Chapter 235: The Invasion of Sakayanagi and Kamuro
"Well then, Hachiman-kun, we'll be heading out first."
"If anything happens, please call me immediately; I'll come over right away."
Facing Kushida Kikyo's frantic urging, Karuizawa Kei and Matsushita Chiaki had no choice but to evacuate from Room 404.
After school.
Several girls went to the 404 dormitory one after another to visit the sickbed. Fortunately, Hikigaya was asleep; otherwise, things would have only become more troublesome.
"Phew~"
Hikigaya slept until after seven in the evening before being woken up by hunger. In his daze, he caught the tempting aroma of food that made his stomach growl.
After opening his eyes, he found an exquisite and cute face quietly examining him.
"You're awake, Hikigaya-kun."
"Sakayanagi...?"
Hikigaya had just woken up, and his brain was still a bit muddled.
"Hmph~ You certainly woke up at the right time."
Over at the kitchen area, Kamuro Masumi was wearing an apron, holding a soup ladle in her hand. She scooped a little from the soup pot into a sauce dish to taste it for saltiness.
"And Kamu... Wait?"
Hikigaya reached out to pinch the bridge of his nose, looking at the two with a strange expression: "How did you two get into my room?"
"Since Hikigaya-kun is so smart, why not try to guess?"
Sakayanagi Arisu didn't answer directly. Instead, she tilted her head, resting it on her hand, and looked at him with a smile.
"What's so hard about that? It's nothing more than tricking the dorm lady into giving you the master key."
Hikigaya immediately rolled his eyes.
"As expected of Hikigaya-kun, truly clever."
Sakayanagi Arisu expressed her praise, then added: "That was Plan A, but unfortunately, it failed."
"Since there was a Plan A, there must have been a Plan B."
Hikigaya said thoughtfully: "However, I am quite curious about what Plan A specifically entailed, and why it failed."
"My, my~ Hikigaya-kun doesn't need to fret over these details."
On Sakayanagi Arisu's smiling face, a rare trace of unnaturalness appeared.
Unexpectedly, Kamuro Masumi poked her head out from the kitchen and mercilessly exposed her:
"This girl Sakayanagi tried to be clever by fabricating a false identity as Hikigaya's girlfriend, hoping to trick the dorm manager into giving her the key.
Heh! In the end, she was seen through at a glance."
Regarding Sakayanagi Arisu's operation of pretending to be his girlfriend, Hikigaya found it truly hard to keep a straight face! Only in this school would that work; in any other place, someone would probably call the police immediately after hearing that! Dating a "loli brat" or whatever is way too "punishable"...
"Hikigaya, what? Are you looking down on me?"
Sakayanagi Arisu's gaze turned cold, and then she turned her spearhead toward Kamuro Masumi beside her, her tone carrying ill intent: "Kamuro, you've been getting more and more disrespectful to me lately. After we get back, I'll have to 'discipline' you properly again..."
"So, Plan B was for Kamuro to use her 'nimble fingers'?"
Hikigaya stared with his dead-fish eyes.
"Cough cough~
I only did it because I was worried about you!"
Kamuro Masumi quibbled.
'I think your stealing addiction just kicked in!'
Hikigaya looked at her with a face full of speechlessness.
"Enough, enough! Stop the nonsense and come eat!"
Kamuro Masumi brandished the soup ladle, maintaining a forceful attitude as if she would knock him on the head if he didn't listen. Hikigaya slowly got out of bed.
"Do you need me to support you, Hikigaya-kun?"
Sakayanagi Arisu smilingly extended a helping hand to him.
Hikigaya looked at her slender, petite palm and responded grumpily: "Forget it!
If I let you support me, the only result will be both of us falling down together!"
Hikigaya stood up on his own; his body swayed for a moment, but he quickly steadied himself.
The three of them arrived at the dining table.
"Itadakimasu~"
Hikigaya clasped his hands in thanks and began his meal.
"Mnh~ it's really delicious!
Kamuro, I told you that you have a real talent for being a full-time maid!"
Hikigaya felt like giving her a thumbs up.
"Hmph~ even if you praise me like that, I won't be happy at all."
Kamuro Masumi looked on with disdain.
"Yes, yes, yes! That's the exact expression! If you paired it with a black-and-white maid outfit, it would absolutely be number one in the world!!"
"Making these boring jokes again, do you take me for a fool... or something?"
Kamuro Masumi originally wanted to roar in anger, but seeing Hikigaya's eyes shining with an incredibly serious expression, her heart couldn't help but throb.
'This guy, does he really think that?'
Seeing the two of them chatting non-stop, Sakayanagi Arisu couldn't help but intervene: "Alright, eat quietly."
'When have you ever been quiet?'
Hikigaya's appetite surged, and he single-handedly finished off 70% of the food on the table. It was mainly because Kamuro Masumi's cooking was good, plus the fact that he had only eaten one bowl of plain congee earlier in the day.
"Hmph~ eating like a hungry ghost reborn. I'll just make more for you next time."
On Kamuro Masumi's cool face, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.
"It looks like Hikigaya-kun hasn't had enough yet. Why don't you eat these of mine as well?"
Sakayanagi Arisu used a fork to pick up a piece of Japanese-style grilled chicken steak and brought it to Hikigaya's lips.
"Oh, oh, then I won't be polite."
He had experienced similar feeding plays more than once, so without thinking much of it, Hikigaya ate the chicken steak in one bite.
"Smack!"
Under the table, Hikigaya was stepped on hard.
"Ouch! What are you doing, Kamuro?"
Hikigaya shouted out loud. As for why he could accurately judge whose foot it was that stepped on him under the table... the answer was simple.
He knew the length and width of both of their feet, including the length of every single toe, by heart.
Dinner ended. Hikigaya had taken his medicine, and his body was about eighty percent recovered.
"Please rest well, Hikigaya-kun. We shall take our leave."
Sakayanagi Arisu stood up to leave.
"Tch! It seems some other girl has already helped you clean your room."
Kamuro Masumi had originally intended to stay behind to tidy up, but it turned out there was no room for her to perform.
"Thanks to both of you for the visit. Goodnight."
Hikigaya politely saw the two girls out.
Having slept the whole day, Hikigaya was now very energetic. But that didn't matter. As long as he grinded through two sets of Math exercises, he would be sleepy soon enough!
The next day.
Hikigaya returned to school. Along the way, he encountered several girls who greeted him and expressed their concern. Hikigaya felt a mix of emotions in his heart.
Once upon a time, no one would know or care from the time he took sick leave until his return to school. If Komachi saw him now, she would surely feel very gratified.
Though she would likely spout nonsense like "Why are they all girls?" "Who is actually brother's girlfriend?" or "It's so hard to choose, eh?"
After school.
It was worth mentioning that Sakura Airi and Hasabe Haruka, who were still having a falling out two days ago, had now returned to being the inseparable best friends they usually were.
As soon as school was over, they clung to Hikigaya's left and right sides to go train together.
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