Chapter 420: Do you like me, or do you like her?
The car was already full.
Sakurai Saki was driving while explaining today's schedule.
"…It'll take about an hour to get there. We can have lunch at the town at the foot of the mountain, and in the afternoon the boys will handle the fishing, the girls can do whatever they want."
"Fishing?" Hayasaka Ai looked quite interested.
Shinomiya Kaguya also became excited: "Can I fish too?"
"Shirogane…" Sakurai Saki was about to speak, then remembered there were two Shirogane in the car, "Saitama— no, Miyuki, how many fishing rods did you bring? I only have two at the villa."
"I only brought the one my dad kept at home."
Shirogane Miyuki sat in the back row with his sister Shirogane Kei and Ishigami Yuu.
"Ishigami, how about you?"
"Didn't you say we only need to take care of ourselves? And besides, girls going fishing — I bet they'll get bored really fast." Ishigami Yuu said something with EQ below zero.
"Huh? Ishigami-kun, are you discriminating by gender?"
No need to guess — the first person to mock Ishigami in the car was, of course, Chika.
"Gender discrimination? Fujiwara-senpai, Sakurai-senpai already said it. If the boys don't catch any fish this afternoon, we'll all be eating cup noodles tonight. Under these conditions, if you're confident you can feed the group, then I'll just give you my rod. How about it?"
In truth, Ishigami Yuu wasn't that confident about fishing.
He rarely fished in real life, but he fished online quite a lot.
Ah right, "fishing online" here didn't mean fishing games, but posting controversial statements online, then waiting for people to argue while he sits back to watch the chaos…
Let's pick the easiest topic to spark debate—— LGBT+.
Cough, let's not talk about this.
"I'm not confident of catching that many fish, so I'll give up."
Fujiwara Chika quickly retreated like flowing water, then immediately threw the issue back: "But since Ishigami-kun said that, he must be very confident he'll catch a lot of fish and won't let everyone go hungry tonight, right?"
Dead! Ishigami Yuu had pushed himself into the trap he set!!
How was he supposed to answer?
[Hmph, I'm not like Fujiwara-senpai. This small matter is too easy.]
Although he really wanted to say something cool like that, Ishigami had absolutely no confidence he could fill the whole basket!
Chances were high he'd catch nothing! Absolutely nothing!!
"O-of course." Ishigami Yuu nodded with guilt.
He'd made up his mind: if he couldn't catch enough fish this afternoon, he would go to the market at the foot of the mountain to… fish.
As long as he used bait named [money], you could say casting once meant catching one.
"Ishigami-kun, buying fish is not allowed~"
"That's right. If you can't catch fish and go buy it, that's too lame!" Iino Miko nodded seriously.
She did not understand the so-called "dignity of fishermen" at all!
Going home empty-handed was extremely embarrassing!!!
Ishigami Yuu looked toward Shirogane Miyuki beside him, intending to ask for help, but…
"Why does Myuu-senpai's face look so bad..."
In Ishigami's mind, Shirogane Miyuki was an almost perfect man—there seemed to be nothing he couldn't handle.
But at this moment—
Shirogane Miyuki rubbed his temples, wondering whether the half-month of fishing tips he studied online could be used.
'Fishing? I have no idea how to fish! When Sakurai mentioned it, he even deliberately asked "Oh, Shirogane, do you know how to fish? If not, I can teach you." How could I accept that?!'
If asked like that, how could Shirogane Miyuki admit it? Did he not care about his pride anymore?
After the summer break he'd fly to the U.S.; Shirogane Miyuki had decided! This summer he absolutely could not continue troubling Sakurai Saki or Fujiwara Chika.
'If we can't catch fish we'll eat instant noodles… why didn't I know that?'
Shirogane Miyuki, a man who worked part-time during summer to the point of going crazy, barely opened private messages from his friends.
At first he thought fishing was just a fun side activity; who would've thought it was tied to dinner!?
"We should have enough rods, right? Miko-chan, do you want to fish too?"
"No need, Sakurai-senpai." Miko-chan would already be satisfied just standing behind Sakurai Saki watching him fish.
"Chika, do you still want one?"
Fujiwara Chika covered her mouth, teasing Ishigami Yuu sitting in the back: "Ishigami-kun already said he can feed everyone, so I won't play around."
Next, the fishing topic temporarily paused.
"Oh right, has everyone heard of something called Tsuchinoko?" Fujiwara Chika threw out another topic.
This girl seemed to have no idea what silence was.
The trip was clearly only an hour long—just closing your eyes and resting would get you there—yet she insisted on stirring up the atmosphere.
"Isn't that just a mythological creature?" Ishigami Yuu responded with disdain.
He roughly guessed Fujiwara Chika's intention.
Gather everyone's strength, go into the mountains, and search for a nonexistent mysterious creature.
Even though every year they held something called the Tsuchinoko Search Festival, did anyone actually believe it?
"I'm serious." Fujiwara Chika looked left and right, searching for someone willing to do something crazy with her.
"Kaguya-san, do you want to come along?"
Shinomiya Kaguya gently shook her head: "Fujiwara secretary, you're definitely planning to bring out that trash you bought last time again. I'm not joining in your nonsense."
That so-called treasure detector worth 10,000 yen—nobody understood why Fujiwara Chika was so obsessed with it.
"Kaguya-san, you don't understand what sunk cost means at all!"
"That's not true…" Shinomiya Kaguya shook her head softly, revealing a sorrow only a beautiful girl could have: "I understand."
Fujiwara Chika: "?"
Something felt off about this topic?
What exactly did you understand, Kaguya? Say it clearly?
"Kaguya-san, do you have an investment that lost money?"
Shinomiya Kaguya whispered: "Loving someone I shouldn't love… being torn between friendship and him, my feelings are really complicated."
"Eh?" Fujiwara Chika turned her head to her: "Kaguya-san, what did you just say?"
Her voice was too quiet—Chika didn't hear anything at all.
Chika couldn't hear it, but Ishigami Yuu, sitting right behind Shinomiya Kaguya, heard it loud and clear.
'Shinomiya-senpai already has someone she likes?'
Ishigami Yuu's back turned cold; he immediately decided to hypnotize himself into forgetting this.
He was scared.
If he learned the truth, he might get assassinated — Ishigami Yuu thought so.
"Kaguya said she feels guilty toward me." Hayasaka Ai smiled as she answered Fujiwara Chika.
"Huh?"
Fujiwara Chika blinked.
This means…
Ai-chan has something on Kaguya!?
No! Absolutely cannot let a development like this happen!
Fujiwara Chika felt like she was being "cuckolded" right this moment—after all, her favorite Kaguya was being held the weakness by her love rival, wasn't this just like a doujinshi plot!?
Very quickly, Fujiwara Chika reached a conclusion: "Impossible!"
"How could Kaguya-san possibly owe you anything? Kaguya-san, hurry and explain!"
"Um…" Shinomiya Kaguya suddenly didn't know how to answer.
Actually, Hayasaka Ai also had wronged her before; no matter what, Ai-chan's betrayal couldn't be denied.
But the matter of Shinomiya Kaguya "stealing a man" also couldn't be denied. If compared carefully… the two of them were… even?
Seeing Kaguya say nothing, Fujiwara Chika grew even more anxious.
"Kaguya-san, say it now—do you like me or do you like Ai-chan!"
Hearing that, Sakurai Saki, who was observing Shinomiya Kaguya's expression through the rearview mirror, almost burst out laughing.
'So you have days like this too, Kaguya-chan.'
A shurafield scene is an essential element in a harem; once you step into it, you must experience it.
(Note: Shurafield basically refers to a blood-soaked battlefield, but harem version...)
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