A tense atmosphere filled the room.

Sitting around Hakua who was sitting on a cus.h.i.+on while reading manga——

“…………”

“…………”

“…………”

Aika, Reiko and Karen fidgeted in their places as none of them dared to open their mouths.

‘Let’s… sit down with her and talk it over’——although they said it like that, they didn’t know what to ask.

Ojou-samas like them have no experiences of going through a war of words, as well as having little or no imagination. To be frank, they were just kind of like puppets controlled by their strings.

Thus, if something goes wrong in a plan, they usually would not know what to do. It was because of this that their omiai¹ were often unsuccessful.

“Th-that’s right! I forgot to bring tea!”

“Right!”

“Y-yeah!”

Thus, the table was now spread with the usual snacks.

Aika and co. sipped their red tea nervously as they awkwardly tried to pa.s.s the time.

However, Hakua didn’t even do as much as taking a look at the snacks on top of the table, let alone eat it.

“W-what is wrong Hakua-sama? Why do you not help yourself?”

Reiko had a troubled face as she whispered in Aika’s ear.

(Wh-what is wrong? The refreshments prepared are the same as usual.)

(Maybe it’s…because she doesn’t have an appet.i.te?)

(——Nope, you’re all mistaken.)

Karen stood up suddenly.

“Then, what is the problem?”

Karen didn’t reply to her as she took a cookie in her hand with a ‘Leave it to me’ expression on her face.

“Hakua only eats when someone gives her food with their hands.

With a serious face, she kneeled in front of Hakua and…slowly brought the biscuit near her mouth.

Hakua’s head turned away.

“Why not!?”

“Well, it happens all the time.”

Aika retorted without care.

“……Ugh…it can’t be helped!”

Karen suddenly walked towards the wardrobe.

From there, she took out Kimito’s clothes as she changed in the corner of the room.

“Sup! Me, Kimito!”

She pointed at herself with her finger.

“I love muscular men and grade-school girls!”

They were all horrible attributes one could have.

“Hey Hakua, eat this cookie from my hand, will you?”

Karen who had worn Kimito’s clothes approached Hakua again.

Hakua’s head turned away again.

“Why not……!?”

Aika and Reiko had only kept quiet as they only looked at her with sympathetic eyes.

Grumble~~~

Hakua’s stomach grumbled loudly.

Although she must be hungry, Hakua only continued reading the manga as if nothing had happened.

“Ha-Hakua-sama, let me feed you, please……?”

Reiko held out a piece of lime cake on a plate——but there was no reaction from her.

“Look, aren’t you hungry? Eat this.”

Aika forcefully thrusted a piece of chocolate to Hakua’s mouth, but she was still unwilling to open her mouth.

“………It can’t be helped.”

Karen had a strange face on, as she bit on the end of a Pocky biscuit in her mouth.

“FuaFua”

The biscuit was blocked by the manga in Hakua’s hand.”

“……Why does she not eat……?”

The table was spread fully with food brought over from the pantry.

Among these, were snacks that Kimito usually fed Hakua with.

But she didn’t even glance at them.

……GRUMBLE~~~~~……!

The grumbling noise got louder, but the owner of the stomach herself won’t do anything about it. This had made Aika and co. troubled.

“Aika-sama, what do we do now?”

“As if I know!”

The two of them panicked.

“……Kiryu! Kiryu!”

“At your service, Reiko-sama.”

Reiko explained the situation to the maid that had come forward.

“Hakua-sama only eats the scheduled food everyday.”

“Ah? So that is the case……?”

“Hold on, that can’t be right. The food Kimito feeds her is always some random snacks.”

“About that, I am afraid I do not know of the cause.”

“On a side note, what is she having for today?”

“It should be tuna sus.h.i.+ rolls.”

“Then, please prepare some.”

“Understood.”

A few moments later.

“Sorry for the wait.”

“Thank you. You may leave the room.”。

Accepting the dish from Kiryu, Reiko sent a message to Aika with her eyes.

And then approached Hakua to put the sus.h.i.+ rolls beside her.

“Ha-Hakua sama, we have some tuna sus.h.i.+ rolls prepared for you here.

“……”

Hakua had a reaction for the first time to their words.

Moving her line of sight from the book, she glanced at the tuna sus.h.i.+ rolls on the plate. Stretching out her hand, she took one from the plate and put it in her mouth.

She closed her mouth as she chewed it slowly.

“……Hah…….”

Everyone present felt relieved as if a heavy weight was taken off their shoulders.

Aika had a helpless face on as she sat back on the cus.h.i.+on. Suddenly, she remembered the reason why they did this in the first place.

It’s to have a talk with Hakua.

Actually, it doesn’t matter to her what Hakua does to Kimito or what she thinks of him. But for some reason, it bothered her and didn’t like how Kimito seemed to be always involved with Hakua.

Meeting Reiko’s gaze, she seems like she also wanted to bring up the topic.

Right, I’m helping her out because she said ‘I wanted to do something about it.’ How can I be so nice? I must be a fairy! (Aika’s thoughts)

Karen kept staring hard at Hakua who was eating like a small animal while muttering ‘How pointless…so pointless…’. She can’t be of any help.

Aika halted her inner thoughts as she prepared to make a move.

Suddenly, Hakua stiffened up as if she heard a noise beyond the range of human ears.

Turning her body, she plopped onto the wall.

Then she took out an oil-based paint marker, and started scribbling mathematical equations on the wall.

Screek Screek Screek…!!

Her standing position was more like she was sculpting the wall rather than writing on it.

While Aika and co. could only stare with their mouths open, Hakua had already started taking off her clothes with the other hand of hers.

With skilled movements, she took off her panties in one go.

“Hey, hold on!”

Aika desperately tried to suppress the speed of Hakua’s clothes being taken off.

“Hakua-sama, please wear your panties.”

Reiko, on the other hand, tried to put it back on Hakua.

“Ho-how pointless!”

Meanwhile, Karen who was at the opposite side of Aika, rubbed her face on Hakua’s body while embracing her.

Normally, Hakua would have rejected Karen’s advances. But at this moment, Hakua had put her 100% focus on writing mathematical equations. Now, Karen could touch her wherever she wanted. Leading to Karen rubbing her face desperately onto the back of the half-naked Hakua.

“Ahh, how pointless! Such a pointless heaven! This stuff is weird! I really hate it……!!”

“You’re in the way! Move away!”

Aika pushed Karen away with her hand, which resulted in her hand being stained with blood from Karen’s nosebleed.

“Kyahhh——!?”

“What’s the matter Aika-sa————haa(faints)”

“Wait Reiko! Help me get her dressed before you faint! Hakua, please stop taking off your clothes! Karen, go die!”

It was a pandemonium.

Hakua was sleeping soundly on the bed.

While Aika who was exhausted sat beside it.

Before Hakua had slept, they can be said to be tortured severely until their bodies were drained.

Incidentally, Karen was collapsed because of anemia caused by her excessive nosebleeding. She was given a few prunes to eat a while ago. (TLN: Prunes can help treat iron deficiency, which causes anemia)

“Does Kimito-sama…go through this much trouble everyday?”

Reiko spoke like an onee-san who just became a mother for the first day.

“……No…that’s not the case.”

Aika knows about it.

“When she’s with Kimito, she’s easier to handle than now.”

“She eats whatever Kimito prepares. Now that I think about it, whenever she’s with Kimito, she activates that ‘Genius mode’ less often.”

If you think about it, she was either daydreaming or just thinking of something else.

“……Does that mean that Hakua-sama does not want to open her heart to us?”

Reiko said with a slightly disappointed face.

“……I guess so.”

Or it could be that she just wasn’t aware of our presence at all….(Aika’s thoughts)

If that’s the case, it would be very lonely…And I can’t stand being neglected…(Aika’s thoughts)

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

“Excuse me, s.h.i.+odome-sama. I am here to fetch you.”

Hakua’s personal maid, Sakimori-san looked around the room after entering the room.

“Is Kimito-sama not present?”

“He’s not here today.”

“I see. I was actually quite surprised when I heard the news of Kiryu-san preparing s.h.i.+odome-sama’s meal.”

Nodding her head, she approached the bed.

“Hakua-sama, Hakua-sama. Please wake up.”

After being shaken for a few times, Hakua slowly opened her eyes.

“I am here to take you home. Now, let’s get back to your room.”

She got down from the bed quietly.

“So, Kimito-sama wasn’t here today?”

Looking at Sakimori, Hakua replied:

“Only my friends.”

Although it was just a normal sentence, it was like a drop of water that dripped onto a calm water surface, causing many ripples to form.

——“Friends”

Aika contemplated the word in her heart.

Hakua didn’t ignore our existence……(Aika’s thoughts)

She just used her own way to place us in her heart——a place called ‘Friends’…(Aika’s thoughts)

“Then, it’s time to leave.”

Hakua who was following behind Sakimori suddenly turned to look at Aika and co.

“……Father Frog cries vigorously ‘Croak Croak’. Mother Frog cries beautifully ‘Chirp Chirp’. How would the baby frog cry?”

A riddle was suddenly asked.

From Hakua herself.

“Huh? Is this…..a riddle?”

Reiko looked surprised.

“Father goes ‘Croak Croak’, Mother goes ‘Chirp Chirp’……baby frog……baby frog……Cute!! How pointless!”

Karen’s body fidgeted vigorously.

“Hah? Baby frogs are tadpoles, so they don’t cry.”

Aika voiced her answer honestly.

“! Th-that’s right!”

“That makes sense if you say so.”

“Huh? Wh-why?”

Aika who felt slightly troubled by the their response turned to look at Hakua——

Only to see Hakua who raised her head and stared at her in shock.

Omiai: A traditional custom in which unattached individuals are introduced to each other to consider the possibility of marriage.