After deciding to give up, I became popular

If it gets any colder, my bro is gonna protest and run away from home, wow!

So, Sou Natsukawa abruptly opened his eyes and glared at Utaha Kasumigaoka with a very dangerous look, gritting his teeth as he said, "Utaha Kasumigaoka! If you keep this up…"

——You can forget about sleeping tonight!

Before he could even utter such a threatening remark, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

Subsequently, he seemed to snap out of it, his mind clearing up at once.

As if feeling guilty, he hurriedly pushed away Utaha Kasumigaoka and instinctively took out his phone from his pocket. Just as he was about to answer the call, a crisp "clatter" sound caught his attention.

He looked down and found a small, boxed item had fallen to the ground as he was pulling out his pocket.

Yes, that's right, it was something he had bought on the spur of the moment from the vending machine earlier.

“……”

“……”

Then, the two exchanged glances again.

“Um… this… I… I swear I don’t have any ulterior motives… Do you believe me, Senpai…?” he said with difficulty.

“Ah… well… Kouhai-kun is a boy after all… I can… understand…” Utaha Kasumigaoka said, her face flushed, but she really didn't dare to look him in the eye at this moment.

“……”

What do you understand! Don't understand! He really didn't think…

Guh…

In the end, Sou Natsukawa couldn't withstand the other party's strange gaze and hurriedly said, “A-Anyway… I, I'll go answer the phone first!”

Then, he turned around to escape, but accidentally bumped into the door, making a loud "Duang" sound.

“Ugh…”

Despite the painful bump, he didn't dare to stay in the room any longer, not even taking the time to rub his forehead. He flung open the door and rushed out.

“Pfft…” Utaha Kasumigaoka, watching him flee in disarray, blinked and then suddenly burst out laughing.

But the matter wasn't over yet. Seeing that no one was around, she first pretended to glance around casually, then slowly, step by step, maintaining an indifferent demeanor, she slowly moved over, picked up the small boxed item that had fallen on the ground, and examined it curiously.

“Hmm… this size…”

After all, she didn't understand these things at all, so she simply took out her phone to search online for information.

Then, the more she searched, the more alarmed she became.

“Ah… h-how could this be… T-This isn't right, is it? … This size… it wouldn't fit, would it? No matter how you think about it, it wouldn't fit!”

Then, inevitably, fantasies began to surface in her mind.

As she thought, she felt her head spinning more and more, and then her whole body became dizzy.

“Umm… Kouhai-kun…”

214. Katou is… Someone Who Could Be His Mother

On the other side, Sou Natsukawa, who had escaped from the room because of a phone call, washed his face with cold water in the bathroom for a long time before finally calming down completely.

In the past, as an observer, he also felt that it was too much when things were interrupted at the most crucial moment. Clearly, the upcoming plot was the most exciting and anticipated part, but those creators always used every means to remove what the audience wanted to see, replacing it with a more mundane development.

That's why countless people volunteered to voice their opinions from below—"This is where the doujin should be!"

This kind of situation is too common to be called anything but universally expected.

But for Sou Natsukawa, who had now become a party involved, that could truly be called the worst development!

Because once a fait accompli really occurred, then his future fate would be completely clear—he would probably be blackmailed by Senpai and enslaved for life.

Considering Senpai's twisted personality, she might even develop some strange hobbies as a result… For example, because she doesn't want to date him, so they don't become boyfriend and girlfriend, but Senpai might ask him to date other people, and then order him to come over and accept her training in various processes of interacting with his girlfriend, and he would promise her various ideas because he did something wrong, agreeing to do those, those excessive things, and then do even more excessive things because he gradually got used to it…

In short, Senpai becomes his master, and he is forced to complete various master's tasks in order to atone—just thinking about it makes him feel terrible!

Of course, in addition to this possibility, there is another one—Senpai coldly tells him to get lost after the fact, and no longer interacts with him from then on, which means that Senpai's heart is completely broken by him.

She clearly had trust in him, but in the end, he was a despicable man who listened to his little brother's thoughts. Not to mention Senpai, even he himself would hate himself afterward, feel extremely regretful and guilty, so this can be said to be the most unacceptable development.

But in fact, in addition to the above possibilities, there is another possibility that he considers may be the most destructive to his values, and may even destroy his life—Senpai clearly doesn't like him and is unwilling to date him, but forgives his behavior, and may even comfort him in turn, but no matter what, she still doesn't want to date him, and he will have to watch helplessly as the girl who had this kind of relationship with him, the girl he clearly likes, leaves his side and goes into the arms of others…

I could have tolerated the darkness, if I had never seen the light.

Clearly, he once possessed it, even if it was extremely short, an emotion that only existed this night, but he would definitely hopelessly recognize the other party. He dares not say anything else, but he is very sure about this kind of thing. If Senpai really wants to leave him, he will definitely collapse, and what will happen after that… he dares not think about it, and cannot imagine it.

Based on the analysis of Senpai's personality, he roughly thought of these possibilities, and other situations were basically ruled out by him.

But no matter which one, it can only lead to a tragic ending, and none of them are acceptable.

There is no way, after all, Utaha Kasumigaoka Senpai is a proud person, and the possibility developed on the basis of "unwilling to date him" absolutely does not have a similar "starting a normal relationship with him" Happy End, after all, if it really develops into this, wouldn't it be indirectly saying: he captured Senpai by B——…

But this is clearly a normal realistic world, right?! It's not some book world where the bull's penis is covered with hypnotics, and you can capture girls as long as you B——! Using this kind of beastly way to get a girlfriend is simply a heresy!

In short, these are roughly the reasons why he doesn't want to and dare not do anything to Utaha Kasumigaoka, although he had actually made full preparations for various psychological, physiological, and external things before this, but in the room, facing the layers of teasing from Utaha Kasumigaoka, he still chose to stick to his heart with difficulty, and finally even pretended that he was angry, preparing to warn the other party with very serious words, but suddenly a life-saving phone call came.

Although this caused the umbrella he used for prevention to be shaken out and displayed in front of the two, it is always better to die of embarrassment for a while than to have the "normal friendly relationship between the two" die suddenly, so overall, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

And the first thing he has to do now that he has calmed down is to call back, to give a big thank you to that savior who can almost be said to have saved his future life—Katou Megumi!

Megumi is simply his god!

“Moshi moshi?”

“Yes, I can hear you, this is Sou Natsukawa…” After getting through, Sou Natsukawa was almost in tears.

There is a feeling of being bullied outside, wanting to go home to find his mother to cry and act spoiled…

“Sorry, I had something to do just now and couldn’t answer the phone right away. I’m free now, and it’s no problem to talk for as long as you want…” Sou Natsukawa said with emotion.

Thinking of what happened in the room just now, he felt a headache and wished he could chat with Katou for a while, preferably until Senpai couldn't wait for him and fell asleep, so that he wouldn't have to be cold and windblown outside, and could safely protect his purity with Senpai.

“Eto… Although it’s nice that Natsukawa-kun wants to chat with me for a long time, but after all… you still have to get up early tomorrow, right?”

Although the voice transmitted through the electronic equipment was a little distorted, what remained unchanged was Katou-san's usual calm tone, as if nothing could make her anxious.

But what Sou Natsukawa cared about most was why Katou knew that he had to get up early tomorrow—to catch the train back? He hadn't even mentioned this to Senpai!

“I heard it from Eriri, oh. I heard that you will be holding a study session tomorrow, so I wanted to ask Natsukawa-kun about it…”

Even though they were talking through their phones from a distance, Katou-san seemed to be able to guess what he was thinking, and even explained it to him herself.

And he wondered if it was his imagination, but he felt a faint sound of fluctuating water flowing next to Katou as she spoke.

“Yes, that’s right. Katou, do you… also need tutoring?” Sou Natsukawa asked with some doubt. In his impression, Katou was the kind of person who was relatively stable and serious. Even if she was really bad at studying, she shouldn’t fail, right?

“Yes… Actually, because I wasn’t feeling well one day before and took a day off, I didn’t expect to be unable to keep up with the teacher’s pace. I feel like the midterm exam will be a bit troublesome.”

“Oh, I see.” Sou Natsukawa nodded, indicating in the void that he understood this.

It was like he had a similar situation a long time ago, because he was busy with various things, resulting in lack of sleep, and then when he went to math class the next day, he just took a small nap, and when he looked up again, he found that the entire blackboard was already full of numbers, and the teacher happened to pick up the eraser…

This kind of confusing experience, Katou, she also experiences it.

“Then what subject? Is it…”

“It’s math.” A slightly different tone came from the other side. Although it was indeed different from the previous voice, Sou Natsukawa keenly noticed it.

So he couldn't help but smile, Katou would also be embarrassed about this kind of thing.

“That’s normal, after all, it’s math. Math doesn’t lie.” Sou Natsukawa comforted her with a smile.

“……”

After that, Katou didn't send her voice again, only some "rustling" sounds, like the slight sound of wind blowing leaves.

Just as Sou Natsukawa was about to take the phone away from his ear to see if the call had been accidentally disconnected, he suddenly heard Katou's gentle tone again—

“Sorry, I was taking a bath and got a little distracted… I’ll turn on the video, it’ll be a little easier.”

“……???” Sou Natsukawa suddenly froze, and then felt a burst of fright.

No wonder he heard the sound of water just now, it turned out she was taking a bath… but even if she was taking a bath, what's with turning on the video?! He didn't think he was someone who could enjoy this kind of treatment!

However, when faced with the choice of whether to accept this decision, he inexplicably clicked the option of "accept the call".

“……”

How should I put it? After all, it was… Katou’s request, right? Naturally, she has her reasons, he can't understand it, but he still wants to choose to respect it.

So after the screen flashed, Katou-san, wearing a pink and white hooded sweatshirt, appeared in the center, with a pure white striped skirt and the familiar black mid-tube socks on her lower body. Unlike her well-behaved and inconspicuous image when wearing a student uniform, this time Katou gave people the feeling of being a friendly and lovely girl next door.

She is the kind of cute little sister who would call him Sou-niisan~.

However, Sou Natsukawa didn't dare to look at the screen too much, and immediately turned his face away, as for the reason…

At this moment, Katou was kneeling on the bed, leaning her body slightly forward, her eyes looking up and down at once, and from time to time she would reach out towards this side, looking like she was adjusting the phone stand, and as her body swayed, a small amount of snow-white arc gradually showed from the collar.

It’s easy to make people’s eyes sink into it.

“Can you see clearly? Natsukawa-kun?”

“Ah, um, I can see clearly…” Sou Natsukawa reluctantly turned his head back, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that she had turned into a kneeling posture.

Yes, he could really see clearly just now, and not to mention him, even the cooks next door probably saw it, and there was no need for any heroic sniper.

But what is even more concerning is… Didn't you say you were taking a bath? Why did you suddenly become in your bedroom? Katou-san, lying is not a good habit! The key is that she made him nervous for nothing…

215. Secrets, are they… about to be exposed? (3K)

I wonder if she saw the look of doubt on his face, Katou started to explain after confirming that she could make eye contact with him: “Because I was taking a bath before, I got a little distracted…”

“……” If you are taking a bath, then don't think about hurriedly finishing and putting on your clothes to video!

And isn't just a voice call enough? Or is Katou the kind of person who prefers video calls and likes to observe other people's expressions and actions while talking?

“So, why did you suddenly think of video calling? Katou, do you… not find it… inconvenient?” He originally wanted to say “uncomfortable,” but he felt like it would imply that her behavior was bold and unrestrained, so he changed his wording.

He originally just wanted to understand the reason, but he didn't expect Katou to misunderstand something and suddenly lower her head to apologize to him: “I'm sorry, I didn't think it through. I bothered you, Summer River-kun…”

“No, no, no, it's not like that. You didn't bother me. I'm just a little curious.” Xia Chuan Cou hurriedly waved his hand to explain. Although, in a sense, it did disturb some things, this was clearly a good thing. He was grateful, so how could he possibly blame Katou?

“After all, if it were me, I definitely wouldn't be willing to give up my bath time just to video call someone…”

As a hobbyist who originally loved taking baths, it was impossible for him to give up his comfortable bath time. He would rather just enjoy the whole process with the call on.

“Um… I guess it's because I was too worried…” On the other side of the screen, Katou's movements became uncharacteristically awkward. “Actually, it's because I don't know what kind of clothes would be more suitable to wear tomorrow. After all, it's the first time I've been invited to someone else's house as a guest…”

“Oh, I see… That's true. After all, it's your first time going to Eriri's house…” Then suddenly, Xia Chuan Cou realized something was wrong.

It seems that until now… that little blonde girl hasn't revealed her identity as a doujin artist in the other world to Katou? Even if she accidentally took out one or two illustrations like that in front of her, it only made the other party think that she was “worthy of being Eriri, even this kind of painting can be completed very exquisitely,” a more open-minded painter.

But tomorrow, Katou is going to her house, even her room? It will definitely be exposed, right?! Definitely!

“Actually, you don't need to be too formal… You should also be worried about meeting Eriri's parents and etiquette, right?” Although Xia Chuan Cou was very worried about that little blonde girl's state, on the surface he still looked very ordinary, and even began to advise Katou.

“After all, it's the first visit. It would be best to have a souvenir, but you don't need to prepare anything particularly expensive. Bringing some desserts or something would be great. It would be even better if it was handmade. As for the others… Actually, Eriri's father is usually not at home, and her mother basically goes out early and returns late. Normally, you shouldn't run into them. If you really do, just greet them normally, because they are all very easy-going and gentle adults.”

“As for the clothes…” Xia Chuan Cou looked Katou up and down again, and then showed a very affirmative compliment: “The current outfit is very good. It has a cute and friendly girl-next-door style, which should be enough to deal with older aunts…”

However, it was actually not enough. Based on what he knew from Eriri and his several encounters with Sawamura · Sayuri, she would definitely be eager to try it out, and then take out a bunch of cute or strange clothes for Katou to try on one by one. After all, her daughter refused to be her model, so how could she let go of a similarly aged “hanger” who had a good relationship with her daughter? Maybe even Eriri wouldn't be able to save Katou by then…

But he wouldn't point it out explicitly, mainly because he was worried that Katou would start to be afraid and wouldn't dare to go to Eriri's house to participate in the study session. Then how could he get to see… how could he tutor Katou in math?

You must know that mathematics cannot be taken lightly! Although it is very sincere, it will treat you the way you treat it…

In order to calm Katou's worries, Xia Chuan Cou basically considered everything for her in detail, and the detailed and thoughtful extent seemed to be a bit too much for Katou to handle.

“Um… that… should be enough… Summer River-kun…”

“Uh, actually…” Xia Chuan Cou originally wanted to add something more. According to his progress, he had only explained half of the notes he had prepared, but when he came back to his senses and paid attention to the video interface, he found that Katou had already fallen asleep on the pillow without realizing it.

The phone stand seemed to be placed next to her pillow, playing her sleeping face, but what was more attractive was her undisguised cute posture. Her exquisite and well-proportioned body rose and fell with the regular breathing, and because she was lying on the bed, the quite curved fullness was squeezed and almost deformed.

Xia Chuan Cou felt several times that the balls, which seemed to be out of breath due to the compressed living space, must have wanted to call out, but every time they reached the limit, they were taken back, which made people feel sorry.