Without her even noticing, her attitude toward Lin Ye had changed.
When had it started?
Was it when she first realized her parents' shift in attitude toward Lin Ye — the moment she became his quasi-fiancée?
And after that?
After that came all the various intimate things she and Lin Ye had done together.
Facing a man who had already touched her skin, a man who was nominally her fiancé and who would inevitably become her husband, her feelings toward him had changed.
Now it had become clear enough that even she herself recognized it.
So what came next? What about the future?
Yukino Yukinoshita had begun to imagine that future in far greater detail.
She no longer thought, as she once had, that she would resign herself to being a dutiful wife standing quietly at a man's side. Instead, she would come to like him, to love him, until the end of her life.
The path there was a little different, but the general shape of it matched what she'd once hoped for in love and marriage.
Yukino Yukinoshita had once even imagined that if her parents ever opposed her being with a boy she loved, she would be willing to abandon everything the Yukinoshita family stood for just to stay with him.
Yes —
this girl who looked cold and distant, who seemed to have nothing to do with romance, still carried in her heart the same pure longing for love that so many girls dreamed of.
She too wanted a perfect love. She too wanted to walk into a marriage hall with someone she cherished.
Once she'd realized her parents intended for her to be with Lin Ye, she'd resolved to sacrifice herself for the family's interests.
But now, things hadn't gone as she expected. Instead, she had developed real feelings for him.
That feeling made her realize she was no longer merely a sacrifice for her family — she now had something of her own that she hoped for.
Yukino found it surprising.
Probably it was because this man hadn't rushed to touch her, hadn't treated her as some tool to satisfy his own desires.
She was sure that had to be at least part of the reason. Otherwise, she couldn't think of any other explanation.
Many of her doubts had unraveled, and the way Yukino Yukinoshita looked at Lin Ye kept changing, growing brighter.
She shifted carefully, then leaned in and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
In that moment, that was simply what she wanted to do — kiss him.
After the kiss, though, the girl was startled to see Lin Ye turn and look right at her.
Their eyes met.
Huh?
Wasn't he asleep?
Why was he awake?!
Yukino's face flushed red in an instant.
"Sneaking a kiss while I was sleeping," he said.
Her face reddened even further.
"No denial? Then that's an admission."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "…"
She made an instant decision and closed her eyes.
Whatever Lin Ye said next, she would pretend not to hear, pretend she was already fast asleep.
"Yukino, Yukino…"
Lin Ye called her name lightly, but the girl gave no response at all.
Clearly, she was faking sleep.
He couldn't help the corner of his mouth curling up in amusement.
So this girl could get embarrassed enough to fake sleep now.
"Yukino, since you're asleep, then I won't hold back…"
And indeed, he didn't. Lin Ye made his move.
In under a minute, the girl couldn't take it anymore — she glared and turned her back to him.
Lin Ye wrapped his arms around her from behind and gently brushed her long hair aside.
"Yukino, I won't let go of you."
"I'm not giving you any chance to leave me."
At his firm words, Yukino Yukinoshita slowly opened her eyes. After a moment of pressing her lips together, she said, "Once you've completely cut ties with the other women, I'll definitely stay by your side."
What she wanted was for Lin Ye to cut things off cleanly with everyone else — not this ambiguous, unresolved mess that kept dragging on, with the number of women only growing.
If it kept going like this, if Lin Ye kept diving into the Strange Games again and again and meeting more and more people, the pressure on her would only get worse.
Lin Ye was too kindhearted, always rushing to help — of course he'd win the affection of one girl after another.
In the future, the women around Lin Ye would only multiply, to a degree she could hardly believe.
Somehow, Yukino Yukinoshita had this feeling right now.
Lin Ye didn't answer. He only gently stroked her hair, silently conveying his decision.
There was no way he could let go of the other girls.
On this point, he couldn't give her what she wanted.
And Yukino Yukinoshita hadn't really expected him to agree outright. If he'd been willing to agree, he would have said so long ago — instead of, even now, holding back from touching her, suppressing his own desire rather than reaching for her.
Night deepened.
The room held nothing but the soft sound of breathing.
Yukino gradually drifted into deep sleep.
Lin Ye stayed awake late. As he lay there thinking, the sleeping girl unconsciously wrapped her arms around his, pressing her body close, looking utterly intimate and trusting.
Warmth spread through Lin Ye's chest.
This was her trust in him.
He could only say —
so many things in life were about missing the right moment. Otherwise, he would surely have devoted himself entirely to Yukino alone.
Once he'd gained the ability to hold multiple women at once, once he found himself liked — even pursued — by one girl after another, it was inevitable that he'd struggle to keep himself standing on the ground of an ordinary man's morals.
Lin Ye didn't want to change anymore.
Faithfulness to one person?
No need for that.
He'd been reborn into this world, he had the power now — why would he still confine himself to loving just one woman?
Reality itself no longer allowed him to be faithful to just one.
Since he was destined to hurt some of the girls anyway, then why not just hurt them all, and keep every one of them by his side?
The next day.
Lin Ye was up early again, preparing breakfast.
Yukino woke to the sight, and even though it wasn't the first time she'd seen it, warmth still couldn't help but well up inside her.
She felt, in her heart, the sense of having a home.
Yes —
the feeling of home.
Warm, comfortable, the kind of feeling that put one's heart at ease.
She had always longed for a life like this, and now, finally, she had it.
"Once you're washed up, let's eat!"
Lin Ye took hot milk out of the microwave. Since she liked plain milk, he hadn't added any sugar.
A little while later,
Yukino sat down at the table, looking at the breakfast on the plate in front of her. A faint, savory aroma drifted up, and her appetite stirred.
She wanted to eat it.
Even though the food was simple, nothing special about it, in that moment she felt it was the most delicious meal she'd ever had.
"For lunch today…"
She had always been the one to prepare both their lunches while making breakfast in the morning, but these last few days, since she'd been sleeping beside Lin Ye and sleeping so soundly, with no alarm going off, she hadn't managed to wake up in time to prepare lunch.
"I already made it," he said.
That caught Yukino Yukinoshita by surprise.
"Don't complain if it doesn't taste good."
She didn't say anything, just gave a small shake of her head.
No matter how bad it tasted, she wouldn't call it bad.
Besides, the food Lin Ye made was actually quite good.
It tasted like home.
She liked it a lot.
Thinking this, the corners of Yukino's mouth curved into a beautiful, involuntary smile.
The two of them set off for school together again.
Along the street on both sides,
boys and girls in Sobu High uniforms clustered here and there in twos and threes, chatting, enjoying the last happy moments before class.
The pair of Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita drew plenty of attention.
But compared to before, the novelty had worn off — people had gradually grown used to it, adapted to it.
Still, they remained curious why Lin Ye, supposedly Miura Yumiko's boyfriend, dared to walk so openly with Yukino Yukinoshita.
And Miura Yumiko, his official girlfriend, showed not the slightest inclination to stop or scold him even when confronted with this blatantly unreasonable sight.
Miura Yumiko appeared.
Her golden hair caught the morning sun, gleaming.
Her proud figure swayed with each confident step, graceful and striking.
In all of vast Sobu High, there really wasn't another girl whose figure could match Miura Yumiko's.
As for Yukino Yukinoshita, there was simply no comparison there.
They were on entirely different levels.
"Pretty, huh?"
Lin Ye had only glanced over for a second before catching a resentful murmur from the girl beside him — soft, but perfectly clear to him standing so close.
"Nothing compares to Yukino."
It was the truth, and it was also flattery, but even knowing that, Yukino Yukinoshita's mood couldn't help but lift a little.
"If nothing compares, then look less."
"Yes, yes, yes,"
Lin Ye nodded immediately.
As far as Lin Ye was concerned, keeping his girlfriend's mood up was the most natural thing in the world.
Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, Miura Yumiko walked toward Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita.
The watching students grew excited all over again, certain that this time, Miura Yumiko would finally scold Lin Ye.
Her boyfriend, walking so close with another woman — that was cheating, that was betrayal, wasn't it? Wasn't it?!
They eagerly hoped for exactly this to happen.
But when Miura Yumiko went ahead and greeted Yukino Yukinoshita, there was still no sign of any conflict.
Had they gotten it wrong again? Read too much into it again?
No way.
Why was this happening again, just like yesterday?
Could Miura Yumiko really not get angry over something like this involving Lin Ye?
"Watch yourself from now on,"
Miura Yumiko said, staring at Lin Ye. "I know you like Yukinoshita, but walking this close with her before you've even broken up with me — that's too much."
The moment those words left her mouth,
the watching students' excitement ignited.
Wasn't this exactly what they'd been waiting for?
It was finally happening!
Some of them looked ready to cry from sheer excitement.
Yesterday they'd waited for it right up to the end and it never came; today, unexpectedly, it seemed like it finally would. They'd hoped, but doubted it was possible — and now it really seemed to be happening.
Wonderful. Truly wonderful. They genuinely felt like crying.
Only Lin Ye and Yukino knew that Miura Yumiko was acting — putting on a performance to create the illusion that their relationship was on the verge of breaking down.
"I'm the one who wants to break up, but you won't agree? Isn't that how it is?"
Lin Ye tossed the blame right back at her.
He could shoulder some of it, but not all of it — Lin Ye wasn't willing to take the full weight.
After all, this whole situation was something Miura Yumiko had brought on herself; he was just the one helping her out.
And he certainly wasn't getting anything good out of it.
The touching, the groping, the caressing — that was all Haruno's doing.
He hadn't done any of that. He hadn't enjoyed any of it, not one bit.
So there was no way Lin Ye would let Miura Yumiko get what she wanted out of this.
The golden-haired girl's mouth twitched, clearly at a loss.
She could agree to it, but she couldn't just agree outright.
If Lin Ye wanted to break up and she simply accepted, then... how could she put it?
Wouldn't ending things this easily seem a bit too simple?
"So, Yumiko, let's break up,"
Lin Ye said.
No time like the present — might as well end this relationship today.
That was exactly what Lin Ye was thinking right now.
With so many students watching,
if he said it out loud like this, the whole of Sobu High would know by the end of the day.
His relationship with Miura Yumiko would finally, cleanly, come to an end.
Yukino Yukinoshita watched Miura Yumiko too, waiting for her answer.
Surely now she'd agree, right?
If she still refused even now, what would that even mean?
Miura Yumiko could already feel the eyes converging on her from every direction. She felt like she was about to face the strangest, most intense scrutiny of her entire life.
"You want to break up with me?"
Her tone hardened. "You think you can just break up whenever you feel like it? Just who do you think Miura Yumiko is?"
Hey, hey, hey —
wasn't she supposed to say yes at this point?
Even Yukino found herself silently complaining about this.
Yesterday was already enough.
And now this, again?
Yukino Yukinoshita subtly nudged Lin Ye, urging him to think of some way to handle this properly.
Lin Ye thought for a moment, then spoke. "Student Miura, let me make this clear once again — I like Student Yukinoshita more. We... aren't suited for each other."
Miura Yumiko's mouth twitched even harder.
This guy. This absolute jerk.
Facing the murmurs rippling around her, she felt more than a little uncomfortable.
'A little uncomfortable' didn't even begin to cover it — she felt utterly, thoroughly mortified.
Being told this so plainly felt like a complete denial of everything about her, like she'd lost all face.
Losing to Yukino Yukinoshita specifically wasn't something too hard to accept, though.
After all, at Sobu High, the most popular girl really was Yukino Yukinoshita, not Miura Yumiko herself.
It was only because Yukino Yukinoshita was so coldly aloof, an untouchable Ice Beauty, that so many Sobu High students preferred to gossip about her instead.
Of course, Miura Yumiko also knew that part of why she got talked about was her connection to Hayama — being close to the most popular boy at Sobu High naturally bumped up her own notoriety.
And after today, that would probably climb another level.
Miura Yumiko's expression turned icy as she faced Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita.
Inside, she was thinking hard about how to answer in a way that would work best.
Finally, she found it.
"This isn't over,"
She neither accepted nor refused. In the end, she just dropped that one line and strode away.
Leaving behind her retreating figure for everyone to watch.
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