Chapter 45: "Ruri-san, Are You a Peeping Tom?"

Ruri Hosokawa’s delicate, pitiable expression left Haruka Himuro deeply puzzled.

Had she truly wronged her?

But...

Haruka still couldn’t bring herself to believe it. Looking at Ruri, she asked, "Ruri-chan, did... did Master really kiss you first?"

"Of course!" Ruri blinked her watery, glistening eyes and stared at Haruka, saying, "Haruka-chan, if you don’t believe me, I can confront that guy Quillan right in front of your face! Hmph, Haruka-chan, you’ve definitely been fooled by the mask Quillan wears. He’s actually a complete, unadulterated big pervert and a massive scoundrel!"

The moment Quillan was mentioned, Ruri wore a look of gritted teeth and utter resentment.

"Confront Master?" Haruka thought for a moment, then shook her head, saying, "Let’s not... what if Master gets... gets unhappy about it?"

Ruri was displeased by her hesitation. Seeing that Haruka’s attitude had softened, she knew Haruka was likely no longer angry in her heart. She took Haruka’s hand and pulled her toward the rented apartment, saying, "Haruka-chan, you don’t need to worry! Anyone can tell Quillan harbors bad intentions—so what if he gets angry? Besides, Haruka-chan, you should change what you call him in the future. It sounds so weird!"

Chatting as they walked, the two girls went upstairs together. Ruri lagged slightly behind because she was dragging a heavy suitcase. Haruka pulled out her keys, but after a second thought, she chose to knock on the door instead. However, she received no response.

She knocked a few more times, yet no one opened the door, nor did Quillan’s voice come from inside. Ruri found it strange and muttered to herself, "Hasn’t he come home yet?"

"Haruka-chan, what’s wrong?" Ruri said. "Hurry and open the door! I’m holding a suitcase, and it’s super heavy!"

"Oh!" Haruka hastily opened the door, setting aside her stray thoughts for the moment.

Once the door opened, Haruka changed into slippers at the entryway, then helped Ruri take her suitcase, adding, "Ruri-chan, there are slippers inside the shoe cabinet, remember to change into them. I spent all night mopping these floors completely clean!"

"Got it!" Ruri looked through the shoe cabinet for slippers. After slipping into them, she surveyed the inside of the residence, growing perplexed: "Where is that guy Quillan? Is he not here, or is this pervert hiding somewhere, planning a prank to scare us?"

In Ruri’s mind, Quillan was precisely such a childish and perverted person. So when she didn’t see him, she automatically assumed Quillan was hiding on purpose, intending to jump out and startle her!

One had to admire Ruri’s remarkably vivid imagination—though, frankly, it was quite naive.

They weren’t little kids anymore; who would play such a silly game? Besides, Quillan had been working hard all day and was thoroughly exhausted. How could he possibly be in the mood to play hide-and-seek with her?

Yet Ruri didn’t see it that way. She had always believed she was right, and that her assumptions were infallible.

"Where is he hiding?"

Ruri checked around the three rooms, but there was no sound from inside. Only the middle room seemed to have a light on. Ruri pushed the door open to look, prompting a startled gasp from Haruka: "Ah! Ruri-chan, what are you doing? Close the door quickly, I’m changing my clothes..."

"Oh!" Ruri shut the door. Since Quillan wasn’t in any of the bedrooms, she turned her gaze toward the kitchen. But the kitchen light was off, and Quillan was clearly not inside either!

"Is he hiding in the bathroom?" Ruri’s expression shifted. Clenching her small fists in indignation, she said, "He really is a pervert! Hiding in the bathroom just to scare people! Hmph, trying to startle me when I get up to use the bathroom at night, are you?"

Ruri’s face looked terrifyingly stern. Without a second thought, she marched right toward the bathroom. Noticing that the light inside was indeed on and the door wasn’t locked from the inside, she pushed the bathroom door wide open.

Ruri had briefly considered whether Quillan might be ’relieving himself’ in the bathroom. But after taking a cautious glance at the toilet and seeing it empty, she stood up straight, placed her hands on her hips, and opened the bathroom door completely without hesitation.

Since no one was on the toilet, she grew even more convinced that her theory was correct—Quillan had to be hiding behind the shower curtain beside it, waiting to scare her!

"Hey, Quillan, come out!"

Ruri yanked the shower curtain open and barked, "You scoundrel, who do you think you’re scaring? Ah..."

Seeing the scene behind the curtain, Ruri suddenly screamed!

Because Quillan was actually stark naked at this moment! Although he was currently lying in the bathtub, Ruri had still caught a full view...

Hastily covering her face, Ruri turned around to bolt out of the bathroom. But a hand reached out from behind the curtain. Even with the curtain obstructing his sight, that hand grabbed her wrist with uncanny precision.

"Ah!"

With a startled cry, Ruri was pulled backward by a powerful force, instantly losing her balance. Seeing that she was about to fall hard onto the floor, another hand extended behind her back, catching her body mid-air.

Ruri squeezed her eyes shut, not daring to open them, convinced she was going to take a terrible fall. Who knew that after waiting a moment, nothing hurt at all!

Once she confirmed she was safe, Ruri breathed a sigh of relief and opened her eyes, only to find Quillan smiling down at her. His face was extraordinarily close to hers—almost pressed right up against her own!

In fact, her body seemed to be pressed directly against his!

Although he had already bathed with Haruka Himuro earlier, it had only been a back scrub. He hadn’t dared to take a full bath with her. Now, after choosing to bathe alone, he had only ended up with Ruri barging in on him.

Ruri’s face turned completely red in an instant. She shoved Quillan hard, using the counter-force to stand upright, and turned on her heels to dash away without a word!

However, as if by magic, Quillan appeared right at the bathroom doorway, blocking her escape route. Wearing a wicked smirk, he taunted, "Class President-san, are you a peeping tom? Coming in to watch even when I’m taking a bath? Are you really that curious about a guy’s body, Class President-san? Fine then! Anyway, aside from this bathrobe, I’m not wearing a single thing underneath. I’ll reluctantly take it off to show you!"

Ruri was scared out of her wits by Quillan’s words. He had been lying in the bathtub just a moment ago, obviously taking a soak. Although she didn’t know when he had put on the bathrobe, someone who had just finished taking a bath definitely had nothing underneath except for that robe!