Chapter 490: The Siblings

Kouhei was sitting alone in the cafeteria at the moment, enjoying a quiet break while sipping on his jelly drink.

It was a little surprising to see him by himself, considering that Hina or the others would usually be with him. However, it seemed that everyone had something else to take care of today, leaving him with some rare time alone.

Kouhei took another sip of his jelly drink, feeling the slightly thick liquid slide down his throat as he stared into the distance without paying attention to anyone in particular. His expression was calm, but his mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely, occupied with the many things he still needed to deal with.

Meanwhile, quite a few people around the cafeteria were watching him, and a particularly large number of them happened to be girls.

That was only natural, considering how handsome Kouhei had become.

At the beginning of the school year, he wasn’t someone whom anyone would have seriously considered as a potential boyfriend. He was short, somewhat of an otaku, and had an appearance that practically screamed nerd. Back then, he was the kind of guy that certain girls would easily overlook, while others might even make fun of him.

Right now, however, he hardly looked like the same person.

Kouhei had become so handsome that even the mean girls who would have bullied boys like his former self were practically drooling whenever they caught sight of him. His eyes had become sharper, giving him a more confident look, while his jaw had developed a slightly chiseled shape without becoming overly angular. His chin still retained a softer appearance, keeping his face from looking too harsh or intimidating. He had also grown taller, and his body was no longer thin like it had been before.

Even through his school uniform, it was easy to tell that he had been working out.

His shoulders were broader, his physique looked considerably more developed, and his overall appearance gave the impression of someone who exercised regularly. Strangely enough, even though he didn’t always seem to participate in sports, he somehow looked more athletic than some of the students who actually played them.

It was almost unfair when someone could look that good without appearing to put much effort into it.

Naturally, the girls in the cafeteria couldn’t help noticing him, and some of them were already whispering among themselves while sneaking glances in his direction. A few were trying to figure out whether they had any chance with him, while others were simply content to admire him from a distance.

Unfortunately for them, Kouhei was already surrounded by rumors about his romantic life.

Although nothing had been officially confirmed, many students already suspected that he was dating someone from the student council. Most of them were leaning toward Saionji Hina, the white-haired ice princess whose beauty and reputation made her one of the most admired girls in the school.

However, there were also rumors that something was going on between Kouhei and Sarushima Yuuna, the student council president herself. On top of that, Kiyohara Nagisa, Yuki Misuzu, and Aizawa Yumi were also being mentioned whenever people discussed his possible relationships.

There was no official confirmation about any of them, but the general assumption among the students was that he had to be dating at least one of those girls.

After all, it was difficult to believe that someone like Kouhei could spend so much time with several incredibly beautiful girls without something romantic happening between them.

The fact that those girls were all exceptionally attractive only made the rumors more convincing in the eyes of the students. They were beautiful enough to attract attention wherever they went, and some of them had even been approached for street casting before.

With that in mind, the other girls could hardly imagine themselves competing with them.

Even if someone managed to gather enough courage to approach Kouhei, what exactly were they supposed to do if he was already dating one of those girls? Competing against someone like Saionji Hina or Sarushima Yuuna was intimidating enough, and the possibility of several other girls being involved made the situation even more complicated.

For most of them, admiring Kouhei from a distance seemed like the safer option.

As for Kouhei himself, he had already noticed that people were looking at him.

Their attention had bothered him somewhat when he first started experiencing it, especially since he wasn’t accustomed to receiving so many glances whenever he entered a room. Back then, he would occasionally wonder whether he had something on his face or whether people were staring because he had done something embarrassing.

Fortunately, he had gradually grown used to it.

Nowadays, their attention hardly bothered him at all. He had too many things to take care of, and wasting his time worrying about every person who happened to look in his direction wasn’t going to accomplish anything.

Besides, he had more important matters to think about than whether some random girl in the cafeteria found him attractive.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, a girl who had fallen in love with him was watching him from a distance.

Ichinose Hiyori, a girl who was the same age as Kouhei, had fallen in love with him.

Her feelings had developed naturally over time, without any particular moment that she could point to as the exact beginning of her affection. It had simply happened, little by little, until she eventually found herself thinking about him more often than she would have liked to admit.

And, honestly, the whole situation was a little uncomfortable for her to think about.

Hiyori wasn’t entirely sure what she should do with those feelings, especially since she couldn’t simply pretend that they didn’t exist. She could distract herself with other things, but sooner or later, her thoughts would somehow return to Kouhei.

***

As she sat inside the car and looked through the window at the buildings passing by, Hiyori remained quiet for a while, watching the familiar scenery move past her eyes.

Eventually, the person sitting nearby spoke to her.

"Have you had a good time at school today, Hiyori-sama?" her maid asked politely.

The woman was Kusonoki Sena, a member of the Kusonoki family, which had served the Ichinose family for many years. She was responsible for attending to Hiyori’s needs, and she took her duties seriously, even when Hiyori occasionally complained about the arrangements.

"I’ve already told you, Sena. I really don’t need you to pick me up from school every day when I can walk home by myself," Hiyori replied, sounding a little exasperated. "It’s not as though I’m incapable of getting home without someone accompanying me."

"Unfortunately, your mother specifically instructed me to do so, so I don’t have much of a choice," Sena explained calmly. "You’ve also been coming home later than usual recently, and your mother has started worrying that you might be doing something she wouldn’t approve of."

Hiyori turned her attention away from the window and looked at Sena.

"Well, it’s not as though I’m doing anything bad," she said. "I don’t think I’m the kind of person who would deliberately do something that would upset my parents."

Sena understood that perfectly well.

Hiyori wasn’t the sort of girl who would intentionally get herself involved in something that went against her family’s expectations. She knew her young mistress well enough to trust her judgment, and she had little reason to believe that Hiyori was secretly doing anything dangerous.

Still, understanding someone didn’t mean that every possible concern disappeared.

Sena had a younger sister of her own, and unfortunately, her sister had strayed quite far from the path she had hoped she would follow. That experience had taught Sena that even people who seemed sensible could sometimes make decisions that left their families worried.

Because of that, she couldn’t help feeling a little concerned about Hiyori’s recent behavior, even if she had no concrete reason to suspect anything particularly serious.

After all, looking after someone meant paying attention to changes in their routine, even when those changes appeared harmless at first.

Hiyori, meanwhile, seemed less than pleased about being monitored so closely.

She understood that her mother was worried about her, but having someone sent to collect her every day made her feel as though she were still a child who couldn’t be trusted to manage her own schedule.

The car suddenly came to a stop.

A moment later, the door opened, and another woman entered the vehicle.

"Good afternoon, Your Ladyship," the tanned-skinned woman greeted Hiyori with a smile.

She appeared to be in her early twenties and was dressed in rather daring, chic clothing. Her skirt was so short that it came dangerously close to revealing her panties whenever she moved, giving Sena plenty of reasons to question her fashion choices.

Sena immediately recognized her.

Her expression changed as she looked at the newcomer through the rearview mirror, her eyes narrowing with disapproval.

"You seem to have lost your sense of dignity, Yuka," Sena remarked sharply, glaring at her younger sister. "Why are you even wearing something like that? At this rate, why not simply go outside completely naked?"

Yuka blinked at her sister before settling comfortably into the seat.

"Why would I do that?" she asked, sounding genuinely puzzled by the suggestion. "I’m wearing clothes, aren’t I?"

"You’re wearing so little that someone could easily mistake you for a person who forgot half her outfit at home," Sena retorted. "Have you even looked at the length of that skirt?"

"I’m not practically naked, Sena," Yuka replied with an exaggerated sigh. "Everyone wears this kind of outfit nowadays, so I don’t see what the problem is."

"Just because everyone does something doesn’t automatically make it sensible," Sena countered.

Yuka simply shrugged, looking completely unbothered by the criticism.

Hiyori watched the two sisters argue with each other.