"Hm?"
Yukio groggily opened his eyes, feeling a little hungry. He picked up his phone and saw a few class messages, plus a text from the school about the results of the Unanimous Vote special exam. Then he checked the time.
It was already 5:30 PM.
Doing the math, well... he actually hadn't slept that long.
D-Class's exam had ended at one in the afternoon. After handling the transfer paperwork, coming back to the dorm, doing that, and then falling asleep, now it was this late.
No wonder he was hungry. He hadn't even eaten lunch.
Maybe the movement of him checking his phone woke Sakura too. She drowsily opened her sleepy eyes, and the second she saw Yukio clearly, her face instantly turned blazing hot. She gave a tiny shiver, yanked the blanket over herself, and hid completely underneath it.
Pure ostrich behavior.
Like as long as she couldn't see Yukio, then Yukio couldn't see into her heart either.
Yukio let out a laugh.
His mean streak kicked in at once.
"I'm going to pull the blanket off, you know?"
The only response he got was silence.
Then Yukio quickly decided he really shouldn't tease her anymore. He could see it clearly—actual steam was rising through the blanket and drifting into the air.
Just how embarrassed did Sakura have to be for steam to be coming through the blanket like that? Even a literal steam princess wouldn't be this dramatic.
Yukio absolutely did not dare keep provoking her. He really didn't want her poor brain overheating and frying itself.
"Ahem. I'll... go wash up first."
After saying that, he hurried down and went into the bathroom. Only when the sound of the bathroom door closing echoed out did Sakura yank the blanket down and gasp for air.
Her little face was so red she looked overheated, and her eyes were practically about to turn into spirals.
That alone showed just how embarrassed she'd been hiding under there.
But... washing up?
Sakura suddenly checked herself over, and a new wave of panic hit her. She desperately needed to wash up too. Otherwise it'd be way too mortifying. She wouldn't even be able to look Yukio in the eye.
Luckily, Yukio was quick. A few minutes later, he was done—he'd even taken a quick combat shower. So when Sakura timidly asked if she could borrow the bathroom, he happily agreed and even gave her one of his shirts to change into.
After that, Yukio busied himself. While preparing their late lunch—or really, dinner at this point—he also checked his phone.
The class messages were all normal. So it looked like Sakura's transfer still hadn't spread yet.
But it was only a matter of time. By tonight at the latest, it was bound to become the biggest piece of gossip in the entire second year.
As for the Unanimous Vote results, they were enough to make anyone's jaw drop.
[Unanimous Vote Special Exam Results:
Class A and Class C both unanimously voted "No" on the final question, so each class lost 200 class points.
Class D timed out on the exam and lost 300 class points.
Sakayanagi's class gained 300 class points.]
[Current second-year class rankings:
Class A, Yukio's class: 3340 points
Class B, Sakayanagi's class: 1730 points
Class C, Ichinose's class: 1240 points
Class D, Matsushita's class: 20 points]
Even Yukio couldn't help wondering if the school had looked at how bloated second-year class points had gotten and deliberately pulled out the Unanimous Vote exam just to chop three classes back down.
Whatever. It was over now, and there was no point dwelling on it.
He put down his phone and focused on making dinner.
Since he was hungry, he didn't bother with anything elaborate. He kept it fast and simple and quickly made three home-style dishes.
But thinking about what Sakura had just been through, he also stewed up a bowl of soup for her with red dates, rock sugar, and a little angelica root.
After that, all that remained was waiting for the rice cooker to finish.
While waiting, Yukio messed around on his phone. By the time the rice was done, Sakura still hadn't come out.
Still, he didn't think much of it. Girls taking forever in the bath was common sense, right?
Besides, the soup was still simmering, and the hot dishes wouldn't get cold that quickly anyway. Worst case, there was always the microwave.
He played on his phone a little longer, and only then did Sakura finally come out.
And the sight hit hard enough that Yukio seriously wondered if he ought to start fighting her for that soup, because he could feel a nosebleed threatening.
The reason was simple.
Sakura had taken off those plain, frumpy glasses, and the whole internet-idol Shizuku charm was on full display. Then there was Yukio's shirt...
Well, how should he put it?
Sakura couldn't button it up at all.
The so-called second button closest to the heart? It wasn't even closed.
With her fresh-out-of-the-bath pale skin on top of that, Yukio genuinely wanted to go for round two.
Unfortunately, his stomach was empty, so all he could do was wave her over.
"Come eat first."
Sakura seemed nervous too. She nodded obediently without saying a word and hurried over to sit beside him.
Then, holding her bowl and chopsticks with careful stiffness, she took one bite, sneaked a glance at Yukio, took another bite, sneaked another glance, and after repeating that a few times, she quietly started smiling.
A really, really happy smile.
Yukio raised a brow.
Well, damn.
Was she using his face as a side dish? Reverse-style eye candy?
Maybe that smile helped her loosen up, because Sakura finally gathered the courage to talk.
"Yukio-kun... later... can I wash the dishes?"
"Sure." Yukio nodded immediately. He was willing to cook, but he absolutely did not enjoy doing dishes. Most people were like that. "I'll leave that to you, Airi."
"Mhm." Sakura bobbed her little head happily, looking delighted. "I really, really want to be useful to you."
That made Yukio understand right away.
No wonder.
During the Unanimous Vote exam, Horikita hadn't just tried to expel Sakura because she had no friends. She'd also done it because, in Horikita's eyes, Sakura was useless to D-Class.
A burden. Dead weight. Someone who only dragged the class down.
That was probably exactly what had planted a thorn in Sakura's heart, which was why she was now trying so hard to help Yukio as quickly as possible.
In other words, she wanted to prove she had value.
"No rush." Now that he understood the problem, Yukio knew he needed to think carefully about how to handle it.
First, Horikita definitely needed to be taught a lesson.
But more importantly, he had to figure out how to remove that thorn from Sakura's heart.
Still, maybe because her confession had finally succeeded, Sakura was being even more proactive than he'd expected.
"Oh, right, Yukio-kun. In the bathroom, I used my phone to order some new body wash. Once it gets here... do you want to try it?"
"Sure." Now that Yukio understood where this was coming from, he naturally didn't want to shut down her enthusiasm. Still, he couldn't help asking one extra question. "What kind of body wash? Skincare stuff? Fragrance type? I'm not doing beauty treatments, so something normal is fine."
"No, no, not that kind. It's... the kind they say online that boys especially like. The super-premium foaming kind."
"—Pff!"
Good lord.
S-super-premium foaming wash?!
You're being way too proactive here!
No wonder she'd taken so long in the bathroom. So it wasn't just shower time—she'd been using her phone to look up tips?
Yukio immediately understood. Stuff like that was easy enough to find online in Japan. Back where he came from, it actually wouldn't be that easy to dig up that fast.
Looks like that thorn in Sakura's heart really needed to be pulled out soon.
He knew she wanted to prove she could be useful as soon as possible, but... she really shouldn't be trying to show initiative in that direction.
"Eh?" Seeing how shocked Yukio was, Sakura got flustered too. "Y-you don't like it? Then I'll cancel it."
"No, w-wait." Yukio glanced at Sakura and, in the end, lost to his own desires. "No... it's fine. Keep it. I-I'll try it."
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.