~ Thank you, We've hit 300 Powerstones. This is the Bonus Chapter
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Apologies, I was planning to publish this chapter last night, but I ended up going to sleep early.
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"Tagging along is a hard pass. I have zero interest in being a third wheel."
Despite her dismissive words, Yumiko Miura couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy deep down.
After all, her close friend now had a boyfriend, while she was still entirely single. For someone as proud as Yumiko, it felt slightly embarrassing to be the odd one out.
"How would you be a third wheel? You could help us carry our shopping bags and pay for our meals when we eat out. Nobody would call that a third wheel."
"Hah! You're literally treating me like your minion!"
'Help you carry bags AND pay for your meals? It seems you've completely forgotten who the boss is around here.'
"Hahaha!"
Yumiko obviously wasn't genuinely angry—she could easily take a joke.
Seeing her best friend and her boyfriend bantering so effortlessly, Yui Yuigahama let out a bright, happy laugh. She genuinely hoped that peaceful, joyful days like this would last forever.
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Meanwhile, on Megumi Kato's end.
Although her eyes remained fixed on the book in her hands, her gaze kept subtly drifting over to where Kai was sitting.
If it hadn't been for their unexpected encounter last night, Megumi never would have guessed that a guy like him was actually an unapologetic, two-timing scumbag. She couldn't help but feel a morbid curiosity—if Yui and the rest of his girlfriends ever found out about each other's existence, what kind of chaotic fallout would ensue?
Furthermore...
She didn't know if Kai had just been joking last night when he boldly offered to make her his "fourth boat."
But right now...
Megumi found herself actually starting to take the offer seriously.
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During the lunch break.
Using his usual string of flawless excuses, Kai bid farewell to Yui and the others and made his way up to the school rooftop.
"Yo! Bocchi-chan, Yukino."
Perhaps because they genuinely had no other friends, both Hitori Gotoh and Yukino Yukinoshita always arrived incredibly early.
Kai was almost always the last one to show up.
"Kai-kun!"
Even though they had been hanging out for quite a while now, Hitori still acted painfully shy whenever she saw him.
Yukino Yukinoshita, on the other hand...
"Yukino?"
Hearing how he had just addressed her, Yukino raised a sharp, questioning eyebrow and leveled a cool glare at him.
"What's wrong? Aren't we already friends?"
This sudden shift to using her given name was a calculated probe on Kai's part. It was the perfect way to test exactly where he stood in Yukino's heart.
"I have absolutely no recollection of us ever becoming friends."
Yukino replied with absolute, deadpan composure. Her tone was completely flat, as if she were simply stating an objective, indisputable fact of the universe.
However, Kai knew perfectly well that a reaction like this actually proved she had already accepted him. If she truly disliked it, she would have completely ignored him and refused to dignify the comment with a response.
It was just her inherent, stubborn tsundere nature refusing to let her openly admit it.
"Eh? We still aren't friends? You're so mean, Yukino."
Kai played along, dramatically feigning a look of heartbroken shock.
Even Hitori Gotoh, sitting off to the side, looked over in sheer surprise.
"I-I'm so sorry for presumptuously assuming that Yukinoshita-san was our friend!"
Taking the bit far too seriously, Hitori immediately began to profusely apologize. If Kai hadn't physically stopped her, she probably would have dropped into a full, desperate prostration right there on the concrete just to express her profound remorse.
"Ahem!" Yukino genuinely hadn't expected Hitori to react so intensely to a simple bout of sarcastic banter. "I never said that... Anyway, a name is just a name. Call me whatever you want."
Faced with Hitori's overwhelmingly pure, straightforward, and hopelessly naive personality, even the icy Yukino Yukinoshita found herself completely unable to hold her ground.
"R-Really?"
"Y-Yes, really."
Meeting Hitori's sparkling, hopeful eyes, Yukino could only sigh and nod in defeat.
Catching sight of Kai desperately trying to suppress a smirk out of the corner of her eye, Yukino shot him a lethal glare.
He actually has the nerve to sit there and laugh?
"Alright, alright! It's getting late, let's just eat!" Clearing his throat, Kai smoothly broke the tension and shifted the topic.
"Kai-kun!"
Hitori obediently handed a freshly prepared lunchbox over to him.
"Thanks for the food, Bocchi-chan."
"I-It's no problem at all!"
Kai's warm gratitude made Hitori laugh bashfully, her heart practically soaring with happiness.
After accepting Hitori's cooking, Kai didn't immediately start eating. Instead, he turned his head and aimed an identical, highly expectant gaze straight at Yukino.
"..."
She had originally planned to completely ignore him.
But under the sheer, scorching intensity of his stare, Yukino eventually caved. Feigning absolute nonchalance, she said:
"I already told you before. I simply prepared too many ingredients this morning, so I packed an extra portion. It's not like I made it specifically for you."
"..."
Kai didn't say a single word. He just kept staring at her, the expectation in his eyes not wavering for a fraction of a second.
For some inexplicable reason, her usual icy, unshakable composure always seemed to slightly crumble whenever she had to deal with him.
"If you keep staring at me like that, I'm not going to give it to you!"
As she spoke, she reluctantly pulled a pristine bento box from her bag. Originally, she had planned to keep it hidden if Hitori hadn't brought anything for him. But faced with Kai's relentless puppy-dog eyes, Yukino completely failed to hold the line.
"Yukino is the absolute best!" Kai threw both hands into the air and cheered.
"Keep your voice down!"
Thank god they were up on the isolated rooftop where no one else could hear them. Otherwise, Yukino couldn't even begin to imagine how utterly humiliating a scene like this would be in public.
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While they were eating their lunch...
Yukino glanced at Kai, then looked over at Hitori, before suddenly announcing:
"I've decided to establish a club."
Is the Service Club finally making its debut? Having watched the anime, Kai obviously knew exactly what kind of club Yukino was planning to create. He simply nodded in acknowledgment.
"That's amazing!"
Having offered his obligatory praise, he immediately went back to scarfing down his food.
Seeing Kai's reaction, Hitori instinctively parroted him without a second thought.
"T-That's amazing!"
"..."
Yukino took a deep breath to steady her rising blood pressure and continued:
"I've already submitted the application for a clubroom with the faculty advisor. We can head over there later. And just so you know, I fully intend to take this club's activities very seriously."
"THAT'S AMAZING!"
"T-THAT'S AMAZING!"
"..."
Watching Kai and Hitori completely ignore everything she was saying while blindly nodding and shoveling food into their mouths...
Yukino felt her carefully maintained self-control violently snap.
She reached out and forcefully clamped her hand down over Kai's chopsticks, stopping him mid-bite. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"If you're going to keep giving me such incredibly half-hearted responses, you can completely forget about ever getting another lunch from me again."
"..."
'Wait, so that means she was planning on making me lunch in the future too?'
"Ahem!"
Clearing his throat, Kai instantly set his chopsticks down, sat up perfectly straight, and looked at her with an expression of absolute, unwavering solemnity.
"Please, continue!"
"Hmph." Seeing his drastic change in attitude, Yukino gave a satisfied nod.
Perhaps even Yukino herself hadn't realized it yet, but for someone who prided herself on being perpetually calm and detached, her emotional state was now constantly and drastically fluctuating based on Kai's slightest reactions.
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