In a practical education, scheming against people? I can also do a little.

Hoya Chukai sometimes lets his thoughts slip through his eyes; although he looks a bit intimidating, he only glances for a second and never stares. Furthermore, he doesn't let his eyes wander when he's busy with serious matters, so overall, he doesn't make her feel annoyed.

"So, why do you insist on brushing your teeth with me?"

"I feel like it. Does it concern you?"

The bathroom isn't large. It's fine for one person to stand at the vanity, but it feels a bit cramped when both of them are there.

"Is this new?"

"Yeah. Looking at you, I doubt you'll be heading back to your dorm anytime soon. What's so good about your dorm, anyway?"

"It has someone who cleans it voluntarily."

"Fair enough."

It seems he has become her meal ticket; that really is a headache.

Her meaning is clear: there's alcohol here, someone to wait on her, and help with laundry and cleaning. Why would she want to live alone in her own room?

Of course, it's also possible she's been lonely for so long that she wants someone to talk to? Well, that's unlikely.

Given Ryuen Shoko's personality, it's more likely she just wants a servant to rub her shoulders and pound her back.

To be honest, while the tactile sensation is nice, making Hoya Chukai do the work instead of just touching is quite strenuous. When it comes to massage, if you don't put in the effort, it's like scratching an itch through a boot—you feel it, sure, but it's not enough.

"The flavor is alright."

"You're actually picky about toothpaste flavor?"

Compared to Ryuen Shoko, who was looking around, Hoya Chukai had started his routine earlier, so he had already finished brushing and was preparing to wash his face.

Different people have different habits; some like to wash their faces before brushing, while others do the opposite. Clearly, both Hoya Chukai and Ryuen Shoko are the latter—they prefer to brush first.

While Ryuen Shoko was brushing her teeth, Hoya Chukai was washing his face. After using facial cleanser, he dried his face with a towel nearby.

"You bought extra towels, too?"

"Yeah, I basically bought two of everything for daily use."

"Two?"

"Yeah, one for you, one as a spare."

"Who did you intend to use the spare for?"

Ryuen Shoko's words made Hoya Chukai narrow his eyes. No, big sister, you're going to police this too?

"I don't know. I just thought it might come in handy later."

"Don't know? Then it's best you never have to use it."

Dumping the water from the rinsing cup into the sink, Ryuen Shoko shoved Hoya Chukai aside. "Move over, you're in the way."

"Oh."

He was only standing at the edge of the vanity; if she were washing her face properly, he wouldn't be in the way at all. So, was she just being moody again?

Why does it feel like her mood gets so strange whenever her "time of the month" comes around?

"By the way, how's your body feeling? Do you still have any strength?"

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, just asking."

"None of your business."

Hmm, looking at her demeanor, she's clearly recovering from a major illness and is still a bit weak.

"No, I just wanted to see if you've recovered. What's the plan for today? Stay in the dorm or go out for a stroll?"

"If we don't go out, what are we supposed to do? Sit in the dorm and grow mold?"

Hmm... actually, growing mold in the dorm sounds pretty nice.

Hoya Chukai is usually a lazy guy. Even though he has money now, he doesn't have any "bros" he can go out and hang out with.

You ask if he has many female confidantes? Nonsense! Those are just friendships! Besides, they definitely have more important friends to hang out with!

So, Hoya Chukai ultimately dumped the decision on Ryuen Shoko, letting her resolve what they should do for the weekend.

"So when are we heading out? Where are we eating breakfast?"

"The cafeteria, I suppose. Let's see if there's anything good."

It's not that Hoya Chukai couldn't make breakfast in his dorm, but since she had been cooped up for a whole day, she wanted to go out and wander around, so they just set off.

The two walked out of the dorm together, and Hoya Chukai even saw his neighbor, Shibata Sou, and greeted him.

"Yo, Shibata, heading out early?"

"Yo..."

Shibata Sou stared blankly as Ryuen Shoko and Hoya Chukai walked away. At that moment, he felt his brain capacity wasn't quite enough to process this.

He didn't see that wrong, did he? Both of them came out of Hoya's dorm, right?

So she stayed in Hoya's dorm for the whole night?!

(No, actually, it was two nights.)

Hoya Chukai had no idea how much damage his (pseudo) normie behavior was causing his neighbor; he simply followed Ryuen to the cafeteria.

How should I put this? The number of stalls open in the cafeteria in the morning was limited, so there wasn't much to eat.

After casually buying two rice balls and a boiled egg, Hoya Chukai ate while watching Ryuen Shoko pick out her own rice ball.

Her poor health meant she didn't have much of an appetite, so she spent quite a while just choosing a rice ball.

By the time Ryuen finished buying her food, Hoya Chukai had already polished off his two rice balls and was currently working on his boiled egg.

"You're eating quite happily, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"I'll be taking this."

"Huh?"

Ryuen Shoko reached out quite casually, dug the yolk out of the boiled egg in Hoya Chukai's hand, and popped it into her own mouth, leaving Hoya Chukai with a look of utter bewilderment.

Wait, no, are you that starved, big sister?

Her actions didn't just nearly short-circuit Hoya Chukai's brain; they also caused the people passing by to cast looks of respect his way.

Good grief, how long has it been since you freshmen started school, and you've already got a girlfriend?

I'm not, I don't have one.

No matter how much Hoya Chukai's eyes tried to convey his confusion and innocence, the upperclassmen only felt that he was quite capable to have found such a pretty girlfriend.

One guy even gave him a thumbs-up.

Well, Ryuen Shoko, having just recovered from a serious illness, was indeed devoid of her usual hostility; if she didn't open her mouth, you couldn't feel that sense of intimidation at all.

"Alright, breakfast is bought. Where to next?"

"The shopping street, I guess."

"Sure."

Going to the shopping street first thing in the morning—what could there possibly be to do there?

Hoya Chukai might have underestimated the diligence of the merchants; even at nine in the morning, many shops were already starting to open their doors.

The two of them wandered around aimlessly, seeing if any shop could catch Ryuen Shoko's interest.

I wonder which shop is going to be unlucky enough to be the one.

Hmm... an arcade?

Looking at the various game machines lined up inside, Hoya Chukai couldn't help but rub his chin.

How should I put it? He had never played these things before, so seeing them now felt quite novel.

"Want to play a few rounds? I'm actually pretty decent at this."

"But I'm really bad at playing."

"It's fine, it's fine as long as you're bad."

"?"

So you're only happy if you're bullying a noob? What kind of seal-clubber are you?

Regardless of what Hoya Chukai thought, he was definitely going to play this time.

After spending points to buy some game tokens, the two of them found a King of Fighters cabinet and sat down.

"Hmm... how do you play?"

"You've never played this?"

"Of course not."

"Fine, I'll teach you. Like this, like this, and then like this."

Ryuen demonstrated on the spot while explaining the situation, and Hoya Chukai roughly understood what it was all about.

Basically, it's a combination of a joystick and buttons, right? It feels... like it shouldn't be that hard?

After a simple attempt, Hoya Chukai nodded, feeling like he had gotten the hang of it.

"Your posture is wrong. You need to hold it here and press here."

But Ryuen Shoko wasn't satisfied. She felt annoyed watching Hoya Chukai's incredibly amateurish posture, so she chose to reach over and adjust his hands directly.

Suddenly having his hands grabbed by Ryuen Shoko, Hoya Chukai couldn't help but shudder; this was a bit too stimulating.

Ryuen's hands were very soft and delicate. If you just touched them, you wouldn't be able to tell how much strength those little fists actually held.

So how was she able to fight so fiercely? It's really strange.

He shook his head slightly to focus his attention; since he was going to play games with Ryuen Shoko, he still had to put in some effort.

"Alright, shall we begin?"

"Oh."

In the first round, Ryuen Shoko settled the battle cleanly and efficiently, without a doubt.

"As expected, you're really trash. Good, let's go again."

If an opponent is trash, it would normally be hard to feel any sense of accomplishment, but Ryuen Shoko looked quite happy; she was ready to keep playing.

So, you're into this kind of thing?

Hoya Chukai pursed his lips slightly. Fine, as long as you're happy.

Anyway, in Hoya Chukai's view, she was actually... quite trash herself.

This wasn't him being a sore loser; he genuinely felt she wasn't strong. Hoya Chukai was just unaccustomed to this desktop computer; he used to be quite the gamer himself.

Of course, he wasn't at the level of speed-running Souls-like games, but he could basically clear any game he played. He didn't have clumsy hands, and with his rich gaming experience, once he got familiar with how this machine handled, he actually started to gradually beat Ryuen Shoko.

It went from her easy handling to a hard-fought victory, then to a fifty-fifty split, and finally, it turned into Hoya Chukai unilaterally crushing Ryuen Shoko.

"I'm done, let's switch machines."

In the end, after Hoya Chukai defeated Ryuen Shoko without taking a single hit, Ryuen Shoko chose to switch to another machine.

Her irritable appearance had completely lost its initial smugness. So, is it because you always lost in the past that you like bullying noobs?

Indeed, the desire for victory had reached an unprecedented high, so she felt very satisfied after winning, even if bullying noobs made her happy.

Tsk tsk, how pathetic~

Ryuen Shoko figured that if she couldn't win at fighting games, racing games would surely be fine, right? But after three rounds, she realized she couldn't beat him at those either.

So, she made a prompt decision to switch to yet another game.

Basketball shooting—the fourth round ended in a draw. Pinball—the second round was a draw. Ludo... she didn't even win the first round.

"Ah! No way, shooting, let's try shooting again!"

Ryuen Shoko's crumbling demeanor made Hoya Chukai secretly amused. He really hadn't expected Ryuen Shoko to be so fond of playing all these random things.