After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

Realizing that he wouldn't see Ai Cheng Hua Lian on the train for some time, Kagura Hikaru felt an uncontrollable urge to go back home.

He sincerely hoped that his father, who was on a business trip in China, would recover from his leg injury soon and send his stepmother back home. That way, he would have a reason to return.

Otherwise, Xiaosong Lisha would probably resort to acting coquettishly and clinging to him relentlessly to keep him from leaving.

But at the moment, besides this, there was another issue that scared him even more.

Rather, the sense of fear this issue brought was even greater.

".....Why are you here?" Kagura Hikaru looked on with an expression that said 'Subway, old man, cellphone.jpg'.

"Good morning, Kagura, Hina."

Kohinata Motoyo stood under a telephone pole in front of the station, her hands clasped in front of her like the daughter of a prominent figure in a historical drama, smiling and waving with perfect manners.

Her smile was devoid of any slyness or mischief, but for some reason, it evoked images of a fox—more precisely, a glamorous, well-dressed fox spirit standing on its hind legs.

Kagura Hikaru: "..."

Kiryu Hina: "..."

Both of them simultaneously thought about the same question.

Kagura Hikaru had only decided to move yesterday, and he alighted at a different station today, but how did Kohinata Motoyo know?

Until now, only the people involved and Ayakoji Chiyoko knew about Kagura Hikaru moving into the Kiryu family's house.

Could it really have been Ayakoji Chiyoko who told her? They weren't close enough for that.

Or, was she originally waiting for Kiryu Hina?.....No, that couldn't be right. She showed no surprise at seeing Kagura Hikaru; it was clearly premeditated.

A chill ran down Kagura Hikaru's spine.

Every time he let his guard down around this person, Kohinata Motoyo reminded him anew that this girl possessed very dangerous traits.

Her danger was not the same type as others'.

"Are you spying on us?" Kagura Hikaru asked weirdly.

Kohinata Motoyo wore an innocently puzzled smile: "What are you talking about, Kagura? It's a coincidence."

He sniffed the air.

Lie.

"'Coincidence,' huh." Kiryu Hina said sharply.

"Oh, don't be so hostile, it really is just a coincidence." Kohinata Motoyo said with a troubled smile, "Today, my driver took a different route to school, and we just happened to pass by this station. I remembered this was Hina's usual route to school and thought I'd wait and say hi. I didn't expect Kagura to be here too."

Kagura Hikaru and Kiryu Hina's expressions were subtle, clearly not buying Kohinata Motoyo's explanation.

But what she said was still logically consistent, so challenging her would be met with rebuttals, and they truly couldn't find any proof to show she was lying.

"So, what's really going on here? Why are you and Hina going to school together, Kagura?" Kohinata Motoyo asked curiously.

Kiryu Hina narrowed her eyes, convinced she was asking deliberately, but still 'kindly' explained the lead-up and context in emphatic tones, proudly sharing that Kagura Hikaru was now temporarily staying at the Kiryu residence, in essence, cohabiting with her.

Kagura Hikaru silently observed as Kohinata Motoyo, seemingly oblivious to the undertones in Kiryu Hina's words, listened with a surprised expression.

She showed no signs of jealousy or envy, behaving like an ordinary observer who heard about two classmates coincidentally living in the same apartment.

If this meant Kohinata Motoyo was no longer interested in Kagura Hikaru, that might be good news, but he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't that simple.

....Let's test it.

[Like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like.]

[Like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like.]

[Like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like.]

[You gained through peeping into the mind: Acting +3]

[Acting lv5 (cannot be improved)]

Nothing has changed since the beginning at all!

Kagura Hikaru thought to himself how troublesome this was.

The dense content of mind-reading, like echoes swirling around his head, brainwashes him and he couldn't disperse it for quite some time.

Even he, an outsider, found it terrifying; what was it like for Kohinata Motoyo, who actually 'silently read' these contents all the time?

Moreover, among the dense text, a fleeting mind-reading image was an upward view of the Kiryu Family's luxury apartment under the night sky.

It seemed to be a memory of Kohinata Motoyo standing under the apartment looking up at the building one evening.

Although he didn't see either himself or Kiryu Hina, Kagura Hikaru instinctively believed that the memory was from last night.

If that was true, it meant that Kohinata Motoyo was following them that night.

The key was that Kagura Hikaru had not noticed it at all at the time.

Either Kohinata Motoyo was tracking from a distance, or she, or someone helping her, had undergone professional surveillance training.

If Kagura Hikaru could remember a bit more clearly, perhaps he could have matched the specific date and time through the astronomical map in the mind-reading image, but his cheat wasn't quite that convenient yet.

Speaking of which, this mind-reading had pushed his Acting skill to lv5, meaning the number of his maxed-out skills had now reached four, and he didn't know if it would bring new abilities.

There probably weren't any; if there were, Kagura Hikaru would surely have felt the changes quickly, just like the first and third times he reached the maximum level.

One, three... if it followed the order of odd numbers, then the next one should be "five."

Maybe when the fifth skill reached maximum level, he would have new abilities to play with.

During their conversation, Kagura Hikaru reminded the two girls that if they continued chatting where they were, they might be late.

The three moved towards the school. Enjoy exclusive adventures from My Virtual Library Empire

On the way, Kohinata Motoyo kept asking Kiryu Hina about Kagura Hikaru's birth mother and their family relationships, not hiding her curiosity at all.

"So, you guys are going to be siblings from now on? That's great, isn't it, Hina?"

Kohinata Motoyo genuinely seemed happy for the sisters and secretly signaled to Kiryu Hina, hinting that she could take the opportunity to get closer to her beloved.

Kiryu Hina felt ambivalent and was torn between objecting and not objecting.

It was impossible for her not to realize Kohinata Motoyo's intention.

This girl definitely wanted to play matchmaker for herself and Kagura Hikaru, then join in herself.

Kiryu Hina saw right through her.

This harem-like behavior, neither morally nor legally justifiable, how could she possibly agree!

She believed that her former best friend was getting obsessed.

This must be the common flaw of geniuses, possessing too much, fulfilling every desire, eventually forgetting how to give up and hence, giving rise to such twisted thoughts.

With Kagura Hikaru's personality... he probably wouldn't accept it.

Kiryu Hina hesitated for a second, then firmed up her resolve.

Yeah, definitely not, he wouldn't accept such a proposal.

But what if, she meant just what if.

If in the end, this 'competition' was won by Kohinata Motoyo, and she came to invite her as the victor... could she really resist the temptation?

Fantasizing about such a scenario, Kiryu Hina also began to feel awkward.

Damn it, don't give up, me!