Hakuto heard a knock on his door and instinctively swallowed.
That thud thud sound felt like it was hammering directly on his heart, making him too afraid to lift his head.
Hakuto didn't have many friends—or rather, his friends wouldn't normally come knocking at his door.
Even if they did, they wouldn't bother knocking. Rikka used a secret passage, and Ginko would just unlock the door with her key.
Right now, Hakuto was hoping the person outside was either Hachiman or Oreki. Even Sayuri would do!
Please, just don't let it be them! I really can't handle this…
"I'll get the door..." Hakuto staggered to his feet and walked sluggishly to the entrance. He peered through the peephole to see who was outside.
"...Shit. Just kill me now…"
Standing outside the door was Nao, her delicate face coming into view. But for Hakuto, it was a terrifying sight.
He didn't open the door—of course not! He didn't want to die!
Outside, Nao seemed to realize he was just behind the door and gave a smirk filled with disdain.
"That's for drawing all over my forehead..."
Although he couldn't hear her voice, Hakuto could read her lips. But before he could react, Nao continued.
"Alright, don't bother opening the door. I'll be waiting for you at the café downstairs. Come find me when you're done."
With a casual wave, she turned and left.
Seeing her walk away, Hakuto let out a huge sigh of relief. He didn't care how things developed anymore—as long as he could settle this, that was all that mattered!
"What's wrong? Why aren't you opening the door?"
"It's nothing. There's no one outside. Maybe they knocked on the wrong door."
"Really?"
Nino slowly opened the door, only to find no one outside.
She didn't suspect anything, though—after all, she had already been suspicious about something else earlier.
"Rather than worrying about that, Nino, you should be thinking about how to keep your top ranking."
"Hah? Are you trying to settle scores with me?"
"Who knows..." Hakuto chuckled. But in reality, he had no intention of doing so.
"Alright, alright, go fix your mistakes. You didn't come here just to argue with me, did you?"
"Tch…" Nino pouted, then walked over to the coffee table and sat down.
"Yes! I don't have to do a hundred practice tests anymore!"
"Huh? Why?"
"Because Shiratori-sensei felt sorry for me and let me off the hook."
Yotsuba, for once, was actually thinking ahead—she knew better than to expose her deal with Hakuto!
She had used up all her intelligence accumulated over the past decade just for this moment.
Itsuki, of course, knew about their agreement, but she said nothing and simply continued correcting her mistakes.
Unlike Nino, who was easily provoked, Itsuki was much calmer.
Without solid proof, no matter how suspicious something seemed, it was still just speculation.
Besides, she and Hakuto were only teacher and student, not a couple. Did she even have the right to ask such things...?
Itsuki felt that Nino was overthinking things, but she didn't say anything—especially since Hakuto himself wasn't concerned about it.
"Well, at least now we don't have to ask Hakuto if he plans on building a harem..." Ichika shrugged.
Just now, she had really thought Rikka had snuck in and taken over! But looking at it now, it was just a misunderstanding.
Ichika didn't believe in ghosts or anything supernatural.
She preferred logical explanations—Hakuto's reasoning made far more sense than some ghost story.
"Ichika... what are you talking about?"
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about Miku's future happiness, that's all..."
Miku didn't respond, but her face turned slightly red.
"By the way, Miku, why do you like Hakuto?"
"Uh... I... why, huh..."
Miku glanced at Hakuto, who wasn't far away, and remained silent.
"Hero... that white-haired ghost seems to have entered the base of the Evil Eye Lord..."
Rikka squatted beside Hakuto, who was organizing a chessboard, and whispered.
"Huh?"
"You know, that ghost..."
"Oh..." Hakuto finally understood—she was talking about Nao.
At the same time, Rikka was also the only one who had witnessed Nao lying on Hakuto's bed.
Luckily, since her chuunibyou was still in full effect, she didn't take it seriously—she was still convinced that Nao was a ghost.
"It's fine. The invincible hero will stand by your side. Any demons or ghosts will be banished."
"Huh?"
"Could it be that the Evil Eye Lord fears a mere ghost?"
"Impossible! The Evil Eye is the strongest!!"
With that provocation, Rikka immediately snapped into character, completely forgetting about the so-called ghost.
Hakuto was truly skilled at handling Rikka's personality.
Not just her—the same went for the Nakano quintuplets, Eriri, Utaha, and Ginko as well.
The only one he couldn't handle was Nao!
Because Nao's personality was nothing like a typical girl's, and she had zero reservations about anything.
Seriously, what kind of decent person lifts their legs so high while wearing a skirt?!
And her punches hurt—unlike Ginko, whose hits felt more like playful teasing than actual attacks.
Maybe it was because of her childhood experiences that Nao had grown into such an unconventional person.
At the very least, Hakuto had never met another girl who would respond to an accidental wardrobe malfunction with, "It's just a piece of fabric. What's the big deal?"
She was something else entirely.
And when it came to Nao, Hakuto just couldn't help himself from provoking her...
Just like that stupid turtle—if he hadn't acted up, there wouldn't have been so much trouble.
He had known this would happen when he drew that turtle, but he just couldn't stop himself!
Which was exactly why he was completely helpless against Nao...
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