Saiki looked closely and saw that the person approaching was indeed his so-called disciple, Doma Umaru. She was currently wearing her going-out disguise outfit to hide her identity.
"Saiki-shishou?"
Doma Umaru answered instinctively.
[Umaru, why are you here?]
After seeing it was Saiki, Umaru turned her head away and puffed out her cheeks. "Sorry, I got the wrong person."
[Where's the wrong person? You're obviously Umaru.]
Umaru stubbornly kept her head turned. "No, I'm not."
[Are you still mad? Sorry about last time. Something came up suddenly and I stood you up.]
"Hmph, I'm not mad."
(This is clearly being mad.)
Umaru ignored him and continued putting on her "I'm angry" act. [Stupid, hateful Saiki-shishou, standing me up like that. And then afterward you didn't even send me a single message. Not even one word to comfort me.]
(She noticed I completely forgot. No matter what, I should still apologize. After all, I was the one who broke my promise first.)
[Sorry, Umaru.]
Saiki reached out and placed his hand on Umaru's shoulder, but she stubbornly dodged it, crossed her arms, and turned to the other side.
"Hmph!"
(Ah geez.)
Saiki moved his hand to her other shoulder.
Umaru took a step forward, shaking off Saiki's hand. Saiki then placed his hand back on her shoulder again.
As soon as he put it there, she dodged. He switched sides, and she turned her head to avoid it again. Umaru took a few more steps forward. Now it seemed no matter how he tried to coax her, it wouldn't work...
Umaru [No matter what, I'm absolutely not forgiving Saiki-shishou. No matter how you comfort me, no matter how you coax me, I won't forgive you.]
(Oh, is that how it is? Then I won't coax you anymore.)
Umaru saw that Saiki stopped talking and stopped making any moves. [Ah, damn it, he's really not coaxing me anymore. What's going on?]
(This is getting troublesome. Is this coaxing me or... I really don't get it. Maybe I should just calm down for a bit.)
Saiki checked the time on his phone.
[I came here with other people. Sorry again about last time. I'm heading out now. Once you've calmed down a little, I'll apologize properly then.]
After saying that, Saiki symbolically ignored Umaru and walked past her. After taking a few steps, he heard her inner voice.
Umaru [Fine, fine, so that's how we're playing? Say a few words and just leave? The friends you came with are more important than your precious disciple?]
Umaru glared angrily at Saiki's back. "Saiki-shishou, I hate you the most! I'm never talking to you again!!"
After saying that, Umaru huffed, turned her head away, and refused to look at Saiki anymore.
(Since she's this seriously mad, even saying she'll never talk to me again... that means she probably won't come bother me anymore.)
Saiki turned back and saw Umaru still standing in the same spot, her back to him. [Hateful, hateful Saiki-shishou doesn't even know how to show a little concern...]
(Whether it's real or fake, at least she won't come bother me.)
Saiki walked in front of Umaru and handed her the long cat plush hug pillow. The head of the long cat pillow bumped against Umaru's head.
"Ya~"
Umaru got startled, saw the long cat hug pillow, instinctively hugged it, and rubbed it. "Chonmei-chan."
She also saw Saiki looking at her and immediately put on a tsundere act. "What?"
(Still being tsundere, huh.)
[You seem to really like this one, so I'm giving it to you. Consider it my apology for last time.]
"I don't like it that much or anything..."
[Then you don't want it?]
Saiki reached out as if to take it back, but Umaru's hands gripped it tightly.
"Hmph, if you want to take it back, then take it. I don't want it that badly anyway."
Umaru [Jeez, isn't Saiki-shishou supposed to be a little more forceful? If you just insist a bit more, maybe I'd accept it.]
(What a pain.)
Saiki forcefully stuffed the long cat hug pillow into Umaru's arms.
[Forget it, it's yours now. Whether you want it or not, you have to take it. This is your apology gift. From now on, do whatever you want.]
Umaru didn't say anything. She took the long cat hug pillow with her hands and rubbed the plush head. [Mm, Chonmei-chan, Chonmei-chan, I love you so much...]
(Total tsundere.)
After seeing Umaru accept it, Saiki turned and left.
He had only taken a few steps when he heard Umaru's voice. "Saiki-shishou! Thank you, I really like it! I was already planning to forgive you anyway,"
"But since you said 'do whatever you want,' next time you have to play with me until I'm satisfied. From now on, you can't refuse my requests, and you can't stand me up again..."
[Wow, she forgave me that fast? Couldn't she at least stay tsundere and hold out for a week?]
Saiki turned his head and looked back. Umaru was holding the Chonmei hug pillow, running while waving it and saying goodbye to Saiki.
[Yare yare, looks like I won't be getting any peace from now on.]
Saiki returned to where Akazawa Itsuki and Shirakawa Chitose were.
Shirakawa Chitose saw that Saiki didn't have the long cat hug pillow. "What's wrong, Saiki? Didn't you win? The staff didn't give you the pillow?"
Saiki opened his phone to check the time and explained.
[No, I did get it earlier. But I'm not really interested in that kind of thing, so I gave it to someone I know.]
"What? You gave it away to someone else? If you didn't want it, you could've just said so and given it to me."
Akazawa Itsuki said with a disappointed look.
"We have such a great relationship, and the first person you thought of wasn't me? That thing is super popular with a lot of people. Even if you don't like it yourself, you could've sold it online for a ton of money."
[You... you better forget about it.]
Akazawa Itsuki: "What do you mean by that?"
[Nothing. I'm heading home now, so I won't hang out with you guys anymore.]
Saiki waved goodbye.
(Guess I'll just go home. I feel so tired today.)
"Bye, Saiki."
"See you at school, Saiki."
...
On the other side, Umaru was heading home with the hug pillow. She saw her brother Doma Taihei also carrying one and knew he had won too. When they reached the apartment stairs with Ebina Nana, her brother actually gave the hug pillow to Ebina.
After Ebina left, Umaru stepped out. Doma Taihei sensed his little sister behind him, turned around, and sure enough, it was her. He immediately apologized. "Uh, sorry, Umaru. I gave that plush to Ebina..."
Doma Taihei knew his little sister really liked that plush, or else she wouldn't have tricked him into giving it up while he was working overtime.
Who knew Umaru would calmly say, "Hmph, Onii-chan, seriously."
Doma Taihei also noticed the long cat plush Umaru was carrying and let out a relieved breath. "What's up? You won yours, so it should be fine, right? You got one."
"I didn't win it. This is the one Saiki-shishou won and gave to me."
Doma Taihei tilted his head in confusion. "Shishou? What shishou?"