[Shirakawa... my mom agreed...]
Shirakawa Sawahei, who was drying his hair after a shower, suddenly noticed his phone screen light up on the coffee table. He walked over to unlock it and couldn’t help but tug at the corner of his mouth.
However, oddly enough, there was a hesitant emoji after Ise Yu Yuzhijin’s message. This signal made Shirakawa Sawahei tense up, and without thinking, he immediately called back to question her.
"Did you do something behind my back?"
"Huh? What are you talking about... Shirakawa, that’s too much. Is that how you see me?"
The girl on the other end of the line puffed out her cheeks in discontent and said, "You should have more faith in me, Shirakawa."
"Do you think I just met you today?" Shirakawa Sawahei scoffed, "Spit it out, what’s going on."
The girl was at a loss for words and awkwardly said, "Well... cough cough... actually, it’s nothing much, just that my parents want to meet you."
"But, Shirakawa, remember, no matter how weird their words are, don’t take them to heart! Absolutely not!"
Shirakawa Sawahei breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Given that he was going to cohabit with someone’s daughter, meeting the parents was inevitable. It would be strange if they didn’t care at all.
To be honest, if it likely wasn’t for Little Transparent’s parents agreeing, Shirakawa Sawahei would have undoubtedly chosen to cohabit with the cute Tachibana Tomoku.
Among the remaining choices, using simple elimination, he quickly dismissed the scheming Black Hearted Lolita and agreed to Ise Yu’s cohabitation application—although her motives weren’t entirely pure either. But it was still better than having the little Lolita living next door and experiencing the front door being blown off every morning...
My poor door, it’s really been tough on you for so long.
Shirakawa Sawahei glanced at his new door and couldn’t help but feel a bit sentimental, then asked, "When do your parents want to meet?"
"Next weekend! They said they will treat you to a meal~"
"It doesn’t need to be so formal."
"Oh, it does, it does, Shirakawa, you mustn’t agree to meet them at home. If it’s outside, they might restrain themselves a bit!"
"Then I’ll go tidy up my little treasures~ Shirakawa, make sure to do well."
The girl happily hung up the phone, making Shirakawa Sawahei pause for a moment and realize that things seemed to be moving quite fast.
Well, whatever, it’s not like I can be eaten by her or anything.
On the next day during lunch break, Shirakawa Sawahei went to the music room to meet Little Arrogant Study Girl. Upon entering, Hayakawa Kashi immediately handed him a pink envelope.
He hesitated for a second, pointing at the envelope and asking, "This... what is this."
Miss Kaori looked at Shirakawa Sawahei with curiosity and spoke in a crisp, chilly voice, "Haven’t you ever received a love letter?"
I’ve received love letters, but I’ve never received a love letter from you!
When did this happen? How did I unknowingly win over Little Arrogant! I have absolutely no memory of this!
Shirakawa Monté? Am I charming girls in my dreams?
The girl’s lips curved as she leisurely said, "I found this in my shoe cabinet because your name was on the cover, so I guess it was delivered to the wrong place."
Shirakawa Sawahei was speechless and helplessly said, "Hayakawa, can’t you stop being so suspenseful when you talk? People with weak hearts definitely wouldn’t enjoy chatting with you."
"Is Shirakawa expecting something?"
"No, absolutely not."
He flatly denied, "I’m just worried that romance might affect your grades, Hayakawa."
"Oh, my grades can be affected, but yours can’t?"
"Isn’t that obvious?"
Shirakawa Sawahei casually shrugged, opened the envelope, took a look, and indeed found it was a confession letter from some little admirer. He couldn’t resist another tug at his mouth.
Honestly, the distance between my shoe cabinet and Hayakawa Kashi’s is quite far, okay? People always say love makes you stupid, but you haven’t even started dating yet, and you’ve already reached this level. It seems you’ll be saying goodbye to love as well.
"Can’t you tell your admirers to double-check before stuffing anything in?" Hayakawa Kashi raised an eyebrow, "Surely you’re not expecting me to have to pick out your letters every day?"
He casually folded the letter up and thought to himself, you’ve only helped me once—that’s not too much to ask. I’ve intercepted so many of your letters in the past without complaining, remember?
Courtesy dictates reciprocity. Isn’t returning the favor once reasonable?
"No need, just handle it along with yours next time."
"Hmm? Shirakawa, don’t you want to respond warmly to the feelings of others?"
"Why don’t you tell me how I’m supposed to be warm?" Shirakawa Sawahei said helplessly, "Being gentle to everyone is exhausting, so it’s better to just care for a few people."
Being everyone’s comfort is not something he wanted to do; whoever wants it can have it, but he’s not interested.
"Yeah, that does seem like you."
"Let’s start practicing."
Little Arrogant agreed faintly and walked with Shirakawa Sawahei to the piano in the music room, and as usual, they began their practice.
He had never participated in this type of contest before and was unaware of the standards, so he naturally felt that the more perfectly they practiced, the better. Even though both of them were already at lv4 and lv5, they continued to train together with Little Arrogant.
After all, a four-hand duet requires not only both musicians to be highly skilled, but their chemistry during the performance also counts significantly towards their score.
On Hayakawa Kashi’s end, she wanted to verify her own theory, so she naturally wouldn’t suggest not practicing. To her, the competition was secondary. What mattered most was understanding why her skill level had mysteriously changed.
Interestingly, Shirakawa Sawahei hadn’t done any similar chemistry training with Miss Kaori before, yet when they actually played together, their performance was notably harmonious.
Arts like music and painting often reveal a person’s character and spirit, so there were indeed some similarities between him and Little Arrogant Study Girl.
His mind wandered slightly, and Hayakawa Kashi couldn’t help but frown, using rhythm to remind him to concentrate on practicing—since she didn’t want to draw the wrong conclusions due to his lack of focus.
The first piece was quite short, like an appetizer dessert, while the following piece seemed much more formal. They quickly immersed themselves in the music, their fingertips producing melodious and pleasant notes.
Without a doubt, Shirakawa Sawahei, wanting to level up more efficiently, reinforced Little Arrogant with the main character buff. Under the title’s influence, all the experience he provided was heightened, gradually impacting Hayakawa Kashi.
The music trickled gently like silent spring snow, slowly soaking into the girl’s heart. She closed her eyes softly, as if entering a wonderful world.
Shirakawa Sawahei didn’t know how much affection Little Arrogant had for him, or how much experience he could provide her. The 2:1 ratio seemed high, but whenever it was time to share experience, he would curse the middleman system for creating a "currency exchange rate" to mess with people’s mental states.
He hoped to level up Little Arrogant’s piano skill to lv5 before her affection maxed out. That way, their competition would be more stable, and helping her out would lessen the guilt when he freeloads off her in the future...
The girl’s piano skill experience bar steadily rose, and Shirakawa Sawahei watched hopelessly as his own experience feeding slowed down more and more.
Lv5 is still too difficult, the required experience amount is too great, and the affection isn’t enough.
Must I boost Miss Kaori’s affection for this?
As Shirakawa Sawahei was mumbling to himself, his vision blurred slightly, and the lv4 experience bar on the system panel suddenly turned into lv5.
At the same time, Hayakawa Kashi slowly opened her eyes.