Takashi stared at the hand that had grasped his sleeve for a long while before speaking, "Not in the morning, I don't want to squeeze into the subway."
He bought a car specifically to avoid squeezing into the subway.
If it weren't for his age, Takashi would have even considered buying an Audi.
Not the Audi Double Diamond, but a real Audi.
"I understand."
Upon hearing Takashi's response, Kotonoha slowly lowered her head, her hand falling weakly, as if all her strength had been drained away.
Takashi watched her, noticing that she was about to look down again. He extended his finger and poked her forehead with his index finger.
Kotonoha instinctively looked at him, and Takashi lightly chuckled, "But I really like money, and coincidentally, you have quite a bit of it."
"If you're willing to spend, I can accompany you at other times."
Kotonoha was momentarily stunned, but quickly realized what he meant.
"Kitahara-kun, you mean that as long as I pay, I can ask you out, right?"
Takashi seriously corrected her, "It's a date, not an appointment."
You think you can just ask me out with a few tens of thousands of yen? What do you take me for?
Of course, if you offer up to a million yen, tonight you don't even have to treat me as a person.
"So, how about it? Would you like to be my Master (sponsor)?"
Kotonoha showed no anger and continuously nodded her little head. "Yes, I'm willing."
"Then it's settled."
After messing with Kotonoha's hair, Takashi couldn't help but harshly despise himself in his mind.
"Kitahara, you've fallen."
Though he was greedy for money in the past, at least he had principles.
Now, forget about principles—he didn't even have a conscience anymore.
He didn't even care if the other person had a boyfriend.
But to be fair, since he lost his conscience, he started making more money.
What the old people said was definitely right.
If the money's gone, we can earn more.
But if the conscience is gone, we earn even more.
"It's all Nagisa's fault!"
Takashi felt like he had turned into this because of Nagisa.
Would he have become like this without her?
Takashi, who had always been strict with himself and lenient with others, got angrier the more he thought about it.
He immediately sent a message to Nagisa: [If I change one day, it's all your fault.]
Just as he tucked his phone into his pocket, it buzzed.
Nagisa: [Choose one (picture Jpg.) (picture Jpg.) (picture Jpg.)...]
Takashi looked at the images Nagisa sent—pictures of her wearing black stockings, white stockings, flesh-colored stockings, red stockings, fishnet stockings, horse oil socks, over-the-knee socks, calf socks, lace stockings, polka dot socks, flower vine socks, suspenders, bubble socks, ballet crossover dance socks...
He felt dizzy from the overload.
What to do? It's too much to handle.
He couldn't keep up.
Takashi: [Just choose yourself, why are you asking me?]
Nagisa: [Next time we meet, I'll show you my legs.]
You're insulting me!
What do you take me for, Takashi?
Angry, Takashi jabbed at the screen.
The way he jabbed at the screen, it seemed like he wanted to take out his anger on Nagisa.
[Black stockings with white socks.]
Nagisa: [Okay.]
Nagisa: [Next time, let's bring Maki along, shall we? We'll do it secretly.]
What kind of sin did Maki commit to have you as a best friend?
Can you stop tormenting her?
Takashi took a second to silently mourn for Maki.
He put his phone away, and when he looked up, he saw Kotonoha staring intently at him.
Looking directly into her deep purple eyes, he felt a sudden heart flutter, and every pore on his body stood up.
Kotonoha tilted her head: "What's wrong, Kitahara-kun?"
"Nothing, let's go."
Kotonoha obediently agreed: "Okay."
They walked through the underground passage and out of the station, where they would part ways.
"Kitahara-kun, this is for you."
Before leaving, Kotonoha handed him the lemon water she had been carrying.
"Thanks, Kotonoha."
"Kotonoha..."
Hearing Takashi's affectionate call, Kotonoha's face turned red again.
Takashi looked at Kotonoha, who blushed because of his words, and felt that he had become more timid.
He actually got nervous around her just now.
Wait, why was he scared of her?
Could she really stab him or something?
"Let's go."
Takashi waved his hand at Kotonoha and turned to leave.
Kotonoha stood at the subway entrance, watching his back slowly fade into the distance.
When he was no longer in sight, she opened her umbrella and merged into the crowd, heading toward Sakakino Academy.
…
Today, he had been delayed by Kotonoha, but Takashi still managed to enter the classroom just before the bell rang.
The moment he entered, he immediately sensed that something was off with the class atmosphere.
Despite there being plenty of time before the lesson started, no one in the class was talking.
The class was eerily silent, like a mourning hall.
Tanuma Tsubasa and Ohtani Shota, who were usually noisy, sat stiffly in their seats and kept giving him furtive glances, as though trying to convey something to him.
Unfortunately, Takashi had only studied female psychology, not male psychology.
He couldn't understand what they were trying to tell him.
As he walked to his seat, Takashi had just put his bag down when a small, fair hand grabbed his tie and yanked it down sharply.
Caught off guard, Takashi almost fell face-first onto the desk.
Annoyed, he quickly raised his head and met the cold, ice-like gaze of Narii.
It was the first time Takashi had seen such an expression on Narii.
He couldn't help but gulp: "Wh-what's wrong?"
Narii's lips parted slightly: "Out."
As soon as those two words left her mouth, within the blink of an eye, every student in the class disappeared without a trace, leaving only Takashi and Narii behind.
The last person to leave also closed the door.
"You seemed to have a great time this weekend."
"Narii, I don't understand what you're talking about."
Seeing that Takashi was still being stubborn, Narii sneered and took out a stack of photos, throwing the first one at him.
"Could you tell me about your story with Miura Yumiko?"
Takashi looked down and saw a photo of Miura Yumeko grabbing his collar, questioning him.
Narii threw another photo at him: "Yukinoshita Yukino is cute, right?"
The second photo showed Yukinoshita Yukino hiding behind him, afraid of a dog.
"Adagaki Aki is beautiful, isn't she?"
The third photo showed Adagaki Aki stepping on his foot.
"I heard you confessed to Doma Umaru?"
The fourth photo showed him at the comic convention, seeing off Doma Umaru.
"You and Kitagawa Marin are having quite a bit of fun, huh?"
The fifth photo showed him holding Kitagawa Marin's hand like he was walking a dog.
"Your new little sister is cute, when are you going to introduce me to her?"
The sixth photo showed him exchanging contact information with Yasuraoka Hanabi.
Every time Narii said something, she threw a new photo at him.
As more photos were thrown, Takashi grew more nervous, his body tense, his gaze darting, and his lips pressed tightly together as he tried to remain calm.
"Takashi, you're really something!"
Once all the photos were thrown, Narii smirked cruelly.
"You might be walking on two boats, but you—you're sailing across the whole damn ocean, huh? From Tokyo to Chiba."
"I went out to buy a sanitary napkin, and I ran into nine women related to you."
"You think you're some kind of playboy, huh?"
Narii's fingers were slender, as delicate as willows. The soft pink hue at the tips of her fingers seemed like the most exquisite color in the world.
Now, those beautiful fingers were tightly gripping Takashi's neck.
"Tell me, how do you want to die?"
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