After deciding to give up, I became popular

"Shiina?" The person who came was indeed Miss Angel.

She still had that infinitely adorable and charming appearance, but with an added touch of holiness and an unapproachable aura. This was the demeanor she would show to outsiders, but once she entered his personal space, she would immediately become somewhat childish.

"Your actions are so slow, I've been waiting for so long."

"Waiting for me? Is there something urgent?" Xia Chuanzou was a little puzzled. This was the only explanation he could think of. If it were a small matter like buying something on the way back, she could have just sent him a message. Any other major issues could wait until they got home.

"No, it's just that I accidentally forgot to bring an umbrella again..." Shiina Zhenzhou turned slightly to the side and replied after noticing that Xia Chuanzou was holding a long umbrella.

"..." Looking at Miss Angel's awkward appearance, Xia Chuanzou understood. So he suggested, "Together?"

"Yeah!"

So he opened the umbrella and sheltered her under it.

"Aren't you afraid of being seen with me under the same umbrella?" Xia Chuanzou chuckled. If he had to say which girl he understood the most right now, it would be the angel in front of him.

Just like now, he saw through her little trick at a glance. She probably thought she was hiding it well.

"Um... it's just mutual help..." Miss Angel's delicate body trembled slightly, and a blush rose on her pretty face.

She could indeed accept others' comments in her heart, but being told to her face by Zou still made her feel shy.

"Anyway, it's okay! Even if someone really sees it, at most they'll just spread another scandal about Zou, right?" Originally, she just wanted to retaliate a little, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. How many girls was this idiot going to attract?

There was already the godly couple-like Shimiya classmate, and recently another fan-like girl had emerged, and they were both especially beautiful, which was simply infuriating!

"Uh... you even know about this," Xia Chuanzou felt a little embarrassed.

Otherwise, why would he want to talk to Iino Miko? He felt that her actions had brought about very bad influences, especially regarding his reputation.

How should he say it... he felt like he was going further and further down the road of being recognized as a scumbag?

"That girl is a new member of the student council, named Iino Miko, a first-year student, who participated in the election before."

A strange feeling suddenly welled up in his heart, as if he was explaining to a suspicious wife who suspected her husband of cheating that he didn't cheat.

Looking at Miss Angel's pouting and sulking appearance, and thinking about the scene of her busy with various housework at home, he felt even more so. Although she wasn't actually his wife, the image she had created due to Shiina's personality completely fit the description of a "new wife."

Xia Chuanzou was suddenly a little curious as to what kind of person would run out to do something unfaithful while having such a cute and virtuous wife.

"However, she seems to have some misunderstanding about our student council, so she's recently conducting surveillance activities as a 'monitor' to ensure the student council's fairness and justice. Today's surveillance target happens to be me."

After thinking about it, he still didn't tell Shiina Zhenzhou the specific reason. Although he believed in Shiina, this involved the issue of Kaguya's image, so it was better not to say it.

"Eh? Isn't that very bad? I heard that child also seems to be in charge of discipline. Wouldn't it be terrible if Zou was caught?"

"In your eyes, do I look like the kind of person who would do something worth being caught for?" Xia Chuanzou didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Hmph, who knows..." Miss Angel snorted softly. Other aspects were hard to say, but there was definitely something going on in terms of relationships. A heartbreaker like Zou would one day be caught and severely punished.

"Um, I'm so hurt. It turns out that's how Shiina sees me. I'm sad and need a cute girl to comfort me before I can recover..." After saying that, he winked at the angel next to him, afraid that she wouldn't see it.

"It's shameful to act cute, especially someone like Zou. Not, not cute at all!" Shiina Zhenzhou was flustered, and her caramel-colored eyes glared over with both shyness and anger, trying to hide her inner weakness.

"That's so silly. Zou's appearance is like a child who secretly took her mother's expensive lipstick and scribbled on the white wall, and then asked her mother with a flattering expression, 'Did I draw well?' It won't work. Don't think you can fool me by acting cute."

"Eh? But you just said not at all..." Xia Chuanzou teased. He just wanted to tease Miss Angel a little, but he didn't expect her to suddenly expose herself.

But speaking of which, is it really okay to describe him with the word "cute"? Although he was originally performing maliciously.

"!" Miss Angel suddenly froze. Her heart was suddenly pierced, and she only felt that her face was like a thorn flower that had exploded, frighteningly itchy. She just wanted to turn into an ostrich and quickly find a place to bury her head in. "You, you didn't hear anything! Don't say it anymore!"

Words alone were not enough to express her determination, so she used both hands, wanting to cover Xia Chuanzou's eyes to prevent him from seeing, and also wanting to block his smiling mouth to prevent him from speaking, but her two small hands were not enough, so she simply gave up such an idea and instead pushed against his chest, waving her fists gently, and scolding in a voice as thin as a mosquito:

"Idiot Zou, idiot..."

"Yes, yes, I'm an idiot..." He responded softly, holding the umbrella with one hand to prevent it from blowing away, and protecting Shiina with the other to prevent her from slipping. After all, it was raining, so it was better to be careful.

Perhaps the warmth from his chest made Miss Angel a little nostalgic, and she hadn't seen her get up for a long time, so she gently reminded, "If you want to doze off, do it when you get home? I'll lend you my shoulder."

"..." Miss Angel didn't speak, not knowing what she was thinking.

"People around are looking over here."

As if in response to Xia Chuanzou's words, a childish boy's voice suddenly came over: "Mommy, look, stupid couple."

"!" This time, Miss Angel really couldn't stand it anymore, and the slender hand holding his clothes began to tremble slightly, and finally even abandoned him in place and ran away.

"It's still raining!"

But Miss Angel still walked her own way without looking back.

090. No Mistake, Miss Angel?

"Although this rain is a blessing to nature, if you consider the daily life of human beings, you will feel that there are many inconveniences. For example, if it rains, not only is it difficult to dry clothes, but it also becomes impossible to go out happily, and then the most important thing is that the hair will become wet and full of moisture, and it takes a lot of time to comb it..."

Shiina sighed after finishing speaking, looking like she was thinking from the bottom of her heart.

"But that's just because you suddenly ran into the rain without an umbrella, right?" Xia Chuanzou sighed, and then continued to use a towel to wipe the wet hair of Shiina, who was sitting on the sofa.

"That, that's not it! In fact, as long as it's a rainy day, the hair will inevitably get wet, sticking to the body and feeling sticky and uncomfortable!"

"And not only will people feel uncomfortable, but food will also easily get damp, grow mold, and so on... But there's no way, because if you live in Neon, you can only endure such troublesome things."

"Indeed." Xia Chuanzou nodded in agreement.

Every time during the plum rain season, it was also when he was in the worst mood. The fact that his love life was not going well had been affecting him, and the terrible experience brought by rainy days would make his mood even worse, thus leading to him hating rainy days.

But the recent encounters in the rain have instead made him look forward to it, thinking that he might meet someone or accomplish something in the next second... In short, rainy days are never the key, the key is still the people.

"But if you think about it carefully, rainy days also have their advantages, don't they?" Xia Chuanzou's voice became soft, and his wiping movements also slowed down. "Once it rains, the surroundings will become very quiet, and the usual noisy sounds will disappear, only echoing with the sound of fine raindrops."

Some people say that only when it's late at night will people involuntarily think about various things, such as the future, the past, etc., but in fact, Xia Chuanzou believes that no matter when, as long as the time is right and no one is disturbing, it's an excellent opportunity to think.

"Light rain, heavy rain, intermittent rain, no matter which one, the regular sound of rain will act as a qualified supporting role, allowing you to focus on feeling your own existence..."

The raindrops outside the window were still dripping down,划过空气敲打在地面上，虽然那只是单调的声音，但这接连不断的声音既平静又温柔，会轻轻地流入耳中，提醒着两人正处于同一片寂静之中.

"So Zou is a romantic, which is surprising," Miss Angel said with a slightly surprised tone.

"Romantic... I guess you could say that," Xia Chuanzou didn't refute. Compared to the pragmatic Miss Angel, he did seem more sentimental.

"..."

She gently stroked the hair that Zou had just touched, her fair and delicate fingers twirled gently, then hurriedly pretended to comb her hair and slowly tidied her temples, her pink lips pursed gently, her lips slightly raised, and her heart filled with warmth.

She remembered the rainy day when she met Zou, which should be considered a romantic encounter, but the clumsy Zou did such stupid things, which made her dislike him for a while.

"Si, since Zou likes rainy days so much, then let Zou do my hair when I can't tie it up, let Zou fix my messed up makeup, let Zou wash my dirty clothes when I go out... and, and! Let Zou go shopping with me..."

"Isn't that the same as usual?" Xia Chuanzou chuckled. Except for letting him fix her makeup, which he couldn't do, he hadn't done the other things... Oh right, there was also washing dirty clothes.

Don't look at Miss Angel's stubborn appearance now, but she would probably grab the responsibility of doing housework and nag him, saying something like "Anyway, Zou won't do it seriously, so don't get in the way, just let me do it."

And like tying her hair, he was willing to do it, but there weren't many opportunities. As for going shopping together... wasn't that their normal state?

"Um... I, I don't care! Anyway, just leave it to Zou. Who told you to like rainy days so much..."

She definitely couldn't be indifferent to the fact that the person she liked liked something she didn't like, but she couldn't force Zou to hate it either. So she thought of adding some small troubles to him, maybe he would become like her?

Thinking like this, Miss Angel shook her head childishly, like a puppy that had been rained on, and strands of water stains fell on his body and clothes along the trajectory.

Is she marking him? Xia Chuanzou thought, but was still charmed by Shiina's cute actions. But then he thought that the water stains meant that she hadn't been completely wiped dry, so he couldn't help but worry.

"Of course it's no problem for me to do those things, but Shiina, you should also do something for yourself, right? For example—take a bath or something. If you continue to sit here like this, you might catch a cold."

Gently holding Shiina's small hand, feeling the temperature from her body, but only receiving a cold touch. Although girls' hands are mostly cold like this, it was still a little bad that it was still like this in the indoor summer?

Looking at Miss Angel's hesitant appearance, Xia Chuanzou couldn't help but raise his voice slightly.

"Miss Shiina, you don't want to suddenly catch a cold and get sick and then be secretly done strange things to by a useless guy like me, right?"

"Eh? Strange things... um..." Shiina Zhenzhou's small face suddenly flushed, especially conspicuous in the dazzling warm light.

"For example, getting up in the middle of the night to secretly wash my own clothes, secretly eating the milk pudding you put in the refrigerator for tomorrow, replacing your favorite rabbit slippers with other animals'..." Xia Chuanzou counted his fingers one by one, and found that there were too many things he wanted to say, even with both hands and feet, he couldn't finish.

"Where did you come from, you little kid!" Shiina Zhenzhou turned her head and gave him an angry look. This behavior was too childish, right? She thought it was something more, more adult...

"If you want to deal with children, you have to use children's methods, right? Think about it—you obviously got rained on but refuse to take a bath, isn't that a childish behavior?" Xia Chuanzou retorted.

This time, Miss Angel had nothing to say, and just looked at him with a shy and angry expression.

She's not a child, okay!

"Hmph, I'm going to take a bath... Don't peek!"

"Of course." Xia Chuanzou nodded indifferently, but felt a little strange looking at the direction Shiina left.

Why... didn't she go back to her own house but went to his bathroom?

No mistake, right?

...

091. Boys Are Like This

Miss Angel is taking a bath in his bathroom...

The thought of this reality couldn't help but make Xia Chuanzou feel subtle.

Washing clothes, washing the floor, washing dishes, etc., were of course all okay, but taking a bath felt completely different. After all, this was in the home of the opposite sex. Although Shiina had always maintained a strange friendship with him, she had never done this kind of behavior before.

This impulsive action was like "inviting" him to do something bad... No! He must be thinking too much, right?

Shiina definitely didn't have any strange ideas; she just felt there was nothing wrong with showering at a good friend's house. But if he were too self-conscious, he would be trampling on Shiina's trust…

That's right! That's the way to think. It's just help between friends! Just like him, didn't he stay overnight at Fujiwara Chika's house yesterday and use her bathroom?

Thinking this, Natsukawa Kanade nodded heavily, completely convincing himself.

"Kanade, can you hear me?" Accompanied by the clear sound of water, Shiina's lovely voice came from the bathroom.

"Yes, what's wrong?"

Natsukawa Kanade walked to the bathroom door. He could hear more clearly here, but the drawback was that he would inadvertently catch a glimpse of the graceful figure reflected on the glass door, which would lead to fanciful thoughts.

"Umm…" Natsukawa Kanade's heart trembled, and he almost had the urge to push open the bathroom door, so he had to turn his head away and look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, his gaze landed directly on the basket where the angel-like girl had placed her discarded clothes—school uniform, school skirt, and other things…

Natsukawa Kanade couldn't help but squat down and cover his face, feeling ashamed of the strange fantasies in his mind.

This was too agonizing, wasn't it?

Even though there was only a wall between them, and it couldn't compare to the stimulation he felt last night when Fujiwara scrubbed his back in the bathroom, he couldn't stop the fantasies in his mind.

This couldn't help but remind him of a friend's words—the so-called '犹抱琵琶半遮面' (yóu bào pípa bàn zhēmiàn, 'holding a pipa, half-hiding the face'), meaning that a half-hidden view is the most beautiful!

Only when there is room for disclosure can there be room for imagination. While a full reveal can bring a direct impact, such things are never straightforward. Only by holding a lofty respect, gradually lifting the veil of mystery, can the final fruit be tasted as the sweetest…

What are you even fantasizing about, you lecherous pervert!

Natsukawa Kanade slammed the floor hard, and only the pain that came back from the impact allowed him to regain some rationality.

"Kanade? Are you outside?" The voice from the bathroom became clearer, as if a cute girl was whispering softly in his ear.

In fact, the angel-like girl was 1000% cute!

"Seriously, are you even listening to me…" The angel-like girl seemed a little impatient. Natsukawa Kanade could even hear her stirring the water in the bathtub, gently swirling around.

"…You, you wouldn't be doing something bad outside, would you, Kanade?" The heat in the bathtub made Shiina's pretty face red.

"Of course not!" This time, Natsukawa Kanade finally came back to his senses, no longer holding his breath and thinking wildly. "How could I possibly do such a thing!"

Like imagining Shiina taking a bath by looking at her shadow on the glass window, wondering if her discarded clothes still retained warmth… He wasn't thinking about anything like that! Not even a millimeter of such imagination!

"But I haven't said anything yet!" Shiina Mahiru's pretty face became even redder. She couldn't help but shrink her head down, leaving only a pair of beautiful caramel-colored eyes exposed on the water's surface, gently swirling around.

Idiot Kanade, pervert Kanade, big pig…

As expected, boys are all lecherous perverts! They're thinking about those things all day long! Even Kanade is no exception!