Getting All Worked Up

"You will carry on Haruki's legacy, Ken."

"You are saying..."

"Stop talking, I believe you!" Kanji Ike interrupted the Sudo. "Haruki probably forgot his tissues. As his friend, I should go help him right away. We believe you can turn the tide."

After speaking swiftly and confidently, Kanji Ike quickly followed Yamauchi's footsteps and disappeared.

By the time Aoyama cleared the game with a high score, the four who had been so aggressive just moments before had all disappeared.

"Arisu, please insert another coin for me." Aoyama didn't care about the group that had run away; he only wanted to try again.

"Hehe, you're here."

With a knowing smile, Sakayanagi bent down to Aoyama a coin into Aoyama's hand, who was holding two guns.

Soon, Aoyama in her eyes began his rampage again, and then she cleared the level perfectly without missing a single shot.

Aoyama returned to his original place beside Sakayanagi, saying, "That feels good."

The abilities he drew, those of Shuichi Akai and Kaito Kid, made his hands as steady as a rock, without a tremor, allowing him to fire just a few shots.

He doesn't need a result that isn't perfect!

Sakayanagi proactively placed her hand in Aoyama's palm, "Would it make you feel better if I complimented Shiki?"

"Best praise is meaningless the moment you ask that question."

"Really? How about this?" Sakayanagi gently raised her head, her gaze upward, her delicate purple eyes beneath her smooth silver hair and bangs sparkling with excitement.

"Wow, that's amazing! Shiki- kun is absolutely incredible! You're the best in the world!"

With a lively tone reminiscent of Ichinose, Sakayanagi shook Aoyama's hand, her gaze fixed intently on Aoyama eyes without flinching, as if she were speaking from the heart.

The more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie.

Aoyama couldn't help but recall something a mother had said to her son.

Even though he knew that Sakayanagi was faking it, he felt an unmistakable sense of pleasure.

"Fine, I admit you're right."

Aoyama placed his hand on Sakayanagi's head, which was so cute it was Aoyama unfair, and ruffled it vigorously, making her princess braid at the back of her head all crooked.

Sakayanagi chuckled, fixing her hair as she suppressed her innocent smile. "What a wicked man."

"I wonder who's more wicked."

After Sakayanagi fixed his hair, Aoyama took the initiative to lead Sakayanagi on a tour, starting with the rides that Sakayanagi had stopped at before.

"The first match will be to familiarize you with the game; the second match will be the actual competition."

"I won't let you down if I can't win even once."

Upon arriving at the motorcycle racing equipment, Aoyama put away Sakayanagi stick and placed it aside, then carried her directly onto the race car in a princess carry.

It's so light, just like a primary school student's.

As he estimated Sakayanagi's weight, Aoyama, watching Sakayanagi's expression shift from surprise to wariness, got into another race car.

Excited, Sakayanagi began to familiarize himself with his temporary mount. "Hehe, I have absolutely no worries about not being able to win."

"On the contrary, I'm extremely worried. If you keep losing, I'll be in trouble."

Insert a coin to select the two-player battle mode. Aoyama chose a five-star difficult map because the first round doesn't count. He followed behind Sakayanagi the whole time, occasionally bumping into her to let her experience what a violent motorcycle is like.

After closing his eyes and thinking for a moment, Sakayanagi opened them. "I've already secured the victory."

Aoyama's lips curled into a smile. "Really?"

"Real."

3, 2, 1, 0.

As the countdown on the screen reached zero, Sakayanagi executed a small drift to build up acceleration, leaving Aoyama behind like a seasoned pro.

"Not bad, you picked it up so quickly."

A shout-out to Sakayanagi! Aoyama maneuvered his race car closely behind Sakayanagi, preventing her from pulling any further ahead.

As time passed, the two soon arrived at the game, one after the other, at the last dangerous sharp turn.

Knowing that going at high speed would definitely cause the car to overturn, Sakayanagi slightly eased off the accelerator to slow down. Then she noticed that Aoyama's race car, instead of slowing down, was actually accelerating.

Impossible, I've calculated that at that speed it will definitely flip.

Distracted, Sakayanagi glanced at Aoyama and, seeing that he still looked confident, had a bad feeling.

"It can't be turned over."

As if guessing what Sakayanagi was thinking, Aoyama spoke jokingly and slammed on the brakes while cornering, leaning his body sharply to the right and lowering the car.

He made it through the sharp bend by a hair's breadth, just shy of hitting the railing, and sped away in an instant.

"Tilt the car body so that the race car inside tilts too? You didn't even demonstrate that!" After losing, Sakayanagi pouted and looked at Aoyama.

A little bear from Aoyama spread its hands, "You didn't even ask. I thought you knew just by looking."

Give Sakayanagi a glimmer of hope, then deliver the final blow—so satisfying!

"Again."

"Let's do it again!"

With a smile on his face, Aoyama inserted the coin and began his second race against Sakayanagi, keeping his race car ahead of Sakayanagi throughout.

He acknowledged that Sakayanagi had a high aptitude for learning, but how much worse could Aoyama Shiki be?

Sakayanagi's repeated challenges all ended in defeat before him.

"Let me win one round and I'll give you 10,000 points." After another defeat, Sakayanagi felt the urge to go to the bathroom, but she didn't want to admit defeat.

"Good."

"Not at all is too little, "Aoyama nodded decisively.

Having won enough times, even if Sakayanagi doesn't say anything, he'll find an excuse to let Sakayanagi win a round.

He was afraid that Sakayanagi would get stuck on something, so he wanted to play racing games with him for a whole morning.

"You don't need to come along. I need to take care of some personal matters."

When Aoyama helped Sakayanagi out of the race car again, and he tried to take Sakayanagi hand again, Sakayanagi shyly pulled away.

"Um."

Knowing what personal issues Sakayanagi was referring to, Aoyama didn't ask any further questions and returned the cane to Sakayanagi.

Shy Sakayanagi is actually quite cute when she tells the truth.

Chapter 183 Mmm and Ahh, it's starting!

For most of the morning and afternoon, Aoyama accompanied Sakayanagi as they lingered in the Keyaki Mall.

By evening, because he was already in the spotlight and Kushida was also very famous, the rumors of his affair with Sakayanagi, even though it was summer vacation, had already spread throughout the first-year students.

Many girls in the second and third grades also learned about this through gossip.

"You had a lot of fun with Sakayanagi, didn't you? You bought so many things."

Aoyama's room, the Kamuro where he came to visit alone, his gaze fell on the pile of gifts in the corner of the room.

Based on the style of the gift bags, she deduced that they contained gifts for girls.

"I figured since we were already there, it was the same whether I was shopping alone or with someone else, so I bought whatever I thought you guys would like." He rummaged through the pile of gifts and found two bags. Aoyama sat back down in front of the Kamuro.

In the afternoon, Sakayanagi expressed a desire to go shopping and buy some things, and he naturally agreed.

At first, I bought some that I thought Yamamura would like, then I thought I couldn't be biased and bought some that Kamuro, then I bought some that that were Sakura, Kushida, Shiina, and even Horikita.

Kamuro is the hardest to buy because Kamuro doesn't wear jewelry and doesn't usually show any particular interest in anything.

"These are yours: a keychain engraved with your name and a starry-colored hair clip." Aoyama placed the two bags in front of Kamuro. "You can throw them away if you don't like them."

Kamuro chuckled softly, "Really, it doesn't matter?"

Knowing Aoyama's personality, she didn't believe Aoyama later statement.

Aoyama gave a wry smile. "Alright, I'd be sad if I threw it away. That keychain with my name engraved on it was engraved by me."

Of all the things he bought for the girls, Kamuro was the one he put the most thought into.

After carving one for Kamuro, under the shop owner's questioning gaze, he went on to carve one for Yamamura, Sakura, Kushida.

Every single one of the names looks like a girl's name.

"You carved it yourself?" Kamuro paused in his hand as he unwrapped the gift, then continued.

A moment later, a small, antique-style wooden keychain lay quietly in her palm. The four Chinese characters in the center of the keychain were written in neat, model-like characters, which were very pleasing to the eye.

"Well, it's alright."

With a slight smile, Kamuro put away the keychain and opened another gift.

The deep blue-black night sky was dotted with stars. The hair clip was pretty, but she felt she preferred the previous one.

"By the way, there's something I need your help with, Katsuragi."

After carefully putting the gift away, Kamuro explained the purpose of her visit that evening. Katsuragi had approached her that afternoon, but she couldn't offer any help with that.

As for the sordid affair between Aoyama and Sakayanagi, she and Yamamura were told the truth last night.

Seeing Kamuro happily accept the gift, Aoyama was also somewhat pleased. "Tell me about it."

"Katsuragi has a twin sister whose birthday is at the end of the month. Because their parents have passed away, Katsuragi himself is the only one who can celebrate his sister's birthday, as she has been frail and sickly since childhood. So he wants to send her a birthday present."

A hint of sadness flashed in Kamuro's eyes when Katsuragi's parents were mentioned.

"As you know, this kind of thing is not allowed under school rules. In fact, because of past violations, it's not allowed to have anything shipped without the seller's involvement or without any written text."

Communication with family members outside the school is not allowed. This is a basic rule of Kouiku, but it wasn't enforced as strictly as it is now.

The previous generation cut down trees, and the next generation exposed them to the scorching sun. The students who had secretly broken the rules in the past blocked Katsuragi's way of celebrating his sister's birthday.

"Sure, you can tell Katsuragi I can do it. He can give me whatever he wants, even a video of his birthday wishes." To Kamuro's surprise, Aoyama immediately said he could do it.

He asked the Chairman for a day off as compensation, and he also had the idea of giving Katsuragi a gift while he was at it.

However, what he didn't expect was that Katsuragi would go to Kamuro first; now that he thinks about it, Katsuragi was probably trying to save a little money.

"Is this even possible? If the risk is too high, it's better not to do it." As the Student Council Secretary, Kamuro knew a lot and was worried that Aoyama might act impulsively and recklessly.

While I sympathize with Katsuragi's sister, Aoyama is more important.

"No problem, I've pulled some strings with Chairman Sakayanagi, I can get out of school once before the summer vacation ends." Aoyama paused, "If Kamuro also wants to send a message to his family, I can make that trip too."

They spent more than half a year together, Kamuro never mentioned his family.

Based on her behavior of seeking thrills through theft, it is highly likely that her family is not harmonious.

"I'll pass."

"Okay," Aoyama replied immediately.

Kamuro looked up in surprise, "Aren't you going to ask why I don't need it?"

Having been in Kouiku for more than half a year since the first grade, students have been cut off from their families for quite some time. Normally, no student would not cherish the opportunity to send a message home.

Even if they were worried about being held accountable, they wouldn't refuse so quickly.

Aoyama couldn't help but find her decisive refusal unusual.

"I'm waiting for you to tell me on your own." Kamuro looked Aoyama into Kamuro's eyes. "Anyway, we'll be together for a long time, so I don't mind waiting for ten years."

Since Kamuro was unwilling to speak, he would not force him.

He prefers to let things take their natural course when it comes to matters of the heart, provided, of course, that Kamuro remains by his side.

Kamuro awkwardly turned his head away. "Don't joke around. Who would stay with you for ten years?"

"You must be joking, Kamuro. I said wait ten years, not be together for ten years. If you misunderstand, I'm in big trouble." Aoyama's tone was slightly teasing. "If we're going to be together, I only accept the answer of a lifetime."

"It's so heavy, I'm going back now."

Unable to handle Aoyama's bluntness and feeling himself losing control of his facial expressions, Kamuro decisively took his leave and ran away.

Hearing that being together for a lifetime would make her happy was something she didn't want Aoyama to find out.

Be careful on the road.