Chapter 154 – I Didn't Prepare Much
At the Yotsuya Miko household. While the three of them were eating breakfast, the electricity suddenly came back.
"..." Noticing that the light in the living room suddenly turned on, Yotsuya Miko and Komachi both let out a sigh of relief. Immediately afterward, the two of them, almost in unison, pulled out their chargers and plugged in their phones.
Hikigaya Hachiman, sitting at the table, twitched the corner of his mouth at the girls' synchronized movements.
"Do you have any plans after this?" Back at the dining table, Yotsuya Miko asked about Hikigaya Hachiman's plans for the day.
"Go home and rest." Hikigaya Hachiman answered without hesitation.
At the same time, Komachi also nodded in agreement.
Yotsuya Miko: "........"
"Next week is the midterm exam. Hikigaya-kun, aren't you going to study?" Having no other choice, Yotsuya Miko changed the subject.
"I've already studied." Putting down his chopsticks, Hikigaya Hachiman answered confidently.
"Eh? But Hikigaya-kun, aren't you really bad at science?" She hadn't expected him to be so confident in the face of the midterm exams. For a moment, Yotsuya Miko didn't know how to continue.
"I used to be bad at it, but I've caught up recently." As he said that, Hikigaya Hachiman suddenly thought of Yuigahama Yui.
With Yukinoshita tutoring her, the midterms this time should be in the bag.
"Really? That sounds pretty amazing..." Yotsuya Miko knew quite well just how unbalanced Hikigaya Hachiman's grades were. But now, he had a look of confidence on his face...
"I'm going to study with Hana later, do you two want to come along?" After thinking for a moment, Yotsuya Miko invited the two.
"Mm, Komachi doesn't need to." After biting on her chopsticks and thinking it over, Komachi shook her head to refuse. Her grades were good anyway. And besides, it was rare to have the weekend with electricity restored.
"In that case, then I'll..." Hearing Komachi decline, Hikigaya Hachiman was about to refuse as well.
But suddenly, under the table, his leg was kicked by Komachi. After locking eyes with her for a few seconds, Hikigaya Hachiman had no choice but to change his answer:
"In that case, sorry to intrude."
.
.
.
"Why did you kick me?" While Yotsuya Miko went upstairs to prepare her study materials, Hikigaya Hachiman, now on the sofa, asked the question.
Wasn't Komachi just complaining that he didn't spend enough time with her? Why was she suddenly pushing him to go with Yotsuya Miko to Hana's house?
"Come on, Onii-chan, a girl going out alone is dangerous!" Hearing her brother's hopeless question, Komachi pressed her hand to her forehead in frustration.
"Letting you go home alone is also dangerous. And you're still a middle schooler!" Crossing his arms, Hikigaya Hachiman shot back without yielding.
"Hmph, but Komachi has this from Onii-chan..." With a smug expression, she showed Hikigaya Hachiman the red ponytail bracelet, signaling for him not to worry—there was no way anything would happen to her on the way home.
In fact, deep down, she was even looking forward to running into an evil spirit on the way back. That way, she'd have a legitimate excuse to transform with the bracelet again.
"The bracelet isn't a toy. That thing has real power." Hikigaya Hachiman gave her a karate-chop to the head in warning.
"Hehe, I know." Moving his hand away, Komachi patted her chest to assure him that it was fine.
"Sorry to keep you waiting..." Just then, Yotsuya Miko came down the stairs with a bag of study supplies, wearing a fresh set of clothes and light makeup.
"Well then, I wish Onii-chan and Miko-nee good luck with studying." Seeing Yotsuya Miko dressed up neatly, Komachi smirked mischievously before heading toward the entrance to go home alone.
But just as she was about to change shoes at the door, Hikigaya Hachiman grabbed her by the collar and hauled her back.
"Yotsuya-san, do you mind taking a little detour?" Holding Komachi, Hikigaya Hachiman turned to Yotsuya Miko.
"Of course, no problem." Watching Komachi dangling in his grip, Yotsuya Miko tried to stifle her laughter while nodding.
"So mean! Onii-chan, you don't trust Komachi at all. I'm mad!" A few minutes later, inside the taxi, Komachi sat sulking in the back seat.
"Mm." At her threat, Hikigaya Hachiman only nodded and said nothing more.
"..." Seeing her verbal threats fall flat, Komachi bared her little sharp canine teeth. But when Hikigaya Hachiman remained unmoved, she deflated and slumped back into her seat.
"Um, Komachi-chan, Hikigaya-kun is only worried about your safety..." Sitting beside her, Yotsuya Miko spoke up for Hikigaya Hachiman when she saw Komachi sulking.
"Of course I know, Onii-chan's worried about me. But I just think it's kind of a waste..."
"A waste?" Yotsuya Miko couldn't follow Komachi's train of thought at all. It was just not going home alone—what was there to regret?
"Well, because you've never experienced it, Miko-nee, so you can't imagine how fun it is." Komachi spoke with nostalgia toward Yotsuya Miko.
"???"
"Don't listen to her nonsense." Patting Komachi on the head, Hikigaya Hachiman reminded her that, aside from the three of them, there was also the driver in the car.
In front of their house, after dropping Komachi off and reminding her to call if anything happened, Hikigaya Hachiman and Yotsuya Miko continued by taxi to Hana Yurikawa's home.
"You actually came!" As soon as Hikigaya Hachiman stepped out, Hana Yurikawa—who had been waiting at the door since hearing the news—immediately rushed up to him.
"Is there a problem with that?" Hana Yurikawa didn't seem to have any sense of boundaries between boys and girls. With her face nearly touching his, Hikigaya Hachiman stepped back a couple of paces.
"Because you came with Miko! When she told me before, I thought she was joking!" Making an exaggerated gesture to show her surprise, Hana Yurikawa patted Hikigaya Hachiman on the shoulder.
"But since you're here, I'll have to show some proper hospitality as the host."
"Hospitality?" Seeing her overly enthusiastic face, Hikigaya Hachiman felt a bad premonition.
"Um, Hana... before we came, we already had breakfast..." Like Hikigaya Hachiman, Yotsuya Miko also had a bad feeling.
"It's fine! I didn't prepare much, we can just eat while studying!"
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