Chapter 316: The Battle of Love Begins!
Chapter 316: The Battle of Love Begins!
“Hoo—”
Himekoji took a deep breath. The pounding of his heart slowly calmed down, and that painful feeling finally vanished at some point. It was as though it had never existed.
“Fever, no problem.”
Right then, Mashiro gave Himekoji a thumbs-up. She didn’t have the right expression to match it, but it was still hard to imagine Mashiro making such a gesture.
Himekoji paused, then finally found his usual rhythm for complaining—
“No problem? Seriously, where exactly is ‘no problem’?! Look at your senior lying on the bed! She’s been weak and sick with fever all day!”
Nanami was exactly as Himekoji described—weak, looking unwell, gripping Torajirou tightly in both hands. Her fingertips were white from the force.
The girl stared intently at Mashiro and Himekoji, though he didn’t notice her gaze.
“Is that not a problem either? Is that still okay?”
Himekoji reasoned seriously with the foolish girl.
He did this because he knew—
If he didn’t completely dissuade Mashiro from her ridiculous ideas, she absolutely would act on them!
That’s just the kind of fool Mashiro was!
“No problem. Ayano already taught me.”
Mashiro met Himekoji’s gaze without flinching.
“Ayano told me that in war, you do whatever it takes.”
“What sort of war are you talking about?!”
Mashiro didn’t answer Himekoji directly. She tilted her head, glanced at Nanami, and said:
“Can’t lose.”
“You’ve already lost by getting sick!”
“No, I haven’t!”
“No, it’s a strategy. It’s Plan B.”
Surprisingly, both Nanami and Mashiro spoke at the exact same time.
“Huh?”
Himekoji looked at Nanami in surprise first, only then realizing his own words had been like an explosion hurting everyone in the area—accidentally hitting Nanami too. He hurriedly made an apologetic gesture.
“Hmph.”
Nanami bit her lip, turned her face away, and ignored Himekoji.
Himekoji could only scratch his head awkwardly, then turned his attention back to Mashiro.
“Plan B? What the heck is Plan B? Don’t suddenly throw weird words like that around!”
“Plan B is a strategy. Short for ‘get a fever, get cared for in bed, then give birth to a baby all at once’.”
Mashiro actually explained it with a dead-serious face…
“PASS! Give me a more normal plan! Plan A? Since there’s a Plan B, there must be a Plan A, right?”
“No, there isn’t.”
“Huh?”
“But there’s a Plan C.”
“Then use Plan C!”
“No. Ayano said that’s only for the absolute worst situation. A last resort.”
“Last resort?”
Himekoji shot Mashiro a suspicious glance, asking uneasily,
“What is it?”
“Murder.”
Mashiro turned her face slightly towards Nanami, completely expressionless. At the same time, she made a terrifying throat-slitting gesture.
“Huh? Murder? Me?”
Nanami jumped in fright, her whole body “whooshing” back to the foot of the bed in an instant to put distance between her and Mashiro.
“It’s okay, Nanami. Don’t worry. I would only use it as a last resort.”
Seemingly puzzled by why Nanami reacted so strongly, Mashiro offered some comfort.
Instantly, Nanami’s face grew even paler…
This Mashiro… she’d just threatened her twice, all while acting like it was nothing!
Twice!
“Enough!”
Himekoji rubbed his temples in frustration, feeling a headache coming on. He snapped, irritated.
“Shiina, you idiot! ‘No problem’ my foot! No Plan C! You are not allowed to use it, ‘last resort’ or not!”
“As long as Akito doesn’t make things get that bad.”
Mashiro changed her tone. That sentence… was it shifting the threat from Nanami to Himekoji?
Himekoji scowled, utterly speechless. Finally losing patience, he gave her a hard flick on the forehead.
“Bong!”
“Ow… hurts…”
“Good. If it hurts, then stop talking nonsense!”
Himekoji checked the time.
“Alright, Shiina, get back to your own room and sleep. Don’t disturb Aoyama’s rest.”
“What about Akito?”
Mashiro looked at Himekoji, her eyes full of wariness, as if terrified he would send her away so he and Nanami could… do unspeakable things… alone in the room.
“I’m going back to my room too!”
He’d been busy all day and was tired. He’d even yawned uncontrollably several times just now.
“Oh. Then we go out together.”
Mashiro pushed Himekoji toward the door.
Himekoji, helpless, could only turn his head to say to Nanami.
“Aoyama, rest well.”
“…Uh, yeah.”
Nanami paused for a second, seeming a bit dazed, before managing a response. By the time she spoke, Himekoji and Mashiro had already both left her bedroom.
……
“Hoo— Torajirou, what am I supposed to do now?”
Nanami tugged at Torajirou’s face, her eyebrows drooping in worry.
After a long while, as if having figured something out, her expression finally cleared a bit, and she perked up.
However, when she spoke again, it was in Torajirou’s “voice”—
“What else can you do? Since things are like this, all you can do now is fight back!”
“F-fight back?”
Like changing masks, Nanami’s expression instantly shifted to surprise and doubt once she took on the other role.
“Exactly, fight back! Show that clever, scheming girl what you’re made of!”
“Scheming girl? How can you say that about Mashiro!”
“Oh, come on! Am I wrong? Isn’t that what you think too? Pretending to sleep just to watch everything? And she even threatened to kill you right in front of your face? How is that not scheming? Since she has no mercy, there’s no reason for us to hold back! Go for it, Nanami! Step over her fallen self and bravely chase your happiness!”
“Is… is that really okay?”
“Of course!”
“But… will it really bring happiness?”
Nanami asked from a slightly different angle.
“How will you know if you don’t try? If you work hard, you’ll always get a result. Whether it’s good… or bad.”
……
Just as Himekoji lay down in his own room, Kasumigaoka called.
“Got any news?”
That afternoon, Himekoji had asked Kasumigaoka for help with Nanami’s seiyuu audition.
Running into his own editor at the announcement event today had reminded him he actually had connections to call on—
Kasumigaoka Utaha’s “Love Metronome” was getting an anime adaptation.
“The animation production team says it’s fine. The time is set for a weekend two weeks from now.”
“Is that right? Thanks! You’ve been a huge help!”
“Mmm… But the actual result will still depend on how Aoyama does in the audition itself. I can’t help much with that.”
“That’s fine, totally fine! I understand. Getting her the chance to audition is more than enough already. I really don’t know how to thank you!”
Himekoji, half-lying on his bed, smiled sincerely.
Yet, the smile froze on his face the very next second.
“Don’t know? What are you talking about? How to thank me, and you don’t know?”
Senpai’s meaningful, teasing tone came through the phone,
“Since you don’t know… perhaps I should ask our dear readers for a reminder?”