The sky, which should have been azure, slowly grew dim, and the stars in the star-filled heavens seemed impatient to jump out.
The time for the study session had long since passed. Most of the members of Class A had already left, leaving only Ren Katsuragi's group still continuing.
Airi Sakura felt like she was about to break. She had been crammed full—so full she couldn't take any more.
Even Hiyori Shiina and Honami Ichinose hadn't expected Airi's foundation to be this poor. They had no choice but to start rebuilding Airi's basics from knowledge that should have been taught by middle school teachers.
After an entire day, Airi finally reached the knowledge appropriate to the current stage.
"It's getting late. Let's find a place to eat." Seeing that the sky had turned dark, Ren stopped Ichinose and Hiyori, who still wanted to keep teaching Airi.
Ichinose and Hiyori, both in the zone, nodded, still wanting to continue.
"Then, Katsuragi-kun, Ichinose-san, Sakura-san, I'll be going first." With the task of teaching Airi done for today, Hiyori stood up to take her leave.
"If Shiina doesn't mind, please eat with us. After all, you stayed this late because of Airi."
Ren extended a dinner invitation. Hiyori had done him a big favor today; letting her leave just like that would be too unkind.
"That's right, Shiina-san, let's go together." Ichinose naturally linked her arm with Hiyori's and smiled sweetly.
Vixen? What vixen? Hiyori is a comrade-in-arms who fought side by side with her.
"Shiina-sensei... let's go together." Airi also began urging Hiyori to stay. She was grateful to this teacher who had taught her all day.
Hiyori, who had few friends to begin with and was quite lonely in Class C, suddenly wanted to stay. "This..."
Pulling up a reservation page for four at a Chinese restaurant on his phone, Ren said, "I've booked a table. Let's go."
"Alright then, I'll impose on you..." Seeing that Ren had already booked a table and knowing she couldn't refuse, Hiyori agreed.
Hiyori ate this meal very happily. She had gained more friends.
(8,000 points transferred)
After escorting Hiyori to the dormitory downstairs, before saying goodbye to Hiyori, Ren transferred a sum of points to the girl. "Shiina, please don't refuse. This is Airi's tutoring fee."
"I might have to trouble you again in the future. If you don't accept it, I might be too embarrassed to ask you."
Since Ren put it that way, Hiyori could no longer refuse. "Thank you."
Bringing the two girls back to the villa, Ren went to the kitchen first to cook for Mochi and Koharu.
Ichinose, sitting on the living room sofa, was about to continue tutoring Airi.
"Honami... can we not study? I really can't learn anymore QAQ..." Airi now got a headache just from seeing the problems and pleaded weakly with Ichinose.
Mn...
Ichinose also understood the principle that too much is as bad as too little. She quietly peeked toward the kitchen. Seeing that Ren hadn't noticed them, she leaned close to Airi and whispered, "Airi-chan, then shall we talk about Ren-kun?"
At the mention of Ren, Airi wasn't sleepy anymore. Her originally listless eyes lit up instantly.
Energized, Airi immediately gossiped. "Honami-chan, how did you meet Ren?"
"Airi-chan, you tell me first!" Ichinose was equally curious about how Airi met Ren.
After thinking about it, Airi whispered to Ichinose about the whole process: the pervert following her, and Ren saving the beauty.
Ichinose immediately understood why Airi fell for Ren.
"Honami-chan, what about you? What about you?" After telling her own story, Airi couldn't wait to ask Ichinose.
Me...
In a store, a very young little girl squatted in front of a shelf, staring straight at a pink hairpin placed on it.
The little girl came from a single-parent family.
A mother becomes strong for her children. Her strong mother raised her and her younger sister single-handedly.
Growing up in this family situation, the little girl was extremely sensible—so sensible it made one's heart ache a little.
Her younger sister's birthday was approaching. The innocent younger sister, when asked by her older sister about her birthday wish...
She voiced her wish without reservation—she hoped to get a hairpin identical to the one worn by an idol as a gift.
But Heaven didn't seem to spare this already hard-fated family and played a huge joke on them.
Her mother fell ill from working too hard, was sent to the hospital for treatment, and could not work.
To fulfill her sister's wish, the little girl searched many places, hoping to find a part-time job.
But she was simply too young. No shop owner dared risk being reported for employing child labor by hiring her.
After asking the store clerk and learning that the hairpin was only available for a limited time, a very bold idea popped up in the desperate little girl's heart.
"Do you want it?"
Just as the little girl tremblingly reached out her hand toward the hairpin on the shelf, an abrupt voice rang out beside her.
Eek!
That voice startled the little girl. She hurriedly retracted the small hand she had extended and began explaining incoherently, "No, I didn't think about stealing..."
"Do you want it?"
Ignoring the girl's helplessness, the voice rang out again, asking the same question.
Seeing that he wasn't there to catch her, the little girl gradually calmed down and observed the boy who had spoken.
He was wearing an exquisite black suit, with choppy black hair and bright red eyes, looking just like a young master who had walked out of a manga.
"Do you want it?" The squatting boy gazed at the hairpin she had been staring at, asking the same question again.
Realizing he was a peer, the girl's suspended heart gradually relaxed. "I want it."
Hearing the girl's answer, the boy finally shifted his gaze. The corners of his mouth curled slightly. "Then what price are you willing to pay for it?"
Thinking of her sensible younger sister, who had never asked for anything from the family, the girl clenched her teeth. "Any price."
"Fine. I'll buy this hairpin for you. As the price... you are mine for the whole day today." The boy nodded calmly and stated the terms of the contract to the girl.
The girl didn't refuse.
Although she didn't know what the boy wanted her to do, for her sister, she could endure it.
Snap. The boy snapped his fingers. A butler-like adult walked over from not far away and bowed to the boy. "Ren-sama."
"Wrap this up for me." Pointing to the hairpin the girl had been staring at, the boy ordered the butler.
"Yes, Ren-sama." The butler bowed to the boy again.
After the butler left, the boy said calmly to the girl, "Let's go."
At that moment, the girl truly felt the unfairness of the world.
Getting into a luxury car whose name she couldn't even say, the girl sat beside the boy, uneasy.
She didn't know where the boy would take her, didn't know what the boy would do to her, and didn't know if she would have a tomorrow.
The luxury car sped down the road. Looking out the window, the girl could only see the surrounding buildings rapidly retreating.
And she...
Didn't know where she was going.
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The Black Dragon of the Katsuragi Family now has 175 chapters.
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