Chapter 268: Doing That With a Ghost, Probably not illegal, right?
After finishing the tutoring session, Sakurai Saki asked the five sisters how they planned to spend Christmas, the answer he received was that they would hold a party at home.
Walking out of the library, Sakurai Saki together with Hayasaka Ai, who had been waiting here for a while, went home together.
Even though there was still some time until Christmas, the street decorations were already filled with a festive atmosphere.
Shops, wanting to make money, had exhausted all tricks, Christmas limited products so many it made people dizzy.
On the street, the sound of Jingle Bells played, arriving at the train station, the two sat together on the train.
In this bone-chilling cold weather, staying outside for even one more second was torture both physically and mentally.
"Chika said everyone would gather at her house for the Christmas party, she even invited you too."
In the train car, the heater was on so it wasn't cold, but the two still leaned closely against each other.
"You agreed already?"
"Umu, under her enthusiastic invitation, I basically couldn't refuse."
"Is that so~" Hayasaka Ai felt his reason wasn't convincing at all.
However, she wasn't someone prone to jealousy, it was only a Christmas party after all, nothing unusual.
Moreover, the other party had also invited her.
Hayasaka Ai also wasn't afraid of having to face Fujiwara Chika, at present her status was naturally one level higher than Chika's, best friend and girlfriend were worlds apart, secretary-chan still didn't seem to fully understand that.
Obviously she had already become the loser, yet still refused to let go, truly stubborn.
Hayasaka to Chika: （￣^￣）凸
"This time at the party there will also be everyone from the student council, among them Ishigami and Miko-chan won't come, they have to attend the Christmas party organized by the cultural festival committee."
"In addition, Shirogane's little sister will also come."
Sakurai Saki was just about to continue speaking when he realized his girlfriend had already fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder.
How cute~.
Sakurai: ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)♡
...
A few minutes later, the train arrived at the station, Sakurai Saki gently shook her shoulder a few times.
"Mm~" Hayasaka Ai slowly opened her eyes.
"We've arrived."
"Umu."
The two staggered out of the train station.
"Don't want to walk." Ai-chan tugged at his coat hem, acting spoiled.
Sakurai Saki glanced at her, not knowing what else to do.
"Yare yare." He slowly crouched down, "Get on."
Hayasaka Ai wrapped her arms around his neck, then put her weight down.
The view gradually rose higher, Ai-chan was experiencing the world of someone 1m80 tall.
Winter nights darkened very quickly.
On the street, festive lights began to glow, everywhere Christmas trees were hung with sparkling bells and colorful lights. Couples together enjoyed the approaching Christmas atmosphere.
"So warm~"
Ai-chan hugged him, resting her head on Sakurai's shoulder.
"A bit ticklish." Sakurai Saki clearly felt the sensation from behind his back.
The photos Ai-chan once sent had been photoshopped quite a bit, at least two sizes bigger, back then he didn't even notice.
The feeling of disparity was far too great.
Especially when there was comparison, this feeling became even stronger. Chika didn't even need to be mentioned, even Nino herself was much larger than Ai-chan.
"You're thinking about some weird stuff, aren't you?" With a woman's intuition, Hayasaka Ai sharply noticed her boyfriend's unusual expression.
Hayasaka: (≖ᴗ≖ ✿)
"I was thinking whether I should go mountain climbing." Sakurai smoothly changed the topic.
"Mountain climbing?"
"Umu, during the winter break, want to go travel to Hakone? It's the hot spring capital, we could go relax." Sakurai Saki asked.
"Why do you suddenly want to go there?"
"On the last school trip in Kyoto, you didn't get to experience a hot spring, right? On the third day we went to a natural hot spring."
"... Feels like you're changing the subject."
Hayasaka: (≖ - ≖)
Sakurai: (,,>﹏<,,)
Exactly, but of course Sakurai Saki wouldn't admit it.
Comparing his girlfriend's chest size with other women, that was absolutely not something a boyfriend should do, if he didn't want to die, he should only think it inside his head, never say it out loud.
After walking for a few minutes, Ai-chan suddenly yawned.
"So sleepy~ let's go to bed early today, okay?"
"Whatever you say."
"You said the exact same thing yesterday too!" Hayasaka Ai of course wouldn't believe him.
Recently, Ai-chan has been trying to study hard, so she hasn't been sleeping early, and before she went to bed she was suddenly attacked by Sakurai Saki, making it even harder for her to sleep well.
When she was still serving as Shinomiya Kaguya's maid, she had to deliberately control her grades so that her image would better fit the gyaru setting, but now that she has resigned, she can let loose freely.
In the last midterm exam, Hayasaka Ai's grades suddenly shot up from near the bottom to over the top fifty.
Of course, this was not the full extent of Hayasaka Ai's ability—she was originally a master who could precisely control her scores; as long as she tried, getting into the top 10 would be simple.
But improving too quickly would make others feel strange, so she planned to progress step by step, not too abruptly.
"If you don't agree, I won't continue."
"Then let's leave it at that." Hayasaka Ai had originally planned to go back to her own home to sleep.
But since he promised like that, she decided to trust him this once.
Sakurai Saki carried her on his back all the way, attracting quite a few glances. At first Hayasaka Ai still felt embarrassed, but after being looked at enough times, she got used to it.
When they got home, he gently put his beloved girlfriend down.
"Thank you! Boyfriend-kun~" Ai-chan leaned her face close to Sakurai Saki and kissed his cheek.
( ˶˘ ³˘(ˊᗜˋ*)!♡
"This new way of addressing me isn't bad either." Sakurai Saki said with a smile.
"Do you like it?"
"Quite like it."
"Then I'll call you that more often from now on."
...
At midnight, Hayasaka Ai woke up and rubbed her eyes.
She heard a strange sound.
"Mn~" Ai-chan walked toward the kitchen, where there was a delicious smell.
"What are you doing?"
"Making hamburger steak." Sakurai Saki replied irritably.
He had been shaken awake in the middle of the night.
In this house there was only one person who liked eating hamburger steak.
First, exclude Shinobu and Sakurai Saki, then exclude Hayasaka Ai.
"YAY~!! Hamburger steak!!" Yakumo Shiro rolled around beside Sakurai Saki. Relying on the fact that she could fly, she just did whatever she wanted.
"Ever since that hateful 'third wheel' came to our house, Shiro hasn't been able to eat anything at all!"
What nonsense are you spouting, you dumb ghost? The real third wheel is you!
Could it be that since you haven't shown up for a while, you were afraid I'd forget you, so you screamed to wake me up in the middle of the night? Sakurai Saki silently complained in his heart.
On average Yakumo Shiro showed up once every two days, and eating.
"Sakurai-chan, you really do like eating hamburger steak. You eat it every week." Hayasaka Ai yawned, "But eating something like this late at night will make you fat, you know."
She didn't linger long, just went to the bathroom once and then went back to sleep.
"Did you hear that? Eating too much hamburger steak will make you fat."
"Hmph, hmph, Sakurai-kun, you completely don't understand. Ghosts won't get fat in the first place!" Yakumo Shiro put her hands on her hips and said proudly.
"…But the food you eat, so as not to waste it, I have to finish it. Energy doesn't disappear, it just transfers somewhere else." What Sakurai meant by fat was referring to himself.
When it was almost done frying, he plated the hamburger steak and poured sauce on top.
A few minutes later, sitting at the dining table, he looked at the adorable figure across from him eating happily, and a question arose in his heart.
'Is this girl really a ghost?'
"Have there been any strange incidents happening around me recently?"
"Nuh-uh, none."
During this period, there had been no bizarre phenomena at all around Sakurai Saki.
"Feels kind of boring."
[Isn't normal life just fine? It's strange that you'd think otherwise.] Shinobu was woken up by the noise. No, she was a creature that naturally stayed active at night, not sleeping in the dark.
"If there aren't any strange incidents, doesn't that mean the two of you will always be unemployed?"
How can my company, Sakurai Co., possibly survive when the two of you just keep eating like this?
The boss of the company has to work as a tutor, selling his looks to make money, much of which gets spent on employees who don't do any work—what kind of human-world suffering is this?
[Hmph, men.]
Shinobu: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☕︎
"Sakurai-kun, you can also treat this Shiro as a desire-processing machine, that's okay too, don't hold back with me~" Yakumo Shiro said while eating, her pale face smeared with grease.
With her attitude like that, no matter how beautiful the face, it wasn't something one could ever put to their lips.
Even so, would doing that with a ghost be illegal?
...
(Note: Just translated the part 'third wheel' and suddenly remembered that the other day I used 'Tuesday'. Now I realize that's just a piece of Gen Z slang in my country used to describe a third party interfering in a couple's love. I typed it out of habit without noticing that in English there's no such slang... ehe~)