Reincarnation: Yukino Yukinoshita Is My Childhood Sweetheart Chapter 189: Megumi Kato – Just One Hit

Haru had already sensed gumi's arrival earlier. Since she hadn't said anything, he simply continued playing by himself.

Now that she finally spoke, he took the opportunity to perform a fancy move on the horizontal bar and landed smoothly, drawing another round of excited gasps from the kids watching nearby.

Haru smiled at the noisy children, then turned back—only to see gumi holding up her phone, clearly having fild the entire thing.

He raised an eyebrow. "You've been filming a lot lately, haven't you?"

After thinking about it, he realized it was true.

gumi calmly put away her phone. "Because I'm interested."

"Interested? Don't tell this is more of that 'observe more' advice from the club."

"Mhm." gumi nodded without hesitation.

Haru didn't believe her for a second and was about to press further when she handed him a bottle of water. He had no choice but to accept it.

After taking a few gulps and capping the bottle, gumi spoke again before he could resu questioning.

"The kids are still watching you. Wanna teach them a few tricks?"

Haru glanced at her suspiciously. "Smooth move, that combo."

From handing over the water to picking the perfect mont to cut in—she'd flawlessly interrupted his train of thought.

gumi tilted her head innocently. "I have no idea what you an."

Haru sighed, setting the bottle down. "I'm not teaching the kids anything."

"Why not?" gumi looked over at the eager children. "They're clearly hoping you'll show them sothing."

He shook his head. "First, those are advanced tricks that take years of practice—not to ntion proper safety precautions. And second… if I'm teaching them, who's going to keep you company?"

gumi paused, her cheeks turning slightly pink, though her voice remained as soft as ever."So the conversation rhythm's back in your favor, huh?"

Haru chuckled. "That's how it goes when two pros go at it. It's all about the little details—timing the perfect counterattack."

"Like Utaha-senpai and Yukinoshita?"

"Uh… the skill gap between them is kinda big. Not the best comparison."

After greeting the kids one last ti, Haru walked with gumi toward a quieter part of the park. They sat down on a bench under the trees.

"So, how co you ca alone? Where are the others?" Haru finally asked.

gumi hesitated. "I didn't feel like shopping anymore, so I ca to find you. It's just…"

"Just what?"

"Before I left, Hiratsuka-sensei seed… off."

"Huh? What do you an?"

"I'm not exactly sure."

gumi gazed at the trees around them and the sound of kids laughing in the distance. With a contented expression, she said, "Utaha-senpai and Yukinoshita are always arguing. Even while shopping for clothes, they can't stop bickering."

Then, she shared her theory. "Hiratsuka-sensei probably thought it was a sign of closeness between them, so she didn't step in. But toward the end, she looked… conflicted. Like she wanted to say sothing but didn't."

Haru didn't think much of it. "She was probably just trying to figure out how to stop their argunt."

gumi didn't respond. Sothing about Hiratsuka's expression had felt off, but she hadn't stayed long enough to find out.

Suddenly, Haru rembered sothing. "Do you guys have anything planned for tonight?"

"Probably not, unless Yukinoshita decides to pin down Utaha-senpai again." Her tone at the end turned oddly subtle.

Haru barely held back a laugh. "Then you'd better all get so rest. You're heading ho tomorrow—you don't want to be exhausted."

gumi shot him a suspicious look. "You're planning sothing tonight, aren't you?"

"I am not." Haru firmly denied it.

gumi tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Got it. You are planning sothing. Otherwise, why would you suddenly remind to go to bed early?"

Haru stayed quiet.

gumi wasn't so easy to fool. She casually unlocked her phone, glanced at the date, and just as quickly locked it again.

"Alright, I won't ask." She smiled.

"Thanks for understanding." Haru exhaled in relief. He really didn't want her to spoil the surprise he'd been preparing.

They sat together for a while longer, until Haru checked the ti—it was about ti to head back.

gumi, however, remained seated. "Those moves you did earlier… no normal person could pull those off, right?"

"Right. I told you, those techniques take practice," Haru replied casually.

"What about a professional gymnast? Could they do it?"

"Sure, why not? The moves aren't that hard. It's just that most people would hesitate without safety gear."

"So in other words, you're already strong enough to ignore all that."

gumi spoke as if summarizing her analysis, her face calm and serious.

Haru gave her a puzzled look. She t his gaze with that sa serious expression."If possible, can you show that move again?"

"…Kato, are you possessed by a detective or sothing?"

He finally realized—this was an investigation.

Just like Yukino, who once tried to "study" his body out of curiosity.

gumi t his eyes without flinching. "I'm just curious, that's all."

"Curious… about my body?"

"Sounds kinda lewd when you put it like that, but yeah, technically you're not wrong."

Haru was speechless. "You're not even going to pretend otherwise?"

"Why should I?" she asked.

…He was stumped.

True, she had no reason to pretend.

She was genuinely curious about the limits of his physical abilities, so saying it outright was, in a way, perfectly logical.

Still, there was no way he was going to show her his true power. Not unless she wanted to see him tear down a building with his bare hands.

So, jokingly, he said, "Well, I appreciate your honesty and curiosity… but no, I refuse."

gumi squinted at him. "Ani quote?"

"Nope. That one's all ," Haru smiled. "We're in high school—you should focus on studying, not this kind of nonsense."

"Oh, pulling the 'wise elder' card to change the subject?" gumi calmly analyzed.

Haru waved his hand. "Nah, if I were really acting like an elder, it'd sound more like…"

He cleared his throat and adopted a serious tone:"Kids shouldn't have such wild thoughts. Focus on what matters. Back in my day, children like you would've gotten a spanking."

gumi blinked, then suddenly stood up.

"What are you doing?"

To his astonishnt, she turned around, leaned over the bench slightly, and murmured,"If a spanking is all it takes for you to show , then… you can hit once."

Then she added softly, "Just once."

From where Haru was sitting, he had a clear view of her blushing face.

I knew it—this girl's my natural enemy!

He was completely defeated. Exasperated, he muttered, "…I was joking."

gumi slowly turned back, hands behind her back. "So was I. You're a boy—you shouldn't go around spanking girls."

Haru let out a dry chuckle. "Fine, fine. If you're that curious, I'll do the trick again."

"Thanks."

For a second, Haru wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but it felt like her eyes lit up with genuine excitent as she thanked him.

After satisfying gumi's curiosity, the two of them made their way back to the mall.

As expected, Yukino and the others were already waiting on the ground floor.

Even though they had been shopping for quite a while, they ended up buying very little.

Except for Shizuka, who held two exquisite shopping bags in her hands, Yukino and Utaha each only carried one small bag.

"gumi, when exactly did you leave earlier?" Utaha walked over and imdiately asked her question.

gumi Kato replied honestly, "Right when you and Yukinoshita were arguing."

It was a simple, straightforward answer—normally nothing out of the ordinary. But after she said it, both she and Haru noticed sothing was off.

Yukino and Utaha's expressions were… strange.

And Shizuka looked even more so.

Her face flushed almost instantly as she awkwardly turned her head away, unable to et Haru's gaze.

"What happened?" Haru asked curiously.

Yukino frowned with clear distaste. "I don't want to talk about it."

Utaha gave a teasing smile. "If Hiratsuka-sensei agrees, I can tell you two."

Imdiately, both Haru and gumi shifted their gazes to Shizuka.

Feeling all eyes on her, Shizuka had no choice but to lift her head and force out a reply."I'll tell you soday… just not now."

"How is that any different from saying, 'next ti for sure'?" Haru responded, clearly unimpressed.

Shizuka's cheeks burned even hotter as she tightened her grip on the shopping bags in frustration."I said I'll tell you later! Stop pushing, Amamiya!"

Then she quickly added, "I'll treat you all to a fancy dinner tonight."

Haru chuckled and deliberately looked over at Yukino and Utaha. "You think one nice al is enough to buy our silence?"

Yukino understood what he ant but couldn't be bothered to play along.

Utaha, on the other hand, smiled with perfect timing. "At least three als."

"Deal!"

Shizuka agreed without hesitation. She really couldn't bear for the topic to continue any longer.

To her, if even Haru found out about the earlier misunderstanding, he'd definitely mock her for a long, long ti.

She knew Haru would do sothing like that!

The scariest part was that he'd already seen her body. If that fact got added on top of the misunderstanding… how could she ever face him again? Could she still shalessly show up at his place for a free al?

In the spirit of paying the "hush money," Shizuka chose an upscale restaurant for dinner that night. Just the luxurious look of the grand lobby was enough to suggest how expensive the place must be.

"You really went all out, Hiratsuka-sensei." Yukino and gumi were genuinely grateful.

"Please continue going all out, Hiratsuka-sensei," Haru and Utaha added mischievously.

Shizuka rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Whatever. Let's just call it a Christmas reward for myself. It is the holiday season, after all."

The mont she said that Yukino and Utaha's expressions subtly shifted.

Compared to Christmas Eve, which they didn't really care about, Christmas Day itself held far more aning to them.

gumi, however, remained calm as always—because earlier, when she checked her phone, she had already taken note of the date.