Oh no! They all seem a bit off!

Chapter 53 Shiraishi Rin Begins to Be Wary

In the dimly lit private room, colorful neon lights flickered alternately, making Shiina Maki's face appear extremely beautiful and alluring, with an unreal and illusory quality.

Makoto Akizuki looked up at Shiina Maki's exquisite profile, watching her sing the song steadily and firmly. He felt gratified and a little moved.

Thinking about it this way, Shiina Maki is really much better than the other two abnormal women.

This child has a somewhat extreme personality. Due to his upbringing and personal experiences, he doesn't know how to express love. With proper guidance, he can become a good child again.

Unlike the other two, who both had a cynical and antisocial personality, although their reasons were understandable, he had nothing to do with it and it wasn't his fault.

Being targeted by the two of them was a completely undeserved disaster for him.

"Are you kidding me? You can sing that well?"

"No, how could she really know how?"

"I feel like... he sings even better than Shiraishi-kun."

As Maki Shiina sang her beautiful, steady voice, tinged with genuine emotion, the whispers of her classmates rose faintly.

Although they hadn't heard the song before, they weren't deaf. Shiina Maki sang every line perfectly to the beat, and her voice remained steady throughout. Her final score was sure to be high.

"..."

Shiraishi Rin stared at Shiina Maki, who seemed to be shining brightly under the neon lights, with a grim expression, and couldn't help but clench his hands tightly.

Once again, she was outmaneuvered. She should have known better than to challenge them.

She should have known long ago that Shiina Maki was a cunning and scheming woman. On the surface, she pretended to be an innocent and naive little rabbit, but in reality, she had a lot of tricks up her sleeve!
Shiina Maki must have planned everything from the very beginning.

Whether it was walking at the back of the group to attract Akizuki Makoto's attention, or entering the private room and sitting in the corner to act aloof so that Akizuki Makoto would sit with her, she even took advantage of Akizuki Makoto's jealousy!

After their brief exchange during lunch break, Shiina Maki realized that she was very jealous and competitive, so she planned to confront them when she saw them whispering to each other in a corner.

Then, she took this opportunity to make a scene, stepping forward to block Akizuki Makoto's way of showing herself off.

"What cunning..."

Shiraishi Rin muttered to herself, this was the first time she had suffered consecutive defeats and lost so badly.

It seems she needs to change her approach and stop using such a forceful strategy.

She is currently at a disadvantage, and Akizuki Makoto doesn't have a good opinion of her.

In contrast, Shiina Maki's character, with her gentle and innocent demeanor and ability to stand up for others in crucial moments, is simply unbeatable.

The saying that "high-level hunters often appear as prey" is quite true.

……

"ぼやけたAnswer and see, start and start now, love and move now (this love is still difficult to move forward until the faint light of dawn can be seen)..."

As Maki Shiina finished singing the last line and put down the microphone, a scoring system appeared on the screen. The score soared rapidly, eventually settling at 11.
"93 points?!"

As luck would have it, his score was just one point higher than Shiraishi Rin's, giving the impression that he had just managed to outscore her.

"...Hehe, that's great, Shiina-kun."

Shiraishi Rin clapped her hands lightly. Although she was smiling, her smile lacked warmth and genuine emotion; it was more of a suppressed anger. Seeing this, her classmates felt somewhat embarrassed. It was their urging of Akizuki Makoto to sing that prompted Shiina Maki to jump out and put on a show.

What's even funnier is that Shiina Maki sings better than Shiraishi Rin.

How could they not feel embarrassed? They just wanted Makoto Akizuki to sing a song so they could break him up with Maki Shiina.

Well, not only did we not get to tear it apart, but we also gained more goodwill towards it.

"Autumn, what do you think?"

Meanwhile, Shiina Maki, who was being talked about and criticized by everyone, looked at Akizuki Makoto with a slightly nervous and shy expression, waiting for his evaluation.

At that time, she was unaware that she was already deeply feared by Shiraishi Rin, who regarded her as a thorn in his side.

The reason she stepped forward to sing a song was simply because she saw that Akizuki Makoto was having some trouble and she didn't want him to embarrass himself since he couldn't sing. She didn't mean to show off or make a fuss about it.

"Great! It's a really good song, and the singer sang it beautifully."

Qiuyue Cheng clapped with a smile and then said, "I didn't expect you to have this trick up your sleeve. You really surprised me. You kept it well hidden."

"Hey, hey hey..."

Shiina Maki chuckled to herself, her heart overflowing with happiness and joy.

At this moment, only the two of them could still laugh in the private room; everyone else was forcing a laugh, and the atmosphere was rather somber.

Finally, a more outgoing girl stepped in to save the day, requesting a song and starting to sing, which gradually warmed up the atmosphere.

In the end, Makoto Akizuki didn't sing a single song, and no one else dared to invite him again, lest Maki Shiina jump out like a loyal dog protecting its master and cause trouble.

They sang until 6:30 p.m., when a staff member came to remind them that it was time. The group then left noisily and headed to the barbecue restaurant they had booked in advance.

On the way there, Akizuki Makoto stopped pushing Shiraishi Rin's wheelchair and instead walked at the back of the group with Shiina Maki.

They didn't exchange any words and just walked on in silence.

It rained all day, then stopped at some point. The streets were covered with puddles of varying depths, and elementary school students wearing yellow safety helmets were playing and splashing around, deliberately stepping on them.

Upon seeing this, Akizuki's thoughts drifted to his younger sister and childhood sweetheart back in his hometown, who were just as boisterous.

Even though they were already high school students at that time, his sister and childhood friend still had such a childish side.

"Hmm... I'll make a call tonight, it's been a while, let's chat. It's been a long time since we last contacted each other."

With that decision, Akizuki Makoto followed the group into a brightly lit and bustling barbecue restaurant.

They chose this restaurant not because the food was particularly good or affordable, but because it was the only place that could accommodate their group size.

This restaurant has a super large U-shaped corridor-like seating area with four grills placed horizontally on the marble countertop. It can easily accommodate thirteen people, or even more.

Once everyone was seated and had ordered, the atmosphere became incredibly lively. The more outgoing people all started chatting away, gossiping amongst themselves.

For example, someone from the next class is dating someone, while someone from your own class seems to be having an affair.

Girls love to talk about these things. Besides gossip about love, they also talk about fashion, which desserts are delicious, and which places are fun to visit and check out.

(End of this chapter)