Yukinoshita had experienced a sleepless night.
Now, she sat drowsily in the back seat of a sleek blue sports car, her usually impeccable posture slightly slumped in a way that would have shocked anyone who knew her. The morning light filtered through the tinted windows, casting soft shadows across her exhausted features.
In the front seat, a short-haired woman whose facial features were eighty to ninety percent similar to hers—but whose figure and overall temperament radiated a much more mature, knowing energy—skillfully navigated the vehicle through morning traffic with the ease of long practice.
"Oh my, why are you so listless on the first day of school? That's hardly like you, is it~?"
Haruno was the first to break the weighted silence that had settled over the car's interior.
"..."
Yukinoshita slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing her gaze landed upon was Haruno's smiling face in the rearview mirror—that annoyingly perceptive, yet undeniably beautiful expression that always seemed to know more than it should.
After a single glance, Yukinoshita couldn't be bothered to respond. She let her eyes drift half-closed again, feigning greater exhaustion than she actually felt.
Haruno naturally noticed her younger sister's deliberately cold demeanor, but she minded exactly zero percent. If anything, it encouraged her. She continued speaking to herself with the cheerful relentlessness of a spring storm:
"Sigh, if I hadn't happened to pass by your place this morning, you'd definitely be late today~ It's so unlike you to make such a basic mistake. Hmm, it seems you must have done something very exhausting yesterday."
"Let me guess—did you stay up late studying last night?"
"..."
"No? Hmm... Then you were up all night watching cat videos! I know how you get with those fluffy little creatures."
"..."
"Still wrong? Hmm hmm! It seems there's only one truth your tired state can reveal! You must have been out too late on a date with Hikigaya-kun!"
"?!"
Upon hearing this, Yukinoshita, who had been keeping her eyes tightly shut in determined ignorance, suddenly felt her eyelids twitch involuntarily.
Haruno, with her keen observation skills honed through years of sibling rivalry, naturally caught her sister's subtle micro-reaction. A knowing smile curved on her lips as she couldn't help but tease further, her voice dripping with playful malice:
"I knew it was Hikigaya-kun, hehe~ Let me guess again... could it be that Yukinon and your beloved Hikigaya-kum had a cuddle session last night? The kind that keeps a girl awake reliving the memories?"
"???"
Yukinoshita's eyes flew open completely, her pale cheeks instantly flooding with an embarrassed crimson that even her formidable composure couldn't suppress. She anxiously retorted to Haruno with perhaps too much emphasis:
"There was... there was absolutely no cuddling at all!"
"Eh, really?" Haruno's eyebrows rose with theatrical skepticism. "Then what kept my little sister up all night? Studying? Please. I wasn't born yesterday."
"..."
Noticing Haruno's entirely unconvinced expression, Yukinoshita quickly shut her mouth and resolutely stopped responding.
She could think calmly and handle any situation with grace when she was with anyone else—classmates, teachers, even strangers on the street.
Except for her mother.
And this... older sister.
When she was with Haruno, just a few words or a few loaded glances would make Yukinoshita feel her carefully controlled emotions flare up like gasoline on a fire, leaving her quite unsettled and off-balance.
Sigh. I still have so much growing up to do.
At the same time, Haruno blinked her eyes with exaggerated innocence: "Hehe~ Don't be angry. Such things are completely normal between couples. I'm genuinely curious, though—who made the first move between you and Hikigaya-kun? Was it you? Or our resident lone wolf Hikigaya-kun?"
Yukinoshita pursed her lips and said with as much cold dignity as she could muster, "Hmph... Who would want to do anything so... intimate with a mere maggot?"
Haruno's laughter bubbled up immediately: "Eh? That's so mean! Hikigaya-kun is quite cute, you know~"
Yukinoshita: "Cute where? His eyes are dead fish, his personality is twisted, and he spouts nothing but cynical nonsense. He's clearly just a... a good-for-nothing!"
Haruno giggled with the delight of someone who had just found the exact button to push: "Is that so? Since you dislike Hikigaya-kun so much, why don't you just give him to me?"
Yukinoshita: "?"
Haruno: "It just so happens that I'm in need of a boyfriend. And I've always had a soft spot for projects that need improvement~"
Yukinoshita's expression darkened instantly, her eyes sharpening to daggers as she gave Haruno no quarter whatsoever: "Haruno Yukinoshita, you had better watch what you're saying! Hikigaya-kun is currently your sister's boyfriend! Even if you want to graze on younger grass, you don't do it from your own family's pasture!"
Haruno placed a theatrical hand over her heart: "Oh dear, how truly sad—I've been scolded by my own beloved sister. My heart can't take such cruelty."
Yukinoshita snorted with maximum dignity and turned to stare out the window, too lazy to continue engaging with Haruno's nonsense.
Indeed.
Not choosing Haruno from the system's options had been an extremely correct decision!
Last night, after a night of agonizing thought and careful deliberation, Yukinoshita had ultimately passed on her sister between the two choices of Haruno Yukinoshita and the unknown schoolmate Kato Megumi.
Haruno was too dangerous by half. One wrong move and she'd be playing with fire in a fireworks factory.
After all, if her sister genuinely fell for Hikigaya-kun in the future and launched one of her characteristic crazy offensives against him, Yukinoshita genuinely worried whether Hikigaya-kun could survive the experience—and more importantly, whether she herself could withstand the resulting pressure.
As for this unfamiliar Kato Megumi... although she had never heard of anyone by that name in the entire second year, compared to the hellish difficulty level represented by her sister Haruno, dealing with Kato Megumi would surely be at elementary school level. A quiet, unremarkable girl who kept to herself—how difficult could she possibly be?
After choosing Kato-san, Yukinoshita had also received some basic information about her from the system.
[Name: Kato Megumi]
[Personality: Gentle, quiet, healing, witty; Hidden personality:??]
[Relationship with Host: High school classmate]
[Relationship with Hikigaya Hachiman: Middle school classmate, high school classmate]
[Maximum points obtainable: 100,000]
There were two points on this status panel that had greatly concerned Yukinoshita.
Firstly, Kato-san and Hikigaya were actually middle school classmates. This was information she needed to pay very close attention to—the history there could be significant.
Secondly, she could only obtain a maximum of one hundred thousand points from this particular girl.
Everyday intimate interactions—such as holding hands, hugging, kissing, and eventually... producing children—could generate certain amounts of points.
And if Kato Megumi could be made to completely love Hikigaya, to the extent of genuinely wanting to hold hands and grow old together with him, Yukinoshita could obtain a full fifty thousand points!
Points, in essence, were the system shop's currency. When her total reached 1,000,000, she could exchange them for a healing potion that could save Hikigaya's life.
Kato Megumi alone could only earn a maximum of one hundred thousand points, which meant that to accumulate one million points, Hikigaya would have to become intimate with at least ten different girls!
This realization almost made Yukinoshita choke on her own indignation.
Ten?!
Would her Hikigaya-kun become some kind of... public transportation in the future??
Yukinoshita naturally wanted to resist this outrageous requirement with every fiber of her being. But each time she tried to argue, the system would say, [Host, you wouldn't want Hikigaya to die in three years, would you?] in that maddeningly calm voice, patiently persuading her toward compliance.
This made Yukinoshita's face turn green with frustration every single time.
In any case, she could only take this one step at a time for now.
This Kato Megumi, she judged based on the available information, was likely a quiet, unassuming girl. Dealing with her in the future should not prove too difficult. She could manage this. She was Yukino Yukinoshita. She could manage anything.
"We've arrived at school~"
Haruno skillfully parked the blue sports car by the roadside, then spoke while habitually scanning her surroundings with those perceptive eyes. Soon enough, she noticed a bicycle that had just come to a stop near the school gate.
"Isn't that Hikigaya-kun on that bicycle? He's as late as you are. Eh, why is he carrying a female classmate on the back?"
"Hmm?"
In the back seat, Yukinoshita, who had been deep in thought and strategic planning, subconsciously raised her head and followed her sister Haruno's gaze toward the school gate.
She saw Hikigaya stop his bicycle not far away, and the girl sitting behind him dismount with easy grace. The two of them stood there, apparently chatting and laughing together in the morning light.
"??"
Her thoughts cut short abruptly, and Yukinoshita's eyes suddenly widened.
What in the world?
Where did this vixen come from?
[That female classmate is Kato Megumi, Host.] The system reminded her helpfully. [You will need to have your boyfriend become intimate with her to earn points.]
"...What?!"
Her face slightly changed, and Yukinoshita's eyes widened even further, if that was physically possible.
The vixen sitting behind Hikigaya on his bicycle... was actually Kato Megumi?
Huh?
What happened to the quiet, unassuming girl she had imagined?
Wait just one moment!
I haven't even started my campaign yet.
You two are already together??
Could it be that you were old flames in middle school, and your feelings have suddenly been rekindled by proximity?!