Five minutes later, having finally calmed down, Utaha changed into home clothes and returned to the dining area.
The fried noodles had cooled considerably, but that didn't affect their taste.
"This is all your fault."
She twirled the noodles with her fork and bit down viciously. Being seen so thoroughly by Haizaki had left her stifled, with nowhere to vent her frustration, so she took it out on the noodles he had made.
"Ow!"
She bit too hard and hit the fork.
The metal fork pressed against her soft lips, and she let out a small cry.
The pain made her pout.
"It's all your fault. Why did you come back for no reason?"
She complained again.
But to be honest—
The noodles tasted pretty good.
"But why is it milk again today…"
Ever since living with Haizaki, there had been a bottle of milk with breakfast every day.
Utaha lowered her head and glanced down.
It wasn't like she needed milk to supplement nutrition for a flat body.
Her figure was curvy and well-proportioned, enough to crush countless women.
"You'll never get the chance in this lifetime…"
Thinking about Haizaki's behavior that morning, Utaha made a fierce decision in her heart.
…
After quickly finishing breakfast and washing the dishes, Utaha headed toward Haizaki's room.
They had an agreement—neither could enter the other's room without permission.
But this time, Haizaki had told her to take the hard drives herself. In other words, he had allowed her to enter.
With a click, she pushed the door open, curiosity stirring about what Haizaki's room might look like.
Her mind immediately conjured an image—
A complete mess: stinky socks and underwear everywhere, used tissues scattered across the floor, and a heavy stench of manliness filling the air.
The thought made her stop in her tracks. Her hand on the door hesitated.
Maybe she should forget it?
She wavered.
She could wait for him to come back and bring the hard drive to her instead. But thinking of a boy's room and driven by instinctive curiosity toward the opposite sex, Utaha gritted her teeth and pushed the door open.
The room was messy—but only the desk. The floor and bed were clean and orderly.
There were no underwear strewn about, no white tissues flying everywhere. Even the trash can only contained small bits of miscellaneous trash.
What caught her attention most was the neatly folded blanket on the bed.
A person's daily habits could fully reflect their upbringing and discipline.
Even without external pressure, Haizaki maintained cleanliness and order. His self-control was strong.
…
Utaha walked to the desk and opened the drawer.
The leftmost drawer didn't contain any hard drives, so she opened the middle one.
Black hard drives were neatly arranged, each labeled with text.
Because the labels were written entirely in Chinese characters, Utaha couldn't immediately understand some of them and had to check a dictionary to avoid misinterpretation.
"Films and TV, music, novels…"
She found quite a few hard drives dedicated to entertainment.
"He really did prepare thoroughly."
Videos and music wouldn't last very long, but thousands of novels—even reading one every half month—would last forty years.
Besides that, she also found learning materials from various academic fields.
They were mostly pure text and images, with no video explanations, clearly chosen to conserve storage and time.
After unplugging and putting back the connected drive, she reached into the drawer again and pulled out another one—only to discover something unexpected.
"Student IDs…"
Two student IDs placed back-to-back.
Utaha's curiosity surged.
These were Japanese high school student IDs. If one belonged to Haizaki, then who did the other belong to?
She flipped one over and saw a beautiful girl with long black hair.
Sobu High School, Chiba City
Yukinoshita Yukino
The second showed a girl with shoulder-length brown hair.
Isshiki Iroha
"They're both girls' student IDs."
Utaha frowned, deep in thought.
Just like how she had brought photo albums with her, Haizaki had brought these two girls' student IDs to the Eastern Union. These two must hold important places in his heart.
As for family?
Impossible. Their nationality and surnames alone proved that their only connection was being students at the same high school.
"So that's how it is."
They were the ones he liked. He still missed them and couldn't forget them, so before leaving Chiba, he obtained their student IDs and brought them with him.
"So he still likes them… that's why he treats me…"
A feeling of unwilling resentment welled up inside Utaha.
She, standing right in front of him, was inferior to two girls who had already vanished from this world.
She admitted that both girls were rare beauties.
But compared to them, she—Utaha—stood before Haizaki in flesh and blood. He could see her, touch her, and talk to her. Yet even so, he chose to immerse himself in memories of them.
Along with her unwillingness came a sense of defeat.
"Hah… it has nothing to do with me."
Utaha sighed softly and muttered to herself, as if reminding herself not to care.
She placed the two student IDs back where they were and then noticed a box pressed beneath them.
Curious, she opened it and found an unlabeled hard drive inside.
This immediately sparked her curiosity.
She plugged it in, connected it, and clicked through with the mouse in one smooth motion.
Upon seeing rows of gal-game bishoujo titles, Utaha froze, then smiled faintly.
"So you're still a man after all—and an otaku who loves 2D girls."
She decided she would take this hard drive.
After all, Haizaki had just said she could take whatever she wanted.
But if she kept it for too long—
Haizaki would definitely ask her about it.
When that time came, she would just say she'd been playing it the whole time.
But—
Would Haizaki think she had strong desires?!
At that thought, Utaha's cheeks flushed slightly.
…