After deciding to give up, I became popular

Besides, his intuition told him that things weren't as simple as he thought. There must be something he hadn't figured out… Perhaps he really should find a chance to have a good talk with her.

While Summer River Melody was having a crazy brainstorming session, the little blonde, who had been offline the whole time, finally regained her ability to speak.

But the moment she opened her mouth, she was full of grievances, almost making him unable to hold back.

"Melody… did I do something wrong?"

"Huh? No, why are you suddenly saying that again?" Summer River Melody felt a headache coming on. Wasn't she just comforted?

"But that girl just said it right. I've been causing you trouble all this time…" Eriri's tone became self-blaming. She recalled some things that had happened in the past.

Whether it was getting separated from everyone because of a quarrel with that fat woman, or the delay in completing the illustration due to a fever, Melody was the one who saved the day…

She probably slowly fell in love with Melody at that time, falling in love with the prince who could always save her…

But the role she played was definitely not a princess, at best just a clumsy maid serving by the princess's side… Or rather, she could have been his princess, but she refused.

Now she shamelessly wants to return to his side…

Eriri stretched out her hand, wanting to grab his sleeve as usual.

But this time, she couldn't reach it no matter what.

So the regret in her heart kept magnifying, and the unwillingness in her heart was about to overflow.

"…"

She wanted to tell him how much she liked him, so much that she was willing to change her awkward personality, so much that just holding his hand could make her happy all day, so much that she wanted to shout "I like you" to him…

But she was also afraid, afraid of hearing him say those words, afraid of his rejection, and even more afraid of him smiling and perfunctorily brushing it off, and then never appearing in front of her again…

If that were the case, she probably wouldn't even be able to fulfill her small wish of staying by his side…

"Melody…"

She opened her mouth.

"I'm here."

131. President, you don't want Kaguya to know about this, do you?

"Melody…"

"What's wrong?" Summer River Melody asked curiously.

"…" Eriri just silently looked at him, unable to say anything for a long time.

"Eriri?"

"I'm hungry."

"Huh?" Summer River Melody thought he had misheard, "But didn't you just…"

"Not enough, not enough, how could a sandwich be enough to fill me up, idiot," Eriri said coquettishly.

"You should be more proactive at this time, idiot. Even if I don't say it, you should understand what I mean… Seriously, with your dullness, you'd already be on the BE line in a gal game!"

"I'm not a worm in your stomach, how could I know what you're thinking…" Summer River Melody retorted, "Besides, this is reality, right? There aren't so many branch options in reality."

If there really were, then he would want to quickly go back to the past before every confession, to stop himself from being stupid, so that the relationship with them wouldn't become so awkward as it is now.

"It's just a metaphor, idiot," Eriri poked his waist, seemingly urging, "Don't change the subject, hurry up and buy another bread."

"Eh? Am I the one who has to go?" Summer River Melody was a little surprised before realizing it.

"Why else would I tell you?" Eriri looked righteous, "I'm too hungry to walk～"

"…" Summer River Melody was even more shocked now.

So you, my tsundere little blonde, can also act spoiled?

But the reason she gave felt inexplicably familiar, like a trick often used by a certain scum senior who likes to boss people around…

You guys are really good rivals who know each other well! Summer River Melody frantically complained in his heart.

But his body still moved obediently, and he even remembered to take away the trash on the table before leaving.

"…"

Eriri didn't say anything, just silently watched Summer River Melody's movements until she confirmed that his back disappeared around a corner. Only then did the smile on her face gradually disappear, and she muttered:

"You always agree to such things so quickly…"

"…"

On the other side, Summer River Melody, who had been assigned a task, found the almost forgotten trio on his way back after successfully buying the target item.

So—

"Can you explain what's going on? My dear friends?"

Summer River Melody clasped his hands together, resting them on the table, and looked at the three people in front of him with a smile—the companions who had come to the cafeteria with him, but for some reason, they had found another private seat and were enjoying their meal.

He had been thinking about how to explain the addition of a snow girl classmate, but he didn't expect that they had already formed their own small group.

The kind that excluded him…

"That's too much!" Summer River Melody wanted to loudly reprimand them, how could they do such a thing?!

He thought they would feel a little guilty, but that wasn't the case at all… No, it should be said that the leader was so—

"Yes, yes, it's too much… So, do you want to drink it?"

Hachiman Hikigaya, who looked like the culprit, perfunctorily echoed a few words and handed him a can of coffee.

"…" Summer River Melody glared at him, thinking that this little thing could buy him off?

"Sweet?" He asked tentatively.

"Sweet." Hachiman Hikigaya nodded.

"You're not even willing to use the bitter one!" Summer River Melody immediately refused.

This guy clearly knew that he preferred slightly bitter ones, but he still tried to buy him off with this heresy, clearly preparing it for himself, right?

"If you don't want to drink it, please give it back to me." Hachiman Hikigaya stretched out his hand, "I can save some money…"

"That won't do." Summer River Melody definitely refused. After all, it was rare to be able to trick the other party once, even if it was sweet, he would accept it without hesitation. At worst, he would rinse his mouth a few more times after going back.

"But one thing is one thing, you have to tell me the reason, right?" After taking a sip of Hachiman Hikigaya's tribute, Summer River Melody frowned and said unhappily.

"Don't tell me some childish nonsense like you can't find your way back. Even kindergarten children wouldn't believe that."

"Tsk…"

"Hey? Did you just click your tongue??? Don't tell me you're really going to say that???"

"No, it's all your illusion." Hachiman Hikigaya immediately shook his head and put on a very serious face.

"Actually, I just contracted the terminal illness of 'I can't eat if I don't eat here'. Because of the urgency of the situation, I didn't notify you."

"…"

The serious look almost made Summer River Melody believe him… like hell!

Do you want to hear yourself?

"Are you awake? Or are you really not awake?" Summer River Melody looked black.

Seeing that he couldn't get an answer from this guy, he turned his attention to the other two, hoping to get an answer from them.

Fortunately, his face was still relatively big. Despite Hachiman Hikigaya's best efforts to stop him, he still couldn't prevent him from learning the truth—

"Because he saw me eating and chatting happily with two girls, Hachiman suggested that you find another place to eat so that I can flirt and love with them…"

After Summer River Melody recounted expressionlessly, he looked at Hachiman Hikigaya, who was pretending to drink water next to him, as if he had nothing to do with it, with a headache.

"So, do you have anything to explain for this slanderous behavior?"

"Yes." Hachiman Hikigaya nodded affirmatively, "There's something wrong."

"Where?"

"It's not flirting and love, but—cultivating feelings."

"Isn't that the same thing?!" Summer River Melody was a little frantic.

It's okay if other people don't know the inside story, but why are you guys messing around too?

So he looked at Miyuki Shirogane and Tsubasa Tanuma, seemingly inquiringly, and asked, "And you two just agreed?"

"Uh, actually, I think Hachiman is quite right."

"Yeah, President, we can't disturb you, can we? Although I still want to observe the President's superb skills up close."

Summer River Melody: "…"

What are superb skills? Say it more clearly! Don't make it sound like he's doing something weird!

"Don't listen to his nonsense. We just happened to meet, so we just chatted a few words. It's not the kind of situation you think."

Boys in adolescence are like this. They actually care about this kind of thing very much. Usually, it may be nothing, but once the little friends around them have any disturbance, the gossip level is like sharks smelling blood and coming over following the smell. It's really impossible to cover it up.

"Yes, yes, President, don't worry, I understand. I won't say it, and I won't tell the vice president. Please rest assured."

"Me too, I will definitely keep the secret for you."

Summer River Melody: "…"

So what do you understand? And what does this have to do with Kaguya?! If you don't keep the secret, what do you want to tell her?!!!

It's just a small matter ().

132. The test of courage is coming soon

Honestly, Summer River Melody is not afraid. After all, in his opinion, Kaguya Shinomiya is a very sensible person and will definitely not rashly believe this kind of strange rumors, even if one of the people spreading the rumors is a colleague she works with…

But then again, it would be best if this kind of strange rumor didn't appear, right? Otherwise, it will more or less affect other people's impression and opinion of him. If it really causes misunderstanding because of this, it would be too bad, right?

"I'll just believe you." Summer River Melody hesitated, "But things are really not what you think…"

But even though he emphasized it so much, the two people opposite him didn't seem to want to believe it. They just made a knowing expression and gave him an OK sign.

"…"

彳亍口巴.

No matter how the process is, at least his goal has been achieved, right?

And because there is still a little blonde who is crying to be fed, Summer River Melody did not stay for long, and took the bread and milk back to hand in the task.

As for the Hikigaya trio, naturally they did not follow, unwilling to go back and be the center of attention.

All the way without words.

After finding Eriri and handing her the food in his hand, watching her eating in small bites, Summer River Melody suddenly felt like he was raising some cute little pet.

After that, the two chatted casually for a while and returned to their respective class teams to participate in today's courses.

Although it is an extracurricular activity, in fact, during the forest school, it is not completely without learning, but most of the courses to be attended are educational content such as sociology and parenting.

And as we all know, learning itself is a very boring thing, no matter which field it is, especially for modern people, it is nothing more than memorizing the things discovered and summarized by the predecessors in the mind to become their own knowledge, which can not be called an interesting thing.

But there are always some people who can find fun in this boring thing, or break through and innovate, and the students of Shu Zhiyuan, who are representatives of excellent academies—

Not this kind of person at all.

After all, they are already people with good family backgrounds. The reason why they have achievements in learning is either to show their excellence or because they have extremely high talents, and they don't need extra help at all.

But what did Summer River Melody see? Not the rules shown out of quality, but a very active classroom atmosphere, with the words—I am voluntary—written on everyone's faces.