Reading comprehension was indispensable when studying Japanese language and literature.
Moreover, since most of the selected articles were classics by ancient authors, what the writer truly thought seemed irrelevant; after all, they couldn't crawl out of their coffins to slap the test setter. As the saying goes, there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, so it was normal for solvers to have different answers. Sakurai Saki understood this principle.
But his student… seemed a little too foolish.
"Sakurai-kun~ Sakurai-kun! Why do we have to understand the author's thoughts!?" Nakano Yotsuba raised her hand. She had just returned from school, keeping her promise to arrive home just after six o'clock.
"…You should ask the test setter that question, not me," Sakurai Saki replied, speechless. This student was essentially negating the question type. To him, the query was as meaningless as asking, Why do we live? Why not also ask why there were exams?
"As long as I can get a high score, the author's thoughts don't really matter," Nakano Itsuki chimed in, a bit extreme in her reasoning. Within the rules, she would stop at nothing to secure top marks.
The group was currently eating at the dining table.
"Alright, alright, stop talking about studying. It's dinner time, isn't it?" Nakano Nino said, refilling Itsuki's bowl after she had just finished one. How could Itsuki still eat so much? Nino glanced at her stomach—it was perfectly flat, completely unnoticeable.
Why does my figure still look similar to Itsuki's, even though I do half an hour of stretching every night? Nino thought, secretly eyeing Itsuki's fleshy thighs. She realized where all the energy was stored. Itsuki had probably gained weight again.
She hadn't been willing to disclose her weight lately, and although she once said she wanted to exercise and lose weight together, she hadn't stuck with it for long.
"I'm done eating," Miku said flatly. She stood up, ready to clear the bowls.
"Sakurai-kun, would you like another bowl of rice?" Nino asked, noticing his empty bowl.
Just as Sakurai Saki was about to respond, he noticed the shadow on the ground moving again—this time toward Miku.
Saki felt the shadow had a peculiar fondness for Miku, always trying to set him up with her.
"Never mind. I'm full too," he said to Nino, following Miku.
The shadow scratched its head, then moved beneath Miku's own shadow and tripped her leg.
"…" Miku's foot slipped.
Before she could react, Sakurai Saki quickly stepped forward and caught her in his arms.
"Are you alright?"
Miku froze for a few seconds, then muffled, "Mm."
By the table, Nino, who had seen Miku almost fall, broke into a sweat. Seeing Saki hold her, Nino breathed a sigh of relief—but a twinge of jealousy crept in. …Just help, why hug for so long?
She couldn't intervene, however. Annoying!
"Um… Saki-kun," Miku steadied herself.
"Mm, sorry," Sakurai Saki said, though he had no intention of letting go. The shadow below was still clinging to Miku's shadow, clearly planning more "accidents" to advance its matchmaking agenda.
It's fine if you ship us, but don't force the plot! This isn't a dating sim! Sakurai Saki thought, exasperated. What made it worse was that the shadow symbolized a part of his true self.
After a few more seconds, he finally released Miku when the shadow returned to its normal place.
Once the bowls were cleared, Miku returned to her room without a word. Sakurai Saki, however, remained bewildered. What had gotten into Miku? His focus had been entirely on the shadow, leaving him oblivious to her shyness—almost to the point of steaming.
---
Inside Miku's room, she leaned against the door and slowly slid to the floor. She buried her head between her legs, muttering in a barely audible voice, "Pervert~"
---
By the time Sakurai Saki returned to his rental apartment, it was already nine o'clock. Today, his superpower hadn't been especially taxing, but he had agreed to play games with Ai-chan, so he needed to boot up his computer. She had stood him up many times before, so it was rare that she hadn't bailed this time.
Entering the entryway, he put away his things. Sakurai Saki retrieved the love letter from his drawer; he wanted to check whether Ai-chan had noticed anything unusual today—a part of his daily routine.
Before he could react, a white-haired beautiful girl ghost suddenly appeared, pushing him onto the bed. Sakurai Saki, too lazy to resist, sighed. This wasn't his first ambush; the first was unfamiliar, the second was expected, and he was very familiar with this by now.
Yakumo Bai pressed herself atop him. "Sakura-kun~"
"You're very energetic today too~"
Sakurai Saki grumbled irritably, "I've always been energetic. Do you really think I wouldn't dare respond to teasing like this?"
"Wait!" Yakumo Bai extended her hands, pushing against his chest.
Just as Saki thought she might give up, she didn't relent immediately…
The ghost girl opened her arms, inviting: "Come on!"
"Sakura-kun~" Yakumo Bai slowly closed her eyelids, as if ready to be taken.
Sakurai Saki placed a finger on her lips.
Yakumo Bai blinked, realizing the touch was wrong. "That's it?" she asked, looking annoyed.
Sakurai Saki tilted his head at her words. That's it? What did she mean? Was she questioning his orientation?
"I have no defenses right now, you know. Sakura-kun, are you really unwilling to do anything?" Yakumo Bai said, full of righteous indignation.
No man could endure such words!
"I…" Sakurai Saki gritted his teeth. "Are you sure?"
At that moment, controlling the air didn't seem difficult at all. He was at home—could he really die of embarrassment?
"Idiot! Coward!" Yakumo Bai scolded, contemptuous.
Sakurai Saki softened his expression and gave a kind smile. "You won't be sleeping tonight!"
A few seconds later…
Ding-a-ling~
The phone rang.
"Who is it?" Yakumo Bai frowned.
It was just one step away.
Sakurai Saki looked down at his phone and saw the caller: Hayasaka Ai. Instantly, all previous thoughts vanished.
"Sorry," he said to Yakumo Bai, then got out of bed and answered.
"Hey! Sakura-chan~ What are you doing? I'm online!" Ai-chan was in full gal mode.
"Mm, just got home. Wait for me," Sakurai Saki replied.
"Then I'll wait for you in the game, chu chu~" Ai-chan teased.
Online, she was much bolder than in real life. Some people liberated their true nature behind a screen, daring to say what they wouldn't in person.
"That 'gal'? Sakura-kun, you're playing with her? What about me?" Yakumo Bai climbed up, disheveled and pitiful.
Sakurai Saki turned to her. "I'll treat you to hamburger steak tomorrow."
"But I want meat now!" Yakumo Bai pouted, then ran up and secretly kissed his cheek. A brief shyness followed.
After a few seconds, she tsundere-ly insisted, "This is interest! It's not because I wanted to kiss you that I took the initiative!!"
Sakurai Saki chuckled mischievously. "That's it?"
Her shyness shattered. She pouted. "Sakura-kun! You won't be sleeping tonight!"
He didn't take her words seriously. As long as he stayed away from the love letter, she couldn't interfere. Sleep would come just fine.
Sitting by the computer, Sakurai Saki logged into the game and joined Ai-chan's voice channel.
"Can you hear me, Ai-chan?"
"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan This is Ai-chan Your message has been received. Over!" Hayasaka Ai was lively online.
The two played a few rounds. Since Ishigami Yu planned to play a new romance game tonight, and Gabriel preferred traditional online games, they chose the sweet duo queue mode.
"Holy crap, there are 'dogs'! And it's a team of three 'dogs'!"
In the team voice chat, a random teammate spoke in Dragon Country language.
"Holy crap! Awesome! What kind of cheats are you two using? Aimbot or wallhacks?"
Sakurai Saki and Ai-chan didn't respond. They were in a private voice call.
"Did you go back with Chika-chan today?" Hayasaka Ai asked, feigning indifference. She already knew the general situation but wanted the details from him.
"Mm~" Sakurai Saki made a strange sound. He glanced at the white-haired ghost next to him, who was secretly licking his ear. Yakumo Bai wore an innocent expression.
"Being done like this while chatting with her… must be exciting, right?" she asked ambiguously.
Sakurai Saki rolled his eyes, then replied, "I went with her to help Miyuki."
He didn't elaborate, mainly to preserve Shirogane Miyuki's dignity—even though that dignity had been mostly lost over the past two days. Musically speaking, Shirogane Miyuki had no dignity left whatsoever.
"Oh~ I see." Ai-chan let him relax a bit, then probed: "Why didn't you call me? Is it because Chika-chan sings better?"
Classic 'either-or' question.
Common question types included:
* "Your mother and I both fell into the water. If I can't swim, who do you save first?"
* "You work late every day. Is work more important than me?"
There's basically no way to answer correctly. The question isn't meant for an answer—it's meant to test your attitude. Choosing between two important things? Impossible. The best response is to change the subject.
Don't answer! Even if you do, the other person won't let you off.
If you save your mother, she'll say, "Why didn't you save me? Don't you love me?"
If you save her instead, she might retort, "Why didn't you save your mother? How unfilial of you!"
Unsolvable! Brothers! This question is unsolvable!
But who was Sakurai Saki? A Superpower user wasn't afraid of a love triangle!
"Jealous? Then you can come along tomorrow too!" Sakurai Saki wasn't worried at all. Tomorrow, when Ai-chan showed up, she'd probably want to travel back in time just to slap her current self. Sakurai Saki could guarantee it. Anyone who had heard that ancient-god-like roar of a singing voice would want to find a wall to bash their head against.
"I'm not jealous at all!" Hayasaka Ai denied.
"As for helping, I won't cause trouble."
Ai-chan's mind recalled the alien-language conversation she'd overheard that afternoon.
"Mm~" Sakurai Saki let out another muffled groan.
"Sakura-kun~ Does it feel good?" Yakumo Bai asked, pressing her face closer.
Through her headphones, Hayasaka Ai heard his strange sound and asked, curious, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just a bit tired from exercising," Sakurai Saki lied as easily as Ai-chan would have.
"Don't overexert yourself," she said.
They played for another hour, and when it was time, Sakurai Saki gently pushed the beautiful ghost girl aside, took a shower, and went to sleep.
---
Wednesday morning.
Sakurai Saki was washing his pants. Embarrassing, yes, but a wet dream for a virgin was an irresistible force—and yesterday's temptations had been plenty.
Even so, something had felt off in his sleep.
In another world, invisible to ordinary eyes, Yakumo Bai stood beside him, shook her slightly sore little hands, then pursed her rosy lips. She glanced at the soaked pants with an embarrassed expression.
After washing and hanging the pants to dry, Sakurai Saki prepared to cook. He didn't feel like running today—mainly because the Superpower was acting a bit strange.
Today's Superpower: Mystic Scholar
Effect: You will more easily encounter supernatural events
Side Effect: Cannot be turned off; surrounding people may be affected
Sakurai Saki activated the ability for the second time. Mystery attracts mystery. Just as Stand users attract Stand users, he believed his encounter with Yakumo Bai followed a similar law: more mysteries beget more mysteries.
He probably guessed why he had to go home with Fujiwara Chika today. It wasn't a coincidence.
He could have skipped it—but gambling against the diary's predictions was too risky. Sakurai Saki didn't dare. He had to actively invite Fujiwara Chika to ensure the events of the future diary played out safely.
"…" Saki hesitated for a moment. Were his actions really correct?
Completely trusting the diary seemed necessary—but what if it was wrong?
A Mystic Scholar attracts supernatural phenomena. Going home with Chika could inadvertently put her in danger if the diary's entry was inaccurate.
Sakurai Saki's thoughts were in chaos—but one thing remained certain: he absolutely had to go to school today.