The Sweet Girls Are All So Busy

Clutching her head, Ryuen Shoko tried to get up from the bed, but after barely lifting herself, she sat back down in the chair.

Clearly, she couldn't stand properly at all. Her body was still far too weak.

"You've been lying down for so long. You definitely still can't get up properly yet."

Hoya walked over to Ryuen Shoko and held out his hand. "Come on, I'll help you up."

"Mm... okay."

Frustrated by her weakness and by how much she had to rely on him, she couldn't help biting her lip.

That little gesture made her even more adorable in Hoya's eyes.

Good grief, you're totally different from usual.

"Come on. What first, food or the bathroom?"

After helping Ryuen Shoko up, Hoya saw how limp she still looked and shifted from holding her hand to putting an arm around her, so she wouldn't fall again.

Just then, he noticed her unconsciously pressing her legs together.

Hmm, she hadn't been to the bathroom since last night. Maybe she needed to go?

Even a beautiful girl had to pee, after all.

"Keep talking and I'll kill you."

Mm-hmm. That was one very feeble threat.

In her current state, she had no intimidating presence at all. Her fierce words sounded more like a bluff because she was so weak and limp.

"Okay, okay. Got it."

Since he'd already figured it out, what was the point of asking? Of course he was taking her to the bathroom.

After half carrying and half leading her to the toilet, Hoya naturally had to leave.

What else was he supposed to do? Watch Ryuen Shoko use the toilet? Did he want her to kill him once she recovered?

"My phone."

"Okay, your phone. Don't spend too long playing with it in there, or you won't be able to get up afterward."

Hoya went to fetch Ryuen Shoko's phone and handed it to her, then left the bathroom.

She should be able to take off her own pants, right? She was only weak, after all. She should still be able to pull down her underwear.

Seeing that Hoya had shown her some consideration even in her current state, Ryuen Shoko couldn't help letting out a quiet sigh of relief.

She picked up her phone and called Ibuki Mio, one of the top underlings in her class.

"Hello, Boss. What is it?"

Ibuki Mio hadn't expected Ryuen Shoko to call at this hour. Even more surprising, her voice sounded so... weak?

"Come to Hoya's room. Use my key to go to my room and get a few sets of underwear and some outerwear. And..."

"And?"

Seeing her boss in such a feeble state left Ibuki Mio confused. How had she ended up like this?

"Also bring a pack of sanitary pads. And don't tell Hoya about it. Wrap them in a plastic bag before you bring them over."

"Uh... Okay, I understand, Boss."

Ibuki Mio more or less understood what was going on with Ryuen Shoko.

So her period had started.

Every girl was different. Some only bled a little when their period came, while others felt as if they were half dead. Ryuen Shoko clearly belonged to the latter group.

How could someone who was usually so domineering be so afraid of her period? Was she really okay?

"Knock, knock." "Coming... Oh, it's Ibuki. What is it?"

When Hoya opened the door and saw Ibuki Mio standing there, he reflexively glanced at his phone.

No unread messages. Good. It looked like Ryuen had called her over.

"I'm here to get the key to Boss's room. She asked me to pick up a few things."

"Oh, sure. Let me see... It should be this one."

As he spoke, Hoya pulled Ryuen Shoko's dorm key from his pocket. He'd found it in her pocket while washing her clothes last night. "Here you go."

"Thanks!"

With Ryuen Shoko's key in hand, Ibuki Mio hurried off again. Though she was bursting with curiosity, she knew that if she didn't carry out Ryuen Shoko's request properly... she'd be in for it once Ryuen recovered and settled the score.

For her own safety, she had to get this done perfectly.

But this time, it was several pieces of clothing... Was that really okay? Did her boss want to live with Hoya long-term? That was against the student handbook, wasn't it?

Oh, she was a delinquent anyway. Never mind.

Indeed, if the student handbook were really followed to the letter, Ryuen should've been dealt with for what she'd done on the very first day.

But what had happened? Kazuma Sakagami had turned a blind eye and acted as if nothing had happened.

The student handbook was like that. Anyone who'd been a student knew that nine-tenths of what it said was nonsense as long as nothing went wrong. The rules only mattered when someone decided to settle accounts afterward; nobody warned you in advance.

After quickly gathering several sets of clothes, Ibuki Mio found the sanitary pads. She rummaged around the room for ages before finally finding a black trash bag, which she used to wrap them.

"These are all the things Boss asked me to bring. I'll be off, then."

"Mm, thanks for your trouble, Ibuki."

Hoya took the pile of clothes from Ibuki Mio and said goodbye before closing the door again.

Looking at the pile in his hands, he had no idea what Ryuen Shoko was planning.

Seriously, why bring so many clothes? What was she planning to do, move in?

Sighing, Hoya put the clothes on his bed and started sorting through them.

Ibuki seemed so clumsy. She hadn't even folded the clothes properly. Look at this raised part... What was this?

Hoya spotted a black plastic bag tucked among several pieces of underwear, and his expression turned strange.

So that was it. No wonder she'd acted strangely yesterday. No wonder she'd had a fever last night.

While tidying up yesterday, he'd seen that she'd drunk several bottles of beer. Why would she drink when she was already in this condition?

How could she be so reckless?

Alcohol dilated blood vessels. It was no wonder she'd bled so heavily.

No wonder she'd felt so awful. It would've been strange if she hadn't.

As for why he hadn't noticed yesterday... For one thing, Ryuen Shoko was wearing red underwear. For another, he hadn't dared look at her body. On top of that, the alcohol had made it hard to see clearly. How could he possibly have noticed?

The Kind Girls Are Always So Busy

But anyway, he needed to deal with the bedsheets properly.

Only then did Hoya notice a smear of blood on his bedsheet. Great. There was no way anyone could be allowed to see that, or he'd never be able to explain himself.

But first, he had to get her out of the bathroom. It looked like she wasn't coming out unless he gave her the sanitary pads.

How had Hoya figured out what was in the black plastic bag without opening it? Well, he'd seen them back in high school.

Back then, he hadn't known much about the world. He'd watched, puzzled, as a classmate bought something from a store in a black plastic bag. Later, one of the more knowledgeable students in his class had explained what it was.

It was easy enough to work out. Something as private as sanitary pads couldn't be seen by other people, especially boys, so they had to be wrapped in something. What was the most convenient thing to wrap them in? A black plastic bag, of course. It was easy to carry, and because it was black, you couldn't see what was inside.

Maybe boys knew what you were carrying when they saw the bag, but at least wrapping it in plastic made things a little less awkward. You could call it turning a blind eye or deceiving yourself, but there was no denying that a plastic bag made it feel less embarrassing than carrying them openly.

"Knock, knock." "Can I come in?"

Hearing Hoya's voice outside the door made Ryuen Shoko feel awful. That useless Ibuki—why hadn't she brought them in herself?

Even if Hoya didn't know about the sanitary pads, he could at least have avoided making him carry her underwear. Something so private, and now he was bringing it to her...

Ibuki, you good-for-nothing bungler. Just you wait.

Clenching her teeth, Ryuen Shoko forced the words out through them. "Just you wait."

Even she couldn't let Hoya come in right now.

She tossed her bloodstained underwear onto the floor, then unsteadily leaned against the wall and made her way to the door. Opening it just a crack, she reached one hand out. "Give me the stuff."

"Here you go. Also, why were you drinking when you're on your period? I'll make you some red date porridge. Call me when you're done getting cleaned up."

Fucking Ibuki!

Ryuen Shoko clenched her little fist so tightly that her teeth began to chatter.

No, she was getting so angry she was making herself sick.

Ryuen hadn't expected Ibuki to be so dumb. Hadn't she considered how hard this would make things for her?

Well... It wasn't really Ibuki's fault. She thought the two of them were dating, so of course she figured it was no big deal if her boyfriend saw.

Maybe she even thought you'd already had a good time after spending the whole night away from your room.

Too bad she hadn't had a good time at all. She'd spent the whole night feeling awful. Even though she'd felt a little better later on, now Ryuen Shoko wanted nothing more than to die of embarrassment—or kill someone.

Hoya had no idea she was already considering killing him to silence him. After handing over the things, he went to the kitchen to cook red date porridge.

She probably didn't have much of an appetite right now, so he'd make her something light for lunch. He'd thought about making noodles, but decided against it. Porridge was better.

As he let the porridge simmer with red dates, red beans, peanuts, and various other grains, Hoya went back to his room to deal with the sheets and bedding.

Clearly, there were bloodstains in places he hadn't noticed yesterday. Once he took the duvet cover off, he saw blood on the quilt too and sighed.

Well, he'd have to change everything. Thankfully, the pillow didn't need any attention.

After gathering it all up, he took a pair of scissors and cut out the stained parts before throwing them into the trash. He was doing it to avoid any misunderstandings.

If he carried the whole lot to the trash, someone might see it and make the worst possible assumptions. At the very least, he had to cut the stained sections out.

It was just like when girls wrapped their purchases in black plastic bags. It was all for peace of mind.

Couldn't anyone with eyes tell there was something suspicious about it? Anyone could guess what had happened if they thought about it for a moment.

"Phew! That should do it."

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Hoya gathered everything into a large trash bag.

What? Why did he have a large trash bag ready? That went without saying. Ryuen Shoko came over to his room every time and left him with a huge pile of trash. Small plastic bags couldn't hold it all.

He'd long since prepared for the possibility of throwing a party in his room one day. He'd even stocked up on all sorts of things: party plates, balloons, streamers, and various toys and games.

Maybe because he'd never been to a party before, Hoya had developed a strange fascination with them. He always imagined having a great time at one.

Maybe he'd even meet a girlfriend at a party someday.

As he fantasized and stuffed everything into the large plastic bag, Hoya finally breathed a sigh of relief.

There. All done!

After dealing with a large trash bag that looked incredibly suspicious, but that nobody would be bored enough to inspect, Hoya went to check whether Ryuen Shoko had fallen into the toilet.

She'd been in there for ages. Had she passed out?

"Knock, knock." "Boss, are you done yet?"

"Shut up..."

Well, it looked like something had happened in there.

Clearly, something had gone wrong in the bathroom again.

"Then can I come in?"

"If you dare come in, I'll kill you..."

Her voice was weak, but it still carried a trace of murderous intent. Good. It looked like she was feeling a little better.

But that left him with a problem. He couldn't leave Ryuen alone in the bathroom like that. If he went in, she'd kill him, so his only option was to call for backup.

Last night, he'd had trouble finding anyone, but surely someone would be awake now.

"Then should I call Ibuki over?"

"Tell that bitch to go die."

Uh...