I endured the humiliation and humiliation while being besieged by the ghost story elder sister.

however.

"Huh? Nozomi, what are you doing here?"

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Nozomi turned her head sharply and saw Hanako, who was also there to buy something at the convenience store, carrying a bag in her hand.

It was filled with snacks, which looked like her food reserves for the next few days, Ximiao couldn't help but think.

"What a coincidence, Ms. Hanako, are you here to buy snacks for the next few days?"

Pulling himself back from his wandering thoughts, he greeted his strategist with a smile, but his eyes kept glancing at the bag of snacks in her hand.

Seemingly noticing the boy's somewhat strange gaze, Hanako quickly reached out to cover her snacks, and then said in a serious tone.

"No matter how much you want it, I won't share it with you! This is money I earned from working hard as a game booster to buy snacks!"

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in Hanako-san's snacks. I'm just a little curious, do you eat this as a meal?"

If it weren't for the fact that Hanako-san's figure is slightly plump, and that her over-the-knee socks even leave a shallow mark on her fair thighs, he would have really thought that Hanako-san was malnourished because she ate snacks instead of meals for a long time.

Upon hearing Ximiao's doubts, she became somewhat arrogant, patted her chest, and confidently declared.

"I'm a ghost, you know~ Ghosts don't need to eat. I'm just satisfying my taste buds and want to taste something."

"Eh--"

This was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. He had to admit, it sounded pretty impressive; at least it saved him a significant amount of money on meals.

Thinking that since they had met, they might as well walk together and chat for a while, Hanako asked about the recent situation of Nozomi's relationship with Honoka and Arisa.

After all, the boy would often come to visit her with desserts, so as her strategist, she had to fulfill her duties.

But what neither of them expected was...

"Who is that girl?"

"I don't know, I don't know which class she's in, but why does she seem so close to Himo? Should we go tell Arisa?"

Behind them, several girls who were in the same class as Nozomi noticed him walking with Hanako and couldn't help but start talking about it.

However, their idea of ​​tattleing on Arisa was quickly dissuaded by another girl who was more clear-headed.

"Have you forgotten the last time someone went to tell Arisa on someone, only to find out it was just a misunderstanding?"

Upon hearing this, the girls, who had been chattering and discussing what to do, immediately fell silent.

The girl continued, "Let's follow them and see. If they don't do anything out of line, then they're just ordinary acquaintances walking together, and we've misunderstood."

As soon as he finished speaking, he received unanimous approval from the other girls.

And so, without Hiyo and Hanako's knowledge, a group of girls suddenly appeared behind them, secretly following them.

Fortunately, the interactions between Nozomi and Hanako are really just simple verbal exchanges.

Until Mio and Hanako parted ways, he returned to the classroom with two still slightly chilled bottles of orange juice, without doing anything strange with Hanako.

This inevitably disappointed the girls who were planning to just watch the drama unfold.

"What... It really was just a friend I ran into by chance. I thought that Nozomi-san never talked to any other girls except for Arisa."

If Ximiao were to hear these girls' stereotypes about her, she would probably have a good argument with them.

"No, we can't just go back like this! Let's go see which class that girl is in!"

Without further ado, they followed Hanako to the restroom and watched as she walked into the men's room.

Everyone was immediately dumbfounded, wondering if they had seen something wrong.

However, this is none of Mio's business, since Hanako-san doesn't need to communicate with anyone else anyway.

As for the consequences, a new ghost story about the toilet appeared on the school's social media platform.

the other side.

Carrying two bottles of chilled orange juice, Nozomi returned to the classroom and saw that Arisa had already finished chatting with someone and returned to her seat.

For some reason, a strange idea suddenly came to his mind.

He deliberately walked behind the girl, picked up one of the orange juice bottles, and, taking advantage of Arisa's momentary inattention, pressed the cool bottle against the girl's cheek.

Almost instantly, Arisa instinctively shivered, then looked back somewhat angrily. Upon discovering it was Nozomi, her previously angry face immediately changed expression.

"What are you doing, Mio!"

The girl scolded playfully.

However, she accepted the orange juice from Ximiao and made room for Ximiao to return to her seat.

"I was just thinking of teasing you, Arisa~ When I got back, I saw you looking so sad. Did things not go well at the school festival?"

"No, it's just that things have suddenly become more numerous, and it feels a bit troublesome."

She opened the bottle and took a big gulp of the cool, sweet and sour orange juice. She breathed a sigh of relief. Although she had a lot to do, she could endure it for the sake of her goal.

"Oh right, I was wondering why I hadn't seen you earlier, Mio. Turns out you went to the convenience store to buy a drink."

As she spoke, her delicate hand, which had been holding the bottle, became somewhat cold, whether out of revenge or to tease Ximiao, it was unclear.

Taking advantage of the boy's momentary lapse in attention, she placed her small hand on Xi Ling's thigh. Although there were pants between them, it was still enough to startle him.

"So, since you're talking about opening a themed café, have you decided on what theme you want it to be?"

Somewhat curious, Hio looked at Arisa beside her and asked.

"We haven't decided on a theme yet, but we're already listing out what materials we need to prepare for opening a coffee shop."

Seeing that Nozomi seemed interested in these things, Arisa patiently explained the cultural festival to him.

This can be considered as making up for the regret that Mio has never participated in a cultural festival before.

Chapter Forty-Six: Checking the Phone

"Fanxia-nee~ I'm back!"

As the boy's familiar voice rang out in the room, Fanxia, ​​who had been lying weakly on the sofa watching TV, suddenly sat up.

Then she responded, "Welcome back, Mio~"

Fanxia was incredibly bored today. She originally wanted to find her editor to chat about her new work, but when she called, she learned that her editor, Ms. Jiangli, had gone back to her hometown for the Lunar New Year and hadn't finished her vacation yet.

She had no choice but to give up on the matter and just stayed at home idly, waiting for Ximiao to get out of school.

At the entrance, Xi Ling took off her shoes, picked up her schoolbag, and walked into the living room. Her cute face showed a rare look of fatigue.

This made Fan Xia a little confused; what was wrong with him?

"Mio? You look so tired today. Did something happen at school?"

Hearing that Fanxia was worried about her, and fearing that she might be misunderstood, Ximiao quickly explained.

"No, it's because there was so much to prepare for the school festival, so I was dragged along to help out, and I'm only just getting back now... Arisa made up an excuse, saying she had to go to club activities, and escaped... Damn it!"

The thought of Arisa running away without a second thought, surrounded by several class committee members after school, made him furious.

So much so that when they were on the train just now, Ximiao pinched her ticklish spot several times, making the girl make some embarrassing sounds, but it still wasn't enough to vent her anger.

But he had already exhausted all his labor power and had no energy left to continue, so he let Arisa go.

After hearing Nozomi's explanation, Honoka looked thoughtful, seemingly lost in thought.

She spoke softly from the sofa.

"The cultural festival... has it been announced when?"

"It will probably be three or four weeks from now, but we haven't given you the exact time yet."

As Xi Ling sat down on the sofa, she rubbed her sore shoulders and sighed again.

"By the way, Fanxia-nee, are you free today?"

"Eh?"

Fanxia was taken aback by Ximiao's sudden remark. Even she herself began to doubt herself. Was her slacking off really that obvious?

As a result, Nozomi simply pointed to the mountain of orange peels and snack wrappers on the table not far away.

"Look... the evidence is right there, are you still trying to deny it, Fanxia-nee?"

"..."

Miscalculation!

I should have tidied up properly before Mio came back.

Fanxia couldn't help but think this.

However, she still had a way to regain her dignity in front of Nozomi.

Taking advantage of a moment when Xi Ling wasn't paying attention, she suddenly pushed him hard, pinning him down on the soft sofa.

"Sister Fanxia?"

"Shh~ Since you're so tired, Mio, let me treat you after a relaxing day~"

As soon as she finished speaking, that restless, slightly cold little hand pulled up his pants, demanding that he pay today's "rent".

a long time.

In the kitchen, as if nothing was wrong, Himiko, wearing an apron, stood in front of the stove and was preparing dinner.

As for Fanxia-nee...

She's still slumped on the sofa, seemingly not recovered yet. If Hio Mio were to comment, she'd be just like Arisa—

Good food and fun-loving.

However, he didn't have any objections. For some reason, he felt that his physical condition was much better than before.

Even my physical strength has improved compared to before, even though I haven't done any exercise...

After Xi Ling finished preparing dinner and brought the dishes to the living room table one by one, Fan Xia also came to her senses and slowly sat up.

Then, she saw Ximiao's light blue eyes staring straight at her, and she couldn't help but ask in confusion.

"What's wrong?"