Coke-flavored cream puffs???
What kind of connection was that supposed to be?
Even Hayama, Miura's newly appointed "close buddy," was left puzzled after the incident.
"So Yumiko likes sweets? That's surprising. Never heard her ntion it before."
Well, of course she wouldn't. That kind of fattening stuff wasn't sothing a girl could just openly admit to liking.
Miura, who felt she had handled everything perfectly, cleared her throat and glanced toward Yukinoshita. As fate would have it, Yukinoshita was looking in her direction too. Miura imdiately flashed a smug little grin, laced with the faintest hint of triumph.
Just look at her so outstanding.
She hadn't even won Yukinoshita over yet, but she already knew how to ward off unwanted attention. All that nonsense about playing the field or leading people on completely nonexistent with soone like Yukinoshita, who was clearly cut out to be the perfect future girlfriend.
Yukinoshita blinked, a little puzzled, as she watched Miura grinning like she'd just earned a gold dal.
Hmm…?
With the system offering no assistance, she quickly activated her "Little Genius of Human Understanding" mode.
Rejecting a confession… shouldn't make soone this pleased, right?
Could it be that Miura thought her thod of turning soone down this ti had been particularly smooth? So now she was feeling proud?
Ah, got it.
Although Miura's rejection hadn't exactly been gentle or tactful, a good student who shows a desire to improve still deserves encouragent.
So Yukinoshita nodded slightly.
"Well done, Miura."
Only then did Miura gracefully return to her seat, leaning back against the chair with an air of poised modesty modesty laced with unmistakable self-satisfaction.
She lifted her chin just a touch and spoke in a tone one might use when offering guidance from on high.
"Not bad, huh? But you, Yukinoshita you've still got so work to do."
After all, soone as amazing as her had a lot of people eyeing her up. If Yukinoshita wasn't careful not that it was even remotely possible, of course soone might just swoop in and steal her away.
So, dear Yukinoshita… you've got to try harder to win over.
Yukinoshita looked a bit lost.
Did she also need to learn how to reject people more tactfully? Was her last attempt still too blunt?
But… it's not like she had that many admirers in the first place. That boy who'd confessed to her recently had to be seriously misguided. It wasn't as if she got opportunities to reject people all the ti.
She muttered uncertainly,
"I don't think I'll get many chances…"
Miura blinked.
It was only then that she realized she knew that they were mutually in love, but Yukinoshita didn't.
Two girls dating was still sothing people might whisper about in this supposedly modern world. But Miura didn't want Yukinoshita to face even the tiniest bit of judgnt.
She wanted to sound out her parents' views first. She wanted to gradually soften her friends' attitudes. She wanted to beco soone strong and dependable.
And most importantly call it sappy, call it stubborn, whatever
If they ever did beco a couple, if that day really ca
—She wanted Yukinoshita to be the one to confess.
But Yukinoshita didn't know any of this.
Did she still think that she was supposed to keep her feelings forever locked away, never to be spoken aloud?
Miura gently touched her bright red ears, too shy to look Yukinoshita in the eye.
"That won't happen…" she said, her voice trailing off, getting softer and softer.
Because if it's you, Yukinoshita…
"…Huh???"
Yukinoshita's built-in Miura-to-English translator finally failed her completely.
That afternoon's second period was a long-absent music class.
As one of the most prestigious schools in the region, Sōbu High prided itself not just on high university acceptance rates and elite academic performance, but also on a well-rounded curriculum filled with a variety of enriching elective courses.
Music, ho economics, tea ceremony, illustration even more niche clubs and interest groups all had access to school resources and equipnt.
Rumor had it that the school's newly appointed principal had already set their sights on rivaling the ultra-elite Shuchiin Academy, adopting a full-on "ambitious conqueror" mindset.
Yukinoshita, however, felt that might be a bit too lofty a goal. Probably.
The spacious music room was fully equipped with a wide range of instrunts piano, cello, violin, and many more.
Their music teacher, a graceful and elegant middle-aged woman, radiated pure "artsy" energy from head to toe.
Today's lesson was not focused on vocal music but on instruntals.
After asking everyone to sign up for an instrunt they were comfortable with, the teacher grouped them accordingly and assigned ensemble tasks.
Smiling warmly, she reassured the students,
"No need to worry too much, everyone. This isn't a pre-professional club. The purpose of this course is just to help you appreciate the differences in tone and timbre between instrunts."
"Sensei, will we lose participation points if we're really bad at it?" soone asked.
The teacher chuckled:
"Hee hee."
Wait just "hee hee"?!
You can't just "hee hee" at a ti like this, Sensei! That's terrifying!
Yukinoshita, without much thought, had written down "piano."
Miura, who had signed up for violin, looked like she'd just lost her will to live. She turned to Yui.
"Yui… you know how to play piano?"
Yui tried to dodge the question with a cutesy expression.
"Not really. Ehehe~"
In truth, it was just that piano allowed for four-hand duets easy to blend in and coast.
Yukinoshita's reputation had slowly been recovering lately, and quite a few students who were assigned to the piano group wanted to team up with her but none were faster than Yui.
She imdiately planted herself beside Yukinoshita and poked her arm.
"Yukinon, cover for later, okay~?"
Yukinoshita glanced at her and waited a few seconds. No quest popped up. A little disappointing.
She considered briefly.
"How does your piano skill compare to your math?"
Yui frowned and seriously weighed it in her mind.
"Well… let's just say at least I've studied math before."
"…Scram."
"Waaah, Yukinon, don't abandon —"
Despite her sharp tongue, Yukinoshita still ended up partnering with Yui.
"When we start, don't rush. Follow my tempo, and I'll cover for your mistakes."
anwhile, other students were buzzing with excitent, pulling out their phones to take selfies and prepare for performance footage.
Even Hayama quietly took a photo of Yukinoshita.
He tapped a contact in his Line chat and sent the picture.
[Yukino seems to be doing well. As long as I'm around, nothing will happen to her. Please don't worry.]
He stared at the input box for a long ti, typing and deleting, organizing his thoughts, before finally settling on a simple ssage no overstepping.
[Haruno-san, how have you been lately?]
But even that plain greeting he ultimately deleted too.
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