Chapter 248: Pure Senpai Gets Counter-Killed!
"Yahal—... cough cough!"
Hikigaya instinctively raised his hand to return the greeting, realizing he had almost been led astray by the familiar phrase.
"Hello, Asahina-senpai."
After greeting Asahina-senpai, Hikigaya used his peripheral vision to look at Kiryuin Fuuka on the other side.
Much to his surprise, the latter only seemed momentarily stunned with surprise; there wasn't a single trace of embarrassment on her face.
"Not bad, Kouhai!
Coming specifically to see me, while taking a look at Asahina on the side."
The corner of Kiryuin Fuuka's mouth curled up as she crossed her arms under her perky chest: "It seems the rumors aren't false; you're quite the playboy."
'This woman's ability to make up nonsense on the spot is truly impressive!'
"Eh?!"
Asahina Nazuna blinked her eyes in shock: "Is what Kiryuin-san saying true?"
"Sorry, there are too many things to complain about here, I don't even know where to start for a second."
Hikigaya was covered in black lines.
"See? My kouhai admitted it."
Kiryuin Fuuka grinned.
"No, I..."
Hikigaya opened his mouth, intending to explain something, but on second thought, facing this kind of self-centered woman with an extremely narcissistic personality, no amount of explanation would be meaningful. In the end, he could only let out a long sigh: "Sigh!"
"Ahahaha~ Kiryuin-san is indeed as interesting as ever."
Asahina Nazuna gave a sunny smile.
"What? Have you fallen in love with me too?"
Kiryuin Fuuka shook her head, putting on a helpless expression: "It can't be helped. Who told this young lady's charm to be so great?"
"Hee-hee~"
Asahina Nazuna just smiled without saying a word, not refuting her.
Hikigaya thought to himself: 'Asahina-senpai's temper is too good. If it were me, I wouldn't have been able to resist snapping back at this arrogant narcissist long ago!'
"Hikigaya-kouhai, you have to cheer loudly for your senpai in a moment~"
"Kouhai, I want to hear your voice later."
Hikigaya really wanted to ask: 'Can I not shout?'
The race began.
The first runner for the 2nd Year Red Team Class A was a dark-skinned senpai with very long legs; she left the other contestants in the dust. The second and third runners for Class A maintained their lead. The final anchor leg was Asahina Nazuna. Her speed wasn't exceptionally fast, but it could be called upper-middle level for the girls' group.
The first three runners for the White Team's 2nd Year Class B were all lagging behind. When the final runner, Kiryuin Fuuka, took over, she shot out like an arrow from a bow. Coming from behind, she quickly overtook the contestants in the other two lanes and rapidly gained on Asahina Nazuna!
In the stands, enthusiastic cheers erupted across the field.
Hikigaya hadn't planned on shouting, but he suddenly noticed that the two girls running hard on the track actually didn't forget to cast scrutinizing glances toward him. He had no choice but to follow along and shout: "Go, senpai!"
In the final leg of the relay, Asahina Nazuna claimed first place by a narrow margin of 0.2 seconds. Kiryuin Fuuka settled for second, but anyone with eyes could see that the reason she lost was purely because her teammates in the first three legs were too weak and had fallen too far behind.
After watching, Hikigaya seriously suspected whether the leader of 2nd Year Class B had a grudge against Kiryuin-senpai. Deliberately arranging three "feeder" teammates for her—it was clearly a move to keep her from winning!
"What a shame, Kiryuin-san."
"It seems Kiriyama-kun's tactical deployment has major problems."
Asahina Nazuna's words carried a hidden meaning.
"Heh~ it doesn't matter.
A narrow-minded man like that is destined to never get ahead his whole life."
Kiryuin Fuuka showed a look of disdain, expressing that she didn't care in the slightest. She left the arena with a flourish, but instead of returning to her own class area, she walked straight in Hikigaya's direction.
"Kouhai, water."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you hear me? I told you to get me water."
Kiryuin Fuuka fanned herself with her hand.
"Sorry, I didn't prepare an extra bottle of water." Hikigaya held up the mineral water he had already been drinking from.
"Sly boy.
Do you want to have an in-direct-kiss with this lady that badly?"
Before Hikigaya could react, Kiryuin Fuuka reached out and snatched the mineral water from his hand, chugging it down unceremoniously. Hikigaya was left dumbfounded.
"Ah~"
After downing the entire bottle, Kiryuin Fuuka stuffed the empty bottle back into Hikigaya's hand: "I'll let you have it cheap; take it back and keep it in your collection. Heh-heh~"
"I th-ank you so much!"
This time, Hikigaya really couldn't hold back. This woman was just too infuriating!
"My, my~ Is Hikigaya-kouhai planning to take it back and do something with it?"
Asahina Nazuna came over with a smile to tease him.
Hikigaya didn't waste words, using action to show his attitude. He made a shooting gesture with both hands and accurately tossed the mineral water bottle into a nearby trash can.
"In that case, Hikigaya-kouhai has no water to drink. Here~"
Asahina Nazuna took out a bottle of electrolyte water from behind her.
"Uh, this... how can I accept this?"
Hikigaya felt ashamed.
"It's okay, my classmates prepared this for me."
Asahina Nazuna explained with a smile.
"Then I'm even more embarrassed to take it!"
Hikigaya politely declined. Actually, he wasn't sure if she had already drunk from it. It wasn't that he was disgusted, he just didn't want to cause any strange misunderstandings.
"It's fine, I have plenty more here."
Asahina Nazuna was still holding another bottle of mineral water. Since things had reached this point, Hikigaya's further refusal would seem too pretentious.
"Alright, thank you, Asahina-senpai."
Hikigaya took the bottle. He felt that watching a match was somehow more tiring than running in one himself. Hikigaya unscrewed the cap and took a few sips. Suddenly, being the observant person he was, he noticed a detail!
The cap was loose—it had clearly been opened already!
"My, my~ I'm sorry, I think I grabbed the bottle I already drank from by mistake~
Hikigaya-kouhai won't be disgusted by me, will he?"
Asahina Nazuna feigned surprise, but the teasing in the corner of her eyes couldn't be hidden. This senpai was clearly doing it on purpose!
If it were a typical inexperienced brat, they'd probably be red-faced and incoherent by now, maybe even starting to imagine getting married and having kids with her. Hikigaya, however, was perfectly calm. He took a few more sips from the bottle and stared straight at Asahina-senpai.
'I'll just watch your performance quietly!'
"Eh?"
'This reaction... why is it different from the plot in shoujo manga?'
Asahina Nazuna felt incredibly embarrassed.
"Hahahaha! This is killing me!"
Kiryuin Fuuka threw her arm around Asahina Nazuna's shoulder and poked her reddening cheek with a finger, teasing her wantonly: "The pure senpai got counter-killed by the playboy kouhai. You're too lame, Asahina!"
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