Chapter 387: This Is My World Shaking Wisdom!
"It's just eating a candied apple. Can you not make comments that sound like you're reverse engineering an eroge route?"
Facing Sakurakawa Rikka's meaningful words, Asagiri simply shoved the candied apple in his hand toward her mouth.
Of course, something that big could not actually fit inside.
"Alright, just take it and eat it."
"Thank you."
After handing the candied apple to Sakurakawa Rikka, Asagiri turned and walked toward the open space, sitting directly beside Kaguya Shinomiya.
"Vice President."
"President."
Asagiri looked at Kaguya Shinomiya, who was sitting beside him with her knees hugged to her chest, her posture very well behaved, and spoke softly.
"How have you considered the matter I mentioned earlier?"
"The Ticket to Cross Death..."
Kaguya Shinomiya pursed her lips.
When discussing the death game, she temporarily set aside her shy girlish heart, tucked her black hair behind her ear, and spoke in a calm tone.
"One of the highest difficulty Dungeons in the fifth stage. Since the system gave such a prompt, it means the danger level of that Dungeon must be very high, but..."
At this point, Kaguya Shinomiya paused slightly before continuing.
"But it can grant an exclusive hidden quest, and after completing that hidden quest, you can obtain a special item capable of completely curing physical illnesses. While such a reward is useless to most Players, its value is obviously extremely high."
"This shows that the difficulty of the Dungeon is proportional to the possible reward. Such a rare opportunity to significantly increase one's strength, from a rational perspective..."
Before Kaguya Shinomiya could finish, Asagiri interrupted her directly.
He looked straight into her ruby-like eyes and spoke softly.
"Did you decide to agree to this matter after rational consideration?"
Facing Asagiri's gaze, a blush appeared on Kaguya Shinomiya's face.
She avoided Asagiri's eyes, and her originally calm voice became slightly shaky.
"Th-that's not it..."
"Then what is it?"
Kaguya Shinomiya was completely unable to withstand Asagiri's slightly aggressive and forceful offensive.
After struggling to hold on for all of 0.3 seconds, she quickly crumbled and replied in a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum.
"The moment you invited me... I had already decided to agree."
After saying this, Kaguya Shinomiya immediately changed the subject to hide her shyness.
"But after all, I am not alone. If it were for you, Chika would surely be willing to do anything. But Hayasaka Ai is different. Her relationship with you isn't that close."
"As the leader of this team, I must be responsible for every member, so I have to provide a judgment based on rationality."
"It's not that she isn't close."
Asagiri smiled and spoke bluntly.
"Rather than saying it's because Hayasaka Ai's relationship with me isn't close enough, and that she wouldn't risk her life to help me, it's more that she hopes you won't make reckless choices based on emotion."
"This isn't for her own sake, but to protect you."
"Is that so..."
Kaguya Shinomiya lowered her gaze to the candied apple in her hand, the corners of her lips curling into a smile.
"By the way, are the people here today all the Players participating in the next operation?"
"Yeah. Nine people is about enough."
Asagiri nodded and spoke in a calm tone.
"It's not that I don't trust White Suit and the others, but their team isn't strong enough. When we enter the Dungeon, we will definitely still be acting as a team."
"After all, forcing Player teams that lack tacit understanding to work together will only make them hinder each other."
"Indeed."
Kaguya Shinomiya looked up at the clear night sky and spoke softly.
"There's no point in discussing the situation inside the Dungeon now. Let's wait until the fifth stage begins."
...
A few minutes later, there were less than two minutes left until the official start of the Fireworks Festival.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? What are you doing?"
Iwanaga Kotoko frowned when she saw Fujiwara Chika take the initiative to run over and sit beside Asagiri, acting as if it were only natural.
"Stealing my spot, are you?"
Fujiwara Chika wore a simple, sweet smile, tilted her head, and pretended to be confused.
"What are you talking about, Iwanaga? I don't understand. There's still an empty spot next to me. Do you want to sit here?"
"You..."
Iwanaga Kotoko glared at Fujiwara Chika and gritted her teeth.
"Are you going to play dumb with me here? Fine, you've forced my hand!"
Hearing this emotionally charged sentence from Iwanaga Kotoko, everyone present could not help growing tense.
Could it be...
Was it finally time to fight?
Just as the atmosphere became somewhat tense, Iwanaga Kotoko made a surprising move that exceeded everyone's expectations.
She slightly lifted the hem of her kimono, revealing her fair, smooth leg, and sat directly across Asagiri's shoulders.
Then she spoke with the smug attitude of a winner.
"Hmph, this is my exclusive spot!"
The girls present could not help looking speechless.
However, at this moment, they all realized a very serious problem.
How should the positions be allocated?
Needless to say, each of them wanted to sit beside Asagiri and be pressed tightly against him the moment the fireworks bloomed.
However, if they sat side by side, even counting the two spots on Asagiri's shoulders and in his arms, there were only four available places.
The girls who wanted to sit by his side included Fujiwara Chika, Kaguya Shinomiya, Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, Kato Megumi, and Yamauchi Sakura.
That was six people.
Not to mention Sakurakawa Rikka and Hayasaka Ai, who had not explicitly stated their intentions but actually wanted to sit beside him as well.
So, here came the problem.
Facing this seemingly unsolvable deadlock of a love battlefield, what answer would Asagiri give...?
"Don't argue, everyone. I already anticipated this situation."
Asagiri waved his hand, looking as if he had expected this all along, and spoke slowly.
"Listen to my arrangement. We will do this..."
After arranging everyone's positions, Asagiri nodded with satisfaction.
"As expected, a mere love battlefield is nothing before my world shaking wisdom."
"World shaking wisdom..."
Yuuki Asuna looked speechlessly at the formation where everyone encircled Asagiri, who was sitting at the center.
"Although this means everyone is effectively sitting by your side, but... why does it feel so weird?"
Kato Megumi used a soft, flat tone to deliver a sharp remark.
"It's like some kind of ritual to summon an evil god."
"Unfair, unfair! Even with this formation, it's not fair at all!"
Iwanaga Kotoko clenched her fair, delicate fists and shook them, looking indignant.
"The fireworks only bloom in one direction. With this formation, the people in the back can see both the fireworks and your back, but the people in the front can only see the fireworks! No, I have to sit in the back."
"Sigh, Kotoko, even though you are the God of Wisdom, hearing you say such erroneous things truly breaks my heart."
Asagiri shook his head and corrected her righteously.
"Indeed, those sitting in the back can see me at the moment the fireworks bloom, but those sitting in front of me will be watched by me at that exact moment."
"And those sitting on my left and right, while not having those two advantages, will have their hands held by me at that exact moment."
"Thus, every position has its own unique advantage. Isn't this absolutely fair?"
"What!?"
Iwanaga Kotoko leaned back, her cute face showing unbelievable shock.
"You actually considered even this...? Indeed, I cannot choose between the three situations you just mentioned... This means all three positions are fair..."
She looked at him with admiration.
"As expected of you!"
Listening to the abstract conversation between the two, Yuuki Asuna felt completely speechless.
"Are you two clearing some high difficulty Dungeon? Don't use your brains on such weird things!"
The final decision was that Kaguya Shinomiya and Fujiwara Chika would sit on Asagiri's left and right sides respectively.
Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Kato Megumi, who had already watched fireworks with Asagiri before, would sit behind him.
Then Sakurakawa Rikka, Yamauchi Sakura, and Hayasaka Ai would sit in front of him.
A perfect arrangement.
"Whoosh~ Bang~"
"Woohoo, it's finally starting~"
Seeing the fireworks rise into the night sky and bloom into beautiful colorful patterns, Yuuki Asuna and the others, illuminated by the light of the fireworks, all wore happy smiles.
At this moment, Kaguya Shinomiya's gaze was not on the fireworks at all.
He...
Kaguya Shinomiya turned her head to look at Asagiri's side profile, illuminated by the fireworks. Her red eyes trembled slightly.
Her wish since she was a child had been to watch a Fireworks Festival.
Not watching it from afar through the window at home, but like this, sitting on the grass with friends, feeling the atmosphere of the Fireworks Festival up close, and admiring the beautiful colors blooming in the sky.
However, at this moment...
Kaguya Shinomiya's gaze could no longer move away from Asagiri.
...
Half a month later, at Private Shuchiin Academy, inside the classroom of Year 1 Class A.
"Where did you go this summer vacation? I went to Okinawa with my parents, and my skin got quite tanned."
"I just stayed at home every day because my mom said public safety hasn't been great lately, so she told me not to go out much. Sigh, seriously, my first summer vacation of high school was wasted like this."
"Eh... that's such a pity."
On the first day of school, the students were discussing what they had done during summer vacation, and all of them clearly seemed unsatisfied.
The moment Kaguya Shinomiya walked into the classroom, the students who were chatting subconsciously quieted down.
Their gazes turned to Kaguya Shinomiya.
Looking at the cute red ribbon tied into a bow on her long black hair, they could not help showing surprise.
Kaguya Shinomiya herself had no special reaction.
She simply walked slowly to a seat in the corner of the classroom, looked at Asagiri, who was staring out the window, and greeted him softly.
"Asagiri."
"Kaguya."
Hearing how the two greeted each other, the students in the classroom were shocked.
What exactly happened during this summer vacation?
Utsunomiya-san and Shinomiya...
They were actually calling each other by their first names?
Could it be that these two...
Were in that kind of relationship?
.....
https://discord.gg/KvMN2CFsMR
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]