Chapter 199

“Ouch…it hurts…I shouldn’t have drunk so much yesterday.” Wearing a light yellow off-shoulder short-sleeved shirt, Yukinoshita Haruno struggled to get out of bed, pressing her temples with both hands. The feeling of a hangover was not pleasant.

　　After sitting for a while, the woman with short black hair found her white cotton slippers by the bed, put them on, and walked with slightly unsteady steps from the bedroom toward the living room. She had never been so drunk before; yesterday was truly a mistake.

　　As soon as Yukino stepped out of the living room, she smelled a delicious aroma, which made her stomach rumble, as she hadn’t eaten anything all night.

　　”No, this isn’t the Yukinoshita residence…” This remote dwelling doesn’t have maids like the Yukinoshita residence, so the source of this fragrance is now pretty clear.

　　Thinking of this, Yukinoshita Haruno quickened her pace toward the kitchen, and before she even reached the kitchen door, she saw the figure she expected.

　　”Oh, Miss Haruno, you’re up! Breakfast is almost ready. Go wash up and you can start eating.” When I woke up this morning, I remembered that Haruno hadn’t eaten last night, so I took the initiative to prepare a delicious breakfast. I bought the ingredients from the nearby supermarket.

　　”What?! What are you doing at my house?!” Upon seeing me, Yukinoshita Haruno’s face immediately turned crimson as if she had remembered something.

　　“Miss Yukino, you didn’t let me leave last night, so it shouldn’t be a problem for me to stay. Or is it that last night…” I had just put the pork liver and goji berry porridge on the table when Yukino’s bare hands slammed onto the table.

　　”No…” the short-haired beauty murmured softly, her head lowered.

　　”Nothing?” It’s rare to see Yukino Yukino like this, although I haven’t met her that many times either.

　　”Nothing happened last night!” The short-haired beauty suddenly raised her head, her blue-gray eyes fixed on me, as if she would fight me if I said anything wrong.

　　”Alright, if you say no, then no.” It seems that Yukino Haruno has some memory of what happened after she got drunk last night, but it’s hard to know how much she remembers. Judging from her reaction, she should remember going to the toilet.

　　”And don’t mention yesterday’s events again.” Yukino Yukinoshita felt her whole body burning up, especially as certain scenes from last night flashed through her mind. Even though she could only recall some fragments, just that alone made her feel extremely ashamed. She had never felt so ashamed in her entire life.

　　”Hmm, well…” I hesitated for a moment, a thoughtful expression on my face.

　　”No hesitation, no refusal.” Yukinoshita Haruno suddenly moved closer to me, a subtle fragrance wafted over, and the short-haired beauty’s blushing face was right in front of me.

　　”Since Miss Yang Nai has made this request, I understand. I won’t mention it to anyone else.” Although what happened last night had an element of surprise, I ultimately came out on top, so making a concession is no problem.

　　Furthermore, I only said not to mention it to others, not to Yukinoshita Haruno herself, and even family members shouldn’t be considered “others”.

　　”Remember what you said.” Yukinoshita Haruno stared directly into my eyes for a moment before looking away. “I’m going to wash up.”

　　Watching Yukinoshita Haruno walk quickly towards the washroom, I stroked my chin. Putting aside what happened last night, just telling Yukino about Yukinoshita Haruno’s reaction this morning, I wondered what kind of expression the girl would show. Disbelief? Or a little surprised? In short, it should surprise Yukino.

　　Not long after, Yukinoshita Haruno finished washing up and sat down at the table. The short-haired beauty didn’t speak to me at all during the meal, as if I didn’t exist there.

　　It wasn’t until after breakfast that Yukinoshita Haruno stood up and said to me, “I need to go home first, you…”

　　”Miss Yang, you can’t just bring me here and then leave me all alone,” I said, shrugging helplessly.

　　”Come on, if you want to come along, I’ll just throw you out halfway.” Yukinoshita Haruno didn’t believe the other person’s helpless look. Putting aside the fact that it would be easy for someone of her status to call a private car, couldn’t the other person just take a taxi? But she did bring the person along, and out of courtesy and for the sake of this delicious breakfast, she could reluctantly give her a ride. Of course, taking the other person home was out of the question.

　　”OK.” I quickly cleared away and washed the dishes on the table, and then went out with Yukino Yukinoshita and got into her car again.

　　Just as the short-haired beauty said, she kicked me out of the car after we got back to the city center. Considering I had an appointment that afternoon, I went back to the company first to handle some business and spend a wonderful morning with my beautiful wife, extinguishing the pent-up desire from the night before.

　　At 3:45 p.m., when the sun was still shining brightly, a blonde girl with a side ponytail, standing on the school rooftop, put her phone down from her ear. School had been over for about ten minutes, and while most students were preparing for club activities, she had just finished a phone call.

　　Now comes the real deal. Whether or not it can help Kaguya Shinomiya depends on how the talks go. Thinking of Kaguya Shinomiya’s restless and uneasy state these past two days, the blonde girl with a side ponytail gripped her phone tightly.

　　This meeting was very important, so Hayasaka Ai chose a quiet café as the meeting place. After leaving the school rooftop, she took a taxi to the destination.

　　The café she booked wasn’t very big, but besides being quiet, it had another advantage: it had private rooms. This ensured that her conversation wouldn’t be overheard. Although it was a bit pricey, it wasn’t a problem for her, who worked for the Shinomiya family.

　　After telling the waiter that she had reserved a private room, Hayasaka Ai was led to the door of the private room. She learned from the waiter that the other party had arrived first. Hayasaka Ai knocked twice and heard the words “Please come in” coming from inside the private room before pushing the door open and entering.

　　Having arrived at the café early, I casually ordered two lattes, reminiscing about the deep kiss I shared with Yazawa Emi not long ago. A moment later, a knock sounded at the door: “Come in.”

　　As the door opened, a young woman came into view. Her bright golden hair was tied into a side ponytail with a blue hair tie. She had a pretty face, fair and lovely skin, delicate eyebrows, sky-blue eyes, and thin cherry lips.

　　She wore a white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Over the white shirt was a black vest, and the collar of the shirt was not buttoned, revealing the girl’s fair neck and the small silver beaded necklace she wore.

　　She wore a black school uniform skirt, and between the skirt and her shirt and black vest, a light brown long-sleeved sweater was wrapped around her waist.

　　The girl’s smooth, jade-like legs were revealed beneath the black school uniform skirt. She wore white student canvas shoes and black short cotton socks, suggesting that she dressed in a sexy, edgy style at school. She was a youthful, JK (high school girl) edgy girl.

　　”Miss Hayasaka, if you had worn this school uniform yesterday, I probably would have paid the bill.” I couldn’t help but exclaim as I looked at Hayasaka, who was dressed as a gyaru (high school girl).

　　”Oh? If you’d like, Mr. Jian, you can pay the bill this time.” Hayasaka Ai walked to the opposite side of me with her blue shoulder bag. She put the bag down first, then gently touched the sweater and school uniform skirt tied around her waist with both hands before sitting down.

　　Although Hayasaka Ai’s outfit leans towards a gyaru (gal) style, some of her behaviors are nothing like a gyaru. For example, her elegant sitting posture just now shows that the blonde girl with a side ponytail must have had some etiquette training.

　　”It’s a pity that you wore casual clothes this time, Ms. Hayasaka.”

　　Upon hearing this, Hayasaka Ai picked up the latte on the table and took a sip. She had been thinking about the various scenarios of the meeting and how to persuade him during the two afternoon classes, and she had even forgotten to drink water. Feeling a little thirsty, she decided to have a sip of coffee first.

　　However, as soon as the other person said that, Hayasaka Ai’s eye twitched, and she almost spat out the coffee she had just taken a sip of. This guy was definitely doing it on purpose.

　　Hayasaka Ai told herself to calm down, to drink the coffee in her mouth first, and then put down the teacup in her hand. But no matter how much she told herself, she couldn’t help but make a small sarcastic remark: “Mr. Ken is really very ‘principled’.”

　　“Many people say that about me.” I nodded seriously, as if I hadn’t noticed the sarcasm in Hayasaka Ai’s tone.

　　”Really? That’s pretty good.” Hayasaka Ai silently labeled the other person as shameless in her mind.

　　“Since Ms. Hayasaka has said so, I will try my best to act according to principles today,” I said meaningfully, taking a sip of coffee as well.

　　Suddenly, Hayasaka Ai had a bad feeling. Her intuition told her that she should leave now, but how could she leave like this? “So you should know why I came to see you today?”

　　”I’m not entirely sure about the specifics, but it should be related to Lady Shinomiya.” Since yesterday, apart from Hayasaka Ai, neither Shinomiya Kaguya nor the head of the Shinomiya family have contacted me again, so I don’t know the specific reason why Hayasaka Ai suddenly wanted to meet with me again so urgently, but I can guess some of it.

　　Hearing this, Hayasaka Ai breathed a slight sigh of relief. This at least meant that the head of the family had not yet told the other party the engagement time. He probably planned to meet with the other party to have a proper talk, which was why he did not call immediately. This gave them more room to maneuver.

　　“That’s right. Yesterday, I heard from the young lady that the head of the family decided to postpone the engagement for a week from now.” Hayasaka Ai simply explained the reason for the matter.

　　”Hmm… so soon.” The time set by the head of the Shinomiya family was indeed a bit unexpected. No wonder Hayasaka Ai called me yesterday.

　　”Right, Mr. Jian, you think so too, right? Such an important matter should be prepared with more time, so could you talk to the head of the family and postpone the engagement?”

　　After yesterday’s conversation, Hayasaka Ai realized that since it was difficult to get the other party to refuse the engagement, they should start with something easier, such as postponing the engagement, to give them more time to find a way to deal with the problem.

　　”Although I think the engagement happened a little too soon, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s actually quite good.” I looked at Hayasaka Ai with a strange expression, as if to say: What strange thing are you talking about?

　　”I…” Hayasaka Ai hesitated, but then stopped. Generally speaking, shouldn’t things be as she said? Now that she sees no resistance at all, she’ll probably agree right away. That would be terrible, terribly terrible.

　　”Mr. Jian, won’t you reconsider? Such an important matter should be discussed with your family. A week is far too short.” Of course, Hayasaka Ai wouldn’t give up so easily; otherwise, she wouldn’t have bothered to arrange a meeting with him.

　　”It’s okay, my family will agree.” For me, there have never been few and far between fiancés and other women. My mentor sister turns a blind eye to it. In her words: I don’t have the time to manage all your women, as long as no one causes trouble.

　　”You know perfectly well that the young lady doesn’t want to be engaged to you. Now, you don’t even need to refuse the engagement; can’t you just postpone it for a month?” Since the previous arguments had no effect, Hayasaka Ai had no choice but to get straight to the point.

　　“You know perfectly well that I want to get engaged to Miss Shinomiya. You don’t have to agree immediately. Can’t you just wait a week? I can say the same thing to you, Miss Hayasaka.”

　　”I’ll say it again: if our wishes are different, why should I have to follow your wishes instead of you following mine? From Hayasaka-san’s perspective, of course you’re on Shinomiya-sama’s side, but why can’t I stand on my own side?”

　　Seeing the blonde girl with her side ponytail tightly pursing her thin cherry lips and her delicate eyebrows furrowed, I sighed and said, “Besides, didn’t I give you two a solution last time?”

　　”That’s why I came to you—because the timeframe is too short and both solutions are difficult to implement.” If they were confident they could resolve the issue within a week, would she have needed to arrange another meeting at such a last minute?

　　”I can’t help you with that. I’ve already given you a solution. It’s impossible for you to expect me to voluntarily request a postponement.” Actually, what I wanted to say was, what’s the use of just talking? Taking some real action is what’s reliable. I wonder if the girl understood.

　　”What aspect were you referring to when you said ‘defeat’ last time? Did you mean just the company group? We simply couldn’t do that.” It seemed unlikely that they would voluntarily request a postponement, so Hayasaka Ai had no choice but to revert to her previous approach and see if there were any other opportunities.

　　”Of course not, you can try other approaches.” I didn’t set the conditions too harshly. On the one hand, I was confident in myself, and on the other hand, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. What choices would the girls make after repeated setbacks?

　　”Are you sure?” Hayasaka Ai’s sky-blue pupils widened slightly. She hadn’t expected that this young man, who had been so unyielding since yesterday’s conversation, would so easily loosen his conditions. No, or rather, was this his intention from the very beginning?

　　”What, Ms. Hayasaka, are you just asking casually and don’t want to consider other possibilities?” I couldn’t help but tease, seeing the blonde girl with a side ponytail’s surprised expression.

　　”Of course not, that would be best, then we’d still have a chance to defeat you.” Hayasaka Ai quickly shook her head in denial, her tied-up side ponytail swaying back and forth.

　　”However, let me state in advance that I don’t accept every kind of competition. Most normal competitions are fine, but I won’t accept things like who looks better in a skirt or who looks better in stockings. In general, the decision to participate in a competition is up to me, and I generally won’t refuse any normal competition.”

　　Actually, if it were models competing to see who has the better outfit, I wouldn’t refuse. But if I were to do it myself, I’d rather not, as I have no interest in women’s clothing.

　　“No problem.” Hayasaka Ai’s eyes were a little unfocused. Her first reaction was to use a competition where women would have a clear advantage to defeat her opponent. After all, this was not a competition for testing purposes, but a competition for Kaguya Shinomiya’s lifelong happiness. She was willing to use some less fair competitions.

　　But since the other party had brought it up, Hayasaka Ai could only put aside her little thoughts and start thinking about what kind of competition would be best. It seemed that the other party did not limit the number of competitions, but there was a time limit of engagement. It would be best to defeat the other party before the engagement was agreed upon, that is, it would be best to do it today.

　　“There’s one more thing.” I held up one finger to Hayasaka Ai.

　　”What?” Could it be that they suddenly want to add some conditions? I hope the situation, which has just started to improve, doesn’t go back to the way it was before, Hayasaka Ai thought to herself.

　　”If you choose to target my company group, I don’t mind if you find help. But if you choose to target me personally, then it can only be done by you and Miss Shinomiya yourself, how about that?”

　　“Okay.” Hayasaka Ai felt this request was acceptable, as long as they did something they were good at, and the situation did not take a sudden turn for the worse.

　　”In that case, there shouldn’t be any problems for now.” Hayasaka Ai’s agreement was expected, since the two girls didn’t have many options. It was up to them to decide what to do next.

　　”Can we start now? Let’s have a match.” Since the other party had said so, Hayasaka Ai wanted to try it out without delay, so as to use it as a reference for future actions, and what if she could win by trying?

　　”Now?” I didn’t expect the girl to be ready for the competition so quickly. I thought it would be tomorrow. But thinking about the time constraints, that’s probably why Hayasaka Ai is in such a hurry to start the competition.

　　”Is that not possible?” Hayasaka Ai tapped the table lightly with her slender fingers painted with light blue nail polish. If the match couldn’t be held today, she planned to go back immediately to discuss countermeasures with Shinomiya Kaguya and ask for leave tomorrow to officially launch her attack.

　　”It’s not that it’s impossible. As long as you’re ready, Ms. Hayasaka, I’m available anytime.” I shrugged, took a sip of coffee, and continued, “So, Ms. Hayasaka, what would you like to compete in?”

　　”Shakesaw, shall we?” Hayasaka Ai chose a game that generally involves a certain element of luck, hoping that she might have good luck and win today.

　　”If it were just a game of pure luck, I probably wouldn’t agree, but rock-paper-scissors isn’t, so I agree.” Actually, a game of “pure luck” isn’t impossible. After all, there are many conditions that can be interfered with in games of luck, such as flipping a coin or even drawing cards to compare sizes. I have ways to intervene. It’s just that if I keep winning in a game that mainly relies on luck, the two girls might have some doubts.

　　Hayasaka Ai’s sky-blue eyes lit up, then her eyes darted around. Best two out of three games had a lot of luck involved, while best three out of five games offered a better chance of a comeback. But if we’re talking about luck being the biggest factor, how about “one game to decide the winner?”

　　”If you want to.”

　　”OK, rock-paper-scissors.” To prevent the other person from having a chance to back out, Hayasaka Ai quickly started the game. When she said “scissors,” she had already raised her hand. Seeing that the other person also raised their hand, the girl continued to say it quickly.

　　”I won.” I threw scissors, and Hayasaka Ai stretched out her slender white right hand. The girl’s fingers were fair and delicate, but unfortunately, her beautiful hand could not bring her victory.

　　”Hmm…” Hayasaka Ai felt a little regretful. If she had won, all these problems would have been solved. However, the girl soon had another idea that needed to be confirmed: “Um… can we do it again? Let’s do a best-of-three game.”

　　”It’s possible, but Miss Hayasaka, you should know that apart from a few matches, it’s best not to have most matches too many times. I will refuse.” As for matches that can be held multiple times, that’s naturally related to H-related matters, which cannot be brought up at the moment, and by the time it can be brought up, the situation will likely be different.

　　”Understood.” Although suggesting another round of rock-paper-scissors was to test whether a match could be played multiple times, it didn’t mean Hayasaka Ai didn’t want to win. This time, the blonde girl with a side ponytail rolled up her white sleeves even further, looking like she was about to get serious.

　　The sight of the girl’s jade-like arms and her slender fingers opening and closing was quite pleasing to the eye. If I didn’t know that the girl didn’t have such intentions, I would have thought that she was using seduction tactics to distract me.

　　”Ready to begin, Mr. Ken.” After warming up her arms and fingers for a while, Hayasaka Ai reached out and raised her arm slightly to make a fist.

　　Hayasaka Ai was ready, and another round of rock-paper-scissors began and ended in less than a minute, with Hayasaka Ai losing both rounds.

　　”Mr. Jian, your rock-paper-scissors skills are really good. If you participated in the rock-paper-scissors king competition, you might win the championship.” Hayasaka Ai’s right hand fell limply onto the table. Including the first round, she had lost three rounds in a row.

　　”I told you from the beginning, rock-paper-scissors isn’t just a game of luck, that’s why I was able to win every time.” With my dynamic vision and reflexes, I had plenty of time to quickly make the corresponding winning gesture once Hayasaka Ai decided on scissors or paper.

　　”Is that so?” Hayasaka Ai didn’t ask about any rock-paper-scissors techniques. She was already thinking about what to use for the next game. She should definitely choose something she was good at, and something her opponent might not be good at.

　　The blonde girl with a side ponytail, lost in thought, still had her arm resting on the table, her slender, white fingers pointing towards me, her light blue nail polish gleaming under the light.

　　If Hayasaka Ai were to give me a handjob with those slender hands, I would be incredibly satisfied, both mentally and physically. Just thinking about it makes my lower abdomen feel hot.

　　”Um, I’ve been thinking, how about the next competition is tidying up a room?” As a maid, Hayasaka Ai doesn’t need to put in much effort to tidy up Kaguya Shinomiya’s room often, but that doesn’t mean her tidying skills have become rusty. She just doesn’t know if the other party will agree.

　　”Cleaning the rooms? I personally have no problem, but it’s hard to prepare rooms that need cleaning.” It’s difficult to prepare two identical, messy rooms in a short time, unless you use a special ability or ask Sakuya to prepare them?

　　”It’s alright. Just have someone mess up the room, I’ll tidy it up first, and then I’ll mess it up again. Don’t worry, I’ll try my best to keep the messiness of the room at the same level. If you feel the difference is too great, you can choose to stop the competition.”

　　Hayasaka Ai is quite confident in her room-tidying skills, and accordingly has a keen sense of the layout of items in the room. While she can’t restore the room to its exact messy state, she can certainly restore it to a fairly good state.

　　”Since you put it that way, Ms. Hayasaka, I’ll have someone prepare it, or rather, you can prepare it yourself?” I have hotels and guesthouses under my management that I can use, as does the Shinomiya family. Hayasaka Ai seems to have a close relationship with Shinomiya Kaguya, so it shouldn’t be a problem to use them.

　　”I’ll have to trouble you to handle this, Mr. Ken.” This matter goes against the wishes of the Shinomiya family, so the Shinomiya family must not be informed. Therefore, the Shinomiya family’s resources cannot be used. For example, when choosing this coffee shop today, she deliberately avoided coffee shops belonging to the Shinomiya Group.

　　I didn’t say anything more. I took out my phone and called Yazawa Emi, telling her the address of the cafe and asking her to find the nearest hotel under the company group. I also instructed the hotel staff to prepare a room to mess around with, but not in a destructive way.

　　Although Yazawa Emi was puzzled as to what strange thing her boss was thinking, suddenly preparing a messy room, her boss’s actions were always unpredictable, except in certain aspects, so the beautiful wife didn’t think much of it.

　　”We can set off after we finish this cup of coffee.”

　　Preparing a room and messing it up wouldn’t take long. Hayasaka Ai nodded silently. Soon after, she finished her coffee and paid the bill. Although she hadn’t achieved her goal today, she had at least made some progress, which made the girl feel better as she paid the bill.

　　Hayasaka Ai got straight into my car after leaving the cafe. She didn’t sit in the passenger seat but in the back. After she fastened her seatbelt, I started the car and arrived at the hotel address sent by Yazawa Emi in about ten minutes.

　　After greeting the hotel manager, who gave me a gold room key, I led the blonde girl with a side ponytail to the top floor of the hotel.

　　It wasn’t until Hayasaka Ai entered the elevator that she realized she might have been careless in following them. This was a hotel owned by the other party, meaning this area was their territory.

　　As a young girl, Hayasaka Ai followed a young man to a hotel in his territory. She was worried that he might do something outrageous and she would be in danger. Thinking about this, she felt a little annoyed. After making progress, she had become a little less vigilant.

　　The elevator stopped on the 10th floor. I stepped out first, but when I didn’t hear any footsteps following me, I turned around and saw the blonde girl with a side ponytail still inside. “We’ve arrived, Hayasaka-san.”

　　”Huh? Oh…” Hayasaka Ai, who was reflecting on her own carelessness, finally realized that the elevator had arrived after being reminded. The blonde girl with a side ponytail took three steps at a time and stepped out of the elevator.

　　The elevator doors slowly closed, and Hayasaka Ai followed behind the young man named Ken. There were only three rooms on the top floor of the hotel, and the entire floor was quiet. Even the sound of their footsteps was very faint because of the carpet on the floor.

　　Regaining her vigilance, Hayasaka Ai kept surveying her surroundings, preparing to escape or use the environment to fight back in case of an emergency. However, there were hardly any useful tools on the hotel floor, so she could only rely on self-defense techniques or pray that her opponent couldn’t outrun her.

　　”This should be it.” I couldn’t know exactly what the blonde girl with the side ponytail behind me was thinking, but I noticed that she tensed up as soon as she stepped out of the elevator. I didn’t know if she was in the middle of a competition or worried that I might do something to her.

　　I swiped the room card onto the electronic lock, and the door opened with a “beep”. Pushing the door open, I took a closer look and saw that the items in the living room looked as if they had been blown by a strong wind, except that nothing was broken.

　　”How about it, does it meet your requirements?” There were cushions scattered here and there, books strewn everywhere, a crooked wooden chair, a wrinkled carpet, a tilted vase, and air conditioner and TV remotes placed haphazardly. In short, it was quite messy at first glance.

　　”Okay, let me take another look at the current layout. I’ll try my best to restore it later.” Carefully entering the suite, Hayasaka Ai felt a little relieved when she saw its messy state. It seemed that the other party probably didn’t have any ulterior motives.

　　”Alright.” Hayasaka Ai walked back and forth for about ten minutes to memorize the general layout of the suite. Then, the girl rolled up both sleeves of her shirt to her elbows and took off the light brown long-sleeved sweater that was wrapped around her waist and hung it on the coat rack by the door.

　　Incidentally, the clothes rack was lying down before, but Hayasaka Ai, wearing disposable slippers, lifted it up with her small feet and grabbed it with her slender hands, and it stood upright. It seems that there was a reason why the girl chose to tidy up the room as a competition.

　　”Then I’ll start timing.” He took out his phone, activated the stopwatch function, and lowered his hand so that Hayasaka Ai could see it.

　　”Come on.” Hayasaka Ai wasn’t too worried that the other party would tamper with the timing, so it would be better not to agree in the first place. But in other words, was the other party confident that they could win?

　　Although Hayasaka Ai doesn’t think the boss of a large company or conglomerate would be particularly good at housework like tidying up, she would definitely do her best.

　　”Ready, go.” I pressed the stopwatch button, and Hayasaka Ai immediately got to work. She started tidying up the surrounding items. The girl moved very quickly, probably having already calculated how to tidy up while observing the room layout beforehand.

　　As she turned, bent over, and stood up, the hem of the blonde girl’s school uniform skirt fluttered slightly, but there was no sign of her exposing herself. It was clear that the girl had a very good grasp of tidying up the room, just like a professional maid.

　　Could it be that Hayasaka Ai is a maid? I didn’t investigate the girl’s identity in the Shinomiya family, but now I can make a guess. Judging from her concern for Shinomiya Kaguya, perhaps she is Shinomiya Kaguya’s personal maid?

　　As I pondered, I admired Hayasaka Ai’s various postures while tidying up her room. I have to say, there was a cute contrast between the girl dressed as a gyaru (high school girl) and the girl seriously tidying up her room.

　　”All done.” Hayasaka Ai carefully arranged the last items, including the cardboard box that had fallen to the floor. The room was now tidy. I immediately pressed the stopwatch button to stop it.

　　”How was it?” This amount of work was nothing to Hayasaka Ai; the girl finished cleaning up without even breaking a sweat.

　　I pointed my phone at the blonde girl with a side ponytail; the stopwatch showed 16:20:05. “It only took a little over sixteen minutes.”

　　”Well, it’s alright.” This time was about what Hayasaka Ai had expected. Because she wanted to help Kaguya Shinomiya, she acted a little faster than usual, but it was obviously unrealistic to expect to make any leap forward from this point.

　　”Wait for me a moment, I’ll mess up the living room again, then it’ll be your turn.” After saying that, Hayasaka Ai started working again without waiting for my response.

　　Compared to tidying up, messing up is obviously much easier. Hayasaka Ai only spent about seven or eight minutes messing up the suite’s living room again, and the messiness was about the same as when she first came in.

　　”That’s about it. Do you see any problems?” Hayasaka Ai patted her fair, delicate hand as she came to me again, then put her hands on her hips and asked.

　　”No, this level is acceptable, similar to the beginning.” With my observational skills, I can naturally tell the degree of similarity in the messiness of the room. Not exactly the same, but at least 90% similar, which is enough for me. Even without revealing my abilities, I am still confident of winning.

　　”Since there are no problems, let’s get started.” Hayasaka Ai took out her phone from her shoulder bag, her light blue nail polished finger swiping across the screen to activate the stopwatch.

　　I gave Hayasaka Ai an OK sign, and after the girl pressed the stopwatch start button with her thumb, I immediately got to work.

　　Hayasaka silently watched the incredibly agile figure in the living room. Compared to her, the other person’s movements were lighter and faster. The seemingly casual toss placed the item perfectly, and the control of force and angle was exquisite, which saved a lot of time.

　　”Alright.” After perfectly tossing one last book onto the bookshelf, I finished tidying up the room. The blonde girl with the side ponytail didn’t bother to press the stopwatch; she stopped it the moment I finished speaking.

　　”I lost.” Hayasaka Ai had been keeping a close eye on the timer and her opponent’s movements. She knew she had lost when her opponent was almost finished tidying up the room. She had actually lost at tidying up the room…

　　Losing at rock-paper-scissors before wasn’t a big deal, but losing this time was a bit of a blow to Hayasaka Ai. After all, she lost in her area of ​​expertise, so it seems things are not as simple as they seem.

　　”I’m sure Ms. Hayasaka has already realized that beating me won’t be so easy.” Instead of going back to the entrance hall, I sat down on the soft sofa.

　　”Perhaps that’s true, but I won’t give up.” Hayasaka Ai walked to the single sofa diagonally opposite me and sat down, her black short cotton socks and jade feet contrasting with her white disposable slippers, always drawing people’s attention.

　　”That’s good, you didn’t give up easily. So, shall we continue?” If the girl gives up now, I’ll have to think of something else. But judging from her performance since our first meeting, for Kaguya Shinomiya’s sake, Hayasaka Ai won’t give up so easily.

　　”Yes.” There was only a week left, and Hayasaka Ai didn’t want to waste any time. Since the other party was willing to play along, she naturally wanted to seize the opportunity and play as many matches as possible.

　　For the rest of the time, they used their phones to compete in arithmetic speed, solve problems, and even answer fun questions. Later, they even found a deck of cards in the suite and played various card games. The competition continued until after 7 p.m. when a phone call interrupted the competition.

　　”Is this the head of the Shinomiya family?” I picked up my phone and saw that the caller ID showed it was the number of Shinomiya Kan’an, the head of the Shinomiya family.

　　Hayasaka Ai, who was originally collecting the playing cards one by one to check if there was anything wrong with them and wondering why she kept losing, immediately paused upon hearing this. She quietly moved from the single sofa on the side towards the long sofa.

　　”Hmm, that’s good. As for the engagement date, I don’t have a specific time in mind yet. We don’t need to arrange a meeting to discuss it. Head of the Shinomiya family, do you have a suggested time? A week from now? Let me think about it, maybe…”

　　The only reason Shinomiya Gan’an called was about me and Shinomiya Kaguya. As for meeting up? I have no interest in meeting with Shinomiya Gan’an. It’s not like I’m talking to Shinomiya Kaguya or Hayasaka Ai, who’s always by my side. Hmm? Well, I can’t say “always by my side” anymore.

　　”Mr. Jian, what’s wrong?” The voice of the head of the Shinomiya family came from the phone. I blinked and looked at the blonde girl with a side ponytail who suddenly pounced on me and covered my mouth.

　　At this moment, the blonde girl with a side ponytail was straddling my lap with her legs spread apart. Her fair thighs were more exposed under her school uniform skirt, and her delicate feet, encased in black short cotton socks, were spread apart, with the soles of her feet facing upwards, and her small toes showing a hazy outline of beauty.

　　”…” Hayasaka Ai’s thin cherry lips parted slightly. It turned out that when she realized that the two were going to talk about Kaguya Shinomiya’s engagement and that someone was about to agree to the head of the Shinomiya family’s proposal, the girl couldn’t care less about anything else and had to stop them first. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say and she couldn’t make a sound, otherwise the head of the Shinomiya family might find out.

　　In the end, Hayasaka Ai could only shake her head, knowing that covering the other person’s mouth would be useless. So she released her slender hand, then put her hands together in a pleading gesture. At present, she had neither defeated nor persuaded the other person, and could only hope that the other person would not agree.

　　”It’s nothing, I was just thinking about your suggestion, Head of the Shinomiya family.” I glanced at the blonde girl with a side ponytail who still had her hands clasped together. Her slender white hands were joined together, her light blue nails matching her fair fingers. “I need to think about this matter more. I’ll give you an answer tomorrow, Head of the Shinomiya family, okay?”

　　”Okay, thank you for your help, goodbye.” After ending the call with Shinomiya Gan’an, I hung up and turned my gaze to Hayasaka Ai. “I’ll postpone it for a day for now. After all, you didn’t defeat me. This is already because of the benefits you gave me, Hayasaka-san.”

　　”No matter what… I don’t know what to say…” Should I thank the other person? If they could refuse, would it be so troublesome? Hayasaka Ai felt like she was being manipulated. “Wait… bonus!?”

　　In the urgency of the situation, Hayasaka Ai hadn’t thought much about it. Now, after being told this, she realized that she was riding on the other person. The girl immediately got up but forgot that she was on a soft sofa. Her forceful rise caused her black short cotton socks to sink deeper into the sofa, causing her to lose her balance.

　　”Be careful. You’re already sitting here. Getting up now won’t change anything, will it?” I grabbed Hayasaka Ai’s fair arm, pulling the girl back from her fall and getting her back onto my lap.

　　The girl’s round, perky buttocks pressed directly above my thighs, while her soft thighs lay on either side of mine, and a faint fragrance emanated from her body.

　　”How can you say that? Let go, I want to get up.” Hayasaka Ai clearly didn’t agree with this nonsense at all. After I released her arm, the girl got up again, though this time she did it slowly.

　　”Alright, it’s already evening, almost dinner time. Ms. Hayasaka, you should probably head back now, and I should get ready to leave too.” Two or three hours had passed quickly after sparring with the blonde girl with a side ponytail.

　　”Wait a minute.” Hayasaka Ai, who had put on disposable slippers and stood firmly, pursed her thin cherry lips. The decision she was about to make might be a little risky, but the girl still spoke up. “You mean as long as I don’t plan to go back, you’ll stick with me to the end, right? The match.”

　　“That’s one way to understand it…” I looked Hayasaka Ai up and down several times, making the blonde girl with the side ponytail feel very uncomfortable.

　　”Why are you looking at me like that? Are you thinking about something weird? I just want to stay and compete, that’s all.” Hayasaka Ai’s sky-blue eyes revealed a sharp gaze, and the girl went into high alert.

　　”No, I just thought that you, Miss Hayasaka, need to eat before you stay and continue the competition, right? Since I’m willing to keep you company…” I gave Hayasaka Ai a knowing look.

　　Hayasaka Ai’s sky-blue eyes widened. So the strange look he gave her earlier was because he mistook her for an ATM?! This is your own hotel, okay? Why should she have to pay for this? Shouldn’t you offer her a free meal?

　　”Don’t look at me like that. I’ll make time to spar with you, Miss Hayasaka. You’ll have to pay a price, won’t you?” I can’t always go along with her just because she’s a beautiful girl, even though I don’t think I’ve ever really gotten along with the blonde girl with the side ponytail since we first met.

　　”Is there a discount?” As mentioned before, even if it’s a high-end hotel, Hayasaka Ai’s current savings would definitely be enough to pay for the meal, but in this situation, the girl always felt like she was getting the short end of the stick.

　　”I’ll talk to the manager about getting a 20% discount.” I’d barely finished speaking when Hayasaka Ai turned and walked towards the suite’s entrance. “What, Ms. Hayasaka, have you changed your mind and are going back?”

　　”No! Let’s go have dinner. Are you coming or not? If you don’t, don’t say I didn’t treat you again.” Hayasaka Ai said to me without turning her head.

　　I shrugged, got up from the sofa, and followed Hayasaka Ai. It didn’t take long for us to get to the second floor of the hotel, the place where guests were served breakfast, lunch, and dinner, by taking the elevator.

　　As soon as Hayasaka Ai sat down, she picked up the upright menu, glanced at it, and called over the waiter. She ordered a total of seven or eight dishes plus dessert, which was quite a lot for two people.

　　”Miss Hayasaka, can you finish all this?” You should know that Hayasaka Ai ordered no small dishes, plus a dessert.

　　”Isn’t this Mr. Ken? The competition tonight is going to go on quite late, so it’s good to eat more.” Hayasaka Ai put down the menu and glanced at me sideways with her sky-blue eyes.

　　”Thank you so much, Ms. Hayasaka.” Upon hearing this, Hayasaka Ai crossed her arms and was about to say something when my next words choked her up: “I will do my best in tonight’s match and will not let you down.”

　　”Is that so?” Hayasaka Ai pursed her lips. She felt really annoyed by the feeling of shooting herself in the foot, even though she didn’t think the other party would go easy on her if she didn’t say that.

　　We didn’t have to wait long before the waiters started serving the dishes. It was probably because the manager had specifically instructed them to prioritize our table. Once the dishes were mostly served, Hayasaka Ai and I started eating.

　　During the meal, Hayasaka Ai barely spoke, quickly cutting the beef with her slender hands using a knife and fork, seemingly turning dissatisfaction into appetite. However, given the girl’s appetite, she didn’t eat much in the end, and I finished most of it.

　　After dinner, Hayasaka Ai and I returned to the penthouse suite. However, the girl did not immediately start the next match. Instead, she took out her phone and tapped the screen lightly with her thumb, presumably chatting and texting.

　　”OK, let’s continue, let’s compete.” Hayasaka Ai put her phone back into her shoulder bag and said to me.

　　”Don’t you want to rest a little longer? We just finished eating not long ago.” It had only been a dozen minutes since the blonde girl with the side ponytail sent the chat message after taking the elevator up.

　　”No need, it’s better to hurry up.” Hayasaka Ai decided not to think too much now. She would just compete in whatever she could, and it would be good to test her opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. It would be even better if she could win.

　　”Whatever you want, after all, I said I’d stick with you to the end.”

　　The rest of the night was spent in matches. Hayasaka Ai fully demonstrated what it means to fight on despite repeated defeats. One match after another, luckily her opponent was a beautiful girl, otherwise I would have run away long ago. However, if she wasn’t a beautiful girl, I wouldn’t have agreed in the first place.

　　”It’s 12 o’clock. According to the time, it’s already tomorrow. Let’s call it a day for now.” Having won the competition once again, Hayasaka Ai couldn’t last until the end in the word chain game.

　　”But…” Hayasaka Ai hadn’t managed to win even once all night, and she was starting to doubt whether she was impotent, even though she had always considered herself quite clever.

　　”Miss Hayasaka, you’re clearly a bit tired. If you continue, your chances of winning will only decrease. Why don’t you get some rest and come back later?” I shook my head. I could manage staying up all night, but it wouldn’t be good for a girl.

　　”What about tomorrow?” Hayasaka Ai understood that what the other person said made sense, but would they still have so much time to challenge themselves tomorrow?

　　”Are you planning to book my entire week?” I said, rubbing my forehead with a hint of helplessness.

　　”If possible.” Hayasaka Ai felt a little embarrassed by what he said, but then she thought that this situation was caused by the other person himself. “If you refuse the engagement now, I promise I won’t bother you.”

　　”My answer to this suggestion remains the same. I can only say that I will try my best to make time. If you don’t have enough time, then choose some things you are confident about to compare.” Between being pestered and not pestered, I would definitely choose the former without a doubt. Being pestered by a beautiful girl sounds pretty erotic.

　　”Of course I know that.” Hayasaka Ai muttered to herself. “Alright, that’s enough for today. You can go now.”

　　The blonde girl with a side ponytail waved her hand, giving off a feeling that she was no longer useful and could leave. However, considering our current relationship, it was quite normal for her to act that way.

　　”Miss Hayasaka, aren’t you going back? If you are, I can drive you there.” I didn’t mean to force you to stay. Wouldn’t it be better to go home and sleep with your head maid or goddess? It’s not like I’m going to fight with a girl until dawn in another sense.

　　”I’m not going back. I’ll rest here for the night.” She had told Kaguya Shinomiya before that it might be too late to go back, and she had even told the head maid that she was staying at a classmate’s house and asked for leave before going back to the Shinomiya family. Going back now would arouse suspicion, even though the head maid’s relationship with her was quite special.

　　”Alright then, I’ll be going now. If you still need to compete tomorrow, just give me a call and I’ll check the schedule.” After saying goodbye to Hayasaka Ai, I left a wisp of my divine sense behind as a precaution.