The Heroines Want to Confess.

Chapter 83: Fujiwara Chika Wants to Hold Hands ٩(˵˃̶ω˂̶˵)◞* 

In romantic relationships between men and women, there's a way to describe things using baseball terms.

First Base: Intimate actions like holding hands and hugging.

(≧ω≦)人(≧ω≦)

Second Base: Kissing or getting physically closer.

( ˶˘ ³˘(ˊᗜˋ*)!♡

Third Base: Caressing, more advanced intimate gestures.

╰⋃╯σ(≧ε≦ｏ)

Home Run: Seggs

εつ▄█▀█●

But isn't something every couple can reach quickly.

Today, Secretary Fujiwara wants to make it to First Base.

Even though her relationship with Sakurai Saki hasn't reached the level of lovers yet.

'Wanna hold hands…' Chika-chan pretended to casually glance at Sakurai Saki's hand.

After successfully changing how she calls him to "Saki-kun," Fujiwara Chika wants to take another step!! But even with that, she hasn't fully succeeded—she's only halfway there—because up until now, Sakurai Saki still hasn't called her by her name, meaning "Chika."

'If I don't succeed today, I'll try again next time!'

Last time when Hayasaka Ai confessed to him, Sakurai Saki didn't notice right away, and that gave Chika even more confidence!

She had even removed Hayasaka Ai from her threat list.

After all, Saki-kun had already made a choice between Hayasaka Ai and her. No matter how she thinks about it, she didn't lose!

Even if she's already half-won, it's still crucial to seize the opportunity and push forward while momentum is on her side!

Waiting won't bring victory!

"Saki-kun~ Lately I've learned palm reading through fingers! Wanna try it?"

(˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)

Chika said while extending her tiny sinful hand, carefully reaching toward Sakurai Saki's.

"Finger palm reading?" Sakurai Saki was holding a cup of black tea in his right hand, freshly brewed by Shinomiya Kaguya, and took a sip.

Although he preferred coffee, he didn't dislike black tea. As long as he didn't have to brew it himself, who would hate free stuff?

Well, when it comes to free games, Sakurai Saki kind of hates them—because even though they're labeled "free," things like skins and gacha can cost a fortune.

Chika pulled Sakurai Saki's left hand toward her.

"So big~"

Just as expected, a boy's hand was a lot bigger.

Chika squeezed the soft flesh in his palm, the same way she would cuddle her beloved dog at home. That's right! Her dog's name is Pes, super adorable!

Sakurai Saki gave her a strange look. "Chika, do you really need to do that for finger palm reading?"

"Umu…" Fujiwara Chika reflexively let out a soft "umu," and then she realized what he had just called her.

∘ ∘ ∘ (｡· v ·｡) ?

A few seconds later, she stammered, "Saki-kun, what did you just call me?"

"Chika?" Sakurai Saki repeated.

He spoke while glancing around the room.

At the moment, only he and Secretary Fujiwara were left in the student council room.

Shirogane Miyuki had gone to his part-time job, Miko had left, and Ishigami Yuu seemed to have bought a new game and gone home to play it.

Shinomiya Kaguya had stopped by to brew a cup of tea—she seemed to have something on her mind—but noticing the lack of people, she didn't say anything. They chatted briefly and then she left.

So, unexpectedly, only the two of them remained in the student council room.

"Hehe~ Can you say it one more time~?"

.o(≧∀≦)o

"Chika?"

( ╹ -╹)?

"So embarrassing~"

(∩˃ω˂∩)♡

Secretary Fujiwara's little brain seemed to be overheating.

Sakurai Saki also felt a bit embarrassed by her reaction and explained, "Normally there are too many people in the student council room, so I felt awkward calling you that."

With Ai-chan, Sakurai Saki could still use a nickname, but with Fujiwara Chika, it felt a bit strange to him.

Because their reactions were completely different.

When he called Hayasaka Ai "Ai-chan," she wouldn't get shy—on the contrary, she'd happily respond with "Sakurai-chan."

But when he called Fujiwara Chika by name, she'd get flustered! And it was the visibly flustered kind—her fair face would flush red, her actions would turn shy, and even her voice would be full of sweetness.

Chika-chan showed the clear signs of a girl in love—more direct than even a confession!

Sakurai Saki also got caught up in that romantic atmosphere. He would blush, get so flustered he couldn't speak. He was never good at handling that kind of head-on approach. Last year, when he didn't have feelings for her, he could still suppress his emotions, but this year—it was hopeless.

"So that's how it is~" Fujiwara Chika softly said.

She thought Sakurai Saki didn't want to call her by name.

Turns out… he was just shy?

So happy I could die~

"From now on, when it's just the two of us, can you keep calling me that?" Chika-chan said while placing Sakurai Saki's hand against her cheek.

A soft sensation passed from her skin to his hand. The hand holding his tea trembled slightly.

Sakurai Saki's right hand shook a bit, then he set the cup down.

"U-Umu." Sakurai Saki looked away. Right now, he didn't dare meet Chika's eyes.

These sudden kinds of attacks—those were the deadliest!

She really was a girl full of surprises!

'I like you~' Chika pressed her cheek against his hand.

'Like you soooo much~'

In that moment, things like "holding hands" didn't seem important anymore.

"Um… aren't we doing the finger palm reading?" Sakurai Saki tried to bring up a topic.

He felt like if things kept going this way, he'd run out of strength before even getting home.

Love really is terrifying.

"I haven't learned it all the way yet, can we save it for next time?" Chika-chan felt like if she went even a step further, she might just die from happiness.

That said, she had absolutely no intention of letting go of Sakurai Saki's left hand.

And so, the two of them stayed in the student council room, holding hands—for half an hour straight!

(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) LEWD!!!

...

6 PM.

At a KTV near Shinjuku Station.

In a private room, a group of young men and women were drinking. A disco ball above flickered with spinning lights, filling the room with strange glimmering patterns.

"Rika, you're late today."

The door opened, and a girl voiced her complaint as she saw the newcomer.

"Well, she is the Keio University brainiac… Rika-chan, it's been so long!" said a short-haired girl.

The boy sitting next to the short-haired girl also looked toward the door.

Sakurai Saki didn't stare. Tonight, he was playing the role of a cold, young boyfriend.

Can't deny it—these clients sure had a lot of demands.

The girl at the door, called Rika, looked at the two of them.

"Akane-chan? The guy next to you—is he your boyfriend?"

"Nice to meet you."

Sakurai Saki answered flatly.

The other guys in the room also greeted her.

"Rika, it really has been a long time, hasn't it? Nearly two years since we graduated?" said a blond-haired guy.

He was the one who organized tonight's gathering.

It was a reunion.

Everyone present had been in the same high school club. It had been years since they'd seen each other, so they arranged to meet up.

Sakurai Saki wasn't interested in their stories—he didn't care if there were love triangles or any messy drama.

Still, that blond guy definitely had his eyes on the girl at the door.

"Yuuto~ Isn't Rika-chan pretty?" the client asked, clinging to Sakurai Saki's arm.

Her name was Aoki Akane.

Sakurai Saki was familiar with this kind of question.

It's a common test in relationships, whether from men or women—trying to probe your reaction.

"Not as pretty as you." Sakurai Saki replied coldly.

"Ara~ Yuuto, come on… Smile a little, will you? You're always so cold…" Aoki Akane pouted.

Woman, wasn't you is the one who requested this personality?

Sakurai Saki was seriously done with this kind of woman.

"Don't want to smile at anyone but you." Sakurai Saki kept up the persona of a professional rental boyfriend.

"You're the only exception…"

The next moment, he gave Aoki Akane a gentle smile.

The contrast between his earlier coldness and this sudden warmth hit hard—so hard that this Ojou-sama client froze in place for several seconds.

Aoki Akane: ( ˶o˶˶o˶) !!

"Um… Yuuto, maybe… you shouldn't smile." Aoki Akane said, her face flushing red.

As expected of a top-class rental boyfriend—he was just too handsome!

On top of that, this contrast of cold and gentle was exactly the type she always dreamed of!

A cold-hearted man to everyone else, but gentle and sweet just for her! Like a romance novel come to life—right before her eyes!

"Got it, if that's what you want." Sakurai Saki returned to his stoic expression, like a certain Uchiha.

"You two are just too sweet~" a girl commented admiringly.

"My ex-boyfriend was seriously such a pain!"

"Oh right, Yuzu, wasn't he the guy who confessed to you in front of the whole school last time?" another girl chimed in.

Eventually, the group's attention turned to the girl with long, sleek black hair who had just taken a seat beside Aoki Akane.

"Rika~ Do you have a boyfriend yet? If not, we can totally set you up!"

"Not yet," Rika replied with a gentle smile.

"Makes sense. Back in high school, Rika was such a bookworm—she didn't care about anything except reading."

Listening to their conversation, Sakurai Saki began to piece things together.

So this was that classic dynamic—someone sees a former classmate make it into a prestigious university and starts feeling inferior, so they jab at the one area that person supposedly lacks in.

Girls were… really something.

This client likely brought him along to avoid being isolated during this high school reunion.

"I wish I had a boyfriend like Yuuto-kun," another girl said enviously.

"Same! If my ex had even half of what Yuuto-kun has, I wouldn't have broken up with him!"

The guys in the room shot Sakurai Saki some hostile looks, though nothing too aggressive—after all, he already had a girlfriend, so he wasn't a direct threat.

Still, they were suspicious: with looks like that, what was he doing with Aoki Akane? Was he just playing around?

Got bored of luxury cuisine and decided to rinse his mouth with tap water?

This reunion was full of girls these guys had secretly liked back in their high school club days. Most had never confessed—some because the girls already had boyfriends, others just too afraid of rejection.

But this time, they'd done their homework. All the girls were supposedly single now.

Only one problem: they missed a detail.

One of the girls brought her boyfriend. And that boyfriend? Extremely attractive.

Heard he was from Shuchiin Academy?

That place was filled with elites—not the kind of people you messed with.

So this time, Aoki Akane had automatically been taken off their target list.

...

Once everyone had arrived, the karaoke session officially began.

With alcohol loosening people up, the mood quickly became more relaxed.

Sakurai Saki, holding a non-alcoholic drink, gently reminded the client beside him:"Akane, don't drink too much."

He was worried she'd get drunk and he'd end up having to escort her home.

As someone in the service industry, he couldn't just abandon a client out on the street if they were wasted.

"Okay, I'll listen to you~" the short-haired client winked at him flirtatiously.

Unfortunately, Sakurai Saki didn't respond to that signal at all.

Because right now, his mind was completely focused on the girl named Rika.

Not because of her looks—though she was decently attractive, she still couldn't compare to Fujiwara Chika, Hayasaka Ai, or even the Nakano quintuplets. They were all clearly a cut above.

No, what caught Sakurai Saki's attention was something else—Rika's emotional state was off.

She seemed to be forcing herself to hold it together. Since the moment she walked in, she'd barely said anything.

Even with makeup, the fatigue on her face couldn't be hidden.

Are college students these days really this worn out?

Prestigious universities must be absolutely brutal.

How long has it been since she had a decent night's sleep?

Sakurai Saki glanced again a few more times. In the dim lighting of the karaoke room, he thought he saw a red mark on her neck.

When he noticed it clearly, he immediately averted his gaze.

A love bite…

That was a territory completely beyond Sakurai Saki's reach.

A love bite was basically synonymous with a "Home Run."

And for someone like Sakurai Saki—who hadn't even had his first kiss—this was an area of experience entirely foreign to him.

'Looks like she already has a boyfriend.' He glanced over at the other male students in the room.

Some of them were still sneaking glances at her.

If the girl they all secretly admired turned out to already be taken, how was he supposed to break that sad news to them?

'Forget it. It's not my business anyway.'

"Hey! Yuuto-kun! Sing us something!" the leader of the male group called out.

Sakurai Saki gave a silent nod and stepped up to the microphone in the center of the room.

After he left his seat—

"Rika-chan, you don't look so good," Aoki Akane said as she sat beside the girl with long, straight black hair.

"Yeah," Rika replied half-heartedly.

"After I got home last night… I don't know what happened, I just ended up like this. My body's also really tired."

"Your face is pale too. Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"No need. I've got class tomorrow."

Aoki Akane took another close look at her friend.

And then—she saw the same thing Sakurai Saki had noticed earlier.

On her snow-white neck were two very noticeable red marks.

'Naruhodo~' Aoki Akane immediately understood.

So it was… overexertion, huh?

"Rika-chan, take care of yourself, okay!"

Was it really possible to get this exhausted just from that?

At first, Aoki Akane had still been toying with the idea of romance. But now, she extinguished that thought completely.

If she ever felt like falling in love again… she'd just rent Yuuto instead.

Sure, it cost a fair bit of money, but at least for those few hours—he would be hers alone.

While the two girls were chatting—

Sakurai Saki began to sing.

The room came alive again, with everyone—guys and girls alike—shaking maracas and handbells in rhythm.

"He sings really well…" Rika murmured, feeling a bit sleepy as she listened.

"I'll take you home later," Aoki Akane said in concern.

Back in high school, the two of them had been quite close. Even though they were now attending different universities, they still kept in touch by phone.

In fact, Aoki Akane was the one who had invited Rika to this reunion in the first place.

"Thanks."

When Sakurai Saki returned to his seat, he noticed that his client seemed to be getting ready to leave.

Upon hearing the reason from her, he didn't object.

After all, their three-hour session was almost up. Spending the remaining time walking her out was part of the job, too.

And so, the three of them left the KTV venue.

At first, Sakurai Saki thought he'd have to escort them the entire way home, but the two girls ended up calling a taxi.

So many people have money these days.

Or perhaps more accurately—a girl who could afford to hire a top-tier rental boyfriend obviously wasn't short on spending cash.

On a busy street near Shinjuku Station—

People bustled back and forth.

Sakurai Saki looked up at the evening sky, then quietly stepped into the station.

...

Note: Umm... I don't feel very good about that girl named Rika, she doesn't seem to know why she's so tired... was she raped or something...