What a twist! The loser heroine!

When Wen Shui accidentally let slip the secret, Jia Shu's smile vanished instantly.

"...Two games in a row (Doubleheader)?"

[Huh? It can't be referring to baseball, can it...?]

"Brother, please don't deceive yourself. It would be too sad to spend this precious weekend with imaginary friends in your head..."

"It's a real person!"

"Well! Then you should at least let Yoshiki know about Sunday's schedule. If you don't mind, Yoshiki can come along for the interview as well—"

Yoshiki pulled out a notebook from somewhere, looking anxious as if the situation was out of control.

"What's with this interview...?" Wen Shui gently nudged Yoshiki. "It's just a club activity. We're going to Nagoya with the members. Okay, I need to change, Yoshiki, you can go out now~"

"Yoshiki won't mind, will he?"

"Brother, I'll mind. Okay, let's go outside the room first."

"Meow--"

After letting out a cute, pitiful cry, Yoshiki was "blasted" out of the room by warm water. She stared at the tightly closed door, her brow furrowing nervously, then took out her phone and sent a message to her best friend.

Jia: "Xiao Quan, Xiao Quan, are you free on Sunday?"

Quan: "Yes, what's wrong?"

Jia: "I want to go to Nagoya."

Kwon: "Wow! Really?!"

~The Thirteenth Defeat~ A Professional Guide to Childhood Sweetheart Romance (Part 1)

On Saturday, May 3, 2021, the sun was surrounded by thin cirrocumulus clouds.

It rained last night, and the puddles on the road shimmered. The weather was cool.

[Dongtong Station, here we come! Dongtong Station, here we come!]

Wen Shui got off the tram, took out her phone to compare the location sent by Banami, and then walked towards the intersection ahead.

"Turn right at the next intersection and then—"

"Oh, Numizu-kun, you're here so early." Yana's voice suddenly rang out beside her.

Wen Shui quickly turned his head to look, and saw that Yanagi Anna, wearing a brown wool coat, was walking towards him while eating a skewer of takoyaki.

She put the last meatball into her mouth, threw the bamboo skewer into the trash can, and then looked Wen Shui up and down at her clothes today.

"Wow~ Wen Shui, you're usually not very noticeable in class, but you have surprisingly good taste in clothes," she said in surprise.

"No, that's not it." Wen Shui awkwardly tugged at the hem of her clothes and explained, "My sister helped me choose these clothes. The ones I picked myself seem to have some taboos."

"There are taboos about clothes? Tell me about it?" Banai asked curiously.

"Hmm... For example, T-shirts covered in skull patterns are said to make you look like a biker gang member, and green shirts with dragon designs are said to attract mosquitoes—"

"Pfft."

"Hanami-kun?"

"Well, um, Wenshui-kun," Banami said, suppressing a laugh, "from now on, it's best to have your sister give you more advice on what to wear..."

"But the skull..."

Wen Shui He Yan still refused to give up.

Banami gestured for everyone to stop: "Alright, alright. Let's put the skull topic aside for now~ This must be your first time here, right, Nukumi-kun?"

"I've been here before, but this is my first time at this dessert shop."

"I understand, then come with me."

Banami walked forward with the warm water and came to the quiet crossroads.

The traffic light at the intersection turned green, and Wen Shui took a step to walk away, but Banami suddenly stopped.

"Ah, Wen Shui, just a moment."

She grabbed Wen Shui's clothes and pulled him back from the roadside.

"Huh? What's up—"

"Wow!"

The speeding car sped past them, its tires kicking up water from the road. As Banami pulled them back, they narrowly avoided getting their pants dirty, or perhaps being sent to another world.

Running a red light?!

"Wow...you've been a huge help, Banami-kun," Wen Shui said, still shaken.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. People often run red lights in the morning, I had a feeling so I was extra vigilant," Banai said with a smile. "Warm Water, remember to pay more attention to where you're going next time!"

"I will be more careful, thank you so much for your help."

"Don't use so many honorifics."

Banami turned and walked forward, carrying warm water as she wandered between office buildings and crossed two intersections.

Finally, we stopped in front of a dessert shop called "Chika Seika".

Standing under the canopy extending from the storefront, Hachimi took the lead and pushed open the glass door of the dessert shop, followed closely by Onami. What came into view was a dazzling array of dessert pictures and customer-posted photos, with handwritten praise notes brimming with youthful energy.

"One strawberry soda, plus two matcha cakes." Standing at the counter, Yanami was clearly an expert.

After ordering, she turned to Wen Shui and said, "It's my treat today, what would you like to order, Wen Shui? I recommend the cantaloupe soda at this restaurant."

"Then I'll have a cantaloupe soda." Wen Shui nodded slightly to the clerk behind the counter.

"Just this?" Banami raised an eyebrow.

"It wouldn't be right for you to spend money, especially since you just saved my life."

"It's nothing serious, why make it so serious?" Banami waved her hand, as if she didn't care.

After the two ordered, Banami took the lead and sat down in an empty window booth. She then took out a piece of Black Thor chocolate, tore open the packaging, and put it in her mouth.

"Uh... Banami-kun?" Wen Shui sat down opposite her with a forced smile. "Is it really okay to eat chocolate before a meal?"

While chewing on the chocolate in her mouth, Banami said, "No problem, no problem. In fact, this is the most important preparation step for eating dessert."

"What kind of custom is this?"

Banami held up a finger and explained, "Chocolate allows the taste buds to temporarily adapt to bitterness. When the dessert is served, the mouth will be more sensitive to sweetness, which is conducive to a deeper appreciation."

"There's such a technique... I've learned something new."

Seeing that Banami had completely devoured the Black Thunder Chocolate, Onami decided to start a proper conversation while the staff brought the soda to the table.

"Uh, Yanami-kun, you asked me to come out today because...?"

“You refused Kusuke’s request during PE class yesterday,” Hanami said, taking a sip of her drink. “I’d like to formally thank you.”

"It's just refusing a request, it's not anything particularly important, is it?" Wen Shui was quite puzzled.

Was it really necessary to specifically ask me out?

Unexpectedly, Banami's expression suddenly turned serious, and she said in a deep voice, "No, this matter is extremely important."

Wen Shui didn't respond, but expressed his interest with his eyes. He took a sip of his drink, then raised his eyebrows in surprise at the unique, refreshing sweetness of the cantaloupe.

Then Yana continued, "Warm Water, you don't know this—"

"Kusuke likes big breasts."

"Pfft...cough cough cough cough." The warm water almost made him spit out all the cantaloupe soda he had just drunk.

"Hanami-kun, isn't this a bit..."

Wen Shui's lips twitched. He never expected that Banai would reveal his childhood friend's sexual fetish right from the start.

“I know almost all of Kusuke’s hobbies.” Banami sighed heavily. “Ever since he bumped into the new transfer student yesterday morning, he’s been completely out of it.”

[Ah, the transfer student, she was referring to Himegami.]

Wen Shui recalled the commotion that happened at the school gate yesterday morning. It seemed that someone was knocked down and then a girl screamed. That was probably the situation.

"Hime-kun, she hit every single one of Kusuke's strike zones." Hachimi's eyes sharpened. "You should know that too, Nukumizu-kun, right? After all, you sit in front of her."

"...? What? What do I understand?" Wen Shui asked, puzzled.

"Breasts."

"How could I know that!" Wen Shui immediately retorted.

Then, as if he had thought of something, the boy's face turned slightly red.

"Well...it is indeed an astonishing size. No, but isn't everyone in the class aware of that?"

Upon hearing this, Banami immediately took a big gulp of her drink, then clenched her fist and said, "So, Kusuke was definitely up to something yesterday when he kept trying to talk to Himegami."

"He's the kind of person who wants to get things done today. If I hadn't stopped him several times yesterday, he probably would have already used the excuse of apologizing to get involved with Himegami-san."

"Yesterday, Kusuke probably asked you to convey his apology to Himegami, right?" Banami looked at Nukumi: "After all, Nukumi, you're closer to Himegami, and you seem easy to talk to."

Uh, do I really look that easy to talk to?

Wen Shui began to doubt herself.

Wen Shui thought for a moment and summarized yesterday's events: "So, the reason why Banami asked me to refuse Hakamada was because she didn't want him to meet Himegami."

Banami nodded: "That's right. If Nukumizu had agreed to Kusuke's request yesterday, the two of them would probably be sitting in this restaurant right now."

As she spoke, Banami used her fork to forcefully slice the matcha cake in front of her in two.

Having read countless romance light novels, Wen Shui Kazuhiko was well aware of what Hanami meant.

He tentatively asked, "Hanami-kun, I think you might be overthinking it. Perhaps Hakamada-kun really just wants to apologize?"

Even a possibility is unacceptable!

To Wen Shui's surprise, after hearing this, Banami immediately widened her eyes and said in a very serious voice, "Wen Shui, do you know that girls in this world can be roughly divided into two categories?"

Seeing that Banami had suddenly started a strange topic, Wenshui could only nod slightly to indicate that she was listening.

"Girls, if they're not childhood sweethearts, they're just adulterers."

She tapped nervously on the table with her left hand, then smoothly put a piece of cake into her mouth with her right hand, and continued, "Women who suddenly appear out of nowhere even though they already have a childhood sweetheart are all philanderers."

[I see, what a generous categorization method...]

"And the most important task, or rather responsibility, of childhood sweethearts is to guard against philanderers and resolutely defend their position."

"Being childhood sweethearts is really a tough job..." Wen Shui wiped away her cold sweat with a wry smile.

Just as Hanami was rambling on about her unique perspective on childhood friends, the dessert shop employee came to the table again.

"Your cookies and chocolate cake have arrived!"

Did the store send the wrong items? I don't remember ordering these before.

Wen Shui stared blankly at the two new desserts on the table.

Hanami, who was holding the cookie in her hand quite naturally, raised a finger to draw Wenshui's attention back, and then said to Wenshui seriously, "Yesterday, the moment I saw Himegami-san, I had a very strong premonition—"

"Hime-miya is the kind of cat who steals Kusuke's fish."

~Fourteenth Failure~ Part Two of a Professional Childhood Sweetheart Romance Consultation

"Hime-miya is a thieving cat who can steal Kusuke away."

Sitting in front of the warm water, Hanami stared intently at the matcha cake that had already been cut open.

"The premonition was so strong; I could even feel the disappointment and pain of being dumped, and I could even imagine the two of them showing affection in front of me—"

[Don't suddenly put yourself in the loser's bracket, and Himegami doesn't seem very interested in Hakamada, does she?]

Warm Water was a little speechless. It seemed that Banami was having very strong delusional symptoms?

"I... I don't want that to happen." Banami's voice trailed off.

“So, Wenshui, there’s actually another reason I invited you here.” Yana clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture: “Could you help intervene when Himegami and Kusuke have any contact? I can cover for you from the sidelines.”