My love index is at its maximum.

"Regretting it now?" Kuriyama Sakura puffed out her chest proudly. "It's too late, Tazaki-san. The club president warned you long ago that no one can resist my charm!"

“Yes, yes, yes, Minister is the cutest,” Tsukasa Tazaki said, looking at her slightly heaving chest. “Even she can be described as cute.”

"...Wh-what?"

Kuriyama Sakura wasn't sure if she had heard clearly.

Noticing that Tsukasa Tazaki was indeed staring at her, her head, still a little dizzy from just waking up, instinctively pressed her temples with her small hands. After a long while, she finally uttered the most murderous declaration she had ever made.

"We've already had our fun, and you still dare to complain? Are you tired of living?!"

"Eh?"

"...Spare me!"

"I'm not complaining!"

"Minister, I was wrong—"

……

Having received a severe scolding, Tsukasa Tazaki left home carrying two large bags of clothes in one hand and holding an umbrella in the other.

The laundromat is hidden in the middle of the shopping street. The storefront is small and inconspicuous among a bunch of shops. There is a blue bicycle parked in front of the store. Tsukasa Tazaki has passed by several times and seen the bicycle, but he never noticed that there was a laundromat.

Push open the door and go inside.

It was the weekend, and it was raining. Three of the four automatic dryers were completely full, with colorful plastic bags hanging on their handles.

There were three women inside, all dressed as housewives, probably family members of the staff. They sat listlessly on the electroplated chairs, gossiping about various things.

When Tsukasa Tazaki went in, they glanced at her curiously a few times.

They immediately turned their attention to the clothes they were washing, and then began to whisper about new gossip.

"What a handsome young man!"

"Hey, when did such an outrageous person arrive in this godforsaken place?"

"I don't know. Does Mrs. Uesugi know?"

"It seems to be a family member of one of Dr. Kobayashi's patients, here to take care of someone."

"I also want to be taken care of by him..."

The woman who said this secretly turned around and sized up Tsukasa Tazaki.

Tsukasa Tazaki smiled as she nodded.

The woman's face flushed instantly, and her heart pounded wildly.

Tazaki put the two bags of clothes in his hands into the washing machine and dryer respectively, inserted coins, and then... realized that he hadn't brought any laundry detergent.

He turned his head away helplessly.

The woman had been quietly observing his every move from behind, her eyes clearly noticing that half of the clothes he brought were expensive-looking women's clothing, and she gave his face a strange look.

When she saw him turn his head away, she hurriedly lowered her head, seemingly lost in thought.

The drying room was filled with a peculiar smell, a mixture of the unique odor of clothes drying and the scent of laundry detergent. The other two ladies were discussing what pattern to knit a sweater. After thinking for a moment, Tsukasa Tazaki went over and borrowed some laundry detergent from them.

The two ladies readily agreed.

With the washing machine and dryer running at the same time, Tsukasa Tazaki breathed a sigh of relief.

He felt a weight lifted from his heart and sat down on a small stool at the shop entrance to relax.

Outside the glass door was a long bench-like wooden platform with several potted plants on it, common varieties that can be found anywhere.

Watching the raindrops falling from the eaves and pattering against the black soil in the basin, Tsukasa Tazaki continued to ponder the question he had just asked.

Which Kuriyama Sakura is better?

The previous one was unique, but hard to approach.

This one has become much softer and cuter, but it also has less of its former charm.

As he pondered, Tsukasa Tazaki's thoughts drifted far away, gradually veerging towards the strange direction of "The Ship of Theseus."

The current minister's lifestyle is incredibly boring.

Perhaps it was her confusion and unease that made her sometimes appear so obedient. Even though she was used to seeing Tsukasa Tazaki as a very close person, she couldn't help but wonder in her heart—was this Sakura Kuriyama still the same Sakura Kuriyama?

To Tazaki Tsukasa, the Kuriyama Sakura he sees now is still a beautiful woman like a rose. In this desolate sanatorium, she continues to cultivate her elegant image, but it is a flat image, lacking three-dimensionality.

Yes, that's right, that's it.

The so-called three-dimensionality is not just about giving people different impressions, but rather a whole formed by the combination of her many intellectual and spiritual strengths as well as certain personality flaws.

In the past, her strengths and weaknesses were written all over her face.

Now...

Aside from occasionally being sarcastic, it seems like she has no flaws.

Moreover, it's hard to say whether being sharp-tongued is a flaw...

As he thought about it, Tsukasa Tazaki couldn't help but smile bitterly, cursing himself inwardly: "You want someone to submit to you, but you also want them to maintain their individuality. What kind of daydream is this, you bastard!"

He stood up, stretched, and went outside to get some fresh air.

As I was leaving, a slender young woman came in carrying a bag of clothes and holding a cat.

A light drizzle continued to fall. Tsukasa Tazaki, holding an umbrella, wandered around the shopping street. On both sides were small supermarkets, barbershops, pastry shops, video rental stores, and the movie theater where he and the minister had been having an affair.

After browsing for more than ten minutes and buying a bunch of unnecessary odds and ends, Tsukasa Tazaki returned to the entrance of the laundromat. Just as he was about to go in, he suddenly noticed something sticking out of the black soil of the potted plant in front of the shop.

I crouched down to take a closer look and saw that it was a snail.

The appearance of snails in late winter and early spring was a new discovery for Tsukasa Tazaki. Until now, he only knew that snails were active from April to September.

Now, when he sees a snail, he can't help but wonder where and what snails are doing in other seasons.

Take out your phone and Google it.

Google's answer indicates that snails in other seasons are either hibernating or preparing for hibernation.

An answer that offers absolutely no surprises.

Tazaki Tsukasa put away his phone and was about to grab his clothes to go home when a thought suddenly struck him.

like……

When he first met Kuriyama Sakura, he used the phrase "a snail without a shell" to describe this lonely and beautiful girl.

At the time, he thought it was a flawed, incomplete beauty. Now, finally seeing a snail, a snail with its shell, he suddenly seemed to have a new understanding.

Imagine a snail without a shell, a sprout, an individual whose flesh is not yet delicious as it grows. With the passage of time, the sprout slowly grows, its flesh gradually becomes more palatable, and the young snail begins to captivate, eventually becoming the picture-perfect creature we see today.

It still doesn't have a shell.

Tazaki Tsukasa previously thought that as long as she stayed still and maintained the same distance, and as long as the light remained unchanged, she would always look the same.

But in reality, from the moment her relationship with herself changed, she herself also changed.

By this time, she had slowly grown out of her shell.

At the same time, they became fuller and firmer, and their bodies also became larger.

No matter how big the snail's shell grows, it still encloses the same soft, shell-less flesh that it used to have. This is a fact that even Amaterasu could not change.

The growth of the shell, rather than concealing her personality, is more accurately described as making her more complete.

He had to go back immediately and tell her about his new insights... Excitedly, Tsukasa Tazaki pushed open the laundromat door, ready to take his clothes home and have a good debate with her.

There were four women in the laundromat at that moment.

The last person to come in, a younger one, was using a lollipop made of catnip to amuse the cat.

Catnip!

Catgirls are cats too, right?

hey-hey……

By using his charm a little, Tsukasa Tazaki successfully obtained a catnip lollipop. He then grabbed two bags of washed and dried clothes and excitedly ran back home.

Chapter 359: When Lishan Cat Girl Meets Catnip

Inside, the stove fire burned bright red, its light reflecting off the mug.

On the sofa, Kuriyama Sakura sat with her legs crossed, one leg propping up her cheek, the other turning the yellowed pages of a book on her lap.

The small speaker on the wall quietly played a cello sonata, with impeccable sound quality.

There was a knock at the door. The minister noticed the noise, looked up from his book, squinted, and saw that it was Tsukasa Tazaki returning with the washed clothes.

Their eyes met, and she smiled faintly, revealing her clean, even teeth in her small lips.

"I'll go upstairs to hang the clothes to dry first," Tsukasa Tazaki said to her. "Wait here for me."

"What are you waiting for me for?"

Tsukasa Tazaki smiled mysteriously: "I have something good for you."

"Mmm," Kuriyama Sakura replied softly.

I went up to the second-floor balcony, hung the dried clothes on the clothes rack, and turned my head to look over the mountains, admiring the distant scenery. When I first came here, the mountains and fields were a barren, brownish-brown landscape, but now they are dotted with some bright green. Many of the early-blooming cherry trees have already shown tiny pink stamens.

After hanging up the clothes, Tsukasa Tazaki found a pretty dress in Sakura Kuriyama's wardrobe and returned to the living room on the first floor.

The girl was still reading.

From the side, her face was not made up, but it was still delicate and fair. On her slender and petite face, wrinkles occasionally gathered between her brows, making her look serious.

He was so engrossed in reading that his eyes hardly ever left the pages.

The book was sealed with unfamiliar Latin letters, which Tsukasa Tazaki couldn't decipher. Judging from her serious expression as she read, it was likely a difficult book, perhaps even a professional one.

Quietly approaching from behind, placing the dress on the sofa, Tsukasa Tazaki put his arm around her shoulder from behind and whispered, "What are you looking at, my dear department head?"

Kuriyama Sakura looked up from the book and then touched her temple with her fingertips: "Balzac's 'The Peasants'."

"Never heard of it..."

"A great French critical realist writer of the 19th century."