What a twist! The loser heroine!

She took a piece of hard candy out of her pocket and put it in her mouth.

"I plan to pursue Himeko while Kusuke is still unaware that he has fallen for Himeko."

"But there always has to be some groundwork before confessing your feelings, right? You have to make him like you, right?"

Seeing this, Banai paused slightly, then said, "So, I hope you can help me, Osuke, so that he can accept my confession."

[I can't do that, Hakamada-kun treats you like a little sister.]

Such a thought flashed through Wen Shui's mind.

"I'm not Cupid; I can't cast the magic that makes others fall in love with you."

Wen Shui complained, "Besides, why does Banami think I'm a dating expert? I'm a bachelor who's never even been in a relationship. All those theories I've read are from novels."

"Shouldn't you talk to your friends about things like this?" Wen Shui spread her hands and said, "Banai, your classmate is so cheerful, you must have a lot of friends, right?"

Banami looked at Nukumi as if she were looking at a monster.

"Warm Water, this is probably why you can't make friends."

Please explain in detail.

Wen Shui quickly said that he suddenly realized he had a strange sense of déjà vu.

[Oh right, Ju Jingyi said something similar before.]

Banami chewed on the hard candy that had melted down to just a little bit, making it crunch pitifully: "I definitely can't tell my friends about this! They'll just laugh and tell Kusuke, and then he'll think I'm just messing around and invite me to dinner."

She exclaimed urgently, "Then it would be completely useless!"

"Then can you tell me?" Wen Shui pointed to herself.

“After all, my intuition tells me I can completely trust you,” Anna said matter-of-factly.

"You trust your intuition far too much."

Wen Shui sighed, took out her phone, opened the map, and navigated to the nearest supermarket.

He started moving along the route, and Banami immediately followed.

"I don't know how to answer you when you suddenly bring this up, but let's buy the things first, Aunt Himegami is still waiting."

“What are we going to say when we get back? Kusuke and Himegami are still here!” Hanami immediately said.

Upon hearing this, Wen Shui immediately turned to look at Banami, her strange expression seeming to say—

"So you knew that Kusuke and Himegami are together now."

Banami paused for a moment, then immediately turned red.

"...Huh?! Kusuke is now...! Himegami...!"

She stammered and couldn't get a complete sentence out for a long time.

For the first time in his life, Kazuhiko Wenshui felt that the journey to the supermarket was so far.

"Since you knew that running away would lead to this, why didn't you tell me at a better time?"

He sighed.

"Hmm... I'm just a little worried after seeing what Kusuke's been up to these past few days." Hanami touched her hair. "I was already planning to tell you about it, but when I saw you come out of the kitchen, suddenly—"

"Suddenly what?"

"I don't know either!"

After saying that, Banai sped off towards a snack shop not far ahead, leaving Wenshui with only her back view.

The lukewarm water that remained in place was dumbfounded.

Wait, what is this guy even talking about?

Well, anyway, let's buy the stuff first.

◇

"So, what are you going to do?"

Having already bought everything he needed at the supermarket, Wen Shui walked down the street carrying a plastic bag. He turned to look at Banami beside him.

"Huh? What?" Banami lifted her face from behind the plastic cup containing the sundae.

"How are you going to pursue Kusuke?" Wen Shui said helplessly, "And are you sure you want to eat dessert at this time? Dinner is almost here."

"Desserts and main meals are served in separate stomachs, don't you understand what warm water is?"

"Please apologize to your biology teacher properly when you go to school tomorrow."

[This guy's first reaction was actually to refute the dessert thing...]

After venting her frustration, Wen Shui asked again, "So, how do you plan to pursue Kusuke?"

"Oh~! Wen Shui, you're still planning to help me after all, right?" Seeing that Banai was excited, she immediately moved closer to Wen Shui and patted her waist.

"Ouch!" Wen Shui cried out in pain, "Why did you suddenly hit me?"

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to touch you." Bana said apologetically, "When I got close to you just now, I had an urge to take a picture of you."

Please do not use superpowers as an excuse.

While complaining, Wen Shui reached out and rubbed her lower back.

“If we don’t come up with a feasible plan, then there’s no point in me being an advisor,” Wen Shui said. “You must have some ideas of your own, right?”

"Hmm...that makes sense..." Banami pouted. "My plan is to enhance my femininity and create some novelty. You said before, didn't you, Numizu, that the biggest problem with childhood friends is that they are too familiar with each other, so we need to create some novelty, right?"

“I did say that.” Wen Shui glanced at Banami, who was holding a sundae and seemed lost in thought, and asked, “So what do you plan to do?”

"Hmm... change your hairstyle?" Banami tried to suggest.

"It doesn't seem to be very effective."

"Um... should I change into different clothes when we go out together?"

"Does Hanami-kun only have one set of clothes in her closet?"

"That's definitely not the case."

"So it's probably not very useful." Wen Shui curled her lip: "Hakamada-kun should already be familiar with all your clothes."

Banami blushed slightly and waved her hand shyly: "Oh dear, what are you saying? It sounds like I and Kusuke are an old married couple."

"Don't skip stages without permission, Banami-kun. Cheating in boss battles is not allowed."

After saying this, Wen Shui lowered her head and began to think.

A love advisor...

It should be noted that he was not entirely unaffected by what Banami had just said.

Hakamada has fallen for Himegami, a fact confirmed by his childhood friend of 12 years, Anna Hanami. Nukumi, of course, has no doubts.

Even when I was just buying things, I somehow grabbed the warm water for the fancy sushi instead of the curry cubes. I was already complaining about the unclear shelf categorization while pondering the possibility of success.

That's a bit difficult. Hakamada already considers Hanami as family, so it's probably unrealistic to expect him to turn that familial affection into romantic love.

After much thought, the best solution is indeed still—

Wen Shui turned her head to look at Banami, who had somehow produced another piece of chocolate.

"Hana-kun, why don't you just tell Himegami about this directly?"

"...?"

"Uh, why are you looking at me like that?"

When Banami bit into the chocolate, it seemed to freeze in mid-air. She stood there for a while before swallowing the chocolate that had melted into liquid in her mouth.

"Warm Water, I apologize for my previous assumption that you are a dating expert."

As she spoke, holding the chocolate in her hand, she solemnly bowed to the warm water.

I'm glad you recognize your mistake, but could you please not use that tone? It hurts me a little.

“I don’t see any problem. Look, if we explain the situation to Himegami-san and then have her reject Hakamada—”

He himself got stuck at this point in his speech.

"Warm Water classmate."

"Yes……"

Banami delivered a light but firm chop to Onami's head.

"You're a little silly!"

The sound of Yana's somewhat embarrassed and annoyed voice could be heard from the alley.

"Hime-miya still doesn't have any feelings for Sosuke. If we tell her directly, aside from the possibility of ruining our friendship, what if she suddenly becomes interested in Sosuke?!"

"Huh? Is that so? Then let's wait a little longer..."

“It’s not a matter of time.” Banami took a big bite of chocolate. “The key is Kusuke. That guy is very popular. He often receives love letters in the shoe cabinet.”

"Even if Princess Hime agreed to my request and rejected Kusuke—"

She glanced at Wen Shui: "Who knows, maybe a second or third Himegami will pop up later. If that's the case, I'd better keep a closer eye on Karen!"

[Oh, so Princess Hime has a clone concept...]

Wen Shui mentally simulated it: if a princess is like 8K, then two princesses are like 16K, and five princesses are like...

What am I thinking???

He quickly shook his head, throwing the strange ideas aside.

With a hint of inexplicable resentment, Wen Shui said, "I understand what you mean, but one day we'll have to talk to Princess Hime about it, right?"

"I will say it, but definitely not now."

"As for Kusuke... what should we do?" Banami said softly, sighing, her eyes filled with confusion.

Upon hearing this, Wen Shui raised her head and looked at the patch of sky between the tall buildings on both sides of the alley.

I got lost again without even realizing it.

Humans really can't function without navigation.

He smiled helplessly.

"I'll help you," he said. "I'll help you get Hakamada-kun from Hime—"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "—to snatch it back from the outcome my intuition foresaw."

Hanami immediately turned around: "Really?!"

"Yes, but don't call me a relationship advisor. I'm just offering some suggestions."

"Hmph, isn't that still just being a staff officer?"

Bana smiled and said, "As expected, my intuition was right! Thank you! As expected, Numizu, you are very trustworthy."

"I think you'd better be a little wary of me, okay?"

Wen Shui kindly reminded him.

"Hmm?" Banami glanced at Wen Shui curiously, then said with a mischievous grin, "Could it be that Wen Shui is planning something that I need to be wary of in order to avoid?"

Faced with her teasing gaze, Wen Shui involuntarily looked away: "How could that be? I was just reminding you."

Seeing his easy victory, Banami nodded with satisfaction.

"There's absolutely nothing to worry about."

She spoke softly, in a voice only she could hear.

◇

With the help of navigation, Wen Shui and Banami returned to the Himegami family home.

Xiao Ju opened the door for the two of them.

Xiao Ju's expression was a little strange, but Wen Shui didn't take it to heart.

As Wen Shui approached the kitchen door, she noticed that Himegami Karen was preparing a meal for her mother.

He pushed open the door.