Chapter 97

He used his unpredictable throwing technique to jump his piece directly into an empty area, thus surviving the turn.

Then came the sound; the square she jumped to was where she had to add any verbal tic to her own words.

To ease the tension, she added a cute "meow~" to the end of each sentence.

It received unanimous praise from everyone except Ishikawa Hayato.

Then it was Liang's turn.

She rolled the dice, moved the piece a few spaces according to the number on the dice, and the piece stopped. She then looked at the penalty.

Make eye contact with any random player of the opposite sex in the room for 30 seconds.

It was said to be any random person of the opposite sex, but there was only one person of the opposite sex present.

Liang's expression remained unchanged as he looked at the punishments displayed on the chessboard.

Upon seeing the words on it, Nijika's smile vanished instantly, and she hurriedly said...

"Wait, this is too much. Should we roll it again and change the punishment?"

"Fine."

Liang stood up calmly and walked to the other side of the sofa, approaching Ishikawa Hayato with an expression of helplessness and realization.

Ishikawa Hayato moved back to make room for Ryo, almost leaning against Hibiki, but he could only squeeze out a little more than a hand's width of space.

Liang sat down without a care in the world.

Her legs and arms were resting directly on Ishikawa Hayato, and her shoulders were pressed against his chest.

Ishikawa Hayato could feel the slenderness and warmth of her body.

He could even smell her heart-pounding fragrance.

Liang seemed completely oblivious to his reaction as she asked.

"Start?"

After she finished speaking, Ishikawa Hayato's expression became slightly more serious. Having spent a long time with Ryo, he knew very well that only about 20% of Ryo's inner emotions were reflected on her face.

In other words, she might only show a hint of shyness on her face, but inside she was incredibly nervous.

If you look at her with any extra expression at this moment, your likability will plummet.

"Um."

After nodding, he looked directly into Liang's golden eyes at extremely close range, at a distance where their gazes were almost entirely focused on each other's eyes.

Beside them, Bocchi blinked at the scene before looking away, Kita glanced at the two of them with an expression that said, "I knew it."

Nijika glanced at Kita and Bocchi, but didn't say anything.

Xiang looked at her brother with admiration, thinking, "This guy is really brave."

Time passed gradually.

Since no one was timing them, they didn't know whether 30 seconds had actually elapsed.

Even Ishikawa Hayato couldn't be sure if his count of 30 seconds was accurate at this point.

He gazed into her cool eyes, and in what felt like an eternity of eye contact, the defenses in her eyes were finally broken.

Ishikawa Hayato seemed to see a shallow, unnoticed ripple in her heart beneath her calm exterior.

Amidst the concern and worry, there was also a growing sense of shyness.

Liang's expression shifted; she wanted to escape, but she held back, though her ears gradually turned red.

But before those emotions could fully show on her face, she looked away, stood up, and spoke.

"Time is up."

Nobody cared whether her time was actually up.

After Ryo left, Ishikawa Hayato felt a vague sense of loss. The thrill of being in physical contact with Ryo for a short while was like a small sip of slightly warm, bitter coffee. It felt uncomfortable at first, but the more he touched her, the more lingering the aftertaste became.

Next, it was Nijika. She rolled the dice, and her piece landed on the "Tell a joke" square.

While inwardly complaining about why she hadn't jumped here earlier, she started telling jokes.

Although the joke was rather silly, everyone else laughed along with her.

Instead, it almost drove her to become withdrawn.

Her expression made Ishikawa Hayato genuinely laugh.

Next up is Bocchi. After rolling the dice, she sees "Back to the starting point" on the map and looks down sadly at Liang, who is two squares ahead of her.

Then we went to Kita.

She tossed the piece seemingly nonchalantly, but when she saw her piece land on the floor where she had to do 10 push-ups, a look of disappointment crossed her face.

Ishikawa Hayato breathed a sigh of relief; he clearly saw Kita's gaze lingering on the next panel, "Let someone say a few words from the heart."

But at the same time, he was also a little disappointed; he was curious Kita what questions Kita would ask.

This guy is shameless about becoming the laughingstock; no matter what, the situation is still under his control.

He glanced at Nijika, threw the dice, and landed on the truth square as he had hoped.

Nijika immediately became alert.

"Oh dear, who should I ask?" Ishikawa Hayato teased.

"Hayato-kun..."

Nijika cried out weakly. As the second round began, she remembered that this person's dice-rolling skills were ridiculously strong.

In other words, while others are directed to choose by the dice, he is choosing squares on the map.

And after that glance she just gave her, she had a feeling that trouble was about to befall her.

"Then... that's Kita!"

Nijika was taken aback and looked at the surprised Kita.

"Whom Kita to ask just now, and what question did he want to ask?" Ishikawa Hayato asked with a smile.

Kita's expression gradually turned strange. She thought Ishikawa Hayato would ask Nijika personal questions despite Nijika's dislike, but she didn't expect him to back down.

She felt a little dissatisfied and instead of answering truthfully, she changed her answer and said with a smile.

"Hmm, what I was just about to ask Ishikawa-kun was, how big of a harem are you planning to build?"

Instead of avoiding the question as she expected, Ishikawa Hayato answered directly and decisively.

"It shouldn't be beyond the range I can hug... right?"

Hearing that Ishikawa Hayato had already planned this far, Nijika sighed again.

85. Different

The game lasted for about half an hour before ending with Ishikawa Hayato winning.

It's a pity that no one clicked on the "confess your feelings" section, while the one who clicked on the "relationship experience" section was Xiang.

She pitifully explained that she hadn't met anyone she liked yet, so Nijika and Kita decided to let her off the hook and gave her a small punishment: drinking a glass of water.

After the game ended, due to various awkward little incidents that occurred during it, they stopped playing.

Ishikawa Hayato watched as Hibiki chatted happily with the four of them. However, he was quite familiar with his younger sister, and he felt that it was already very difficult for her to maintain her composure and smile all this time.

If this continues, her persona will crumble.

Ishikawa Hayato looked for something to pass the time, his gaze lingering on the television.

"Shall we go see a movie?"

Kita then remembered the movie she had brought and quickly spoke up.

"Wait me a moment!"

She ran up to the second floor and then rushed back down. Under the gaze of the others, she smiled and showed them the CD case in her hand.

"How about this? I highly recommend it; it's a very exciting movie."

Ishikawa Hayato saw the cover of the CD case in Kita's hand and then turned to look at Bocchi's reaction.

But contrary to his expectations, Bocchi kept glancing at the disc and looking away, seemingly both expectant and embarrassed.

He looked very eager to see it.

Ishikawa Hayato said, feigning regret.

"I have no objection, but it's a bit of a shame it's not a horror movie."

Nijika shuddered at the mention of horror movies, then quickly agreed with Kita.

"This is perfect! I've wanted to see this movie for a while now."

"Then let's look at this one."

Xiang said impatiently, while repeatedly gesturing to her brother to hurry up.

Ishikawa Hayato noticed that only Ryo seemed uninterested, though she didn't voice any opinions, though he probably held a grudge.

Thinking about it this way, he suddenly realized that Liang was quite easy to deal with.

"Let's begin then."

Ishikawa Hayato believes that artistic creation has a soul, and for him, he can clearly sense the quality of a work from the very first glance.

This movie is quite good.

Whether he's attracted to it or not is another matter entirely.

While he could understand the act of becoming infatuated with someone because of a fleeting moment of beauty, he could not understand the self-abandonment and the search for emotional substitutes after being rejected.

At the same time, the film uses visuals and imagery to portray the handsome, pitiful protagonist as an abandoned puppy.

He stopped paying attention to the movie screen and turned to look to the side.

Beside him, Bocchi was completely absorbed in watching, unconsciously clutching her sleeve, her breathing becoming much lighter.

Bocchi went past Kita, who was watching quite intently. It was her second time watching it, and her gaze lingered on the background of the image, paying attention to the subtle hints the director made with various objects.

But Ishikawa Hayato's gaze brought her back to her senses. Seeing that Ishikawa Hayato was looking at her, she pointed at the television with her finger, indicating that she should watch carefully.

Ishikawa Hayato withdrew his gaze, pretended to look at it for a few seconds, and then looked to the side.

Nijika's gaze was calm, but her lips were slightly pursed. Her eyes flickered, and her bright eyes blinked only briefly, as she carefully observed every scene.

Moving on, Liang sat casually, but her gaze never left the television; she watched and pondered with a sense of detachment.

The movie has ended.

Bocchi quickly came to her senses. She glanced at Ishikawa Hayato beside her, and Ishikawa Hayato reached out and patted her head.

She felt relieved, lowered her head, and smiled.

Nijika and Kita started talking about the various scenes in the movie that had attracted them, and Hibiki also came around from behind the sofa and joined in the conversation.

Liang Jingjing watched them quietly, only occasionally offering a few words of her own thoughts.

"I'm so happy today, I really wish I had a little sister like Hibiki."

As dusk fell, Nijika walked ahead with light, easy steps.

The orange-yellow sunlight only added to her liveliness and cuteness.

"I already said it's okay, come on, Nijika."

"Ishikawa Hayato teased with a smile."

After watching the movie, they went back and worked on the design and production for a while, but still couldn't come up with a solution that everyone agreed on.

In the end, he had no choice but to embark on his journey home.