My love index is at its maximum.

"Hmm... Ikebukuro, or Jiyugaoka, are both fine."

With one hand holding bread, Tsukasa Tazaki reached under the table with the other and grabbed her soft foot, gently pushing it away. He didn't move it… instead, the foot moved even closer, reaching directly to his lower abdomen.

“Just go to crowded places,” said Yui Kichikawa, sipping her red tea. “To pretend to be a couple, the more crowded the place, the easier it is…”

She paused, looking at Kurisu's flushed cheeks: "Mom, why does your face look so strange?"

Tazaki Tsukasa immediately withdrew his restless hand.

"Mmm~ So good." Kurisu's rosy lips parted slightly, uttering a sound that would definitely be misunderstood. Facing her daughter's strange gaze, she blushed slightly and said reproachfully, "The black tea is so delicious, Mom is a little drunk."

?

Yui Kichikawa: "...Mom, are you not feeling well?"

"Yui," Tsukasa Tazaki gently stroked her soft blonde hair, "I'll give you a hat when we get to Ikebukuro."

"I don't know why, but since you're giving it to me, I want it white..."

"No!"

Tsukasa Tazaki interrupted her, saying with pity, "It's green, and it wasn't me who gave it to you; it was your aunt."

It's fortunate that the Japanese didn't know the special meaning of green, otherwise this breakfast might have been fatal.

At the same time, it's fortunate that Tsukasa Tazaki is a morally upright LSP, otherwise the blond guy would have turned green long ago.

After finishing breakfast, the boy and girl left the courtyard and headed towards the main gate of the house.

The drizzle at the end of August was truly wonderful.

The rain, as fine as needles and as soft as cotton, sprinkled on the lawn of the courtyard, slowly being absorbed by the black earth beneath. The air was filled with the scent of damp fallen leaves, and a few dim rays of morning light fell into the corridor, tracing mottled patterns on the wooden floor.

Sachiko Tono got up early and, still wearing the yellow raincoat she wore the night before, tended to the garden. She heard the morning birdsong and turned to see several birds running across the cobblestone path as if they couldn't fly.

Two sets of footsteps approached from afar, and a blonde girl with an umbrella and Tazaki Tsukasa, who was empty-handed, entered the courtyard.

She walked over quickly, a sweet smile on her face.

A youthful aura, incongruous with her age, was emphasized by the curve of her lips.

Qichuan Yui was stunned and exclaimed in surprise, "How come she looks so much younger?"

"Good thing." Tazaki Tsukasa slightly pinched his chin and looked the boss lady up and down for a long time—her face was fair and smooth, and her skin was firm and elastic. Judging from her appearance alone, she was no different from a young girl who had just graduated from university and was about to enter the workplace.

“I have to thank Tazaki-kun for this.” Tono Sachiko stood obediently beside Tazaki Tsukasa, looking at him with a happy expression. “When I looked in the mirror this morning, I couldn’t believe it… After thinking about it, it must be the effect of Tazaki-kun being with me last night.”

The blonde girl stared blankly, her mouth agape, unable to utter a single word.

Doing that kind of thing...

Will it really have such a magical effect?

I want it too.jpg

Sachiko Tono turned her head slightly to look at her, and asked Tsukasa Tazaki curiously, "Is this the girl you kissed at the convenience store last time, Tazaki-kun? Is she your girlfriend now?"

"The next three days are..." Tsukasa Tazaki explained with a smile, "and it's hard to say what will happen after that."

"That won't do!"

With a serious expression, Sachiko Tono adopted the authoritative demeanor of a shop manager: "As a boy, you need to take responsibility. It's wrong to kiss someone and then ignore it!"

Kikawa Yui nodded vigorously in her heart.

That's so true, that's so right. You can't just ignore a kiss after it's happened!

"Okay, okay..." Tsukasa Tazaki's tone was extremely perfunctory.

Sachiko Tono frowned and habitually reached out to pinch his ear: "Listen carefully, what are you doing, ugh..."

Tazaki Tsukasa grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her into his arms. He silenced her with a kiss.

Sikawa Yui: "...?"

The blonde girl's originally fair face instantly turned green.

They kissed already?

Where do you place me?

Should I quietly walk away, or should I bravely stay?

The shop manager, who had been bullied by her employees early in the morning, fled back to her hut in shame and anger. The remaining two left the Kikawa family house and took a walk along the Imperial Palace moat, circling around it before heading towards Yotsuya, intending to take the train from Yotsuya Station to Ikebukuro.

The beech trees on both sides of the road are still lush and leafy, but if you look closely, you can see that many leaves have turned yellow, and the leaf-falling season will arrive soon.

Upon entering Yotsuya Station, the two stood behind the yellow line, waiting for the Marunouchi Line train.

The phone rang; it was a call from Sakura Kuriyama.

As soon as I put the phone to my ear, I heard her ask bluntly, "Are you free today? If not, come with me to the bookstore."

"Something happened."

"what's up?"

"Let's go explore the world at Ikebukuro West Exit Park! And see if we can find the most, most, most adorable headless rider, Miss Celty Sturluson."

There was a full fifteen seconds of silence on the other end of the line, as if the signal had been lost, before Kuriyama Sakura's sigh of exasperation came through: "You're really stupid. Should I send you to Ami Dormitory for a few days?"

(Ami Dormitory: The mental hospital where Naoko, the protagonist of "Norwegian Wood," resides. A sanatorium far from the city, located in a remote, mountainous area.)

Tsukasa Tazaki asked, "Will we be able to run into Toru Watanabe, who's going to visit Naoko?"

“Reiko Ishida has it.”

"Minister, you really see right through things! I love Miss Reiko's wrinkles and her small breasts!"

"Mr. Tazaki, are you planning to take this opportunity to confess your feelings to me?"

"How could that be? You don't have any wrinkles, right?"

“But I also… cough cough” Kuriyama Sakura stopped in time before the trap, and said in a cold voice, “Stop asking these irrelevant questions, what brings you to Ikebukuro?”

Adhering to the basic principle of not lying to her, Tsukasa Tazaki could only bite the bullet and answer, "I'm on a date with Yui Sugawa."

"A date with Yui Kirikawa?"

"Yes……"

"I'm on my way right now, you wait for me at West Exit Park!" Kuriyama Sakura's tone instantly rose several keys, becoming sharp and piercing.

Putting away his phone, Tsukasa Tazaki looked helplessly at Yui Kuriyama: "Kuriyama-san said she's coming."

Qichuan Yui pouted in dissatisfaction: "Why is she, an outsider, meddling in our date?"

"Yes, that's what I said too!"

"Did you say anything?"

"Uh... she died too quickly."

"Now we'll fight back!" Kikawa Yui crossed her arms, her voice as cold as a blizzard sweeping across the Antarctic ice sheet.

Tazaki Tsukasa held his phone, looking conflicted.

"Yoshitani - Yotsuya"

"Passengers transferring, please disembark in an orderly manner."

As the announcement sounded, Yui Kikawa walked expressionlessly towards the carriage, her dazzling blonde hair swaying gracefully in the wind.

The carriage was crowded, with no empty seats. Tsukasa Tazaki stood beside her, grabbing the overhead handle: "Yui..."

He hesitated for a long time, unable to think of anything to say.

Despite both being top beauties, he had endless topics to discuss with Kuriyama Sakura, but when facing Kichikawa Yui, he easily found himself speechless in awkward silence. This unease intensified, especially after he discovered she had begun to like him.

The tram started moving, and the carriage swayed slightly.

Kikawa Yui, who had been keeping her head down and silent, forgot to hold onto the handrail and her body swayed uncontrollably backward.

Tazaki Tsukasa quickly reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling the blonde girl close. Only when they were in this intimate moment did he notice her body trembling slightly, whether from hurt or anger, he couldn't tell.

"...Let go, how long do you want to hold me?"

"Don't release her for now." Tazaki Tsukasa smelled the fragrance of her hair, his gaze passing over several heads, the rain-soaked Tokyo street scene outside the glass window rushing past.

The lights in the cubicles of the commercial building, the faded billboards, the fireworks posters for the summer festival, the busy tea rooms in restaurants; many scenes, like fluttering fragments, kept passing before my eyes.

"Yui," Tsukasa Tazaki looked down at the blonde girl, "I'm sorry."

"Don't say that to me!" Qichuan Wei leaned her forehead against his, gently grabbing his collar: "It's your freedom to do what you want, no one is forcing you."

"Uh, I'm not apologizing for not choosing the second option I prepared for you."

"why?"

"It means deliberately being intimate with other girls in front of you..."

"You deliberately?"

“…I guess so.” Tsukasa Tazaki wrapped his arms around Yui Kikawa’s waist, resting his chin on her head. “I know you want to have me completely and don’t want to share me with others. But I really can’t do that… So, sometimes I just want to make you angry by being intimate with other people, so that you will give up this idea.”

Yui Kichikawa raised her face and asked, "Are you really willing to give me up?"

"Not for now, but it should be possible in the future."

"How to say?"

"To put it simply, you are like a cabbage planted in the yard. I watch you grow from a small cabbage into a beautiful and healthy one, and even if I don't eat it, I will feel genuinely happy. When it's windy and rainy, I worry that something might happen to your health; when I go out to work, I worry that the Chinese neighbor surnamed Wang will climb over the wall and steal you away."

"Why could you abandon me in the future?"

"One day in the future, I will move house, and I won't be able to take the cabbages from the yard with me. From then on, I will never see the cabbages again, and naturally I won't care who ends up taking them."

"Does moving refer to graduating from high school?"

"Yes."

Qichuan Wei sneered, her hands sliding down to his waist: "Given the power and background of the Qichuan family, you'll never be able to get rid of me in your entire life!"

"You're being unreasonable!"

"She'll be bringing a different man in front of you every day!"

"I'm warning you, this will make me very angry!"