Yukinoshita's Correction Method

Yui Yuigahama pointed at her headphones. "These are..."

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at the headphones in her hand. "These are headphones."

"I know what headphones are!" Yui Yuigahama did not even want to imagine what kind of image Yukino Yukinoshita had of her. "I mean, why are you wearing headphones?"

Yukino Yukinoshita said, "To listen to music."

"I know they're for listening to music!" Yui Yuigahama puffed out her cheeks. "But why are you listening to music?!"

Yukino Yukinoshita said, "They can block out surrounding noise."

"That's not it!" Yui Yuigahama slapped the table in protest. "A study group shouldn't be like that."

Yukino Yukinoshita rested her chin on her hand and considered it. Apparently, Yui Yuigahama had once again touched upon one of her blind spots. "...Then what should a study group be like?"

"Um..." Yui Yuigahama tilted her head toward Komachi Hikigaya. "What was a study group supposed to be like again?"

"There isn't really any fixed process..." Komachi Hikigaya thought for a moment. "Everyone probably decides the scope first, looks into anything they don't understand, and then..."

"Break time!" This was where Yui Yuigahama was more familiar. "After the break, we keep discussing, exchange information we found, talk about interesting things that happened recently..."

"So, a study group is just going through the motions before doing things unrelated to studying." Yukino Yukinoshita suddenly understood. "I see. That's why it's a 'group'—a discussion activity that cannot solve problems, carried out under the pretense of solving them."

Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

"Um..." Yui Yuigahama drained the iced tea in her glass through a straw, picked up the empty cup, and got to her feet. "I'll go get a refill."

Yukino Yukinoshita turned her gaze toward Komachi Hikigaya.

"Right!" Komachi Hikigaya lowered her head and flipped through her book. "There's a question I can't solve. Could you take a look?"

"Sure." Yukino Yukinoshita gave the question a quick glance, then began explaining it to Komachi Hikigaya.

She had only gotten halfway through when Yui Yuigahama returned.

With an empty cup in her hand.

Yukino Yukinoshita blinked. "A beverage group?"

"What?" Yui Yuigahama froze for a moment, then shook her head. "Not a beverage group—I just saw someone who looked a lot like Shinonome over there!"

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced in the direction Yui Yuigahama was pointing. "That is him."

"Really?" Komachi Hikigaya shifted her gaze slightly. "Then who's the woman next to him?"

PS: Thanks to [Very Unreasonable] for the donation!

"I thought he was just someone who looked like him." Yui Yuigahama furtively took a closer look. "It really does seem to be Shinonome."

Hearing that, Komachi Hikigaya was a little dazed as well. "I really wouldn't have recognized him. He feels completely different from how he is at school."

"Mm..." Yui Yuigahama had never seen Dong Yunshan out of his school uniform. "His clothes look deliberately mature. He looks like a college student—Little Yukino, how did you recognize him at a glance?"

"His hands." Yukino Yukinoshita wrote down the solution in her notebook.

Komachi Hikigaya asked in confusion, "What about his hands?"

"His hands are always restless. He always wants to spin something." Yukino Yukinoshita elaborated. "Just now, he spun his chopsticks for a while. It didn't feel right, so he put them down again."

Yui Yuigahama was impressed. "You could tell from one little movement... But lots of people can spin chopsticks, right?"

"His arms, too," Yukino Yukinoshita added. "His workout plan uses a three-way split: push, pull, and legs. Yesterday was his pull day, mainly for training his back."

Komachi Hikigaya did not understand. "And then?"

"After training his back, the angle between his arms and torso becomes noticeably wider." Yukino Yukinoshita pushed the finished notebook toward Komachi Hikigaya, then turned to Yui Yuigahama. "Didn't you notice?"

"I wasn't looking that closely..." Yui Yuigahama's expression suddenly turned serious. "Since we've confirmed that's Shinonome, we need to find out who the woman beside him is!"

Yukino Yukinoshita continued reading her book. "I cannot hear any logic connecting those two things."

"Is she his sister?" Komachi Hikigaya stared in Dong Yunshan's direction. "Or his aunt... She doesn't seem like an elder."

"If he were having a meal with an elder, he wouldn't need to dress so deliberately mature..." Yui Yuigahama lightly bit her finger. "Could it be... a date?"

"How can we allow that?!" Komachi Hikigaya said righteously. "We have to..."

"Ruin his date?" Yukino Yukinoshita raised her eyes. "You refuse to learn what you should, yet you're eagerly meddling in what you shouldn't."

"Why are you so calm?!" Yui Yuigahama lowered her voice. "Shinonome is on a date with an older woman!"

"You should focus on studying logic." Yukino Yukinoshita shook her head helplessly. "The school club has no authority to forbid its members from dating."

"But... um..." It took Yui Yuigahama quite a while to think of an appropriate response. "What if... what if it affects your correction of him?"

"If he starts dating," Yukino Yukinoshita said as she turned a page, "that means my correction method is working."

Komachi Hikigaya looked suspiciously at the composed Yukino Yukinoshita and gradually realized something. "Could it be... you know what's going on?"

"Apparently, you won't start studying unless I explain it clearly." Yukino Yukinoshita sighed. "Shinonome has another..."

Yui Yuigahama cut in, shocked. "...Woman?"

"Activity." Yukino Yukinoshita shot Yui Yuigahama a glare. "People who need help find him, and he provides it."

"An Odd Jobs Agency." Komachi Hikigaya suddenly understood. "So the woman beside him is his client?"

"Ah!" Yui Yuigahama let out a quiet gasp. "A rental boyfriend?"

"That explains it." Komachi Hikigaya nodded. "Shinonome said he had something to do before. Looks like he's pretending to be that woman's boyfriend for the day."

"Can we start studying now?" Yukino Yukinoshita lightly tapped the table, reminding them not to forget the day's main purpose.

"Wait!" Yui Yuigahama's gaze suddenly sharpened. "Something's happening!"

"A big something!" Komachi Hikigaya chimed in.

Thinking something had happened, Yukino Yukinoshita glanced in Dong Yunshan's direction. "What is it?"

Dong Yunshan was clearly just talking to that woman.

"Didn't you notice?" Yui Yuigahama looked indignant. "That woman is talking while holding a spoon!"

Yukino Yukinoshita said, "...So?"

"This is how you normally hold a spoon." Yui Yuigahama picked up a spoon and demonstrated eating, holding it much like a pen. "But she's doing this."

Curling her four fingers around the spoon handle, Yui Yuigahama held the spoon upright just below her lips. "She's definitely acting cute!"

"It's like saying, 'I'm talking to you so seriously that I forgot to put the spoon down.'" Komachi Hikigaya further explained. "And the texture of the spoon can emphasize how fair her skin is."

Yukino Yukinoshita said, "?"

"And her hair is down." Yui Yuigahama stared at the woman as if she were an enemy. "She's even draped her jacket over her shoulders."

"Is that a combo?" Komachi Hikigaya ground her little white teeth. "This woman is no simple opponent!"

Yukino Yukinoshita pressed a hand to her forehead. "...I should focus on studying logic."

"Since it can slip off if you aren't careful, draping a jacket over your shoulders restricts your movements and improves your posture." Yui Yuigahama spoke with complete confidence. "Then, halfway through the meal, she takes the jacket off, and her image changes instantly. It gives people a refreshing surprise. I bet she's wearing something sleeveless underneath, with her shoulders exposed!"

"The hair follows the same routine." Komachi Hikigaya seemed to see through the woman's thoughts from afar. "To keep loose hair from getting into the food, she has to sweep it to one side, immediately drawing the attention of people beside her. Once she's nearly done eating, she can tie it up, creating another change in her image."

"...If you put even a fraction of this effort into studying, you wouldn't have to worry about final exams." Yukino Yukinoshita sighed. "Even if everything you said is true, what does it have to do with you two coming here to study?"

"Don't you understand, Little Yukino?" Yui Yuigahama looked anxious. "Shinonome might only be eating with that woman to complete a request, but that woman definitely wants more than that!"

"It's a common trope in TV dramas." Komachi Hikigaya looked worried. "They pretend to date at first, then make it real!"

"She showed Shinonome her phone!" Yui Yuigahama spotted something new. "That's definitely the trick where she shows him scenery she took, then pretends to accidentally scroll to her private photos!"

Komachi Hikigaya lightly bit her lower lip.

This was bad.

Dong Yunshan was about to be conquered!

"Little Yukino!" Yui Yuigahama tugged at Yukino Yukinoshita's sleeve. "Think of something, quick."

"Think of what?" Yukino Yukinoshita asked expressionlessly.

Yui Yuigahama picked up her empty cup and pretended to drink, never taking her eyes off Dong Yunshan. "A way to keep Shinonome from being tricked by a bad woman!"

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at Dong Yunshan's expression. "That was only your speculation. Leaving aside whether that woman has such intentions, even if she does, it will have no effect on Shinonome."

"She definitely has intentions." Komachi Hikigaya narrowed her eyes. "That woman has started puffing out her cheeks while drinking. She's definitely acting cute."

As she spoke, she picked up her own drink and sipped through the straw.

Her cheeks puffed out.

Yukino Yukinoshita reminded her, "Would you like to look in a mirror?"

"Hm? I..." Komachi Hikigaya's puffed cheeks returned to normal. "I was thinking~"

"She might be thinking too." Yukino Yukinoshita set aside her math book and began writing vocabulary from memory. "Watch Shinonome's expression. He won't be fooled that easily."

"Hm?" Komachi Hikigaya observed closely. "Shinonome looks really happy. Hasn't he already fallen for it?"

"No..." Yui Yuigahama noticed something strange. "That expression..."

Yukino Yukinoshita continued for her. "It looks familiar."

"That's right." Yui Yuigahama tilted her head, searching her memories. "When have I seen it..."

"When you first came to the Service Club." Yukino Yukinoshita reminded her. "He had that same expression then."

"An eager anticipation of someone else's misfortune?" Yui Yuigahama remembered Dong Yunshan's overly enthusiastic reaction back then.

That expression was like he was saying...

Anything making you unhappy? Tell me about it and make me happy.

"Something new is happening!" Komachi Hikigaya pulled Yui Yuigahama down to hide, avoiding being noticed by Dong Yunshan as he stood up.

Yukino Yukinoshita had no intention of hiding at all. With a slight shift of her gaze, she saw what Komachi Hikigaya meant.

Another man and woman had arrived and sat down in front of Dong Yunshan and the woman.

After exchanging a few simple greetings, the woman introduced Dong Yunshan to the two newcomers.

After the four sat down, they were much like the other diners around them, ordering some snacks and mostly chatting.

"So that's it." Seeing the newly arrived pair raise their hands to show the backs of them, Yui Yuigahama understood. "Those two women must be good friends. The woman who came later got engaged, so she wanted to treat her friend to a meal and introduce them. The woman beside Shinonome is still single, so to avoid embarrassment, she found Shinonome to pretend to be her boyfriend."

A classic TV drama trope.

Most of the time, it was used to deal with parents. Renting a boyfriend to deal with a good friend was still rather rare.

"Even if she's still single and feels a little awkward, there's no need to rent a boyfriend to deal with a friend..." Yui Yuigahama was puzzled. "If they aren't good friends, there's no need to deal with her. If they are good friends, she'll be found out soon enough."

"What if it's the other way around?" Komachi Hikigaya offered a new perspective. "Maybe she originally just wanted to rent a boyfriend and experience what having one felt like for a day. But after meeting him, she wanted to make it real, so she brought in her engaged friend as backup."

With a happy newlywed couple in front of him and a beautiful woman by his side,

it was only natural for an impulse to arise in his heart.

Many times, all that was missing was that little impulse.

Yui Yuigahama looked indignant. "That's too much. Shinonome wanted to help, yet he's being plotted against like this."

"I'll remind you again: your speculation may not be true." Yukino Yukinoshita lightly tapped her notebook with the tip of her pen, her expression serious. "Also, we came here to study."

"O-okay." Yui Yuigahama immediately began flipping through her book.

"Shinonome probably won't be fooled that easily..." Komachi Hikigaya saw the solution steps Yukino Yukinoshita had written, thanked her repeatedly, reviewed them herself, then asked Yukino Yukinoshita about a few parts she did not understand.

At last, the three people attending the study group began studying together.

They studied for a while.

"It's starting," Yui Yuigahama said in a low voice.

Komachi Hikigaya secretly glanced over.

Sure enough, the woman beside Dong Yunshan placed the jacket draped over her shoulders on the back of her chair.

Her fitted sleeveless top was revealed, along with her generously exposed pale shoulders.

Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya exchanged a look, wearing expressions that said they had known it.

"Shinonome won't be fooled, right..." Seeing the woman begin tying up her hair, Yui Yuigahama felt a little worried.

"Shinonome's reaction has been rather cold." Komachi Hikigaya glanced toward Dong Yunshan. "So far, he hasn't given any response at all. Not only does he not seem like a boyfriend, even by the standards of ordinary friends, he falls into the cold category."