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

"Idiot, it's just an apology, let's go."

Kazusa walked out the door first, while the cashier smiled and half-jokingly said, "Your girlfriend is really something else."

"Well, she is... never mind."

Himekoji didn't give a clear response, but quickly chased after him. Kazusa took the handbag and gestured for Himekoji to get in the car. After Himekoji got in, Kazusa also got in, wrapped her right arm around his waist, and held the handbag in her left hand, saying coldly, "Aren't you going to leave yet?"

"Buzz, buzz, buzz—"

The phone started vibrating. Himeko apologized and took out her phone to check. It was a call from Kasumigaoka.

"It's me, what's wrong?"

"Inspiration Guy, I've called you more than twenty times already, what are you doing? Your phone is always switched off?"

"My phone broke, and I just bought a new one. But you, why are you contacting me so urgently? Did something terrible happen?"

Kazusa listened silently from behind Himekoji, gently stroking her hair without saying a word.

"Oh, I see... I'm sorry, it's nothing really, it's just that the deadline is approaching and I've been feeling a bit irritable lately. I wanted to hear Inspiration-kun's voice again." Kasumigaoka's tone softened, and after a few seconds of silence, she said, "I'm basically satisfied now, Inspiration-kun, thank you."

"Oh... I didn't do anything that would make you thank me again. I'm sorry that I made Shiyu worry. I'm fine."

"Well then, goodbye, I'm going to write my manuscript now."

"Goodbye."

Ji Xiaolu hung up the phone, put it back in his pocket, and started riding his bike. He didn't say a word to Saya, but she tightened her grip on his arm.

Chapter 054 There's potential! [Himekoji Daphne] has completed the painting.

The sea breeze, carrying an intoxicating scent, caressed the two people on the bicycle. Kazusa, her head resting on Himekoji's back, could clearly hear his steady heartbeat. Himekoji slowed down as well. After a long while, Kazusa whispered, "Himekoji, would you...cough cough...go dating that Kasumigaoka guy?"

"Huh? What happened between Shiyu and me?"

"It's nothing, forget about it." Kazusa tightened her grip on Himekoji's waist, pressed herself against his back, and closed her eyes, saying, "Ride a little slower."

"I'm actually quite happy."

"What's making you happy?"

"Because at least Kazusa has started calling me by my surname again."

"Idiot, you're happy about something so trivial? We used to call each other by our first names, but... that's all in the past."

“I’ve always called Kazusa Kazusa.”

"You shameless person insists on calling me that, I can't exactly sew your mouth shut with a needle and thread, can I?"

"Are you angry? How about I call you Touma from now on?"

"Idiot, how would anyone know if you were calling me or that other woman who's also called 'Touma'?"

Kazusa's tone was full of reproach.

"Okay, then I'll just keep calling you Kazusa without any shame from now on."

"It's good that you have the self-awareness to be shameless," Kazusa chuckled, then paused for a long time before asking, "Himekoji, aren't you going home tonight? My cold is almost gone."

"I'll go home when you stop cursing me."

"Then you probably won't be able to go home tonight."

Kazusa's lips curled into a sly smile, a hint of triumph in her calculations, before she silently closed her eyes.

"It's almost eight o'clock now, and it's getting a bit cold."

"It's okay, let's take a longer route."

"Your cold might get worse, and I don't want that."

“Anyway, it’s not you who has a cold,” Kazusa said, pointing to a streetlamp in the distance that was casting a dim yellow light. “Let’s at least get there first.”

Himeko stayed at Kazusa's house for one night. It had been a long time since she had slept in Kazusa's bed, but neither of them felt awkward. The next morning, after Himeko helped Kazusa eat breakfast, her mother was already impatiently urging someone to come and pick her up. Even if she wanted to stay a little longer, she couldn't.

"Welcome home, my Haruto~"

His mother, dressed in her finest attire, was already waiting for Ji Xiaolu at the door. As soon as he entered, she gave him a full hug as usual and kissed him twice on the cheek. For Daphne, who was much shorter than Ji Xiaolu, it was just right for her to stand above Ji Xiaolu and Ji Xiaolu below her to hug and kiss him.

"I'm back, Mother."

After changing her shoes, Ji Xiaolu bent down and lifted her up in a princess carry, one hand under her mother's knees. Her mother wasn't embarrassed at all, giggling the whole time, and reached out to stroke Ji Xiaolu's hair, which was the same color as hers, her eyes full of doting affection.

"Haruto, my hair is so heavy..."

"If it's too long, why not just cut it shorter? It really is too long now. Didn't that brat from the Shibata family who came over before secretly call you 'Rapunzel'?"

"Too bad I'm not a royal princess, hmm, a princess of the dark world?"

"Well, whatever you like is fine. If you find it inconvenient, you can cut it shorter."

"But Haruto, don't you like him?"

"Won't this cause you trouble, Mother?"

Ji Xiaolu carried her to the study and gently placed her on the sofa.

"I'm not cutting it." She smiled, then suddenly pouted, crossed her arms in dissatisfaction, and said, "Hmph, I called Haruto several times yesterday, but I couldn't get through! Tell me the truth, what exactly are you doing with Kazusa?"

"I'm sorry, but I didn't do anything with Kazusa. She just made me play the piano for several hours straight. Before that, she accidentally broke my phone, so I had to buy a new one last night."

Himeko took out her own ○Star S9+ and handed it to her. She tapped it with her finger, then tapped it again. After seeing the screen light up, she blinked and asked, "How do I use this?"

"...Never mind, I forgot that you know nothing about mechanics, Mother."

"She hadn't left the house much in the more than ten years before she married into the family... and there weren't many modern items in the house."

"Okay, okay, it's my fault for not considering your problem. Kazusa bought the phone. I was going to pay for it, but she paid for it instead. Well, she said it was her way of apologizing."

"Really? That's alright then, after all, Kazusa is... never mind, did you practice any instruments today? Including the piano, go practice any five instruments for an hour each, and then have lunch."

The mother said these terrifying words with a smile.

"Yes..."

Ji Xiaolu slumped her shoulders and slowly walked towards her room.

"Oh, right, your dad came back yesterday afternoon." The mother jumped down from the sofa and hopped onto Himekoji's shoulder. "Naoto said he wants to build a basement like Kazusa's house, and also put a video game room next to it... And Naoto said he wants to invite friends over to play sometime."

"Well... it's been a long time since any of my friends have come over, except for Kazusa."

Ji Xiaolu scratched her soft white hair, carried her lazy mother on her back to the hall, and then her mother let Ji Xiaolu put her down and ordered her to practice her musical instrument.

What this anxious mother always regretted was that Ji Xiaolu simply didn't have time to learn to paint, otherwise she would have taught her everything she knew.

A few hours later, Himekoji, who was preparing to play the violin, heard a knock on the door.

"who is it?"

"It's me!"

Only her mother could answer like that. Ji Xiaolu ran over and opened the door. She saw her mother, dressed in a lace dress, holding a large box wrapped in mahogany. The box was about 60-70 centimeters long and 50 centimeters wide. Her mother walked in with a smile and put the box into Ji Xiaolu's hands.

"Could this be...?"

"Oh, right, it's the drawing I made for Kazusa. I was in a rush, so I didn't finish the background, I only drew the person and the sofa. I finished the background later, but I forgot to give it to her." Mom walked over to the piano, closed her eyes, and easily improvised a short piece. As she played, she said, "Could you give it to her for me on Monday?"

"Huh? It wouldn't be appropriate to give this painting to her at school..."

"This painting is clearly full of artistic charm! But Haruto insists on looking at it with that kind of eye!"

The melody her mother played became faster and more intense, and her amber eyes snapped open, staring at her.

Chapter 055 Hehehe, I got my hands on [Touma Kazusa]'s nude painting!

"No... because of your influence, Mom, I personally won't look at things with prejudice. But the problem is that there are too many annoying boys in the school. If something happens, Kazusa will hate us to death."

Every few steps you take in the walls of Himekoji's house, you'll find paintings created by her mother, as well as those that are barely visible. Most of them are based on the maids who work there, and a small number are self-portraits of her mother and imaginary paintings. However, there are only two places where her mother's self-portraits are: the first is in her and her father's room, and the second is in Himekoji's room. Himekoji usually covers two of them with brocade, but his mother absolutely forbids him from taking them down.

“That’s true,” she said, slowing down her playing again and pouting slightly. “We should definitely have it delivered to her house.”

"That's fine too."

"Aren't you going to take a look before that? This is my latest work, I brought it here especially for you to see."

"...Kazusa will probably beat me to death."

"It's alright, it's alright, she'll understand." The mother winked at Ji Xiaolu, then nodded and said, "What are you waiting for? Take it out and look at it. I'm waiting for you to praise me."

"Ok."

Ji Xiaolu calmed herself down and opened the wooden box. It was a box that needed to be opened sideways, similar to a book. The canvas was neatly framed inside. After opening it, the surface was covered with a layer of spotless glass. Ji Xiaolu turned the box ninety degrees and grabbed it by both sides.

Stripped bare by her mother and draped only in a thin, plain veil, she indifferently strolled on the antique-style sofa, one hand supporting her head while the other casually tousled her hair. Her fair skin and curvaceous figure were fully revealed to Ji Xiaolu. Her straight, slender legs were no exaggeration to be described as being in perfect proportion. Following her small, adorable toes upwards to her chest, her perfect figure resembled a violin, or rather, not just any violin, but one as beautiful as the exquisite "Stradivarius" piece that Ji Xiaolu had just been preparing to play.

Finally, her shy, rosy face and slightly resentful eyes seemed to be under some kind of spell cast by a soul-summoning messenger, making Himekoji unable to resist watching her.

As for the background, the mother placed Kazusa's sofa on a clear glacier, with snowflakes flying everywhere. The glacier also reflected part of Kazusa and the sofa, making it look like a dream.

"That's awesome..."

Ji Xiaolu exclaimed in sincere admiration.

"See? I knew it." The mother puffed out her cheeks, freed one hand, pointed there, and said, "Come on, give me a kiss."

"Okay~" Ji Xiaolu leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She smiled happily, took the wooden box, and slowly covered it, saying, "Then, I'll ask Lingzi to deliver it to her."

"I'll go find Miss Reiko; it'll be a good opportunity for me to rest a bit."

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you."

So the mother left the painting on Himekoji's bed, clapped her hands, and left.

About forty minutes later, before Ji Xiaolu had finished playing the violin, his phone, which was on the piano, started vibrating. He stopped practicing, grabbed the phone, and found that it was an unknown number calling.

It's from Chiba Prefecture, after all. I'll accept it first.

"Hello, Moshi Moshi?"

"Hello...excuse me, is that Himekoji Haruto over there?"

"Ah, it's me. May I ask who you are?"

"I'm so sorry for calling you so abruptly. I'm Ogiso Setsuna from Class 3-A. Um, there's something I'd like to ask you... is that alright?"