——"Last time Sayu-san went to Yusuke's apartment, I didn't receive any notice from everyone. In that case, why should I disclose my affairs?"
Facing Hui's rebuttal, Shiyu let out a short sneer through her nose.
"Do you understand what you are talking about? It is my right as a girlfriend to take whomever I want to take to Yu-chan. Why should I care about you, an outsider who is neither a relative nor a friend?"
"I never said that Kasumigaoka-senpai must take care of me. Of course I understand that, and I won't complain about it, let alone make any selfish, willful and unreasonable demands."
Hui paused for a moment before speaking in a firm tone and said:
"However, I am also involved in Miss Sayu's matter. Even if you refuse to admit it, Kasumigaoka-senpai, this will not change."
"..."
Shiyu curled his lips disdainfully and did not deny this objective fact.
Although she was reluctant to admit it, as someone who had personally experienced someone's decadent period, Hui did play a vital positive influence and could not be ignored.
She didn't think this was the credit of the other party alone. After all, she, Kano-chano, Eri-ri, and the Sangoshu brothers also had help.
But on the contrary, she also had to admit one thing——
That is, without this girl, someone would not have recovered so quickly.
When faced with Kato Yusuke's self-destructive state at that time, Megumi was the only being who could have an impact on him.
Perhaps from that moment on, the heroine has already obtained that special ticket to happiness, and she can only be regarded as the one who got away by luck.
'This feels really bad...'
Shiyu bit her lower lip gently, unconsciously stretched her hand to the teacup, and drank the tea in a low voice.
"Can I ask? Kato-kun."
Hasumi Kanoko suddenly spoke, filling the gap in front of her and attracting everyone's attention.
"As for what happened when we went to Kato-kun's apartment, I'm a little curious about your thoughts."
"Are you angry that Xiaoshi didn't invite you? Or do you feel sad that you were excluded by everyone? Or are you dissatisfied with Kato-kun for not telling you at the first time?"
She raised three fingers in turn and asked with interest: "Among these three options, which one is the most difficult for you to mind?"
Hui was slightly startled, "Huh? Why do you ask...?"
"Because you obviously care about this matter, otherwise you wouldn't go hiking with Kato-kun, right? That really doesn't seem like a decision that you, a cautious person, would make." Kanoko Hasumi asserted.
"..."
Megumi clasped his hands on the coffee table and said in silence, "...It's actually not that complicated. I just hope that Yusuke can report to me, contact me, and discuss it when he encounters a problem."
"Huh? No, why did the conversation suddenly turn into the workplace culture?" Ying Lili couldn't help complaining.
"But, but, "newspaper liaison business" is recognized by society and is the most effective way of communication." Hui said nonchalantly.
"Tsk, it's this rhetoric again..."
Shiyu clicked his tongue in disgust and put down the cup heavily.
"You just said before that you don't want others to judge your love. Are you going to slap yourself in the face so soon? Your words, deeds and logic are completely contradictory. You just enjoy being ambiguous with Yu-chan and let him be with you all the time.
Are you all thinking of you?"
"I didn't think about it that way! I just-"
"Just what?"
"…………nothing."
Hui shook his head slightly, but in the end he didn't say the second half of the sentence - "I've just been waiting for Yusuke to confess."
Her eyes became dim and unclear, and her fingers clenched unconsciously.
If possible, she hopes more than anyone else to end the ambiguous state with that person as soon as possible, but this is not something she can decide alone.
Hasumi Kanoko pinched her chin thoughtfully and said strangely: "If I haven't misunderstood very outrageously...Kato-san actually hopes that Kato-kun can contact you and report everything to you?"
"Eh? Wha, what? Is what Kano-chan said true? Kei——!" Eiri asked in disbelief.
"Then, that's because... Yusuke and I still have the relationship of supervisor and supervised... Is this normal?"
"Supervisor and supervisee? What is that!? I have never heard of it!"
"This, this..."
Hui picked up the tea cup hastily, drinking tea to cover up her embarrassment, then put down the cup with a "clack" and deliberately put on an impatient expression.
"After all, what we were originally going to discuss today was about the future, right? Why did it become a matter between Yusuke and me?"
Shiyu snorted coldly: "Who told you, Kato-kun, to hide so many things?"
"I didn't..." Hui reached out to the tea cup again and defended without confidence.
So Shiyu continued to press: "Oh? Didn't you come to cook for Yu-chan every week? Didn't you move secretly behind our backs? Didn't you secretly spend the night in Yu-chan's apartment?"
Eirili: "Sneaking the night away——!?"
"That, that's..."
The sudden revelation made Hui a little confused and embarrassed, not knowing how to respond, but Shiyu would not give her any chance to breathe.
"It's no use pretending. You gave me the shampoo at Yu-chan's house, right? There's also a bath towel in the closet that belongs to you, right?"
"Well...I will not make any comments or react to this matter!"
"Liar, there are so many things about Hui that I don't know..." Ying Lili murmured, feeling overwhelmed by the barrage of shocking information.
"Is there any problem? Don't you all have your own bond and time with Yusuke? Will you make them all public?" Kei said coldly, trying to end the topic.
"Are you jealous?" A sadistic smile appeared on Shiyu's face.
"So, don't think about it that way..."
"Oh? Then do you dare to swear? Do you swear that the relationship between you and Yu-chan is pure and innocent, and that you have not taken any step beyond your reach, nor have you done any physical contact between lovers, such as kissing?"
"Megumi? Have you and Yusuke ever kissed——??" Eiri yelled.
"...I already said I wouldn't make any comments, right?"
"Don't say that, Kato-san~" Kanoko Hasumi said with a smile: "We won't ask in-depth questions. You just need to answer "yes" or "yes". Please be sure to talk."
"Is there any difference between these two answers...?"
Contrary to the enthusiastic performance of the two, Hui's attitude became increasingly cold.
"I'm sorry, please tell me how many times I have to reject this topic before it ends."
Shiyu asked: "Do you find it difficult to answer?"
"Because no matter what I say, it will reveal my personal privacy, right? So I won't answer. This topic ends here..."
"In other words, in your opinion, is it better to maintain the suspicion that you kissed Yu-chan?"
"Eh……?"
"In your subconscious mind, as long as you deny the fact of kissing, there is basically no secret left. Can I understand it this way?"
Hasashi's eyes lit up when he saw Kanoko, and she sincerely praised: "Oh, it is indeed a small poem!"
Eirili held her head in worry, puzzled, "Wait a minute, Kano-chan, how do you understand this...?"
So Shiyu further explained:
"In other words, Kato-san actually thought this way from beginning to end——
I hope Yu-chan can regard her as a special being and firmly believe that she is Yu-chan's true love."
"——!"
Faced with this pointed accusation, Hui's face turned slightly pale, her lips pursed tightly, and she lowered her head in silence.
"Eh? Wait, eh -? Hui, does that really mean what you think...?" Ying Lili murmured, not wanting to believe it all.
Once this assumption is established, it means that what Shiyu told her before is true - her best friend will not allow anyone to share her love.
Shiyu asked persistently: "Did you hear that? Kato-kun, Sawamura is asking you? Aren't you going to answer her?"
A brief silence.
"...So what if yes?"
The girl slowly raised her head, a look of indifference and anger appeared on her face, and she looked directly at Shiyu.
"No matter what I think about Yusuke, it's my own business. There's no reason for everyone to use a magnifying glass to observe it, right? Kasumigaoka-senpai, can you stop meddling in my own business?"
She said in an uncharacteristically strong tone, the anger in her heart had reached such a level.
"Oh, I'm sorry you can speak to me in such a condescending tone, Kato-san."
Shiyu narrowed his eyes, and the fierceness in his heart turned into a voice.
"Obviously you are a cunning, selfish woman who is not even polite to your close friends and just wants to eat her own way. Why are you pretending to be harmless here? You shameless landmine girl——!"
Her voice echoed in the living room, as if even the air was shaking slightly, full of rage.
Even under such circumstances, Megumi still chose to fight head-on.
"What's wrong with being selfish? Isn't love meant for both parties to treat each other wholeheartedly? It's Kasumigaoka-senpai you who have the problem, right—!"
"This is modern society. Why do you accept that many people socialize together? I really don't understand what you are thinking at all... This kind of thing is simply too strange-!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence dominated the living room, and a tense atmosphere enveloped everyone, making everyone feel dry.
Hasumi Kanoko and Eiri looked at each other, and the sound of tragic artillery fire seemed to rumble in their minds.
Shiyu was silent for a while, then spoke again with an expressionless face.
"That's just your idea, Kato-san. We're not forcing you to do anything. If you don't want to, you can just leave Yu-chan like this, but you chose another path, so we can only treat you as
enemy."
"But, Kasumigaoka-senpai... in the games we make, although there are many female characters, there will always be only one person who can be with the male protagonist in the end. This is an absolute setting."
"That's why you don't want to give up the leading role to anyone? No matter if the other person is an elder, a senior, or a close friend?"
"Um……"
Hui sighed and agreed. There was a firmness in her weak voice, and she said from the bottom of her heart:
"I think this is the nature of the heroine. No matter how much she values her friends and partners, when friendship and love are placed on both sides of the balance, she must choose the male protagonist..."
Her eyes were slightly moist, her cheeks were tinged with crimson, and her delicate lips opened and closed slightly, inexplicably emitting a dazzling light like a heroine.
There was a moment of confusion in Shiyu's eyes, and she felt a little distracted by the amorous feelings she inadvertently revealed. The other two people also had similar expressions to hers.
She calmed down, cursed secretly as a vixen, and then deliberately put on a serious face to break the atmosphere.
"Are you still insisting on this statement? I might as well tell you that Yu-chan has accepted Sawamura now?"
"Eh?"
Hui's body trembled imperceptibly, and her eyes subconsciously focused on Eiri, "Yusuke, did you accept Eiri...?"
Yinglili was a little at a loss about this, she blushed and lowered her head so as not to look at her.
In contrast, Shiyu declared happily: "In this case, your wishful thinking will almost come to nothing, Kato-kun~"
"Senior Kasumigaoka..."
Hui murmured, suddenly thinking of the scene on Mount Fuji, and the color drained from her face.
Shiyu keenly captured this change, and his smile became more and more proud.
"Oh~ you look shaken? Oh, no wonder you are so panicked.
From the moment Sawamura and I met, I felt the destiny from Yuu-chan;
Xiaoyanai went through a lot of setbacks before he and Yu-chan became successful;
Even Benisaka Akane and Shinjou-san have their own opportunities.
Compared to us, Kato-san, there is absolutely no drama between you and Yuu-chan~"
'This is already a one-sided bullying...'
Seeing Kanoko thinking this, Hassan winked at Shiyu desperately, trying to stop her from beating the drowned dog.
at this time--
"What does that have to do with me...?"
Hui picked up the cup and took a sip of tea, then deliberately spoke in a calm tone.
"To everyone, Yusuke may be a unique and different person, but to me, even if he is not that special... rather, I actually don't want him to be that special at all..."
She stared down at the tea cup, trying her best to suppress the emotions surging inside her. Her eyes began to heat up and her voice trembled slightly.
"You may not be able to accept it, you may be disgusted with me, but... what does this have to do with me -!"
Shiyu couldn't help but shrink back. What she was going to say was stuck in her throat, so she could only let Hui continue.
"I never thought that Yusuke had to be special. He didn't need to be so handsome, good at sports, or good at studying... I just wanted him to be ordinary..."
"So, Yusuke... Yusuke... he is my only Yusuke. Others... I don't care about so much——!"
Along with the suddenly raised voice, the long-suppressed emotions burst out at this moment, and mixed with sobs, rushed out of the girl's mouth.
There was silence all around, everyone was dumbfounded watching Hui's sudden outburst and loss of voice.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha……"
Hui smiled softly, somewhat masochistically, and her tears fell down her face like broken beads, causing ripples on the calm water of the teacup.
"I'm sorry... I still said something ugly... Well, uh-huh, uh-huh..."
Her shoulders were shaking, her nasal sounds and tears were swelling as she sobbed, and her voice was full of loneliness and sadness, but she still continued to speak.
"Maybe I...can't really feel the fate from Yusuke like everyone else. Maybe there just isn't that kind of drama between me and him..."
"But... I just like him like that. I liked him long before you met him..."
"Obviously what I pursue is just this kind of ordinary happiness... Why do I have to endure those setbacks? Why... I have to watch Yusuke accept you one by one! Wuwu... Wuwu..."
Tears welled up in a steady stream from his eyes, which had already exceeded the level of sobbing.
Kei just cried and cried without caring about her personal image, venting her complaints that were terrible in every sense of the word.
Faced with her crying, everyone was a little at a loss.
Seeing Kanoko's wry smile, Hassan felt sympathy gradually welling up in her heart and stopped talking.
Eiriri's eyes widened in astonishment, her mouth opened, and she swallowed unconsciously. She suddenly remembered that Sawamura Sayuri had reminded her that the girls around Kato Yusuke were too stimulating.
Even Hui, who was usually so light-hearted, now exuded such obsession that it was so heavy that it made people feel suffocated, and it really made people dare not accept it...
Suddenly, Shiyu sneered and broke the silence.
"I didn't expect you to confess to this extent. According to your thoughts, Kato-kun, you will never win. No matter how much Yuu-chan likes you, he will never give up on us."
"There's no need for Kasumigaoka-senpai to worry about that kind of thing..."
"Tsk, your arrogant attitude is that you think that others are not of concern, and you firmly believe that Yuu-chan will choose you in the end?"
"..."
Hui silently wiped away her tears and softened her attitude a little.
"Sorry, let's put that kind of thing aside for now... Since the purpose of our gathering today is for the future, then I want to discuss something with you."
She took a deep breath to calm herself down and solemnly made a proposal that was beyond everyone's expectations.
"Senior Kasumigaoka, I hope you can serve as a representative and consider joining forces with me."