Nino gritted her teeth as she worked on her exam questions.
Haruto reminded her, "It's not good to clench your teeth too hard."
"Grrr—"
"Go on."
Haruto took out his phone and started browsing the news.
Time passed without them noticing.
Before long, the vast evening sky slowly enveloped the earth.
The sky outside the window darkened.
Nino put down her pencil, frowning slightly, and stretched her arms.
Haruto looked up, "Let's take a short break."
"No."
Nino picked up pencil again, "I'll finish soon."
Haruto glanced at the mostly empty exam paper.
Nino's face flushed, and she barked, "What are you looking at?!"
"Thanks for your hard work, Nino."
Haruto didn't tease the girl. Honestly, it was impressive that Nino had stayed quiet for so long.
After a while, Nino started feeling uncomfortable.
She needed to use the bathroom.
She glanced at Haruto. Seeing him focused on his phone, she quietly stood up.
Haruto frowned slightly but pretended not to notice.
Because Nino was peculiar, always concerned about certain things.
For example, buying roasted sweet potatoes in winter.
Most of the people in line were men, with only a few women.
But that didn't mean girls didn't like roasted sweet potatoes; they were just too shy to buy them.
Why? Because eating too many roasted sweet potatoes could make someone gassy.
Yes, that's why many girls wanted them but were too embarrassed to buy them!
Nino clearly felt embarrassed about using the bathroom in a guy's house.
*BZZZ*
The phone vibrated. Haruto looked at it and answered, "Yotsuba, don't worry, I'll send Nino down to your apartment shortly."
Yotsuba: "Thank you, Kuromori-san."
Just after responding to Yotsuba, another message from Ichika popped up: "Kuromori-kun, don't bother Nino."
Haruto raised his eyes and said, "Come tomorrow."
"No, no, no."
Ichika sent an image of a man holding his head and shivering: "If Kuromori-kun absorbs moonlight, you'll turn into ZombieGreymon. Scary."
"Once."
"Eh?"
"More than three times, and I'll slap you!"
"..."
After a moment, Ichika sent a glaring face emoji: "Kuromori-kun knows how to bully girls when they push too far. You're a bad guy!"
Then, she sent another sad face: "Kuromori-kun, I'm so sweet. Don't tease me, just hug me."
"No hugs, get out!"
Haruto rejected her outright.
Ichika was sly and always either causing or about to cause trouble, so he was cautious of her word traps.
Just then, Miku sent a message.
Miku: "Nino hasn't come back yet. Is she at your place?"
Haruto replied, speechless: "Yes, I saw Nino today. My little sister invited her, so she's here as a guest, working hard on exam questions."
Miku blinked: "There are exam questions?"
Haruto typed back: "Yes, I gave her all the exam papers Nino hadn't done before."
Miku: "You're a demon!"
Haruto: "Don't think about escaping tomorrow!"
Miku: "..."
While chatting, Haruto suddenly found things getting a little troublesome, so he typed: "I'm making a group, you're all in."
["There's a fool in my family" invites you to join the chat group]
Ichika, Miku, and Yotsuba all agreed.
Ichika: "Kuromori-kun, good night (congrats)."
Miku: "Good night."
Yotsuba: "Kuromori-san, good night! (congrats)"
Haruto typed: "Ichika, come to the library tomorrow. And Yotsuba, forget it, you don't need to come."
Yotsuba: "Why!"
Haruto looked up, "Aren't you busy with practice?"
Yotsuba: "Hehe, I forgot (patting head)."
Ichika: "Kuromori-kun, don't bully Yotsuba."
Miku: "Ichika's changing the subject."
Ichika: "Miku's siding with outsiders, that's outrageous."
After a while, Ichika responded: "Alright, as the big sister, I'll do my best."
Haruto was just about to complain about Ichika when he suddenly heard a cry. He instinctively looked up and saw Nino rushing toward him.
Then Haruto caught Nino in his arms.
Several questions popped into Haruto's head: "Nino, what are you doing?"
"Hmm~"
Nino pinched her nose, eyes teary, "I accidentally stepped on something."
Haruto glanced at the floor and said, "It's a pencil."
"A pencil?"
Nino was surprised, then gritted her teeth and said, "Damn it, I'll send that pencil to be cremated right away!"
Haruto said, speechless, "It's already broken into pieces, so it can't be cremated anymore, can it?"
"Get up quickly."
"Wait a minute, my ankle just got twisted."
Nino moved her body, frowning slightly, and said, "Your phone hit me."
Haruto was sitting on the ground, in a very formal cross-legged position. Of course, he wasn't trying to practice anything—it was just more comfortable sitting like this.
But then there was a problem.
Nino had just rushed toward him, and Haruto had caught her. So now, she was sitting on his lap.
Not to mention, the posture was quite ambiguous.
Anyway, Haruto felt like something wasn't right.
He coughed, "Get up quickly!"
"My ankle hurts, just wait a bit!"
Nino bit her lip. Of course, she knew this was too intimate, but her ankle hurt so much that she couldn't stand up at all.
"Kuromori, put your phone away. It's uncomfortable."
Haruto's mouth twitched slightly, glancing at the phone that had fallen on the ground, but he said nothing.
Nino followed his gaze and then paused for a moment.
Why was the phone on the ground?
Suddenly, there was a "boom" in Nino's mind, and she recalled that just now, she seemed to have thrown the phone aside to catch him.
So, it wasn't the phone that hit her thigh?
Nino's face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye. Then, she lifted her head, her eyes misty, and gritted her teeth, saying, "Cut it!"
"I refuse!"
Haruto, expressionless, simply picked Nino up and tossed her aside: "It's all the pencil's fault. I'll cremate it right away!"