Chika trembled as she slowly turned her head. When she saw Luo Shu standing behind her, she visibly flinched.
"Ara ara... Luo Shu-kun, you were here all along..."
Luo Shu stood there, an amused smile on his face, watching her performance with interest.
At this moment, Chika shakily produced a piece of candy from who-knows-where and offered it to him:
"Here, have some candy~"
Luo Shu glanced down at her before accepting the sweet.
The moment the candy left her hand, Chika immediately blurted out:
"If you take the candy, you have to forgive me!"
Luo Shu raised an eyebrow. "I haven't eaten it yet."
Chika's voice instantly became half as meek as she whimpered, "Then if you accept the candy, you have to forgive me!"
Luo Shu studied Chika for a moment before raising his hand in a flicking motion to her forehead.
Under Chika's teary-eyed gaze, he delivered a crisp flick to her forehead.
Only after Chika crouched down, clutching her forehead, did Luo Shu unwrap the candy and pop it into his mouth:
"Fine, you're forgiven."
Crunching the candy between his teeth, Luo Shu turned his attention to Kaguya Shinomiya.
Noticing his gaze, Kaguya immediately offered a graceful smile:
"We meet again, Luo Shu-san."
"Shinomiya." Luo Shu's tone gave no indication of closeness. "No need for honorifics like '-san'. I'm still getting used to Japan's customs."
What he really wasn't accustomed to was Kaguya's refined young lady smile. His instincts told him that smile couldn't be more artificial.
Kaguya Shinomiya maintained her smile, appearing to agree with Luo Shu, but inwardly, she was puzzled.
'Just arrived in Japan? Didn't Luo Shu come here to study years ago?'
As Kaguya was lost in thought, Luo Shu turned his head to glance at Ai Hayasaka.
The golden-haired maid with a side ponytail immediately caught his eye.
Compared to Kaguya's forced smile, even Ai's stern expression was more pleasant to look at.
Of course, Luo Shu wouldn't admit that the golden-haired side-ponytail maid happened to be exactly his type.
"And you are?"
Ai Hayasaka greeted him politely, "I am Miss Kaguya's maid, Ai Hayasaka. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"A maid, huh? Quite the young mistress indeed."
Luo Shu nodded indifferently at her response, then, as if losing interest after learning her name, shifted his gaze to Utau Hoshina beside them. Recalling what he'd just overheard, he couldn't help but ask:
"Here for an arranged meeting?"
"Yes."
Utau Hoshina showed no embarrassment whatsoever, answering bluntly with a nod.
Luo Shu rubbed his chin. "But how come I didn't get any notice?"
Utau looked startled for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Then... shall we declare it a failure?"
Though hesitant, she seemed almost eager for the arrangement to fall through.
Luo Shu clearly expressed his dissatisfaction at this:
"Calling it off after just one meeting feels too half-hearted. How about we say we're not compatible after the third meeting instead?"
"Deal!" Utau Hoshina agreed without hesitation.
Her swift decisiveness made Luo Shu wonder if he was somehow an extremely off-putting guy.
But that couldn't be right... he felt reasonably popular... probably.
Not dwelling on it too much, Luo Shu moved on. Though he'd heard of Utau Hoshina as a singer, listened to her songs, and even, upon meeting her in person, recognised her potential to join his Familia, he didn't expect to recruit such an aloof-seeming girl in just one meeting:
"You seem to really dislike your family's arrangements."
"Don't you?" Utau looked at Luo Shu in surprise. "Being ordered around by your family?"
"I'd actually be quite happy if they could come back to life to boss me around."
Luo Shu laughed heartily before adding casually:
"Though I definitely wouldn't listen afterwards, of course."
Without waiting to see how Utau interpreted this remark, Luo Shu swiftly changed the subject:
"Right, since we've reached an agreement, let's consider this arranged meeting concluded."
"You were probably brought here by Chika to play games, right? Follow me."
"How could you!!"
Chika Fujiwara, clutching her forehead, was the first to protest:
"Shouldn't we find a café first and sit through that mysteriously awkward atmosphere where Luo Shu-kun and Utau-chan keep making eye contact, then embarrassedly looking away?"
After a brief silence at this remark, Luo Shu calmly declared:
"I'll have Megumi delete all your game save data then!"
Instantly, Chika's face went pale. She hurriedly produced another sweet and pressed it into Luo Shu's hand:
"If you accept this sweet, deleting my game data will give you ten days of diarrhoea!"
"The kind where even looking at toilet paper makes your bum hurt."
"Stop being deliberately disgusting..."
Luo Shu couldn't resist flicking Chika Fujiwara's forehead again. As the girl clutched her head with tearful eyes, he addressed the other three present:
"Come with me."
Leading the four girls through facial recognition into the first-floor lobby, Luo Shu approached the elevator while explaining:
"The system registration is complete. From now on, you can come directly if you need to."
Before the other three could react, Chika Fujiwara eagerly exclaimed:
"So that means I can bring Kaguya-chan, Utau-chan and Ai-chan here to play games anytime?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu glanced sideways at Chika and said:
"Wasn't that exactly why you specifically mentioned bringing friends along?"
At these words, Utau Hoshina, who had been about to say something, immediately closed her mouth.
She'd wanted to say it wasn't necessary, since she'd probably only need to come once or twice before concluding matters. But upon hearing it was for Chika to bring them gaming, Utau suddenly had the feeling she'd be frequently dragged along as a playmate.
Not that Utau disliked Chika - she was just acutely aware that Fujiwara was essentially a playful child at heart.
"It's only because among all the people at the garrison who can grant permissions, Luo Shu-kun is the only one who can do so freely," Chika muttered, seemingly complaining about the strict management system.
To this, Luo Shu stated:
"I'll have a word with Yukino about giving you review permissions then."
Chika's expression instantly brightened. She grabbed Luo Shu's hand and rubbed against his shoulder cheerfully:
"Luo Shu-kun is the best!!"
Witnessing this, the other three girls collectively facepalmed.
'Does this girl have no sense of boundaries with boys whatsoever?'
Just then, the elevator reached the second floor. As the doors opened, they exited, passing through the cafeteria to arrive before the game room.
"Go ahead inside and wait. I'll arrange for the VR headsets to be brought over. By the way, what refreshments would you like?"
"Black tea," Utau said casually.
"Coconut water! The white, sweet kind!!" Chika waved her hands like a child begging for candy.
"In that case, I'll have black tea too," said Kaguya Shinomiya, shooting a glance at Ai Hayasaka.
Taking the cue, Ai promptly added:
"If tea is being prepared, please leave it to me."
Luo Shu gave Ai a sidelong glance of unclear intent before replying indifferently:
"Then I'll take you to the adjacent tea room."
Once Luo Shu had led Ai away, Chika immediately scampered into the game room with a mischievous chuckle, retrieving a VR headset from a nearby cabinet:
"Yay! We get to play virtual games again!!"
"Virtual games?" Utau blinked in surprise.
"Huh? Didn't I mention it?" Chika tilted her head. "Today we're here to play an all-girls full-immersion VR game!"
"Full-immersion VR?" Utau's voice couldn't help but rise in excitement.
"All-girls?" Kaguya uttered in complete bewilderment.
One was focused on the prospect of VR gaming, while the other was distressed by the unfortunate reality that it was a girls-only event without Luo Shu's participation - their priorities clearly diverged.
After their simultaneous outbursts, the two couldn't help but exchange glances.
Upon realising what the other was concerned about, the same thought instantly surfaced in both their minds.
'Just who exactly was here for the matchmaking?!' x2