The same as before, Suzuki-san drove me to school after we dropped Mizuki near their school gates.

To dispel the somewhat awkward silence in the car because of Suzuki-sans lack of need to converse with me, I took that chance to fire numerous questions to the silent chauffeur, hoping that she could answer some of them.

Its not fruitless, at least. By the time we reached the area around my school, I already got a few nods and a few shakes of her head, clearing some of my questions regarding Mizukis family circumstances.

Even though she wordlessly drove off upon making sure that I didnt forget anything else in her car, I still thanked the woman for her help.

Sometimes it makes me wonder if she even has any desire at all. Perhaps the only thing driving her forward is to serve Mizuki until the girl relieves her of duty. That dedication masked with her cold indifference was rather admirable

Although Hitomi also had that kind of dedication, I managed to break past her indifference, melting the ice covering her person.

Anyway, although I might be in a difficult situation later at night, I nonchalantly threw the thought to the back of my mind. No matter how many countermeasures I put, if her mother asks an unavoidable question, those will be useless.

And thats why I decided to just treat this day as normal.

The first four periods went by smoothly. During the first period, Shio made us take a pop quiz concerning the lesson she left behind yesterday.

Since my girls and I took that seriously, we didnt flunk it. Aya rejoiced when she got a perfect score. She also unconsciously threw herself in my embrace.

Although she realized what had happened, it was already too late for her to pedal back. Due to that, the girl savored those few minutes in my embrace, ignoring the attention drawn to her.

When she fixed herself back to her seat when it was time for me to go and escort Shio to her next class, Wakaba and Kashiwagi both gave her a thumbs up which made the girl get even more flustered.

As for the attention thrown to me, well, theyre mostly ignored. At this point, its already a daily occurrence. If I describe each and every reaction of them, especially the cucks, thered be no end to it. Its enough to know that theyre not amused.

During the second and third periods when we had to move classrooms to a science lab and an art room, I somehow found myself in the company of different sets of girls.

At the science lab, its the same arrangement where I was sandwiched in the middle of Nami, Hina, Saki and Kanzaki who squeezed herself as the fifth person in that row. While we listened to the lecture and did some hands-on activities, Nami and the others didnt waste the chance to get some worthwhile bonding with me.

Well, Kanzaki also tried to do so but with the three girls on guard or in other words, not letting her get as much contact with me, she was reduced to an extra in the corner.

The girl had been quiet ever since that day when she tried to ask me for the lessons again. The boldness she often showed had been lulled to almost a screeching halt because of my girls protective circle around me. Not that I was complaining. Its just that I was hoping for Kanzaki to return to how she normally was

I mean, her defining trait was the diligent and straightforward Class President. But nowadays, she has been too meek to even try to spring up a conversation with me. Perhaps, its because of her failed relationship and my rejection. However, no ones going to help her but herself.

Uh. Theres also me. If I put my mind to it.

Anyway, I still treated her normally but not as special as my girls. They always take priority when were together. She should ambush me when Im alone, no?

Moving on, in the art room, the teacher randomly grouped us in threes for a small activity. Its not the usual draw each other. It didnt even fully tackle the art subject.

Luckily, I still got grouped up with one of my girls; Chii. The third one was Shimura who probably had a crush on me.

I dont know. That might be just my assumption. But the attention I was getting from her was different than normal. I always catch her looking in my direction and whenever theres a chance, shell start up a conversation with me.

However, the same as what happened with Kanzaki, she couldnt approach without getting stared at by my girls. Especially Satsuki who rarely leaves my side whenever were inside the classroom.

In any case, its still proven a fun activity. Chiis laughter echoed in the room, making the teacher walk over to us to see what she was laughing at.

But when the teacher failed to find anything remotely funny, she stared at Chii weirdly before turning to me, her eyes instructing me to rein in my group mates behavior. I somehow became tagged as the leader of our group.

Shimura giggled merrily while Chii pouted, acting like her source of fun got cut off. However, she used that chance to stick to me, tying it up to the teachers instruction.

During the 4th period, we returned to our classroom for Mathematics. The lesson exhausted most of us mentally and when lunch break arrived, we spent some time slumping on our desks before preparing to eat.

Im going out for a bit, I said soon after we finished eating our lunch.

Its a call of nature so none of the girls followed me. Well, if I asked them to accompany me, theres no doubt that everyone would volunteer.

As I made my way to the bathroom, the phone I pocketed in my pants vibrated. I pulled it out to check.

Turned out I got three messages. Two chat messages and an email.

I hurriedly went into one of the bathroom stalls and used the time while I was doing business to check on each of them.

The first one and probably the least in my priority came from Ohori-senpai. Its a short message thats asking me to meet her. That sounded dubious given that she kept on scolding me for two-timing Aoi.

Thats why I replied with a question, instead of an acknowledgment. Senpai, have your eyes been opened? Are you going to accept my help now?

Yeah. Thats an assumption. But thats enough to probably throw her off with whatever shes trying to do by asking me to meet her.

Following that, I checked the other chat message. And surprisingly, it came from Koizumi-san.

Onoda-kun, I have a date for our scouting trip. Im going to Setsus house later to ask Satsuki-chan if its fine to take you with me. Im just messaging to confirm with you. If she granted us permission, you wont back down, right?

Weird. Why did the tone of her message sound uncertain? Or rather, its like the girl was only asking for permission after getting caught with her hand inside a cookie jar. But in this case, shes not asking the owner but the cookie.

Well, Im probably just overthinking.

I typed in my reply and sent it right away, Koizumi-san need not worry, I wont back down. The trip will probably broaden my horizon. I guess?

With that done, I turned to the only email.

Obviously, theres only one girl who would email me at this point in time

Hana.

As soon as I opened the mail, the content was empty save from one attached file.

An image file.

Upon tapping it and downloading the photo, I checked what it was. I guess I had no time to be surprised by that girls antics.

The image contained a clear view of her plane ticket back to our country dated this coming Friday.