Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?

"I guess it's all fast food?"

"Yeah, almost."

"Hey - in that case, I can prepare a love bento for Xiaoqing~"

"Oh, no need to bother."

Along the way, Hayasaka asked Hoshimi about his situation among his classmates like a caring and warm older sister, and from time to time she would ask about his well-being and remind him to get along well with his classmates and teachers. Her care was meticulous and just right.

Hoshimi just smiled and nodded, occasionally responding, maintaining the most basic communication with Hayasaka. His responses often seemed a little unfamiliar, but Hayasaka didn't seem to find it awkward at all, and the smile on her face never faded.

"Xiaoqing is so aloof~ Do many girls think this is cool?"

The blonde girl smiled, stretched out her finger, and poked Xingjian's face gently.

"Huh? No. I'm pretty easygoing at school."

However, Xingjian, who was being looked at closely by such a beautiful face, just stared straight ahead and answered calmly.

Being indifferent only depends on the person.

After arriving at the door of the family restaurant and pushing it open, the expressionless Hoshimi and the smiling Hayasaka were led by the waiter into a private room.

An ordinary middle-aged man who kept a good figure and did not look too fat - Qing's father - quickly stood up from his seat and looked at the two of them with a gentle smile.

"I kept you waiting."

Hayasaka politely bowed to Haru's father first, with a gentle smile on her face - but with a sense of ease that seemed to have been practiced countless times.

"No, no, I just got here not long ago. It's Nao who can't come today because of something. Haru, Xiaoai, please sit down. You must be tired after class, right? Relax and have a good meal--!"

The two responded to his invitation, sat down side by side opposite him and began to order food - although there was a distance between their shoulders that should not exist between siblings.

After that, there was a dinner party that was comparable to business entertainment at work for Xingjian.

Xing Jian knew very well that her father was an ordinary middle-aged man who could be found everywhere, but was very easy-going.

Because of this, the father did not seem to be able to control the rhythm of the dinner when the children of his remarried partner sat together with his own children.

He was very enthusiastic when he served food to himself and Hayasaka, enthusiastic to the point of being eager - he looked like an outgoing and cheerful uncle. Hayasaka responded politely and attentively, and even when his father was rehashing some old and outdated topic, he could quickly pick up the thread.

However, Xingjian could clearly sense that this was his father's bluffing and a cover-up. Therefore, he just smiled politely the entire time and ate the steak set in front of him as quietly as possible.

To be honest, this kind of family gathering has been a special kind of torture for him from the very beginning - some people who have eaten with the family of their parents' remarriage partner should have the same feelings as Xingjian.

Because this happy, peaceful and tranquil atmosphere was too strange, he was constantly worried about whether his words and actions would make the already delicate atmosphere even stranger. The thick sense of falsehood that permeated the air made him feel like he was walking on thin ice even when he spoke a word.

I felt like I was sitting on pins and needles, and every second felt like an age.

Perhaps only an hour or two had passed, or perhaps just a century had passed - in any case, this routine dinner was abruptly interrupted when my father received a phone call.

He said that there was something to deal with at the Hayasaka family, so Aunt Nao asked him to go back to the main house.

"We will finish the rest of the meal before leaving. It's okay if you want to leave first, uncle."

In the end, Hayasaka met Haru's father's embarrassed and apologetic look with an understanding smile, allowing him to relax and leave early.

Xingjian didn't say a word from beginning to end. He just said goodbye to his father when he left, and then continued to eat.

"It's okay, Xiaoqing. Let's slowly finish the rest of the meal before leaving?"

Hayasaka took Hoshimi's feelings into consideration and lowered her head slightly to give him a comforting smile.

"Ah."

Xingjian responded with a peaceful smile, said no more, and put the beef cut into small pieces into his mouth.

The hasty dinner didn't end with Haru's father leaving. The two of them finished the rest of the meal before leaving the restaurant. Hayasaka also insisted on taking Haru home - to be more precise, to the student apartment where he currently lived. Incidentally, the bill had already been paid when his father left.

After a simple dinner, the two walked out of the restaurant and walked side by side on the noisy street accompanied by the sunset.

To be honest, it should be a pleasant thing to have a sister who considers other people's feelings - most people may think so.

But Xingjian doesn't think so.

Because he knew that the so-called gentle older sister image was just a mask that Hayasaka wore - and it was just one of her masks.

The seemingly appropriate concern, the gentle smile that seems to come from the heart, and the generous and attentive attitude of an elder are all just illusions.

When Hoshimi attended a family gathering with Hayasaka for the second time, and after the party he saw her talking on the phone with a cold expression on her face and saying, "It's nothing important, I'll be back when I'm done," he was already hypocritical.

Just now at school, her words and actions seemed to be no different from those of an ordinary fashionable hot girl, but that was probably just a disguise that Hayasaka Ai used when interacting with her classmates.

"Xiaoqing's school seems to have started already. How's it going? Are you motivated to study hard in the new semester?"

Hoshimi raised her head and met Hayasaka's warm smile, which was as gentle and friendly as the spring breeze.

——So, this gentle big sister image should be just a mask she uses to deal with her new family.

“…Well, that’s about it.”

He wasn't very good at dealing with such gazes, so he just turned his head away as if nothing had happened.

Xingjian is a bit of an emotional purist - to put it bluntly, he likes to be too serious.

He will not feel happy if he realizes that the person he is talking to is using a perfunctory attitude to deal with him or to deal with him.

However, he understood why Hayasaka did this. Not everyone likes to have a few unfamiliar strangers suddenly break into their family.

Therefore, even though Hoshimi knew about Hayasaka's disguise, she never intended to expose her - she would even pretend not to know and cater to her disguise.

The two people with different thoughts reached a tacit agreement on the theme of "pretending to be a harmonious family atmosphere" and put on the same hypocritical mask.

----

----

Who doesn't love Maid of a Thousand Faces? (Funny) Is anyone interested in Hayasakaguchi? (No)

Aki Tomoya can't predict the future: Chapter 4 My Hayasaka sister can't be this cute (Part 4)

"So, have you made any friends or anything?"

Hayasaka probably had no idea of ​​Hoshimi's little thoughts and continued to ask him questions gently.

Hearing this, the black-haired boy curled his lips with a slightly complicated expression.

"Uh... there's this weird guy wearing glasses."

In fact, the first person he thought of was Futaba, but the latter's cold attitude towards him made him a little hesitant.

After all, making friends is a two-way choice.

As for the other guy with glasses...

Consider us friends... Well, maybe, probably, probably, maybe... Consider us friends? (Questionable)

"Why are you so hesitant?"

"Because he started talking about predicting the future. Who knows if this guy really has puberty syndrome or is just a brain twitch?"

Thinking of this, Xingjian raised his eyebrows and glanced at the gentle smile on Hayasaka's face with his eyes pretending to be indifferent.

"By the way, Hayasaka... sis."

"--Um?"

The blonde girl put her hands behind her back and bent down slightly, looking at Xingjian with a smile, looking like a kind big sister next door.

"…What would you think if I said I could predict the future?"

"—"

When Hoshimi asked this question tentatively, the smile on Hayasaka's face seemed to stiffen slightly inadvertently.

Then, under Hoshimi-san's seemingly innocent gaze, Miss Hayasaka straightened her back, reached out her hand and touched his forehead with a worried expression.

"Xiaoqing, are you okay? Did the strong sun give you a heat stroke today?"

"No, it's night time now. The sun is almost setting."

My reflexes weren't that slow.

"...Never mind. This matter certainly sounds a bit unreasonable to most ordinary people."

Xingjian, who was planning to stop there, shook his head secretly. When the blonde girl's fingertips touched his forehead, he felt a little cold, but in the end he still did not dodge.

Seeing that he did not resist her behavior, Hayasaka seemed to smile a little more - of course, it was also possible that this was just a subtle change that she wanted Hoshimi to notice.

"By the way, Xiaoqing, did your uncle ask you to pick me up from school today?"

"Well, I was planning to go straight to your class, Hayasaka-san, to find you, but I saw you downstairs at the entrance."

"...Haha, is that so? Actually, there's no need to bother you at all. Anyway, you know my class, so you came looking for me~"

The blonde girl now looked just like any other sister joking with her brother... probably.

"I don't think I told you which class I'm in. Did mom tell you?"

"That's not the case. I didn't ask my aunt."

After Hayasaka withdrew her hand, Hoshimi's face returned to its usual calmness, and he walked side by side with her on the way home.

"I just went to the student council to ask Shinomiya-san, that's all."

"—"

but.

When Hoshimi said this in a casual tone, he could feel Hayasaka's footsteps suddenly pause beside him——

And the aura of a gentle older sister that emanated from her disappeared in an instant.

Hoshimi, who noticed something was wrong, also stopped and turned to look at Hayasaka Ai who was still standing there.

Her expression was completely different from the warm and friendly older sister she had just displayed. The smile on her delicate face was gone, and in her eyes, as blue as the deep ocean, the gentleness of the past seemed to be replaced by a cold emotion.

"...You haven't caused any unnecessary trouble to the people around Miss Kaguya, have you?"

Her tone also changed from warm and gentle to a serious and cold one.

——This should be Hayasaka Ai’s third mask.

Even from a few short sentences, one can get a glimpse of the aloofness and decorum that a servant of the Shinomiya family should have.

"...Don't worry, I didn't reveal your relationship to Shinomiya-san's other friends."

Hoshimi saw the seriousness of Hayasaka's question and gave her a direct response that immediately calmed her down.

He had already vaguely guessed that Hayasaka Ai had always presented herself as a hot girl in school and had hidden her relationship with Shinomiya Kaguya before today.

"........."

Hayasaka silently examined Hoshimi with a cold gaze, devoid of any emotion, as if assessing a stranger. After studying his unchanged expression for perhaps a few seconds, her expression softened, as if she were tentatively accepting Hoshimi's words.

But even so, she is completely different from the caring big sister just now.

"What? So that's all."

Then, the same gentle smile appeared on her face again, and her tone became sweet and warm again.

Sure enough, a woman's expression changes faster than turning the pages of a book.

However, Hoshimi said nothing, and continued walking down the street with a calm expression, following Hayasaka, whose steps had become lighter again.

"So, you saw me saying goodbye to my classmates at the entrance of the teaching building just now, didn't you?"

At this moment, Ms. Hayasaka, who was still playing the role of "caring big sister", asked this question in a light tone.

"If I answer 'No, I didn't see anything', will I be able to avoid the consequences of being forcibly silenced?"

The black-haired boy made a calm and humorous complaint without changing his expression, which made Hayasaka turn her head slightly and look at him sideways.

"...Don't you find it strange how I look?"

At this moment, Hayasaka seemed to have stepped out of the role of the friendly big sister she played, but she also failed to fit into the identity of the cold-faced maid.

She asked Xingjian this question as if she were a bystander who was beyond any role classification.

Hayasaka was probably referring to her hot girl attitude when she said goodbye to her classmates in front of the teaching building in the afternoon.

"Hmm? Why are you so surprised?"

Hearing this, the black-haired boy just smiled with a very normal expression, as if to him this was just a trivial matter not worth mentioning.

"Everyone has a set of behavior patterns tailored to protect themselves, right?"

It’s just that some people think it doesn’t matter, some people choose to wear masks, and some people choose to pretend to be free and easy and pretend not to care.