The azure sea, but a lonely, fulfilled life.

Hachiman stood behind the frying station, looking at Iori.

"Chisa, Kohei, and Azusa-nee, take a break. Iori and I will do it."

The three nodded, but Hamaoka Azusa was not in high spirits.

The two began making it.

When did you find out?

Iori pushed the spread-out dough to Hachiman's side and started cracking eggs.

[It wasn't long; I only realized it when I calmed down.]

Flip the pancake over, take the sauce bottle thrown by the other person, place the fried egg on the pancake, and spread the sauce on it.

[If that's the case, why say it that way in the first place?]

[Didn't you already guess?]

Iori put down the spatula, placed the ham slices and shredded cabbage on the flatbread, and added cheese.

[Oh, I can guess that, but I don't really understand. This might make Zi-jie dislike you.]

[I don't care, but you, now that you've earned the title of dual-wielder, won't you resent me?]

Hachiman handed the packaged assorted okonomiyaki to Ijichi Nijika and began working on the next one.

I don't really care.

[Are you really?]

[Go to hell.]

"There must be a better way," Iori murmured.

There must have been a better way to let Zijie enter the group without any reservations, without having to care about what others say because of her own secrets, and to maintain a distant attitude towards everyone.

“Actually, I used to be a dual-wielder as well,” Hachiman said.

"real or fake!"

Iori stopped what she was doing, trembled, and looked at him in disbelief. His loud words attracted everyone's attention.

"Fake? No way, I was just kidding."

Hachiman replied that in his heart, Totsuka was neither male nor female, but rather a sublime gender that transcended both.

Hideyoshi!

Therefore, he is not considered a dual-wielder.

"You should really die."

……

Everyone sat together eating okonomiyaki. Hachiman bit open an egg, and the soft-boiled yolk flowed onto the bacon.

"Speaking of which, the women's beauty pageant is almost here, isn't it? Chisa, aren't you going to start preparing?"

Chisa, who was drinking oolong tea, put down her cup: "What preparations do I need to make? I plan to go like this."

"Well—I don't think so."

Hachiman looked at her and said this.

"What do you mean?"

Chisa was puzzled, and then a pair of hands were placed on her shoulders, at the same time Nanaka's gentle voice rang out.

"How can that be? Chisa is so cute, she has to dress up beautifully."

She grabbed Chisa's arm and pulled her away amidst her panicked expression. The others watched their figures gradually disappear into the distance, then continued eating without a ripple of emotion.

"Speaking of which, where is Senior Zi?"

Hachiman noticed that Hamaoka Azusa had disappeared sometime earlier and asked her what was wrong.

"I don't know." Iori shook her head.

"Shouldn't this be the kind of situation you're looking for?" Hachiman stared at him with dead fish eyes.

“I think Zi-jie needs some quiet space by herself right now,” Iori replied calmly, picking at the green peppers in the assorted stew, wondering who put them in there.

"What are you talking about?" Kohei asked, bewildered.

"It's nothing, it's about time to close up shop after we finish eating."

Hachiman took a sip of water, looked at the two seniors walking towards him from a distance, and stood up.

"Let's go see Chisa's performance."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Life Needs Excitement!

"really?"

"Could it be that there's a fake one?"

On their way to the outdoor stage, Hachiman and his two companions chatted idly. Their conversation eventually returned to the shocking scene from Iori earlier. There was no way around it; the scene was too explosive, and Kohei didn't dare to turn his back to him now.

This subtle change gave Iori a headache. Even if he really liked men, there was absolutely no way he could fall for a morbid otaku who was into anime! Even homosexuals have their own standards for choosing a partner, and they wouldn't be so indiscriminate in their choices.

Moreover, he wasn't gay, so to make it clear that it was a misunderstanding, he had no choice but to explain the whole story, from tidying up the room at the beginning to Nanaka-nee and Azusa-senpai talking on the phone, which led to the misunderstanding. He presented all the evidence that could prove his innocence to Kohei, but he didn't mention that Azusa-senpai was a dual-wielder, so there were some flaws in the explanation. However, with the deliberate blurring of the concept, Kohei didn't notice.

He just regretted not having invited him along when tidying up the room; he would have definitely created a perfect, universally appealing room.

"Anyway, it's definitely just pasting up all sorts of anime loli pictures," Hachiman and Iori thought together after hearing his words.

"Since arriving here, I've encountered some strange things every day."

Iori sighed, looking back on the past few days, it seemed that he had not walked on the beautiful path he had imagined at all, but instead was slowly crawling along a path where he could only care about the present moment.

You have to be extremely careful with every step you take, otherwise you never know when you'll be tricked by the people around you. These people are completely inhuman; they're nothing but animals.

"I will never believe what others say again. I was very naive before, but I am terrifyingly strong now."

Iori smiled with relief. After this period of training, he has grown up.

"Iori, your shoelaces are untied."

Hachiman pointed down.

"Oh, thanks."

Iori bent down and looked at her slippers.

"...Are you asking for a beating?"

His face, sculpted by lies, resembled marble. On that angular face, his eyes were blurred into the shape of barcodes. He shoved the barcodes at Hachiman's face without any emotion, his words filled with utter speechlessness.

"just kidding."

"You haven't changed at all these days."

"You two guys!"

The three of them played and joked as they passed by the crowd.

Suddenly, Hachiman turned around and stopped, looking at a certain spot with a slight frown.

"what happened?"

Kohei also looked in that direction, but didn't find anything special.

"No, it's nothing," Hachiman said casually.

It might just be my imagination. I think I saw Komachi just now, but they won't arrive until tomorrow. I guess I was just seeing things.

"Hey, there's a stroller here. Want to try something more exciting?"

Iori pointed to the cart that had inexplicably appeared by the roadside, and started thinking of some crooked ideas.

"What's exciting?"

……

"Just now, Komachi's Onii-chan Radar was activated."

Standing in front of the taiyaki shop, Komachi Hikigaya held the bag of taiyaki in both hands, opened her mouth, revealing her small canine teeth, and took a big bite of the hot fish head.

The smooth red bean paste slid into her mouth like quicksand, and it was so hot that she breathed softly on it. Her eyes were bright; it tasted delicious.

"Eat slowly, is he nearby?"

He handed the orange juice to the girl, who looked around but didn't see the familiar figure. Instead, she saw a bewildered staff member shouting, "Where's my car?"

"Um……"

Komachi Hikigaya's ahoge (cowlick) started spinning, but after a few seconds, it returned to its normal position.

"It's gone, otherwise I would have sensed it."

She stared wide-eyed at the strand of hair on the girl's head that had just rotated on its own. What was the principle behind this? Come to think of it, that guy seemed to have a similar hair on his head. Could it be that everyone in the Hikigaya family knows this trick?

So cool...

"It's okay. I've already checked with his class advisor. He has a competition called 'Mr. Club' tonight. To avoid affecting his mindset, let's meet him then. Until then, is there anything you'd like to do?"

"Hmm, Komachi wants to go eat teppanyaki."

"Then go ahead."

……

"Time's almost up, why haven't Iori and the others arrived yet?"

Staring at the second hand of his watch ticking away, Shinji Tokita looked around. He'd been told to arrive soon, and it was almost time to start, but he hadn't seen a soul yet.

"Zi, did you see them later?"

Juryujiro looked at Hamaoka Azusa, who was sitting silently in the chair, his little head filled with great confusion. It was the first time he had ever seen his friend in such a bad state.

"No."

Hamaoka Azusa shook her head, forcing herself to speak.

"Are you ok?"

Shinji Tokita walked to her side, his large body acting like a wall to block the view of others.

"...I'm not feeling well."

Hamaoka Azusa deliberately avoided his gaze and grabbed the hem of Nanaka's clothes.

"Did you catch a cold?"

Nanaka placed her hand on her forehead; her body temperature had risen slightly, but it was still within the normal range.

"It's alright, I'll be fine after sitting for a while."

Hamaoka Azusa felt awkward and flustered by everyone's concern. She slightly furrowed her brow and pretended nothing had happened, flashing her usual bright smile.

"Really? You must tell us if anything happens."

Nanaka placed her hand on hers and said softly.

"The game begins."

A gasp rippled through the audience as the beauty pageant began. The first girl to step onto the stage was a member of the literature club. She was petite, and her overall attire, well, let's just say it was a bit old-fashioned. Her hairstyle consisted of two braids tied on either side, and she wore a pair of very old-fashioned, pure black square-framed glasses. Her first impression was that of a country girl from the countryside.

The girl's delicate face showed a hint of embarrassment. She bit her lip slightly and answered the host's questions in a measured and soft voice.

"So, one last question: what kind of guy do you like?" the host asked in an exaggeratedly loud voice.

"You like it... huh?"

The girl's face turned bright red, steam billowing from her head. She stretched out her index fingers and touched them slightly, her eyes fixed on the ground beneath her feet, yet she also subtly looked up at the tennis club president, who was wearing a blue and white tracksuit and had dyed his hair blue, without glancing at her.

"I like..." someone who, like a prince, would ride a white horse into my world.

"Slow down! Slow down! Step on the brakes!"

"Where did this trailer get its brakes?! It's going to crash into a tree!!"

"Mom, I want to get off the bus!"