Chapter 92

"Since you two go to the same school, I hope you can help me persuade her more often, or take her out to play more often."

"I understand!" Kogisora Yukina nodded firmly, as if she had received a command.

Sakurakoji Talent nodded in satisfaction, although Touma Kazusa seemed to be a cold, aloof woman with long, Black Long Straight Hair who was difficult to win over—and in reality she was.

But she has one very obvious trait, which is hard to say whether it's a flaw or a strength—she's not good at refusing other people's kindness.

The cheerful, gentle, and incredibly popular Kogisora Yukina might just be her natural enemy.

In addition, although it's hard to tell, she is actually a very caring girl.

Even without Kogisora Yukina's help, he was confident he could have dragged her into it through persistent pursuit, but with her assistance, he could definitely shorten the timeframe even further.

"Hey, Sakurakoji, why did you follow me?"

Touma Kazusa stared in astonishment at Sakurakoji Talent was following closely behind just a step away.

"Didn't I just say it was to take you and Yukina home?" he replied without hesitation.

"That's why I'm asking why! You're going to take us back!" She put on that habitual unhappy expression again.

Even so, the muscle movements on her face only changed slightly compared to her usual cool and aloof demeanor. If you weren't familiar with her, you probably wouldn't even notice the difference.

"Because it's getting late, and I was worried you'd be walking alone at night."

"Hou~ Is that so?" A cruel smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "But I remember, every time I left before, you never seemed to see me off."

"..." Sakurakoji Talent speechless, unsure of what to say for a moment.

"Then... I'll bring it to you every time from now on?"

"Who wants your condescending reply!"

"Then what do you want me to do!" He rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "Besides, isn't it because you always leave in a huff?"

"I clearly offered to give it to you, but didn't you suspect that I refused because I wanted to know your home address?"

"..." Recalling the previous incidents, and the first time she had used a fake name to fool him, Touma Kazusa remained silent, her red lips slightly upturned, and a barely perceptible hum escaped her throat.

Then, she cast a sarcastic look at him. "In the end, you still found out by committing a crime."

"... Do you have any evidence? What makes you think you can slander my innocence like this?"

"Asking about my address without my consent, no matter how you did it, is a crime." She delivered her verdict with a cheerful expression, casually kicking away a pebble on the road.

"Kiso, you should also be careful. This man isn't as innocent as he looks. He's got a lot of evil thoughts in his head, and he might attack you at any time."

She offered a friendly reminder to another person she was with, but to Sakurakoji Talent, it seemed more like a sarcastic remark.

"..."

Image: "Irreconcilable Best Friends", Location: "Images/1758631408-100446961-113886125. jpg"

Volume 1: The Daily Life of Attracting Bees and Butterflies - Chapter 125 Are You Even Human?

"Hahaha..." Kogisora Yukina could only respond with a dry laugh to her words.

Holding the bag in front of him with Hands, his eyes darted back and forth between the two people, his sharp emotional intelligence constantly active in his mind.

She was still unclear about what had happened between them and couldn't quite grasp the nature of their relationship.

But at least, based on her understanding of Sakurakoji Talent, she certainly wouldn't think he was such a wicked person.

She tightened her grip on her bag slightly, deciding to remain quiet and listen in for the time being.

--To explain why things turned out this way, we have to go back to five minutes ago.

The time was when the Starry went out at night.

After the group had largely finished their work discussion, Kogisora Yukina, just like last time, watched all the band performances with great interest, only remembering to go home when it was over.

For some reason, Touma Kazusa didn't say anything more about the performance being a small-scale affair, and then left halfway through—she stayed until this time.

Since it was getting late, out of concern for his female friend, Sakurakoji Talent offered to take them home.

Putting aside Touma Kazusa Kogisora Yukina is a well-known obedient girl. Since her family trusts him and agreed to let her come to visit him, he certainly couldn't let her walk alone at night.

While Japan's safety record is among the best in the world, it's not China, so you still need to be a little Kokoro. What if you run into a pervert or a stalker?

With such outstanding appearances, the chances of them encountering these kinds of things are naturally much greater than for others.

Kogisora Yukina naturally had no objections; rather, she readily agreed.

Since we've already given her the gift, we can't show favoritism by letting Touma Kazusa leave alone and then return to her empty house alone.

And that's how the scene just now happened.

However, Sakurakoji Talent didn't think it was his fault. Looking back at the previous times he met Touma Kazusa in the Starry, he had mentioned that he would take her back, but due to various reasons, it never happened.

"Anyway, since your homes are on the same route, we'll take Yukina home first, and then I'll take Touma home, okay?" As the only person who knew both of their addresses, he devised a plan.

"I have no objection, is that alright, Touma-san?" Kogisora Yukina leaned over to look at her.

"Okay, let's do it this way." She also stopped her bickering with Sakurakoji Talent.

"Then let's go."

The three arrived at a nearby subway station and took the subway to their first stop— Minamisue Station in Shinjuku Ward.

At Sakurakoji Talent's invitation, Touma Kazusa followed the two out of the station, and after walking for a while, they stopped in front of Kogisora Yukina's house.

"Thank you for bringing me back." Standing in front of her house, Kogisora Yukina bowed slightly to the two people to express her gratitude.

"Um, I'm so sorry, it's already quite late, so I won't invite you in. But you must come again next time! Touma-san too!"

"Me?" Touma Kazusa, who was observing the Ogiso residence, pointed to herself in confusion when she heard her name called.

She felt that her relationship with Kogisora Yukina wasn't close enough to be that intimate.

"Okay! Come play with Talent-kun next time!" Kogisora Yukina extended an incredibly warm and sincere invitation to her.

Faced with her exceptionally bright smile, Touma Kazusa felt a little overwhelmed, as if a ray of sunshine had suddenly shone into her cold heart.

"... if there's a chance."

Her red lips moved slightly, but the words of refusal she originally intended to utter couldn't be uttered in front of her face, and she could only give an ambiguous agreement.

"Okay! I'll cook for you myself next time, so look forward to it!" Kogisora Yukina stood with her hands behind her back, tiptoed, then opened the iron gate and waved to the two of them.

"Then I'll go in, bye-bye~ Talent-kun, Touma-san!"

Bye-bye~

"Goodbye."

After her smiling, waving figure disappeared behind the door, Sakurakoji Talent stepped forward and said, "Then let's go too, let's go back to your house."

"Just drop me off at the station. My house is quite far, isn't it? I can go back by myself. You can go back too," Touma Kazusa said as they walked.

"That won't do. I've already sent the pickled Yukina back. If I don't send them back to you, what if you bring it up again next time? I won't fall for that." He didn't show any surprise or disbelief, and simply answered accordingly.

"... Silly girl, Kokoro you don't miss the last bus," she murmured softly.

"I should make it in time. If not, I'll take a taxi back."

"What are you working for? Is the money you earned today enough for your bus fare?"

"Of course it's to experience life, and my salary is quite high, so don't worry."

"Hmph~ Do you need to work in a shop full of beautiful women just to experience life? I think you have ulterior motives." She glanced at him lightly, a mocking smile playing on her lips.

"That was a coincidence, and the reasons are quite complicated... but it's definitely not what you think."

"Is that so?"

After saying this, there was a period of silence between the two.

It wasn't until I stepped into the station again, bought a ticket, boarded the tram, and it started moving, with the scenery outside the window rushing by, that someone broke the silence.

"Hey, Sakurakoji, have you known Kiso for a long time?"

"It hasn't been that long, at least not as long as the time I've known you."

"Oh, I see." Her eyes held a hint of thought. "It hasn't been that long, and you're already calling each other by name? You wouldn't...?"

"Stop, it's not what you think!" he explained helplessly, "It's just because last time I went to her house, the whole house was full of Kogiso, so I just started calling her by her name."

"Moreover, the closeness of a relationship isn't necessarily linearly related to time, is it?"

"I see." Her face remained expressionless, as if she had just asked casually.

"What, you also think it's about time we started addressing each other by our first names?" Sakurakoji Talent took over the conversation with a faint smile. "Actually, I think so too."

"What?!" Touma Kazusa was startled, her composure crumbling. Hikaru scolded, "What nonsense are you spouting! Who wants to address you by your first name?!"

Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps!

"Hey, hey—do you have to go that far?"

"Who told you to say such nonsense!" She closed her eyes, hugged her chest, trying to calm her bewilderment, her face still flushed.

"Aren't we supposed to be demolition-based attacks?"

"I think they're at most acquaintances."

"Strike!"

"Snort!"

For the rest of the journey, the atmosphere between the two returned to calm, but unlike before, neither of them felt anything was amiss.

"Mmm~! We're finally here!"

Standing at the door with the Touma Residence, Sakurakoji Talent stretched lazily, looking relaxed as if he had completed his mission.

"If you'd thought it would be this difficult, you would have just let me come back alone."

"Still saying things like that? I was just feeling sentimental about another busy day coming to an end, don't get me wrong."

"Who knows?" Touma Kazusa shrugged, looking unconvinced, but the slight curve of her lips betrayed her true feelings.

After a few seconds of silence, she walked somewhat hastily to the door, unlocked the outer gate with her key, and then stopped. "Anyway, thank you."

"It's nothing, it's what I should do." He looked at the dark interior of the mansion behind the door and continued, "You go in first, I'll wait until you turn on the lights before I leave."

Touma Kazusa didn't speak, she just nodded, then walked into the room, closed the outer door behind her, and went into the inner room.

After a while,

A faint light emanated from the building, and judging from the location, it seemed to be the entrance hall. About a minute later, the hallway lights were also turned on.

Through the gaps in the densely patterned iron gate, he could vaguely see Touma Kazusa standing in the corridor, waving at him.

He responded, then turned and left.

Walking back the way he came, he took out his phone to check the time. If he hurried, he should still be able to catch the last bus, so he quickened his pace.

Night,

Back in his room, Sakurakoji Talent sat at his desk and began to summarize and record the events of yesterday and today in his notebook—a process commonly known as writing a diary.

As the saying goes, who keeps a diary if they're a decent person?

He used to think the same way, so he never wrote anything, but now he has no choice but to write.

He was living such a "rich" life every day, interacting with so many people. If he didn't carefully record everything and review it frequently, he was afraid that after a while he would get confused and forget things, and suffer the torment of fate again.

Yesterday's content was delayed by a day because I was with Shiina Mashiro last night.

He focused on writing, and at the end, after writing the words "At XX o'clock Touma Kazusa home," he put down his pen.

His gaze was unfocused as he stared at the Chinese paper filled with elegant handwriting, planning his itinerary for tomorrow.

At one point, a name popped into his mind, and his gaze returned to clarity.

He quickly flipped through the thick notebook, searching for the information he wanted. He flipped through seven or eight pages in a row until he saw a familiar name before stopping.

The owner of that name is: Shiina Mahiru.

The date is... well, never mind.