I, the mastermind behind the scenes at Soubu High, refuse to be caught in a bloodbath.

"It's alright, Mom. I'm quite used to you pulling my ear..."

God knows how many times Himekoji has been dragged around since he was a child. Sometimes it was because he really did something wrong, and sometimes it was because his mother was in a playful mood and deliberately bullied him. Aren't there those kinds of parents who, when their child asks them why they had them, the parents' answer is: "It was too boring, so we had them for fun."

"Well... in short, it's wrong for a man to hit a woman or for a woman to hit a man in the family. Of course, I'm referring to you after you get married. You can't use violence against your wife... unless your wife is also very good at fighting and you two want to have a sparring match—but that's almost impossible."

As Daphne wiped Himekoji's earlobe, she kept nagging him about married life.

"Of course I know I shouldn't do this, but then again, do I need to move out after I get married?"

"Of course not. You don't think I can't handle my relationship with your wife, do you? Besides, the house is so big. You can choose to dine with us or eat separately. If we don't go out much, I might not see her for a week. As for your father, needless to say..."

Dad finally got a day off today. Although he went out this morning, he just came back. After taking a bath and drinking some beer, he went into the game room he built for himself. It looks like he's going to play all night. By the way, the last time you stayed up all night was with Mom, right?

"Knock Knock-"

"Please come in."

"Sorry about that..."

When Kazusa arrived at Himekoji's room, her eyes were still a little red, but not so swollen anymore. She had touched up her light makeup, and her voice sounded a little nasal, as if she had just been crying. However, Himekoji couldn't figure out why she had been crying.

"Well then, I have something to attend to, so I'll head out now."

Daphne packed up her medical kit and left, winking at Kazusa before she went. Although Himekoji didn't see her expression, Kazusa, who had just finished crying, couldn't help but chuckle. Aunt Daphne looked so mischievous and cute!

"Ah, just a moment."

After Himekoji's mother left, Kazusa, who seemed to want to say something but hesitated, suddenly ran out again when she saw that her hands were empty. A dozen seconds later, she rushed back in. She hid something behind her back so that Himekoji wouldn't see it. She just tiptoed to close the door, beckoned to him, and pointed to the desk.

Himekoji walked to the desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down, placing her hands flat on the table. Kazusa also pulled over a chair from the piano and placed it next to Himekoji. The two sat side by side. Only then did Kazusa take out something she had been hiding on her back. It was a thick hardcover notebook. It looked quite new, but from the side, it seemed to have been filled with many pages.

"This is--?"

"The notebook I copied before... I originally wanted to take it out during lunch today to reminisce with everyone, but you didn't come back in time, so I didn't take it out."

Kazusa opened the notebook to reveal a few neatly written words with a somewhat sharp style: "Every Day Spent with My Beloved Kazusa-nee" — by Haruto Himekoji.

Upon seeing the title, Himekoji immediately understood, while Kazusa turned her head away and said, "Well... thinking about it now, it was truly a shameful time."

"Haha, I think my childhood was quite enjoyable because of Kazusa-nee."

"It's because you've always bullied me..."

"Huh? It's clearly you, Kazusa-nee, who's been bullying me all along!"

"No explanations allowed."

Kazusa closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and nodded her chin upwards, looking quite smug.

"Let me see..." Himekoji opened the richly detailed diary, and couldn't help but chuckle as she flipped through it. The very beginning, where Kazusa was still young, was basically unchanged. But after Kazusa turned six, she made numerous annotations in the margins of Himekoji's diary, mostly saying things like "The reason this happened was..." and only a few places admitted, "Okay, it was indeed my fault."

"What? Still laughing?"

She rested her chin on her hand, not looking at the notebook, but instead focusing her gaze on Himekoji's face.

"No, this... never mind, I might die laughing here if I see your annotated version." Himeko quickly flipped to the first part of the diary, while Kazusa glared at him and said, "Who knows if the things from when I was little were made up? I have almost no memory of what you wrote."

"I think my mother will have a deep impression of it."

"I just can't do anything with you. You've been recording this kind of boring stuff for so many days. Don't you get tired of it? Besides, it's like insisting on saying good morning, good afternoon, and good night to someone every day. No, it's much more tiring than that. So how exactly have you managed to keep it up? I really admire you for that."

Kazusa pulled over the notebook, which she had even made a table of contents for. After flipping through the table of contents, she immediately turned to the date August 8th, XXXX, and pointed to a passage that read, "But every cloud has a silver lining. After that, Yoko-nee kissed me. Women's lipstick is so hard to remove." Her eyes revealed deep suspicion as she said, "So, my mother compensated you with a kiss?"

"That's probably it."

"Could it be that the value of that kiss in your heart is the same as my first kiss?"

"Uh... I didn't—"

"Wow, that's amazing. I don't know whether to say my first kiss was too cheap or that her casual kiss had such high value."

So...

"So, Haruto, you're such an idiot."

"I'm getting dizzy, Kazusa, what are you trying to say after all this beating around the bush?"

"I want to hear the poem you recited for me again," Kazusa said, tears welling up in her eyes as she faced Himekoji's question. She grabbed Himekoji's clothes and rested her head on his shoulder, pleading, "I've always... always wanted to hear it again. I want to, I want to hold onto what I want!"

Chapter 288 Suddenly, [this person] barged in.

"I see... I understand, then—"

With her eyes closed, Himekoji was about to begin reciting the poem again when Kazusa listened quietly, even stopping her sobbing.

However, at that moment, the knocking on the door started again.

Who is it...?

Ji Xiaolu was also a little annoyed by being interrupted like this. His mother, who had just left, shouldn't be so clueless as to come over. Although she seemed a bit silly, that was just her behavior. Her mind was very sharp. Could it be Miss Reiko? Ji Xiaolu was thinking this when a voice that shocked him came from outside the door.

"It's me. Aren't you welcoming me? Or is it—"

Yoko's voice rang out from outside the door. Himeko's face was full of surprise. Yoko was already... Although she wasn't completely unable to move, she still needed to recuperate properly. It couldn't have been just for New Year's Day that she suddenly came over.

"I'll hide..." Sobbing uncontrollably, Kazusa didn't want her mother to see her in this embarrassing state, so she quickly got up and hid in Himekoji's wardrobe. Himekoji replied, "Coming, just a moment."

Opening the door, there stood Yoko, wearing a blue mask. She looked rather haggard and thinner, but her spirits seemed good. Seeing Yoko like this, Himeko felt somewhat speechless. Yoko, contrary to her usual dark attire, wore a beige coat this time, and her handbag was also a light color.

However, since it is still in a relatively early stage, and Yoko is a person who loves beauty, she has not adopted any treatments for hair loss and has been undergoing conservative treatment.

"What are you standing there for? Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Please come in."

Ji Xiaolu felt a little helpless. Why was Yaozi coming? Why didn't she tell her? It seemed like her mother knew? Or was she even keeping it from her mother?

“It’s been so cold lately, I shouldn’t be running around like this.” Yoko sat down on the edge of Himekoji’s bed and let out a sigh of relief. Then she took off her mask, smiled slightly and said, “Don’t look at me like that, okay? Anyway, I meant, Happy New Year.”

Happy New Year... Why did you come so suddenly this time?

“I just didn’t tell you and Kazusa. I wanted to give you a… cough cough—! a little surprise,” Yoko coughed several times, her thin shoulders trembling as she said, “But speaking of which, I thought I heard someone else in the room just now? Where’s Kazusa? Didn’t Daphne say she was in your room too?”

"She—" Ji Xiaolu glanced at the wardrobe, and finally shrugged and said, "She just went out, and I don't know where she went."

"I see..."

Yoko's expression turned slightly strange. Because it was quite hot in the room, she pulled open her coat to make herself feel better, then casually threw her handbag on the bed, lay back, and said, "I told you not to look at me like that. It's not like I'm going to die after today. You're such a spoilsport. Go, play me a couple of songs."

"You're so optimistic."

Himeko wanted to tell Yoko to stop talking about her leukemia, but Kazusa was hiding in the wardrobe. If he mentioned it, Kazusa would know immediately. Yoko had insisted that Himeko keep it a secret from Kazusa, and now that Himeko wasn't saying anything, she felt she was about to be exposed.

He could only pray in his heart that Yoko would stop talking about this topic, and he changed his expression and quickly sat down at the piano to start playing.

Upon hearing the familiar zither music, Yoko stretched her hands towards the sky, humming a tune softly while mimicking playing the zither. Himeko glanced at her a few times but didn't say anything more.

After finishing the piece, Yoko listlessly put down her hands and said, "Where did Kazusa go? Hey, Haruto, call your maid over and ask her. I need to talk to her."

"cough cough..."

Himekoji suddenly started coughing. A troublesome situation had arisen. Kazusa hadn't even left Himekoji's room. Calling the maids would naturally result in the same outcome. Just as Himekoji was thinking about how to instruct the maids, his wardrobe door was slowly pushed open.

"I am here."

After wiping away her tears, Kazusa emerged from the room, picked up the slippers hidden by the bed, put them on, and walked towards her mother, Yoko.

"Huh? I thought you weren't here. Why did you hide in the closet?" Yoko straightened up, smoothed her hair slightly, and asked, "Also, why are you crying? Did Haruto bully you?"

"No..." Kazusa pouted, sat down next to her mother as if in a huff, and hugged her arm, asking, "Don't ask anymore. By the way, why do you look so haggard? What was that 'I'm going to die' thing you just said?"

"Ah...you heard me." Yoko was slightly taken aback, then smiled with relief, but Kazusa immediately turned pale and asked, "What happened? Haruto, you—?"

“Let me tell you,” Yoko said with a forced smile, “I have leukemia.”

"Liar..."

Kazusa's face stiffened, her lips twitching incessantly, and she hesitated several times before finally speaking.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner... Why didn't you rest properly and instead came all the way to Japan? Isn't it warm enough in France? Haruto... does he know?"

"It's not his fault, it's that I asked him to keep it a secret from you, I'm sorry."

Yoko stroked her beloved daughter's hair, which felt almost exactly like her own, and said apologetically.

"But...why—, Mom, you should be perfectly healthy...why is this happening...?"

Kazusa felt she had cried far too many times that day. The tears she had just stopped were now welling up again. She felt that God was being so unfair to her, that she couldn't get anything she wanted.

“I’m not as healthy as you think, I’m so sorry,” Yoko said, holding Kazusa’s cold hand. Her expression, which had been filled with deep sadness, suddenly turned into a barely suppressed laugh, which then immediately broke down. She burst out laughing, “Pfft—” followed by a loud “Hahahahahahaha—, oh dear, I just couldn’t hold it in anymore.” Her laughter left Himekoji and Kazusa completely bewildered.

Yoko laughed so hard she fell backward and rolled around on the bed, making Kazusa immediately give her a →_→ expression and say, "You're perfectly fine, aren't you?"

"No, I was indeed sick..." Yoko barely suppressed a laugh, clutching her stomach and lying down rather unceremoniously as she replied, "I just recently found a suitable match and got their consent. The match was in Japan, so I flew back as soon as possible during the New Year. So, I'm fine now."

Chapter 289 Therefore, [men and women of suitable age] should sleep in the same bed.

"This is wonderful!" Himeko exclaimed sincerely. Kazusa was stunned for a moment, then immediately burst into tears of joy and collapsed onto the bed with Yoko, nudging her several times with her elbow and saying, "You're really going too far!"

Yoko's arrival completely dispelled Kazusa's strange emotions, and the poem she was about to recite was interrupted. Although Himeko felt a little regretful, she was also happy that Yoko was about to recover her health. As the first woman she had ever been intimate with, Himeko had special feelings for Yoko. Yoko was Himeko's teacher, lover, and older sister.

When it was time for dinner, Dad finally came out of the game room and ate with everyone. Dinner was cooked by Yoko and Mom. Although the two of them bickered and called each other idiots in the kitchen, they eventually managed to make a delicious meal together. But then Kazusa's face fell. As soon as they sat down at the table, Yoko started scolding her, "Look at you, you can't even cook. You're nowhere near as good as me."

"Mom, you've only cooked this meal once every year or two, what right do you have to criticize me? I cook noodles for myself every day."

"Hmph, you dare to talk back. It seems the plan to take you to Vienna will have to be postponed."

"Ah—?!" This made Kazusa's face turn pale, but at this moment Daphne nudged Yoko with her elbow and said, "What are you saying? You're just scaring the child."

Kazusa then realized that it was just a joke her mother had played on her. Yoko covered her mouth and laughed heartily, but she soon stopped laughing because the duck named Haruto suddenly grabbed her leg under the table and twisted it, making Yoko yell "Ow!" which startled the duck, causing it to flap its wings and scatter feathers all over the restaurant floor.

"Why did you raise a duck?"

Still shaken, Yoko asked Reiko to take the duck out. The chubby little guy snuggled in Reiko's arms, looking quite content. It was completely different from how he snuggled in his mother's arms, Himeko thought to herself.

"I got a duck because I was so bored. The only problem is that it sometimes poops and poops anywhere, which is a bit of a hassle to clean up."

"Pfft... You really can take it."

Just imagining the scene terrified Yoko, but after all, she lived with Kazusa in Japan, and the two of them were already exhausted from cleaning such a big house, not to mention a duck that poops and peees everywhere... so she decided to pass.

So, are you staying here tonight?

“That makes sense… Let’s stay here,” Yoko suddenly changed the subject, turned to Himekoji, and nudged his leg under the table with her toe, saying, “Will you still insist on sleeping with me?”