"Isshiki, Isshiki, this... this..."
"What do you mean, 'Isshiki'?"
Iroha Isshiki's tone hardened. She fixed her eyes on Yui Yuigahama and said, "I'm your boyfriend, remember? You need to call me 'boyfriend-kun' now."
She was asserting her position and identity, using it to pressure Yui Yuigahama, her senpai, a little further.
She'd more or less figured out this senpai's personality by now — gentle and soft, the kind of person who needed a push to actually move.
Otherwise,
it would be genuinely difficult.
Trying to talk it out calmly would never work.
Iroha knew this well. So when dealing with Yui Yuigahama, her attitude and presence had to stay forceful.
Only that way would her senpai ever agree.
"Ah, this..."
"Say it,"
Because Iroha had already reminded her about this several times in private, Yui hesitated now, given that Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita were both present. But in the end she spoke anyway. "Boyfriend... kun."
Hearing this,
Iroha Isshiki broke into a triumphant, victorious smile.
This was progress again. Saying it in private, just the two of them, and saying it now, with Lin Ye and Yukinoshita-senpai present — those were two completely different levels.
And now, thanks to all her efforts and her insistent demands, Yuigahama-senpai had finally caved and said the words.
It meant she'd succeeded.
Meanwhile,
Yui Yuigahama's face turned red, her ears burning hot.
She didn't dare look at Lin Ye or Yukino Yukinoshita — especially not Yukino. She didn't dare glance her way at all, terrified that Yukino's gaze would be far too sharp and intense to bear.
Too embarrassing, too humiliating — that was exactly how Yui Yuigahama felt.
"Mm-hmm, that's more like it. So, about the date — I get to decide. After school today, the two of you are coming on a date with senpai. The three of us, together."
Iroha's gaze drifted over to Lin Ye with a grin, watching him, waiting for his reaction.
Even though she'd already braced herself for rejection, as always, she remained undeterred, still hoping today would be the day she'd succeed.
"Senpai, if you don't answer, I'll take that as a yes."
Of course!
Faced with the prospect of a date with two beautiful girls, senpai was obviously interested, obviously had thoughts about it. Otherwise, why would he hesitate and agonize like this!
If Yukinoshita-senpai were thrown into the mix too, senpai would probably say yes on the spot, thrilled beyond measure!
But Iroha also knew that was almost impossible.
How could senpai possibly agree to that? Especially to some group date with everyone together.
Senpai would definitely refuse anything that put her in too much close contact with Lin Ye —
to avoid giving senpai any false hope.
"I've already got plans,"
Lin Ye spoke up.
Faced with Iroha's enthusiastic invitation and none-too-subtle hints, he barely reacted — in fact, he showed no reaction at all. He already had plans, which gave him a perfectly legitimate reason to refuse.
"That's not some plan you just made up on the spot, is it! No fair, that doesn't count!"
"I had plans before you even brought this up. Yukinoshita knows about it."
With that one line, Lin Ye instantly shifted the focus of the conversation onto Yukino Yukinoshita.
Facing the odd looks from both Iroha and Yui, Yukino hesitated, wavered,
but in the end chose to speak up and confirm it.
"Yes, there is one,"
That answer set both Iroha and Yui's imaginations running wild again.
Could it be that Lin Ye and Yukino Yukinoshita were going on another date?
Wasn't the frequency getting a little too high?
Was the relationship between these two really that simple?
It felt like they were heading somewhere... intimate.
How many dates had they been on lately? This was way too close for comfort!
"Yukinoshita-senpai, another date? You two go on dates so often!"
There was genuine envy in that.
That was exactly what Iroha Isshiki meant to say.
Even Yui Yuigahama was starting to suspect something.
Because really, this frequency of dating was far from normal.
If there was nothing going on between them, why would it be like this?
"It's not with me,"
Yukino spoke again. "It's with Rui Tachibana."
"Huh?!"
Iroha was instantly startled.
Where had this other person suddenly come from?
Iroha knew Rui Tachibana, this girl, well enough — but going on actual dates with her? Wasn't that a bit much, a bit too frequent?
"Senpai, you haven't even finished the girls at home, and you're already out there picking flowers elsewhere!"
Iroha pouted, showing her displeasure.
Expressing her unhappiness in a suitably realistic way — that was Iroha's method.
Worst case, senpai would just reject her and brush her off, and she was more than used to that by now. She didn't mind at all.
She could take it completely in stride, no problem whatsoever.
"Can't afford the girls at home, so I have to go eat the ones outside."
Lin Ye, unexpectedly, picked up the thread himself.
His gaze lingered briefly on Yukino Yukinoshita, and only after their eyes met did he quickly look away, careful not to draw the sharp-eyed Iroha's attention.
Iroha, startled by Lin Ye's reaction, focused more on herself instead, completely missing the brief exchange between Lin Ye and Yukino.
As for Yui Yuigahama, needless to say, she hadn't noticed a thing.
"Senpai, you... you haven't even eaten me yet, how can you say you can't afford it?"
Iroha said, her face flushing slightly.
"Can't afford it. Too much trouble."
"That's not it at all! Senpai's just unwilling!"
"I wasn't talking about you."
Iroha: ???
Of course, in truth, Iroha had already expected this. Lin Ye had said similar things to her more times than she could count.
Now that he'd said it again, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it.
But still,
Iroha couldn't help but feel a flicker of displeasure regardless.
"If it's not me, then who is it?"
"Mai."
"Ah!"
"Mai Sakurajima. The girl I love. My future family."
The moment those words left his mouth, Lin Ye felt a wave of icy cold rolling off Yukino Yukinoshita. She was clearly displeased, even angry at his remark.
If Iroha and Yui hadn't been there, she might have exploded right then and there.
What Lin Ye had said was going too far — that was exactly how Iroha saw it.
"Ha ha, senpai, you really shouldn't get your hopes up! You'd have better luck saying Yukino Yukinoshita will be your future wife, your future family! If you seriously, persistently pursued senpai, I think... there might actually be a chance.
Of course,
that's just a possibility.
And a very, very small one at that.
There was no way Yukinoshita-senpai would ever agree to become Lin Ye's wife, to become his family!
If she wasn't willing now, she'd be even less willing in the future.
Iroha was quite certain of this — after all, when a girl doesn't like someone, she just doesn't, and that's rarely something time can change. And for a senpai like Yukino Yukinoshita, that was even more true.
Hoping that time alone would change senpai's feelings and attitude toward Lin Ye — in Iroha's mind, that was next to impossible.
Unless something truly extraordinary happened, like...
Iroha couldn't help but think of Lin Ye's superpower, Hypnosis. If senpai ever used Hypnosis, forget Yukinoshita-senpai — even those unmarried teachers would probably say yes without hesitation.
That was a power no human willpower could resist.
Iroha thought over Lin Ye's everyday behavior and character, and realized senpai just wasn't that kind of person. She realized senpai was the type who stuck firmly to his principles.
Definitely not the kind of person who'd use that power to do evil.
Otherwise, Lin Ye would have used it long before now.
That kind of power could easily corrupt a person's judgment, make them reckless — but senpai clearly held firm to his own convictions, completely unaffected. Because of that, she could trust him.
Which also meant Yukinoshita-senpai would never end up with senpai because of Hypnosis.
There was no need to worry about that at all.
"Yukinoshita?"
Lin Ye's tone was calm.
He looked at the girl, thinking about just saying 'never mind, not interested,' and dropping it — but decided that wouldn't be appropriate. He needed to make some further gesture.
"It's not impossible, either. President Yukinoshita, looks like you might have a chance to become part of my family someday. Go ahead and celebrate now."
"Hmph."
Yukino Yukinoshita let out a cold snort, expressing her displeasure.
That was just her normal reaction,
and neither Iroha nor Yui thought anything of it.
Lin Ye kept going. "If I end up with your older sister, you'll have to call me brother-in-law from then on."
The words landed,
and Yukino Yukinoshita froze completely, stunned into silence.
Brother... brother-in-law?
What was even happening?
What kind of a thing was that to say?
Did Lin Ye actually have thoughts about being with her sister?!
Even though she knew this was just Lin Ye joking around, she couldn't help but worry, because this was the very last thing she wanted to happen, the very last thing she wanted to see.
Compared to that, she'd rather Lin Ye end up with Mai Sakurajima — that, at least, she could accept.
Lin Ye ending up with her sister — that would be a massive blow to her.
"Go ahead and try it, if you've got the guts. Student Lin."
Each word came out cold, frozen solid.
Even Yui Yuigahama felt a chill listening to it, terrified that Yukinoshita was actually about to lose her temper for real. No — she already had. She just wasn't showing it, for her own reasons.
"Fine. Since President has no objections, I'll do my best and see if I can pull it off."
Yukino Yukinoshita's eyes went cold, and she even gritted her teeth to express her displeasure.
Yui Yuigahama opened her mouth to say something several times, but seeing no real conflict break out between the two, she held her tongue.
But the one who was actually hurt the most by all this was Iroha.
Why did senpai keep getting interested in other girls?!
And an older woman, no less!
How could some old lady be better than an adorable little kouhai like her!
Iroha thought to herself.
Lin Ye opened up the bento box.
"This is Student Tachibana's bento. She packed a bit too much, so let's all share it."
As he spoke, he used his chopsticks to divide the food and rice among everyone.
"Senpai, senpai, give me more meat, I want meat!"
"You're the youngest, so eat more rice."
Lin Ye put half the rice into Iroha's bowl.
Iroha stared at the plain white rice, nearly on the verge of tears.
No meat at all!
Yui, taking pity on her, gave some of her own meat to Iroha's bowl.
"Waaah, having a girlfriend really is the best, Yuigahama-senpai is so good to me. Senpai's a meanie, a total meanie, not treating an adorable little kouhai like me nicely at all."
"Next time, you get no rice at all."
"Senpai could just give himself to me instead, hehehe."
Iroha immediately flashed a smile.
The four of them dug in.
Because Rui Tachibana had made an extra-large portion, all three girls ended up stuffed after lunch.
Yui kept hiccupping,
her face red, thoroughly embarrassed.
"Ta— Tachibana's cooking is really good. Her skills are amazing, even better than my mom's."
The pink bun, unable to find anything else to talk about, quickly praised Rui Tachibana's cooking skills instead.
"Yeah, it's really good. I wonder which unlucky guy will end up snagging Rui Tachibana-senpai someday. Whoever marries Tachibana-senpai is going to be one lucky man."
Yukino listened quietly while eating, but her gaze kept flicking swiftly over to Lin Ye.
"You could give it a try,"
"I already have Yuigahama-senpai as my girlfriend, I've got no other ideas."
"You could have both, you know."
"No way, no way, I couldn't do that. Though of course, if senpai wanted to, that'd be totally fine. You and Tachibana-senpai get along so well, I'm sure she'd say yes."
"I'd say no."
"..."
Iroha's tone was firm, but inside, she actually felt a wave of relief.
When it came to Lin Ye turning people down, Iroha knew that in some sense he was even-handed about it — not just singling her out.
Of course,
she also knew that senpai did treat her differently, specifically.
Getting senpai to change his attitude toward her — that really was going to be a long, uphill road.
"He's not interested in Tachibana, but he does have thoughts about Tachibana-sensei."
It was Yukino Yukinoshita who spoke.
This time, Yukino's words were shocking enough that even Lin Ye was caught off guard.
Normally, Yukino would never say something like that!
"Se— senpai, you... you... how could you... this... this isn't okay!"
Iroha was startled, and Yui also spoke up in alarm to talk him out of it.
"That's not okay at all! Student Lin, you should just go after Yukinon instead — I'll back you up and help however I can. That'll boost your success rate way up."
Yukino Yukinoshita sighed helplessly.
Even Yui Yuigahama was telling Lin Ye to go after her now.
But actually,
there was no need to pursue her at all.
They were already together.
It was just that their relationship was still being kept a secret.
The topic wrapped up quickly.
Yukino had only brought it up to spice up the mood a little.
Of course, that bit of spice quickly turned into outright alarm.
Some things, in Yui and Iroha's eyes, just didn't sit right with social norms and decency.
They genuinely worried something like that happening could reflect badly on Lin Ye himself.
But since Lin Ye had said it wasn't true, they could relax.
Still, thinking about it again —
Tachibana-sensei really was gorgeous, wasn't she.
...
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