Within Asahina Nazuna's pair of pretty violet eyes, that unbelievable emotion was still written all over them at this moment.
Her gaze shifted back and forth between the pile of fully matched cards on the bedsheet and Shikime Natsu, who sat across from her.
Her mind seemed to have fallen into some sort of system crash.
This guy Shikime Natsu—wasn't he just a little too monstrous?
Even having seen it with her own eyes, Asahina Nazuna still felt a wave of dizziness.
Within a single turn, without the slightest trial and error, he'd matched up dozens of completely shuffled cards into pairs, precisely and without a single mistake.
Was this really something a human being could do?
Looking at Asahina Nazuna's dumbstruck, frozen-as-a-wooden-chicken appearance.
Shikime Natsu tilted his head ever so slightly, those pale golden eyes regarding her as he blinked with the utmost innocence.
"Senpai."
Shikime Natsu spoke up, breaking the quiet of the room.
"This is what you yourself asked for, you know—telling me not to go easy and to give it my all."
He looked at her, the corner of his mouth carrying a not-quite-smile curve, and he even deliberately adopted a tone of concern as he inquired.
"So, how was it?"
"Asahina-senpai, did you manage to get any game experience at all?"
Hearing this remark from Shikime Natsu, one that could only be described as "killing not just the body but the soul."
Asahina Nazuna came back to her senses from the shock and couldn't help rolling her eyes in exasperation.
Game experience?
Wasn't Shikime Natsu just stating the obvious!?
The game had only just been declared started, and she had served merely as the dealer and the shuffler—she hadn't even gotten to touch a single card on a turn of her own.
And then, he'd ended the entire game in just one turn, in a thoroughly crushing manner.
What game experience the hell did she have! The only experience she'd gotten was sitting here doubting her entire life, all right!?
Asahina Nazuna drew in a deep breath, doing her best to soothe her somewhat deflated mood.
She reached out and casually drew a few cards from the pile that Shikime Natsu had already swept away.
"Just how on earth did you do it?"
Asahina Nazuna flipped the cards over to examine their backs, asking with a face full of bewilderment.
"On the backs of these cards—could there be some special pattern that I don't know about?"
She brought the cards right up to her eyes, even holding them up against the light from the window to scrutinize them carefully.
"But no matter how I look at it myself, these background patterns don't seem to have any special rule to them at all."
Faced with Asahina Nazuna's confusion.
Shikime Natsu merely looked at her calmly and gave his answer in a natural tone.
There was naturally no pattern at all on the backs of these cards.
He pointed at those cards.
"The backs of these cards naturally have no pattern to them—after all, they're all from the same template."
Hearing this confirmation from Shikime Natsu.
The confusion in Asahina Nazuna's heart only deepened.
She set down the cards in her hand and fixed her gaze tightly on Shikime Natsu.
"If they're all identical, then how were you able to do it without a single error, matching them all up into pairs directly like that?"
She pressed on, unwilling to let it go.
"Don't tell me you really did it all on luck."
Looking at Asahina Nazuna's determined, get-to-the-bottom-of-it manner.
Shikime Natsu smiled.
He propped his chin in one hand, looked at the girl across from him, and spoke in a thoroughly offhand tone.
"Actually, it's because I used X-ray vision."
Shikime Natsu said it flatly.
"I can see the patterns on the backs of the cards directly, so naturally I wouldn't make any mistakes."
After hearing these words.
Asahina Nazuna froze completely on the spot.
She stared blankly at Shikime Natsu, as if trying hard to discern the truth or falsehood within that sentence of his.
Then.
The expression on her face shifted from confusion to speechlessness, and finally she shot Shikime Natsu another exasperated glare.
"Hey!"
Asahina Nazuna puffed up her cheeks slightly and opened her mouth to complain at Shikime Natsu.
"Even if you want to keep it a secret and don't want to tell me the real reason you won, there's no need to spin some far-fetched lie like this to fob me off, is there?"
"X-ray vision, seriously? Do you think this is some sci-fi movie we're filming, or some Supernatural abilities manga we're reading?"
Looking at Asahina Nazuna's utterly disbelieving expression.
After hearing these words, Shikime Natsu couldn't help but let out a faint sigh inwardly.
These days.
Sometimes, even when he stated the plain truth openly and honestly, nobody was willing to believe it. Originally he hadn't intended to use this ability of X-ray vision—after all, it was nothing more than a game—but Asahina Nazuna had insisted he use his full strength, so he'd had no choice but to cheat a little.
Of course, since Asahina Nazuna didn't believe him, Shikime Natsu naturally wasn't going to bother explaining any further. He withdrew his gaze and then pushed that pile of cards back to the center of the bed.
"Want to play another round?"
Shikime Natsu looked at Asahina Nazuna and asked gently.
Faced with Shikime Natsu's invitation.
Asahina Nazuna shook her head with great decisiveness.
The expression on her face looked quite poor—a complex look mixed with frustration and gloom.
After all, in that game just now, Asahina Nazuna hadn't gotten the slightest sense of participation or game experience at all.
She knew perfectly well in her heart that even if they played another round right now.
As long as Shikime Natsu maintained that inhuman state from a moment ago, she absolutely could not beat him.
In order to reclaim a senpai's dignity when matching against Shikime Natsu again, and to gain the upper hand at the card table even once.
Over this past stretch of time, Asahina Nazuna had put in no small amount of effort to seriously train her memory and powers of observation.
And the result?
The game had only just begun, and before she'd even gotten a chance to make a move, she'd been directly declared Game Over.
This feeling was like a punch she'd spent a long time winding up, only for it to land softly and limply against a wad of cotton.
The girl's once brimming confidence had, in this instant, been brutally crushed by Shikime Natsu's merciless skill.
Of course.
Asahina Nazuna wasn't the type of person who couldn't take a loss, either. She didn't dwell on it or harbor any resentment toward Shikime Natsu over it.
After all, before the game began, it had been she herself who had vowed up and down that Shikime Natsu must use all his strength and absolutely not go easy on her.
It was just that she truly hadn't expected that when Shikime Natsu went all out, he would be formidable to such a despair-inducing degree.
"I'm done playing, I'm done playing."
Asahina Nazuna pushed the cards in front of her away and let out a sigh.
"A bet's a bet—I accept my loss."
She looked at Shikime Natsu, and although she'd lost, she still maintained the bearing of a senpai.
"Since I've lost, and I promised you before—go ahead, Shiki-kun, my dear junior, what is it you plan to have me do?"
The moment she asked this question.
A few stray thoughts suddenly flashed through Asahina Nazuna's mind.
Her eyes rolled slightly, and then a faintly mischievous smile, carrying a few traces of teasing, appeared on her face.
She leaned forward a little, looked at Shikime Natsu, and spoke up.
"But, I'll say this in advance, okay."
"Shiki-kun, my dear junior, you wouldn't take this chance to make some overly excessive demand of your frail little senpai, would you?"
Asahina Nazuna blinked those violet eyes, her tone carrying a few traces of deliberate banter.
"You're a real big shot at school now, you know, with several girlfriends by your side."
"If the condition you propose is too over-the-top, and your girlfriends were to find out about it, that would be quite bad, wouldn't it?"
Seeing Asahina Nazuna's display of deliberately using his girlfriends to tease him.
Shikime Natsu couldn't help but smile.
His thoughts drifted, unbidden, back to the time the two of them had first met.
Back then, Asahina Nazuna had seemed to have this same fondness for joking around.
At the time, on a little path on campus, Asahina Nazuna had accidentally twisted her ankle and couldn't walk.
As it happened, he'd been passing by, so he'd lent her a hand and carried her back to her dorm on his back. On the way, Asahina Nazuna, draped over his back, had been just like she was now—using this same half-teasing tone to joke around with him.
Saying, with him carrying her like this, wouldn't his girlfriend get jealous?
Of course, the Shikime Natsu of back then hadn't been successfully flustered by Asahina Nazuna's teasing—especially since the Shikime Natsu of that time hadn't yet had a girlfriend. Now that he had several girlfriends, his thick skin had naturally advanced a step further.
At the very least, this teasing of Asahina Nazuna's was completely incapable of stirring up any ripples in Shikime Natsu's heart. Still, well... since this senpai of his enjoyed playing around so much, it wouldn't hurt for him to keep this senpai—who looked rather lonely—good company for a while.
Thinking of this.
The smile at the corner of Shikime Natsu's mouth deepened, curving into a handsome arc.
He looked at Asahina Nazuna, who sat before him with a mischievous grin, waiting for his response.
"Rest assured, Senpai."
Shikime Natsu spoke to Asahina Nazuna, his tone appearing utterly upright and composed.
"I would of course never propose any condition that would make my girlfriends jealous."
Hearing this crisp, clean-cut reply from Shikime Natsu.
Asahina Nazuna, who had originally been intending to watch him squirm a little in embarrassment or helplessness, found the smile on her face stiffening slightly.
For some reason, when she heard with her own ears him say the words "won't propose any condition that would make my girlfriends jealous," a strange, inexplicable pang of envy suddenly welled up in Asahina Nazuna's heart instead.
A faint, sour ache spread through her chest.
"You won't propose any condition that would make your girlfriends jealous, huh..."
Asahina Nazuna silently repeated this sentence in her heart, and her gaze couldn't help but dim by half a shade.
If that was the case, then the wager condition Shikime Natsu was about to propose would surely be something terribly dull—like preparing another meal, or running an errand, something thoroughly boring at any rate.
But still, she had clearly told Shikime Natsu before the match began that any condition at all would do. If this guy Shikime Natsu really did only propose some inconsequential little request like that, then it would be far too rude to the attitude she'd just shown.
After all, it's not every day that a cute girl says something like "I'll agree to any condition."
No, no—the instant she thought of these things, Asahina Nazuna quickly cast all the jumbled mess of thoughts out of her mind. What the heck was this, thinking this way made it sound like she was the one throwing herself at Shikime Natsu.
No matter how you looked at it, she was a beautiful girl too, so how could she be thinking of single-mindedly throwing herself at someone?
And besides... this guy Shikime Natsu already had several girlfriends; he was a fickle, philandering fellow, and what she hated most was philandering fellows... Only, when it came to facing Shikime Natsu, she somehow seemed to very much want to make an exception of him.
Asahina Nazuna felt that she'd been struck down by the illness known as Shikime Natsu. Still, Asahina Nazuna quickly stopped dwelling on it any further, thinking that even if Shikime Natsu proposed some small condition, the initiative for what came next would still be held in her own hands.
For instance, if Shikime Natsu wanted to have her cook again, then she'd surely be the one to set the time. Mm, and if Shikime Natsu wanted that, then... she really would have to hone her culinary skills a bit.
But still... this guy Shikime Natsu's cooking skills were just too terrifying. She always felt that even if she practiced her cooking for a whole lifetime, she'd have no way of catching up to Shikime Natsu.
This guy Shikime Natsu was just too perfect, wasn't he?
So perfect that it left her, the senpai, without the slightest shred of a senpai's authority!!
Also—Shikime Natsu had just said he wouldn't make any condition that would make his girlfriends jealous. Should she praise Shikime Natsu for treasuring his girlfriends so much? Or did it mean that she, this old senpai, held not the slightest charm in Shikime Natsu's eyes?
He hadn't even proposed a condition that was just a tiny bit suggestive. Asahina Nazuna thought to herself that, among the second-years, she counted as rather popular after all—at the very least... she counted as a beautiful girl, didn't she?
The thoughts in her heart were all tangled and jumbled, leaving Asahina Nazuna's mind in a complete mess at this moment. But once again, Asahina Nazuna swept it all away.
"Never mind."
Asahina Nazuna let out a soft sigh in her heart.
She stopped letting her mind wander and instead lifted her head again, those pretty violet eyes gazing straight at Shikime Natsu.
"Go on then, say it."
Right now, Asahina Nazuna just wanted to know what condition this guy Shikime Natsu intended to propose.
However, Shikime Natsu didn't immediately say what he wanted.
While Asahina Nazuna had been letting her mind wander just now, the expressions on that cute little face of hers, while not exactly exaggerated, had still gone through some changes—and Shikime Natsu had naturally noticed Asahina Nazuna's shifting expressions.
He leaned his body forward slightly, narrowing the distance between the two of them.
"Asahina-senpai."
Shikime Natsu looked at her with a smile and suddenly spoke up to ask.
"What sort of condition do you think I should propose so that it wouldn't make my girlfriends jealous?"
Hearing this question.
Asahina Nazuna knit her brows in confusion.
She looked at Shikime Natsu, thinking, just what is this guy up to, keeping me in suspense like this?
Why was he tossing the question back and asking her this? This was clearly a condition he himself had won.
Still, though confused inwardly, Asahina Nazuna nevertheless followed along with his train of thought and began to think seriously.
"If it were me..."
Asahina Nazuna silently put herself into the role in her heart.
If she were Shikime Natsu's girlfriend right now.
Then Asahina Nazuna definitely would not want to see her boyfriend privately spending time alone with other pretty, cute girls.
Let alone proposing any condition of a private nature to other girls.
Even if it were just helping wash some clothes, or going out for a meal alone together—in that case, she'd surely be very, very jealous.
A girl's possessiveness has always been very strong.
But still.
The problem was that, right now, she was not Shikime Natsu's girlfriend.
If she followed the true thoughts in her heart and directly spelled out these taboos.
Then wouldn't her chances of spending time alone with Shikime Natsu in the future naturally dwindle? To avoid suspicion, he'd surely never come seek her out again.
And this was not the outcome Asahina Nazuna wanted to see.
Although the thoughts in her heart were quite terrible, well—forgive me, Shiki-kun, my dear junior, I'm just a terrible senpai.
Asahina Nazuna definitely didn't want her chances of contact with Shikime Natsu to become pitifully scarce from now on. She'd just chalk it up as an old senpai's pitiful little wish. After weighing the pros and cons, Asahina Nazuna turned her gaze back to Shikime Natsu and then shook her head.
"I have absolutely no idea. And besides, this is a chance that Shiki-kun won. If you were to leave it up to me, your senpai, that would be a bit inappropriate—I might just end up wasting a perfectly good opportunity of yours, Shiki-kun."
Asahina Nazuna blinked at Shikime Natsu, her tone taking on a touch of playfulness.
She was supposed to be the senpai, yet paired with that tone and that adorable expression, there really wasn't a shred of a senpai's authority to be seen.
Hearing Asahina Nazuna say this, Shikime Natsu let out a soft chuckle.
"I see."
He nodded, seeming unsurprised by her answer.
"Since Senpai isn't sure, then would you like to hear me talk about my own thoughts?"
Having said this, Shikime Natsu's voice paused slightly.
And hearing this change in Shikime Natsu's tone, Asahina Nazuna was utterly dumbfounded. Good grief, so you'd already had an idea all along—then why even bother asking me?
Could it be that he wanted to tease her?
The moment she thought of this, Asahina Nazuna glared at Shikime Natsu again with puffed cheeks. He really was quite an uncute junior—Shikime Natsu was the very first person to ever leave her, this senpai, so utterly stripped of a senpai's dignity.
Those pale golden eyes of Shikime Natsu's fell upon Asahina Nazuna, his pale golden gaze meeting her pair of violet eyes, and then he slowly spoke up with a soft chuckle.
"Senpai said just now that any condition would do, right?"
Asahina Nazuna nodded, but watching Shikime Natsu's behavior, she couldn't help growing apprehensive—could it be that Shikime Natsu was about to propose some heart-racing condition?
The instant she thought of this, Asahina Nazuna's heart couldn't help but race, especially when she looked at Shikime Natsu, and that cute little face of hers became tinged, unawares, with a flush of crimson.
"Then... I'd like Asahina-senpai to become my girlfriend. Would that be all right?"
"If Asahina-senpai became my girlfriend, then Asahina-senpai wouldn't be jealous anymore either."
He looked at her steadily dilating pupils, the corner of his mouth curving into a tender arc.
"Eh?"
Asahina Nazuna subconsciously let out a short, incredulous sound through her nose.
Then, after she'd grasped the meaning of every single word in that sentence Shikime Natsu had just spoken.
Asahina Nazuna's fair, pretty little face flushed bright red all at once, and even her dainty earlobes and slender neck were instantly dyed with a layer of scorching rouge.
Her heart was pounding within her chest at an unprecedented, frenzied speed, as if it might smash through her ribs and leap out at any moment.
Was this... for real?
____
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