Chapter 56: Darling, This Is My Cousin

"Eh? Miss Harada’s car! Haruka-chan, hurry up and come over here!"

In front of the bullet train station, Ruri Hosokawa finally managed to locate Norika Harada’s car and hastily called Haruka Himuro over.

The two girls stood in front of the vehicle, observing the interior for a brief moment, before Ruri spoke up: "Haruka-chan, they’re not inside!"

"I know..." Haruka responded in stunned disbelief.

"Eh?" Ruri looked at Haruka with curiosity. "Haruka-chan, what’s wrong with you?"

Haruka didn’t say a word, merely staring ahead in sheer shock.

Ruri followed Haruka’s gaze, looking over in the same direction, and then...

"That bastard! What an absolute bastard!" Ruri suddenly began cursing. Looking along the direction she was pointing, one could see the receding figures of two people walking hand-in-hand from a hotel.

It was clearly Quillan and Norika Harada—one was their classmate, while the other... was their homeroom teacher, Norika Harada!

Because they had gotten out of their cab a little late, by the time they hurried over, they happened to catch Quillan and Norika holding arms in an extremely intimate manner, leaving the express hotel together.

"With his own teacher... he actually went to that kind of place?!"

Ruri had already sensed that something was off between Quillan and Norika, and seeing this scene only confirmed her suspicions. Although Ruri was shocked, she felt far more triumphant.

She was delighted that she could finally expose Quillan’s true colors!

Ruri said to Haruka, "Haruka-chan, you saw that too, didn’t you? This Quillan is an utter, undeniable bastard—he won’t even spare his own teacher!"

"Ruri-chan, please stop!"

Clenching her delicate fists, Haruka snapped out of her shock. Looking at Ruri, she said, "I believe Master is definitely not the type of person who would fall for his teacher. Maybe... maybe Master has a compelling reason that he can’t avoid!"

"Haruka-chan..."

Ruri nearly fainted on the spot. She never imagined that even after witnessing Quillan and Norika acting so intimately with their own eyes, Haruka would still speak up in Quillan’s defense! It left Ruri completely at a loss for words!

After a moment of silence, watching Quillan and Norika leave the hotel arm-in-arm while chatting and laughing, Ruri finally bit her lip and said to Haruka, "Haruka-chan, let’s follow them inside and see what kind of scoundrel this guy you keep defending really is!"

"No..."

Haruka shook her head, pulling her hand away from Ruri’s grasp, and murmured, "Ruri-chan, I think... we should just go back. Because..."

At this point, Haruka lowered her head.

Feelings of inadequacy began to plague her heart once more. Ruri stared at Haruka in complete bewilderment.

Haruka then continued, "Ruri-chan, we shouldn’t go in. What if Master finds out... or rather, what if Miss Harada finds out? If... if Miss Harada really is Master’s girlfriend, then she definitely won’t allow me to stay by Master’s side anymore, right?"

Ruri was rendered speechless. She had never expected Haruka’s mind to work like this.

Upon seeing Quillan together with their teacher, the first thing Haruka worried about wasn’t how heartbroken she should be, nor did she want to rush over to demand an explanation from Quillan and Norika or condemn such an improper relationship. Instead...

Haruka was actually worried that she would be driven away and wouldn’t be able to stay by Quillan’s side anymore!

What kind of bizarre logic was this?!

Ruri looked at Haruka with a frustrated, exasperated expression. She desperately wanted to ask Haruka why she had such strange thoughts, but seeing how utterly downcast Haruka looked, as her best friend, Ruri held back after all.

However, leaving just like this, exactly as Haruka suggested?

She was so unreconciled to it!

...

At her house entrance, ever since her outburst earlier, Norika Harada’s mood had taken a complete 180-degree turn, making her exceptionally docile.

And what was particularly remarkable was that Norika was actually able to maintain an extremely intimate facade with Quillan—though, of course, the so-called intimacy was limited to chatting and laughing!

Norika remained quite conservative. Even though she was holding Quillan’s arm, she was very careful to make sure no other parts of her body came into contact with him.

Quillan didn’t demand too much either. After all, as long as Norika could maintain this state, it was already good enough!

Once inside the house, Norika and Quillan went straight to the third floor, arriving in front of the room where her parents were staying before ringing the doorbell.

The door was opened by a man wearing a suit and wire-rimmed gold glasses. The man was at least 1.8 meters tall, half a head taller than Quillan.

Looking at this tall guy, Quillan complained inwardly: Aren’t Japanese people usually quite short? Turns out there are tall ones after all!

While he was pondering, the man across from them spoke up: "Hello, Cousin Norika."

So this was Norika’s cousin? Looking at the tall man bowing to Norika, Quillan thought to himself: He looks pretty refined and handsome enough. Too bad he ran into Norika, a woman who has an inexplicable fear of men. Otherwise, this pair of cousins might actually have made a good match!

"Hello, Cousin..." Norika bowed in response, though her eyes kept darting away, not daring to look directly at her cousin. Even when introducing Quillan, she kept her head turned slightly away. "Cousin, this is Quillan-kun. He comes from America... Darling, this is my cousin, Takeo Kobayashi!"

Quillan clearly saw a flush spread across Norika’s gorgeous face. What surprised him even more was that Norika had actually addressed him as darling!

Looking at the blushing, bashful Norika, Quillan was momentarily stunned.

Norika, feeling terribly embarrassed, kept her head lowered while secretly pinching the soft flesh around Quillan’s waist, using her eyes to remind him that she was only calling him that on purpose because they were in front of her cousin!

Only then did Quillan snap back to his senses, avoiding an awkward pause.

Of course, Quillan wasn’t dazed because he was charmed by Norika’s stunning appearance in that brief moment—he was simply shocked by her sudden, unexpected surge in emotional intelligence!