Chapter 25: Escalating Conflict
"Nakano-san, are you okay?" Fujiwara Chika supported Nakano Nino, asking with concern.
She knew well about the quintuplet sisters of the Nakano family. The information Fujiwara Chika had was no less than Hayasaka Ai's, it's just that people didn't really like to share secrets with her.
After all, just looking at her face—she looked like the type who couldn't keep secrets. But Sakurai knew very well, in fact her mouth was very tight-lipped; as long as you warned her beforehand not to say anything, she would absolutely never tell anyone.
Chika: ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧ believe it!
"I'm fine." Nakano Nino gently replied to Fujiwara Chika.
Then she looked toward Sakurai Saki and said coldly: "Why didn't you get out of the way?"
Just now after being told those things by her sisters, she was already unable to hold back her anger, especially when she saw the so-called "main culprit"—she absolutely couldn't restrain herself.
Hearing that, Sakurai laughed.
'Eh? Why does Sakurai-kun look like he's enjoying this?' Fujiwara Chika wondered. She was very confident in her ability to "read the atmosphere."
( ╹ -╹)?
At least, she herself thought so—although every student who had ever interacted with her unanimously agreed that she was the "number one atmosphere ruiner."
But in truth, Sakurai wasn't enjoying it at all—or rather, his kind of "enjoyment" was very strange.
He was so angry he laughed out loud, "Are you blind? The hallway's so wide and you still ran into me? Want to go ask the Disciplinary Committee? It's in the school rules, no running wildly on campus. Are you forgetful, or is there something wrong with your brain?"
Even though yesterday he had promised Shirogane that he would try again just once more...
But just seeing that face, Sakurai couldn't hold back his temper.
"So many people walk through the hallway and none of them ran into you! Only me!" Nino couldn't find a reason to refute at the moment.
"Playing the 'victim is at fault' logic, huh? Why don't you take a good look at yourself and see if you're the problem? Right, I got hit by you, it's my fault, I'm blind, I'm unlucky. Are you satisfied now?" Sakurai pulled Fujiwara Chika out of her hands, "Hope that next time you get hit by a truck, you'll be able to ask the driver the same thing."
"Eh, why did you hit me? So many trucks didn't hit me, why was it you?"—Sakurai mocked as he spoke, his voice full of sarcasm.
"You!!" Nino was so angry she forgot the sorrow she had earlier.
Now all that remained in her heart was a boiling ball of rage.
"I clearly…"
She hadn't finished speaking when Sakurai coldly interrupted: "What? Going to use your gender again to talk? Just now you bumped into Secretary Fujiwara, did she say anything?"
Fujiwara Chika was still being held in Sakurai's arms, blinking in confusion.
'Are? What's going on? Even though I don't quite understand… but Sakurai-kun seems like he's complimenting me!'
(｡· v ·｡) ?
Interrupted by Sakurai, Nakano Nino was so angry she lost all sense, raising her hand to punch him right in the face.
But Sakurai caught it instantly.
"What's this? Can't win a verbal argument so you're resorting to fists?" Sakurai said calmly.
"If you put this much effort into studying, then maybe last year you wouldn't have been teetering on the edge of failing."
Hearing that, Nakano Nino immediately threw a second punch.
Study! Study! Always with the studying! It's so damn boring!!
If people could really study, who wouldn't want to!?
But the teachers' lectures—were completely incomprehensible!!
"A top student like you could never understand the suffering of people like us! Always standing above, talking to me with that tone! So what if you're good at studying!? I tried too! But…"
Nakano Nino's punch finally landed on Sakurai's chest, but she completely drained of strength.
"It's useless anyway." She broke into tears.
Seeing her cry, Sakurai didn't bother to comfort her at all. He pulled Fujiwara Chika and prepared to leave.
"This is ridiculous. I don't even know who you're trying to move. Moved by your own feelings, and now you want to use that as an excuse for not studying, suit yourself."
After speaking, Sakurai Saki didn't even look back, just walked toward the cafeteria.
Even though Fujiwara Chika didn't know exactly what had happened between the two of them, she could still feel that Sakurai's mood right now was very bad.
So, even though Nakano Nino looked a little pitiful at the moment, Secretary Fujiwara had no intention of staying to comfort her further.
'What rotten luck!'
'Last night I even thought these people were still salvageable—how naïve of me.'
Sakurai Saki glanced at the students who had started to gather around to watch the commotion, but he had no intention of explaining anything further.
What mattered most now was getting lunch.
A peaceful lunch break, disrupted this badly by her—he was almost out of time to eat now.
Beside him, the students who had just been standing around in small groups to watch all dispersed.
A few male students saw Nakano Nino wiping her tears and wanted to take the chance to comfort her, but before they had taken more than a few steps, she had already turned and walked away toward the school building.
In less than a dozen seconds, everything returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened there.
Many also believed it was just a minor bump, a little quarrel—not serious—so they lost interest in watching any further.
…
At the cafeteria, after lining up for quite a while, the two of them finally carried their trays to sit at a quiet corner of the dining hall.
"..." Fujiwara Chika ate in silence.
The questions she had wanted to ask to probe whether Sakurai Saki had someone he liked—now she couldn't bring herself to say them.
Now she was only curious about the relationship between Sakurai Saki and Nakano Nino.
Why was it so tense between those two?
She was very curious! Extremely curious! If she didn't find the answer by tonight, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep!
As a love detective, Fujiwara Chika cared deeply about this matter!
Chika: ヾ(｡✪ω✪｡)ｼ
"If you want to ask something, just ask." Sakurai Saki looked at the expression on Fujiwara Chika's face and said bluntly.
Since earlier, those eyes—shining like car headlights—had been staring fixedly at him, it was hard to pretend not to notice.
Anyway, Secretary Fujiwara was the type of person whose emotions were all written plainly on her face—a straightforward girl.
Compared to Shinomiya Kaguya, she was definitely much easier to read.
Just like now.
She was starting to get interested in the relationship between Sakurai and the Nakano quintuplets.
"Nakano-san… why does she call you that?"
"You mean 'scumbag'?" Sakurai Saki directly filled in the part she hadn't said.
There was nothing to hide about this.
"I took on the job of tutoring the five sisters from a teacher. That way of calling me… well, it's a long story, but it seems they think I have some sort of ulterior motive toward them." Sakurai Saki gave a brief explanation.
In Fujiwara Chika's eyes, there seemed to be twinkling stars—she was now incredibly excited!
*:･ﾟ✧(=✪ ᆺ ✪=)*:･ﾟ✧
This was hot gossip!
But a few seconds later, she suddenly realized——
'Huh? This gossip seems to involve me too.' Fujiwara Chika suddenly had a revelation.
∘ ∘ ∘ (っ º - º ς) ?
Sakurai-kun going to tutor someone else meant he would be going to their house?
Wouldn't that definitely lead to all sorts of strange things happening? Just like those shoujo manga!
Not to mention, it was five sisters born in the same year—just hearing that was already way too enticing for boys.
What if he ended up liking one of them? What would she do then?
Chika: ( ˶°ㅁ°) !! Yabe!!
"Sakurai-kun, come over to my house this weekend!" Secretary Fujiwara suddenly blurted out a thunderous statement.
"Refuse." Sakurai Saki couldn't figure out the logic behind her thinking, but still flatly refused.
This girl was occasionally like this—everything she said and did was all chaotic and unpredictable.
Sakurai Saki picked up a piece of fried pork with his chopsticks.
Then he saw one of the Nakano five walking toward him. Judging by the star hair clip, it was probably Itsuki.
What's she coming for? Could it be Nino went and tattled to the others?
That was the only guess Sakurai Saki could make.
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ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧Thanks you, Have a nice day