Chapter 526

"Matsuda-kun, what are you doing?"

Miyuki asked, casually sliding the door open and stepping inside.

I answered from where I lay lazily on the mattress, watching TV.

"Watching TV."

"Aren't you going to get ready for the new semester?"

"What's there to get ready for?"

"I mean... you should at least check if you have your textbooks..."

"I checked all that when we studied together."

"What if you can't find them later?"

"That won't happen. Come here since you're already over."

"Hold on... Let me wash my hands."

Miyuki hurried into the bathroom with quick, short steps, then came back out after washing her hands and feet.

She meticulously dried off with a towel, pulled some comfortable clothes from the closet, and headed right back into the bathroom.

She was still too shy to show me her bare skin.

It was a little funny since I'd already seen everything there was to see, but I was used to it by now.

It was a rare glimpse of her timid charm, so I had no intention of asking her to change.

A few moments later, she emerged wearing my T-shirt and shorts and settled down next to me.

She rested her hand on my waist as I lay on my side and spoke.

"Tetsuya-kun contacted me."

Miura Tetsuya.

It had been a long time since I last heard that name.

My eyes went wide at her words, and I asked,

"He contacted you?"

"He apologized first for that unsavory incident from before, and then asked if we could walk to school together on the first day."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him I already had plans with Matsuda-kun, and apologized."

Mm-hmm. Miyuki had made an excellent decision.

The fact that he hadn't said a word until the new semester was right around the corner meant he was using it as an excuse to get back in her good graces.

He would probably spout some nonsense about starting fresh for the new term to sneakily beg for forgiveness.

The bastard knew perfectly well how kindhearted Miyuki was, and he had never really faced any major consequences for his behavior before.

But things were different now that Miyuki was seeing me.

Her firmly drawing the line like that was proof enough.

Anyway, had that bastard Tetsuya still not given up? He was relentless.

Of course, I could understand why he still had lingering feelings. He didn't have another friend—no, another ideal woman—like Miyuki.

"Good job. I don't even want to see his face."

Since Miyuki already knew how much I despised Tetsuya, she didn't show much of a reaction to my blunt words.

A faint trace of disappointment flickered across her expression, though.

She had been trying so hard since last year's vacation to get Tetsuya and me to be friends, even setting up group study sessions, so she was probably sad to see all that effort go to waste.

"I know..."

No matter how many times Tetsuya completely botched things, Miyuki truly cherished her childhood friend.

Given her affectionate nature, it was only natural.

In fact, I probably would have been disappointed if she had started treating him like a thorn in her side.

I playfully brushed my fingers against Miyuki's long eyelashes as her mood started to dip.

"Matsuda-kun...! What are you doing...!"

Instantly, her low energy vanished as she playfully whined at me with clear affection.

My little joke was enough to wipe the topic of her childhood friend right out of her mind. It was obvious she valued me over Tetsuya, and that was all that mattered.

But why did it feel like Tetsuya still harbored so many lingering regrets over her?

Perhaps he was running some delusional hope circuit in his head, convincing himself that Miyuki and I hadn't gone all the way yet.

He had seen me slipping in and out of Miyuki's room during both school trips, and we had demonstrated our intimate relationship on multiple other occasions, but unrequited love always made people run from reality.

When you fell that hard for someone, your rationality just crumbled.

I could understand how the guy felt inside. But if those feelings started to veer off in a dangerous direction, I would have to step in and beat some sense into him.

"Asahina contacted me too."

While I was lost in thought, Miyuki dropped an unexpected remark.

"Really?"

"What... Your reaction is completely different from when I said Tetsuya-kun contacted me."

"Do you really think he and Hiyori are the same to me?"

"I guess so."

She was fully used to me calling Hiyori by her first name now.

Miyuki truly was the best woman ever.

Perfect in every single way.

"What did she say?"

"She sent a sticker of some character pulling down their lower eyelid and sticking their tongue out. Here, look."

I checked the Cell Phone Miyuki held out, and sure enough, there was an animated sticker of a rather mischievous-looking character doing exactly what she had described.

Right below it was Miyuki's reply, asking, [What are you doing?], but the conversation hadn't gone any further.

Why would Hiyori provoke Miyuki out of nowhere?

She was highly likely just bored. To my eyes, that sticker looked like a mix of wanting to get closer to Miyuki and wanting to tease her... a sort of love-hate prank.

"It's nothing. Send one back."

"I don't have that sticker."

"Buy it."

"That's a waste of money."

"Then I'll send it to you as a gift."

"No. It's fine."

"Aren't you going to counterattack?"

"Why should I counterattack? I sent a reply and Asahina ignored it. That means she doesn't want to talk to me anymore."

"It's not that she doesn't want to talk. She just felt awkward and didn't know what to say."

"Why are you taking Asahina's side?"

"I'm not taking her side, I just want you two to get clos—"

"You totally took her side."

Miyuki's deeply disgruntled expression was hilarious.

She puffed out her cheeks uncharacteristically, an action that seemed to pop out purely on instinct.

Finding the sight incredibly cute, I unconsciously broke into a fond, fatherly smile.

"Why are you smiling?"

Miyuki tried to keep a straight face, but a laugh was already threatening to leak out.

I spoke, gently pressing down on her falling bangs as she bit her lower lip to hold back a burst of laughter.

"You're smiling too."

"No, I'm not."

"The corners of your mouth just twitched up."

"They did not...!"

"Look at you right now. They're going up."

I loved how we could practically burst into laughter over such trivial banter.

I genuinely wondered if Miyuki and I had been soulmates in a past life.

Grinning at Miyuki, whose lips were trembling as she fought down a laugh, I decided it was time to bring up something I'd been thinking about.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Are you sleeping over at my place the night before the semester starts?"

"It'll be easier since we're going together."

"Then we can wake up a bit early that day and pick up the other three, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"The President, Master, and Hiyori."

"Ah... You're going to pick the three of them up in the car?"

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

Miyuki's mouth fell open slightly.

It was her immediate reaction to seeing the sheer shamelessness written across my face.

"Well... I suppose I don't really have the right to say no... but if I said I didn't want to, would you not pick them up?"

I couldn't just cave in too easily here.

As long as I showed her that I valued her opinion, she would naturally end up going along with my plans.

"Since you're the one asking, I'd give it some thought, but I'd probably still end up picking them up anyway."

"See...! If you were just going to pick them up anyway, why did you even ask...?"

"I just wanted to seriously consider it if it made you uncomfortable."

"That's ridiculous... You'd only 'consider' it."

"So it's settled then?"

"Do whatever you want, idiot."

Mm-hmm. Very nice.

The reason I wanted to go with all four of them wasn't to show off to other people, but because I wanted to make that day a monumental milestone in my delightful harem life.

I also hoped the four of them would chat and get closer to each other on the way there.

They needed to start getting genuinely close from now on, and something small like this was the perfect start.

My heart was already pounding with excitement.

"I'm hungry. Let's eat."

"But I'm not hungry...?"

"You will be once you smell the food."

"Whatever... No, I won't."

"Let's eat."

"Ah, why do you keep insisting...!"

"You're not going to eat?"

"I mean, I'll eat, but..."

"Then why are you making a fuss?"

"When did I make a fuss?"

"You're doing it right now."

"Why are you being so negative?"

"You're the one being negative. You keep getting annoyed."

"When did I ever...!"

"You're doing it again. Anyway, let's eat."

A sharp huff of air escaped Miyuki's nose.

She apparently couldn't find a way to argue back.

Thinking that even an angry Miyuki was adorable, I forcefully pulled her up as she stubbornly glued her body to the mattress in silent protest.

Afterward, we cooked together while making idle chatter and ate a rather late breakfast.

Once the meal was over and Miyuki went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, I fiddled with my Cell Phone.

I debated whether I should make a group chat or something, but it felt a bit too early for that, so I decided to do it later.

It was best not to rush things.

With that in mind, I sent a message to Renka first.

Through the AnyShare app, for the first time in a while.

[Hey.]

[I told you not to message me on here.]

She must have had her app notifications turned on, because the reply came immediately.

I could practically see Renka huffing in anger, but was it just my imagination?

Imagining her feeling thoroughly humiliated, I tapped away on my Cell Phone's screen.

[Have you been active on here? I should look and see if you've posted anything.]

[Don't look. I'll kill you.]

[Those are some scary words. You must have been posting a lot, huh?]

[I said don't look. I'll kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you]

Renka was showing a terrifying reaction, like an enraged yandere whose boyfriend just cheated on her.

She would completely shrink down and whimper if we actually met face-to-face, so it was both absurd and hilarious how she acted like an unstoppable warrior when chatting or calling from a distance.

I'd have to look up what kind of posts she had written later.

Who knows? Maybe she had watched some erotic anime while imagining a steamy romance with me, and then posted a review about it.

There was a certain touching cuteness to Renka's fangirling.

[Alright. Just so you know, the five of us, including me, are going to take the car together on the first day of school.]

[What are you talking about? What do you mean, five?]

[Me, Miyuki, Master, Hiyori, and you. Those five.]

[Stop spouting bullshit. Where do you come up with these trash ideas? I'm going with Chinami, just the two of us.]

[Go ahead. See what happens.]

[I'm not scared of you threatening me like that at all.]

To me, it looked like the threat had worked perfectly.

Figuring that this was enough to get the point across to Renka, I ignored the cursing messages she kept sending and closed the app.

She tried calling me in the middle of it, but I purposely didn't answer.

It was to plant a slight sense of anxiety in her... the fear that I might actually retaliate for the harsh words she'd just spewed.

She had mouthed off to her master about killing him, so I figured I was allowed this much.

I'd have to contact her separately around lunch or dinner to properly sort out right from wrong.