Chapter 461: Discharged from the Hospital!
"You're lying!"
"I'm not."
"Impossible! You're lying!!!"
"I really am not."
"…Tch."
Nene stared at Luke and clicked her tongue in obvious displeasure.
A gloomy aura surrounded her, and her twitching eyebrows made her look particularly irritable, as though she might explode at any moment.
Feeling her mood sink rapidly, Nene reluctantly admitted that she was a little jealous.
Of course, she was not in love with Luke.
She could not even say she genuinely liked him romantically.
Still, after spending nearly a year together, she had inevitably developed some affection for him.
Otherwise, she would never have suggested that Luke become her boyfriend.
No matter how important Kurono was, Nene would not simply grab some random man to make up the numbers.
Among the men around her age whom she knew, Luke was undoubtedly the one she liked the most.
The strange feeling rising inside her now was closer to having a toy taken away—Or realizing that she had lost some competition.
There was certainly a little jealousy and envy.
But frustration, unwillingness, and annoyance made up most of it.
Unfortunately, this revelation came immediately after her confession had been rejected.
That made the tiny bit of jealousy feel far stronger than it normally would.
And that only made Nene even more unhappy.
It vaguely reminded her of the pain she had felt back when Kurono had "abandoned" her.
"Whatever…"
"It's not like I have any right to interfere with your relationship anyway."
"After all, this lady just had her heartfelt confession cruelly rejected."
Nene's voice was dripping with sourness.
The remark made Luke helpless, but it also dealt Nene a second round of emotional damage.
Realizing that, she irritably swung her legs before reluctantly changing the subject.
"So?"
"Who exactly managed to catch the eye of a little monster like you?"
"Stella? Or maybe that Touka girl?"
"Tch. I did notice things were starting to look that way, but I didn't expect it to happen this fast."
"Just watch me ruin—ah, no, I mean…"
"As both your teacher and their senior, I have a duty to understand the romantic lives of my students and juniors."
"That's what a responsible adult should do. Yes, exactly!"
Apparently very impressed by the flawless excuse she had invented, Nene nodded proudly.
Then she stared at Luke, clearly demanding an honest answer.
Looking at the smug pseudo-loli before him, Luke immediately sensed malicious intent.
He raised an eyebrow and made his decision.
To avoid causing trouble for both himself and Edelweiss, Luke decided not to tell her.
"Unfortunately, it's neither Stella nor Touka-senpai."
"Tsk, tsk. Looks like certain people have no excuse to interfere now."
"What?! Neither of them?"
Nene looked genuinely surprised.
Putting aside her various subjective impressions, even Nene knew perfectly well how outstanding Luke was.
If he had actually wanted to pursue Stella or Touka, winning either of them over would have been ridiculously easy.
Even without deliberately pursuing them, simply giving them more opportunities to spend time together might eventually have made either girl fall for him naturally.
Nene had spent a great deal of time with Luke throughout the year.
She and Kurono had even investigated his background together before.
After all, Luke's murderous aura had once been so overwhelming that no one could possibly feel at ease around him without first understanding who he was.
Because of that, Nene knew his social circle extremely well.
She knew Luke had not had a girlfriend before coming to Hagun Academy.
And among the women he met afterward, the truly outstanding ones were basically Stella, Touka—And, naturally, herself.
No matter how hard Nene thought, she could not imagine any of the others genuinely catching Luke's interest.
Just as Luke understood Nene fairly well, Nene had also figured out much of Luke's personality.
Any woman Luke genuinely accepted as a romantic partner could not possibly be weak.
Otherwise, she would struggle to even attract his attention.
At the very least, she would need exceptional growth potential.
But besides Stella and Touka, who else met those conditions…?
D-Don't tell me?!
Nene suddenly thought of something, and shock filled her small face.
She blurted out,
"D-Don't tell me it's someone from the K-Kurogane family—"
"You're thinking way too much!!!"
Luke cut off her imagination immediately and sighed with a headache.
He had no idea who Nene had been about to name.
But the moment he heard "Kurogane," he knew it could not possibly be a sensible guess.
If she meant Shizuku, that would at least be understandable.
But if Ikki or even Ouma came out of her mouth, Luke suspected he might actually die from anger.
Not that Shizuku was remotely possible either.
That brother-obsessed girl was even worse than Nene.
There was no chance she would fall in love with someone else.
"What the heck! This one's wrong, that one's wrong—then just tell me who it is!"
"No."
"You're obviously plotting something. If I tell you, you'll start harassing us with every trick you can think of."
"Tch. You saw through me…"
"Heh. Your little schemes are far too obvious."
"You damn brat…"
Nene narrowed her eyes.
Then she suddenly froze.
"Wait."
"You're not lying to me, are you?!"
"Hmm??? Lying about what?"
"Heh heh. You obviously don't have a girlfriend!"
"You were embarrassed to admit it, so you made one up!"
"I knew it! Stella and the others weren't right because there was never anyone in the first place!"
"You really can invent anything…"
"Then say her name!"
"If you can't give me a name, you're definitely lying!"
"Uh… tch…"
"See?!"
"You not only cruelly rejected this lady's confession, you even lied and said you already had a girlfriend!"
"D-Do you really hate me that much? Sniff… sniff…"
"Hey, do you really need to try this hard? I can literally see the eye drops."
"None of your business!"
"You lied to me! Today I'm going to make you feel guilty!"
"Heh. You could cry your heart out until heaven and earth shake, and I still wouldn't feel guilty."
"If anything, I'd probably want to laugh."
"You damn brat, what did you just—"
"PUT THAT CAMERA AWAYYYYY!!!"
Boom—!
In the end, the poor hospital room still failed to escape destruction.
Fortunately, Luke had already covered the room with a Seisenjutsu barrier.
So his little "scuffle" with Nene did not disturb anyone else.
Afterward, Nene stormed away in a huff.
Luke also left the hospital ahead of schedule.
As for whether the people who came to visit later would misunderstand after seeing the devastated room…
Luke refused to take responsibility.
Nene started it!
...
By the time Luke was discharged, it was already fairly late.
After the morning match ended, he and Stella had been immediately taken away for treatment.
Luke did not wake until late afternoon, close to dinner.
Then he had spent additional time talking with Kiriko, Kurono, and Nene.
By now, dinner time had long since passed.
So without much hesitation, Luke headed straight back to the hotel.
…
…
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