"Why would you do that?"
Umaru tilted her head up to look at him and asked softly.
"Because I bet that if you saw me like that, your heart would soften."
Takashi stared into her eyes, not flinching or looking away, his gaze glimmering with quiet hope.
"Was it worth it?"
"For now, yes. I think I won the bet."
"Then why tell me? Doesn't admitting it ruin the effect?"
Umaru's gaze rippled like a morning pond touched by a gentle breeze.
"Because I didn't want to lie to you."
Takashi's eyes flickered with the flames of affection, burning with unspoken feelings.
"I did all this hoping you'd pity me, feel sorry for me."
"But telling you the truth — that's because I didn't want to deceive you."
"Doma-san, will you give me a chance?"
Takashi wasn't some clever hunter. He was clumsy, overly bold, a little naive, and terribly straightforward.
"Stop standing around half-naked. Get inside."
Umaru turned her head and pushed him toward the house.
"You're forgiving me?" Takashi asked, happily lowering his head to look at her.
"You already know the answer."
Umaru shot him a glare.
This guy was too smart not to get what she meant.
"Awesome!"
Takashi cheered and mimicked some over-the-top boxing victory pose.
'I really can't tell if this guy's cunning or just childish.'
Umaru realized Takashi was full of contradictions.
Mature, yet childish. Sly, yet foolish.
They entered the house and sat on the floor. Takashi was clearly still not used to it.
After a brief silence, Umaru awkwardly said, "Why are you still naked? I left out some clothes for you."
When he went to take a shower earlier, she had laid out a set of her brother's clothes.
"I'm not used to wearing other people's clothes, and they don't fit."
Takashi was a different size from Umaru's brother. The clothes were a bit tight on him.
After hearing that, Umaru instinctively glanced at his bare body and compared it to her brother's. It checked out.
She thought for a moment, then stood up. "Wait here, I'll go buy you a set of clothes."
"No need. I'll just wear my wet stuff home and change."
Takashi didn't care much.
"I already threw your clothes in the washing machine."
Umaru grabbed her coin purse and headed for the door.
"Oh."
At the door, after changing her shoes, she suddenly thought — she had thrown all of Takashi's clothes into the machine. Was he totally naked under that towel?
Just before the door closed, her eyes uncontrollably darted between his legs.
Hmm. Towel covered everything. Nothing to see.
After the door shut, Takashi pressed his ear to the floor and listened to her footsteps heading downstairs.
As soon as she was out of earshot, he dashed to the balcony and watched her walk away, then immediately went to look for his phone.
Without his phone, Takashi felt completely unsafe.
After all, all his secrets were in there.
If he lost it, he'd be ruined.
The next time anyone saw him might be in an online exposé.
Luckily, Umaru hadn't hidden it. He quickly found it.
Takashi turned it on and called Tanaka Kota, asking him to notify their teacher he'd be absent.
That's the upside of being an orphan — unlike Umaru, he didn't need to call a parent for leave.
Given his grades and how well-liked he was by teachers, getting a day off was a sure thing.
"Got it," Tanaka Kota replied after hanging up. He thought to himself — Takashi's a real bro.
Taking time off just to practice baseball and make the first team in a week?
If Ohtani Shota heard that, he'd probably be moved to tears.
In reality, Takashi hadn't been training that hard.
Because some things can't be mastered through hard work alone — like math.
Same goes for baseball. It's not something you can just pick up. There's strategy, base running, batting techniques — none of which he could grasp quickly.
Fortunately, he had effort and a system.
He believed neither would betray him.
"Hard work might lie to you, but the system won't." — Takashi.
Just as he finished the call, his phone rang again — it was Hitomi.
"What's up, President～"
Takashi had read all of Emotional Intelligence and watched In the Name of the People more times than he could count.
Why? Because he really wanted to improve himself.
He knew exactly what tone to take and when.
"Where are you?" Hitomi's voice was cold and low.
"At home, why?"
Still not catching on, Takashi instantly chose to lie.
"At home? Heh…"
Yozakura Hitomi's voice came through, seething with suppressed anger and murderous intent.
Suddenly, Takashi felt a chill down his spine.
"Look out your window."
Window?
Confused, Takashi instinctively looked outside.
"What do you see?"
"Nothing?"
"Raise your phone. Zoom in."
He raised his phone. Zoomed. Zoomed more… Wait. This… this isn't even my house.
It finally hit him. Before he could start sweating, his legs were already trembling.
Because in the zoomed-in lens, he saw someone crouching on a rooftop, waving at him.
That wasn't the scary part.
The scary part was the Barrett rifle resting on that man's shoulder.
If nothing else, that gun was probably aimed right at him.
"Hitomi, Hitomi-neesan, what are you doing…?"
Takashi tried to play cute.
"Takashi, you should be grateful you didn't cross the line. Otherwise, I would've ordered him to blow your brains out on the spot."
Of course, Hitomi wasn't going to actually shoot him. But Umaru? That was less certain.
"Get your ass over here. Now."
"But… I don't have any clothes on."
"Aren't you the one who likes walking around naked? Go on, run over here just like that."
In the student council office, Hitomi wore a sadistic smile.
"If you're not here in fifteen minutes, I'll have him shoot your leg off."
Takashi used to think "breaking legs" meant with a stick.
He didn't expect it would be with a Barrett — a literal, irreversible, physical leg-breaking.
"Hitomi-neesan, I love you — like a mouse loves rice. Please give me another chance." (*)
Hearing Takashi say he loved her softened her expression a little. But she still wasn't going to let him off.
She threw out a death sentence of a question:
"Then who do you love more? Me or Narii?"
"You. Definitely you."
Takashi didn't hesitate for a second.
He might have maxed-out evasion stats among humans, but even he knew he couldn't dodge a .50 caliber bullet.
Hitomi said calmly, "Too quiet."
"Takashi loves Yozakura Hitomi! I want to be her dog!"
Takashi no longer cared about something as trivial as dignity and just blurted it out.
Hitomi smiled playfully. "I recorded that."
She had made up her mind.
When Narii turned eighteen, she would give her this recording as a birthday present.
A gift from her sister, filled with love.
Takashi: "..."
At that moment, Takashi felt like an actress caught in a compromising photo.
Maybe... she should just shoot him.
At least that would be a quick death.
But if he fell into Narii's hands, she'd probably torture him bit by bit—and might even cook him into a meat bun and eat him.
After all, when they once watched Hannibal together, she had smiled and said to him, "If you ever go to another woman, I'll eat you alive."
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(*) I love you like a mouse love rice is a song from chinese i believe. Title is "Lao Shu Ai Da Mi" ,pretty much means mouse love rice. It's pretty good, try it if you can.
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