Chapter 288: Shirogane: If You Get Stabbed by Hayasaka-san, Don't Let the Blood Splash on Me
Going with Shinomiya Kaguya to prepare for the night courage test took more than two full hours, so the entire afternoon free time was basically wasted.
Sakurai Saki felt that Shinomiya Kaguya talked a lot now, which made him remember the Shinomiya Kaguya of last year. Back then, Kaguya Ojou-sama could barely utter ten words in several minutes, always trying to keep her speech as short and clear as possible, like a high-efficiency, flawless machine.
Compared with the current Kaguya, who every so often asked silly love-related questions and even blushed in front of him, Sakurai Saki felt a little scared. The feeling was like discovering that the childhood buddy you always played with was actually a girl—it was unsettling.
Trust me, learning the truth wouldn't be exciting, it'd be terrifying! Your good bro suddenly loses his damn cock—how is that not scary?
…
Back in the room, Sakurai Saki lay down on the bed. The other two roommates were online gaming; the ryokan here had a large-screen TV and even came equipped with a game console.
"You guys stayed in the room all afternoon?"
"No, we just got back an hour earlier than you." Shirogane Miyuki steered his kart; he was playing Mario Kart with Tanuma Tsubasa.
"Tch, why is it always banana peels? Give me a speed mushroom instead." Shirogane muttered a small complaint, then explained: "We just went to stack firewood for the campfire. The camp provided the wood, but someone had to pile it up. The girls wouldn't do it, so we guys had no choice."
"Aren't you two in different classes?"
One was from Class 2-D, the other from Class 2-E.
Or did I remember wrong?
"Yeah, different classes. But the campfire is for everyone, and the girls don't have the strength, so only us guys handled it." Shirogane nodded as he cleared up the question.
You two are way too kind—if it were me I would've bailed long ago.
"Just you two?"
"No, plenty of other unlucky guys too," Tanuma Tsubasa said.
Two people piling a huge stack of firewood would be suicide.
"Well, that's fine. If you were short on hands, you actually could have called me."
Girls forcing work on others, NO ×!
( •̀_•́ )╭∩╮
Brothers needing help, OK √!
ദ്ദി(˃ ᵕ ˂ ദ്ദി)
Sakurai Saki's judgment was that simple.
Those girls have arms and legs—why can't they work?
"You were just out setting up the courage test with Shinomiya?" Shirogane asked curiously.
"Umu."
Sakurai Saki lay on the bed scrolling his phone.
"We even mentioned you."
"Me?" Shirogane was full of question marks.
He never would have guessed their conversation involved him.
"Talked about how she hit you last year."
"Ah, that thing." Shirogane Miyuki recalled.
That time his attitude had been a bit forceful, and he'd promptly tasted her slap—absolutely no mercy, incredibly painful!
At that moment Shirogane even wondered, Should I really keep trying to help Shinomiya Kaguya become a normal person?
Even though he couldn't stand people who'd lost their way and wanted to help them, dealing with a hedgehog like Shinomiya Kaguya—her stabs really hurt.
Fortunately, afterward Sakurai Saki used violence to counter violence, which made Shinomiya Kaguya rein in her temper a bit.
"When you helped me scold her, I felt really good inside," Shirogane said, pressing the controller hard.
"Right?! Back then I was annoyed by that type too! Even if your method later had its issues, that attitude of hers—how could any normal person stand it!" Sakurai Saki said excitedly.
"…" Shirogane Miyuki blinked and tilted his head.
Sakurai, are you maybe a Do-S? Getting this fired up over a topic like that?
Meh, better not think too much.
"Ah right, have you guys heard the legend around here?" Tanuma Tsubasa's eyes stayed glued to the TV screen, his body swaying with every movement of the kart, while his mouth shared the rumor he'd just heard.
"Legend?"
"Umu, they say at this camp, when the last song of the campfire ends, if a boy and a girl hold hands, they'll gain perfect love." No sooner had Tanuma Tsubasa finished than he suddenly shouted in excitement: "Rocket!!"
The Rocket is an item in Mario Kart that turns you into a bullet speeding forward in an invincible state, and you can only get it when you're in a low rank.
Ignoring their game, Sakurai Saki rolled over on the bed. The hotel room's warm air-conditioning made him almost drowsy.
"Just hearing that you can tell it's some love rumor spread by girls. You guys actually believe it?"
"How could we?" Shirogane Miyuki shook his head.
Of course he didn't believe it, but at the campfire, if you could hold a girl's hand and dance until the end, what harm was there? It cost nothing and you wouldn't lose a piece of meat.
"I'm just joking, don't mind it," Tanuma Tsubasa said lightly.
Sakurai Saki turned off his phone and set it aside. Before sleeping he asked, "If you hold hands with two girls at the same time, what happens?"
Shirogane & Tanuma: ( ˶°ㅁ°) ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!
"Ehm.... Double happiness?" Tanuma Tsubasa answered uncertainly.
Or maybe you'd get stabbed to death by two girls with kitchen knives.
"Sakurai, I don't recommend you try it." Shirogane Miyuki thought Sakurai Saki was serious.
Shirogane Miyuki silently hoped that when Sakurai got stabbed by Hayasaka-san, the blood wouldn't splash on him.
In his heart Shirogane Miyuki "prayed" for Sakurai Saki—amen.
"Alright, I'm sleeping. Call me when it's time to eat."
"Mm."
…
Most of the students ate dinner in the hotel; on a cold night like this, who would go outside to cook over a campfire?
After dinner, Sakurai Saki went to the campfire, where quite a few people had gathered.
Finding a less crowded spot, he looked up at the starry sky.
He waited a few minutes—still no sign of Hayasaka Ai.
Instead, a wild Shijo Maki appeared out of nowhere.
"Yo, Saki-chan, why are you spacing out?"
She was in the same class as Tanuma Tsubasa, so her showing up at the campsite was perfectly normal.
"Just stargazing."
Sakurai Saki pointed to the star-filled sky. The environment here was excellent—far from the heavy industrial smog of the city, away from the noise, surrounded by quiet, his restless heart gradually grew calm.
A winter sky, one he had once gazed at together with Ai-chan.
"What about you, Maki? Not looking for a boy to dance with?" At this moment Sakurai Saki parroted: "I heard that at this camp, when the last campfire song ends, if a boy and a girl hold hands, they'll gain perfect love."
"I heard people say that too." Shijo Maki was about to continue chatting when she noticed, not far away, Hayasaka Ai staring with eyes sharp enough to kill.
Hayasaka: (≖ᴗ≖ ✿)
Maki: Σ(°△°ꪱꪱꪱ)
A little scary—Saki-chan's girlfriend.
To avoid misunderstanding, Maki quickly fled.
"She didn't do anything to you, did she?" Hayasaka Ai hurried over to Sakurai Saki and used her hands to check him over.
Sakurai Saki felt both amused and helpless. "Trust your boyfriend a little more, okay?"
"No." Hayasaka Ai's answer was unexpected.
"Why not?" Sakurai Saki hugged her and asked softly in her ear.
"Because I like you, you dummy~" Hayasaka Ai wrapped her arms around him in return.
She didn't want to share his love with anyone else—not even a little.