Are Masumi-san's lips soft?

"Yo, Hikigaya. You look like you're in pain... but why is your whole face bright red?"

"Shut up, don't bring that up."

Hashimoto, who had arrived at the arcade first, asked with a curious look on his face, and I shot him down immediately. I had been chased by Kamuro, and while Hashimoto—who was faster—managed to escape, I ended up getting cornered by her. Although I tried to take a detour to shake her off, I was eventually blocked behind the dormitory and slapped. To make matters worse, I stumbled from the blow and tripped, my legs tangling with Kamuro's as we both went down. The moment we hit the ground, her lips happened to press right against my cheek. Kamuro ran off with a beet-red face afterward, but that sense of shame still lingers in my heart.

"Ha—ha, is it that? Did you touch Kamuro's chest when you fell?"

"No."

Facing Hashimoto's lecherous smirk, I denied it immediately. That wasn't a lie.

"Then her butt?"

"You should stop with the sexual harassment. I'm telling you, I didn't do anything."

Even though I might have caused the accident, that kiss was definitely something Kamuro initiated.

"Anyway, I can't believe you actually dared to leave me behind."

"Sorry, but I don't want to die yet."

"Die in the classroom tomorrow. Anyway, we should head into the arcade."

"True."

As we walked into the arcade, the characteristic roar of noise rushed toward us.

"Let's start with a racing game. Loser buys the drinks."

"Sure, sure."

I followed Hashimoto to the racing cabinets, took a seat, and held my terminal up to the steering wheel. With a "beep," 100 private points were deducted. After accepting Hashimoto's challenge request, the screen displayed our chosen cars and six CPU racers. The moment the countdown hit zero, I slammed on the accelerator and charged straight at Hashimoto's car, intending to seize the initiative with a side-swipe. However—

"Ah!"

It seemed Hashimoto had the same plan; our cars collided violently and bounced off each other, allowing several CPU cars to overtake us. The result was me in fifth and him in sixth. Well played, Hashimoto, daring to play bumper cars right from the start—you've got guts.

While clicking my tongue in annoyance, I went full throttle through the corners, hugging the turn to overtake several cars in a row. By the final stretch, I was temporarily in first and Hashimoto in second. However, he had already overtaken me multiple times, making the outcome hard to call. The deciding point was the upcoming turn; once past that, it was a straightaway, and he would definitely make his move there.

Just as I was fully focused on preparing for the turn—

"Damn, Kamuro!"

"What!?"

Hearing Hashimoto's mutter, the sensation of those soft lips suddenly revived on my cheek. Of all times for that girl to show up at the arcade... wait?

"GOAL!"

I looked around, but Kamuro was nowhere to be seen; there was only the announcement that the game had ended. The screen showed that Hashimoto had overtaken me to take first place.

Ah, I got played by this guy.

"You despicable bastard!"

I threw my canned coffee at Hashimoto, but he just grinned foolishly.

"Sorry, sorry. But you panicked the moment you heard Kamuro's name, so something definitely happened, right?"

"Shut up."

How could I possibly say it out loud? Even if it was an accident, the fact that I was kissed on the cheek...

"Fine, fine. But at least you aren't looking as furious as you were in the classroom, which is for the best."

Only when Hashimoto mentioned it did I realize I had forgotten about my anger toward Sudo. However, compared to when I was in the classroom, the anger was much weaker now. It seems that once you forget, you can't quite return to the original intensity.

"I suppose so."

"You were terrifying back then, so I'm much more at ease now. So? How do you think things will end?"

Hashimoto was likely referring to the violence incident.

"Personally, I hope Class C puts in some effort."

"An instant answer? You really don't care about your own class at all, do you?"

"Why would I care? In fact, I've only saved the contact info of one classmate."

And that was only because the other person insisted on a class-wide exchange; otherwise, the record would be zero. But it doesn't matter to me.

"One..."

"Don't look at me like I'm an alien."

"No, that's just too ridiculous, isn't it? How many people do you have saved in your contacts in total?"

In my contacts, I should have...

"For Class A, there's Sakanayanagi and Kamuro; for Class B, Ichinose; for Class C, Ryuen and Hiyori; and for Class D, Kushida. That makes 7 people in total, right?"

"You're capable of collecting the contacts of the big shots from every class, so why do you only have one person from your own class saved? And only 7 in total..."

"None of your business. How many do you have?"

"Me? Probably... 34 people."

"That's way too many."

"I'm in the Tennis Club, you know. I even have the contact info for all the upperclassmen saved."

"You? In the Tennis Club?"

Hashimoto's appearance could best be described as a "playboy." Could this guy have joined the Tennis Club just to be popular?

"I can't really argue with that, but Kamuro is even more surprising. She's in the Art Club."

What? Kamuro is in the Art Club? That's even more unexpected than Hashimoto being in the Tennis Club. Though, Kamuro's temperament does suit a cultural club better than a sports one.

"That is surprising... But back to the violence incident, if things keep developing this way, Sudo will be suspended and Class D will lose class points. This is exactly the development I've been looking forward to."

This way, Sudo might finally behave himself, and I can have some peace and quiet after school. If he still doesn't rein it in, I'll just follow the example of those guys in Class C and get him expelled.

"There seems to be an eyewitness, but don't get your hopes up."

"Why?"

"That person is even more averse to social contact than I am, and she's also from Class D."

"I see. If she's in the same class, it's easy to be suspected of colluding."

"On top of that, she didn't come forward when the homeroom teacher asked for witnesses."

If Sakura had testified on the spot when Chabashira asked, it might have been useful, but claiming to be an eyewitness after the fact makes her credibility low. Not to mention, we don't have concrete proof that Sakura actually saw anything. Without decisive evidence, her value as a witness is very limited.

"Class D will try to fight for a reduced sentence, right?"

"That's the best-case scenario, but..."

I have a feeling it won't go smoothly. Sudo doesn't think he's done anything wrong at all. If anything, he's likely to cause a scene at the hearing and end up with an even harsher penalty.

"It doesn't have a negative impact on me anyway, so I don't really care."

Even if our class points drop to zero, there are plenty of ways to earn private points. If anything, if Sudo is found innocent, he'll just become more arrogant and refuse to reflect; having the class points deducted might actually be better.

"Forget that, let's play another round of fighting games. Best of three, loser buys dinner."

"Limit is 1,000 points."

With that, we headed toward the game machines.

"I'm home."

"Welcome back, Hachiman. You're quite late today."

"I got a bit carried away."

After spending the day playing around with Hashimoto at the arcade, a maid cafe, and a bookstore until ten o'clock, I returned to the dorms to find Hiyori waiting for me in her pajamas. Just seeing her was healing...

"Is that so? But please don't spend your money recklessly."

"I know. At the very least, I won't let my private points drop below 1.6 million in July."

Although my monthly spending easily exceeds 100,000 points, I set a baseline at the start of every month just in case. For early July, I decided that no matter what, I wouldn't go below 1.6 million.

"That's good. I've already drawn your bath."

"Thanks, I'm always causing you trouble."

I really can't thank Hiyori enough.

"I've said it many times, I'm just doing what I want to do."

Damn it, she really is so healing. I really want to slaughter that Sudo for insulting this oasis of my soul.

"Even so, I have to thank you. Anyway, I'm going to take a bath. If you're sleepy, go ahead and sleep first."

I played too hard today and planned to go to bed early.

"No. If I sleep first, I won't get my goodnight kiss. I'll wait."

W-wait, she's pulling that move... This is completely beyond my expectations.

My heart trembling, I nodded to Hiyori and headed to the changing room to strip. Just as I was about to place the terminal from my pocket onto the washing machine, I received a new email.

The sender looks like Sakanayanagi. What could she want this late?

I opened the email with suspicion—

"Are Masumi's lips soft?"

"Cough!"

This matter, which I least wanted anyone to know about, seems to have been grasped by the biggest sadist in the entire school.

"...Well, I'm going to sleep now, Hiyori."

Disturbed by Sakanayanagi's email, I spent my time in the bathroom recalling the sensation of Kamuro's lips, and now I have to share a bed with Hiyori... If my classmates found out, I'd definitely be stabbed to death.

"Okay. Hachiman, please."

She said, tilting her forehead up to get ready.

"Right... Goodnight."

Smooch.

After a light kiss on my forehead, Hiyori nodded with a blushing face.

"...Mm, goodnight, Hachiman-kun."

Smooch.

After returning the kiss to my forehead, she hugged me tightly. This spoiled brat... please, by all means, spoil me even more.

No... I'm really begging you.