Kikyo Is Still That Little Devil After All

After saying goodbye to Ayanokoji, Ju Ji had completely abandoned the idea of returning to his room to rest. He was now in desperate need of finding a place to look at the scenery and relax.

There was just such a place right next to the dormitory building: the nearby riverside. It even had benches for resting, making it an absolutely excellent choice.

"That woman Horikita, acting all high and mighty just because she's cute. It was me who met him and became his friend first. It's just awful... absolutely awful... Why doesn't someone like Horikita just die!"

As soon as Ju Ji arrived at the riverside, he saw Kikyo venting incessantly at the railing. Her mouth was filled with curses directed at Horikita. Ju Ji had originally thought that with him around, such a situation wouldn't occur.

But he hadn't expected that he himself would become the catalyst, and he had just learned the specific reason for that from Ayanokoji a moment ago. No, that was only one of the reasons.

The primary cause stemmed from Ju Ji's own arrogance; he had assumed that with the system's Permanent Hypnosis, he could sit back and relax. But the reality was not like that. After being hypnotized by the system, Kikyo did not lose her own will to become a puppet on strings. Instead, she possessed her own distinct will.

She simply would not betray him and would not truly refuse his suggestions. Human emotions—joy, jealousy, pain—all still existed. And what had Ju Ji been doing during this time?

He spent every day acting alongside Suzune, never once inviting her out to hang out, and he hadn't even initiated a conversation with her. Was this really what he should be doing as her best friend?

The only thing he should do now was go out and apologize to Kikyo. But seeing Kikyo as she was now, his feet felt like they were filled with lead, unable to move. He couldn't even utter a single word.

Buzz, buzz, buzz...

[Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is requesting a call]

Perhaps even the heavens couldn't bear to watch anymore, as Ayanokoji had actually called him at this very moment. In this school, phones could not be silenced, so naturally, his location was exposed.

"Who is it? Come out... Ju Ji? Why are you here? Did you hear everything I just said? No... I didn't mean to..."

"That's right, I heard those words. But... you haven't done anything wrong. The one who needs to apologize is me. Neglecting you for this period of time... I truly haven't been a good best friend. You must have been waiting for me to invite you out to hang out all this time, right? And what I just heard was the real you. There is no need for such pretense between us; I am your best friend. How could I possibly not accept the real you?"

To prevent Kikyo from running away, Ju Ji opened his arms and hugged her. They had long since grown accustomed to this level of physical contact, so neither of them felt embarrassed by it. However, this was the first time he realized that Kikyo, who had defeated him before and acted like a queen, actually had such a fragile body.

"Only realizing it now... you really are an idiot. But you can't ignore me from now on... otherwise, I'll blow that thing down there to pieces... Don't look so panicked, I'm just joking."

No, Kikyo, you don't look like you're joking at all right now. And as a girl, isn't it a bit too crude to say things like that? It seemed like that was Kikyo's original personality anyway, so it was fine.

However, some things had changed. The cold, cruel gaze that had seemed like a demon in Ju Ji's eyes was now completely gone; he even felt that Kikyo's current expression was somewhat cute? There must be something wrong.

"Right, let's go out and walk around tomorrow; it's the weekend, after all."

"So you finally know to invite me, but I suppose that's a passing grade. You don't mind if I bring a friend, do you? We had already planned to go shopping together this weekend."

"Of course, that was just a selfish request I made on the spur of the moment."

After being hypnotized, it was destined that Kikyo could not refuse Ju Ji's requests. However, she would still fulfill them in her own way. This was the specific meaning of what the system called truly. Still, compared to a puppet on strings, Ju Ji preferred this version of Kikyo.

"She's a very cute girl, so you mustn't be rude to her. Otherwise, I won't let you off the hook."

Kikyo suddenly switched to angel mode; that cute smile, the pleading gesture, plus the way she looked up—it was lethal. Even though he knew Kikyo's current appearance was a deliberate performance, Ju Ji's heart couldn't help but pound wildly.

"Who exactly is that person? Can you tell me first so I can prepare myself mentally?"

"No... that's a secret!"

There were limits to Kikyo's inability to refuse. For conditions like this, where Ju Ji didn't have a strong will to see it through, Kikyo could still refuse. What the standard for judgment was, or what the specific limits were, was something Ju Ji would have to explore for himself.

"Then can I bring someone along too?"

"Of course you can. We're going out to have fun, after all; the more people, the better. Do you even have someone you want to invite, considering you basically have no friends other than me?"

"How rude. I do have... well, I have that one friend."

When Ju Ji wanted to refute Kikyo's words, he suddenly realized that other than Kikyo, Ike, Suzune, and maybe Sudo at a stretch—and he wasn't sure if Ayanokoji counted—he really didn't have many friends. He suddenly felt a bit of a sting in his heart.

"Then see you tomorrow, Kikyo."

"Wait, are you trying to run away just like that? We haven't done today's routine yet."

"No, if you're talking about martial arts training, you've already graduated. If you're talking about venting, didn't you just finish venting? Look, this railing even seems a bit bent. How pitiful, the little railing had to bear weight it wasn't meant to."

To make his argument more convincing, Ju Ji walked over to the riverside railing and touched it. Of course, such a sturdy railing couldn't possibly be bent just because Kikyo kicked it a few times. Its quality wasn't that poor; every facility in this school was top-tier.

"Of course it's not enough. You aren't going to sleep until I'm satisfied today."

"No way...!"

I take back what I said; Kikyo really is still that same demon, and nothing has changed. But she was clearly in a good mood, so I'll just treat this as compensation for neglecting her lately. I'll just accompany her and go crazy today. I hope I can wake up normally tomorrow... after all, I still have to meet people for shopping; it would be too rude if I fell asleep halfway through.