Hachiman Hikigaya, who returned from his studies after completing his training.

During summer vacation, Shiina even ate lunch at his place.

Hikigaya used his key card to open the dormitory door, but didn't hear Shiina's familiar "Welcome back" voice. He thought she wasn't there, but after changing into indoor shoes and entering the room, he found that she was there.

In the well-cooled room, a quiet and lovely girl was wrapped in a beanbag chair, with open books covering her stomach, and her soft silver hair spread out on the floor.

The girl was sleeping soundly, her expression peaceful.

Did you stay up very late reading last night? You're such a naughty girl, Ms. Hiyori.

A smile appeared on his face, and Hikigaya quietly and carefully placed the large and small bags containing the items he was carrying onto the table.

After freeing his hands, he slowly squatted down next to Shiina, knelt on one knee, and carefully removed the book from her arms and placed it on the table next to her.

Beanbag chairs are not a suitable place to sleep; you would feel uncomfortable if you woke up in Shiina's position.

Besides, the air conditioning in the room is quite strong now, and a thin, light short-sleeved dress is not enough to provide her with warmth and protection.

He slowly created space between the beanbag chair and Shiina's body, leaning forward to lift Shiina's knees with one hand and her back with the other, letting her head rest gently on his shoulder.

The girl's body was light, soft, and fragrant.

It's even more intoxicating than the fresh scent of the fields in the early morning.

As if holding a precious piece of porcelain, Hikigaya gently placed Shiina on the bed, carefully combed her long hair to prevent it from being crushed, and then covered her with a blanket.

Perhaps stimulated by his actions, Shiina Heiwa's long eyelashes on her cute sleeping face trembled slightly.

I already thought Shiina was cute, but she seemed even cuter when she was asleep.

After silently watching Shiina's sleeping face for a while to make sure she was sleeping soundly, Hikigaya picked up the ingredients, went into the kitchen, closed the door, and painstakingly prepared lunch, which took him more than half an hour longer than usual.

After opening the kitchen door, Shiina, still fast asleep, came into his view. The girl, who had been lying flat on her back, was now facing him from the side.

In a flash of inspiration, Hikigaya recalled his experience of being awakened by Shiina.

He felt he had found the reason why Shiina had already gotten up and was looking regretful when he entered the room yesterday.

What a naughty girl, Ms. Hiyori.

Hikigaya, who had the idea of ​​giving Shiina a taste of her own medicine, walked up to her with a wicked smile, carefully picked up a small tuft of her soft silver hair, pinched it into a thin strand, and gently brushed it across her delicate earlobe.

As he moved, Shiina's sleeping face lost its peace; his brows furrowed and his eyelids trembled as if he were about to open them.

When the ends of her hair brushed against her rounded earlobes, Shiina let out a soft moan and slowly opened her eyes.

With sleepy eyes, she silently watched his hand grasp a small tuft of silver hair, and a few seconds later her eyes became fully awake.

"Hachiman——"

Amidst Shiina's drawn-out, dissatisfied voice, Hikigaya quickly loosened his hair and stepped back.

"Lunch is ready, I can serve it anytime. I bought you a gift, it's on the table."

Having come up with the idea of ​​teasing Shiina and put it into practice, he naturally had a remedy in mind: offering her a gift would surely appease her and prevent her from being angry for long.

Upon seeing the small gift bags placed on the table, Shiina's displeasure vanished instantly, and he stood up from the bed, suddenly jumping onto Hachiman in Hachiman's puzzled gaze.

"Um?!"

Startled, Hikigaya quickly bent down, putting one arm around Shiina's waist and the other supporting her thigh, pulling her into his arms.

Just as he was wondering what Shiina was trying to do, her two little hands had already dug into his hair and started messing around, turning his hairstyle into a bird's nest.

"Hehe, the gift is a reward for the preferential treatment exam, right? Let's keep things separate and not let the mischievous Hachiman get away with it." Shiina's cheerful voice rang out in the room.

"Aren't you afraid that I won't catch you and you'll fall to the ground?"

"If it were Hachiman, he would definitely catch me."

After bending down to put Shiina on the ground, Hikigaya looked at her face, which was flushed, whether from embarrassment afterward or from the intense activity.

"Speaking of which, Shiina, you've become more and more lively lately. Is this your true nature?" Hikigaya adopted a defensive stance. "Was your previous gentle and quiet literary girl image just deceiving this innocent young man?"

As the two got to know each other better, Hikigaya became more and more casual in his treatment of Shiina, while Shiina's behavior also lost its former caution.

Time is indeed a wondrous thing.

While marveling at this, Hikigaya blocked Shiina's angry attempt to grab his hand.

After she stood on the bed and pouted at him again, Hachiman immediately raised his hands and offered his body to the bad girl to play with as she pleased.

..............

After finishing lunch together, Shiina washed the dishes and then quickly took off her apron and came to the table.

After picking up the three small bags, his eyes lit up as he looked at Hachiman sitting on the cushion at the table.

Which one is mine?

"All three."

"Can I take it apart now?" Shiina's big purple eyes sparkled, filled with surprise and joy.

After receiving permission, Shiina opened the first gift: a delicate light blue ladies' fountain pen.

After thanking her with a smile, she opened the remaining two gifts together.

One is a sea-blue hairband with delicate patterns, and the other is a stack of antique-style bookmarks.

The headband is the same one that Shiina is using now, only with more delicate patterns and a different color.

Among the stack of antique-looking blank bookmarks, only the first one had a line of poetry written on it; the rest were blank.

"Was it written by Hachiman?" Shiina's joy was palpable.

Seeing this, Hikigaya breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that the gift he had painstakingly chosen had pleased her.

“I remember Hiyori mentioned that she really liked this poem. You, who love reading, also need bookmarks, so that’s why I came up with this idea.”

The headband was something Shiina had seen before but hesitated to buy; the fountain pen was to accompany it, to write that poem on it; and his main gift was a bookmark.

"However, the handwriting is rather unsatisfactory, Hachiman."

Shiina gently stroked the bookmark with her favorite poem written on it. She hadn't expected that Hachiman would be remembered after she had only mentioned him once.

If not seen atop Mount Qunyu, then met beneath the moon on the Jade Terrace.

Although she liked the first line of the Qingping Tune very much, this line was her favorite.

When Shiina realized that these words were written to her by Hikigaya, she felt as if her face was on fire and her heart was pounding.

Chapter 138 Shiina, the Confession

Suppressing her embarrassment, Shiina picked up the fountain pen that Hikigaya had given her.

After taking out a blank bookmark, she knelt down and rewrote a bookmark with a poem on it.

"This is a return gift."

After carefully examining it and finding it acceptable, Shiina handed it to Hikigaya, thinking that this way they would both be using bookmarks with almost identical handwritten notes.

This is a symbol of their good relationship, and she likes it very much.

"Is this all you want as a return gift? I actually wanted an Ultraman transformation device." Hachiman accepted the bookmark with both hands; the handwriting on it was neat and strong.

"You can pray for that during Christmas, Hachiman. Maybe it will be by your bedside when you wake up."

"Then it's better not to do it."

The thought of a burly man covered in red quietly coming to his bedside to look at his sleeping face gave Bi Qigu goosebumps.

What if he gets locked up by a strongman? He'll be too ashamed to face Ichinose then.

"Is Hachiman going to tutor the senior students this afternoon?"

While Hikigaya was lost in thought, Shiina had already collected all the gifts into a small bag and sat down next to him.

"Yes, it starts at 2:30 pm and ends at 5:30 pm."

The main subjects for the college entrance examination are Chinese, mathematics, and English. Hachiman plans to tutor third-year students in these three subjects; elective subjects are not within his tutoring scope.

He spends forty minutes explaining a test paper, and then leaves twenty minutes for students to ask questions, which he then answers one-on-one.

On the day they went back to school for a meal, he had already given the president the test papers he had made to take away and distribute to the students attending the tutoring class. The tutoring location was an empty classroom at the school.

“Then we’ll finish at the same time. Suzune, Hirata, and I also applied to borrow Class D’s classroom to tutor other students.” Shiina smiled happily. “I’ll wait for you at the school gate so we can go back to the dorm together.”

There are more than 20 students in Class D who are academically weak, and with the students who are responsible for tutoring them, the number is close to 30. The long tables in the library cannot meet the learning conditions of Horikita Suzune's group.

After discussing it with Horikita Manabu, Horikita Manabu gave his sister the same solution as Hikigaya.

“Okay, let’s meet at the school gate then,” Hachiman replied.

Since we finish at the same time, it's not bad to go back to the dorm together. Maybe we can even get Horikita Suzune to come over for dinner.

The best meal Hachiman ever had at this school was made by Horikita Suzune.

I wonder if she specifically learned how to cook this for her brother.

With a sister like this, what more could a brother ask for?

.................

The first tutoring session with a third-grade student went very smoothly.

With Horikita Gaku in charge of the classroom, not a single person caused trouble outside. In addition, Hikigaya, who had been tutored by many top-notch tutors, easily won over the third-year students.

After 5 p.m., Hachiman invited the president he served to have dinner with him again, but this time he was refused because he already had plans.

After packing his things, saying goodbye to the upperclassmen, and politely declining several upperclassmen's invitations to dinner, Hachiman left the classroom alone.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the way the female seniors were looking at him was terrifying, like a mother leopard eyeing its prey. He had to make several excuses before he was able to leave.

Why are there so many people? What happened?

After descending from the third floor of the teaching building to the first floor and exiting the building, I was surprised to find a large number of students gathered near the school gate, and the noise was quite loud.

Shiina had also said he would wait for him at the school gate. Hikigaya, filled with doubt, walked quickly closer and gradually understood what the noise was about.

"Promise him."

"Promise him."

"Promise him."

The cheers and jeers came in waves.

After hearing this, Hachiman realized what had happened. A student must have been confessed to at the school gate, and the people making a fuss must be the student's friends.

Then he wondered why someone would confess their love at the school gate, especially during summer vacation. Could it be that a student from their Class D was being confessed to?

When Hikigaya pushed aside the students surrounding him and saw who the person being confessed to was, his heart stopped for a moment.

It's Shiina, his closest friend with whom he just exchanged gifts today.

The person kneeling on one knee with flowers was someone Hikigaya recognized. It was the boy who was ranked number one on the second-year handsome guy list that Kushida had mentioned to him. His face, with its distinct features, was so handsome that it surpassed Nagumo to reach the top.

"Shut up, all of you! What kind of behavior is this, causing a ruckus at the school gate?" Hachiman's outburst, seemingly out of nowhere, silenced the crowd.

Because he often appeared behind Horikita Manabu, none of the second-year students who were egging him on didn't know that Hikigaya was the student council secretary, so no one dared to refute or question him.

"I've been waiting for you for so long, Hachiman." After the quiet, Shiina revealed a captivating smile, breathtakingly beautiful.

Ignoring the senior who was kneeling on one knee with flowers in his hands, Shiina walked up to him, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to the center of the field.

The eyes of the second-year students and the students in Class D were all focused on the two of them. At this moment, the number one on the second-year handsome guy list had turned ashen-faced.

"Compared to Hachiman, you're utterly unappealing to me, you piece of trash." Shiina took Hikigaya's arm. "I don't even intend to remember your name."

Shiina was furious when she realized that the senior in front of her wanted to use her to attack Hikigaya.

"Who are you calling trash? If it weren't for—"

"Huh?!" Hikigaya's sharp gaze pierced the so-called number one spot on the second-year handsome guy list.

After seeing Shiina firmly reject the handsome guy's confession, he felt as if a burden had been lifted from his body and he was in a good mood. If the good-for-nothing in front of him dared to speak rudely, he wouldn't mind sending him to keep Nagumo company in the future.

Shiina was absolutely right to call him a piece of trash. He was so easily insulted by Shiina that he was ready to spill all his secrets. He's truly hopeless.

What kind of people does that piece of trash Nagumo hire?

"If you want to be expelled like the two students in Class 2-C, you can stay here as long as you want." Hachiman scanned the faces of the students around him.

"three--"

"two--"