They all have hidden attributes!

"...What are your thoughts on Shiraishi Junka?"

After slicing the beef, Maya Uesugi suddenly asked this question.

"What exactly do you mean?" Makoto Takahashi asked rhetorically.

Hanakawa Kaori, who was shredding a cabbage nearby, sensed the gossip and subtly shifted her feet to the side, listening intently.

"Group A of the 3rd year has decided to go to Sapporo." Maya Uesugi's voice turned cold.

Only a handful of people know the location of the first-year school trip, and Shiraishi Junka is definitely not among them, so she suspects that Takahashi Makoto deliberately leaked the information.

"Where did you get this information?" Takahashi Makoto asked.

"Hanaori told me."

"Hanaori? She instigated me to help Haruna yesterday."

"Tsk."

The two realized what was happening and simultaneously turned their gazes toward Hanakawa Kaori.

She blinked innocently and asked with a grin, "Brother, do you prefer Thousand Island dressing or lemon juice for your salad?"

Makoto Takahashi put on a serious expression and tapped Hanakawa Kaori on the head with a chop: "Lemon juice."

"I was wrong, please don't make me drink lemon juice."

Seeing her clasp her hands together and raise them above her head, Uesugi Maya slammed the kitchen knife down on the cutting board, slicing a cucumber with a crisp sound.

"This is a one-time exception," she warned coldly.

"...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Hanakawa Kaori picked up the cabbage, grabbed the grater, and retreated.

Maya Uesugi couldn't tell what she was thinking. Was she simply looking for a spectacle, or was she acting under Makoto Takahashi's orders, or did she have some other motive?

Putting aside Hanakawa Kaori for now, avenging the humiliation suffered by Ritsu Miyuki is the most important thing right now.

"You haven't been coming to dinner with us much lately, so I agreed to help you out, Hanaori."

Maya Uesugi's tone was soft, with a hint of resentment. Just as Makoto Takahashi was about to explain, he suddenly realized that she was staring intently at his profile.

He turned his head and met the gaze of Uesugi Maya, who seemed to want to say something but hesitated. Her beautiful caramel-colored eyes clearly said that she was a little afraid of being alone.

"What's wrong?" Takahashi Makoto swallowed nervously.

Based on his experience, there are only two possibilities when Uesugi Maya shows such an uneasy expression.

—They are truly fragile, or perhaps they want to make excessive demands.

Makoto Takahashi dared not gamble on Maya Uesugi's true feelings, having promised not to cause her any pain.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked bluntly.

Are you free? For a school trip.

"available?"

Despite Takahashi Makoto's uncertain tone in his reply, Uesugi Maya still made her request: "I want you to spend a day with me on the school trip."

“Even if you don’t say it, I will try my best to be with you,” Makoto Takahashi said matter-of-factly.

In her class, Maya Uesugi was already in a good mood if she didn't have any conflicts with her classmates or teachers, let alone friends.

If Group A and Group C hadn't gone to the same destination, she would definitely have been all alone on the school trip.

"Spend a day with me alone," Uesugi Maya emphasized.

"it is good."

"On that day, you must agree to whatever I say."

"Huh?" Makoto Takahashi looked puzzled.

The two did not lower their voices, and the hostile gazes around them were enough to kill.

Uesugi Maya's lips curled into a wicked smile, her tone remaining calm and composed: "I reflected deeply on myself last night, and I need to be tougher on you."

"Actually, I'm the type who responds better to gentle persuasion than force," Makoto Takahashi frankly stated.

For example, Shiraishi Junka, with her soft, tender eyes and submissive personality, was someone he couldn't do anything about.

Chapter 146 I heard there's a bear plague in Hokkaido?

"Brother, it's probably best not to eat the food that other girls send you."

After the home economics teacher finished grading the class, it was time to taste the dishes.

The girls in the class brought over dishes and invited Makoto Takahashi to try them, saying they were looking forward to his feedback.

Just then, Hanakawa Kaori patted him on the shoulder.

Makoto Takahashi leaned down and whispered mysteriously, "I'll put my ear close to yours."

"Some girls will put things in food that are obviously not supposed to be put in food, because there is such an urban legend that as long as you put a part of your body in it, you can bring the two people closer."

"..." Takahashi Makoto suddenly felt a little nauseous.

Japanese girls do do things like this, such as putting their hair in their special Valentine's Day chocolates.

Being a popular man is quite tough.

Makoto Takahashi cautiously examined the dishes offered by the other groups of girls, pondering how to politely decline their kindness. Seeing his troubled expression, Maya Uesugi dumped the dishes into the trash can without further ado.

She was originally the "Hell Girl" in the academy.

Makoto Takahashi gave him a grateful look, while Maya Uesugi coldly scanned the surroundings with her sharp, knife-like gaze, her attitude firm: "I won't be making dinner tonight."

Ultimately, no one dared to challenge "Hell Girl," and the cooking internship came to a successful conclusion.

After class, the band practiced as usual. After club activities ended, Makoto Takahashi and Maya Uesugi took a car home together.

As they were going upstairs in the elevator, Maya Uesugi suddenly had a whim and asked him:

"Aren't you afraid I'll get into a fight with them? That girl making cream soup looks like she wants to throw something at me."

"I will protect you." Makoto Takahashi turned his head and met her beautiful caramel-colored eyes.

The cooking classroom was small, and his [Lv.Max Mind's Eye] was never turned off.

"I thought you wouldn't like my style of doing things at the academy."

Maya Uesugi toyed with the ends of her black hair that fell over her shoulder, adopting a cold attitude: "Let me make it clear beforehand, I have no intention of deliberately causing conflict with them, I just don't want to meet their expectations."

Makoto Takahashi found her to be really cute.

Even though they don't care about other people's opinions, they still insist on explaining these things to themselves.

A girl's heart is truly delicious.

He raised his hand, reaching out to the back of Uesugi Maya's neck for the first time in a long while, and gently pinched it: "I understand you. Other people are hell, isn't that a famous saying?"

Once her weakness was exposed, Maya Uesugi's newly awakened girlish heart died instantly.

Her face suddenly turned icy cold, and without hesitation, she raised her leg and stomped on Takahashi Makoto's foot, explaining the situation while forcefully crushing it:

"The play 'No Exit,' also known as 'The Interval' or 'The Chamber,' by the French philosopher and writer Paul Sartre, is titled: 'Hell is other people!'"

In order to stomp on him for a little longer, Uesugi Maya explained in great detail:

"This statement reveals Sartre's insight into interpersonal conflicts: even without physical torture, the 'gaze' of others can deprive us of our subjectivity and cause mental anguish."

Makoto Takahashi did not let go, continuing to stare at her with an amused look.

Maya Uesugi took a compass out of her skirt pocket, exuding a cold aura, her eyes gradually becoming dangerous.

Ding--

With a crisp beep, the elevator doors slowly opened to the sides, and Makoto Takahashi raised his hands in surrender.

"Tsk." Uesugi Maya regretfully put away her compass, deftly tossed her long black hair, and stepped out of the elevator.

Having already eaten dinner, the two parted ways in the hallway and went home separately.

Makoto Takahashi and Yuki Tatsumi chatted on LINE for a while. Seeing that the game console was still connected to the screen in the living room, they went to the refrigerator in the kitchen, grabbed a can of Coke, and came back to sit on the sofa to play a racing game.

The deep night silently enveloped Tokyo.

Having grown tired of racing games and feeling a bit hungry because I had eaten lunch too early, I was about to head to Ikebukuro to find some snacks when the doorbell rang.

Ding-dong-

Upon hearing the doorbell, Makoto Takahashi paused for a moment, then raised his wrist; the silver-white hour hand of his watch was moving toward the number "9".

Uesugi Maya and Kashima Reiko have spare keys to the apartment, so it must be Hanakawa Kaori and Nekoya Hina?

What are you planning to do by showing up at this time without prior notice?

Makoto Takahashi put down the handle, walked to the entrance, opened the door, and made no attempt to hide his disdain for the trouble.

"Chun Ke?"

He blinked in surprise, his eyes gradually clearing: "How did you know my address?"

The sweet scent of roses caught my nose. In the bright light of the corridor, Shiraishi Junka stood timidly in front of me, holding a paper bag in her arms.

She wore a black chiffon dress, and below the hem, slightly thick black stockings outlined the elegant and slender shape of her calves, with her feet hidden in black loafers.

Her wrists and neck, the fair skin exposed to the air, contrasted sharply with her dress and long, black princess-cut hair, highlighting her charming and elegant appearance.

The two locked eyes, neither looking away.

A bright smile appeared in Shiraishi Junko's deep wine-red eyes as she handed over the paper bag with both hands: "Hanaori told me."

Why is it Hanakawa Kaori again? What is she up to?

"Come in first."

Makoto Takahashi took the paper bag and stepped aside to make room for him to enter: "What brings you here so late?"

"Can I stay here?" Shiraishi Junko took off her shoes in the entryway, bent down to arrange them neatly, and a delicate glimpse of snow-white skin naturally appeared at the neckline of her dress.

"Want to stay overnight?"

"I have never stayed overnight at a friend's house before, but Chitose said that staying overnight at a friend's house is a very normal thing."

"..." Takahashi Makoto closed the door, speechless.