Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 307, Section 24: "The Problem of Selfishness"

"Masaki-nii, are you there?"

At night, Qian'ai walked down the dark corridor and knocked on the door of the innermost room on the third floor.

The experience of opening the door three times during the day instilled in the girl a kind of psychological fear and apprehension towards this otherwise ordinary behavior.

She cautiously peeked through the crack in the door, only to see that in the dimly lit room, only a corner was illuminated by the soft light of a table lamp.

"Masumi-san?"

Qian Ai spoke up, but no one responded.

There didn't seem to be any other girls around.

With no other options, Qian'ai could only cautiously push open the door and enter the room.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed that Masumi-san was asleep, his casual clothes wrinkled.

I glanced at the time on my phone; it was only eight o'clock. It would be too early to rest now.

But thinking about Masumi-san's shameful behavior during the day, even an iron man would get tired!

Qian Ai frowned indignantly, wanting to rudely wake up her childhood friend who was sleeping in front of her, but seeing his sound sleep, she couldn't bear to do it.

"Ah, it's Chia."

Before I could think about it for long, I heard a moving sound.

Masumi had just woken up; his hair was a little messy, and there were clear marks on his face from the arm he had used as a pillow.

"Sorry, I was feeling a bit tired and accidentally fell asleep on the table."

Masumi scratched his head shyly; having just woken up, he looked more childlike than usual.

"...May I ask, what kind of 'job' does Masumi-nii do to be so tired?"

She deliberately emphasized the word "work".

However, Masumi was too busy rubbing her eyes to notice the increasingly cold tone in Oome's calm voice, and then casually unlocked the laptop screen saver.

"I'm writing a comic book script and lyrics for a new song."

"Hey, it's all mental work."

Masumi nodded.

"That's right."

"So, there's nothing else?"

Chiai looked at Masumi with a meaningful gaze, her emerald eyes carrying a hint of scrutiny.

"That's all. There are only these two tasks to complete."

"That's not what I meant."

Qian Ai pouted, unwilling to let go.

"Not that...?"

Masumi tilted her head slightly, indicating her confusion.

"Qian'ai refers to..."

"Hmm! I mean..."

Qianai was speechless. She was the one interrogating Masumi, but she ended up stammering instead.

She twirled the ends of her hair with her fingers, and then, for some inexplicable reason, gently touched Masumi's thigh, who was sitting cross-legged, with her foot.

"Do people really have to be so blunt?"

"How would I understand if Qian'ai didn't explain?"

Masumi sighed.

"What I'm saying is... Masumi-nii is really going too far! Don't you think your interactions with everyone are... a bit too close!?"

Describing it as "zero distance" is too conservative; it's practically—

Masumi paused for a moment, then smiled gently.

"Oh, so that's what you were talking about. Chihiro loves pure love."

"Masumi-nii is still joking with me!"

"No, and this kind of thing is quite normal for couples."

"Yes, that makes sense, but Masumi-nii is different!"

"Huh? What's different?"

"What normal guy would have so many lovers like Masumi-san!?"

"That's true."

Masumi nodded in agreement.

"But that has nothing to do with what we're talking about now. After all, no matter how many lovers you have, a lover is a lover."

He said it in a matter-of-fact tone.

"...It's still different."

Qian Ai muttered to herself.

"Ok?"

"...Only me, not with Masumi-nii..."

"Hey, why did Chiai come to my room? Could it be...?"

"That's not true at all! I... I'm not mentally prepared for this yet!"

Seeing Chiai stand up in a panic, Masumi couldn't help but laugh.

"Masumi-nii's personality is terrible."

"But isn't this exactly the kind of me that Qian'ai likes?"

Masumi smiled confidently.

"No, that's not it. I didn't fall for Masumi-nii because of his terrible personality."

"So, Chiai hates me now?"

"...But I didn't say I disliked it."

"So you can still accept this kind of personality, right?"

"Ugh, really! Whatever!"

Feeling that the conversation had taken a turn for the worse halfway through, Qian'ai awkwardly called out, thus ending the topic.

Masumi closed her laptop, looked up, and the light from the desk lamp filled her eyes.

"Everyone else is just like that, always going along with Masumi-nii's wild antics, except for Rinne who's still very reserved."

"what?"

Upon suddenly hearing this name, Masumi swallowed hard.

Perhaps because of the wavering on her face, Chiai tilted her head with a curious look.

"What's wrong, Masumi-nii?"

"It's nothing, I just suddenly heard Chiai mention Rinne's name."

"Ah, I see."

Qian'ai nodded as if suddenly realizing something, a teasing smile immediately appearing on her lips:

"Hmph, it must be because Rinne is aloof and unwilling to cooperate with Masumi-nii like other girls, so Masumi-nii got the cold shoulder and was a bit rebuffed, right?"

The childhood sweetheart, thinking she had discovered the truth, proudly put her hands on her hips and said...

Masumi's lips twitched; she was offering her warm face to a cold backside... This kind of thing has indeed happened before.

However, to say that she was unwilling to cooperate would be to completely wrong the heiress.

Such a cool and aloof face, such a passionate and alluring body...

To please herself, she even wore cat ear headbands and a tail, dressing up as a well-behaved and cute black cat.

"...Well, that's pretty much what Qianai said, I guess."

Masumi chuckled and made excuses.

Chiai looked away from Masumi's face, snorted through her nose, and her ears turned slightly red.

"In short, that's it! I hope Masumi-nii will be more mindful of his conduct!"

The childhood sweetheart uttered lines that sounded like something out of a disciplinary committee speech.

"Okay, I understand. Thank you, Qian'ai."

"No, you're welcome."

His serious attitude made Qian'ai feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"Then I'll go back to my room first..."

"Wait a moment."

Masumi suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Hmm? Masumi-nii...is there something else?"

A thousand loves are perplexing.

"Would you like to come out with me?"

Masumi suggested.

"Eh?"

◇

"Strange? Where did Masumi go?"

Having just finished showering, her fair skin flushed slightly, and Mio, wearing a black lace slip dress, frowned.

She carefully cared for her feet with scrub and moisturizer, trimmed her toenails neatly and beautifully, and then reapplied a vibrant vermilion nail polish.

However, Masumi was nowhere to be found.

The feeling of having meticulously prepared a birthday party only to have no one show up, leaving you disappointed, is extremely unpleasant.

Haiyue, who was sitting at the table looking at her phone, watched her walk around and gently opened her lips to answer:

"He went out with another woman..."

!

Mio's eyes widened suddenly.

"Other women!?"

"It's Qian Ai."

Rinne interjected at this moment.

Haiyue's statement is not wrong in either a broad or narrow sense, but it sounds extremely easy to misunderstand.

"Where are those two going so late? Could it be... the Love Hotel!?"

Mio narrowed her eyes, revealing her blatant wariness.

"I heard it's just going to the neighborhood, so Mio should probably behave herself a bit."

Rinne sighed, thoroughly annoyed, and then walked up to Haiyue.

"Haiyue, you've been playing on your phone for a long time today, it's time to put it down and rest." "Okay."

Haiyue held her phone and merely gave a perfunctory reply.

Rinne sighed as if defeated, like a mother facing a disobedient daughter.

"Don't just agree with me, take some real action."

Her tone was the same as a mother lecturing her daughter.

"I'm... watching videos..."

Without saying a word, Rinne snatched the phone from the jellyfish girl's hand.

"It's not too late to look into it tomorrow. Okay, go to sleep."

"Ugh."

◇

Just a few steps out of the coffee shop, Masumi realized how cold the night wind was and subconsciously looked at her childhood friend beside her.

"How is Qian'ai? Is she cold?"

"Fortunately."

Qian'ai sniffed and said.

"Are you going to try to be tough in front of me?"

Helpless, Masumi unbuttoned her coat.

Chiai thought he was going to take off his clothes and put them on her, and was about to wave her hand to refuse when Masumi suddenly approached and wrapped the childhood friend in his coat.

"what?"

The chill that had enveloped her body was replaced by warmth. The childhood sweetheart looked up in surprise and saw her childhood friend's face right in front of her.

"Masumi-san?"

Qian Ai's voice trembled, and her cheeks flushed.

Masumi saw through her shyness and smiled slightly:
"We're lovers, right? It's normal for us to huddle together like this for warmth, isn't it?"

"Ah."

Qian Ai nodded shyly at first, then stammered:
"If...someone saw...us together like this, it would feel a little..."

"At this hour, there won't be anyone here. It's not like we're in Tokyo."

Masumi didn't seem to care much.

In most cities outside of Tokyo and Osaka, by 8 or 9 p.m., shopping streets are already closed and there are very few pedestrians on the streets.

"Oh."

Qian'ai buried her face in her raised collar, her voice growing weaker and weaker.

"Speaking of which, Masumi-nii, where are you taking me?"

"Where are you going?"

"I was the one asking Masumi-nii."

Qian Ai raised her head in dissatisfaction.

"Sorry, sorry, actually I haven't thought about it yet."

"Eh."

Qian Ai was dumbfounded.

"If I had to put it simply, I just wanted to escape work for a while and go for a walk and chat with Qian'ai."

Qian Ai had some reservations about this answer.

"Am I someone Masumi-nii uses to kill time?"

"I didn't think that way. Also, about what happened last night..."

"last night?"

Although Chiai answered me that she had told me "everything," I still felt like she was hiding something.

"..."

Qian Ai suddenly stopped and sighed deeply.

"Seriously, Masumi-nii is usually so slow-witted, so why is he so perceptive in these kinds of situations?"

"Just an intuition."

Masumi also stopped and answered calmly.

Are men's intuitions also very accurate?

"Who knows."

Masumi shrugged and said.

"However, I think at least now, Qian'ai should be very clear about this."

"..."

Silence suddenly appeared, and Chiai started walking forward again. Masumi quickly followed, and the two of them were still wrapped in the same coat for warmth.

The tall, vermilion torii gate stands against the dark night, next to a small coin-operated parking lot belonging to the shrine.

White lines were drawn evenly on the ground, and not a single car was parked in the few available parking spaces. The small electronic signs gleamed with a cheap light.

In the empty night, it silently watches over the two people who pass by.

"Can't you tell me?"

"That's not quite right."

Qian Ai's answer seemed inattentive and superficial.

Perhaps it's because I'm still anxious.

"If Qian'ai is still troubled by that problem, my answer will always be the same."

"Ah."

"Like I said, feelings aren't something tangible that has to be exchanged for something of equal value, and I also really like the uniform that Chiai made for the coffee shop."

"Ah."

Normally, Qian'ai would habitually change her response methods, but now she doesn't even have that kind of energy.

uniform……

That's right.

This is how Masumi-san got closer to him after returning to Kobe, so that they could maintain a connection even outside of the coffee shop.

The trembling girl's heart was filled with unease, a little guilt, and discomfort.

"Qian Ai has a talent for designing clothes, and she is working hard on this path with unwavering determination..."

"—Hey, Masumi-nii."

"Ok?"

Chiai interrupted Masumi.

"Masumi-nii, you just said you liked the uniform I designed, right?"

Qian Ai asked, her pupils trembling.

She thought she must be seeking some kind of reassurance.

Like a person falling into water, desperately grasping at the last straw, they utter words of explanation.

"Why...me?"

Chiai wanted to hear Masumi say that it wasn't just because they were childhood friends.

I want to hear more definitive answers; there is no other reason to do so than myself.

Chiai hopes Masumi will say that.

Without a clear reason, she would surely drown in this sea of ​​self-doubt.

"You ask why..."

Masumi looked somewhat confused, squinting her eyes slightly as she pondered the answer.

"Didn't I say that I like Chiai and I also like Chiai's uniform?"

Qian Ai murmured softly, her lips trembling slightly.

"Is it just that you like it?"

Can not accept.

This is simply because it's based on Masumi's own preferences; it's purely a personal reason.

She's not naive enough to affirm herself based on just this.

Just like the day after Masumi returned to Kobe—

◇

"Rinne is really a beauty, and she has such a strong personality and a great mind."

"This isn't important." Masumi held his forehead.

"Isn't it important? Aren't you guys all visual creatures? Although girls are too."

Qian Ai rested her chin on her hands, revealing an expression that was both longing and conflicted.

"I wish I could be as pretty as Rinne. I don't really like my face. If I were that kind of beauty, I would definitely have the courage to confess to the person I like."

"Chiai is very pretty too."

"Thank you. It would have been better if Masumi-nii had said that with a bit more emotion."

"Seriously, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's complimented you like this, am I?"

"I've been called cute by female friends before, but that doesn't count."

Qian Ai pouted her pink lips, looking a little unhappy.

"why?"

"Because girls are like that. No matter what happens, they'll always say you're so cute or so awesome. If you believe that, you're too naive."

◇

So, lovers are the same, right?

There's a saying in China: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

If she lost this love, she would become insignificant in an instant, and Qian Ai didn't want that.

"That--"

So, Qian'ai blurted out those words.

She knew it was best not to ask such a question.

Asking this question would only force Masumi into a difficult choice, making it a very selfish question.

But she still spoke up.

"—Among the six of us, including Chitose-nee, Masumi-nii, which one do you like the most?"

(End of this chapter)