My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

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Is it a joke or a serious one? Please choose one.

Asou Aisa is happiest when she's showing off her love.

"Hehe~"

""""

I thoroughly enjoyed the luxurious dinner delivered by the hotel, and couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I ate.

Is it because it tastes good? That's one of the reasons.

But what really whetted my appetite was the image of my senior's expression that I had saved in my mind.

Hehehe~

That caught-off-the-cuff expression! So he was actually a little bit hoping we'd become that kind of relationship! Ugh, really! He seemed so unpredictable, but he's a guy after all! Why does he always make excuses?!

"...Aisa".

Suddenly, Ling Lili put down her chopsticks.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"That's enough."

"What's okay now?"

"You can start showing off now."

In an instant, Xiaojiezi, Lanlan, and Xiaoyueyue all turned their heads to look at Linglili.

"President, is this really okay?!"

"I don't recommend doing that! It'll ruin the precious meal!"

"As expected of the student council president—she's so magnanimous!"

I don't quite understand, but aren't you guys being a bit too rude?

Rinri, resting her chin on her hand, said:

"Letting her keep giggling will really affect our appetite. Why not just let her tell us everything, and make it a topic of conversation for everyone?"

"Huh? What are you saying? Aisha doesn't understand!♪"

"Enough with the nonsense, just tell me what happened between you and Senior Xingbian!"

Oh dear~ You're so fierce~♪ What are you angry about~? Is it because things aren't going well with the guy you like~?

"Since you're all so eager to hear it~ although I'm a little shy, I'll tell you anyway~?"

Actually, I was too embarrassed to say this! I really wanted to keep it a secret between me and my senior! But since everyone insisted on hearing it, I had no choice but to tell you!

So I told him what had happened between me and my senior.

"—Look, isn't my senior adorable? But then again, what am I going to do about how well we're getting along?!"

""""

For some reason, Ling Lili and the others looked at each other in silence.

Strange...why? Where's the screaming? Why isn't anyone screaming? Shouldn't they be cheering and excited after hearing this?

"Seeing you grinning like an idiot over there, I thought you were kissing..."

"I thought I had successfully confessed my feelings..."

"I really admire how my senior can smile so broadly over such a small thing."

This is too much!

"Why didn't they wish me happiness?! I even got that senior to cover up my shyness! That was a huge upset!"

"Excuse my rudeness, but I'm afraid only the senior sister thought the senior brother was hiding his shyness, right? Since you said 'Aren't you annoying?', the normal interpretation should be that he just finds you annoying, right?"

"Don't tell the truth—!"

Lanlan is always like this! She's always forcing me to face reality! And this junior is so arrogant!

"Okay, fine, even if you really are just hiding your shyness," Rin said. "You're too easy to fool. If you can just keep giggling like this just to hide your shyness, what if something more happens?"

"If it's just a silly grin, that's alright—" That's what Xiaoyueyue said. "Because if you're happy, it'll show on your face, which means you'll show it on your face if you're unhappy. But when Xiaoyu gets into a bad mood, it's a hundred times harder to deal with than just a silly grin."

"That makes sense... After all, nothing in this world is more difficult to deal with than a woman with a mental illness."

"The president is absolutely right!"

"Who said I have a mental illness!"

On the contrary, I'm quite confident in my mental resilience! I'm a strong girl who doesn't care no matter how much girls dislike me!

"No, it's okay. As long as there's progress, that's good enough."

Oh, Yuuko! When you're out and about, you really need cute junior girls to rely on!

"Haven't there been no developments for a whole year? Now that we're finally getting a little bit of response, it's not surprising that people would be so happy they'd go crazy."

"Ugh!... Those words stung me all over...!"

Yeah, you're right... Nothing happened all year... And I had this face that I enjoyed deceiving guys' feelings, but nothing happened all year... Should I be blamed for having this face...? It's better than actually being a slut, right...?

"Ah, Xiao Yu's spirit has returned."

"S-Sister, I'm sorry! I think you're very cute!"

"Waaaaah...really...?"

"It's much more endearing to be calm and collected than to have no accidents at all!"

"...Do I usually remain calm and collected even when there are no incidents...?"

"Ah! No, that's not what I meant...!"

So this is how you see me! You call me "Master," but this is how you really see me! Waaaaah, girls are so scary...

"Aisha, you don't need to be so discouraged."

Ling Lili picked up her chopsticks again to pick up some food and said:

"It has improved a lot compared to a year ago."

"What kind of comforting words are those!"

Was Senior Asou really that bad a year ago?

Xiao Jiezi tilted her head slightly. "You've made it sound like I'm already bad enough?"

"It was worse than that. She was always trying to seduce my husband, which made me personally go to the senior student council to question why they had let such a person into the student council."

"Our relationship back then was really terrible! Haha!"

"It's not funny at all. I even seriously considered how to kick you out back then."

"So how did things change later—?" Xiaoyueyue asked. "I think the two senior students seem to have a pretty good relationship now—"

"It would be tactless to say this too explicitly."

As Ling Lili said this, she gave me a meaningful sidelong glance. I had a bad feeling.

"It can only be said that, for better or worse, love will change a person."

"I see! Senior Asou does seem like the type who would change for a man!"

Little Yueyue, you're quite presumptuous in talking to your senior!

I angrily turned my head to the side and said:

"You guys are making it sound like I was the one who liked the senior first. But it was clearly the senior who approached me first!"

"Indeed, you used to avoid Xingbian senior like the plague."

"Huh? Is that so?"

Seeing Xiaojie's surprise, Lingli smiled mischievously and said:

"Given senior's independent personality, it probably wouldn't be fun to tease him at first. You might not even know how to get along with him. Don't let Aisha's appearance fool you, she's actually not good at interacting with very masculine guys, and only dares to put on airs with quiet guys who have the upper hand."

I heard someone chuckle to themselves.

Looking towards the source of the sound, I saw it was Izana, who had been eating quietly.

When Izana realized everyone was looking at her, she became flustered and said:

"I'm sorry! It's nothing! I wasn't thinking anything about 'typical otaku princess, lol'!"

"You've already said it all."

After being teased by Xiaoyueyue, Izana, the junior, panicked and screamed, but I secretly felt a little pleased. You're right, I'm a born otaku princess. Except for my figure!

"Well, that's how it is. At first, she wasn't very clingy to Hoshibe-senpai. But, as you know, Hoshibe-senpai may seem cold, but he's actually very caring—it seems that because Aisha is such a pitiful person, he would often talk to her and check on her. By the time he realized it..."

"Wait a minute! You're making it sound like I'm some kind of girl who's easily swayed!"

"Isn't that how it is?"

Don't talk like that with such self-righteousness! This woman...!

"...It's because of something that happened. Before that, I really found my senior annoying!"

"Oh? Tell me about it then. What happened?"

Oh no, I've dug my own grave.

A meaningful smile appeared on Ling Lili's face as she said:

"You really like showing off your love, right? Then go all the way."

...This isn't like showing off a successful attack, is it? It feels more like...how should I put it? Like exposing your vulnerable side...

"You all want to hear it, right?"

"I want to hear it!"

"I want to hear it!"

With Xiaojiezi and Xiaoyueyue looking at me expectantly, I knew I had nowhere to escape.

After a sigh, I reluctantly recalled what happened almost a year ago.

"...I think it was during the sports festival—"

Asou Aisha ◆ My All

I want to get attention.

I discovered I had this desire when I was in elementary school.

At the time, I was performing in a play at a presentation of my academic achievements. As you can see, being reasonably good-looking was my only advantage as a girl, so naturally, I was chosen to play the lead role in the class.

On the gymnasium stage, I transformed into the heroine of a story, receiving high praise from my classmates and cheers from their parents… Then, the next day, as I returned to my unchanging daily routine, I couldn't help but think:

not enough.

Knowing the joy of being the center of attention, I felt an unbearable hunger for those gazes.

Why won't everyone give me a second glance? Until yesterday, everyone was clearly so concerned about me!

At that moment, yes, if I had joined a theater troupe, or seriously pursued an acting career in some other way, perhaps it would have been the beautiful origin story of a girl chasing her dream. But I lacked the drive and the passion. I simply continued to live each day with a vague sense of dissatisfaction.

In junior high, I wrote poems and wore outlandish makeup; I did all the weird things junior high students do, but I didn't take any direct action. If I had some talent, I might have uploaded homemade videos or found an outlet for this desire in some other way. But I ultimately couldn't put it into action; that was probably my limit.

That's just how I am, so even in high school, I only dared to flirt with boys who looked quiet.

I still don't understand why that senior would recommend me to the student council. My classmate is that girl, Hong Lingli. No matter how you compare us, I'm not as gifted as her. In the student council, no matter how you look at it, I'm just a supporting character next to Hong Lingli.

So—maybe that's why I find it fun to pester Ah-Zhang.

Joe himself wouldn't react in a funny way. What's funny is Rinri. That genius girl, the embodiment of leadership, would storm over to settle scores the moment she saw me bothering Joe. I found that incredibly amusing. Just thinking about how this girl, who's like the heroine of the world, has my issues on her mind makes me incredibly happy.

Ah, I don't mean to have a lesbian relationship with her. I need to make that clear first.

What I did was... yes, it's the same as harassing someone by leaving comments on a celebrity's fan page. It's the satisfaction of having a big shot occupy a little of your time. Frankly, it's using someone else's achievements to mask your own insignificance—the lowest form of self-comfort.

And my insignificance...

I don't know when—he saw through me.

—Ya Shuang. If you're going to do it, do it seriously.