My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

Page 229

"Huh? What? Yuuko, what kind of nonsensical question is this? It sounds like I have a crush on someone! I only have a senior who's fun to mess around with, I don't have a crush on any guy."

"Hey girl, you need to have the right premise before you ask a question. Aren't you implying that I have a crush on a guy? I only have one classmate who belittles me so much that it makes me furious, but I don't have a crush on any guy."

Stop giving me that nonsense.

I really wanted to say that, but I held back at the last minute.

"Sorry, I'm correcting my question. How did Senior Asou and President Kurenai celebrate Senior Hoshinobe's and Senior Yuba's birthdays respectively? I'm currently thinking about what kind of birthday gift to give a boy, but I just can't think of a good idea..."

"Oh—a birthday present for a boy, huh? Then you've come to the right place wanting to hear our experience!"

"In that case, I'm happy to share with you. If my experience can be of nourishment to your growth, there would be nothing more gratifying."

Ah, you seem quite happy. You seem to be reveling in the pleasure of sharing your dating experiences with others.

To be honest, at this point I already had a bit of a bad feeling, but since I was the one who brought it up, I couldn't just change my mind and say "no, it's not necessary".

"Then, Rinri, may I start?"

"Hmm. Then let me see your skills."

Senior Sister Ya Shuang could hardly contain her excitement. She became the first player to start, and her hands were clasped together in a serious manner.

"My senior's birthday is in August, that day—"

Asou Aisa ◆ From my junior, this is a one-time offer...

"...It's a dead end."

On a sweltering summer day in my own room, I felt the urge to be declared a general.

I subtly asked my senior about his birthday and prepared a birthday gift—everything had gone smoothly so far. I even had the extra thought that if I gave him this, that senior, who lacked experience with women, would definitely become restless no matter how much he pretended to be fine.

The issue is.

How should I give it to him?

This is a dead end. To be honest, it's August now, right in the middle of summer vacation. Student council activities are few and far between, so opportunities to meet are already limited. Although I could easily get in touch with him by phone, how am I supposed to get that oblivious, cold-blooded, and thick-skinned senior to come out on his birthday?

If we're really going to talk about it, asking someone to meet on their birthday would be no different from confessing your feelings.

As I pondered these questions, the face of a classmate I disliked resurfaced in my mind. She's been constantly saying, "Senior Xingbian is about to step down, if you want to confess, now's the time"—it's so nagging. Come on, it would be best if I actually confessed to him… But wait? What if he confessed to me? Maybe I could consider it?

...Ugh, how many times do I need to think about this? If this keeps up, I'll miss the opportunity, and the gift I specially bought will just end up as compost in the closet!

"Sister, are you there?... Ugh, what's going on in this room? Don't leave your bra pads on the floor!"

"Little sister! Your older sister is facing the biggest crisis of her life right now!"

"Don't beg your sister, who's four years younger than you, for help. Don't you feel ashamed?"

How dare you attack me with such serious words...! I don't remember ever teaching you to be like this!

"It must be something to do with the guy anyway. I should hurry up and go on a date with him or something, otherwise this room will fall apart."

"You can't just go like that! High school students have a lot of difficulties, you know!"

"Then do whatever you want, just leave home. Class or student council is fine, your sister should have plenty of friends, right?"

"Find someone from the student council to hang out with—ah, I didn't know that was a good idea!"

There was no dead end at all. It was just that my brain overheated and crashed!

I leaped back to bed, listening to my sister's sigh behind me, and sent the following message to the student council's LINE group:

Let's all go to the swimming pool!

"What are you doing, senior?"

As I approached him with a calculated tone, I bent down slightly to get a closer look at the senior student lying on the recliner.

With my profound knowledge and experience, I'm not afraid to wear a swimsuit. I possess a perfectly sculpted cleavage that enhances my figure, and a slender waist that I dare to show off. When I put on a pure white bikini that's both innocent and sexy, I'll have all the attention by the pool.

But all of that was for naught. The senior in swim trunks was lying in the shade of the parasol, scrolling through his phone, not even glancing at me.

"Ah—I wanted to get the login reward first, but I accidentally started grinding levels."

"You've completely fallen for the operations team's trap...hehe."

"...Hey. Why are you lying next to me?"

"Take a short rest—it won't hurt."

"Nothing will happen..."

I gently clenched my fist to stifle the laughter that was about to escape my lips.

I was just lying on the recliner next to my senior, facing him. There was distance, a gap between us. But doing this...

"It's like sleeping with someone, isn't it?"

"...Hmm."

After a brief pause, the senior's lips curled into a slightly annoyed smile. "Did your heart flutter for a moment?" "You did, didn't you? That's why you're annoyed, right, senior?" Hmph!

My senior is clearly slow-witted, cold-blooded, and oblivious, building high walls around himself, yet he occasionally lets his guard down like this, which I find very amusing. It feels like he's accepted me. It's like, for just this moment, he lets me into his hard shell, embracing my existence.

Ah... soon he won't be a senior anymore.

Although graduation is still some time away... once the cultural festival ends, he will no longer be a member of the student council...

...Only once.

The opportunity to give a birthday gift as an upperclassman or underclassman at the same school—this is a one-time event only.

"—Senior! Do you want me to help you apply sunscreen?"

"what?"

As I sat up abruptly, I spoke, and my senior looked at me with a surprised expression.

"What, are you imitating Hong and Yuba? No need, I didn't try to get in the water that many times. You mean you just wanted to touch me, right? Be careful, or I'll report you for sexual harassment!"

"Hmm. Then come in with me. Come here!"

"Hey...!"

I grabbed my senior's arm, helped this big guy stand up, and then dragged him towards the pool.

"Hey! Diving is prohibited here..."

"You're not the student council president today, so don't be so formal—come on!"

"Ooh ooh ooh!"

I turned my back to the pool and let myself fall into the water.

White bubbles rose and bubbled before my eyes, and between them, I saw my senior's face with his eyes tightly closed. Perhaps that was the moment I was most grateful for, the moment I could open my eyes underwater without wearing goggles.

My senior closed his eyes like a child, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him.

Immediately afterwards, my senior pushed himself up and pulled me to the surface of the water.

“Puha!”

The senior student wiped his face with his large hands and lifted his soaking wet hair.

Then he looked at me, my hand draped over his shoulder, and said with a stern expression:

"You! How could you suddenly catch me off guard without warming up—huh?"

He finally noticed.

She noticed the silver necklace hanging around her neck.

"hehe."

I tilted my head slightly at the most appropriate angle.

With his prettiest, most mischievous smile on his face, he said:

"It looks like you're wearing a collar, doesn't it, senior?"

That's right.

This necklace is the birthday gift I gave him.

Irito Yume ◆ The End of the Foreword

"Oh wow wow~~~~~!"

I thought there would be some utterly useless interlude, but to my surprise, I heard an interlude that was a hundred times more romantic than I had imagined, and I was deeply moved.

"Huh? Isn't that great? Huh? Isn't that great! Dragging my senior into the pool and then helping him put it on? Huh—! Isn't that awesome?!"

"Hmph, so this is the power of your master. Show me your respect."

"Master, you still act when the time is right!"

"Hey, hey—it makes it sound like I'm always too afraid to take action!"

This little devil interlude moved me so much that I accidentally blurted out the truth. Eeeeeee… This, this is youth…

I was so moved I trembled. My master smiled smugly, while only the chairman of the Red Association looked at her with half-open eyes and disdain.

"...Did you forget the ending to your story?"

"What?"

The ending?

President Hong, looking dumbfounded, rested his chin on his hand and said:

"Later you realized that the impact of jumping into the pool caused your breast pads to fall out of your swimsuit—"

"Ah! Ah! I don't know what you're talking about! I don't seem to remember you!"

"Master..."

Give me back the feeling I had.

I should say that this is a small thing that should have been considered before doing it.

"Alright! Next one, next one! Let's move on to Suzuri!"

"I really can't do anything with you... It seems that even in this kind of situation, I still have to fulfill my duties as president. Since the vice president is unreliable, I have to put in a lot more effort and worry."

"So annoying...! Just like the emergency maintenance in a game, it's incredibly annoying...!"

President Hong smiled confidently and began to speak in a relaxed manner.

"Ah-zhang's birthday date is really very much in his style—"

Hong Lingli◆No matter where you hide in this world

"It was last week."

"what?"

In early January—after the Spring Festival holiday—I casually asked a question, and the answer I received left me speechless.

"My birthday is January 5th...which was last week."

I started sweating profusely, a cold sweat I hadn't experienced in years.

Joe—Haba Jouji is a boy who lacks any real presence. He always blends into the classroom like a background character, and sometimes even the teachers forget his name.

However, that's only the case for ordinary people—no matter how inconspicuous they may seem, they can't fool my discerning eyes. Since we entered the same class, I've never forgotten their existence, nor have they ever disappeared from my sight. Even if others can't do it, only I should be able to.

Unexpectedly, I...

I should know perfectly well. There's no need to ask questions like, "By the way, when is your birthday?" That information is even in the student handbook; I couldn't possibly have missed it. That information is completely lost from my mind. My brain, which can remember every word of the lessons clearly, has completely missed this one piece of information; I don't know where it went.

"You don't need to worry about it."

He spoke as if nothing had happened.

With a calm expression, A-Zhang said.

"After the first three days of the Lunar New Year are over, and everyone's tired of saying 'Happy New Year,' it's my birthday. Even my parents forget, it's unavoidable. I'm used to it, so Hong, you don't need to worry about my feelings."

got used to?

Helpless?

Outrageous!

"Ah-Zhang—this only applies to this year; your birthday is changed to today."