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

However, the most important thing right now is to eat, and it would be better to put these strange things aside for the time being.

Seeing that Xi Ling didn't continue arguing with her, Fan Xia just smiled and didn't say anything more. She obediently sat on the cushion at the table, waiting for Xi Ling to open the pizza box.

"By the way, Arisa's coming over later, right? Mio, why don't you go put on your panties now?"

"Oh? Right... I almost forgot about that."

If he stays tense all afternoon, he'll definitely mail it, absolutely...

"Okay, I'm going to get dressed now. Fanxia-nee, wait for me to come back before we start eating! Definitely!"

"Okay, okay, I won't steal any more food."

Chapter Sixty-Eight: An Embarrassing Gymnastics Class

on Monday.

The enjoyable weekend is over, and it's time to go back to school and study hard again.

However, this is indeed a bit difficult for Nozomi.

Leaving aside that night of indulgence with Honoka, he was then relentlessly pursued by Arisa and Honoka, giving him no chance to rest.

So much so that when students entered the classroom of Class 1-A, they would see him lying on his desk, looking listless, which was quite unusual.

"Strange... Is Nozomi sick or feeling unwell?"

"I don't think so. Didn't you see Arisa sitting calmly next to him? I guess they're just a young couple who stayed up too late handing in their homework last night."

Several girls were whispering about what was happening in front of them, and although they were speaking very quietly, Arisa still heard them.

The girl glanced at him helplessly, while Xi Ling beside her seemed equally puzzled as to why he was so listless.

Soon, as the school bell rang, the girls' soft murmurs came to an abrupt end.

Ximiao, who had been slumped over her desk, forced herself to stay focused and attend class diligently, determined to secure her scholarship.

then.

During lunch break, after hastily eating a few bites of his bento, he no longer had the energy to wonder how his classmates would view him.

He lay down directly on Arisa's lap, a faint, sweet scent of orange perfume lingering around his nose.

Before long, Arisa heard the boy's breathing on her lap gradually becoming even and steady.

"Really... Could it be that I didn't sleep well last night, that's why I look so tired?"

Because Nozomi didn't eat much, there's still more than half of the two-person bento box left, which Arisa needs to finish.

She tried her best to be careful not to let any grains of rice fall onto Xi Ling's face, while her other hand gently stroked his soft, light golden hair.

It gives the impression that she's eating snacks and petting cats at a cat cafe.

Taking this opportunity, Arisa also observed Nozomi's sleeping face. Although the boy was not usually the lively and active type, he gave her a completely different feeling when he was asleep and when he was awake.

After she finished eating her lunchbox and put it away, she leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and dozed off.

Because of the promise she made with her mother, she studied hard in her room until quite late last night. Although she wasn't as extreme as Nozomi, she still couldn't help feeling sleepy.

The two of them took a nap and slept until the school bell rang again.

Before they could even get up, several girls walked over and patted Arisa on the shoulder to remind her.

"Arisa-san? We should head to the changing room to change into our swimsuits. We have PE class next! It's a rare treat to have some time to play at the swimming pool!"

"Ah? Okay, I'll go now."

A short while later, the girls picked up their swimsuits, left the classroom, and headed to the changing room.

As for Nozomi and the other boys, they just changed their clothes in the classroom. However, Nozomi didn't take off her clothes immediately. Instead, she stared blankly at the scenery outside the window.

Seeing this, the others didn't bother with him, assuming he was just groggy and needed to calm down.

then.

Soon, after the other boys had changed their clothes, they couldn't wait to leave the classroom and head towards the indoor swimming pool.

For them, even though the girls' swimsuits were the conservative school swimsuits, they were still alluring.

But Nozomi wasn't interested in that at all...

If he were to take a swimming lesson, he would inevitably be wearing only a pair of swim trunks, with no coverage on his upper body whatsoever.

The band-aids that I've always worn during school hours, from before until now, are probably no longer effective.

If it weren't for the swimming lesson, he would have almost forgotten about this whole thing.

Thinking of this, Ximiao sighed silently, then reached out and slowly took off her school uniform shirt, neatly folded it, and placed it on the table.

Then there were those two band-aids, which served their purpose perfectly.

……

"Arisa? Who are you looking for?"

A few girls sitting by the pool, splashing around in the water, looked curiously at Arisa, who was looking around, and asked her quietly.

"I'm looking for Ximiao! It's been so long, why hasn't he changed his clothes yet?"

"Mio-kun..."

Hearing what Arisa said, everyone began to look forward to seeing Nozomi arrive in her swim trunks. In perfect unison, they searched among the group of silly boys around them, who were childishly fooling around, trying to get the attention of the girls they liked.

Logically speaking, as the only golden retriever among them, she should have been quite conspicuous, but after searching for a while, they still couldn't find Ximiao.

Just as Arisa was about to go back to the classroom to take another look.

A thin figure wrapped in a towel stealthily opened the door of the indoor swimming pool, trying not to attract attention, wanting to find a quiet corner to wait for the teacher to come and start the lesson.

However, his little scheme was destined to fail the moment Arisa saw it.

The girl, who had precisely locked onto her target, suddenly stood up and walked towards Ximiao, attracting the attention of those around her.

"Mio~ what's with that towel wrapped around your body?"

She looked at Himo with some curiosity and couldn't help but ask.

"...Come over here with me for a moment."

Instead of directly answering Arisa's question, Nozomi grabbed her wrist and led the girl to a corner where no one else could see her.

Then, he carefully unwrapped the towel from his body, exposing his youthful body to the air, leaving him with only a pair of swim trunks clinging to his skin as cover.

At first, Arisa didn't understand what Hio was doing, but after examining the boy's body for a while, she realized the key point and had a look of sudden realization on her face.

"Oh~ I see~ Mio, I almost forgot about this place until you mentioned it. I've already trained it into this state~"

"...That's so unfair."

Although it has been some time since Arisa paid special attention to this place, and with Nozomi herself taking good care of it, the situation is not as bad as before.

But it wasn't good enough that Nozomi could openly appear in front of her classmates in this state.

That's why he specifically brought Arisa here, hoping she could come up with a solution, such as some tricks unique to demons.

however.

"I'm sorry, Mio~ There's nothing I can do about this~ As the saying goes, just close your eyes and open them again, and bravely walk out!"

"There's no such saying... Couldn't they have saved me one last time?!"

The moment Xi Ling finished speaking, taking advantage of his momentary lapse in attention, Arisa grabbed his arm and pulled Xi Ling out of the corner.

Many eyes immediately fell on him, and a blush appeared on Ximiao's fair face.

All he heard was Arisa walk around behind him and whisper in his ear.

"It's alright~ They won't suspect that I've taken such good care of your 'that place', Mio~ If you want to fool others, you have to fool yourself first. Your strange behavior is bound to arouse suspicion~"

Hearing her say that, Ximiao was stunned for a moment. Then, she forced herself to straighten her back and pretend that nothing had happened.

However, what he didn't see was the unsettling, knowing smile on Arisa's face behind him, as if she were plotting something wicked.

The girls who saw Himiko in her swim trunks all focused their attention on the boy's chest.

"Wow, amazing... I didn't expect even over there to be... how should I put it? Cute?"

"It's a pity I can't bring my phone here, otherwise I would have risked getting beaten up by Arisa to take a few pictures."

Hearing the girls whispering, Xi Ling secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she realized they didn't see her as some strange boy.

Then, he suddenly turned his head and glared fiercely at Arisa, who had launched the surprise attack, as if questioning her about why she had pulled this stunt.

However, Arisa pretended not to see it, leaving Nozomi behind and walking towards her best friend.

Seeing this, Nozomi lost interest in chatting with others and simply sat down by the pool, splashing water silently to pass the time.

After a long time.

"Alright, students, please gather over here."

The teacher's voice, arriving late, rang out from not far away.

Because it was a swimming lesson, in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety, St. Martin's Private High School specifically hired several female teachers to teach the swimming lessons.

The appearance of the beautiful teacher instantly attracted the attention of all the boys except for Nozomi, which made the girls very unhappy.

Arisa, meanwhile, quietly turned her head to see how Nozomi would react, only to find him staring at the floor.

Seeing that he wasn't like the other boys, Arisa felt a sense of relief for some reason.

When they were paired up for warm-up exercises, she naturally walked up to Nozomi, the meaning of which was obvious without needing to be said.

The girls who had initially hoped to take advantage of the situation were secretly astonished, thinking to themselves that Arisa's possessiveness was a bit too strong.

However, they only complained a little and then ignored the young couple.

Out of sight, out of mind; I don't want to eat dog food anymore.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Touch It

"Mio~ Your skin is well-maintained~ It feels so smooth."

"Oh my~ Mio, why is your body temperature so high? It feels almost burning hot to the touch~"