"I don't know anything~"
Kushida cheerfully whistled and pretended she had no idea what was going on. Then she turned to Kamuro, who had been doing her best to blend into the background since earlier. "Kamuro, why don't you sing for a while?"
"Huh?! Me?"
This time, everyone had a great time singing. At least Hoya had enjoyed himself.
These people had wanted to see him embarrass himself, but he was a love-song prince, after all. He even knew plenty of Japanese songs.
That was all thanks to the otaku roommate he'd had in his previous life, who often played anime songs in their dorm. He'd learned to hum quite a few of them.
"Mm, eating hot pot here after singing really is a treat."
Eating hot pot in summer and ice cream in winter might seem like a death wish to other people, but trying it yourself was a real treat.
Especially eating hot pot in an air-conditioned room or having popsicles beside a heater. That was even better.
"So, let's eat and drink our fill this time. Have as much as you like~"
They'd chosen an all-you-can-eat hot pot restaurant. Whether someone treated them or they split the bill, neither option was particularly suitable. There were more girls than guys, and the girls could only eat so much. If they split the bill, they might end up paying more than their share.
And there were bound to be a few fussy girls in the group. Hoya didn't want to spoil everyone's mood, so he simply suggested they go for all-you-can-eat. That way, everyone could choose whatever they wanted.
"Munch, munch~ Mm, the meat here is really good. All-you-can-eat is such a bargain."
Hoya nodded in agreement. The buffet here was a little pricey, but everyone had recently gotten a hundred thousand points and become little rich kids. They could certainly afford it.
"Cheers~"
"Cheers~"
Everyone drank fruity drinks with a little alcohol in them. They weren't very strong, so no one was likely to suddenly get drunk when the alcohol hit them later.
Everyone was having a great time eating and drinking. Hoya chatted with them while enjoying the meat in the pot.
But even fruit wine that was only four percent alcohol could make a few of the girls' faces turn red if they drank enough. Karuizawa was especially affected; she was already leaning against Hoya.
"Chukai-kun~"
Wait, why were you calling me Chukai-kun too?
Hoya couldn't help glancing at her. If Ichinose called him Chukai-kun, he could chalk it up to how close they were, but Karuizawa and he weren't that close, were they?
"Does Chukai-kun have a girlfriend?"
"A girlfriend? No."
Hoya answered honestly, but Sato, sitting nearby, snickered. "What do you mean, no? You're already a playboy, and you still say you don't have a girlfriend."
"What are you talking about? How am I a playboy?"
"Then why are you always flirting with Kushida?"
"When did I flirt with her?"
"Oh, so you're denying it? We all saw it clearly, didn't we, Kushida?"
Maybe the alcohol really was getting to Sato, because she'd started running her mouth. She even dared to tease Kushida.
Matsushita, sitting nearby, just giggled like a viewer shipping a couple... Wait, what couple was there to ship? Why were all of these people so weird?
"What are you all going on about...? I give up."
Hoya was starting to understand what happened when you had a lot of girls around. Once they got a little familiar with you, they really did gossip.
"Look, you flirt with Kushida, you have some kind of thing going on with Kamuro from Class A, you're close with Ichinose, and you're also tight with Ryuen from your Class C. And you still say you're not a playboy?"
"Hey! That's not right. There's nothing going on between me and all those people."
They'd only known each other for less than five days. How could he be a playboy? It wasn't as if they'd known each other for a month or two. She had to take responsibility for what she said.
"Hey, hey, don't take it to heart. Sato's had too much to drink. She's talking nonsense."
Matsushita realized that what Sato had said might have been inappropriate and quickly told her to stop. Hadn't she noticed that Ichinose and Kamuro had both gone red in the face?
Even Shiranami, sitting beside Ichinose, was pouting and glaring at Hoya, as if he were some kind of villain.
The honest Albert had wanted to argue back, just as he had at karaoke, but when Sato mentioned Hoya having some strange relationship with Ryuen, he fell silent instead.
After all, he'd seen Ryuen in revealing casual clothes in Hoya's room that day. Even he, a proper guy, had thought there might be something improper between them.
The evening's commotion ended with Sato and Hoya trading barbs. In the end, Hoya still hadn't managed to clear his name.
He still couldn't figure out why Ichinose and Kamuro hadn't denied it like Kushida had.
Maybe they knew Sato was just talking nonsense and didn't care? Maybe they didn't mind what she'd said?
No. They knew that the more they tried to explain, the more suspicious it would sound. If they said nothing, the rumor would blow over more easily. After all, anyone with eyes could tell whether someone was really dating.
Kushida, on the other hand, had some feelings of her own and was doing everything she could to deny it. She looked just like a woman with something to hide.
Hoya simply didn't understand how they were thinking. He was busy wondering when he'd gotten so close to Kamuro and Ichinose, while ignoring how strangely Kushida had protested.
Maybe the alcohol had numbed his brain too. He hadn't been particularly clearheaded to begin with, and now he was even more muddled.
"Keys, keys."
Searching his pockets for his room key, Hoya walked alone down the corridor.
They'd all entered the dorm together, but it was huge, and they didn't all live in the same place, so they naturally went their separate ways.
He unlocked his room, yawned, and set his keys aside. Then he turned on the light and looked around.
Hmm, it was a bit messy. A few beer bottles were still on the table, and they looked about half-finished. There wasn't much trash on the floor either. Had someone left?
Great. He'd take a quick shower and go to bed. As for the mess... he'd deal with it tomorrow. It was the weekend, after all~
Feeling his way through the dark, Hoya went into his room and took a change of clothes from the wardrobe. Then he headed straight to the bathroom.
He'd had a bit too much to drink and didn't notice the strange lump on the bed, where someone seemed to be curled up in a ball.
After a quick shower, he checked the time. It was nine in the evening. His head felt heavy, so he didn't feel like reading. He decided he'd better get some sleep first.
He turned off the light and climbed into bed in the dark. After groping around for a while, he couldn't find his blanket. Rubbing his eyes, he turned on the light to see where it had gone.
Now he finally noticed a strange lump on his bed. Something was wrapped up in his blanket.
"Huh? I'm pretty sure I folded my blanket this morning."
Puzzled, Hoya pulled back the blanket. The moment he did, he snapped wide awake.
Under his blanket, curled up in a ball, was Ryuen Shoko.
Wait, why was she in my bed?!
Taking a closer look at Ryuen Shoko after the shock wore off, Hoya realized that something was definitely wrong with her.
She was curled up there like a little cat, her cheeks flushed.
Was she... running a fever?
Puzzled, Hoya reached out and touched her forehead. It was burning hot.
Well, that settled it. She really did have a fever.
So was that why she'd been acting so strangely today? Wait, she could get sick? With a body like hers?
Only then did Hoya notice that Ryuen Shoko wasn't wearing any clothes. Her bright red underwear did little to cover her skin, and her pale body was flushed too. From her collarbones to her feet, so much was exposed that Hoya didn't know where to look.
No, what was there to look at? He needed to bring her fever down first.
He jumped out of bed and searched his fridge for ice and a thermometer.
He did have some ice cubes stored away. He'd meant to put them in drinks to make them nice and cold, but they'd work just as well in an ice pack.
When Hoya returned to the room, he took one look at Ryuen Shoko curled up in a ball and felt a headache coming on. She couldn't stay in that position.
Taking a deep breath, he touched Ryuen Shoko and shifted her onto her back. He might have seemed to have a way with women, but even after doing only that, his heart was racing and his mouth had gone dry. He was still an innocent virgin.
No matter how much of a wild woman Ryuen Shoko usually was, right now she was just a delicate girl. Like the silent Zhou Jie, she had an unusual effect on Hoya.
"Breathe. She's sick, okay? She's sick. Don't forget what she's like. You can't do this."
He quickly slapped his face to force himself to calm down, then put an ice pack on her forehead and tucked a thermometer under her arm. He also covered her with the blanket.
But he didn't consider the job done. He went to the kitchen to get some fever medicine.
He always kept various medicines in his bag for emergencies. The reason he'd had wound medicine to give Ryuen Shoko that day was because he was used to carrying all sorts of medication.
At home, he naturally kept an even bigger supply. He had fever medicine too. After preparing the medicine and a cup of warm water, he returned to the bedroom and looked at Ryuen Shoko, who was sleeping so deeply she was practically unconscious.
Getting her to take the medicine was another hassle. Hoya slipped the pill into her half-open mouth, then slowly helped her drink the warm water.
There was no way he was going to give it to her mouth-to-mouth. For one thing, he wasn't the sort of person who took advantage of someone. For another... he knew what Ryuen Shoko was like normally. If he did anything inappropriate, she'd kick him to death once she recovered.
Only after confirming that she'd swallowed the fever medicine did Hoya let out a sigh of relief. He set the cup, still half full of warm water, on the bedside table, then decided to make do on the sofa for the night.
Hopefully she wouldn't kill him tomorrow.
He picked up Ryuen Shoko's uniform from the floor and put it in the washing machine. Yawning, he grabbed the copy of A Brief History of Time he usually read and tried to get through it.
But this time, he couldn't focus at all. No matter how he looked at the pages, he just felt restless. He tortured the poor book until the washing machine chimed to announce that the laundry was done. Then he set it down, hung her clothes up in the room, and took the thermometer to check Ryuen Shoko's temperature.
Mm, it had gone down a little. That meant she probably wasn't in any danger. She still had a fever, but since it wasn't as bad, he picked up a coat and went to sleep on the sofa.
It really had been a long day. He was exhausted too.
The sofa wasn't comfortable. Even though the dorm's sofas were quite soft, they weren't very wide, so sleeping on one wasn't pleasant.
Yawning, Hoya checked the time. Five in the morning.
Forget it. He might as well stay up.
He worked the stiffness out of his body and went back into the bedroom to check Ryuen Shoko's temperature again.
After taking her temperature for the third time and seeing that it had come down, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Now he had to make her some breakfast. Her temperature had dropped, so she'd probably wake up soon.
Stewed pears with rock sugar were good for someone with a fever. Hoya remembered that when he was little and caught a cold, his mother liked to make them for him. He cut a pear into chunks and put them in sugar water to simmer, then started preparing something in a second pot.
She needed more for breakfast than just stewed pears. He made a pot of mung bean soup too. Once both were ready, he poured himself a bowl of each and carried them back to the bedroom.
Ryuen Shoko was still lying in bed. At that moment, she was just a delicate little girl. Seeing her like that, Hoya sighed softly and gave her a gentle nudge. "Hey, wake up. Have something to eat, then go back to sleep."
"Mm?"
Ryuen Shoko gave a faint little whimper. She'd lost the domineering air she usually had, and her eyes fluttered open, still unfocused. She didn't seem to understand what was going on.
"Eat some stewed pears, then go back to sleep. Come on, sit up first."
"Meh, you really are something... Ugh, I feel awful."
With her voice hoarse, Ryuen Shoko had lost her usual air too. She just seemed like a frail little girl.
Seeing her like this, Hoya couldn't help smiling. "You're awake, so eat something."
"I... mm..."
Before you continue