Tentacle Monster Conquest Manual

"I know, I know!"

After Nishiki Chizuki left, only Mu Xiaoxiao and Sicheng Xingli remained. The latter fidgeted with her hair somewhat awkwardly, then opened her lunchbox. "Mu-kun, you really don't like lunchboxes?"

"I'm just not used to eating this kind of bento, it's not that I hate it," Mu Xiaoxiao said with a grin. "I just said that to get Qian Shu to run errands for me."

This guy~

Sicheng Xingli smiled and said, "I think if you ask her for a favor normally, Mu Jun, she will help you run errands. Usually... Qian Shu always mentions you. She likes you a lot."

"I know, I like Chizuka very much too."

Upon hearing this, Si Cheng Xingli pursed her lips and didn't mention the matter again. Looking at the food in her lunchbox, she suddenly looked up and asked, "Want to try my lunch?"

新年 快乐

Happy New Year, fellow book lovers! Wishing you a prosperous Year of the Dragon!

Starting today, I'll be updating twice a day again!

Chapter 149 When did your relationship become so good?

Si Chengxingli suddenly extended an invitation, catching Mu Xiaoxiao off guard.

"what?"

“I don’t think you’re Japanese, so you probably haven’t eaten bento boxes much, which is why I’m letting you try one,” Si Cheng Xingli said calmly in the face of Mu Xiaoxiao’s surprised and uncertain gaze. Mu Xiaoxiao even wondered if she was making a big fuss over nothing, since it was just a bento box to try.

“Yes, then I’ll try it,” she said, picking up the pink bento box that Chizuka had placed aside, much to the bewilderment of Shiki Anri.

Sicheng Xingli: "..."

"What's wrong? Why are you staring at me?"

“…It’s nothing,” Si Chengxingli said, picking up a sausage with her chopsticks and biting it hard.

She hated it so much! Mu Xiaoxiao shook her head, what grudge or hatred could it be?

Opening Chizuka's bento box, there were several seaweed rice balls, fried shrimp, and egg rolls inside. It looked quite plentiful, and both the dishes and the taste seemed good. When Mu Xiaoxiao thought about how it was made by Tsubaki, she suddenly realized.

The dishes made with toon leaves are getting better and better these days.

However, before he could even begin to taste it, a pair of chopsticks holding a sausage was reached out and placed in front of Mu Xiaoxiao. "???"

He turned his head blankly to meet Si Chengxingli's calm face.

"Sicheng, what's going on...?"

"Our relationship doesn't seem to be that good, does it?" Her eyes conveyed this meaning. Whether the silver-haired girl understood or not, she calmly placed the sausage in Mu Xiaoxiao's bowl. "Exchange."

"I'd also like to try the bento box made by Ms. Rurikawa."

"..."

"Those fried shrimp look good."

"Okay, I understand," Mu Xiaoxiao subtly picked up a fried shrimp and handed it to Si Chengxingli, but Si Chengxingli didn't move. She was still staring straight at him, making Mu Xiaoxiao's scalp tingle. She had no choice but to eat the sausage that Si Chengxingli had brought her.

Sicheng Xingli then looked away, opened her pink cherry lips, and took a small bite of the fried shrimp in a very reserved and ladylike manner.

The taste... is very good.

Just as she was about to ask Mu Xiaoxiao how her lunch was, she looked up and saw Mu Xiaoxiao's wide-eyed, round face, which was inexplicably funny. Si Cheng Xingli was stunned and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I...no...this...is delicious!"

He exclaimed, "Was this made by the professional chef at Xingfu Temple? Or by your mother? It tastes so good!"

Si Chengxingli smiled, trying hard to suppress her smugness, "I made this."

Mu Xiaoxiao was indeed shocked again. "To be honest... I usually eat the food cooked by Chun. You know she used to be a young lady from a wealthy family and wasn't very good at cooking. She's gotten better and better at it, but she's still not as good as you."

"Thanks……"

Sicheng Xingli handed over her lunchbox, "Want some more?"

"I won't be polite," Mu Xiaoxiao said, reaching out with her chopsticks to quickly grab a few pieces of fried chicken from her box and stuffing them into her mouth. "Delicious, delicious."

Sicheng Xingli's smile grew wider, and she moved closer to Mu Xiaoxiao in a good mood, the two almost touching. "I want to eat yours too—Miss Liulichuan's cooking is also very good."

She picked up a piece of rice ball, and Mu Xiaoxiao hesitated, wanting to say something but holding back. I already bit into that rice ball... Did she not see it, or was she doing it on purpose?

Sakishige Anri's attitude suddenly changed drastically, and ordinary friends wouldn't be this close, right? Could it be because of yesterday's incident? But even if there was a hero saving the damsel in distress yesterday, Sakishige Anri also has someone she likes. Aren't she and Kofukuji Takashi childhood friends?

Mu Xiaoxiao was puzzled.

"what happened?"

Sakishige Anri noticed that he was lost in thought and asked him what was wrong.

"No..." Mu Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, then reached into her lunchbox with her chopsticks again, but this time she didn't look for the meat. Instead, she picked up a small tomato. The tomato was bright red and very cute, but there was a small chip on it, which was the mark left by Si Chengxingli.

She ate about half of the tomato.

Mu Xiaoxiao deliberately picked it up and stared at the girl. The latter trembled and then remained motionless with her head down, neither refusing nor objecting, as if she were petrified. Si Chengxingli only made a move after the boy took the tomato away.

He continued to eat the rice ball in small bites, but his cheeks grew hotter and hotter.

Sure enough... This girl is usually cold and aloof to others at school, but now she's acting like a shy little girl. I guess I'm just too charming. Mu Xiaoxiao sighed, "I really didn't mean to provoke Si Cheng."

The atmosphere suddenly changed, and a faint air of ambiguity lingered between the two.

"Um, if you like it, I'll do it next time..."

Shiki Anri was about to say that she would bring her a lunchbox, but her words were interrupted by a deafening scream.

"ah----!!"

"What are you doing, Xiaoxiao?!" Chizuki Nishiki, who was carrying a bowl of ramen, was stunned. "Didn't you dislike bento boxes? Didn't you say you wanted ramen? I went to buy you ramen, how did you eat all my bento box?!"

The girl stormed up to Mu Xiaoxiao and complained.

She hadn't noticed the ambiguous distance between the boy she liked and her best friend. Nishiki Chizuki said resentfully, "Xiaoxiao, you're so mean~ I even bought you milk and drinks."

"I ate it all without even realizing it, Chizuka, I'm so sorry," Mu Xiaoxiao said, clasping her hands together sheepishly. "In exchange, you can have some ramen~"

“But this was bought for you,” Chizuka said, sitting down next to him. “I should have known better than to go.”

“That bento box isn’t enough for us, and… I’m not full either,” Mu Xiaoxiao rubbed her stomach and then wrapped her arm around Jinmu Qianshu’s slender waist. “Qianshu, how about we eat together?”

"Okay, okay, but you have to feed me."

"...There are still people here."

"So what? Anri knows about our relationship anyway."

Anri Saki felt like a third wheel. She was sitting on the other side of Mu Xiaoxiao and watched as Mu Jun picked up the ramen and fed it to Chizuka. Suddenly, a sour feeling welled up in her heart, and the rice ball in front of her lost its flavor. Although she had just exchanged lunches with Mu Jun and there was a somewhat ambiguous atmosphere between them.

But compared to the coquettish Chizuka, she felt nothing at all.

She... wanted that too, wanted to be as spoiled as Chizuka, to be gently pampered like her, to be held in someone's arms... The image in her mind gradually became clearer, not the childhood friend she once liked, but... but the image of the boy beside her?!

Si Chengxingli almost lost her grip on the chopsticks, her heart pounded and her pupils dilated, and the food in the lunchbox even flew out of her hand. Mu Xiaoxiao blinked as she looked at the overturned lunchbox and the silent, silver-haired beauty with her head down.

"Xingli?"

Chizuka stared at her in equal surprise.

Mu Xiaoxiao's eyes darted around as she handed over the ramen. "Sicheng, would you like some?"

“…Hmm,” Shiki Anri did not refuse, which made Nishiki Chizuka’s eyes widen.

The platinum-blonde girl sat next to Mu Xiaoxiao, watching as he used the chopsticks he had used to pick up a ramen noodle and place it near Sicheng Xingli's mouth. Instead of getting angry and refusing, the latter blushed unnaturally, avoided eye contact, and finally slowly opened her cherry lips, completely unconcerned about touching the chopsticks Mu Xiaoxiao had used.

Slurp the ramen into your mouth.

This intimate and ambiguous behavior is clearly abnormal.

"No, you guys...when did you become so close?!"

Chizuka cupped her face in her hands and asked in surprise.

Chapter 150 Was He Taken Advantage Of?

Such an indirect kiss, such an ambiguous gesture... ordinary friends wouldn't do that, which is enough to show that Anri and Koko's relationship is not ordinary. Basically, only lovers would do this.

Moreover, Chizuka knows that Anri has a rather arrogant personality, and she also has someone she likes... So when exactly did she and Koko become so close?

Could it be because of what happened yesterday? Chizuka finally realized that her good friend's attitude towards Xiaoxiao... had an unusual feel to it. Anri wasn't the kind of person who was weak, so why was she acting so awkward and hesitant next to Mu Xiaoxiao?

They're standing way too close!

You two… Nishiki Chizuka’s big, piercing eyes stared intently at Mu Xiaoxiao, who shrugged and continued feeding Xingli. However, she probably couldn’t stand her best friend’s gaze and looked away, saying, “I can do it myself.”

It's too late to refuse now!

and……

"Xingli, you're still using tiny chopsticks."

Nishiki Chizuku reminded him in a low, somber tone.

Sicheng Xingli: "..."

"No, these are your chopsticks, Chizuka. I just used them temporarily," Mu Xiaoxiao said earnestly, trying to be argumentative.

!!!

Qian Shu angrily twisted his waist.

Sicheng Xingli chuckled, "Mu-kun is right, Qian Shu, these are clearly your chopsticks."

“Anri, you’ve changed,” Nishiki Chizuki said, a hint of resentment in her eyes. “I treated you like a good friend, and you actually laid a hand on my lover!”

"No, no," Sicheng Xingli explained shyly, "Mu Jun and I don't have that kind of relationship, it's not what you think."

It's just a bit ambiguous.

"Really? But I've never seen you so close to any boy, not even Kofukuji-kun—" Nishiki Chizuka said suspiciously.

“…Because Mu-kun saved me yesterday, that’s why I…thanked him,” Si Cheng Xingli frowned, probably because mentioning Kofukuji Takaya made her a little unhappy. “As for Takaya, we’re just ordinary childhood friends, nothing more.”

"Humph."

Chizuki Nishiki wanted to ask more, but Mu Xiaoxiao grabbed her shoulder and neck, "Do you want to go out and play after school? The three of us can go for a walk in the streets together. Chizuki, you probably don't go out to play with your friends very often, right?"

“Okay, okay,” Nishiki Chizuka, as Lycoris’s agent, hadn’t really gone shopping with friends like a normal girl, nodding repeatedly. “Just the two of us? Aren’t we going to invite Tsubaki and the others?”

"No need, I'll accompany you this time. After all, you rarely experience this kind of life, Chizuka."