Yukinoshita's Correction Method

Yukino Yukinoshita: "Hmm?"

"Read, read!" Yui Yuigahama lowered her head and flipped through her book. "This question's kind of interesting."

"Oh no," Komachi Hikigaya lowered her voice. "Dong Yunshan's reacting!"

"Is it that obvious?" Yui Yuigahama tried to glance discreetly in Dong Yunshan's direction. "That reaction... oh no! Dong Yunshan's displaying!"

The strange description made even Yukino Yukinoshita instinctively glance in Dong Yunshan's direction.

It seemed the topic had turned to fitness. Dong Yunshan had taken off his jacket and was showing the others the firm muscles in his arms.

Yukino Yukinoshita looked for quite a while, but she still did not see any feathers spreading out behind Dong Yunshan. "What displaying?"

"Showing himself off like a peacock spreading its tail," Komachi Hikigaya explained. "Like talking about his achievements, showing off his talents, flexing his muscles... If he suddenly does something like that, it means there's someone of the opposite sex nearby he's interested in. He's trying to radiate his charm."

"A metaphor." Yukino Yukinoshita stared in Dong Yunshan's direction and saw that they seemed to have reached some amusing topic and were laughing heartily. "So that's what it is... no wonder."

"Yukino!" Yui Yuigahama tugged at Yukino Yukinoshita's sleeve to remind her. "Don't stare so obviously, he'll no—"

Before she could finish, Yui Yuigahama noticed Dong Yunshan's gaze turning their way. "Quick, hide."

"As students, we came here to study. And yet, with only a week left before exams, he is still engaging in activities unrelated to studying." Yukino Yukinoshita had no intention of dodging at all. "He is the one who should hide."

Hearing her say that... Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya wanted to hide even more.

Seeing Dong Yunshan walk toward the self-service drink bar, Yukino Yukinoshita finished the drink left in her cup, picked up the empty cup, and walked over.

P.S. Thanks to [Camusyy] and [Why Shrimp 12397] for the tips!

Final Exams and Spring Break: The True Goal

"Ooooooh!" Yui Yuigahama watched Yukino Yukinoshita's back, surprise flooding her eyes as she excitedly slapped Komachi Hikigaya's arm. "Yukino's making her move!"

"So she really is unhappy..." Komachi Hikigaya murmured. "What's she going to do?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Yui Yuigahama gestured. "She'll just grab Dong Yun by the ear and make him behave, and make him separate work from life."

"Do you think that's possible?"

"...True." Yui Yuigahama propped up her chin. "Then what should she do?"

Komachi Hikigaya copied her and propped up her chin too. "We'll see in a moment."

"Huh?" Yui Yuigahama saw Yukino Yukinoshita standing in front of the drink machine with absolutely no intention of greeting Dong Yunshan. "Is she pretending she didn't see him? But she already saw him just now."

"That's why she has to pretend Dong Yun doesn't exist now. That way, he'll..." A smile appeared on Komachi Hikigaya's face. "Sure enough."

Dong Yunshan had already reached a drink machine, but after seeing Yukino Yukinoshita, he picked up his cup and moved closer in Yukino Yukinoshita's direction, filling it with the drink in front of her.

Instead of returning to his seat, Dong Yunshan stood beside the drink machine—or rather, beside Yukino Yukinoshita—and started drinking.

"He's probably explaining..." Yui Yuigahama guessed. "But Yukino doesn't seem to be looking at him."

Yukino Yukinoshita stared fixedly at the drink machine, put down her cup, and filled it with a drink.

"Is she expressing her dissatisfaction by ignoring him?" Komachi Hikigaya saw Yukino Yukinoshita pick up her drink and say a couple of things to Dong Yunshan. "Letting him stew for a little while before answering—her little temper is just right."

"Good! Keep up the momentum, and then... Yukino seems to have given Dong Yun something." Yui Yuigahama widened her eyes in disbelief. "And then she came back?"

"What she gave Dong Yun looks like a napkin." Komachi Hikigaya's gaze locked onto Dong Yunshan. "He crumpled it up and threw it away!"

Yui Yuigahama looked indignant. "How could he!"

Most family restaurants had self-service drink bars.

It was a self-service option for nonalcoholic drinks. Customers needed to go to the drink bar themselves and choose what they wanted, and the price was usually around two hundred to four hundred yen, with unlimited refills.

The self-service bar had a full range of drinks, and if the self-service drink was ordered together with a main dish, side dish, or dessert, there was also a discount.

Dong Yunshan was just about to get a drink when his eyes shifted, and he saw Yukino Yukinoshita not far away.

She was carefully studying the drink machine in front of her, holding an empty cup in her right hand and a coin in her left, as if she were looking for somewhere to insert the coin.

Had this young lady truly never used self-service before?

Dong Yunshan walked over with his cup and demonstrated in front of her. "Put the coin away. You should have already paid when you ordered earlier. You can drink whatever you want."

Yukino Yukinoshita copied Dong Yunshan's example, placed her cup there, adjusted its position, then solemnly pressed the button. Only when she saw the drink flow out by itself did she nod in satisfaction. "I see."

"Yuigahama got my drink for me before." Yukino Yukinoshita explained, then picked up her cup. "How much longer will things take on your end?"

"Hard to say. I don't have any experience with this, after all." Dong Yunshan paused, then smiled and shook his head. "I didn't expect it to be this much trouble."

"Since you helped me, I'll help you a little too." Yukino Yukinoshita took out a napkin and handed it over. "Come back and study after you're done. I do not want anyone in my club failing."

The two walked in different directions.

Dong Yunshan crumpled the napkin into a ball and tossed it away casually.

Yukino Yukinoshita returned to her seat with her cup. "What's wrong with you two?"

"That napkin," Yui Yuigahama accused. "Dong Yun threw it away without even looking at it!"

"So what?" Yukino Yukinoshita tilted her head. "It was meant to be thrown away in the first place."

"There must have been something very important written on it." Komachi Hikigaya's slender brows furrowed slightly. "How could he throw it away without even looking?"

"It was just a napkin. There was nothing written on it." Yukino Yukinoshita shook her head. "I gave it to him so he could throw it away."

"Huh?" Yui Yuigahama blinked. "I should really focus on studying logic."

Komachi Hikigaya asked bluntly, "Why give him a napkin just so he can throw it away?"

Yukino Yukinoshita opened her book. "To make him come over and study sooner."

Komachi Hikigaya slumped weakly over the table. "I should really focus on studying logic."

"Look over there." Yukino Yukinoshita raised a hand and pointed. "It should start any moment now."

Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya looked up and saw Dong Yunshan accidentally knock over his juice, spilling it onto the man who had arrived later—the engaged man. Since the color stood out so much, he had no choice but to go to the restroom and deal with it.

The woman sitting beside Dong Yunshan took out a phone with earphones plugged in and handed one earbud to the engaged woman.

"So Dong Yun spills things too, huh." Yui Yuigahama remembered how calm and composed Dong Yunshan always looked when spinning all kinds of things. "That's kind of unlike him..."

Could he have fallen for her?

"Only kind of?" Yukino Yukinoshita raised her eyes. "There are clearly plenty of other things even more unlike his usual self."

Komachi Hikigaya thought about it and felt the biggest difference was that Yukino Yukinoshita was not beside Dong Yunshan.

"I noticed right from the start." Yui Yuigahama pointed at her own head. "His hairstyle and his outfit are both different."

"...That counts as part of it." Yukino Yukinoshita sighed. "Think carefully. If the request Dong Yun received was to play someone's boyfriend, what would he do?"

"Hmm..." Yui Yuigahama could not help remembering what had happened when Yoshiteru Zaimokuza came to the Service Club. "He'd definitely put on an amazing performance."

Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze shifted toward Komachi Hikigaya. "What did you say just now?"

Komachi Hikigaya recalled it as she repeated, "So far, there's been no feedback at all. Not only is there no reaction of a boyfriend, even by the standards of an ordinary friend, he's on the cold side."

"That's the problem." Yukino Yukinoshita nodded. "That's why I felt something was strange."

So that earlier "hm?" was because of this... Yui Yuigahama had thought Yukino Yukinoshita was reminding her to study properly.

"So this isn't a request, but... just a normal date? Dong Yun likes this type... No." Komachi Hikigaya denied her own guess. "Dong Yun's reactions are too cold, but then later he starts showing off like a peacock... Could his target be that woman who's already engaged?"

"Dong Yun wouldn't do that..." Yui Yuigahama added hesitantly, "Probably."

She had originally wanted to say that based on her understanding of Dong Yunshan, she felt he should not be that kind of person.

But after hearing Yukino Yukinoshita's meticulous observations, Yui Yuigahama suddenly realized that the Dong Yunshan she knew was the Dong Yunshan who was with Yukino Yukinoshita.

Dong Yunshan without Yukino Yukinoshita by his side... Today was the first time she had ever seen him.

Thinking about it that way, her understanding of Dong Yunshan was actually extremely limited.

Compared to Yukino Yukinoshita's, it was even more limited.

"When people laugh, they habitually look toward the person they like most," Yukino Yukinoshita answered with sound reasoning. "When I looked over just now, they were chatting happily. But Dong Yun's gaze wasn't on the engaged woman."

"At that time, Dong Yun was looking at..." Yui Yuigahama pointed at Yukino Yukinoshita. "It seemed like he was looking at you, Yukinon."

"I told him about that phenomenon, so he used it." Yukino Yukinoshita corrected her. "Before he looked at me, he was looking at the engaged man."

"Huh?" Yui Yuigahama's eyes widened. "Wait... That's..."

"Looking at that man... Dong Yun did it on purpose!" Komachi Hikigaya had hidden together with Yui Yuigahama earlier, so she had not seen what happened then, but now she had already formed a guess. "That man was looking at him."

Yukino Yukinoshita nodded.

"That engaged man... likes men?!" Yui Yuigahama glanced worriedly toward the restroom. "So Dong Yun really did receive a request, but not to pretend to be a boyfriend. It was to expose a marriage scam?"

"Then everything makes sense." Komachi Hikigaya organized her thoughts. "The off-shoulder woman found out her good friend's fiancé was homo, but this kind of thing couldn't be said directly, so she went to Dong Yun for help."

"So Dong Yun planned this meal. The off-shoulder woman's combo wasn't aimed at Dong Yun, but at the engaged man." Following Komachi Hikigaya's reasoning, Yui Yuigahama drew even more conclusions. "That's why Dong Yun acted so cold. He wanted to pretend to be homo. No wonder after the engaged man arrived, he started showing off like a peacock."

"One man and one woman showing their charm at the same time. By seeing which one the engaged man was more interested in, they could figure out his orientation." Remembering the interaction between Yukino Yukinoshita and Dong Yunshan earlier, Komachi Hikigaya finally realized it after the fact. "Just like how Yui and I thought something was written on that napkin, the engaged man would also think something was written on it—like contact information."

"But Dong Yun threw it away without even looking!" Yui Yuigahama suddenly understood. "If he didn't even want the contact information of such a cute girl, then it'd make Dong Yun seem really..."

"With his physical ability, even if he knocked over a drink, he could have caught it in time." Yukino Yukinoshita looked at the two women listening to the same pair of earphones. "Since he didn't catch it, that means it was deliberate."

"To create a chance to be alone!" Komachi Hikigaya finally knew why those two women were wearing earphones. "They're listening to the sound from Dong Yun's side!"

"She took off her engagement ring..." Yui Yuigahama sighed softly. "She must have already heard something."

"It's already good that it could be resolved like this." Komachi Hikigaya no longer had her initial excitement for gossip either. "At least they're still only engaged..."

As they spoke, Dong Yunshan and the engaged man had already walked out of the restroom.

After sitting back down, Dong Yunshan took a phone out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

The engaged man's expression immediately turned ugly when he looked at the screen.

The engaged woman returned the engagement ring to the engaged man.

Tears streamed down her face.

The engaged man hurriedly tried to explain something, but the engaged woman no longer wanted to listen. She raised her hand and slapped him.

Smack!

"Huh?" Yui Yuigahama wrinkled her nose. "Why did Dong Yun stop her?"

That reaction really was fast... Komachi Hikigaya saw it clearly. Almost the instant the fiancée moved, Dong Yunshan raised his hand and caught her wrist with perfect precision.

Yukino Yukinoshita's delicate brows knitted slightly. "This is bad."

"Hm?" Komachi Hikigaya was just about to ask in detail when she saw the answer.

Dong Yunshan stopped the fiancée with one hand, while his other hand grabbed the marriage scammer by the hair and slammed his face down into the plate on the table with a bang.

Under the stunned gazes of the surrounding customers, Dong Yunshan put strength into his arm and dragged the marriage scammer straight down from his seat.

The marriage scammer reached out with both hands to grab Dong Yunshan's arm, but Dong Yunshan had already let go of his hair and raised his leg in a kick.

Yui Yuigahama sucked in a sharp breath. "You really can kick someone hard enough to send them flying!"

Although it had only been for a very brief instant, Yui Yuigahama saw it clearly.

The marriage scammer's feet had definitely left the ground.

"Sir..." The restaurant server approached cautiously. "You..."

"It's fine. We're just messing around." Dong Yunshan stomped the marriage scammer, who had just propped himself up, back down flat against the floor. "Hey! Bastard, we're just messing around, aren't we? Talk!"

"What a professional tongue roll..." Komachi Hikigaya couldn't help sighing in admiration. "If I didn't know him, I'd think he was a real delinquent."

"Now that's Dong Yun's standard~" Yui Yuigahama nodded approvingly. "Professional and dedicated."

Yukino Yukinoshita looked at the restaurant in an uproar and shook her head helplessly.

Seeing that the marriage scammer did not answer, Dong Yunshan kicked him twice more with heavy thuds. "Did you leave your vocal cords at home?"

"Yes..." the marriage scammer said with difficulty. "We—we're just messing around..."

"Um..." the server reminded them weakly. "Please, please don't roughhouse or play around in the restaurant..."

The marriage scammer stared at the server, his eyes nearly bulging until they bled.

Dong Yunshan raised his foot and kicked the marriage scammer, sending him sliding sideways along the floor for quite a long distance. "Get lost!"

The marriage scammer scrambled up in a sorry state and ran out in a fluster.