"Just—"
"Wait!" Tsuna suddenly raised his hand, palm outwards, making a firm 'stop' gesture:
"You're calling me a professional, not just because I'm the only one in our dorm with a girlfriend, right?"
"Exactly!"
Kitano confidently tossed his head, snapping his fingers loudly with his thumb and index finger.
However, this cool gesture was met with undisguised expressions of speechlessness from everyone around the table.
"…"
"Kitano, may I ask?"
Nishikata blinked, and without waiting for his agreement, continued, "Then how do you plan for Miyamura to provide support tonight?"
"Hmm…" Kitano stroked his chin, thought for a while, and then slowly began, "Haven't thought it through yet, just help with ideas."
"…"
"Just… just this?!" Male Classmate B almost choked on such a flimsy reason.
"Of course there's more!"
Kitano quickly took a big gulp of water, as if to suppress everyone's doubts, and eagerly prepared to continue:
"If we want to ask Rinko out late at night, she won't feel safe going alone, so she'll definitely call someone from her dorm to come along.
At that time, the class monitor and Nishimiya will most likely come together, don't you think that makes sense?"
After speaking, he scanned their eyes, and only after receiving their nods did he continue:
"At this point, don't we need someone to draw them away? Isn't that where Miyamura comes in handy?
Or do you think you have the charm to draw Nishimiya away from Rinko? The class monitor is easier to deal with."
Finally, Kitano even raised his eyebrows at them cheekily.
Ajitani: I feel offended, thank you!
Nishikata subconsciously nodded. Kitano's words sounded somewhat reasonable, but the core mystery remained stuck there.
He leaned forward slightly, his brows furrowed, and asked more specifically, "But I still don't understand where you get the idea that Miyamura is a professional…"
"With that face of his, doesn't he just make people feel very professional in that regard?"
"Heh heh…" Tsuna expressed everything with a direct glare.
Seeing them not speak, Kitano grew a little anxious, "Oh, it's not time yet, is it?"
He propped himself up with both hands behind him, "When we discuss the support plan next, I believe Miyamura will definitely be professional."
"…"
"What time are we meeting later?"
"After dinner, or maybe after the hot spring. It mainly depends on when Tanaka has the courage to text Rinko."
"Alright…"
From then until they went to the cafeteria for dinner, the few of them gathered around the low table, chattering and perfecting tonight's "assist plan."
Among them, Nishikata even adopted the serious attitude he used for studying. He thought that when he confessed to Takagi-san, what if he could use these techniques?
And Tsuna just listened to their discussion the whole time. To Kitano's occasional questions, he only casually offered a few suggestions.
He thought that by doing so, the other party would be sensible and stop asking, but he didn't expect that with just a casual remark from him, Kitano would actually hesitate about whether his suggestion was feasible.
The subsequent inquiries and requests for advice were even more frequent…
As for how to explain the two extra assistants to Tanaka later, Kitano patted his chest and repeatedly guaranteed that he would handle it.
— — — —
"Tsuna, try this, it's really delicious!"
"…"
Tsuna looked at the bitter melon ring, half-bitten and held to his mouth, and was a little unconvinced by Shouko's latter half of the sentence.
"Ah~"
Hmm… It's confirmed to be delicious…
Tsuna chewed on the bitter melon ring, ignoring Shouko's subtle movements of transferring the bitter melon from her small plate to his own plate.
Seeing that he didn't stop her this time, Shouko's heart lit up with a "ding."
She immediately abandoned the sneaky approach and swiftly "transferred" the last few slices of bitter melon to his territory.
Nishikata and Takagi on the opposite side were already immune to such "love feeding," and tacitly buried their heads in their food, not even lifting an eyelid.
Only Ajitani, next to Shouko , stared longingly as Shouko performed the 'Great Shift' of bitter melon to Tsuna's plate, then lowered her head to look at the almost untouched, green "torture device" on her own plate.
She instantly crumpled into a heap. She poked the slice of bitter melon with her chopsticks, a tragic expression on her face, as if going to the execution ground. She closed her eyes tightly and suddenly shoved it in!
"Pfft—!" The next second, her small face crumpled into a bitter, peeled lemon, and her whole body trembled three times in place,
"Bitter, bitter waaaah! Help! My tongue is going to run away, hey!!!"
"…"
"Ajitani-chan, your expression is too exaggerated, isn't it? It's not that bitter, is it?"
Takagi rested her chin in her hand, watching her with a helpless smile, but her hand movements didn't stop. She skillfully reached over with her chopsticks and steadily picked up the disliked bitter melon ring from Ajitani's plate.
And Ajitani, watching the bitter melon on her plate diminish, couldn't help but send Takagi a shiny air kiss.
"Ew~ Gross…"
"You hurt my heart, Takagi-chan…"
The casual chat in the cafeteria lasted for a long time.
It wasn't until Ajitani's head began to nod like a pecking chick, and she mumbled vaguely about being a little sleepy, that the post-dinner leisure was broken.
She glanced at her suddenly lit phone screen, then abruptly shook her head, forcefully pulling herself out of her drowsiness.
With a precise pull on Shouko 's and Takagi's wrists, her energy instantly returned, "Let's go, let's go! Hot spring summoning time!"
She bounced and skipped towards the direction of the large bathhouse, not forgetting to turn back and wave her arms in a wide circle at Nishikata and Tsuna, who were still sitting in their seats:
"See you tomorrow, both of you!"
"Did Kitano text you?"
Only after the three had walked a considerable distance did Tsuna turn to Nishikata, who was still staring at Takagi's retreating back.
Seeing that he still had no reaction, he raised his hand and waved it in front of his eyes, "That's enough, they're gone."
"Oh… Oh oh… Miyamura, what did you just say?"
"…"
"Did Kitano text you?"
"Let me check…"
Saying that, Nishikata took out his phone, unlocked it with his fingerprint, and opened 'LINE'. Seeing that his chat history with Kitano was still from this morning, he could only shake his head helplessly.
"Then let's go, we'll also soak in the hot spring for a bit. It should be about time when we finish."
With that, he stood up briskly, pushed his chair back with a slight scraping sound, and walked towards the corridor leading to the men's bath without looking back.
Seeing this, Nishikata also quickly got up and jogged to follow him, his footsteps echoing in the slightly empty cafeteria.
— — — — — —
The steaming hot spring mist had not completely dissipated from his body as Tsuna walked out, wrapped in a black yukata soaked with moisture.
He shook his wet hair, water droplets splashing in the cool air, and glanced down at the phone screen in his palm that had just dimmed.
He looked up and waved it at Nishikata, who was rubbing his flushed cheeks from the steam, "Let's go, Kitano texted me. Let's head back to the dorm first; he'll lead the way."
There was also a 'Goodnight' message from Shouko pinned at the top.