Tokyo: Love Begins with Controlling the Rich Girl

"Okay," Shimada Sho replied casually, opened the door, and left.

Only the girl remained in the room, staring blankly at his departing figure.

"call!"

Shimada Sho breathed a sigh of relief as he walked out of the event building.

I've finally gotten rid of Yuki Ayase.

The girl's undisguised affection was truly breathtaking.

Refusal didn't work, and he had absolutely no idea how to respond to her.

Previously, students could use class assignments to avoid this.

Today, this lousy after-school care center taught him a lesson.

When I get back, I need to take a good look at where the problem lies.

As for now, let's go back to the classroom first.

Shimada Sho couldn't shake the feeling of being burdened by the extra label attached to the young lady.

He walked across the playground back to the teaching building.

The lunch break wasn't over yet, and groups of students were chatting in the corridor.

Shimada Sho walked through the crowd, his mind a jumble of thoughts, all he could think about was the -20% progress he'd made on his character panel.

The fact that this level of regression has occurred indicates that something fundamental has changed deep within the young lady's heart.

He might be angry about his secret meeting with Yuki Ayase, or he might feel that his friendship has been betrayed.

Lost in his own thoughts, Shimada Sho unknowingly walked into the classroom.

Looking up, I saw that Yukine Kamishiro was still sitting in her seat.

The young lady stood ramrod straight, her silver hair cascading over her shoulders, looking like an elf from a comic book, completely out of place amidst the surrounding noise.

A geography book lay before her, its upright pages swaying gently as she rubbed them with her delicate fingers.

Shimada Sho hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked over.

He imagined that the young lady would look up and ask him some questions.

As a result, the young lady didn't even glance at him until he sat down.

It was as if they hadn't noticed his arrival at all.

Or maybe they discovered it but just couldn't be bothered to pay attention.

This attitude is clearly abnormal.

Shimada Sho hesitated for a moment, but still took the initiative to speak: "Um... Kamishiro-kun, what was that in the activity room just now... was me discussing this week's exchange match with Ayase-kun."

"Oh," Yukine Kamishiro replied without looking up, indicating that she understood.

Shimada Sho: "..."

The young lady is definitely angry.

He pondered for a moment, then tried to make conversation, "Also, thank you for the bento box, Kamishiro-kun. I'll wash it and return it to you."

He pointed to the lunchbox next to him.

"No need," the young lady gently shook her head.

Shimada Sho looked over and saw that her gaze was still fixed on the textbook. She said in a calm tone, "It's fine for Shimada-san to take it back."

"That won't do."

Shimada Sho wanted to continue focusing on this topic.

As a result, the young lady ignored him again.

Throughout the entire process, Yukine Kamishiro never uttered a single word.

Shimada Sho was a little unsure.

He had to explain again, "I went to the club activity room at noon, and Ayase-san said she wanted to discuss the exchange competition, but I happened to run into her when I got there..."

He stopped mid-sentence because Yukine Kamishiro wasn't listening at all.

She turned a page of the book, her gaze lingering on a particular line of text.

It was as if Shimada Sho's voice was just a gust of wind drifting in from outside the window, insignificant and not worth paying attention to.

The air grew quiet.

Shimada Sho could hear the laughter and chatter coming from the corridor, as well as the jarring sound of chairs being moved in the classroom across the way.

But when these voices reached this place, they all turned into a suffocating silence.

"Kamidai-san?"

Shimada Sho really dislikes this awkward silence.

Yukine Kamishiro looked up: "Is there anything else, Shimada-kun?"

"..."

Their eyes met, and Shimada Sho suddenly felt a little dazed.

After realizing what had happened, he smiled rather boredly and shook his head, saying, "It's nothing."

"Hmm." Yukine Kamishiro lowered her head to read again, her voice still calm. "Then please turn back. It's impolite to disturb others."

Shimada Sho said no more and turned around to sit back down.

The eye contact they had just made allowed him to see the emotions hidden in the young lady's eyes.

calm.

A calm without any ups and downs.

It's like facing a complete stranger.

But how can one get angry when facing a stranger?

I'm afraid they won't even have the interest to talk.

Shimada Sho suddenly found it somewhat amusing.

He arrogantly assumed that the young lady was angry with him.

But they forgot that anger is based on mutual familiarity.

If he were Mr. Thug, the young lady would feel uneasy if he were even slightly kind to others.

If she doesn't go online for two consecutive days, she becomes anxious and insecure.

But he is Shimada Sho, just an ordinary boy in the same class.

Does it matter who you hug?

Yes.

It is impossible for a person to register their consciousness in another person's body while simultaneously controlling their own body to function normally.

He successfully dispelled the young lady's suspicions by using smart hosting.

If 1% disappears, then the 99% becomes irrelevant.

Stripped of all his accolades, he is just an ordinary man named Shimada Sho.

All the trust, dependence, and expectations built on these assumptions vanished, so what special treatment could he possibly expect?

The young lady is probably angry.

But she was angry at herself for not making the right judgment.

He transferred from one school to another for nothing.

But Mr. Thug isn't here.

The regressed development progress reflects the turmoil in the girl's heart.

But those waves had nothing to do with him from the moment he proved he wasn't Mr. Thug.

Shimada Sho's mind was filled with a jumble of complex thoughts.

The conflicting emotions coalesced into a feeling he couldn't quite define.

Isn't this the result I wanted?

From the very beginning, he only wanted to keep his distance and didn't want the young lady to know that Mr. Thug was him.

Now that he has achieved his goal, he can finally escape her probing and be a normal high school student without having to act out a scene every day.

He should be happy.

But why do I feel so suffocated?

Chapter 141 Ordinary Classmate Shimada-kun

Haruko, to Shimada Sho's right, is holding a magazine.

Seeing something, her eyes sparkled as she leaned closer to Yukine Kamishiro. "Kamishiro-kun, look at this! There's an interview with Chizuru-chan in the next issue of the magazine! She's the Chizuru-chan who's really popular on 'The Pinnacle of Singing'! Don't you guys know her? You're both celebrities, you must have seen her before, right?"

"I don't know it." Yukine Kamishiro shook her head gently as she looked at the book.

The answer was concise and to the point, without any unnecessary words.

Haruko clearly didn't mind the coldness and continued to lean closer enthusiastically to recommend her: "That's such a pity! Chizuru-chan is amazing! I went to the quarterfinals last week, and her new song was so good!"

"Would you like to follow her official account, Kamishiro-kun?"

As she spoke, Haruko held her phone up to Yukine Kamishiro.

Her fingers accidentally touched the open Chinese book on the table, pushing the pages slightly to the side and revealing the corner of a notebook underneath.

The notebook cover was pure black, without any patterns, making it impossible to tell what kind of notes it was used for.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"

Haruko quickly reached out to put the book back, but as she parted the Chinese book with her fingertips, she accidentally pulled out a corner of the notebook underneath as well.

The cover was slightly opened, revealing densely packed handwritten text inside.

Kamishiro Yukine's hand covered it almost instantly.

Her movements were so fast that before Haruko could even see what was written on the page, the notebook had already been closed and pressed under her palm along with the Chinese book.

"No need," she replied calmly.

"Huh?" Haruko was taken aback for a moment, then awkwardly withdrew her hand. "Well, okay then, I'll recommend it to Kamishiro-kun next time I find something good!"

She chuckled and turned back to her seat.

Yukine Kamishiro closed the book, and tucked the black-covered notebook into the deepest part of her desk.

Her movements were neither hurried nor slow, and there was nothing unusual about them.

But to Shimada Sho, it was so familiar.

She had the same expression and the same movements back when she was at Sacred Heart Girls' Academy.

After the bell rang to end the lunch break, the students returned to their seats one after another, and the classroom became lively again.

Hoshino Yuzuki turned around from the front row, holding an orange in her hand, and placed it on Shimada Sho's desk.

"My mom asked me to bring it." She finished speaking as usual, her gaze unconsciously drifting towards the direction of Yukine Kamishiro.

His eyes revealed intense hostility.

Unfortunately, this time, the young lady kept her head down and didn't look at her at all.

"Hmph!" Hoshino Yuuki snorted coldly and sat down in a huff.

The first class in the afternoon is Chinese.

When Natsumi Yonekura entered the classroom carrying a stack of new materials, she stood on the podium and announced, "Today we will have a group discussion. Each group will divide the work and ask each other questions about the weak points of the last quiz."

The sounds of tables and chairs being moved rose and fell, and Shimada Sho subconsciously glanced at Kamishiro Yukine behind him.

She was putting her table next to his, her movements fluid and her expression natural, a stark contrast to her previous cold and aloof demeanor.

But Shimada Sho noticed that she didn't look at him once the entire time.