I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

"Okay, I'll call and ask later."

Mizuhara Chizuru shrugged helplessly and followed her into the lively living room as if she knew the place well.

As for what happened after the hot pot party, nobody knows.

(Extra. End)

Chapter 82 Sky Temple, I Choose You!

For students of Soubu High School, the end of October is the prelude to the cultural festival.

Every day during class meetings, we discuss the theme of the class's cultural festival, assign tasks to each person, and work diligently to prepare various materials.

After all, there is only one month. In the meantime, some people will be busy with the election of the student council president, practice for club competitions, and so on. If they do not discuss their schedules and allocate their work properly, they may end up in the tragic situation of only being able to produce half-finished products by the time of the cultural festival.

Of course, if the project isn't too complicated, it's fine to take it easy—for example, traditional themes like cafes or theatrical performances are much easier to prepare than projects like haunted houses that require a lot of props and equipment.

"So you've decided to go into theater? Next is choosing people to handle the script, characters, and props..."

After erasing the other options on the blackboard, the young, beautiful, and invincible older female teacher frowned and pondered for a long time before writing a line of large characters next to it.

"None of that matters. Let's decide on the executive committee members first!"

"Eh—" A chorus of groans immediately erupted from the audience.

Hiratsuka Shizuka pretended not to hear, waved her hand, and shouted with high spirits, "One for each man and woman, first come, first served, raise your hand if you want one!"

"..."

The wailing immediately ceased, as if the world had suddenly fallen silent.

Everyone kept quiet, some playing with their nails, others simply lying on the table; not one of them was willing to meet Hiratsuka-sensei's patient and encouraging gaze.

The silence lasted for a moment, then the expression on Hiratsuka Shizuka's face slowly disappeared. Finally, she clicked her tongue in annoyance and slammed her hand on the podium.

"You bunch of little brats, you really do this every year! I know being an executive committee member is a tough job, but isn't anyone willing to show some self-sacrifice and bring a cultural festival full of laughter and memories to our dear classmates?"

The audience remained silent; no one was willing to answer, as no one wanted to sacrifice their own busyness for someone else's leisure.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was not surprised by this, and continued to glare at the boys and girls who were looking away guiltily: "Is there no one here? Those who are absent, raise your hands. It's a fixed plot that those who are absent take on the most important positions, right?"

"..."

—If those who didn't come can still raise their hands, then let's just skip the play and open a haunted house instead.

Many people wanted to complain right away, but just before they opened their mouths, they felt a strange, expectant gaze fixed on them—and immediately realized that the teacher on stage was waiting for someone to complain about her, and the first person to speak would be dragged down by her.

Shizuka Hiratsuka, a master angler.

To avoid encountering an even more troublesome situation, the students kept their mouths shut even tighter. It seemed as if even breathing was being held back in Class F, creating a deathly silence so profound that you could hear a pin drop.

“…Fine, you win.” Hiratsuka Shizuka sighed as if giving up, scratching her head. “So I’ll just pick one at random? You’d better start praying now that you’re not unlucky enough to be chosen by me.”

Even the teacher himself said he was unlucky... And is it really okay to be so casual?

Silently muttering a complaint, the students felt uneasy as they watched Hiratsuka Shizuka's gaze sweep across the audience, finally settling on a quiet, handsome young man in the front row, whom she pointed at from afar.

"Sky Temple, it's you I choose!"

"Sorry, I refuse." As if she had expected it, Yuuko Tenkuji replied instantly.

Hiratsuka Shizuka frowned: "Is it because you haven't captured any balls? You wait here, I'll go buy a Master Ball right now."

"Teacher, could you please cut down on the jokes during class?" Yuu Tenkuji sighed helplessly, closed his book, and accepted the scrutinizing gazes from all around him with an unchanged expression.

"I am sorry that I am not qualified for this important task. Please let other more capable students take over this position."

"What's the reason?" Hiratsuka Shizuka crossed her arms, not about to let him off so easily.

Yuu Tenkuji adjusted his non-existent glasses and answered with an air of seriousness, "In order to maintain my position as number one in the grade, I must concentrate on my studies. The executive committee members will only slow down my learning."

"...I see."

Hiratsuka Shizuka was completely speechless, and the other students didn't feel that anything was unfair—after all, those who excelled in their studies always had some privileges.

Not to mention, he was a strongman who defeated Yukino Yukinoshita from Class J, successfully secured the top spot for Class F, and shone brightly at the Autumn Showcase.

Besides the various gossip and rumors, and the recognition of his sports prodigy, Tenkuji Yu was also labeled as a "hard-working academic genius" after being singled out by the principal to praise his grades at a certain morning assembly. It's perfectly normal for such a big shot not to want to listen to the teacher, and his reasons are so legitimate that even if they have some complaints in their hearts, no one dares to say them out loud.

"Then let's find someone else..."

Left with no other choice, Hiratsuka Shizuka had to randomly pick a boy and shift the responsibility onto him.

After the boys were chosen, it was the girls' turn—they chose someone whom Yuu Tenkuji didn't remember much. And so, the class representative for the cultural festival of Class F was decided in an unremarkable way.

Today's class meeting has come to an end. After Ms. Hiratsuka left, the classroom was filled with noise again, mostly about the cultural festival.

"Yuu, I thought you'd agree to be an executive committee member." Yui strolled leisurely to the table, her slender, pale arm resting on it. She pouted with a regretful expression. "If I volunteered to be a female executive committee member again, we could work together..."

After putting the books into the drawer, Yuu Tenkuji casually replied, "Hiratsuka-sensei already said it's a tough job, why would I want to go and do it?"

"But this shouldn't be a big deal for Xiaoyou, right? You're not going to participate in the kendo club competition or the student council president election, and you seem to have a very relaxed attitude towards your studies. There's no need for you to work so hard..."

"To put it simply, I want to slack off." Yuu Tenkuji said crisply, shutting her up with one sentence. "It's not that the stronger your abilities, the more responsibility you have to take on, Yui."

"Well……"

As she took out her phone, Tenkuji Yu glanced at her, her tone slightly amused: "Or are you willing to see me so bothered by all those trivial matters that I can't calm down?"

After he said that, Yui Yuigahama finally let go of her little thoughts, her face flattened on the table like a dumpling, and she sighed heavily.

“You’re right… Even if we’re not executive committee members, we still have the opportunity to work together at the cultural festival! There’s no need to make things difficult for ourselves.”

Tenkuji Yu didn't understand how insistent she was on this matter, but she didn't press the matter. She simply turned on her phone screen and, after seeing a message from Natsukawa Masuzu, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"It seems that Yukinoshita has been selected as an executive member of Class J."

"Eh? Xiaoxue?"

Yui Yuigahama blinked in surprise and leaned closer to see the message, but was cleverly blocked by Yuu Tenkuji.

"Yes, it's said that someone jokingly nominated her, and the whole class started teasing her, so she had no choice but to accept the task."

"Those people are so mean, they don't even consider Xiaoxue's feelings..."

Yui Yuigahama muttered, but her eyes were fixed on his phone like a puppy that had found a bone, as if she cared a lot about the message records that he was deliberately avoiding and wanted to find out what was going on.

Of course, Tenkuji Yu wouldn't let her, or anyone else, see those "real, revealing pajamas photos" that Natsukawa Masuzu had deliberately sent him last night to tease him. After replying to the message, he immediately put his phone away.

"We shouldn't need to worry about her affairs. Let's think about which position you want to be in charge of first... If our class wants to put on a musical, we need people for sound control, scriptwriting, costume and prop making, and most importantly, the actors. Are you interested in any of these roles?"

"Of course it's acting!" As expected, Yuihama Dango's attention was easily drawn.

With her eyes shining, she said, "Although the script hasn't been decided yet, I've always wanted to try it out and experience what it's like to perform on stage!"

"Xiao You should be one too, right? In charge of the acting part."

Chapter 83 The Assassin Queen has already been touched...

Meeting her expectant gaze, Tenkuji Yu shook her head.

"I'd rather not go on stage; I want to work behind the scenes."

"Huh? Why?" Yui Yuigahama's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Isn't Yui's acting skill something that even the TV station admires?"

Tenkuji Yu patted her on the shoulder and said with feigned world-weariness, "In order to give you young people who love performing some opportunities, I will no longer be making a comeback."

"Uh... okay." Yui Yuigahama frowned in frustration, then sighed in disappointment, her face puffing up on the table like a dumpling. "I'll see how everyone wants to divide things up then... Sigh, I was thinking that if Yui and I became the male and female leads and acted together on stage, Natsukawa would be so envious... What a pity."

"You actually had such a bad idea? I didn't expect you to be like this, Yui." Tenkuji Yu chuckled and flicked her forehead. "Don't blame me for not warning you beforehand, if something like this really happens, Masuzu will definitely be so jealous that she'll be showing off her love to me in front of you every day... Are you sure you want to hurt each other like this?"

Yui Yuigahama imagined it for a moment, then her face turned ashen as she hugged her arms tightly, her slender shoulders trembling slightly.

No matter what method she used to show off her affection, it's easy to imagine that my fragile girlish heart will definitely suffer a lot of damage!

"Xiaoyou, we're good friends, you wouldn't let her do this, would you?"

"That's hard to say." Tenkuji Yu shrugged and laughed. "That guy is my 'girlfriend'... I can't possibly be biased towards you and go against her, can I?"

"..."

Yui Yuigahama stared blankly at the smile on his face, suddenly unable to say the words, "She's just a pretend girlfriend."

As if she had already confirmed something, she bit her lip lightly, her eyes lowering sadly for half a second.

When she looked up at him again, a faint smile still lingered on her lips, and she casually steered the conversation elsewhere.

"Never mind that, Yuu, do you know what's been happening in the kendo club lately...?"

△

Time flies, and the day's classes are coming to an end.

As the school bell rang, Yuu Tenkuji, unusually, went to the Service Club with Yui Yuigahama.

He doesn't spend every day with Natsukawa Masami. When they have their own things to do, or when he needs to go to "Angel Cafe" for a quick look, the two of them will temporarily separate. Then recently, in order to help her cook porridge, they meet up again at the luxury apartment.

Of course, whenever she had a spare moment, Natsukawa Masuzu would send him all sorts of annoying messages, as if she was afraid he would forget about her while he was out having fun.

"Watch out, the 'Killer Queen' has already touched Dango-chan's breasts. If you dare to lay a hand on her, your... well, you'll explode perfectly into a once-in-a-lifetime, dazzling firework."

"Why did ○○ explode when it was ○○ that was attacked?"

"I used the Insect Arrow, a new feature specifically developed for cheating men."

"Let's look at a practical question: what if it doesn't explode?"

"Then I'll go over and manually blow up your ○○ and ○○."

"The number of parts that will turn into fireworks has increased..."

Sometimes, Yuu Tenkuji admired himself for being able to keep up with her nonsensical and whimsical rhythm. No wonder she always said such nonsense.

After all, the feeling that you and I both know what the other is talking about, can quickly understand any joke, and can easily chat together will always make people unconsciously become talkative and cherish the person they can talk to more and more.

I put my phone away; the entrance to the Service Department was already in front of me.

Yui Yuigahama opened the door, and as sunlight streamed in through the window, the black-haired girl sat quietly and serenely in the cool autumn breeze, engrossed in reading a book.

"Little Snow, ya hello!"

Unwittingly disrupting the serene and beautiful scene, Yui Yuigahama greeted them familiarly and walked over with her schoolbag.

"Good afternoon, Yuihama-san."