Evening.
At the Tenkuji family dining table, tonight’s al was ready. The handso and friendly older brother was recounting the day’s events to his cute, innocent younger sister.
"At that mont, I smashed his face with my fist, and he said, ’Kid, you don’t know martial arts etiquette, attacking , a 28-year-old elite of society!’... So I said, ’If you want to fight, let’s fight. No point talking about martial world rules with you. When it cos to internal disputes, I only fight with beautiful, long-legged girls with big chests...’"
Sora, eating listlessly while listening, suddenly shot him a sharp look, like a cat scratched in the wrong spot.
"What?"
The actual gray-furred cat also lifted its head from its bowl and owed, aning—"Master’s causing trouble again."
"Nothing." Yuu coughed, wisely wrapping up the conversation. "In short, I ca ho late because I got caught up in an attack incident at school."
"Your school life is really interesting." Comnting in a casual tone, Kasugano Sora asked nonchalantly, "You didn’t get hurt, did you?"
"Of course not. Even the Kendo Club President Hiramura, a swordsmanship expert, couldn’t hurt , let alone two small fries who only know how to play dirty." Yuu puffed out his chest proudly, feigning a smug smile.
"Rember, true heroes don’t get hurt!"
"That line wouldn’t even convince a kid." Sora rolled her cute eyes, her tone exceptionally cold. "The ones who get hurt the most are heroes. Their bodies and minds are scarred facing the demon king, tortured repeatedly just to clear a level... So don’t even survive, only rembered by the next generation, leaving those who miss them sobbing."
As if she was saying she hated people like that.
"My dear little sister, your big brother is rarely romantic. Don’t say such overly realistic things..." Yuu sighed wearily, biting his chopsticks. "Whatever, I don’t plan on being so hero anyway. I just happened to do what I could."
"You don’t need to." Her face ward again, Sora took a spoonful of rice and side dishes, looking down, masking her murmur with chewing sounds. "You’re already my hero..."
As if not hearing her, Yuu reached out to pat her head, smiling as he added more side dishes to her bowl.
"Eat up, you seem to have gotten thinner lately."
"Really? Good, my training wasn’t for nothing..."
"If you keep getting thinner, you’ll end up like a bamboo stick. No one will want you."
"Aren’t you soone?"
"All the girlfriends I’ve dated were heavier than you. If my taste is used to them, it might be tough later."
"What kind of jerk line is that... Hm? Wait, dated... girlfriends?"
"Just kidding, don’t mind it. I’m full, don’t forget to wash the dishes."
"You wouldn’t make such a bad joke! Stupid Yuu, stop—"
"Are you guys over there okay?"
In the bedroom, after calming his rampaging little sister, Yuu called Yukino and Yuigahama.
He used the Service Club group call, naturally without Hiratsuka or Haruno. Only the avatars of the three appeared on the screen.
"With here, of course there’s no problem."
A cold, confident voice followed.
"All the spoils you won are back in the clubroom, and the first-place certificates for two categories were taken by Hiratsuka-sensei, to be returned tomorrow. So reporters wanted to interview us, but my sister handled it and drove us ho."
With a cat avatar, Yukino reported the situation flatly, then suddenly sighed.
"I really don’t know what to say about you... The challenge event was only halfway done, and you suddenly said you had sothing to do and left. Turns out, you were catching a criminal, even startling the police, causing the club exhibition to end early..."
Pausing, she rarely withheld her sarcasm, saying resignedly, "You’ll probably be sward with questions tomorrow. Good luck."
"Thanks, no need to worry about ." Holding the phone and leaning against the headboard, Yuu smiled, changing the topic. "Winning first place in two categories despite the early end—that’s what I didn’t expect."
"Of course!" Yuigahama chid in. "First, that amazing piano performance, then challenging various clubs with thrilling duels, and so even saw you stomping that fugitive... Of course your popularity would be number one!"
"True, that’s ." Yuu nodded, satisfied, his shalessly proud tone making Yukino scoff.
Then, Yuu asked them about a few things that happened while he was gone.
For instance, the clubs he defeated didn’t suffer a drastic drop in popularity for losing to him, nor were they mocked as "so weak, they couldn’t even beat an outsider." Even Totsuka, who got "bageled," received many club applications afterward. The Kendo Club, which fought him to a draw, ranked second in popularity.
You could say they lost honorably, so no one criticized them too harshly.
After all, they faced a "monster" skilled in everything—artistically making egg fried rice that brought tears, martially breaking a bamboo sword with another bamboo sword.
Losing to a "monster" wasn’t shaful; it could even be sothing to promote... Realizing this, the defeated club mbers felt mixed emotions, unsure whether to be happy.
Of course, Yuu didn’t care what they thought.
As expected, his past choices led to good outcos now, and everything ended relatively peacefully—that was enough to know.
"Oh, Yuu-kun..."
As the call was about to end, Yuigahama suddenly spoke, asking anxiously, "That girl who went with you in the police car, did you already know her?"
After dealing with Sugou, Yuu returned to the Yuuki mother and daughter, heading to the police station with them in public to give statents.
Naturally, the Service Club mbers saw that scene, so he wasn’t surprised Yuigahama asked.
Without hesitation, Yuu said frankly, "Of course I know her. She’s my girlfriend, Yuuki Asuna, and the middle-aged lady beside her is her mom... During the cooking duel, I sent them so fried rice."
He thought Yuigahama had seen that mont but kept it to herself without asking.
"I-I was blocked by the crowd and didn’t see... Ohhh—so that’s it." Yuigahama spoke softly, a deep breath audible, her tone sounding like a forced smile.
"So, the ’online girlfriend’ you ntioned before... That’s her?"
At so point, Yukino had left the group call, seemingly unwilling to join this awkward conversation.
After speaking, Yuigahama fell silent, waiting for his answer like it was a verdict.
"Yeah."
Looking up at the ceiling, Yuu unconsciously smiled.
"From an ’online girlfriend’ to now, it hasn’t been easy."
"..."
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