My love index is at its maximum.

Tsukasa Tazaki grabbed her ankle and examined it. "How did you get that?"

Kuriyama Sakura turned her face away: "I got scratched in the equipment room. It was too dark, I couldn't see anything."

"I'll give you a quick first treatment. Remember to go to the hospital for a check-up later, so the wound doesn't get infected."

"Ouch...it hurts! Be gentle!"

"Bear with it!"

Tsukasa Tazaki cleaned her wounds on his own, humming a song out of boredom.

Feel your hair fluttering in the wind.

Enjoy the sky after a summer rain.

I'll pick a little flower for you in the garden.

A breeze blew in from the hallway outside the door, causing the chandelier to sway slightly, casting shifting shadows. Her panting, his sung lullaby, floated in the air like dust, clearly visible.

"It's beautiful!" Kuriyama Sakura listened intently for a moment, then rested her chin on her hand and asked, "What song is it?"

“Arrietty’s Song.” Tsukasa Tazaki applied medical gauze to her warm little feet. “The theme song from Arrietty, the Secret World of Arrietty, produced by Studio Ghibli.”

"Studio Ghibli...that studio of Hayao Miyazaki?"

Tsukasa Tazaki looked up at her with a strange expression: "Are you really Japanese?"

Kuriyama Sakura shrugged slightly: "I've never been interested in things that don't interest me."

"That sounds familiar; I think I've said that before."

"Don't try to get close to me, and... how long are you going to keep holding onto my foot?"

"Um... Huh? Sorry..."

Releasing the girl's feet, which she could play with for years, and throwing the gauze back into the medicine box, Tsukasa Tazaki took a sip of water, then lay down on the carpet to do sit-ups, his bangs quickly getting wet with sweat.

I hope those cats come soon, otherwise I won't have time to practice my cooking skills tonight... I seem to be in pretty good shape lately, and my stamina should be up to 5 points by the end of the month.

To be honest, ever since I went to Sakura's house, I've become increasingly lax about stock trading. But I can't really blame myself; it's just that Hoshino-sama's charm is too great, to the point that I simply don't have the mind to pay attention to other stocks.

While his mind was wandering to all sorts of random thoughts, Tsukasa Tazaki skillfully controlled the frequency of his movements.

After a while, I switched from sit-ups to push-ups and continued exercising.

Kuriyama Sakura made herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the low coffee table to eat. Occasionally, she would glance at Tazaki Tsukasa, stirring the coffee, whose sugar had long since dissolved, with a spoon.

"Just now..." She opened a box of Yoshinoya rice bowls and said while eating, "Thank you."

"If you really want to thank me," Tsukasa Tazaki said, sitting up straight and panting, "just explain the matter of that request."

“Sorry, I can’t say that.” Kuriyama Sakura continued stirring her coffee with a spoon.

"I'm not forcing you to tell me, but..."

Tazaki Tsukasa wiped his sweat: "If you had chosen someone else, I would have broken that person's legs and gone myself."

Kuriyama Sakura stared silently at the seam between the panels of the folding coffee table. After thinking for more than ten seconds, she turned to look at him and asked, "You really like Hoshino-sensei?"

"Of course."

How much do you like it?

"I like it so much, even though it's 16.4 light-years away!"

"Truly amazing."

Kuriyama Sakura smiled nervously, picked up her mug, took a sip from her thin lips, then put the mug down, propped her delicate arm on the table, and looked at Tazaki Tsukasa, saying, "For three years in junior high, Hoshino-sensei was my tutor, and that's when we became friends."

Tsukasa Tazaki blinked in surprise: "She's not short of money, so why would she become your tutor?"

“There’s nothing strange about it. Sakura’s family has done many shady things in the past, so of course they need a reliable force to protect them.”

"A reliable force...your family?"

Kuriyama Sakura looked at him with an expression that seemed to say, "You're probably the only one who doesn't know this." "My family has been in politics for generations."

Tazaki Tsukasa clicked his tongue twice and exclaimed, "Japan is truly a feudal society disguised as a modern society!"

"Don't make such pointless remarks." Kuriyama Sakura stuffed a piece of beef jerky into her mouth and said while chewing, "A while ago, President Hoshino introduced a rich young man to Hoshino-sensei. He was the son of the president of the Bank of Tokyo. As a result, she kicked him and broke two of his ribs on their first meeting."

“Hoshino-sensei is indeed very violent.” Tsukasa Tazaki nodded in agreement, saying with a lingering look, “Even I was beaten up by her twice.”

Kuriyama Sakura gave an amused look: "Then why do you like her so much?"

"I'm pretty resilient."

"You wouldn't happen to be an M, would you?"

"Nonsense! How can you describe the playful bickering between lovers with this letter!"

"But you clearly seemed to be enjoying it just now."

"That's not true!"

Kuriyama Sakura covered her mouth and let out a soft laugh.

Tsukasa Tazaki glared at her fiercely. "Go on, what happened next?"

"Wait, I'm laughing so hard I can't breathe." Kuriyama Sakura rested her chin on her hand, flicking her fingers against her delicate, fair skin. "I feel a bit tight in my chest. Tell me a joke."

This woman... is really not cute at all!

Tsukasa Tazaki glanced at her flat chest: "They're too young to understand adult jokes."

Kuriyama Sakura's gaze turned cold: "Thank you for that joke, you expressionless guy!"

Chapter Sixty-Eight: As everyone knows, stories always happen on stormy nights. (The End)

After finishing a box of rice, Kuriyama Sakura took out a six-color ballpoint pen and wrote something on a piece of paper. Then, she interlaced her fingers and raised her hands above her head to relax her joints.

A few wisps of wind blew in from outside the door, gently lifting her ponytail.

Tazaki Tsukasa lowered his head slightly and started doing a simple math problem in his mind.

Altair and Vega are 16.4 light-years apart, and an adult magpie is 46 centimeters long. That means it would take 337295608152880695 magpies to build a bridge connecting the two stars.

Magpie, you've really had a tough time.

“Alright, let’s continue with what we were talking about.” Kuriyama Sakura rested her cheek on her hand and pressed a ballpoint pen to her lips. “Sakura’s family is in the real estate business, which requires a lot of cash. Offending a bank manager will make it much harder to borrow money from the bank.”

Tsukasa Tazaki nodded: "How was it resolved?"

"Accompanied by my father, President Hoshino came to apologize, and that was the end of it." Kuriyama Sakura smiled faintly, her expression amused. "However, to prevent similar troubles from happening again in the future, Hoshino-sensei publicly announced that the person he liked was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old high school student, so that everyone would stop having any improper thoughts."

“That’s not wrong…” Tsukasa Tazaki laughed somewhat narcissistically, “After all, I’m also a fifteen or sixteen-year-old high school student.”

Kuriyama Sakura tilted her head slightly, her gaze seeming to say, "That's enough."

"And then?" Tsukasa Tazaki pressed on.

"Originally, at Hoshino's house, she could say whatever she wanted, and President Hoshino couldn't do anything about it. But unfortunately, the news reached her grandmother's ears back in Kyoto, so her grandmother decided to come to Tokyo on the 16th of next month to see her granddaughter's sugar daddy in person."

"Is President Hoshino's birthday on the 16th of next month?"

“That’s right.” Kuriyama Sakura nodded and continued, “Hoshino-sensei wouldn’t dare to beat her grandmother like she beat her father. It just so happened that I had just started the ATF club at that time, so she asked me to find a reliable person to act for a few days.”

"Please, Kuriyama-san, please choose me since I'm your only member!"

"I'm sorry, Hoshino-sensei is my only friend, and I will definitely uphold the spirit of fairness in this matter. A total of thirty-six people signed up, and after eliminating the thirty-three people I think are unqualified, there are now three people for me to choose from."

"That's precisely why you must choose me—because she's your friend!"

“Hmm…” Kuriyama Sakura twirled the ballpoint pen in her hand and smiled gently: “I also tend to choose you.”

Faced with that irresistibly cute smile, Tsukasa Tazaki found herself less annoying for the first time. In fact, she felt a sense of peace, like the arrival of a Sunday morning.

It's a Sunday with a gentle breeze and bright sunshine, no homework, no worries, and plenty of free time to do what you love.

The sound of high heels clicking on the hard floor came from outside the door—clack, clack. It stopped a few times, the echoes absorbed by the air, and then the surroundings fell into complete silence once more.

Kana Shimamoto poked her head in: "There's some noise next door, come quick!"

The two hurriedly put on their shoes, and, supporting themselves against the damp walls, groped their way forward in the dark until they reached the Literature Department activity room.

Tsukasa Tazaki gripped the spherical handle of the sliding door and pressed his ear against the door panel to listen to the sounds inside.

Two women held his shoulders, one on each side, their soft breaths hitting his neck.

After listening for a while, Tsukasa Tazaki summarized it with one word.

The cat needs a spanking!

With a gentle pull on the doorknob, and a faint creak, all three looked into the room. It was dark inside, and there was a tense atmosphere.

He reached out and fumbled around in the doorway for a few moments, then snapped the light on.

Kuriyama Sakura frowned immediately, while Shimamoto Kana blinked her large eyes, which were coated with light-colored mascara, several times in a row.

"I knew it would turn out like this..."

Tsukasa Tazaki shrugged, his tone utterly helpless.

The room was empty, but the activity room that had just been cleaned up was now a mess again.

Several books with faded covers were scattered on the floor, water cups and cat food were back on the floor, and potted plants with yellow flowers were also pushed to the ground. All four cats looked towards the door from the desk.

A black cat, a tabby cat, a calico cat, and a very large orange cat.

"Pfft..." Shimamoto Kana burst out laughing. She clutched her stomach, leaned on Tazaki Tsukasa's shoulder, and her voluptuous body trembled violently.

Tazaki Tsukasa gently patted her back: "Take it easy, you still have to give me some perks."

"No... Haha, that's too funny." Shimamoto Kana pinched his arm hard, laughing so hard she couldn't stop.

"Sardine!" Kuriyama Sakura said, arms crossed and expressionless, "You come here!"

Seeing that something was wrong, the black cat and the tabby cat jumped out of the window in a flash. The calico cat didn't run away, but just clung to "Sardine," rubbing its rear end repeatedly.

Meow~!

"Sardine" cried out, sounding very aggrieved.

"Come here!" Kuriyama Sakura called out again.

It then limped over to her feet, rubbed its nose against her shoes, and looked up again: "Meow~!"