Chapter 359: Full of Herself / Why Keep "Small Umbrellas" in Your Pocket?
After school, Shimizu Akira intentionally slowed down his pace while packing his bag, waiting for Morishita Ai's potential prank. He wasn't afraid; he was simply curious to see what she was actually planning.
Sure enough, as he walked out of the teaching building and rounded the path toward the rear flank of the architecture, a figure suddenly leaped out from behind a thicket at the corner.
"Wah!"
Morishita Ai threw her arms open in an exaggerated "scare" pose, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Akira, clearly anticipating a terrified reaction. However, Akira merely stopped and looked at her calmly.
The two stared at each other for about five seconds. Morishita's expression shifted from anticipation to confusion, then to embarrassment, before finally deflating.
"...Eh? You're not scared at all? How did you know I was here?!" She dropped her arms, asking with clear disappointment.
While Akira couldn't explain the source of his intel directly, he had other excuses.
"Ever since I added you as a friend, I've been able to see your location. I knew exactly where you were and when you moved today."
"What?!" Morishita was visibly stunned. He was using her own trick against her?
By that logic, hadn't her initiative to add him as a friend been a case of walking right into a trap?
However, she quickly laughed again.
"Hehehe~ Nice to meet you. I am Morishita Ai, the future leader of Yamamura Miki. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"I'm Shimizu Akira." Akira nodded, feeling a headache coming on.
"I don't quite understand. What do you mean by 'future'?"
"Based on my predictions, in about a year—around this time next year—Kamuro Masumi and Sakayanagi Arisu will have left this school! At that point, naturally, I'll be the one calling the shots for Yamamura Miki!" Morishita answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
'What is this person even talking about?' Those two leaving the school?
Wait, that old fortune-teller had mentioned that Kamuro might be in danger of expulsion. But Akira felt that, right now, Morishita was just talking nonsense.
"Alright, so," he returned to the main point.
"You messaged me yesterday and tried to scare me today. What's the point? I don't believe I've offended you."
Morishita said righteously, "I just feel like you always have this air of composure, like you can predict everything. I just wanted to help you relax!"
"The honest truth?" Akira pressed.
"The honest truth!" Morishita nodded candidly.
"Yamamura already messaged me," Akira exposed her without mercy.
"She said you just wanted to see me get scared because you thought it would be fun and create a 'gap' in my character."
"What?! That person betrayed me!" Morishita puffed out her cheeks in anger. "That was supposed to be a secret between the two of us!"
"Morishita-san," Akira interrupted her again.
"I don't have time to play pranks with you. To be honest, it's quite bothersome. Could you stop coming to find me in the future?"
The Morishita Ai before him was quite striking. She had large, bright eyes, fair skin, and a standout figure—a textbook beautiful girl. But truthfully, this school was full of beautiful girls. Her repeated interruptions only felt like a nuisance to Akira.
Morishita, however, seemed completely oblivious to his impatience. Instead, she began to giggle.
Akira was baffled. "What are you laughing at now?"
"I get it, I get it!" Morishita said with a mischievous grin.
"You must be thinking: 'A quiet, non-proactive guy like me usually isn't popular with women, so this beautiful girl must be approaching me because of a bet or a punishment game!' Your heart is actually racing, but you're too embarrassed to admit it, so you're acting distant on purpose, right?"
She continued on her own: "But don't worry! My approaching you is purely out of personal interest! Firstly, I want to tease you, and secondly, I'm curious about you. That's all!"
'What on earth is she saying...'
Akira's lip twitched as he responded seriously: "First, I have a girlfriend—more than one. Second, my heart hasn't been racing since the start. Third, Yamamura told me you don't actually have many friends, so no one would play a punishment game with you. Fourth, even if you're honest about just wanting to tease me, I don't accept that as a valid reason."
Morishita was momentarily stunned by the flurry of logical rebuttals, but she quickly regained her sly smile.
"Wow, you really are serious." She spread her hands.
"But your last point was wrong! I have lots of friends! Yamamura Miki just doesn't understand my social circle."
"Is that so?" Akira replied noncommittally.
"Of course! It's just that my friends..." Morishita rolled her eyes, "...are a bit special."
'Imaginary friends?'
Morishita didn't seem inclined to elaborate on that topic, shifting back to him: "You said you have more than one girlfriend? For real? Isn't irregular dating banned at school?"
"The school rules don't encourage it, but they don't explicitly ban it," Akira answered. "And that's not the point of our discussion."
"True." Morishita nodded, then suddenly leaned in close, staring into Akira's eyes. "But Shimizu-kun, are you really not interested in me at all? I put a lot of thought into these interaction methods, you know."
She was so close that Akira could see the fluttering of her eyelashes and the glint in her eyes. Any other boy might have experienced a spike in heart rate, but Akira simply took a half-step back to maintain a polite distance. As a man with seven girlfriends, he was unshakable.
"Morishita-san, if you're just looking for someone to play with, there are plenty of suitable candidates in Class A. If you have some other objective, just say it. Beating around the bush doesn't suit you."
"Fine, you're as difficult to deal with as the rumors say." She stepped back and leaned against a nearby wall, her tone shifting.
"You're overthinking it. I just wanted to have some fun with you!"
She brightened up again and continued: "Tell you what, let's play a little game. The loser has to make a funny face. Hehe, if I win, Yamamura Miki has to be my lackey for a week! And seeing you make a funny face would definitely be entertaining."
The girl's eyes were wide and her smile lacked any real malice; it seemed she really was just looking for amusement.
But Akira shook his head.
"I have no reason to play a game with you. Besides, even if I win, seeing you make a funny face holds no interest for me. I gain nothing."
"How about this!" Morishita had a new idea.
"If you beat me, you can make any one request of me. Also, I won't harass you anymore."
Akira raised an eyebrow. "Any request?"
"As long as it doesn't break school rules, hurt anyone, and is within my capabilities, anything goes." Morishita held up three fingers seriously. "I'm a woman of my word."
"That sounds fair." Akira thought for a moment.
"What's the game?"
Morishita's eyes lit up as she pulled a coin from her pocket.
"Simple. Guess the heads or tails. Best of three, how about it?"
"That's it?" Akira was surprised. He expected something more complex.
"That's it." Morishita flipped the coin into the air and caught it steadily.
"A pure game of probability. No skill involved, purely luck."
Akira looked at the coin in her hand for a long time. "Fine," he finally nodded. "I accept."
"Then, for the first round—" Morishita placed the coin on her thumb. "Heads or tails?"
"Heads."
The coin spun high in the air before landing on the back of Morishita's hand. She quickly covered it with her other hand. They locked eyes as she slowly revealed the result. It was—Tails.
"I win the first round," Morishita laughed happily. "Second round, what's your pick?"
"Heads again." Akira didn't change his choice.
The second coin was flipped and caught. This time, when she moved her hand, it was Heads.
"One to one," Akira said calmly. "The final round."
Morishita took a deep breath, her expression becoming serious.
"Last round... are you sticking with Heads?"
"No." Akira shook his head. "This time, I choose Tails."
"Are you sure? The probability of the same side appearing twice in a row is actually quite high."
"I'm sure."
Morishita glanced at him, then tossed the final coin high. It landed. She covered it, paused for two seconds, and slowly pulled her hand away. It was—Tails.
"You won." Morishita's tone was complex—it was hard to tell if it was regret or relief.
"A bet is a bet. State your request."
Akira didn't answer immediately. He observed her expression and noticed that although she lost, there was no resentment or frustration in her eyes.
Instead, there was a sense of... anticipation?
'What is she anticipating!'
Then again, he had suspected she might cheat, but she had been quite honest during the game. Regarding the request, Akira was indeed a bit troubled, thinking for about ten seconds.
"Hehehe." Morishita laughed then, flashing a peace sign.
"I win! As long as I can make you look troubled and distressed, it's my victory! Now Yamamura Miki has to be my little lackey."
Akira finally realized it.
This person had predicted that even if he won, he would be bothered by having to come up with a request.
Conversely, if she won and made him pull a face, that was also her victory. She was quite clever, just not in a productive way.
But this time, Akira finally came up with a request: "Go be Sakayanagi Arisu's lackey for three days."
"What?!" Morishita's face instantly filled with shock.
Akira couldn't help but grin.
"I heard from Yamamura that you seem to dislike Sakayanagi Arisu? You feel she steals your spotlight. In that case, being her lackey for three days should be very interesting."
Morishita was stunned.
'Something's wrong! This guy looks so serious, how could he make such a difficult request?'
Being Sakayanagi's lackey? There was no telling how that black-hearted woman would "discipline" her. This was blatant bullying!
"Ahem!" she coughed.
"Sakayanagi has always found me troublesome and uncontrollable. Your request..."
Akira pulled out his phone and gave it a little wave.
"Don't worry, I know Sakayanagi Arisu. Just now, I sent her a message about you. She'll be kind enough to take you in."
Morishita was now completely helpless, her face finally showing a rare expression of embarrassment. The next second, she walked right up to Akira, grabbed his arm, and began to plead:
"I'm sorry, Shimizu-kun! I was wrong! Don't hand me over to that woman! I'll do anything, just don't do that!"
She was arrogant when she was on top, but she was certainly quick to beg for mercy. Was she really going to discard her dignity just like that?
Looking at Morishita clinging to his arm with an "I'll do anything" expression, Akira sighed.
"Let go first."
"Not unless you promise not to hand me over to Sakayanagi-san!" Morishita gripped even tighter.
"When did I say I was handing you over?" Akira tried to pull his arm away.
"I'm just telling you to be her lackey for three days; that was the terms of the bet."
"What's the difference?!" Morishita wailed.
"That woman will definitely find ways to torture me! Shimizu-kun, you can't do this, aren't we 'friends who met through a scuffle'?"
"We've known each other for less than an hour," Akira pointed out coolly.
"An hour-long friend is still a friend!" Morishita argued righteously.
"Friends should help each other, not hurt each other!"
The logic left Akira momentarily speechless.
"Stop being so full of yourself. You were the one who wanted to tease me first."
With that, Akira used his superior strength to gently break free from her grasp.
"Consider this a lesson for harassing me repeatedly these past two days," he said with feigned sternness.
"What a cold-hearted man! So mean!" Morishita realized her "spoiled" tactic was useless against him. She snorted and turned her face away.
"It would have been much better to ask for some 'fan-service' requests! Shimizu Akira, you're a big dummy!"
She was actually getting angry herself, even turning it around to complain that he didn't ask for "benefits." If he had asked, would she actually have given them? And who was she calling a dummy? She was acting like a total child!
Akira cleared his throat.
"Sorry, I have enough girlfriends. I don't need that kind of service. It's getting late! I need to go spend time with them."
Morishita seemed to snap back to reality. She walked in front of him, lowered her head, and cleared her throat.
"Ahem, alright, no more jokes. Since you won, I'll keep the promise. I, Morishita Ai, am always a woman of my word."
Before Akira could even reflect on her sudden change in attitude, Morishita snapped her head up with that familiar mischievous grin. In one swift motion, she lunged forward, reached into Akira's pocket, snatched something, and took off running.
"Hahaha! Shimizu Akira, just you wait! I won't give this back until you come and apologize to me! Until then, I'll keep it safe for you!"
Akira's hand instinctively went to his pocket. It was empty.
He watched her distant, running figure, unsure whether to be angry or laugh. This person truly never played by the rules.
"Morishita Ai!" he shouted.
She didn't look back and disappeared around the corner. Akira stood there, shaking his head helplessly.
One moment she was seriously promising to keep her word, and the next she was pulling a childish prank. Perhaps that was her contradiction—longing to be taken seriously while unable to resist testing boundaries in immature ways.
'Just like Sakayanagi Arisu, a total 'Mesugaki' (bratty girl) who needs a reality check. I'll let Sakayanagi handle her.'
Akira didn't give chase. If he did, he'd be playing right into her hands; she just wanted to see him flustered.
"Wait... what do I remember being in that pocket..."
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On the other side, Morishita Ai ran until she reached a large tree, finally leaning against the trunk to catch her breath.
She glanced back cautiously to confirm no one was following, then pressed her hand to the tree mysteriously, lowering her voice: "The forest tells me that Shimizu Akira hasn't chased after me!"
"Morishita-san!"
A familiar voice came from behind. She spun around to find Yamamura Miki nearby, walking toward her.
"You!" Morishita straightened her back and waved triumphantly.
"Well if it isn't my little lackey! Let me tell you, I teased Shimizu Akira good! So, you have to be my follower for the week. Look, here's the evidence!"
She flaunted her "trophy" snatched from Akira's pocket.
To her surprise, Yamamura Miki's face turned bright red instantly. She stammered, "You... you... did you actually look at what you're holding?"
Confused, Morishita looked down and opened her tightly clenched palm. Lying in her hand were two small, unopened packets of classic "001" style condoms.
Her face turned beet red in an instant.
It was true she liked to tease people, but she had absolutely no experience with "men and women" matters.
Staring at the items in her hand, her whole body froze.
'Wait! Why would someone like Shimizu Akira carry these around?! What was he planning to do after school?!
This... this means... was SHE the one who got teased instead?!'
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