At a certain restaurant.
The Yukinoshita sisters sat opposite each other, with Hiratsuka Shizuka next to them, boredom written all over her face.
"Alright, he replied. He said he'll be here soon."
Holding her phone, Yukinoshita Haruno looked very satisfied.
"How did you get his contact info?" Yukinoshita Yukino's face darkened slightly. She had once again been forcibly dragged here by her sister today.
What annoyed her the most was that, even after all these years, she still couldn't deal with her older sister. Haruno always found perfectly sound, irrefutable reasons.
"It's thanks to Shizuka-chan, of course~" Yukinoshita Haruno smiled sweetly, pointing to the older unmarried lady sitting beside her.
As Yukino turned to look, Hiratsuka Shizuka gave an awkward laugh: "Don't look at me like that—I had no choice either. Haruno kept pestering me until I had no choice but to go and ask Kojima-sensei."
Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly understood. These two were colleagues; asking Kojima Kana-sensei for Shirase's contact was indeed simple enough.
Moreover, Hiratsuka-sensei's reputation and image at school were pretty good—certainly much better than the infamous "Demon Kojima" or the icy "Kirisu-sensei."
Gathering her thoughts, Yukino asked coldly, "Since you had Hiratsuka-sensei's help, why did you still drag me here?"
"Aren't you curious about him?" Haruno countered. "Last time, even you admitted you'd been observing him at school, yet you still made a serious error of judgment about him that day on the street."
Yukino's face turned darker. The incident involving the outdoor streamer was indeed something she hadn't anticipated.
It was truly a significant misjudgment on her part.
Pressing her advantage, Haruno continued: "I did some casual digging on Shirase-kun in private. His parents passed away in an accident earlier this year, and he's currently staying with Kojima Kana, that demon teacher from your school who owed his parents a favor."
Is that so?
Yukinoshita Yukino froze momentarily, then suddenly understood: "You mean his unusual behavior might be because his parents...?"
She didn't finish the sentence.
Haruno nodded firmly: "I'm sure that's exactly why."
Hiratsuka Shizuka chimed in with a gentle reminder: "Haruno, I know you enjoy messing around and teasing others, but when Shirase arrives, don't joke about his parents."
"I'm not that tasteless," Haruno laughed lightly. "I just have some questions for him. And I want to see if I can peel back his facade and take a peek at what's really inside."
"That's fine then." Hiratsuka stretched lazily and smiled warmly. "I've heard the amadai at this place is pretty good. I've always wanted to try it, but somehow I kept forgetting."
"Well, today you finally have your chance—you can eat your fill," Haruno replied, still carefully watching her younger sister.
Yukinoshita Yukino's eyes flickered slightly. Thanks to her sister's revelations, she felt like she'd gained another small piece of understanding about Shirase.
A person who lost his parents but awakened resilience amid hardship, huh?
No wonder he boldly declared he'd take first place right in front of me.
He's someone with an incredibly strong heart.
The girl made a quiet judgment in her heart.
...
A short while later, Shirase arrived at the restaurant.
But at this moment, he was still under the system's control.
Since Haruno and Hiratsuka-sensei sat together on one side, the system decisively chose the empty seat next to Yukino.
"You finally made it—we've been waiting for ages," Haruno said with a friendly smile, waving at a waiter to bring over the dishes as she introduced herself again.
"Thanks for what you did last time," the system said coldly, aware that Shirase intended to express gratitude.
Haruno didn't mind the chilly tone, smiling as she replied, "It was just a small favor. I heard your soccer club received another friendly-match invitation from another school? Congratulations! As long as your soccer club still has value, it won't be disbanded."
"Nee-san!" Yukino instinctively protested. Her sister could've phrased that differently, but deliberately using the word "value" sounded unpleasantly harsh.
Haruno smiled faintly. "Sorry, that came out wrong. I didn't mean anything by it."
The system didn't reply, simply staring down at the chopsticks in front of him.
[System detects host isn't a match for this woman.]
[System is thinking...]
[System decides to seriously eat and not cause host trouble.]
Shirase nearly choked in disbelief.
Yukinoshita Haruno is clearly here for me, and you think you can quietly just sit and eat?
That's obviously impossible.
Noticing the odd atmosphere, Hiratsuka Shizuka proactively stepped in, smiling warmly: "Shirase-kun, that gloomy aura Kojima-sensei has at school, she's just faking it, right?"
"Mm." The system responded briefly.
"I knew it! Every time I talked to her before, I always felt she was deliberately suppressing her emotions to appear cold and scary."
"Mm." The system continued giving perfunctory replies.
Haruno, sitting opposite them, suddenly laughed: "What's with you? Could it be you're feeling shy because we're all girls?"
"Mm." The system, fixated solely on eating, still gave a half-hearted grunt.
Haruno paused slightly, lips slowly curving upward: "You're just giving us the cold shoulder now, aren't you, Shirase-kun~?"
Shirase immediately grew cautious: Looks like she's ready to make her move.
[Host, don't worry. If this woman becomes too difficult, the system will help you pretend to be mute.]
Shirase mentally questioned: Do you really think playing mute is a good idea?
[System considering...]
[System suggests: Why not just beat her up? Then she'll behave.]
...Bro, you'd better stick with playing mute.
The meal proceeded awkwardly under the system's continued indifference.
Fortunately, Haruno and Hiratsuka-sensei were both adept at managing the atmosphere, preventing the dinner from becoming completely cold and awkward.
If it had only been Yukino present today, it would've probably become a standoff between the damned system and the girl to see who spoke first…
He's acting so strange today.
Yukinoshita Yukino quietly ate her food, thoughts swirling.
Is it really trauma from losing his parents that caused this odd behavior?
If so, it was understandable.
Yukino glanced at Shirase, who was seriously focused on eating beside her, and was just about to say something when a young couple staggered past, clearly intoxicated, giggling flirtatiously.
With shaky footsteps, they bumped hard into the corner of Shirase's table.
The table legs scraped loudly across the floor with a harsh squeal.
At the exact same moment, Yukino's face abruptly paled. Trembling, she dropped her chopsticks, quickly bending over in pain.
"What's wrong?" Haruno immediately leaned down, concern flickering through her eyes. When she saw Yukino clutching her foot, covered by her sandal, Haruno's expression turned sharply cold.
Because from her viewpoint, her younger sister's toes were clearly bleeding—evidently injured by the impact of the table leg.
---
T/N: MURDER MODE ACTIVATED
"Mm. If you've read this far, I suppose you're at least a little invested."
"If you want to support the translator, there's a Patreon here: patreon.com/wisetl. It's optional—think of it as tossing a few extra coins on the counter. Early chapters are just a bonus side-effect of that support."
"This place also has its own strange currency… Powerstones. For every 100 Powerstones the story gets, you'll receive 1 bonus chapter. 100ps = 1 chp, 200ps = 2 chp, 300ps = 3 chp… you can do the math."
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Say thank you to Maomao guys