Chapter 160: Two Hundred Monthly Tickets Add One More Update! The Author Has Gone Mad!

Dinner ended.

“Akito.”

Mashiro suddenly stood up and called his name.

“Wh-what is it?”

“Please get along well with me.”

Mashiro bowed politely.

“Oh, uh. I should be the one asking you… wait, no! Why do you already seem like someone who needs looking after?”

“Akito says things that sometimes really confuse me.”

I’m the one who should be confused!”

“That’s troubling.”

“Ah, damn it! My head feels like a mess now! Seriously, just what kind of crazy cohabitation is this?!”

Somehow, the air felt heavy.

This kind of relationship…

Caregiver and the one being cared for…

…was a first for Himekoji in his entire life.

—

Because Mashiro eating the Baumkuchen at the convenience store disrupted things earlier, Himekoji completely forgot he needed to buy toiletries for the girl.

So, he had no choice but to give her one of the sets he had carefully prepared in advance for his Imouto.

He was really reluctant!

They were all couple items he was super satisfied with.

It seemed he could only take some time soon to buy a new set for his Imouto.

After finishing the meal, washing the dishes, and putting the utensils away properly…

Himekoji, unable to endure the torment of the airhead outside his room, honestly chose to retreat into his own bedroom.

He went online to browse for suitable debut sites for One-Punch Man.

Pretty much made up his mind.

After all, even in his previous life, the original became wildly popular online first. So, there was no need to try submitting it to publishers one by one.

It wasted time, and more than likely, he’d just get his stomach full of anger again.

Thinking this, Himekoji didn’t hesitate anymore. He directly dumped the first chapter onto Web Comic Net.

Afterwards, he didn’t bother about it anymore, closed the webpage, and started playing an online game.

No money to pay to win. So frustrating!

—

Next day, waking up, it was only seven-thirty.

Nearly an hour left before class started – plenty of time.

Washed up briefly. Took about ten minutes. The wall clock in the living room pointed to seven-forty.

Breakfast solved with a bottle of milk and a bread roll. Himekoji packed his bag properly and prepared to leave.

Reaching the Genkan, he suddenly noticed something wrong.

“Huh? Shiina hasn’t left yet?”

A pair of Little Leather Shoes was scattered haphazardly inside the shoe cabinet. One here, one there.

Could she still be asleep?

Remembering the drowsy, airhead look the girl usually had, Himekoji thought it was better to check on her.

He walked to Shiina’s room door and knocked.

Dong. Dong.

As the knocking sounds rang out, at that moment, he felt a slightly uneasy flutter in his chest.

His mind involuntarily conjured images of Mashiro wearing Pajamas and her sleeping face… creating a strange sense of anticipation.

What’s wrong with him? Was he a Pervert?

He quickly huffed twice, forcing himself to calm down.

He tried to ease his nerves, but the voice he deliberately used came out in a weirdly strained tone because of slight tension.

Seriously!

Probably because the girl had left such a harmless, simple… no, perhaps ignorant was more fitting, blank slate kind of impression on him before, causing Himekoji to feel even more awkward and at a loss around her.

Otherwise, he was a Pervert! Why would he be this pathetic? It wasn’t like he’d never been inside a girl’s room before.

Moreover, strictly speaking, this room had been his up until yesterday – his secret little vault for storing his “treasures”.

“Hey, hey! Shiina! If you don’t get up soon, you might be late!”

No response from inside the room. Maybe she didn’t hear?

So, he knocked harder.

“Shiina! Time to wake up!”

“Huh? Still no reaction? That doesn’t seem good.”

Knock. Knock. Knock…

Cruelly, the only response he got was silence.

“No choice.”

He reached for the doorknob… but snapped back to reality the next moment.

Before, this room was unoccupied and unlocked. Now, it was different.

Still, he tried gently turning the knob anyway. But… he didn’t feel the expected resistance of a locked door.

This feel definitely meant it was unlocked.

No way!

She was way too careless!

If he’d gone wild last night and barged in to attack her at night, what exactly was Shiina Mashiro planning to do?

No… maybe from the moment she agreed to this living arrangement, she had already cast aside her life and death…

That thought popped into his head out of nowhere.

“Although barging into a girl’s bedroom like this might not be quite right, to keep Shiina from being late, it’s unavoidable!”

Making a pointless excuse to himself, Himekoji gripped the doorknob, turned it slowly, and gently pushed the door open just a crack.

“Huh?”

He peeked through the gap into the room. Yet, what met his eyes completely stunned Himekoji.

“What’s going on?”

He even thought he might have the wrong room and frantically checked the door number.

The nameplate read “Shiina’s Room,” the one he had put up for Mashiro yesterday. So, nope, he wasn’t wrong!

Words failed him. He subconsciously pushed the door, opening it fully.

The scene before him was completely different from his impression last night—

Clothes, underwear, books, and manga were scattered everywhere on the floor. He couldn’t even see the carpet. The room looked like it had been hit by a tornado.

“Alert: What’s going on?!” blared in his mind first, followed immediately by the flashing neon sign: “THIEF!”

His head rushed with blood. Sweat started breaking out all over his body.

“Hey! Shiina!”

He rushed into the room in panic.

Mashiro wasn’t in the bed. Not on the floor either.

Nowhere!

Every time he shifted his gaze, a shiver ran down his spine.

The room was a disaster zone… and Mashiro was missing.

A desperate situation!

Himekoji’s legs trembled slightly. He leaned on the desk for support, accidentally nudging the mouse in the process…

…reactivating the monitor that had been in sleep mode.

The sudden surge of light from the screen made Himekoji, already tense and worried, let out a small yelp of fright.

“Whoa! It’s just the computer…”

Finding it was a false alarm filled him with a sense of grievance as he glared at the screen.

So… what was on the screen?

Inside the panel-grid layout, a beautiful man was speaking sweet nothings. He held the cheeks of a shyly bowing girl and leaned in slowly…

The drawing was excellent, skillfully done—well-balanced proportions, appropriate anatomy without being overly realistic.

However, the lines were a bit too many, giving an initial impression of being overly complex and crowded.

So—

This was clearly a draft for a shoujo manga!

“In other words, Shiina she…”

As he spoke, something near his feet moved slightly.

It couldn’t be…

An idea occurred to Himekoji. Black lines filled his forehead. Overcome with speechlessness, his neck turned stiffly as his gaze crept inch by inch downwards beneath the desk.

Sure enough—

Blankets and clothes had been pulled into the cramped space under the desk.

There, Shiina Mashiro slept… looking perfectly happy.

At a glance, it looked just like a hamster nest…

However, what Himekoji didn’t know yet—

This particular Shiina…

Was sleeping naked!