Chapter 138 – As you wished

At the end of September, under the profound night sky, the lights shining from the dormitory rooms of the Advanced Nurturing High School were notably conspicuous.

The evening breeze, no longer as hot as during the day, brought a cool touch of autumn, silently indicating that summer was about to end and fall was approaching.

Walking on the school paths, the irritating chirping of cicadas could no longer be heard, replaced instead by the occasional tweets of birds.

Night birds out for a walk? Could it be owls? Do owls tweet? Yukio, leaning against a tree, idly wondered.

"Sorry, sorry, did you wait long?" Kei Karuizawa hurried over, perhaps because of the cooler nighttime temperatures, she had unusually donned her red school jacket over the typical short-sleeved shirts of late summer.

"Yeah." Yukio nodded in acknowledgment, not bothering with gentlemanly phrases like "No, I just got here," but instead expressing his true thoughts: "I've been waiting so long I've thought about punishing you."

"Eh? Eh!" Karuizawa's pitch rose from low to high in surprise, disturbing the diligent nocturnal birds and causing an unknown bird species to flutter its wings with a whoosh, echoing through the small forest in front of the dormitory building.

"Pu, punishment..." As Karuizawa spoke, she oddly lowered her head, not daring to look directly at Yukio.

Her heart raced, pumping blood at full force. The accelerated blood flow made Karuizawa's cheeks visibly redden under the night's mask!

What's he up to?! How could he mention punishment? Could it be, could it be he wants to... Just by thinking about it a bit wildly, Karuizawa felt her face burning up!

It wasn't her fault for thinking such things, mainly because the school doesn't allow students to go out, leaving them bored except for going out to play, and when alone in the dormitory, the only options are watching dramas or reading manga.

Lately, Karuizawa had been watching those typical "dominant CEO falls for me" series, and as she watched, she couldn't help but imagine Yukio as the domineering CEO and herself as the protagonist.

When the male lead in the drama is unhappy and "punishes" the female lead, it's easy for Karuizawa at this moment to make corresponding associations, hence her blush reaching almost a bleeding intensity.

It just shows, she still doesn't quite understand why these dramas or novels, specifically aimed at girls, tend to set the female protagonist as ordinary or even bullied, providing a point of identification for the female audience and readers.

Hearing the word "punishment," Karuizawa couldn't help but imagine Yukio suddenly pinning her against a tree and then forcefully lifting her chin!

No, no! Karuizawa even hugged her head, her thoughts becoming increasingly embarrassing. She couldn't continue down this path!

Seeing Karuizawa retract like a scared pigeon, Yukio let out a laugh and then dropped the teasing: "Let's talk business. You hurried to meet me here, saying you had something to hand over to me. What is it?"

Karuizawa slightly relaxed her grip, no longer tightly covering her head. Hearing Yukio's tone, it seemed like he was just joking before?

Confused, she lifted her head slightly and saw Yukio's serious expression, instantly feeling a sense of loss, as if something was missing.

To describe Karuizawa's feelings at that moment, it was like a child refusing a relative's New Year's money, only for the relative to say, "Okay, if you insist, I won't give it," and then actually taking the money back.

The disappointment a child feels upon seeing the relative retract the money is exactly how Karuizawa felt in her confusion.

"Why do you seem especially disappointed?" Yukio was puzzled. 'What's with her?'

"Who, who's disappointed!" Karuizawa quickly put on an angered look: "Don't you make things up!" But under the faint moonlight, her blushing, indignantly embarrassed expression was utterly unconvincing.

"Whether I'm making it up, don't you know?" Yukio was straightforward, not bothering with any fancy talk. He stepped closer and gently slapped her bouncy ass.

Even this slap produced a somewhat deep thud.

Karuizawa immediately shivered. Hastily jumping away, a real little hop, she nearly lost her balance upon landing, fortunately stabilizing herself with a step.

Her face was burning, and she tilted her head away, not daring to look at Yukio, covering her butt with her hands: "What, what are you doing all of a sudden!"

"Just as you wished, and I didn't even use force," Yukio waved his hand, either indicating Karuizawa shouldn't take it too seriously or recalling about the contact from that slap.

"What, what do you mean 'as I wished'!" Karuizawa grew even more embarrassed, stubbornly tilting her head and fixing her gaze on the tree Yukio had been leaning against, refusing to look at him: "I, I wasn't thinking about punishment at all!"

'But, it seems he really didn't use much force, it didn't hurt much,' Karuizawa quickly glanced away, giving her assessment of that slap.

Aren't you just spilling your innermost thoughts?

Yukio pinched his nose bridge: "Ahem, so, what exactly are you giving me?"

Upon mentioning the matter at hand for the second time, Karuizawa didn't argue anymore. However, with a somewhat complex look that seemed part coy, part reproachful, she opened her school jacket and took out a few sheets of paper bound together as a document: "Here!"

"This is our Class D's entry form for the upcoming sports festival. It should be useful to you, right? To ensure there were no mishaps, I had Hirata hand over the form to Chabashira-sensei for confirmation before I brought it to you."

"Is that so? You've done well." Yukio showed a satisfied expression, praised her, and took the documents, though he didn't browse through them.

What's there to browse? The same entry forms had already been sent to him online by both Kushida and Sakura.

Having too many undercover contacts had its downside: the information overlapped significantly. It was a happy problem to have, considering other classes would struggle to secure even one mole.

Unaware of Yukio's internal monologue, Karuizawa appeared genuinely happy, practically radiating triumph as if she had accomplished something significant.

She was that simple, displaying her happiness and joy openly.

After all, in her life before, such bright emotions were rare. Having the opportunity to feel this way, she naturally wanted to show it off brightly.

If it were negative emotions, or anything else, she would conceal them well, keeping them from being known.

"If next time, for instance, the entry form for next year's sports festival," Yukio thought it over and decided to point it out: "You could enter it into a computer or phone document and send it to me over the internet."

"It would be safer that way, without you having to risk coming out personally."

The sudden silence is the most feared. The previously jubilant Karuizawa instantly froze, her halfway smile stiffening on her face, unsure whether to continue smiling or to stop.

In any case, this expression, frozen mid-smile, was incredibly amusing.

***

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