"Um..."
Bai Ye, who had been gazing at Horikita's back, heard the familiar voice behind him. It was soft and fragile.
His body stiffened.
Still, he had no choice but to turn around and look at Wang Meiyu's petite, lonely figure.
What had he planned to do again?
Right. Ignore her!
Wang Meiyu said sadly, "Jingu-kun seems to have a really good relationship with Horikita."
Ignore her.
"You even confessed to Kushida in class."
He wanted to argue, but held back and chose to ignore her.
"Did I do something wrong to make you hate me? Can you tell me?"
Ignore her, ignore her...
Bai Ye didn't look at her. He walked resolutely past her.
Just as he was about to pass the girl, he caught a glimpse of her trembling out of the corner of his eye. Her shoulders quivered, and a faint sob escaped her.
Then the girl bent over and covered her face with her hands. Her muffled sobs grew louder.
"..."
Now he couldn't ignore her. Even the most hard-hearted person couldn't bear to see this.
With a sigh, Bai Ye put an arm around Wang Meiyu's shoulder and turned her toward him. He looked her straight in the eye.
"I was wrong. I shouldn't have broken up with you. How can I make it up to you? I'll grant you one wish."
Finally getting a response from him, Wang Meiyu brightened for a moment and was about to tell him what she wanted. But then she decided it was probably impossible, so she paid no mind to the tears on her face and looked up at him with a sweet smile.
"Big Brother Bai Ye, could you pat my head one more time?"
"..."
"Or... is that too much to ask?" Wang Meiyu's head drooped lower and lower.
"No, no. You can have as many head pats as you want."
He rested his hand on Wang Meiyu's head and gently patted it as he always did.
"Hehe—"
The girl giggled and instinctively leaned against him, resting her little head on his chest and slipping her arms around his waist.
As he looked at the girl's beaming face, his expression gradually softened.
"Big Brother Bai Ye, you're the best~"
Wang Meiyu nestled against him and rubbed her face against his chest, wiping away all her tears on his clothes.
Bai Ye chuckled.
He knew Wang Meiyu hadn't done it on purpose. Hearing what she called him, he let out another wistful sigh.
That was right. Big brother.
She had always called him that before they started dating.
He'd always loved having her as his little sister.
The mission had been a catalyst, but it wasn't everything to him.
He hadn't planned to blindly follow the mission's instructions. At first, he had only approached Wang Meiyu to see how things went. He hadn't truly wanted to dump her.
If she hadn't confessed...
And he knew that if they stayed together too long, he might grow more and more reluctant to let her go, reluctant to break up.
So he had decisively chosen to break up with her the very next day.
If someone asked how he felt about Wang Meiyu now, it was probably eighty percent little-sister affection and twenty percent romantic feelings.
Now that the mission was complete, he didn't know what to do.
When the hand patting Wang Meiyu's head went still, she suddenly asked:
"Big Brother Bai Ye, will you be my big brother?"
"Is that your second wish?" he asked with a soft laugh.
"Ah... You can't?" Wang Meiyu drooped, looking dispirited again.
"I can. I was just teasing you."
"Hehe—"
Wang Meiyu's mood brightened again.
Her rapid mood swings amused him, and he couldn't help ruffling her hair.
"Ah, that hurts! Honestly, Big Brother, you're always picking on me!"
Wang Meiyu looked up, ready to put on a fierce expression. But the moment she met his clear, shining eyes and felt the tender affection in them, her heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly lowered her head and burrowed into his arms.
Her small ears turned bright red.
"Why are you blushing?" he teased.
"It's your fault, Big Brother. You're always seducing girls."
"Ah... What did I do?" Bai Ye asked, baffled.
"Nothing..."
"..."
Now that they had made up, Bai Ye quickly led her away from there. He wouldn't think anything of what they'd just been doing, but that didn't mean other people wouldn't get the wrong idea.
The first-year dormitory was a single building, with the girls' rooms upstairs and the boys' rooms downstairs.
He parted ways with Wang Meiyu on the fourth floor, found his room, and used his key card to open the door.
He was in 402. Right beside him, the door to 401 opened from the inside, and the boy who stepped out gave him a slight start.
The other boy saw him, too, and stopped closing the door.
They stared at each other in silence.
Bai Ye had once heard a romance expert say that if two people could hold eye contact for ten seconds, they could figure out what the other person thought of them just by looking at their expression.
Of course, that only applied to people of the opposite sex.
But now, facing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's expressionless, pitch-black eyes, he suddenly didn't know what to say.
If they had enough time, with no outside interference, he felt he could stare for as long as he wanted and still learn nothing.
What was more, he was gradually starting to feel afraid.
He knew he couldn't beat Ayanokoji right now. Even with his physical abilities doubled, he still might not stand a chance.
Yet that fear faded a few seconds later.
Fear came from the unknown. He knew Ayanokoji's limits, so even if he couldn't beat him, there was no need to be afraid. In fact, once he understood how Ayanokoji operated, being by his side was the safest place to be.
He was confident that no one in this world—not even Ayanokoji himself—understood Ayanokoji Kiyotaka better than he did.
Once he'd thought it through, he paid Ayanokoji no more attention and stepped into his room.
He knew Ayanokoji hadn't been trying to intimidate him with that look. He had most likely been lost in thought, thinking about something.
There was a club recruitment fair that afternoon, but he had no interest in clubs, so he didn't go.
Nor did he have any reason to get acquainted with the student council president who would be speaking onstage: Horikita Manabu, Horikita Suzune's older brother.
His goal was to win Horikita Suzune over and then dump her. If Horikita Manabu found out, he would definitely hold it against him and make things difficult for him later.
Because he knew that this student council president, who seemed indifferent to his younger sister, was actually a siscon.
He had asked the system once. To complete the mission, the girl had to agree to date him and then acknowledge that they had broken up. There were no other strict requirements.
That left plenty of room to work with. He didn't need the girl to truly like him; even if she was forced into it, it still counted.
In theory, it would be easy. With his looks and a little money, he could get a girl to agree to date him for a day and complete the mission that way.
But the system had probably already thought of that. Take Horikita Suzune, for example. He could knock her out by throwing money at her, and she still wouldn't agree.
Before you continue