Before the afterglow of the graduation ceremony had faded, everyone had returned to Nishikawa Palace.
Chika threw herself into the sofa the moment she entered, asking excitedly, "Everyone, where should we go for summer vacation?"
Utaha stretched lazily from her seat by the window, speaking languidly: "Haven't you had enough fun in the other world? We've finally come back to reality. I don't want to go out."
Megumi and the others weren't surprised by this. They had known each other for so many years... who didn't know whom? Despite Utaha's goddess-like appearance, her personality was essentially that of a shut-in otaku.
"Ehh—!"
Sonoko was the first to jump up in opposition, speaking righteously: "A graduation trip is a once-in-a-lifetime precious experience!! It would be too much of a shame to miss it."
"I think so too."
Rebecca sat next to Makoto, her arms wrapped around his neck. "I want to see what the world where Makoto lives looks like."
Hanabi also nodded.
In the end, the few homebodies like Utaha and Miku, outnumbered, could only surrender.
"So where to?"
Mrs. Yukinoshita asked as she walked out of the kitchen carrying a tea tray.
Tsunade thought for a moment and said, "Can we go to that One Piece World? I've heard you all talk about it quite a bit lately. I'm a bit interested."
"No!" The younger girls said in unison.
"We spent nearly twenty years there. Got sick of it long ago." Someone rolled her eyes.
Tsunade pouted.
Makoto walked over, his hand stealthily resting on her side waist. "If you want to go later, I'll take you alone."
Just as Tsunade started to curl her lips in a smile, she felt that dog paw slide down along her waistline and give her butt a squeeze.
'Dog of a man! So many people are around!'
Alice propped her chin in her hand, her eyes twinkling. "Why not go to Makoto's home country? China?"
Makoto sat back down. "Forget it. It's summer vacation now, everywhere is packed."
Yotsuba bounced up from her seat. "Then... for summer, shouldn't we go to the beach? What do you think, Makoto?"
She hopped over to Makoto, her lively twin bunnies bouncing along as she moved.
"The beach?"
Kaguya, Eriri, Ai, and the others' faces darkened simultaneously.
Their gazes, as if by prior agreement, swept over the chests of the other women present, then looked down at their own. Their expressions grew darker and darker.
If they went to the beach, the moment they put on swimsuits, wouldn't they be completely embarrassed?
Sayuri from the MILF Group also clearly thought of this point and strongly voiced her opposition.
Immediately, the black-hearted group, led by Chika, Robin, Saeko, and Alice, saw through the flat-chested group's intentions, the corners of their mouths curving up in unison.
The two sides couldn't agree, and finally decided to settle it by playing cards.
Most people didn't care where they went, so they stepped aside to watch.
The card table was set up.
Kaguya, Saeko, Robin, Ai, and others sat on opposite sides.
Chika, sitting across from Kaguya, shuffled the cards with gusto, her flashy technique showing she played often.
The competition lasted nearly an hour.
Chips piled up into small hills on the table, shifting back and forth among the players.
Nijika served as a temporary referee, crouching beside to keep score.
The final results were in.
Kaguya had the most chips, placing first.
Saeko followed closely, placing second.
Robin came in third. Ai came in fourth...
And on Chika's table, there were pitifully few chips left.
She looked at those few lonely round discs with teary eyes, about to cry without tears. "How could this happen..."
Nijika held up two fingers to calculate the total number of chips on each side, then raised her hand to announce: "The Okinawa Group wins."
Meaning, they were going to the beach.
The girls in the flat-chested group looked ashen, secretly pouting.
Yu stood nearby, a hint of regret in his voice: "Shinomiya-senpai and the others just missed it by that little bit."
"There's no helping it~ whose fault is it that a certain blonde was holding them back?" Utaha leaned over and said, looking at Eriri with a smile.
Eriri immediately exploded: "What did you say?!"
Makoto added lightly: "It wasn't too bad. There was also a cheater who held them back even worse. It's fortunate that Momoi and the others were strong enough."
Chika's body trembled slightly.
Everyone's gaze fell on her simultaneously.
They knew this one too well. She basically cheated every time they played games.
Kaguya stared intently at her best friend: "Did you cheat again?"
"Ahaha... ho-how could that be..." Chika laughed dryly, a thin layer of sweat forming on her forehead. "If I cheated, would I have gotten last place?"
Everyone blinked. That did make some sense.
"It's precisely because you put all your attention on cheating that you got distracted."
Makoto reached for the cards on the table, turned them face down, and pieced them together one by one.
Everyone leaned in to look. The patterns on the backs of those cards, combined, formed a complete circular figure.
Chika broke out in a cold sweat. The smile on her face froze completely.
After a moment of silence, Yu's voice echoed through the hall, filled with intense scorn and a hint of barely restrained excitement.
"Deceitful! Cunning! Completely shameless!"
Yu's words burst out like rapid-fire, his tempo increasing. "How embarrassing, Chika-san! Where on earth did you buy that thick skin of yours!?"
Makoto remained silent.
'There it was. The Anti-Fujiwara Chika Noble Phantasm.'
But Yu's output continued. He gestured with his hands, growing more excited as he spoke.
"Even cheating is already shameful enough. Yet there exists someone who can still lose despite cheating? How ridiculously hopeless can someone be to accomplish such a thing!! Ahhh... how embarrassing! If I were you, I'd never touch a playing card again in this lifetime!"
Chika was utterly defenseless against his tirade. She covered her already bright-red cheeks with both hands and let out a pitiful whimper: "Don't look at me..."
Yu wasn't finished. "Ahhh... too shameful! Truly too shameful, Chika-san!"
"Waaah... I want to go die... I'm heading back first..." Chika stood up from the sofa, looking like she'd lost her soul, and drifted down the corridor towards her room.
"Is that so? But please don't actually die," Yu called after her.
The other women watched this scene with amusement. Some shook their heads, others tried to stifle their laughter.
There really weren't many people who could handle Chika.
However, the victory in this game still belonged to Saeko and her team.
Kaguya and the others pouted secretly. It seemed they would inevitably have to face this humiliation.
Makoto leaned down and whispered in Kaguya's ear, his voice very low: "Don't worry. Small is cute too."
Kaguya's face immediately puffed up in anger. She reached out and pinched his waist hard.
Just then, Moeha jumped out, holding up her phone, her voice crisp: "Um, my sister's friend runs a scuba diving shop in Hawaii! Let's go there!"
"Hawaii?"
A faint, peculiar expression flickered across Makoto's face, but it quickly returned to normal. "Alright, let's go there."
It reminded him of a certain high school detective who loved going to the 'Hawaii Technical School' for training and was now dead.