After deciding to give up, I became popular

Opening the door, a girl with simple casual clothes, golden hair reaching her waist, and a gentle temperament immediately came into view.

“No way, is the meal already prepared?”

Looking at the apron on Natsukawa Kanade, Shiina Mahiru covered her mouth with one hand, her voice slightly disappointed.

As a member of the Going Home Club, she had already done her best to prepare the meal as quickly as possible, even visiting as soon as she finished, but she still didn't make it in time?

“On the contrary, I haven’t started yet.” Natsukawa Kanade spread out his hands, the cooking utensils in his hand gleaming in the reflection of the sunset.

“Have you eaten?” Glancing at the bento box in the angel-sama's hand, Natsukawa Kanade understood that his DIY plan was going to fail again.

“N-Not yet…” Shiina Mahiru shook her head, her eyes darting around, not daring to look directly at Natsukawa Kanade.

It wasn't that she was lying about not having eaten after already eating, but simply that she felt her actions might make Kanade look at her with strange eyes.

Disgust? Or would he complain about her?

‘At least you should have eaten before bringing it over, right?’ Even if she was told something like that, please don't reject her.

“Ah, I feel like the cooking skills I finally regained are going to waste again.” He squatted down and took out the bear slippers for angel-sama, placing them in front of her.

“The food has just been prepared, right? Can we eat together?”

“Of course!” Shiina Mahiru nodded quickly, or rather, she had been wanting to hear Kanade say that for a long time.

“Then I’ll go get a plate…”

“Wait! A-About that… I, I’ll do it myself!” Shiina Mahiru quickly blocked Natsukawa Kanade's path.

She handed the bento box in her hand to Natsukawa Kanade, then closed the door and went out.

“N-No peeking!”

“…” Natsukawa Kanade shrugged, thinking that, as expected of angel-sama, she took her territory very seriously.

He didn't really have any thoughts about a girl's boudoir, he just wanted to help, otherwise he would look like someone who just ate without working.

He returned to the dining table and sat down, quietly waiting for angel-sama to feed him.

Before long, Shiina Mahiru came over with various dishes, including a pot of soup, walking unsteadily, which made Natsukawa Kanade's heart jump, and he quickly went up to help.

“Isn’t this too much? Even with me, we can’t finish it.” Natsukawa Kanade was a little troubled.

Fried tempura, hamburger steak, cucumber and lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a big pot of soup… Are you sure this is just for the two of them? It feels like there’s enough for another pair of chopsticks, right?

“B-Because they're all ingredients from last week, if we don't use them up quickly in the summer, they’ll spoil…” Her voice gradually became smaller, and a blush appeared on the angel-sama's pretty face.

She really wasn't good at lying, it was too difficult for her to explain it like this.

“…” Natsukawa Kanade looked at the rich and fresh dishes on the table, unable to say anything.

If they were really ingredients from last week, these dishes couldn't possibly look so fresh, right? And it's not like he didn't know, angel-sama sent him dinner every day, he knew exactly what she ate every day.

So, after a long silence, he looked at Shiina Mahiru: “Shiina, can I ask you a favor?”

“W-What is it?” Shiina was a little nervous at Natsukawa's serious face.

“If possible, can you make my meals every day?”

The answer was naturally yes, after all, she was doing it every day, so he simply made it clear, and he could take the initiative.

“Of course, it's just dinner, and I won't let you do it for nothing, I'm willing to bear all the cost of the ingredients.”

Whether in the past or now, he had received too much favor from angel-sama, taking everything for granted, and he even wanted to seek more… Fortunately, he woke up in time.

He's going to be a conscientious person from now on.

“Eh? No, at least let me pay for half of it…”

“Then I will never accept the food you send again.” Natsukawa Kanade's attitude was unusually firm.

“Shiina's money didn't come from thin air, right? I feel bad always making you pay for the ingredients.”

“…”

“Not to mention that you do all the cooking, I've completely become a good-for-nothing who takes advantage of you.”

“! No…”

“Going further, it would be better if you could reject me, instead of spending all your time taking care of a social outcast like me, you should spend your time on yourself…”

“That's not true…”

The voice that was transmitted was a little small.

“What?”

“I said—Kanade is not a social outcast!” Angel-sama suddenly stood up, staring at him quite seriously.

“Outcast, good-for-nothing, why do you say such things? Do you think it's something to be proud of? Always like this, talking to yourself, never considering other people's feelings…”

“You're clearly more conceited than anyone else, but you still say those self-deprecating, self-denying words… You've already worked hard to become the student council president, why do you still deny your abilities like that?”

“The Kanade I know was indeed clumsy at first, but he would seriously and diligently make himself better, definitely not like you are now, I hate you like this!”

“…”

“I’m going back.” Angel-sama was expressionless and turned to leave.

“Didn’t you think I was a social outcast back then?” Natsukawa Kanade sighed, not knowing why the other party suddenly became so angry.

He was clearly just evaluating himself, right?

“No, that’s not the same…” Shiina Mahiru retorted, “Back then, I just, just…”

Just wanted to use words to warn you not to get any funny ideas about approaching her.

She did say such things, that was when they had just met not long ago, so she used those words to protect herself, anyway he didn’t say anything back then, right? He still approached her in his own way…

He couldn’t possibly remember until now, right…

Could it be… really, because of her?

……

…………

………………

Shiina Mahiru's face suddenly turned pale, her delicate body trembled slightly, her mouth was wide open, but she couldn't say a word.

“Hmm?” Natsukawa Kanade frowned slightly, he felt that Shiina Mahiru's condition was very wrong.

“What’s wrong? Shiina?”

The concerned words did not receive a response, Shiina Mahiru's condition became more and more abnormal, Natsukawa Kanade quickly leaned over and held her shoulders.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“I’m…”

“No, wait for me, I’ll call 119…” Natsukawa Kanade turned to leave, but was grabbed tightly by a slender hand.

“No…”

“What?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Why…” Natsukawa Kanade was stunned.

He stared blankly at the angel-sama whose eyes were moist, watching her lower her proud head, constantly apologizing to him.

“I’m sorry, Kanade, I’m sorry…”

“…”

He didn't know why Shiina suddenly wanted to apologize to him, and he couldn't ask what was going on.

Looking at Shiina's weak appearance, the only thing he could do was to give the other party warmth through close skin contact.

He also wanted to reach out his hand, wanting to hug the crying angel into his arms and gently comfort her, but he never had the courage to make such a move.

In the end, he could only stand there blankly, listening to her increasingly unrestrained sobs…

038. Get on the bus first and buy the ticket later!

This night, besides Natsukawa Kanade, there was another person who had trouble falling asleep because of worries—Shinomoya Kaguya.

“It’s too much, right? Right! President is too much!”

At a residence under the Shinomoya banner, the Qianjin young lady belonging to the main family, Shinomoya Kaguya, was hugging a pillow, completely disregarding her image, rolling back and forth on the bed.

The maid beside her looked calmly at her young lady's antics, responding throughout the entire process.

“Yes, right, you are right.”

“President, how could he play with my feelings like that! Hayasaka, do you think President is being too much?”

“Yes, I completely agree with your statement.”

“I was so looking forward to President’s invitation, but he left me alone in the student council! It’s too much!”

“Yes, Natsukawa-sama is too much, he’s just bullying the young lady.”

“No! Hayasaka, don’t talk nonsense, President is just embarrassed! He’s definitely not bullying me on purpose!”

“…” Hayasaka Ai’s eyebrows twitched, and resentment arose in her heart.

Didn’t you say yourself that Natsukawa-sama was being too much? Why are you changing your mind the next second? And this conversation has been going back and forth three times already! Let her go take a bath!

“Hmm… Young Lady, as far as I know, this should be Natsukawa-sama’s strategy, using the ‘yuqingguzong’ trick on you.” Hayasaka Ai took out a piece of cardboard and started writing.

“Including Natsukawa-sama’s sudden resignation behavior last time, it should have been to make the young lady feel a sense of crisis like ‘Ah, I won’t be able to see President anymore’, trying to make you lose your composure and expose flaws.”

“Eh? President… would he think like that? I always feel like President really wanted to resign…”

“Young Lady, don’t be deceived by the surface image, according to my investigation and understanding of Natsukawa-sama, all of his actions are very purposeful.”

“Not only that, Natsukawa-sama is also very good at finding out the preferences of various girls, even someone as thoughtful as the young lady, he can get a glimpse of it, and then prescribe the right medicine.” Hayasaka Ai said solemnly.

As early as when Natsukawa Kanade and Shinomoya Kaguya began to come into contact, she had already used the resources at hand to investigate Natsukawa Kanade’s situation, including how many ex-girlfriends he had and who they were, basically everything had been found out.

Although from the bottom of her heart she felt that such a Natsukawa Kanade was not someone worth entrusting her young lady’s life to, seeing Kaguya becoming more and more cheerful day by day, she couldn’t bear to break her beautiful dream.

So she decided to help Kaguya-sama win over Natsukawa Kanade, and transform his nature of being loyal only during the period of love into an attitude of being loyal to the young lady forever, making him the young lady's perfect lover.

But that being said, what she can do now is also very limited, at most she can constantly solve problems for the young lady, first take down that philandering radish in the student council for her, as for what happens after that… anyway, as long as the two of them really start dating, there are many things she can do.

For example, threatening with the background of the Shinomoya family… Of course, she won’t let Kaguya-sama notice when she does this, lest she think her love is not pure enough.

“I can be sure that Natsukawa-sama is a love expert who understands women’s hearts very well, and he will never do meaningless things to waste time.”

“I even think that the young lady’s idea of ‘wanting to persuade President to return to the student council’ is also within Natsukawa-sama’s expectations.”

“Honestly, Young Lady, my personal suggestion is—you should take the initiative to attack directly, not giving Natsukawa President a chance to detour.”

“Take the initiative, attack directly… What do you mean? Haven’t I done enough?!”

“No, I mean… directly explain your feelings to Natsukawa President, and say to him ‘I like you, please go out with me’.”

Hayasaka Ai is indeed the person who knows Shinomoya Kaguya best, and even imitating her voice is so lifelike that Shinomoya Kaguya was immediately immersed in the imagination—

“I like President, please go out with me.”

“Oh? So Shinomoya, you have always had a crush on me? How cute…”

—

“Isn’t this just going to be laughed at mercilessly by President! How could I do such a thing!” Shinomoya Kaguya slammed the pillow in her hand, with a look of shame and anger.

“No, that kind of scene is unlikely to happen, right?” Hayasaka Ai pressed her slightly bulging temples, feeling a severe headache.

If her information is correct, as long as the young lady confesses first, Natsukawa-sama will definitely agree, after all, the person he is pursuing now is her young lady.

Excessive ridicule will not help him in any way.