"I hope so much that you can hear it!"
"The loud diamond shines~"
Amidst the brilliant, multicolored lights, AKB48's "Oogoe Diamond" echoed through the air, painting the weekend in Akihabara with an exceptionally lively atmosphere.
Today, the last day of the week, events were being held all over Tokyo.
Rumor had it that there would be a massive evening gala beneath the Tokyo Skytree tonight.
Everyone from Far Moon Academy would be going there to hang out, so naturally, they were all near the Skytree now. This conveniently left Akihabara to Yan Huan as his battlefield to obtain the Crab dicine.
At this mont, the first floor of GiGO was packed with people.
Crowds of eager custors surrounded the claw machines, which were hung with promotional posters for various IPs.
Fortunately, Yan Huan and Spencer had a very clear goal; they had co straight for the collaboration plushies of Angry Little Pigs.
Aside from Spencer's fondness for it, the IP itself wasn't very popular and didn't attract much attention.
It wasn't like the Chiikawa claw machine next to them, which had already been completely emptied.
Not only did you have to queue up, but every ti soone won a prize, they had to wait for an employee to restock it imdiately.
Sitting down in front of the vacant claw machine, Spencer imdiately grew eager to try.
After inserting a coin, Yan Huan watched as she intently gripped the joystick, attempting to precisely control the chanical claw inside the glass case to achieve One Shot, One Soul, and pull out the Golden Bomb Pig sitting inside.
"Hmm..."
Spencer narrowed her eyes, and after adjusting for a long ti, she finally pressed the button with absolute solemnity.
"Whirrr..."
Her sky-blue eyes tracked the claw as it descended, reaching for the little pig with the evil smile below.
"Ring~"
Right at that mont, the phone held close to Yan Huan's chest suddenly rang.
Spencer's single-threaded brain was entirely focused on whether she had caught the pig, completely oblivious to Yan Huan's situation.
But this served as a wake-up call for Yan Huan.
He needed to set his phone to vibrate. Otherwise, when the others sent ssages later, they might not be as oblivious as Spencer.
'Sakuramiya?'
Yan Huan checked his phone, only to see an incoming call notification from Sakuramiya Hitomi.
Seeing that notification, Yan Huan's breathing quickened slightly.
He hastily glanced at Spencer beside him, stood up, and said,
"Aria, I'm going to the restroom for a bit."
"Okay, I'll wait right here for you."
Without a shred of suspicion, Spencer simply nodded and went back to concentrating on catching her little pig.
Yan Huan turned around, intending to step out of GiGO to find a quieter spot outside.
Just as he stepped out the door, Yan Huan answered the phone,
"Sakuramiya?"
"President, I've already arrived. Where are you?"
"Ah, you're already here?"
Weren't they supposed to et at one o'clock?
It was only just past twelve right now!
"Mhm, I'm right across from GiGO right now."
Across from GiGO?!
Hearing this, Yan Huan's pupils shrank, and he subconsciously looked across the street.
Sure enough, by the side of the road, he saw Sakuramiya Hitomi, who had just gotten out of a car, holding her phone and wearing a beautiful kimono.
!!
"What about you, President? Are you still on your way, or..."
As she asked this, Sakuramiya Hitomi turned her head to look around.
Seeing that her gaze was about to sweep in his direction, Yan Huan imdiately turned and sprinted back through the doors.
"I'm still on my way. It should be a while before I arrive. Sakuramiya, you arrived... way too early."
"I just suddenly rembered that there seems to be a really good ran shop here in Akihabara called Hakata Furyu. I wanted to try it with you, President."
On the other end of the line, Sakuramiya Hitomi smiled faintly, sounding incredibly considerate,
"It's fine. It looks like there's a queue over there anyway. I'll go queue up first. You can take your ti getting here, President."
Hearing this, Yan Huan breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. Only Sakuramiya had arrived early, and she was even able to find sothing to do on her own...
"Is that so? That sounds great. Sakuramiya, you go queue up first, and I'll be there a bit later."
"No problem."
Sakuramiya Hitomi smiled faintly, but amidst her smile, she suddenly froze.
She first brought the phone a bit closer to her ear, listening carefully to the background noise coming through the receiver.
Then, she moved the phone a bit further away.
In an instant, the music playing from GiGO flooded clearly into her ears.
She didn't know if it was just an illusion, but Sakuramiya Hitomi felt that the music was exactly identical to the background noise coming from her phone.
"...Then I'll hang up first, Sakuramiya."
"Ah, okay."
Sakuramiya Hitomi lowered her phone, but her gaze inevitably drifted toward GiGO across the street.
anwhile, inside the doors, Yan Huan leaned against the wall, a faint layer of cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
Beside him, the illusory Myau-chan sat by the doorway, looking in Sakuramiya Hitomi's direction.
The next second, the cat's expression changed slightly, and it turned to ow at Yan Huan,
"Sakuramiya Hitomi seems to be heading this way, ow!"
"..."
Hearing this, Yan Huan looked as if he had swallowed a fly. He reached up and thumped his own chest.
'What a terrible start...'
Thinking this, he gritted his teeth, quickly turned around, and sprinted back toward Spencer.
"Ugh..."
Over there, Spencer was staring at the claw machine in frustration.
Behind the glass, the Golden Bomb Pig sat on the anti-slip strip, staring out with its evil smile.
Dammit, no matter how she grabbed it, it just wouldn't co out!
Just as Spencer pulled out another coin, intending to try again, Yan Huan ca running back to her side,
"Spencer! Let's... uh, let's go play upstairs for a bit. There are a ton of arcade gas up there."
"Okay—"
Spencer was just about to nod obediently, but a second later, she suddenly realized sothing and began to pout.
Imdiately, she bared her canine teeth and turned her head back to the claw machine in front of her, sulking,
"No, I'm going to grab this little pig out of here!"
"..."
Hearing this, Yan Huan was taken aback for a mont, but he instantly realized his mistake.
In his panic, he hadn't called her by her first na, which was why she was sulking a bit.
However, this actually served as a reminder for him.
While it was perfectly normal for him to act flustered—after all, a single person going on a date with four girls simultaneously was enough to test anyone's heart...
And moreover, none of these four girls were ordinary people...
But this had only just begun. This was rely the very first hurdle he had encountered. If his mindset was already this unstable, there was absolutely no way he would succeed.
If he wanted to obtain the Crab dicine, he had to bring out his true skills.
"Phew."
With this thought in mind, Yan Huan, whose plans had been thrown off slightly, felt his racing heart gradually slow down.
He turned his head to glance at the crowd near the entrance, his brain working rapidly.
There were a lot of people over there. Even if Sakuramiya was coming over, she couldn't possibly move fast.
Given Sakuramiya's weakling constitution, she had to stop and rest after walking even a short distance, not to ntion having to squeeze through the packed entrance...
The next second, a charming smile appeared on Yan Huan's face,
"Alright, then we'll leave after we catch this."
"Yay!"
Spencer nodded and was just about to insert another coin.
Suddenly, a pair of large hands reached around from behind her, covering the back of her hands.
"Eep!"
Yan... Yan Huan is hugging !
Spencer's face flushed slightly red. She blinked and looked at Yan Huan beside her.
Only to see Yan Huan smiling faintly as he looked at her and said,
"Didn't we agree on 'together'?"
"Oh..."
"Co, let's control the joystick together."
Spencer bit her lip with her canine teeth, but for so reason, her attention was instantly drawn to Yan Huan's lips, which were re inches away.
Her left eye tried to focus on the little pig inside the machine, but her right eye acted like a magnet, constantly drifting toward Yan Huan's mouth...
This split focus nearly short-circuited Spencer's single-threaded brain.
"Then... let's grab it right here!"
As Yan Huan's breath brushed against her cheek, a sudden tingling sensation made her shiver uncomfortably, and she imdiately pressed the button.
"Whirrr!"
The chanical claw descended slowly. With one glance, it was obvious the positioning was wrong; there was no way it would catch the little pig.
But beside her, Yan Huan narrowed his eyes.
Inside the machine, an illusory, fat black cat instantly materialized. Using its paw pads, it nudged the plushie bit by bit until it was directly beneath the descending claw.
"Yan Huan, look! We caught it!"
Spencer had initially been feeling a little shy, but the mont she saw the little pig get caught, her single-threaded brain instantly banished the bashfulness, replacing it entirely with the excitent of winning the prize.
Yan Huan smiled, nodded, and praised her,
"You're amazing, Aria."
"Hehe..."
This smooth combo of actions had Spencer lting into absolute mush.
Yan Huan bent down, retrieved the little bomb pig from the dispenser below the machine, and handed it to her before asking again,
"So, how about it? Want to go upstairs and have a look?"
"Mhm, okay!"
Now, Spencer was finally willing to go with Yan Huan.
Hugging the little pig, she skipped happily toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
Yan Huan followed behind her. He silently shot a glance toward the entrance, spotting Sakuramiya Hitomi just squeezing her way in. He imdiately retracted his gaze and hurried up the stairs.
At that mont, Sakuramiya Hitomi struggled into the building. Looking at the noisy, chaotic environnt around her, she couldn't help but frown slightly.
She scanned the area but caught no sight of the President's figure anywhere, which made her begin to doubt herself,
'Was it just my imagination...'
Pinching her chin, Sakuramiya Hitomi silently turned around and headed back outside,
"Excuse , coming through... thank you." She squeezed her way out through the exit, going against the flow of the crowd.
However, just as she stepped out the door, she was bumped into by soone walking in a hurry.
Sakuramiya Hitomi had a frail constitution. Bumping into the person felt like hitting a solid iron plate, and she instantly lost her balance, falling to the side.
"Thud!"
But the person in front of her suddenly shot out a hand and grabbed Sakuramiya Hitomi by the shoulder.
Remarkably, with just that one hand, they forcefully stopped her fall right then and there.
"..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi dazedly lifted her eyes to look at the person in front of her.
She saw that the person was "fully ard" with a baseball cap and a face mask, making it completely impossible to see their face.
Yet for so reason, the mont that person saw Sakuramiya Hitomi, their eyes narrowed slightly.
The next second, she released Sakuramiya Hitomi's shoulder and smoothly, stealthily tucked a stray lock of wine-red hair that had slipped out from under her cap back into place.
"Um, thank you."
The person nodded and turned to leave without saying a single word.
Sakuramiya Hitomi didn't think much of it either. She simply turned and walked in the opposite direction.
But she didn't realize at all that the very instant she turned her head, the baseball cap-wearing figure who was supposed to leave suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked back at her retreating figure.
Beneath the baseball cap, a flash of contemplation flickered in Tong Yingying's eyes.
Soon after, she turned her gaze toward GiGO, the place Sakuramiya Hitomi had just exited.
"Um, Yan Huan, I've already arrived. I'm in Akihabara~"
Right then, on the second floor of GiGO, Yan Huan stared at the ssage from Bai Yi on his phone, feeling absolutely terrible.
With trembling fingers, completely unable to hold back his dismay, he typed out a feeble question,
"...You're here this early?"
"Hehe, doesn't this show how punctual I am?"
Over at an internet cafe.
Bai Yi, fully dolled up with her makeup done, admired herself playfully in the mirror. Looking at the ssage she had just sent on her phone, her little heart couldn't help but race wildly.
'Hehe, sending a ssage like this, Yan Huan will definitely be completely enchanted by ~'
"Ah, to think you would place so much importance on our date, Bai Yi! I am truly so touched!
"In contrast, I am thoroughly ashad of my inferiority. I have no choice but to devote myself to you entirely to repay your earnestness...
"Please be with ! Be my girlfriend, I'm begging you!!"
In her mind, Yan Huan's sincere confession was already close at hand, causing Bai Yi to cover her mouth and giggle secretly,
"Hehe, it can't be helped then. I guess I'll just have to accept you~"
"..."
But over at GiGO, looking at the ssage on his phone, Yan Huan's face had completely darkened.
He truly wished he could drill the concept of "punctuality" straight into Bai Yi's brain.
What did it an to be punctual?!
Translate it for ! What exactly does it an to be punctual?!
Being punctual ans: don't be late, but don't be too early either!
Being late was out of the question, obviously.
But why couldn't you be early?
Because it makes the person who arrives at the normal ti look like they're late!
More importantly, once they showed up early for the date, they would have nothing to do since Yan Huan wasn't there yet, and they would inevitably wander around the area.
As luck would have it, because he had to consider the logistics of switching locations, Yan Huan had arranged all the date spots to be quite close to each other.
Could anyone guarantee that they wouldn't bump into the others while wandering around?!
The mont they bumped into each other, one would say, "What are you doing here?!", and the other would reply, "You were invited on a date by Yan Huan too?!"
Believe it or not, Yan Huan would die right on the spot.
Since things had developed so unexpectedly, Yan Huan certainly couldn't just sit around and wait for his doom, continuing with the original schedule.
"..."
Yan Huan didn't reply to Bai Yi's ssage imdiately. Instead, he opened his chat history with Ye Shiyu and sent a ssage,
"Sister Shiyu, I'm almost at Akihabara. It'll just be a little while longer. What about you, Sister Shiyu? When are you planning to head out?"
Yes, he was directly copying Sakuramiya Hitomi and Bai Yi's maneuvers to use on Ye Shiyu.
This way, he could get Ye Shiyu to co to Akihabara early.
Since everyone was already here, Yan Huan had no choice but to start his operation ahead of schedule.
Originally, he truly wanted to go on a proper date with Spencer. After all, the two-hour ti limit would only start the mont he kissed her.
But now, he could only let Spencer suffer a bit of a grievance...
"I've already arrived in Akihabara, Xiao Huan."
"..."
Brilliant.
'Heh, I hadn't realized it before, but you three actually have quite the unspoken understanding.'
Staring at Ye Shiyu's reply, Yan Huan almost laughed out of sheer exasperation.
After replying to Ye Shiyu with an "Alright, I'll contact you when I get there, Sister Shiyu," Yan Huan switched back to Bai Yi's chat window.
Over there, Bai Yi had sent another ssage,
"By the way, Yan Huan, you probably haven't had lunch yet, right? I saw soone recomnding a nearby ran shop online. I think it's called Hakata Furyu... I'll go queue up first, how does that sound?"
"No, please don't!"
The mont he saw the na of the shop Bai Yi sent, Yan Huan hurriedly fired back.
"Eh? Is sothing wrong with that shop?"
"I don't really want to eat ran, plus we'd have to queue up under the hot sun..."
Yan Huan swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his hands flying rapidly across his phone's keyboard,
"How about this, Bai Yi: find a cafe near the station and sit there for a while, okay? Don't let yourself get sunburnt. When I arrive, we'll go look for another place together that doesn't need a queue."
Over there, Bai Yi, who was just about to head downstairs to check out of her internet cafe room, couldn't help but smile foolishly at her phone.
'Hehe, he's worried about getting too much sun~'
Thinking this, Bai Yi decided to hold off on checking out for now.
She might as well wait until Yan Huan arrived to go et him, right?
"Okay, whatever you say. I'll wait for you near the station~"
After sending that, Bai Yi followed up with an adorable emoji sticker.
Girls in love did tend to act cute, and considering how beautiful Bai Yi was, the effectiveness of this behavior was off the charts.
It was just a pity that right now, Yan Huan was only breaking out in cold sweat. He had no spare ntal capacity to appreciate Bai Yi's performance.
"Phew."
Putting his phone away, Yan Huan finally raised his eyes to search for Spencer's figure.
He saw her standing beside a dance machine, watching two players dance with a synchronization rate high enough to pilot a cha.
"Aria."
"Yan Huan, how about we play this later?"
"..."
Looking at her joyful expression, Yan Huan couldn't help but sigh.
After a second of hesitation, his expression hardened with resolve,
"Aria, it's like this..."
"Hm?"
"In a bit, I might have sothing I need to take care of, so I'll have to step away for a while."
Yan Huan looked straight into Spencer's eyes and spoke softly,
"During this ti, could you stay here and play by yourself for a bit? I'll co right back as soon as I'm done. It won't take too long."
Spencer opened her mouth, but she wasn't angry. Instead, surprisingly, she asked with concern,
"Is it sothing very important? Do you need my help?"
"..."
Yan Huan paused, then shook his head and said,
"I can handle it myself. It's just going to be a bit tough on you, having to wait here alone for a while."
Clutching her little pig plushie, Spencer nodded obediently and said with a smile,
"What's so tough about staying here for a bit? I'll wait right here for you!"
"...Then, before I go, I want that."
Hearing this, Spencer first blinked shyly, but a second later, she averted her gaze and retorted,
"What's that? I don't know what that is..."
This was...
She was copying how he had teased her the night before last?
Co to think of it, had Spencer actually gotten quite a bit smarter after studying so hard?
Yan Huan suddenly had this thought.
On the surface, however, he played along with Spencer and acted it out with her,
"You know... that."
"What?"
"That."
As he spoke, Yan Huan stepped closer to Spencer.
She was still standing there, looking proud with her nose in the air, bearing an expression of "now you know how it feels to be teased."
Little did she know, in the very next second, Yan Huan was right in front of her.
Sensing Yan Huan's shadow looming over her, Spencer finally realized sothing was very wrong,
"Wait a minute, when did you get so close..."
But Yan Huan rely smiled faintly. Leaning in close to her lips, he looked into her eyes and said,
"That, is exactly this."
"Huh?"
The mont she parted her lips, Yan Huan's eyes darkened slightly. He gently pinched Spencer's chin and leaned his head down.
"Smooch~"
Just as the mission required, it had to be...
A full, one-minute French kiss!
Against her lips, Yan Huan's presence was suddenly magnified countless tis.
The next second, Spencer's pupils initially shrank, but then gradually relaxed and grew unfocused.
"Mmph..."
Had it been a minute yet?
Yan Huan had no idea either.
But most likely, the mission had officially begun.
Thus, he prepared to pull away.
However, Spencer had a domineering personality. She couldn't help but turn the tables, subconsciously shoving him hard against the wall, unwilling to let him go.
"Step... step... step..."
But the two of them, kissing not far from the stairwell on the second floor, were completely unaware...
That at this very mont, a tall woman wearing a baseball cap and a face mask was slowly walking onto the second floor.
It was Tong Yingying.
She glanced left and right, taking in any potential information she could find.
And in the next second, amidst her scanning...
The scene of Spencer fiercely pinning Yan Huan against the wall and kissing him near the corner crashed squarely into her vision.
"..."
She just stood there blankly, staring dumbfoundedly at the two people kissing not far away.
Inside the GiGO store, the background singing remained clear. The lyrics were perford with imnse vitality by the mbers of the renowned idol group.
What was playing right now was still AKB48's "Oogoe Diamond"—
"When I realize that I'm going to lose you..."
"I feel like I'm sitting on pins and needles~"
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