying to juggle two relationships at once.
Honestly, just the fact that Hoshimi dared to cheat on the 'Ice Queen of Sobu High' was enough to earn Hachiman's admiration for his courage and guts.
Not to mention Hoshimi wasn't just cheating in secret—he was blatantly bringing the other girl right in front of the 'Ice Queen's' face! His audacity was as bold as putting a star chart inside a thermos—absolutely astronomical!
A while back, Hachiman had wondered if Yukinoshita had turned a blind eye. How could she bear it without doing anything?
Now it seemed like she had finally reached her limit, and the bomb planted in the club had finally gone off.
Hopefully, Hoshimi wouldn't suffer too much...
"Hoshimi, do you want sugar in your tea?" Yukino, still brewing tea, asked without turning around.
"No sugar, just some milk is fine." To avoid any more of Yukino's sugar-to-tea tricks, Hoshimi decisively opted for no sugar.
"And you, Hikigaya-san?" Yukino continued asking.
"Uh..." Caught off guard, Hachiman awkwardly responded, "I'm fine with anything..."
Yukino didn't turn around or ask further. She quietly finished brewing the tea for everyone.
After a moment, she brought over the tea tray and placed a cup of steaming hot tea in front of each person.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she calmly sat down beside Hoshimi.
"..." Hoshimi suddenly felt like the star of death was flickering above his head as he sat between Kotoko and Yukino.
He thought for a moment and decided to hold Kotoko's small, delicate hand with his left hand, and Yukino's soft, slender hand with his right.
Now, wasn't this fair? Shouldn't that solve everything?
"Hoshimi-kun, would you like a banana?" At that moment, Yuigahama pulled out a banana from her bag and offered it.
"..." Hoshimi looked at Yukino and then at Kotoko. Seeing that neither of them reacted, he let go of their hands and slightly stood up to take the fresh banana from Yuigahama.
Sitting back down between the two, he silently peeled the banana.
Initially, he thought about asking if either Kotoko or Yukino wanted a bite, but after some thought, how would he even ask? Who should he ask first?
If he asked Yukino first, Kotoko would be upset. If he asked Kotoko first, Yukino would be unhappy.
After thinking it over, Hoshimi decided to keep the banana to himself.
But just as he brought the banana to his mouth, Yukino and Kotoko acted at the same time, pressing his hand and forcefully pushing the whole banana into his mouth.
"Mm! Cough, cough, cough!"
Choking on the banana, Hoshimi quickly pulled it out of his mouth, coughing uncontrollably.
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