Mygo, are you all yanderes?

For Mortis, as long as Toyokawa Shoko doesn't try to take her away from her, that's a good thing.

This time, she must get ahead of everyone else and make Kusano Akira fully realize the feminine charm of Wakaba Mutsumi as an individual, and then be captured and become Wakaba Mutsumi's captive.

By then, what use will it be for anyone else to come back? The outcome will already be decided.

No matter how proactive Nagasaki Motoyo and her ilk were, and no matter how much they tried to appeal to Kusano Akira's tastes, they were destined to be unable to defeat Wakaba Mutsumi, who had completely captivated Kusano Akira at that time.

As long as you find a secluded place to hide—or better yet, escape the country—it won't matter if others try to lock up Kusano Akira like they did before.

"Are cucumbers still being grown?"

Just as Mortis was indulging in his fantasies of popping champagne, in real life, Wakaba Mutsu looked up at Kusano Akira, who was sizing up the school gate, and suddenly spoke up.

"Yes, we're planting them. What's wrong?"

While observing Toyokawa Shoko's movements at the school gate, Kusano Akira casually answered Wakaba Mutsumi's question.

"That's it."

"I thought you were lying to me when you said you liked cucumbers."

Wakaba Mutsu was somewhat pleased, not expecting that Kusano Akira was genuinely interested in growing cucumbers.

"That was definitely a lie; I really have no interest in cucumbers."

Ruoye Mu was unhappy again.

Seeing that Wakaba Mutsu's expression had become indescribable, Kusano Akira pointed to his own dark circles and added the second half of the sentence.

"But I really am planting. Look at my dark circles; they're largely from staying up all night cramming on planting knowledge."

You know, in order to get closer to Wakaba Mutsu, he racked his brains trying to find common ground between them.

The guide he read online said that even the best of friends will eventually become strangers if they don't have common topics to talk about.

Kusano Akira didn't want that, so he secretly observed Sora, trying to figure out what they liked and maintaining his friendship with them from that angle.

Of course, Ruoye Mu was also within his observation range.

Unfortunately, he and Wakaba Mutsu met very few times, if not many.

Correspondingly, Kusano Akira couldn't observe what Wakaba Mutsu could like at all. No matter how much he thought about it, he could only think that Wakaba Mutsu was interested in guitars and cucumbers, which he had guessed by accident.

Although Kusano Akira also loves the guitar, it's a pity that he can only be described as a master in the theoretical field. In terms of actual playing, while he's not exactly a beginner, his strength is limited.

Because he hasn't played for so long, if he were to suddenly start playing, he might only be slightly better than Chihaya Aine.

Furthermore, he hadn't figured out how to bring up the guitar in a reasonable and natural way with Wakaba Mutsu and discuss the topic.

It's too abrupt to suddenly bring up the guitar.

Then he remembered the lie he told Wakaba Mutsumi about cucumbers when they first met.

He needed to cover up his lie about being interested in cucumbers when he deceived Wakaba Mutsu, so he had to learn about them to prevent Wakaba Mutsu from discovering his lie.

It just so happened that he wanted to have something in common with Ruoye Mutsu, so he naturally started to take some interest in growing cucumbers.

This includes, but is not limited to, the purchase of soil and seeds, cramming on relevant knowledge, and then squeezing out his already meager rest time.

He went to great lengths to get closer to Wakaba Mutsu.

He put a lot of thought into purchasing the equipment, researching for a long time what brand of shovel to use, what kind of soil is suitable for growing cucumbers, what kind of fertilizer to use, and what kind of seeds to choose.

He then bought several books on planting, which, when stacked up, were thicker than the study materials he had made for the Yuqiu exam.

In short, Kusano Akira was more serious about this than ever before.

Even though the process was extremely painful, Kusano Akira forced himself to accept and even enjoy it, even if it meant incurring sunk costs.

"……it is true."

Wakaba Mutsu touched Kusano Akira's eye socket with her small hand, gently stroking it with her fingertips, and looked intently at Kusano Akira's face.

If you look closely, you can indeed see faint blackness around Kusano Akira's eye sockets.

In addition, Kusano Akira's eyes are a very dark, emerald green, so even though his facial features are soft, he still looks somewhat fierce.

Wakaba Mutsu actually quite likes his appearance, especially Kusano Akira's tone of voice, which is completely different from his appearance. Occasionally, he would also show that silly expression, which creates a strange contrast that really appeals to her.

Just like a husky, it can be very handsome when it's serious, with a kind of imposing aura, but once it grins at you, it's a completely different feeling.

Ruoye Mutsu was thinking of using Kusano Akira as a model for a dress-up game, dressing him up in different styles, and then filming it.

"Of course it's true, I've been working really hard."

"Maybe... we should just forget about it."

Wakaba Mutsumi touched Kusano Akira's face and suddenly said something.

"Forget it?"

"It's just growing cucumbers... I don't care about that right now."

It's true that Wakaba Mutsu likes Kusano Akira's current appearance, but if possible, she thinks it would be better for Kusano Akira not to overwork himself.

"That won't do, otherwise all my hard work will have been for nothing."

Kusano Akira rejected Wakaba Mutsu's proposal; bound by sunk costs, he certainly wouldn't listen to Wakaba Mutsu.

"Besides, I want to have something in common with you. Since we're friends, it would be really wrong if we didn't even have anything in common."

"..."

"Is it for me?"

"It's not entirely 5; I think planting 6 is quite interesting now."

This is a lie.

Wakaba Mutsumi could sense that Kusano Akira had no real interest in planting; he was simply forcing himself to like it just so he could have something in common with Wakaba Mutsumi.

Wakaba Mutsu was happy again.

She was truly delighted that Kusano Akira had gone to such lengths for her.

But since Kusano Akira was willing to do this for her, she couldn't fall behind and should make her own decision.

"Whatever you like, I can like too."

Ruoye Mu said softly, her hands clasped tightly together, nervously playing with each other.

Even though every word she had said to Kusano Akira before was more audacious than this, this sentence brought her shame and embarrassment to a new peak.

Since meeting Kusano Akira, she had never expressed such straightforward goodwill, but instead followed her desires and allowed malice to manipulate her.

She was somewhat at a loss when suddenly asked to do this, and even began to imitate Nagasaki Motoyo's behavior in an attempt to ease her nervousness.

Well done!

Mortis, who had been eavesdropping while clinging to the schoolbag, clenched his fist and happily gestured when he heard what Wakaba Mutsu had mustered up the courage to say.

It seems that Wakaba Mutsumi's feelings for Kusano Akira are even stronger than she imagined, as she's being quite proactive.

"Then I thank you for your kindness."

Kusano Akira, who was very easy to coax, heard Wakaba Mutsu's rare expression of goodwill, and all of his previous dissatisfaction caused by Wakaba Mutsu's bullying vanished.

Although he wasn't particularly dissatisfied, at most he could only play one or two small pranks on Wakaba Mutsu, and he would even worry about whether he had gone too far with his jokes if the other party showed any sadness.

"As for the things I like—you know what, there really are some."

Kusano Akira pondered for a moment, then thought of something else besides cucumbers that he had been unable to bring up before—a guitar.

"I have a hobby, which is collecting guitars."

"Collecting guitars?"

"That's right—it's more accurate to say that you're collecting musical instruments than guitars."

When he mentioned what he truly loved, Kusano Akira's tone became even more emotional than before. He took out his phone and showed Wakaba Mutsumi the photos he had taken of his collection.

"Do you know what that kind of collecting obsession is? Like stamp collecting."

"Some people like to collect stamps, some like to collect watches, and some like to collect trading cards."

"I like collecting musical instruments—mostly electronic ones."

"Guitars are the most numerous item in my collection."

At this point, Kusano Akira put his hand behind his head, looking a little embarrassed, and laughed awkwardly.

"Actually, I started by learning guitar; I switched to keyboards later."

"But I've always played very poorly, so I often feel like my skills are not worthy of all the guitars I've played."

"I rarely touched the guitar after I started playing the keyboard. Later, I always wanted to pick up the guitar again, but unfortunately, I'm not talented enough to specialize in two instruments at the same time."

"Just playing with a keyboard has exhausted almost all of my musical talent — even though I'm pretty bad at keyboarding."

Leng said, "Ah, how about you teach me guitar, Mu? You play so well."

Kusano Akira happily placed his hand on Wakaba Mutsu's shoulder and smiled brightly at her.

umbrella"……"

"I'm terrible at guitar, I can't teach you."

Ruo Yemu shook her head somewhat disappointedly.

While she certainly has the technical skill, she can never bring out the soul in music like others.

She felt like a student who could only apply formulas. No matter how well she memorized them, she could only ever use templates and could never compare to those true geniuses.

"That's really hurtful. If your skills aren't good, what are people who aren't as good as you supposed to think, like me?"

Kusano Akira pinched Wakaba Mutsu's ear, a helpless expression on his face.

"That's different..."

"My guitar has no soul..."

"Deng and Lixi, their music has a soul, but I can't do it like them."

"..."

Seeing Wakaba Mutsu's pitiful expression, Kusano Akira clicked his tongue and suddenly yanked Wakaba Mutsu's ear, which he had been gently pinching.

"ah!"

Wakaba Muku cried out in pain, looking at Kusano Akira with a hint of reproach.

"So it seems we were destined to be friends."

Kusano Akira placed his two index fingers at the corners of Wakaba Mutsu's mouth and lifted them upwards, making Wakaba Mutsu make a rather comical smile.

Seeing that Wakaba Mutsu was looking at him with resentment, but the corners of his mouth were comically turned up, Kusano Akira chuckled twice.

"My keyboard has no soul. After playing for so long, it's just memorizing the sheet music and basic skills. I have no feelings for it at all."

"But so what if there is no soul? If there isn't one now, if there wasn't one before, does that mean there won't be one in the future?"

"Mu, you teach me guitar, and I'll teach you keyboard."

"Just consider it keeping me company. Let's go find our souls together, shall we?"

"..."

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes."

"……it is good."

"Oh, and you just said you didn't care, then just don't make me..."

"That won't work."

"Ugh."

Wakaba Mutsuya also pressed his index finger to the corner of Kusano Akira's mouth and pulled it down.

Kusano Akira's expression changed; his eyes were full of laughter, but the corners of his mouth drooped unwillingly, just like Wakaba Mutsu.

"...Your eyes are really scary."

Looking into Kusano Akira's deep yet warm, jewel-like eyes, Wakaba Mutsu sighed.

"……Yeah."

Whether it was her imagination or not, Wakaba Mutsu felt that Kusano Akira seemed to be in a bad mood after hearing those words, so she gently lifted the corners of Kusano Akira's mouth.