“Ahhh! What are you two deciding on your own?!”
Su Ruanruan, held tightly in their arms, watched as the two in front of her reached a complete consensus. Her vision spun, and her eyes turned into swirling mosquito coils.
Summoning strength from somewhere, she suddenly broke free from Saginomiya Shiori’s embrace. Like a startled kitten with its fur standing on end, she scrambled back to the corner of the gaming chair.
She crossed her small, fair hands in front of her chest, forming a large “X.”
“Stop! Just stop! I don’t care if it’s one, three, and five or two, four, and six! I have no intention of dating! Besides, I’m not ready for that kind of thing yet, so I must decline.”
Su Ruanruan puffed out her soft cheeks and tried to straighten her back.
The club room, which had been filled with the scent of gunpowder, suddenly fell silent.
Chu Youyu stood where she was, her black twin-tails hanging quietly by her shoulders.
The Young Lady, who was half a head shorter than Su Ruanruan, bowed her head slightly. Her fine bangs obscured her eyes, making it impossible to see her expression.
“You… Youyu…?” Sensing the atmosphere was off, Su Ruanruan shrunk her neck guiltily, her voice weakening.
Suddenly, Chu Youyu snapped her head up.
Those large eyes, usually full of pride and arrogance, held no trace of their former self. Instead, they were filled with a thin layer of mist. The rims of her eyes were red, carrying an unmistakable sense of grievance and stubbornness.
She strode toward Su Ruanruan, her white uniform leather shoes clicking sharply on the floor.
Then, she stood on her tiptoes and reached out with her two fair hands, unhesitatingly cupping Su Ruanruan’s palm-sized face.
“Eh?!” Su Ruanruan cried out, forced to look up.
“Ruanruan is a big idiot.”
Chu Youyu’s voice trembled slightly, and a blush visibly crawled up her pale cheeks. “I didn’t make that request because of some ‘Practice Romance’…”
The tsundere girl who usually referred to herself as “this Young Lady” bit her lower lip hard, as if venting all the accumulated grievances in her heart.
“I know that when I confessed to you last semester… you rejected me in front of the whole class. You called me ‘ungrown Black-haired Trash’ and tore up the love letter I stayed up all night writing right in front of me before throwing it in the trash…”
“Youyu, I’m sorry… I used to be…”
“Shut up! You’re not allowed to apologize!”
Chu Youyu’s large eyes brimmed with tears, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
Her hands tightened slightly on Su Ruanruan’s cheeks, refusing to let her retreat even an inch.
“I swore I would never talk to an arrogant Mesugaki like you again! But… but seeing you bullied by debt collectors, seeing your current pitiful, idiotic state, I still… I still can’t help myself!”
Chu Youyu took a deep breath, her dark eyes burning with a desperate intensity.
“I’m asking you one last time! Su Ruanruan, I like you! The serious kind of like, where I want you to be my girlfriend! Are you going to say yes or not?!”
Under Chu Youyu’s full-throttle direct assault, Su Ruanruan’s mind went blank, and her lips quivered for a long time.
Catalyzed by extreme confusion, nervousness, and a deep sense of guilt toward Chu Youyu, Su Ruanruan somehow managed to squeeze out a voice like a mosquito’s buzz.
“O… Okay…”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the air seemed to freeze for one second.
Su Ruanruan suddenly realized what outrageous thing she had just said.
“Wait, wait! I said the wrong thing!” Su Ruanruan was so anxious she was about to cry. Her face was as red as a cooked shrimp, and she frantically waved her two small hands. “No, no, no, what I meant was… ugh…”
Before she could explain herself coherently, another tall shadow suddenly loomed over her, blocking the light in the room.
Saginomiya Shiori had appeared behind Chu Youyu at some unknown point.
“No… You can’t say yes to her…”
Shiori bypassed Chu Youyu and pulled Su Ruanruan tightly into her arms from the side.
Shiori buried her face deep into the crook of Su Ruanruan’s neck, her hot breath fanning across her skin.
“I like Ruanruan too… I like Ruanruan the most… More than anyone else in this world…”
Shiori’s voice carried a heavy sob and an undisguised, humble plea. “Don’t choose her, okay?”
“Waaah… Don’t pressure me like this…”
Su Ruanruan was so distressed that tears began to fall. Crystal droplets slid down her cheeks and wet Chu Youyu’s fingers.
She really couldn’t handle this kind of scene!
Seeing Su Ruanruan cry from fear, Chu Youyu and Saginomiya Shiori were both stunned.
The madness and urgency in their eyes faded slightly, replaced by sheer panic and heartache.
Chu Youyu quickly let go, feeling a bit lost as she tried to wipe the tears away with her fingertips. “Ruanruan, don’t cry… This Young Lady… I’m not forcing you to make it real right now…”
Shiori also loosened her grip like she had been electrocuted, though she still stubbornly kept her arms around the girl’s waist. She hung her head like a child who had done something wrong, her voice full of self-reproach. “I’m sorry, Ruanruan… I scared you…”
“Um…”
Su Ruanruan sniffled, her nose red, and clumsily wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
With her face flushed and her eyes darting around, she nervously poked her index fingers together in front of her chest.
“Becoming lovers directly… is really not okay.”
Su Ruanruan’s voice was soft and sweet, carrying a hint of helpless compromise. “Right now, my head is full of how to pay back the debt, and I don’t really understand what being in love feels like… But…”
She carefully looked up at the two girls, who were full of disappointment, and bit her lip.
“But… if it’s being ‘Soulmates,’ I-I can do that.”
“Soulmates?”
Chu Youyu and Saginomiya Shiori were both stunned.
“Yes!” Su Ruanruan nodded her small head vigorously, her cheeks as red as ripe apples while her hands nervously clutched her skirt. “It means… it means being closer than ordinary friends, just one step below being lovers! It’s the kind of Soulmate relationship that is ‘more than friends, but less than lovers’!”
“More than friends… but less than lovers… Soulmates?”
Chu Youyu’s dark eyes rolled.
‘If I push Ruanruan too hard, she’ll definitely be scared away.’
‘As long as she stays by my side, I’ll have plenty of time to slowly win her over!’
Thinking of this, Chu Youyu raised her chin arrogantly and crossed her arms, feigning reluctance as she snorted.
“Hmph! Since you’re so afraid of dating, Ruanruan, I’ll show some mercy and give you a chance to ‘inspect’ me first! Fine, Soulmates it is!”
On the other side, Saginomiya Shiori’s dull peach-blossom eyes gradually brightened upon hearing the words “Soulmates” and “just one step below lovers.”
“I… I can do that too.”
Shiori lowered her head and quietly twined a strand of Su Ruanruan’s silver hair around her fingertip. Her voice was gentle but carried a hint of morbid obsession. “As long as Ruanruan doesn’t push me away, I’ll stay by your side in any capacity…”
Having finally calmed this Shura Field crisis for the time being, Su Ruanruan let out a long sigh of relief.