Meguri Shiromeguri left. She had come with some hope, but she also knew the odds weren't great; she'd simply come to the Service Club with the mindset that there was no harm in trying.
Afterward, Yukinoshita would contact her, learn the details of the problem, and then handle it properly.
Or so Meguri Shiromeguri thought.
After a while, conversation resumed in the Service Club. Yui couldn't hold back: "Yukinon, have you thought of a way to solve it?"
When it was just the two of them, Yui Yuigahama was much more relaxed and open, and she also knew that Yukinoshita was more at ease at times like this too.
"Mm."
After Yukinoshita hummed in affirmation, Yui Yuigahama's eyes lit up with anticipation, gazing at Yukinoshita, hoping she'd share the method.
But Yukino Yukinoshita kept her mouth shut, simply conveying her refusal.
"Yukinon."
Yui Yuigahama let out a sweet, coquettish sound, hugging Yukinoshita's arm as she pleaded.
Of course Yukino Yukinoshita understood what Yui Yuigahama meant, but—how could she possibly say it?
Tell Yui Yuigahama that this whole string of events was because of her sister Haruno—that her sister Haruno had taken over Lin Ye's body and used Lin Ye's body to threaten Meguri Shiromeguri?
Never mind whether Yui Yuigahama would believe it—even if she did, it would be a lot of trouble.
Keeping Yui Yuigahama out of this and away from it was the best choice.
"Student Yuigahama, I'll take care of it."
"But I'm a member of the Service Club too. Yukinon, are you treating me like an outsider?"
Yui Yuigahama, gazing pleadingly like a dachshund, tugged at Yukinoshita's heart.
She clearly liked cats, so why did she feel unable to withstand this girl Yui Yuigahama's begging and coquetry!?
Yukinoshita talked herself out of it in every way, telling herself she absolutely must not agree.
This wasn't a matter of whether she could tell—it was that she absolutely must not.
"This is a separate matter. It concerns someone else's privacy. Student Yuigahama, I hope you can understand."
Yui Yuigahama was a girl who could read the atmosphere and sense how others reacted.
But this time, faced with Yukinoshita's reminder, she couldn't accept it.
She didn't want to simply accept it; instead she prepared to keep pressing, unleashing her greatest, ever-reliable strength.
"I can't understand, and I don't want to understand. I'm a member of the Service Club, and I want to share the burden with you, Yukinon. Aren't we friends?"
Yui Yuigahama blinked her big, beautiful eyes, her expression full of anticipation.
If once didn't work, then twice—until she succeeded.
That was her thinking.
Yukino Yukinoshita very much wanted to say "We aren't friends" to temporarily resolve the problem before her.
But with the words on the tip of her tongue, she found she still couldn't quite bring herself to do such a thing.
It was a somewhat nasty thing to do, and she didn't want to, even if not doing it would only bring her more trouble.
"So, Yukinon, we're friends, so please, I'm begging you, tell me!"
Yui Yuigahama began wheedling once again.
Yukinoshita really was starting to crack, but in the end she held firm.
This... really couldn't be told.
Once said, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Student Yuigahama, please don't overthink it. This is something I can't tell you."
Yukinoshita still chose to refuse.
And this time, Yui Yuigahama didn't keep wheedling and pestering Yukinoshita to tell her.
She knew that no matter how hard she tried, she probably wouldn't get the answer she wanted.
Instead, it would only further provoke Yukinoshita's displeasure.
That, above all, was something she definitely didn't want.
For Yui Yuigahama, getting along well with Yukinoshita, becoming friends—becoming best friends who could tell each other anything—was the most important thing of all.
"Since you put it that way, Yukinon, I won't keep asking," Yui Yuigahama replied.
But the sorrowful look on her lowered face really was hard to watch.
It prodded at that soft, delicate nerve in Yukino Yukinoshita's heart.
Yukino Yukinoshita could guess this was Yui Yuigahama's tactic of retreating in order to advance, but she held firm and resolutely refused to agree.
She absolutely couldn't fall into the trap, absolutely couldn't be fooled.
And when Yui Yuigahama saw that Yukinoshita had returned to her usual state, she realized she'd failed once again.
Ah, how frustrating!
Yui Yuigahama sighed inwardly.
Soon she found a new topic: "Should we tell Student Lin about this?"
Yui Yuigahama had a hunch this matter was connected to Lin Ye—maybe Yukinon wanted to ask Lin Ye to help solve it, only for certain reasons she couldn't tell her everything.
So Yui Yuigahama had no choice but to try other roundabout approaches.
"No need. There's no need to tell Lin Ye about Meguri Shiromeguri coming to our Service Club to ask for our help."
But as for other matters, she was definitely going to settle the score with someone—settle it with her sister. This whole string of events was all her sister's doing.
Just thinking about it made Yukinoshita furious.
Stirring up trouble day after day—if it were just herself, that would be one thing, but she'd gone and stirred up trouble using Lin Ye's body—
She felt this had to be her sister seizing the opportunity to thoroughly indulge some of her wicked schemes, and those schemes had indeed caused all manner of things.
Even Meguri Shiromeguri had come seeking help.
What else would happen after this?
Yukino Yukinoshita had a real headache.
The small Service Club classroom was filled with a faint, barely-there air of oppression.
Yukino Yukinoshita pondered how to make her sister give up, and how to explain things to Lin Ye.
After all, once Lin Ye found out, the first thing that came to her mind was Lin Ye demanding even more compensation from her.
The sister's debt, paid by the younger sister.
This formula absolutely held true on Lin Ye's end.
That bastard would absolutely take advantage of the crisis, making her pay a heavy price for her sister's actions.
This absolutely wouldn't do.
Her sister's mistake—how could she, the younger sister, be the one to bear it?
Therefore, it had to be avoided.
As for this point, Yui Yuigahama didn't think much about it—after all, Meguri Shiromeguri had said she didn't want Lin Ye to know.
The two continued in silence, passing the ordinary club time of the Service Club.
"Knock, knock, knock..."
They'd thought no one else would come today.
But a knock at the door still sounded.
"Come in."
It was Yui Yuigahama who spoke.
The door opened,
and Yui Yuigahama froze, a surprised look on her face.
The newcomer was her acquaintance, Miura Yumiko.
"Yumiko, you—is th-there something you need? Are you here to see Student Lin? Student Lin, um, went out today with... that... someone... so he's not attending today's club activities."
She'd originally intended to say Lin Ye had gone off on a date with Isshiki Iroha, but in the end she changed how she put it.
This phrasing was out of consideration for Miura Yumiko and Lin Ye's public identity as a couple.
Even though everyone knew Miura Yumiko and Lin Ye couldn't even be called ordinary friends, she still had to take this into account.
"I'm not here for him."
Is my brain malfunctioning, going to look for him? To get groped and taken advantage of every which way by his lecherous hands?
Miura Yumiko couldn't help thinking.
She never wanted a chance to be alone with that man for the rest of her life—not one bit.
She knew that once Lin Ye caught the chance, she'd absolutely be devoured clean, not a scrap left behind—so she absolutely could not give Lin Ye that chance.
"Oh, oh,"
Yui Yuigahama relaxed. "Then is there something you came to the Service Club for, Yumiko?"
"To see whether you're being bullied."
These words gave Yui Yuigahama pause.
Something seemed a bit off here! If it were her first time coming to the Service Club, Yui Yuigahama could understand—but this was already Yumiko's second time coming, and she was still checking whether she was being bullied?
She couldn't figure it out.
"Th-thank you, Yumiko, you care about me so much, boo-hoo-hoo, I'm so happy!"
As she spoke, Yui Yuigahama rushed over and hugged Miura Yumiko.
Her enthusiasm was too much even for Miura Yumiko to handle.
She'd known Yui Yuigahama was warm before, but she usually held back in daily life—why was she so enthusiastic and forward this time? It made her quite uncomfortable.
"Alright, alright, Yui, I get it,"
Miura Yumiko patted the pink bun's shoulder, then continued, "Looks like Yukinoshita hasn't been bullying you, so I'm relieved."
"Yukinon would never have the heart to bully me. Relax, relax."
"Just watch out for other people,"
Miura Yumiko reminded her rather obliquely.
As for Yukino Yukinoshita being threatened and taken advantage of by Lin Ye, she felt only a tiny bit of sympathy—mostly she was enjoying the show—but Yui was different.
"Hahaha, I know, I know. I'm very careful about protecting myself."
"With that ditzy look of yours, protect yourself? If I were a man, I could trick you into getting a hotel room tonight."
"Ngh!"
Yui Yuigahama let out a whimper.
"I-it's not that exaggerated! Tonight would be way too fast."
"Then tomorrow night..."
"That's still fast! At least three days."
Miura Yumiko: ???
Yukino Yukinoshita: ???
Three days?
That easy to trick?
If some other man knew this, wouldn't he be thrilled to death?
Yui Yuigahama was pretty and had a good figure—if any boy knew Yui Yuigahama was this easy to pursue, wouldn't they all go crazy chasing her, pursuing her like mad?
"That's plenty. Three days would be enough to trick you into bed."
"Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo..."
Yui Yuigahama immediately covered her face, which had gone bright red.
She—she'd wanted to say three weeks, no, no, no, not three weeks either, at least three months—yes, three months—three years would be too long. That was what Yui Yuigahama thought.
"So be more careful for me—the men around you are all too dangerous. You have to pay attention,"
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, I will. Actually I don't know many boys, and even fewer that I'm close with. A man like Lin-kun, I'd definitely feel at ease about—Yumiko, you don't need to worry too much either."
Miura Yumiko just wanted to slowly put out a few question marks.
A man like Lin Ye, at ease?
Lin Ye was the one she was least at ease about—he was the most dangerous, that man was the most dangerous of all, a good guy lurking behind a disguise.
Honestly, if not for what happened at noon, Miura Yumiko wouldn't have dared believe Lin Ye was actually this kind of man—daring to threaten, daring to trade secrets to achieve his improper desires.
And even daring to get handsy and cop a feel.
She was shocked.
When she'd originally thought of making Lin Ye her confession target, it was also because she knew Lin Ye liked Yukinoshita, and she figured Lin Ye couldn't possibly like her.
In the end she'd returned to the Service Club and used certain words to entice Lin Ye into agreeing to her—besides satisfying her competitive streak against Yukinoshita, she'd also had the idea of testing Lin Ye further.
The result was that Lin Ye refused, and you could say that along with being pleased, she was also a bit unhappy.
Her feelings were complicated, but at least she'd confirmed one thing: Lin Ye wasn't lecherous.
And now she realized she must have gotten it wrong.
How was Lin Ye not lecherous—groping, kneading, even pinching. She remembered that entire process at noon vividly, and her body even had a faint memory of reacting.
This was definitely not the look of someone who wasn't lecherous.
Rather, Lin Ye was just too good at disguising himself. Because Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama had been present, if he'd agreed outright back then, he'd have lost the chance to be with Yukinoshita. But now it was different—in private at noon, this was simply him unable to hold back and revealing his true feelings.
That bastard wanted to use their public boyfriend-girlfriend relationship to satisfy those wicked desires of his.
She really hadn't expected it—back then, agreeing outright would have given him the chance to have her, yet he'd flatly refused. And now look, he'd found a chance to threaten her.
She really hadn't anticipated this point.
Miura Yumiko was filled with even more anger toward this Lin Ye, even more displeased.
"Yui, the things worth being careful about still need care. Don't trust other people too easily,"
Miura Yumiko continued.
"Mm-hmm, I understand. Yumiko, is there anything else you need today?"
Yui Yuigahama asked once again.
"A friend of mine ran into some trouble, so I'm helping her by coming to the Service Club to ask about it."
Yui Yuigahama: ???
This sounded like something she'd heard somewhere.
Wait—didn't President Meguri Shiromeguri just say this?
Could the president's friend also be Miura Yumiko's friend?
She couldn't help but wonder.
"What kind of trouble?"
It was Yukinoshita who spoke—she'd caught a familiar scent.
But had her sister, after teasing President Meguri Shiromeguri, then gone and messed with Miura Yumiko too?
That couldn't be possible! The timing would be far too tight.
But it wasn't entirely impossible either.
If that were the case, Yukino Yukinoshita felt she was about to die of anger.
"She's being threatened by a man. Is there any good way to escape a man's threats?"
Yui Yuigahama was stunned.
"Yumiko, your friend wouldn't happen to be..."
"Ahem, ahem, ahem, don't go saying nonsense."
Miura Yumiko nearly lost her composure and hurriedly spoke up to stop what Yui Yuigahama was about to say.
If Yukinoshita were to find out she'd been threatened by a man and couldn't deal with it—that she even needed to come to the Service Club to ask for help getting free—
This... would be utterly mortifying.
Miura Yumiko absolutely did not want to be humiliated like this. She absolutely couldn't let Yukinoshita find out and mock her.
"Ah, I... I understand."
Yui Yuigahama hummed a couple of times.
Miura Yumiko immediately looked toward Yukinoshita—Yukinoshita's reaction was what she cared about most.
Their gazes met, four eyes locking.
Miura Yumiko read something in the deep meaning within Yukinoshita's eyes.
She swallowed, feeling that Yukinoshita seemed to have already understood something.
She'd already been exposed—Yukinoshita had guessed it.
Damn it—
It was all Yui's fault.
That one thing she'd said had exposed her completely.
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