Seeing the situation was not in her favor, the defeated Miura Yumiko plopped back down into her chair. She twisted her blonde curls and started playing on her phone, fuming.
Come to think of it, based on this point alone, she and Mori Shinra might actually have some common ground.
"Now, now~ everyone, let's calm down."
Hayama, the core nice guy of the normie group who had been observing from the side for a while, now stood up to smooth things over. A gentle smile was on his face as he tried his best to maintain order.
Unfortunately, Yukinoshita paid him no mind, merely giving him a cold glance before saying to Yuigahama, "I'm going ahead."
Hayama gave an awkward smile but didn't take it to heart. Ever since that incident, Yukinoshita's attitude towards him had been basically like this.
As for Miura Yumiko, seeing Hayama step in to offer a way out, she simply snorted and said no more, as if she were giving him face by not arguing with Yukinoshita.
Yuigahama shifted her gaze, torn. In the end, she still turned to Yumiko. "I-I'm going too..."
"...Do as you please," Miura Yumiko said casually, not stopping her.
In truth, she never intended to stop her in the first place. She was just angry at Yuigahama's timid and hesitant behavior.
So what if Yuigahama was having lunch with Yukinoshita? Miura Yumiko didn't think there was anything wrong with that. The key issue was Yuigahama's secretive attitude.
Weren't they friends? Why couldn't she just be direct?
It was always like this, making it seem as if she was the one bullying her!
The more Yumiko thought about it, the angrier she got, and the atmospheric pressure around the normie group dropped a few notches.
Yuigahama and Yukinoshita left. The surrounding crowd of onlookers also gradually dispersed, and the classroom returned to its usual order. Shinra decided not to go back to his seat either, simply pulling up a stool to sit next to Hikigaya, accompanying the lonely patient for lunch.
Miura Yumiko, who was pretending to play on her phone but was actually secretly observing Mori Shinra, suddenly spoke up:
"Hey, what's your name?"
"Hi-Hikigaya."
"Not you. I'm asking the person next to you."
Hikigaya was down for the count.
"Before asking for someone's name, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"
"Tch. I'm Miura Yumiko," she said, clicking her tongue, clearly in a bad mood as she reluctantly gave her name.
"Mm, I'm Mori Shinra. Nice to meet you, Miura-san," Shinra said with a kind smile.
Seeing this, Miura Yumiko not only didn't feel happy, but she seemed even more annoyed. However, due to her pride, she had to politely reply, "N-nice to meet you too."
Shinra didn't mind. Compared to Miura, he was more interested in Hayama Hayato beside her.
The reason was simple. He had noticed that this nice guy seemed to know Yukinoshita, as if he had done something to wrong her in the past.
Shinra made a simple deduction: Yukinoshita Yukino's current personality might be inseparable from Hayama Hayato.
After all, as the saying goes, sometimes the ones who hurt you the most are your friends, not your enemies.
Perhaps Hayama Hayato could be the key for him to unlock Yukinoshita's golden request?
After school, Yuigahama Yui found Miura Yumiko again and had a heart-to-heart talk with her. In the end, the two reconciled.
Hikigaya, who was eavesdropping outside the door, also felt completely relieved. He was just about to head to the Service Club when he turned around and saw Mori Shinra looking at him with a mysterious smile, which scared him so much that he almost wet himself.
"What are you doing?" Perhaps because he was startled, or perhaps because of the mysterious smile on Shinra's face, Hikigaya's attitude was not friendly.
"You can rest easy now, can't you?"
"Rest easy about what? I don't know what you're talking about."
"Hikigaya... being a tsundere really depends on your character model."
Hearing this, Hikigaya's face stiffened. How could he not understand what Shinra meant?
"Shut up!"
"Well, actually, Miura-san isn't as bad as you think. Or rather, no one in our class is as bad as you think."
"You're pretty bad," Hikigaya retorted.
"If I were bad, you wouldn't be saying that," Shinra said, completely unfazed by his slander.
And Hikigaya didn't refute it. It seemed he had really been mistaken this time.
"Hikigaya, let the things from middle school stay in the past. You have to look forward," Shinra said, patting his shoulder meaningfully.
"Easy for you to say... Wait, how do you know about my middle school?" Hikigaya's expression changed, and a hint of terror appeared in his eyes as he looked at Shinra.
"That's a secret. Alright, I'm heading out first," Shinra said with a wave.
Watching Shinra's figure disappear around the corner, Hikigaya muttered, "Weird guy," and then prepared to head to the Service Club himself.
However, just as he took a step, he heard the classroom door behind him slide open.
"Huh? Hikki, what are you doing here?"
Hikigaya's body stiffened. He turned his head mechanically, forced a strained smile, and raised his right hand. "Ya-Yahallo?"
Yuigahama was already issuing a red-hot warning.
"What did you hear?"
"What did I hear, I wonder..."
"You were eavesdropping after all! Creepy! Stalker! Pervert! You, you... Hikigaya! I can't believe it, so gross, the absolute grossest!"
"Hey, hey, that's a bit much. What do you mean, 'you Hikigaya'?" Hikigaya felt that even with his good temper, he would get angry if he was insulted to this extent.
"Bleh!" Yuigahama stuck out her little pink tongue, skipped past him, and ran off into the distance.
At the corner, she suddenly stopped and said with her back to him, "Um... thanks for standing up for me today."
Without waiting for his reply, she disappeared around the corner, leaving Hikigaya standing there in a daze.
Wish Point +1
Mori Shinra, who had already arrived at the Service Club, received the notification from the system. A look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face. Whoa, a free Wish Point!
"Yukino, give me your blessing."
Yukinoshita: ?
After a moment's hesitation, she said, "I wish you good health?"
Without another word, Shinra immediately went all-in with the Wish Point he had just received.
[Congratulations on obtaining the ability: Photographic Memory]
A-a gold drop?
Shinra was a little stunned. He originally thought he would just get more spirit or constitution points this time, but he never expected to get an ability directly.
Was this the power of Yukinoshita's blessing?
If he had known, he would have asked her for the past few pulls!
"Yukino, you are my god!"
"Wh-what are you saying all of a sudden! (´///﹏///`)"