Unlimited Ambition

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For the next few days, Ruizi didn't appear before me. When I called, she would say she wasn't feeling well and hang up quickly. I asked Chuchun, and found out she hadn't been to school for the past few days either. It seems the problem is getting a little serious.

So I found out where Ruiko lived from Haruharu. But after thinking about it, it didn't seem right to go alone. So I made an appointment with Haruharu to visit her in the hospital together.

It's this kind of run-down little apartment... I had pretty much guessed it, but seeing it still makes me sigh. Academy City, such a hierarchical society.

Looking at the dilapidated apartment with half of the paint peeling off the walls, I thought to myself as I walked with Haru to the door of Ruiko's room and rang the doorbell.

"Forget about subscribing to the newspaper..."

A weak, tearful voice came from inside the room.

"It's me, Ruiko," Haru said, raising her voice slightly.

"What's going on? It's Chuchun." The voice grew closer, and then the door opened. Tear, disheveled and looking haggard, appeared before us, rubbing her eyes. When she saw me, she froze—then closed the door.

"Hey, Ruizi, open the door, Ruizi! It's me, Wright. I've come to visit you!" I knocked hard on the door and shouted.

"What?! What's going on?! Why is Senior Wright here?! How am I supposed to show my face like this?! And this room..."

Tears welled up as she looked at the room, which hadn't been tidied in ages—a perfect illustration of the principle that entropy increases. The room was a complete mess. She suddenly felt that if she saw this, she'd rather just kill herself.

"I'll risk it all!" Tears gritted her teeth and unleashed the forbidden magic of Death Storm once more, restoring all the empty lunchboxes, instant noodle containers, scraps of paper, and other miscellaneous items in the room. Then, she strained to control her magic, compressing these things into balls. She opened the window and threw them out.

After finishing all that, Ruizi looked at her disheveled appearance and hesitated for a moment. Then she remembered that she was faking illness. This was the normal way to look. Only then did she open the door.

"Oh, it's Wright-senpai and Haru-kun. Welcome!" She forced a smile and ushered us inside.

"Huh? Ruiko, your house is surprisingly clean." Haru seemed to have visited Ruiko's house before, so she was quite surprised by how tidy the room was, with absolutely no trash.

"Hahahaha... What are you talking about, Haru? Is something wrong with my room?" Ruiko said with a forced smile.

"What? She never cleans. I always have to come and help her clean." Chu Chun pouted and said.

"Raiko, is what Haru said true?" I asked, pretending not to know the situation.

"How could that be... Come over here for a moment, Haruhi." Ruiko immediately pulled Haruhi aside and whispered something in her ear.

"Did you know in advance that Wright-senpai was coming, so you cleaned up?" Haruhi whispered. "That's so cunning."

"Even so," Ruiko said softly, "can you give me some face?"

"Lying is wrong. Since it's a mistake you made, you should be brave enough to take responsibility." Chu Chun gave Lei Zi a moral lesson.

"These are two different things, okay?!" Ruiko's voice rose slightly in her anxiety. She then looked at me nervously. Seeing that I seemed fine, she continued, "Please, please, Haru, this is a serious matter that could affect my impression of Senior Wright. Please, have mercy on me."

Chu Chun did some mental calculations: "Then if you don't lift my skirt casually from now on, I'll agree to your request."

"No." Ruizi refused decisively.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Tearful Decision

After that, Ruiko and Hatsuharu were pinching each other's faces and pulling hard. Neither would let go. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore and gave each of them a chop to the neck, separating them.

But to be honest, this kind of arrangement is quite interesting. The moment Ruiko opened the door, I already memorized the room's layout. It was indeed as messy as Haru had said. It didn't feel like a youthful girl at all.

After Ruiko closed the door, I felt an extremely strong magical fluctuation in the room. When I opened the door again, the room was as clean as if a typhoon had passed through.

Magic, perhaps.

I'm teaching you these things not so you can use them in this kind of situation.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

I just glanced at Tears' condition. He's a perfectly healthy child. There's no sign of illness at all. If I had to say anything, it's just that he's been staying home for a few days, so he seems a little down, that's all.

A little brat who doesn't want to go to school? No, no, no, Ruiko is much more mature than her age. Both internally and externally.

In other words, this child is avoiding me.

Ha ha.

I was a little smug.

After that, Haruharu realized that Ruiko wasn't seriously injured and appropriately expressed her dissatisfaction. So Ruiko suggested that, as an apology, she would cook dinner for me and Haruharu herself.

"Huh? Is your real purpose to apologize to me? That's suspicious." Haru continued to express her doubts: "Also, can you even cook? You don't just throw together some random stuff, add some leftovers, stir-fry it up, and then declare it your creation, do you?"

For some reason, Chu Chun suddenly became much more sarcastic.

"Hehehehe, how could that be? This is a special technique that I've been diligently studying for months to master. It's definitely not at the level of fried rice you described, Haruhi." Ruiko said.

"Huh? Ruiko, who is usually clumsy, is actually claiming that she has put a lot of effort into cooking? That's really a miracle."

"Don't underestimate me! I've been trained too!" Ruiko became full of fighting spirit: "But you, Haru, make such big claims, I wonder if you have enough ability."

"Do you want to fight?" Chu Chun stood up and slammed her hand on the table.

"Bring it on, who's afraid of who?!" Ruizi stood up and slammed her hand on the table even harder than Chuchun.

I rolled my eyes, then slowly stood up and delivered two karate chop blows to their heads.

"Sit down and talk properly." I rolled my eyes, stopping the two girls from arguing again.

"Alright, let's settle this with a cooking contest!" Ruiko said confidently.

“That suits me perfectly!” Chu Chun quickly agreed to the challenge.

“…Senior Wright!” Both girls turned to look at me at the same time.

"I don't really care. But it's almost six o'clock. I don't want to wait too long... How about we finish within half an hour?"

"Mmm!" The two girls nodded at the same time, and then ran into the small kitchen of less than five square meters with great momentum. Without even tying on their aprons, they started a fierce cooking competition.

I yawned. Then I felt a little bored. How did things get to this point? These two kids usually get along really well.

As I thought this, I grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table, turned on the TV, and watched it only sporadically.

Half an hour later...

"Is it ready yet?" I asked, feeling a little hungry.

"It'll be ready soon, please be patient a little longer," came Chuchun's voice from the kitchen.

Oh well, I'll wait a bit longer then. I yawned and then flipped through the TV channels. I watched two idiotic comedians on screen, then switched to the news. I'll just watch whatever.

"The Vatican issued a statement strongly condemning Jerusalem's recent actions of driving up international oil prices."

...Please, that's just you guys joking around, okay?

"Academy City has unveiled its latest weapon platform, which has attracted strong interest from all major military powers."

Hmm... what kind of junk is Aleister trying to cash in on this time?

"A Russian military spokesperson denied that the recent troop buildup was a signal of war, saying it was just a normal military exercise and rotation. Other countries have no reason to make a fuss."

Russia? What are those guys up to?

And just like that, another half hour passed.

"...Is it ready yet?" I urged again.

At this moment, Chuchun and Ruizi, who had made a mess of the kitchen, looked at each other in bewilderment.

"What should we do? In this state, let alone cooking delicious food, we won't even have time to make fried rice," Chu Chun whispered.

"It's all because you messed things up and ruined the miso soup I made," Ruiko retorted softly.

"How can you blame me?! It was you, Ruizi, who started by insisting on trying my hot pot!"

"The ingredients are all from my own home. Let me taste them first and see if there's anything wrong with them!"

"No! Senior Wright must be the first to taste it!"

"What are you planning?! Lightning-senpai is dating Misaka-senpai!"

"Tears, what nonsense are you spouting..."

The two girls argued quietly for a while, then fell silent. Their faces turned red.

"Not... done yet?" I probably already knew what had happened. I rolled my eyes and took out my phone to order takeout.

"What do we do now? Should we admit our mistake? Is admitting our mistake the only option?" Chu Chun whispered.

"But... but won't that lower my score in Light's eyes?" Ruiko said.

"What time is it for you, you idiot?!" Chu Chun muttered under her breath.

"Fine, fine, let them die then." Ruiko reluctantly agreed. Afterwards, the two little girls, like any child who had done something wrong, lowered their heads and shuffled over.

"This situation is..." Although I basically understood what had happened, I still held back my laughter and pretended not to know anything, asking this question.

The two girls pushed and shoved each other for a while. Then, seeing that they could no longer hide it, they finally revealed the truth.

"It's all this guy's fault!"

The two girls pointed at each other and said this at the same time.

"Huh?" I almost burst out laughing.

"It's all because you messed things up and ruined the miso soup I made," Ruiko retorted softly.

"How can you blame me?! It was you, Ruizi, who started by insisting on trying my hot pot!"

"The ingredients are all from my own home. Let me taste them first and see if there's anything wrong with them!"

"No! Senior Wright must be the first to taste it!"

"What are you planning?! Lightning-senpai is dating Misaka-senpai!"

"Tears, what nonsense are you spouting..."

The two girls repeated their argument from the kitchen. Then they suddenly realized there were some things they couldn't say in front of me. They blushed and became flustered.

Just then, the doorbell rang again, breaking the deadlock.

Judging by the time, the takeout has arrived.

After that, I opened the door, took the three takeout meals, paid for them, and closed the door.

"I knew it would turn out like this." I rolled my eyes. Then I went back to sit down.

"Eh? Did Senior Wright foresee this development pattern beforehand?" Haru seemed very excited, looking at me with admiring eyes.

"...What? I prepared for so long..." Ruiko looked dejected.