Lunchtime.
"Cheers!"
"Juice, juice."
"I want plum wine."
"Yukino-chan's cooking is super delicious."
"..."
Since the Summer Time Rendering dungeon, it was the first time the girls had gathered together, so naturally, cups clinked and the atmosphere was harmonious, completely dismantling the previously awkward and tense situation.
"I'm truly resourceful," Natsuki secretly praised himself in his heart, looking at Kaguya and Yukino, who were now sitting on opposite sides, with no hint of animosity between them.
However, right after lunch, Moeha, who was playing on her phone, suddenly exclaimed, "Eh, the figure in this news article looks a lot like Senpai."
"What news?" Chika curiously leaned over, her pink cheeks quickly puffed up, and she couldn't help but exclaim, "…Who else could it be but the President?!"
"Eh, the President is in the news?"
"What news? I want to see!"
"Me, me, me, let me see."
Hearing that Natsuki was in the news, the girls' curiosity immediately surged, and they all gathered around Moeha.
Tsubame: "That's right, even though it's only half a profile, it's definitely the President."
Marin: "The world's most beautiful high school couple, boundless love on the icy peak…"
Juju: "That girl next to him… is that Yukino?"
Hayasaka folded her arms across her chest: "It looks like a photo taken on Mount Everest."
"…"
Listening to the girls' discussions, Natsuki couldn't hold back and pulled out his phone to search for the news. With just one glance at the image in the article, even though it was a side profile and the lighting was blurry, he recognized it instantly.
Who else could it be but him and Yukino!
Natsuki was speechless.
Those couple he casually rescued on the eight-thousand-meter death line of Mount Everest actually wrote about his and Yukino's deeds in the news, and even published it globally!
Yukino also saw the news, her pretty face slightly flushed, and she couldn't help but bite her rosy lips with her pearly teeth.
It actually, actually made the news…
"President, not bad." Hayasaka folded her arms across her chest and smiled, "You've already officially started dating Yukino, and not only that, you've made international news. Not bad, very good."
"You guys, let me explain." Natsuki said, gritting his teeth, "At the time, I spoke too quickly… I couldn't just stand by and watch, could I?"
"Skip the part about saving people; the President already said it, no need to repeat." Hayasaka tilted her head and smiled, "I'm more interested in the President and Yukino dating."
Natsuki: "…"
No answer.
There was no way to deny it.
Yukino was standing right there; could he really say the news was fabricating things and that he never said those words?
That would be too irresponsible!
"…Hayasaka, stop talking."
Kaguya took a deep breath and stood up, walking towards the entrance, her pretty face frozen with frost:
"Let's go."
"Kaguya, wait a moment." Natsuki felt his scalp tingle and quickly tried to stop Kaguya, "Calm down first."
"I don't want to talk to the President right now. Goodbye."
Kaguya bit her lips, walked past him, and showed no intention of stopping.
Angry!
Super angry!
If earlier the two of them were fighting over a man, but now the President had already publicly announced his relationship with another woman to the entire world, what was there left to fight for?
She had completely lost and become a loser, right?
Seeing Kaguya leave, Hayasaka naturally stood up to follow her, waving her hand and saying:
"Goodbye, President, and never again."
"…"
Juju put her hands on her hips and couldn't help but let out a soft snort:
"Serves him right… Shoko, let's go too."
The atmosphere at this moment was too heavy; Komi didn't even dare to breathe loudly. Hearing this, she quickly nodded, relieved, and followed behind Juju.
Next was Senpai.
"There are other matters to attend to…" Tsubame pursed her lips and forced a smile, "Junior, I'm leaving first."4
"Natsuki is so mean." Marin puffed out her pink cheeks, her voice full of grievance, "I was first, why, why is the official announcement with Yukino-chan?"
Marin grew angrier the more she thought about it, turning her head and huffing:
"Sayu-chan, let's go too."
"Eh…" Sayu blinked her eyes. Seeing Marin in a fit of pique, she could only stick out her pink tongue at Natsuki and agreed, "Alright then."
Among everyone, only Sayu cared the least.
Firstly, she was a direct participant in the Mount Everest rescue incident and had known about the rescue for a long time. Secondly, Sayu never intended to be a legitimate girlfriend from the beginning, but rather placed herself in the position of a pet.
As a pet, of course, she wouldn't compete for affection with others.
Of course, a little bit of jealousy was inevitable.
As the girls left one after another, the previously lively and cheerful atmosphere suddenly quieted down.
Facing Natsuki's 'official announcement,' even secretary Chika couldn't be happy, puffing out her pink cheeks and saying:
"Moeha, let's go back too."
"Ah… Oh."
Moeha quickly nodded. No matter how oblivious she was, she realized the atmosphere had become super awful.
It felt like the legendary Shuraba… but it also seemed a bit different.
Moeha suppressed her doubts and followed Chika out of the house. Once on the street, she finally couldn't help but ask:
"Sister, it's strange, isn't Senpai dating you? Why does the news say he's with Yukino-senpai?"
"Could it be…" Moeha suddenly thought of a possibility and couldn't help but exclaim, "Could Senpai be deceiving your feelings and dating other girls behind your back?!"
Chika slightly moved the corners of her lips and mumbled softly:
"The President didn't deceive my feelings…"
Regarding the matter of having a harem, Natsuki had already openly stated it a long time ago. He hadn't been secretly doing things behind everyone's backs, swinging back and forth. Although it was shameless, he truly hadn't deceived anyone's feelings.
Because of this, when they saw Natsuki's 'official announcement' news, everyone just left separately. Otherwise, if they had discovered that Natsuki had been deceiving their feelings all along, they would probably be pulling out hatchets and discussing how to carve up Natsuki by now.
Moeha didn't understand and asked doubtfully:
"Then did the news get it wrong?"
Before Chika could answer, Moeha quickly shook her head:
"No, that's not right."
"If it was wrong, everyone wouldn't be so angry."
"Senpai, he wouldn't…" Moeha widened her eyes, incredulous, "He wouldn't be thinking of having a harem, would he?"
"Sister, why aren't you denying it?"
"Sister, say something."
"…"
Chika puffed out her pink cheeks and couldn't help but say:
"Don't ask so many questions. In short, you must keep your distance from the President in the future and definitely not let him deceive your feelings."
Moeha: "…"
I'm sorry, Sister.
I've already sent Senpai some terrible photos.
At the same time.
In the empty, desolate house.
Natsuki sat on the sofa, lying on his back, his face filled with utter despair.
Why?
Why did it turn out like this?
Just a moment ago, everything was fine, full of laughter and joy, but in the blink of an eye, a war erupted!
Originally, it was just a fight between Kaguya and Yukino, but now, with his and Yukino's 'official announcement,' the fight directly expanded to include everyone. It was truly like shooting himself in the foot.
"Lift your foot." Yukino, at some unknown point, had brought cleaning tools and was tidying up, her voice full of disdain, "If you want to cut corners, you naturally have to be prepared to pay the price."
Clearly, Yukino was complaining about him calling for reinforcements earlier.
Natsuki sat upright, then suddenly reached out and pulled the maid Yukino onto his lap.
"Let go of me."
Yukino's pretty face instantly hardened.
"No." Natsuki said righteously, "Yukino must compensate me."
Yukino was startled and said:
"What compensation?"
"Although Moeha saw the news on her phone just now, if we trace it back to the source, it was actually our act of rescuing people on the snowy mountain." Natsuki held onto Yukino, not letting go, "It's precisely because Yukino wanted to save people at that time that we're in this terrible situation now, so you must compensate me."
"…Shameless!"
Yukino bit her silver teeth, so angry she wanted to bite him.
"You're blaming me?" Yukino couldn't help but retort sarcastically, "Acts of bravery are never something to apologize for. The real source, clearly, is Garbage-kun playing with everyone's feelings, which is why you're facing this abandonment today, isn't it?"
Hey, hey, abandonment is too much!
"I don't care." Natsuki said shamelessly, "Yukino must compensate me."
"Heh heh." Yukino scoffed, then surprisingly gave up struggling and said calmly, "Do whatever you want to do."
Natsuki asked in surprise:
"Really, anything?"
Yukino's voice was clear and cold:
"That's right."
"…"
Retreat to advance!
Yukino knew very well that although Natsuki was shameless and lewd, he wouldn't truly force others, nor did he want to disappoint everyone.
So, by using a strategy of retreating to advance, there was a high probability that Natsuki would voluntarily let her go, and she wouldn't have to pay any compensation.
However, Yukino quickly realized she had miscalculated.
Even Natsuki's eyes lit up, and he said in surprise:
"Then, thank you for the treat."
Yukino: "…"
Hold it in.
Don't panic.
This guy must just be talking; there's no way he'd still be thinking of taking advantage of someone at a time like this.
However, the next second.
Natsuki held Yukino's calf, then moved his right hand upwards, disappearing into her maid skirt, climbing all the way up her stockings to Yukino's thigh. The girl's skin was warm and delicate, like fine doll-like, making one linger.
"Hmm..."
A soft hum almost escaped her lips, but Yukino bit down tightly on her lips, preventing herself from making a sound.
At this moment, she felt as if Natsuki's palm held a magical power, making her involuntarily recall that night trapped in the memory disk. The temperature on her pretty face rapidly rose, and she couldn't help but glare at him in embarrassment and anger.
Only Natsuki still didn't stop.
His right hand lingered on the girl's warm and delicate skin for a while, then he wanted to continue exploring upwards...
Slap!
A loud slap suddenly rang out.
Yukino could no longer bear it. She slapped Natsuki's arm, biting her silver teeth and saying angrily:
"You stop right there!"
Yukino regretted it greatly.
She had thought she could use retreat as a way to advance, making Natsuki apologize and admit his mistake, but the facts proved that Natsuki had no intention of stopping.
If she didn't stop him, he might really continue upwards... How dare he!
Natsuki said innocently:
"No, we agreed that I could do as I please, didn't we?"
To be fair, Natsuki wasn't worried about Yukino being disappointed and leaving. If it were when they first met and were still unfamiliar with each other, an overly intimate act towards Yukino would have completely disappointed her and made her distance herself.
But the situation was already different now.
They had kissed, hugged, and even done more intimate things. Would Yukino be disappointed and leave just because of a slightly intimate act?
Of course not.
The method of retreat as a way to advance was already useless!
"You..."
Yukino bit her silver teeth in embarrassment and anger, then suddenly stood up, broke free from Natsuki's embrace, and stepped back half a pace, covering her skirt: "That's enough!"
Natsuki said from behind:
"Yukino, you're not keeping your word. What about being trustworthy?"
Yukino's black hair trembled slightly. She clenched her small fists in anger, her eyes sharp:
"Don't push your luck!"
Without waiting for Natsuki to reply, she immediately took her cleaning tools and walked away.
She couldn't stay any longer.
Otherwise, she would definitely not be able to resist giving him a good beating!
Natsuki leaned back on the sofa and sighed idly.
Taking advantage of Yukino only brought a little bit of happiness. Once Yukino escaped, troubles would surround him again.
Originally, it was just Kaguya and Yukino's love triangle, but now, because of the official news announcement, everyone was unhappy. He didn't know when he would be able to appease them...
There was nothing else to say about what happened next.
Time unknowingly reached nine o'clock in the evening. Yukino changed out of her maid outfit and said in a cool voice:
"I'm going back."
Natsuki tried to persuade her to stay:
"It's already so late. It's not safe to go back alone. Why don't you stay? There are many rooms, and I promise I won't do anything."
"Heh."
Yukino didn't answer, only scoffed.
Natsuki said speechlessly:
"Yukino, you don't trust my character."
Yukino crossed her arms over her chest and hummed:
"Sorry, I've never found such a thing as character on Garbage-kun."
Natsuki straightened his face and said:
"You haven't left yet, so you should call me Master."
Yukino ignored him and extended her right hand, saying:
"The copy scroll... you can lend it to me now."
Natsuki took out the Skill Copy Scroll, handed it to Yukino, and then said:
"The skill Haruno-nee wants to copy is a purple skill. There's a high probability that a normal copy will fail. You need to charge the coins in advance. Why don't you take the coins back tonight to charge them?"
Yukino pursed her lips, pondered for a few seconds, then gently shook her head and said:
"Let's not. We're entering the dungeon the day after tomorrow, and the coins might come in handy... I'll copy the skill for my sister after we clear the dungeon."
"That works too." Natsuki nodded and said, "Then let's wait until after we clear the dungeon."
Click.
Yukino pushed open the door and walked out of the house.
The cool night breeze blew in her face. Yukino raised her hand to tuck the strands of hair blown by the wind behind her ear and gently reminded him:
"Also, today isn't over yet. Don't go out."
"There are still three hours until midnight." Natsuki said innocently, "During that time, unexpected situations might arise, forcing me to go out... Yukino, why don't you just stay?"
"Heh." Yukino turned and left without hesitation, "Deal with your own problems."
Yukino was certain that if she really stayed, that guy would definitely come to bother her at night!
As Yukino left, the house became completely quiet.
"Woof woof."
The stupid dog came over, biting its leash, wagging its tail, wanting Natsuki to take it for a walk.
"Stay home today. We're not going anywhere."
Natsuki rubbed the dog's head and turned to the bathroom to take a shower.
Go for a walk?
Are you kidding? He wouldn't step out of the house today.
Although the future in the diary was just one of countless possibilities, it was better to believe it than not. Unless absolutely necessary, he definitely wouldn't step out of the house!
The night passed without a word.
The next day.
Natsuki woke up in the morning, finished washing, and began to think about his plan for the day.
First, he was entering the dungeon with Mitsui tomorrow, leaving only one day. It was impossible to make everyone happy, so he could only choose one person first, and the difficulty couldn't be too high.
Therefore, Miss Kaguya was temporarily skipped. One day would definitely not be enough to appease her.
"It's you."
Natsuki quickly decided who to appease first, changed his clothes, and went straight out.
Half an hour later.
Outside Fujiwara's house.
Natsuki stood below the balcony and took out his phone to send Chika a message.
"Come to the balcony."
"Eh?"
Not long after, a small head peeked out from the balcony. It was secretary Chika.
Natsuki looked up and smiled:
"Chika-chan, which bouquet of flowers did you drop?"
Seeing the flowers in Natsuki's hand, secretary Chika's eyes lit up. Most girls love flowers, just as most boys love Games. If you don't know what gift to give, a bouquet of flowers is definitely the right choice.
Of course, the premise is that the girl has a good impression of you. If she doesn't, the flowers you give will probably end up in the trash can immediately.
"President took them." Chika puffed out her cheeks and said, "I didn't drop any flowers."
Natsuki smiled and threw both bouquets up, saying:
"Honest children should be rewarded. Both bouquets are for you."
"Eh eh."
Chika quickly caught them, then puffed out her cheeks and said: "Giving flowers won't work. I won't easily forgive President!"
Natsuki smiled and said:
"Do you want to come out and play?"
Chika turned her pretty face away: "No."
"Really not going to play?" Natsuki took out his phone and said, "Enoshima has a fireworks festival today, and there's also the annual super grand food festival. Today is the last day, if you miss today, you'll have to wait until next year."
"Fo-Food festival..."
The jet-black ribbon on Chika's forehead trembled, clearly indicating that she was tempted.
Natsuki's tone was faint, and he continued:
"This world is becoming more and more dangerous. Maybe this year is the last one, and there won't be a food festival next year."
"President, don't be a jinx." Chika couldn't help but glare at him, then turned and went inside, "...Wait for me to change!"