Kaguya-sama Wants Me to Surrender

"It's my dog."

"Can I pet it?"

Yurikawa Hana looked at him expectantly.

"Sure," Amamiya Natsuki nodded.

"Thank you, Amamiya-kun,"

Yurikawa Hana thanked him happily. Instead of crouching down, she placed her right hand on her knee and extended her left hand towards the Akita dog.

Amamiya Natsuki suddenly felt an inexplicable gravitational pull in the air, his gaze involuntarily drawn to it.

The collar of the girl's school uniform dipped slightly under the force of gravity, revealing her delicate, cute collarbone and her impossibly fair, smooth skin.

Massive objects exert gravity on their surroundings. The law of universal gravitation doesn't just apply to celestial bodies; it turns out it works on girls too!

The sun is so white today...

No.

The sunlight is so strong.

In that fleeting glance, Amamiya Natsuki's mind involuntarily conjured images of Newton's cradle from the physics lab.

"Stare—"

Yotsuya Miko, sporting a pair of dark circles under her eyes, watched them silently. Her pink lips moved, and she softly uttered two words:

"Pervert."

How am I a pervert?

Newton's cradle represents the beauty of physics. It's normal for one's gaze to be uncontrollably drawn to it, right? Even Newton himself would be mesmerized!

After happily petting the dog for a while, Yurikawa Hana reluctantly stood up straight.

As Amamiya Natsuki was about to head home, Yotsuya Miko suddenly invited him, "Um... I bought some strawberry daifuku. Do you want to share?"

Chiharu

(PS: I remembered, please give me some recommendation tickets~)

Chapter 24: Strawberry-Flavored Yotsuya Miko

"There's a quiz on Friday. If my grades are too bad, my mom will nag me," Yotsuya Miko said wearily. "Hana will come too."

Amamiya Natsuki pondered, "A study group for you girls... it probably wouldn't be appropriate for me to join, right?"

"It's okay!" Yurikawa Hana raised her right hand, her smile bright. "Amamiya-kun can just bring Pipi Taro along."

Wait.

What kind of bizarre name is that?

Seeing Amamiya Natsuki's speechless gaze, Yurikawa Hana chuckled, "That's the name I gave little Aki. Pipi Daifuku is super delicious."

Enough already! Don't just give pets weird names!

What even is Pipi Daifuku? With such a terrible name, can it even sell?

"Then let's go."

Amamiya Natsuki agreed.

"Amamiya-kun, could I hold Pipi Taro?"

Yurikawa Hana clasped her hands together in front of her chest, looking up with a pleading gaze like a fawn asking for deer crackers in Nara.

"Here you go."

Amamiya Natsuki didn't mind and handed her the leash.

"Thank you, Amamiya-kun!" the blonde girl cheered. "Amamiya-kun is such a good person."

Amamiya Natsuki said expressionlessly, "Please don't just hand out friend-zone cards."

"Don't worry," Yurikawa Hana giggled. "You and Miko are childhood friends, so even if you get a friend-zone card, you won't be single forever."

"That's what I mean, childhood friends doesn't mean dating! We're just normal friends..."

Yotsuya Miko's pretty face flushed slightly, and she weakly retorted.

That's right.

Amamiya Natsuki and Miko were indeed childhood friends.

When Amamiya Natsuki was in his first year of junior high, his family moved. Their new house happened to be next to Miko's. After transferring schools, he attended the same junior high as Miko. He had, in a sense, witnessed Miko's transformation from an unremarkable junior high student to the alluring figure she was today.

Girls in puberty really change day by day.

The two families got along well.

Amamiya Natsuki's parents were often busy with work, traveling all over the country. Miko's mother would occasionally invite Amamiya Natsuki over for dinner... So, calling them childhood friends was accurate.

However, the two of them weren't dating.

They could only be described as good friends.

To be honest, siblings in real life don't engage in that kind of relationship, and even childhood sweethearts rarely end up together after growing up. Most of the time, they just become playmates from the past.

They quickly arrived at Miko's house.

"I'm home."

Yotsuya Miko called out calmly, took out her key, and opened the door.

"Excuse me for intruding."

Yurikawa Hana walked in, holding her dog.

Amamiya Natsuki entered the entryway and was about to take off his shoes when he suddenly heard a faint, wavering voice:

"Welcome home."

"Huh?"

Amamiya Natsuki paused slightly, followed the sound, and was surprised to see a man walking from the living room.

To be precise, it was a transparent ghost of a middle-aged man, emitting a faint white light.

"Uncle?"

Amamiya Natsuki recognized him immediately.

Miko's Dad.

When he had transferred to the school, Miko's Dad was still alive. Later, Miko's Dad fell ill with an incurable disease and eventually passed away.

Amamiya Natsuki had encountered many evil spirits these past two days, but this was the first time he had seen a ghost like Miko's Dad. He didn't exude any evil, chaotic, or mad aura; instead, he gave off a subtle warmth, which made him quite curious.

Yotsuya Miko secretly observed out of the corner of her eye.

I can really see Dad... Wait!

Yotsuya Miko's eyes suddenly widened as she thought of something serious.

Based on her previous observations, Natsuki seemed to have awakened a strange ability that could harm those vengeful spirits. Weak vengeful spirits would even vanish into thin air.

Would Dad be in danger too?

Thinking this, Yotsuya Miko's heart suddenly stopped.

Even if Dad had become a ghost, he was still a part of the family. If she caused him harm because of her...

No!

Act quickly!

At the critical moment, Miko's mind raced. She suddenly turned around and lunged into Amamiya Natsuki's arms.

A true embrace!

"Wha-what?"

Yurikawa Hana's eyes widened, her hands covering her cheeks, fingers spread apart. "You said you were just ordinary childhood friends, and now you're hugging each other!"

Yotsuya Miko's pretty face flushed slightly. She couldn't bother with anything else and quickly leaned close to Amamiya Natsuki's ear, whispering:

"Natsuki, don't hurt Dad."

A faint fruity scent wafted into his nose – the smell of green apple shampoo, along with the scent of strawberry cake and Miko's own perfume.

Amamiya Natsuki smelled the scents from Miko and quietly promised:

"I know."

The Evil Spirit Repellent aura could be turned on or off at will.

Although there were many evil spirits in the real world, they weren't so densely packed that they were everywhere on the streets and alleys. One would only encounter one occasionally.

Therefore, Amamiya Natsuki usually kept it off by default.

"Phew..."

After receiving his assurance, Yotsuya Miko couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She let go of Amamiya Natsuki, took two steps back, and created some distance.

Facing her friend's gossipy gaze, Yotsuya Miko raised her right hand, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and said nonchalantly:

"I just slipped."

"You're lying. There's no water on the floor, nor any banana peels. How could you have slipped?"

"I lost my balance."

"..."

Amamiya Natsuki silently put on his slippers.

Meanwhile.

Miko's ghost dad had already walked up to the three of them, a look of relief on his face:

"Miko has finally grown up."

She looked at Amamiya Natsuki again after speaking:

"Natsuki, take good care of Miko. You two should get married right after you graduate high school."

Whoa, getting married right after high school is way too soon!

You're already a ghost, so stop worrying so much!

Hearing her dad's words, Yotsuya Miko's fair ear tips flushed slightly, but her expression remained nonchalant, as if she hadn't heard anything.

"Let's go, to my room."

"..."

She followed Miko up the stairs and into Miko's room.

"Eh~ Miko's room is so plain."

Yurikawa Hana said, with her hands behind her back.

"I'm sorry it's so plain."

Yotsuya Miko replied calmly, completely unfazed by her friend's comment. She took a folding table from the corner and set it up in the middle of the room.

"I thought Miko's room would have a giant teddy bear bigger than a person..."

"Giant teddy bears are super expensive, and hard to clean when they get dirty," Yotsuya Miko said, kneeling down and taking out Daifuku from her school bag. "I don't like them at all."

Yurikawa Hana continued:

"Why is there a world map on the wall instead of posters of cute girls?"

"Only boys like to put up posters of cute girls," Yotsuya Miko replied, dark circles under her eyes. "Hurry up and sit down, we need to study."

Yurikawa Hana obediently sat down, stroking the Akita dog's head, and looked towards Amamiya Natsuki, her curiosity piqued.

"Does Amamiya-kun's room have posters of cute girls?"