I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

Ignoring Tenkuji Yu's sarcastic remark, Natsukawa Masuzu turned her gaze to the three women blocking her way. After scrutinizing them for a few seconds, she lightly tossed a strand of hair over her shoulder and smiled at them with ease:

"I think you all wouldn't just stand by and watch a frail young girl walk home alone at night, would you?"

No matter how they answer, I'm sticking with that person.

—Although it is only a small amount of courage, it is not enough to illuminate the dark and unknown destination ahead.

However, Natsukawa Masuzu was already prepared.

Enlightenment is the process of carving out a path that should be followed in the darkest wilderness.

'As long as I'm not disliked, I can keep going—until he's willing to turn back.'

Natsukawa Masaki smiled easily and took a deep breath of the clear, refreshing air of the winter night.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but a hint of sweetness seemed to appear on my usually bland tongue.

That's right, it's not about humbly waiting for him to favor you.

Instead, in the distant future, he will fall in love with the troublesome and awkward Natsukawa Masuzu again and promise that he will never let her be alone again.

Perhaps this is what an ex-girlfriend should do?

……

Late at night, in a luxury apartment.

The phone screen, illuminating the dark room, was constantly updating with incoming and outgoing messages.

Yui: "Damn it, it's all Ryo's fault! We went home without doing anything! I finally came up with this punishment and reward..."

Xiaoxue: "Ultimately, with Xiaoqiong around, it's basically impossible, right? She'll definitely stop us..."

Yui: "That's true... So what should we do? Should we try tomorrow? Or on the weekend?"

Xiaoxue: "Speaking of which, Yui, I have an idea..."

Xiaoxue: "I'm so sorry, and I'm willing to make it up to you in the future, but I hope you can give me this chance, just this once..."

Yui: "..."

Yui: "You don't need to be so humble, Yuki. We're both his girlfriends, right?"

Yui: "Whether it's you or him, I want to see you both find happiness—so I'll support you!"

Yui: "Xiaoxue, I'm entrusting Xiaoyou to you. Good luck!"

Xiaoxue: "Okay, leave it to me."

Shortly after, the screen light disappeared, and the phone was gently placed on the bedside table in the dark.

The quilt was pulled high, and a soft sigh came from under the covers.

It seemed to carry a hint of unease, but it was quickly replaced by a stern and resolute murmur.

"I will absolutely... change all of this...!"

The clock ticked away, and a cold wind howled outside the window.

△

Even though it was the middle of the night, the phone on the bedside table silently lit up with a message notification.

Yukino: I'm so sorry to send you a message so late. I hope I didn't disturb your sleep.

Yukino: "Tenkuuji-kun, you probably didn't make any reservations for December 24th, right?"

Yukino: "Want to come to my house on Christmas Eve?"

Chapter 174 The Approaching Christmas Eve

At the end of December, the cold morning wind felt like a razor scraping the skin, bringing a chill that stung even the breath.

From the morning onwards, the dome was shrouded in layers of gray clouds. My phone showed "-3℃, snow." However, the eaves and iron railings were covered with glistening frost flowers, but the first snow of the year did not fall, which would have painted the whole city with a beautiful silver-white hue.

However, for one person, it was already destined to snow today—his weather forecasts had never been wrong, the only question was when they would come true.

It rains at 11:59 PM, which is still today, so in a sense, this ability can only remind him to bring an extra umbrella for snow protection; it's not actually very useful.

"Huh, huh..."

After finishing his morning exercise, Tenkuji jogged into his house, puffing out white smoke. His body radiated heat and he looked strong and energetic, like a summer flower blooming in winter, which was quite different from the quiet and sparsely populated street.

The door closed, but he didn't stop. Instead, he went straight up to his sister's room on the second floor.

Thump thump thump, click—

"Qiong, get up! Didn't you say you were going back to school after winter break? You need to start getting used to waking up early from now on!"

"Ugh... So annoying, I know... So hurry up and give me back my blanket! It's so cold!"

"I only said a couple of things to you and you said I was annoying! All I want is for you to have a regular sleep schedule, I see you staying up all night every day..."

"Stop, stop, stop! Don't switch to mommy mode first thing in the morning, okay... I'll be downstairs before you finish making breakfast, just give me five more minutes..."

"Okay, if I don't see you after I finish making breakfast, I'll turn off your heating, take away the blankets, and open the window, understand?"

"Yu is a devil..."

Ignoring her younger sister, who was half-dead and struggling in bed, wrapped in a blanket like a leech, Tenkuji Yu quickly went downstairs, first disinfecting herself with "Refreshing" before stepping into the kitchen, tying on an apron, and starting to make breakfast.

Without deliberately speeding up, he waited until he placed the last plate on the table before his slender, fair-skinned sister rubbed her eyes and climbed onto the chair, muttering something indistinctly.

"Honestly, you can just get used to it when winter break is almost over... If you're in such a rush to adjust your sleep schedule, you'll just waste your time and be lazy again during the break..."

"You're quite self-righteous, aren't you?" Tenkuji Yu smacked her head in annoyance. "I'm already being lenient by not making you come with me for morning exercise. If you dare to complain again, your schedule will be the same as mine after you start school, so you'll know what a healthy student life is like!"

"Hmph, you think I'm afraid?"

Kasugano Sora gave a disdainful sneer, as if she didn't take her older brother seriously, and reached out with her chopsticks to take the fried egg from the plate.

"I'll just stop complaining. If you want me to get up early, I'll cry!"

Then, with the most defiant attitude, he uttered the most cowardly words.

"What a lazy girl..."

Yuu Tenkuji shook his head and sighed helplessly, too lazy to argue with her any longer, and began to eat his breakfast.

—After the cultural festival ended, many complex and memorable things happened.

First, that evening, after Kasugano Sora returned home, she suddenly asked to return to school, saying that she wanted to go to Soubu High School to be a first-year student.

It doesn't matter if it starts from the third semester, since she can easily pass the transfer exam anyway, as long as she can go to school with him after winter break.

This was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Yuu Tenkuji; his shock far outweighed his joy.

After calming down a bit, he suppressed his indescribable emotion and relief. In order not to cry in front of his sister, he smiled and promised her that he would take care of all the procedures so that she could prepare to become a student again.

—It's been about three or four years.

That girl, so fragile as glass, unwilling to step out of her home, has somehow become strong enough to face the pain of the past and take steps towards a world filled with sunshine.

This also means that all the efforts that Yuu Tenkuji has made since childhood have finally been rewarded.

This was the first time he had ever discovered how fragile his tear ducts were. Just because of this small sense of satisfaction, he secretly shed five minutes of silent tears in the bathroom before coming out and returning to his usual tough self.

Then, when it was late at night and everyone was quiet, Yuu Tenkuji moved a small stool and sat alone on the balcony of the room, which was filled with cold wind.

Sipping his ginger ale, he told the moon about the changes in his sister since their parents' death, and about one of his long-cherished wishes that had only now suddenly come true…

He will probably never forget the emotion he felt at that time.

As for why they drank ginger ale...

Whether in her past or present life, Yuu Tenkuji has never had any bad habits, and she only drinks for social occasions. So, if she wants to vent her melancholy but doesn't want to drown her sorrows in alcohol, after thinking it over, it seems that ginger ale is the most suitable drink.

He now looks forward to every day the scene of Kasugano Sora passing the transfer exam to Soubu High School, changing into her high school uniform and twirling in front of the mirror. He even bought a brand new DSLR camera specifically to photograph his sister.

Besides that, there's probably the fact that Asuna Yuuki transferred to Class 2-J, and that Utaha Kasumigaoka took a week off.

The former's reason for transferring schools is unclear, and the latter's reason for taking leave is also unclear; Yuuki Asuna has no intention of getting along with them at all, and all her attempts to ask questions are cleverly avoided, and Kasumigaoka Utaha is so unknown that she is not even at home, so there is no way to approach her.

Perhaps it was just a misperception, but Yuu Tenkuji always felt that the actions of those two people were all tacitly pointing to the same goal—to distance themselves from him.

But upon closer reflection, it seems unlikely.

Leaving aside Kasumigaoka Utaha for now, Asuna Yuuki clearly has some hidden story, which is why she maintains a lukewarm attitude towards them despite appearing to have regained her memories.

However, before taking the initiative to delve deeper, Yukino Yukinoshita advised him to hold back and not rush to confront Asuna Yuuki. Since she didn't want to say anything, he should observe the situation for a while until he had something on her or a weakness before striking decisively. This would be more efficient and would also cut off all of her escape routes.

Like a cat crouching in front of a mouse hole, not easily striking unless there is a very high chance of success, it really broadened the horizons of Tenkuji Yu, and the more she listened, the more she felt that her opinion of her had changed.

It wasn't that he couldn't think of such a decision, nor that he underestimated Yukino Yukinoshita's intelligence...

She was more adorable than a kitten who had done something wrong and was sitting in a corner feeling dejected. She had just finished coming up with some bad ideas for him with a serious face, but afterwards she was rubbing her temples and reflecting on her actions. This made people feel sorry for her and want to hold her in their arms and comfort her.

Anyway, regarding the matter between those two, Yuu Tenkuji listened to his girlfriend's advice completely and never spoke a word to Asuna Yuuki again after that. Even though they were in the same school, they acted like strangers, which made him feel much more relaxed.

...Although he had already made up his mind not to run away from the problems brought about by his 'ex-girlfriend'.

Speaking of his ex-girlfriend, Yuuto Tenkuji has not seen Yukino Yukinoshita since the cultural festival. He doesn't want to ask Yukino what she's doing now, so he can only suppress his curiosity and occasionally take out his phone to casually check if she has sent him any messages.

As for Natsukawa Masuzu, this seemingly normal girl with a perverted face always had a smile on her face. She didn't seem to have any intention of continuing to make a move on him, nor did she intend to do anything inappropriate in front of Yuki and the other two. She was just like a passerby female student who frequently appeared in the background story, inconspicuously active in their small group.

Fortunately, her loss of taste caused by psychological stress seems to have been cured without her even realizing it... Although she still doesn't like to eat, she always carries fruit with her to supplement her nutrition, and her lunches are also related to various fruits, which seems to make her eat healthier than Yukino Yukinoshita.

The only thing that makes people cringe is that whenever Yuu Tenkuji is around, Masuzu Natsukawa will always take out a cherry, but instead of eating it right away, she will first use her nimble pink tongue to rub it for a while, then put it in her mouth for a few seconds, and then spit out the cherry stem tied into a pretty bow to show off to her two girlfriends. The implication is very obvious.

For a period of time, the girls in the Service Department always had cherries as their after-meal fruit. They would pretend to be nonchalant, but their cheeks would always be slightly puffed out. When he asked them what they were doing, they would always blush and refuse to admit it.

However, he didn't even need to rummage through the trash can to see a pile of worn-out and broken props, which showed just how high their competitive spirit was.

As for the results of his girlfriends' cherry stem training, Yuu Tenkuji privately checked them with his own tongue... cough cough, how should I put it?

Anyway, they're still not as good as me.

However, given Natsukawa Masuzu's provocations, it's no wonder that Yukino Yukinoshita's application for joining the club was being held back and delayed.

This is a perfect example of reaping what you sow.

The above is a general overview of the events that Yuu Tenkuji has experienced from the cultural festival until today—December 24th.

Looking back carefully, although there are still many things that I don't understand and the future is not very clear, I have a strange sense of peace that feels like everything has settled down.

"Yu, what are you daydreaming about?"