The Gemini Princess wants me to confess my feelings!

Upon hearing this, Kirihara Akira's first reaction was to cover her face.

Covering her face, she felt a surge of sympathy for Kosuke Nitta.

That's terrible, how could this guy be so unlucky?

Heaven help me, Kirihara Akira felt that he was just sitting there showing off his food, without any intention of competing with the other party or showing any aggression, but the other party just kept banging his head against the pillar.

Upon hearing the book's title, Mori Shizue almost simultaneously turned to look at Kirihara Akira, her expression somewhat embarrassed and apologetic.

Kosuke Nitta wasn't stupid; he noticed their unusual behavior immediately. He looked at Shizue Mori and then at Akira Kirihara, a strong sense of unease welling up inside him.

The others were also baffled and didn't understand what this reaction meant.

Why did the two react this way when this work was mentioned?

Kirihara Akira looked at Mori Shizue, trying her best to appear calm: "Have you shown it to anyone?"

Mori Shizue placed her hands on her lap, sat upright, and said, "I asked you, and you said I could publish my article in the club publication."

Kirihara Akira was silent for a moment, then remembered that she seemed to have said something like that.

That's right, this book doesn't exist in the parallel world. The one that Shizue Mori saw was written by Akira Kirihara... and copied from it.

When he handed over the manuscript, Kirihara Akira instructed Mori Shizue that he did not intend to publish the book for the time being.

To say that Kirihara Akira had some noble reason for giving such instructions would be a lie; even her words sounded hypocritical.

He did indeed have the unethical desire to plagiarize in order to quickly gain some fame, but that was not something he was prepared for in the current situation.

Firstly, it's hard to believe that someone would deliberately plagiarize just to embarrass a high school student. Secondly, he hadn't even finished copying the book yet.

Akira Kirihara had read this book, but not the original Japanese version; she could only translate it into Japanese based on her memory of the Chinese version.

He could only copy the general plot outline.

The original text was about 100,000 words long. Only about a week had passed since Mori Shizue asked him if he could write. He couldn't possibly write it.

After hearing their conversation, Kosuke Nitta's anxiety finally subsided.

Kirihara Akira exclaimed – So this is how vividly a face can be described as ashen.

He shook his head and said, "Whether a book is good or bad depends on the writing style and plot after it's finished. Writing an eye-catching opening is much more complicated than simply filling in the blanks. It requires a lot of life experience that I lack."

Anyone with eyes can see that Kirihara Akira is trying to smooth things over.

Normally, Mori Kiyoha would have laughed loudly, embarrassing everyone, but at this moment she was unusually quiet.

She didn't look at Kirihara Akira, her sister, or anyone else; her gaze was fixed on the meaningless artificial hill, her chin resting on her hand, lost in thought.

No one knew what she was thinking, except for her maid, Asahi Kasane, who had grown up with her.

Asahi Kashin stood behind the lady and sighed silently.

...On another note, although Kirihara Akira was trying to smooth things over, Nitta Kosuke's expression grew increasingly grim.

However, his father, Mr. Nitta, gave Kirihara Akira a meaningful look, then rather "vulgarly" slapped his son on the head and chuckled, "You're a man, aren't you? If you can't win, just admit it. We'll settle it later. Nitta's eldest son, don't you even have this much class?"

His words, though sounding like a scolding, actually eased the tense atmosphere instantly, and Nitta Kosuke's expression improved considerably.

Kirihara Akira smiled and said, "I haven't read his works yet, so how can there be any talk of him being better or worse?"

He offered a way out, but Nitta Kosuke, still seething with anger, didn't take the bait. His father, however, was more magnanimous, smiling at his wife and saying, "Kids these days really have a clever edge."

The lady took a sip of tea, a perfectly curved smile playing on her lips, and finally spoke: "Children should be innocent and natural; that's more endearing."

Kirihara Akira's lips twitched. For a moment, he didn't know if the lady was mocking him for being too scheming or scolding Nitta Kosuke for being an innocent and naive wild monkey.

In conclusion, with things having come to this point, the tense atmosphere had completely collapsed, and Kosuke Nitta had no further room to retaliate.

The tea party finally looked like a proper tea party, but for Kirihara Akatsuki, it became rather bland and tasteless.

......

......

The setting sun casts long shadows, people leave and the tea grows cold.

Kirihara Akira sat on the tatami mat, looking up at the mountains and rivers.

Leisure time is a treasure, and in both lives, Kirihara Akira has always lacked this treasure.

His leisurely time didn't last long; he heard footsteps behind him.

Hearing the sound of his feet hitting the tatami mats and smelling the direction of the wind, Kirihara Akira knew who was coming.

He said, "Miss, thank you for speaking up for me today."

The second young lady, Sen Qingye, walked up to him, stopped abruptly, and scoffed, "Who spoke up for you?"

Kirihara Akira shrugged, not caring.

He had grown somewhat accustomed to Mori Kiyoha's attitude, which was both awkward and straightforward, and quite endearing.

"Didn't you get enough of this artificial hill and water at the tea party?" said Mori Kiyoha.

"The scenery is beautiful, but it depends on who you're with. Sitting with those people at the tea party, my butt felt like it was being pricked with needles, and I lost interest in all the scenery," Kirihara Akira said.

"Then I'm sorry to have disturbed your enjoyment of the scenery," Mori Kiyoha said with a cold snort.

"You don't count," Kirihara Akira said, slightly lost in thought. "It's more enjoyable to appreciate it with you."

He couldn't see Mori Kiyoha's expression, but he noticed that she had fallen into a strange silence.

After a while, she threw a pair of running shoes on the ground, stepped into them, and with her fingers following the back of the shoes, along her slender ankles, she pushed back and pushed her entire small foot into the shoes.

She didn't speak, but Kirihara Akira knew what she meant.

He stretched and stood up, saying, "I'm going to change my clothes."

......

Night runs were a silent agreement between Kirihara Akira and the second young lady, which became a habit.

It's almost fair to say that the time he spent in this house was the same time he spent running around with Mori Kiyoha.

Kirihara Akira had training methods he learned in his previous life, and his daily training intensity was not low. In addition, he discovered from the beginning that this body was very talented, and the training effect was very significant.

At first, he was being humiliated by Mori Kiyoha. He remembered it clearly; back then, Mori Kiyoha called him a nobody.

Today, he can keep up with Mori Kiyoha, who has been training for many years, and they can run side by side.

He can now hear the wind, the wind blowing the leaves, and the girl's even breathing in his ears.

Seeing that he was running alongside her, Mori Kiyoha felt a sense of crisis and suddenly accelerated when she was nearing the end.

As much as she accelerated, Kirihara Akira accelerated just as much.

The two accelerated and sprinted towards the finish line of the predetermined number of laps. In the end... Mori Kiyoha won.

Mori Kiyoha, hands on her knees, gasped for breath, clearly exhausted and about to collapse, yet still managed to utter the last thing Kirigaya Akira wanted to hear: "Trash!"