Not long after Miss Mei had left, a girl with long, white hair walked into the office.
She gazed at the young man opposite her—the one who barely managed Chaldeas or St. Freya Academy—and her smile was tinged with amusement.
Across from her, the young man with long, black hair was crumpling the plan he had just written into a ball and tossing it into the trash can.
"Ah Li, did you have fun?" she asked, her tone as casual as a lover making small talk.
"Also, where's Ana?"
"Do I really have to answer those two questions?"
Li Zihan sighed, looking at this surprisingly perceptive white-haired fluffball, who was straying further and further from her usual characterization.
"I'm just asking casually," the girl, who had always been quite clever before meeting the Rice Herrscher and was only now returning to form, said with a placid smile.
Miss Sirin had always been a very smart girl. She only seemed foolish because, in stable and reassuring situations, she would give up on thinking and leave everything to the people she trusted.
Being with Li Zihan certainly made her feel stable and reassured.
But…
A certain scumbag's skill at picking up women was first-class. If she didn't use her brain a little, she probably wouldn't even know how green her own hat was.
For this bizarre reason, the girl who had picked her intelligence back up continued to stare at the bastard who had clearly been up to something, her smiling inquiry persisting.
"But I think Ah Li, who seems to have awakened a rather incredible new taste while I wasn't looking, wouldn't mind answering the question. Right?"
"After all…"
Miss Sirin didn't continue. If this bastard really got addicted, he'd probably have her hiding under the desk in the future, too. While her beloved was talking to her best friend, to become one with him without her friend's knowledge…
That feeling was actually super exciting—ahem, shameful.
Miss Sirin, who seemed to have awakened a rather strange new XP after rolling around in the sheets with a certain someone right next to Miss Mei's bedroom, coughed inwardly.
Then, she looked at the young man with her one gold and one blue eye, awaiting his answer.
"It felt awful."
Surprisingly, the young man's response was not what Miss Sirin had expected.
Eh?
Didn't he specifically set this up with Mei to seek out this kind of thrill?
Miss Sirin's heterochromatic eyes stared at the biggest pervert she knew, her expression one of pure astonishment. Wasn't this guy's favorite pastime all sorts of bizarre plays, as long as they didn't physically harm the girl?
Could it be that she was wrong?
Then, the young man gave her the reason.
"We were cosplaying getting caught in the act, and then we actually got caught in the act."
Cosplaying getting caught in the act…
Miss Sirin was stunned.
They were cosplaying a scenario where they were caught cheating?
Alright, then. This guy was as hopeless as ever.
"As for Ana, she bolted as soon as she knew Mei was gone."
The moment Miss Mei left, Ana had scrambled out from under the desk in a panic and had Li Zihan teleport her away so she could calm down.
Clearly, Miss Ana's XP wasn't as peculiar as Miss Sirin's.
"…Mei really has it rough."
So, while Mei was feeding Zihan cake, was Ana really hiding under the desk, releasing this bastard's energy with her mouth or her feet?
A subtle expression crossed Sirin's face as she felt a wave of sympathy for Miss Mei and the numerous green hats she wore.
Inexplicably, she found herself hoping that Kiana wouldn't marry Zihan after all. Before marriage, fooling around with Zihan only meant putting green hats on other people.
After marriage… it would be a whole crowd of people putting green hats on her.
Unfortunately, Kiana really wanted a wedding.
Miss Sirin, who was starting to think that not getting married and just mooching off Mei and her lover in their future home was a pretty good option, sighed internally.
"By the way, let me ask, why did you suddenly decide to marry Mei?"
Sirin, who couldn't fathom why a certain someone's brain would suddenly short-circuit and lead him to propose to Miss Mei, walked right up to her lover's side and asked.
"Is there a reason?"
"Personally, I feel that if your only goal is to stabilize your relationships with the various girls, Kiana would be the first choice for marriage."
As if by intention, or perhaps by chance, Miss Sirin said this casually.
"After all, Kiana isn't the type to make a big deal out of things. Even if you married her, she wouldn't go around announcing it, and you'd have more time to stabilize your other relationships."
"Because I really do want to marry Mei."
The words that came out of Li Zihan's mouth were unexpected, leaving Miss Sirin somewhat astonished.
She stared wide-eyed at the man who had previously revealed he was planning to move to Siberia to get a residence permit.
Didn't this guy just say he was going to Siberia to marry Seele? How did he suddenly come up with the idea of marrying Mei?
"You might not believe this," he began. "Mei is my ideal type. You could even say she perfectly matches all my expectations for the word 'wife'."
The young man, who was genuinely fond of Mei, continued. "I'm very fond of her, and she likes me a lot. That's enough, isn't it?"
So this bastard, Ah Li, actually wanted to marry Mei from the very beginning? Miss Sirin thought.
"There's more to it," the girl said after a moment of reflection, her eyes narrowing.
"You're also worried you can't handle Mei, aren't you?"
"There's a bit of that, yes," the young man sighed. He was well aware that while Miss Mei liked him, her attachment was nowhere near as deep as Sirin's, Bronya's, or even Kiana's.
"If I don't give her a clear answer soon, she's probably going to break up with me."
"...Ah Li, you're just feeling guilty, aren't you?"
Miss Sirin, who had long known her lover was a scumbag but hadn't realized the depths of his scumminess, sighed.
"You really are a piece of trash."
"I suppose I am," Li Zihan nodded, his voice perfectly candid.
"But speaking of which, is it really okay to only talk about Mei since we've met?"
Suddenly remembering that the girl before him was connected to something he needed to do next, Li Zihan spoke up.
"What do you want to talk about?"
The girl crossed her arms, looking warily at the man who was practically Zeus reincarnated.
"Let me be clear, I'm not in a good mood right now. If you're expecting me to squat under your desk and finish what Ana started, it's not happening."
"Hey, hey, do I look like the type of guy, like Zeus, who only has sex on the brain?" Li Zihan's eyes widened as if he had been gravely insulted.
"Aren't you?" Miss Sirin rolled her eyes.
Seeing his lover's "that's exactly what you are" expression, Li Zihan sighed internally. It seemed his reputation was quite poor.
"Of course, I was going to ask about official business."
"For instance?"
"How is your other self doing?"