Chapter 82 The Plot Behind the Date (5)
The scene fell silent again, but soon, a voice cut through the stillness.
“Lord Ryuto, why did you stop me just now?”
Hiyori asked, clearly furious. This was the first time she’d ever spoken to Ryuto in such a harsh tone.
“……”
In contrast, Ryuto didn’t answer. His expression just turned extremely serious.
Well, yeah. Faced with this kind of thing, any normal person would probably react like that.
Right then—
“Finally found you.”
A very familiar voice came from behind them.
The next instant—
“Urgh…”
A pained cry rang out as Ryuto’s body went flying from a sudden flying kick.
“Ah, Miss Asuka.”
Seeing who it was, Hiyori called out in surprise.
“Hiyori, you suddenly disappeared just now. I’ve been looking for you this whole time.”
“Because Lord Ryuto—”
She didn’t even finish before she was cut off.
“Ugh, that hurts… Asuka, what are you doing?”
Ryuto clutched the spot where he’d been kicked and rolled over, struggling to get up.
“Oh… what am I doing?”
Asuka’s face twisted into a terrifying expression. Before Ryuto could even stand, she just sat down hard on his upper body, pinning him to the ground.
“I should be the one asking. Could you please explain what happened this afternoon?”
Her face twitched, her smile downright scary.
“Eh… this afternoon? Nothing much happened.”
Ryuto answered with a completely innocent look.
“Oh… nothing much? You mean you didn’t do anything shady? Just so you know, I saw everything.”
“Shady? Not at all. Wait, if you saw everything, does that mean you were secretly following us? Weren’t you supposed to have a staff meeting?”
“Eh… wh-who said that? Of course I wasn’t following you. I only came after school.”
“Really? Guess I misunderstood. Then we should head back.”
“Oh…”
Asuka replied on reflex, but—
“Hey, I almost let myself get fooled by you, you idiot big brother. Spit it out—what exactly did you two do this afternoon?”
She quickly snapped back to her senses.
“Is that really necessary?”
“Of course it is.”
As she spoke, Asuka leaned her face in close, like she was about to eat him alive.
Hey now, that’s seriously scary.
“Then… fine.”
If he didn’t agree here, there was a decent chance a massacre might happen on the spot. Ryuto was sure of it.
“We really didn’t do much. I just got forced to go shopping at the mall with her.”
“Forced?”
Asuka and Hiyori murmured in unison.
“Yeah. I didn’t really get it at first, but that’s basically how it was. In the end it felt like she just wanted to use me.”
“You were forced?”
Hey, that’s the part you care about? Your focus is way off.
Still, Ryuto decided it was safer not to pursue that.
“Yeah, definitely. Originally I didn’t want to go. I mean, I still had a staff meeting to attend.”
His grades were already bad enough. If he started skipping classes too, he’d be in even more danger.
“You didn’t want to go? Then what if it was with me?”
Asuka suddenly dropped a completely out-of-nowhere question.
Ryuto could only look at her in confusion.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
Asuka squeezed her eyes shut and yelled.
“Don’t ask, just answer!”
“Uh… well…”
Wouldn’t that just waste his precious gaming time again? Thanks to all kinds of annoying trouble lately, his game time had already been slashed to almost nothing. He couldn’t just give in here.
Seeing Ryuto hemming and hawing, Asuka narrowed her eyes.
“Hm?”
“O-of course I’d go!”
He instantly and cleverly changed his answer. His life was definitely more important.
“R-really?”
As she said that, Asuka’s gaze drifted off to the side.
“Um, Miss Asuka, could you get off me first? You’re really heavy, you know?”
“……”
Without a word, Asuka just frowned and drove a heavy punch straight into Ryuto’s chest.
“Guh…”
Another scream echoed out.
“Hmph…”
Then she got off him, turning her face away with a clearly angry huff.
Good thing she’d taken a short break in between. If that had been a two-hit combo, his HP bar would’ve hit zero for sure. Come to think of it, he didn’t seem to have any auto-regen skill either.
Ryuto struggled and slowly pushed himself up from the ground.
“Well then, Asuka, you should head home first.”
“Eh? I go back first? We’re not going together?”
“No, Hiyori and I still have something to take care of. Right?”
Hiyori wasn’t too sure what he meant, but she still answered.
“Yes.”
Of course, Asuka wasn’t that easy to brush off. She just looked at him with suspicious eyes and said something strange.
“Are you going to find someone else again?”
“How could I?”
He had no idea what she meant, but he answered like that anyway.
“Alright, Asuka, just go on ahead. I’ll be done soon.”
“...Fine, then. But make sure you come back quickly.”
She pouted in clear dissatisfaction, but didn’t argue any further.
“Ah… sure.”
With that, Ryuto and Hiyori turned and left together.
