Chapter 84

Yoshino —this overly gentle girl, who always thought of others, surprisingly received no redemption.

Regarding this point--

She, Qian Lingmeng, disagreed.

But Shido Itsuka disagreed as well!

"Zhongsheng: 'I think I'll probably write around chapter 45 of the fourth volume? A volume should be around 80,000 to 100,000 words, right?'"

Chapter Thirty-Two: The White Album (Fake)

After a brief silence, Yoshino timidly watched Shido and Lingmeng.

"Thank you... thank you, Mr. Shido and Ms. Lingmeng?"

"Well, you don't really need to be so respectful."

Lingmeng scratched her cheek awkwardly.

While she was pleased that Yoshino could speak so frankly, she still felt a little awkward being addressed with such a respectful title.

Shido shared the same sentiment and nodded in agreement.

"Yoshino, you can just call me Shido."

"Yes, I'm the same as her. You can just call me Lingmeng."

Shido and Lingmeng said this.

Actually, Lingmeng initially wanted Yoshino to call her "brother," but she was afraid that saying it would make the situation awkward, so she didn't say it.

Even though the person involved had said so, Yoshino still didn't agree, shaking her head in refusal.

Shido and Lingmeng could only give an awkward smile in response.

This child is surprisingly well-behaved! Looks like I'll have to give him some serious discipline in the future.

Lingmeng muttered to herself.

Then, just then, Shido had been smiling wryly, seemed to have thought of something, shifted his gaze to the side, and said embarrassedly.

"Um... how should I put it, I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday?"

"Um...?"

Yoshino seemed not to understand what Shido was talking about, and tilted her head in confusion.

But Lingmeng to the side, knew perfectly well what was going on.

What could possibly make a pure-hearted young boy Shido show such an expression? It's nothing more than something like taking advantage of a pretty girl!

As expected, Shido continued speaking.

"No... Anyway, I'm sorry about kissing you yesterday..."

Shido blushed.

Although these things were all accidents, he still decided to apologize due to the pangs of his conscience.

Even though Shido had already said all that, Yoshino still stared in disbelief and tilted her head again.

"... What is... kissing?"

"..."

In that instant, not only Shido, but even Lingmeng fell silent.

(Seriously, are all spirits so lacking in common sense? I thought Tohka not knowing about kissing was just an exception, but I didn't expect Yoshino to be unaware of it either?)

If that's really the case, then if I just talk to any elf, can I build a harem??_?)

Lingmeng was both amused and exasperated. Shido's reaction was similar.

"Um... kissing, simply put, is when lips touch lips--"

Shido used the same explanation he gave to Tohka before they kissed, trying to express the meaning of the kiss in the simplest and most understandable way possible.

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than Yoshino, as if doing as he said, suddenly brought her face close to Shido's.

That's a distance where you'd touch your lips if you just moved forward a little.

"Eh? (゜ロ゜)"

Shido let out a surprised sound.

"Is... is that so? If so... sorry... I don't quite remember."

Hesitantly, Yoshino looked apologetic.

Of course, Shido blushed instantly upon seeing Yoshino's sudden action.

Although he felt a little disappointed that the girl had no memory of kissing him, he didn't have time to care about that now.

Unconsciously, Shido's gaze fell on the girl's cherry blossom-colored lips, Shido swallowed hard. Suddenly, he felt an urge to make love to her.

However, this impulsive thought vanished instantly.

Firstly, Shido's rationality tells him he cannot do that.

Secondly, he had just inadvertently seen Lingmeng's hateful gaze, which forcibly pulled him back to reality.

After all, Lingmeng's expression was practically saying, "If you dare to kiss me, you'll be going to jail," making it impossible for her to bring herself to do it!

"Uh-huh."

Seeing that Shido had stopped his gentlemanly behavior, Lingmeng crossed her arms and nodded in satisfaction.

"Um... that..."

To ease the awkward atmosphere, Shido decided to say something.

But before she could finish speaking, the living room door was suddenly flung open, and a girl with long purple hair appeared from outside.

"Shido...! I--"

The Purple-Haired Girl — Tohka —had returned home sometime earlier. She must have already finished eating.

"Eh? Tohka... Tohka!"

"Um?"

Upon seeing Tohka's sudden appearance, Shido and Lingmeng both exclaimed in surprise, while Yoshino, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed as if she had seen something terrifying.

Incidentally, Shido and Yoshino are currently in a position where they're about to kiss, so...

Yes, in Tohka's eyes, this scene was definitely Shido and Yoshino doing something sneaky!

"Ah, it's that time of year again for White Album."

Lingmeng gently shook her head and muttered to herself.

At the same time, he didn't forget to imagine Tohka saying something in his mind--

How come you're so skilled at it?

"How many times have you kissed her?"

And so on and so forth, such memorable scenes.

With a smile on her Tohka slowly walked towards Shido. From Shido's back, he could clearly feel Yoshino trembling behind him.

It seems that Tohka's sudden taking of Yoshino yesterday must have caused Yoshino considerable psychological trauma.

Before long, Tohka, with a smile on her face, arrived in front of Shido.

Just as Shido closed his eyes, preparing to face Tohka's punishment, an unexpected situation occurred.

Shido had been waiting for a long time, did not feel any pain in his body, nor did he hear any complaints from Tohka.

With a puzzled expression, Shido cautiously opened his eyes. What he saw was—

"I'm sorry, Shido! I acted too impulsively yesterday. Lingmeng has already told me the whole story."

It was wrong of me to lose my temper with Shido without understanding what happened. Please forgive me!

What came into view was Tohka, who was bending down and apologizing to him.

To be honest, Tohka was happy that Shido didn't misunderstand him again, but the fact that Lingmeng had trained Tohka like this in less than a day made Shido curious about what Lingmeng had said to Tohka while he was out.

Shido glanced in Lingmeng's direction and saw that she was half-closing her eyes, looking as if to say, "As expected of me."

"..."

Turning his head back to Tohka, Shido responded with embarrassment.

"It's... it's okay. As long as you don't throw a tantrum like that Tohka, it'll be fine."

"Oh, okay! I see! I'll head back to my room now."

Tohka simply nodded in understanding. Then, beaming, she quickly ran back to her room.

Because she was angry all night, Tohka didn't sleep at all.

Now that she was no longer angry and Shido had forgiven her, she could finally go back to her room and take a nap.

Shido remained standing there, didn't know what to say for a moment, and just stood there blankly for a while.

However, Shido nervously turned his head to the back.

As a result, his eyes widened instinctively.

Because Yoshino had been standing behind him until just moments ago—had vanished!?

"Zhongsheng (daydreaming): 'I wonder if I can get an A-rank free illustration when I release it?'"

Chapter 33: Heading to the Origami's House

"Where... where Yoshino!?"

Shido stared at the empty space behind him, then stiffly turned his head to look at Lingmeng.

To this, Lingmeng could only sigh helplessly.

"She disappeared when Tohka walked towards you just now, she probably went back to the Neighboring World, right?"

"Is that so...?"

"... Yes, Yoshino has indeed returned to the Neighboring World. It's such a pity, considering how hard it was to gain her trust."

A sleepy voice came into Shido's right ear; the speaker was probably Reine.

"How long will it be before she reappears in the world?"

"... I don't know. But based on past experience, it will take at least a few days before it reappears."

"Waaah..."

Upon hearing Reine's reply, Shido lowered his head in disappointment.

Then--

"Can I borrow Shido's Earphones?"

Without any warning, Lingmeng took the Earphones from Shido's ears and put them on her own.

(Hey, you're basically just robbing me, aren't you?)

Shido's lips twitched slightly. Although that's what he was thinking, he didn't say it aloud.

Lingmeng gently tapped her Earphones.

"Hello--Is this Kotori- chan?"

"Is that Lingmeng's voice? What can I do for you?"

Kotori's voice came through the Earphones.

"I have something I'd like you to ask Reine to investigate; it's something related to Yoshino."

"Yoshino? Wait, I'll call Reine over right now."