All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

After hanging up with Hibiki Naegi, Kotomi Izumi, who had wanted to stay in bed a little longer, slowly propped herself up.

If she’d known this would happen, she would’ve just told Hibiki to go ahead without her and caught a few more minutes of sleep.

If someone gave Kotomi a choice between going to the art museum or staying in bed, she’d pick staying in bed without hesitation.

But life isn’t a multiple-choice test you can answer with a pen.

From the other side of the room came the soft rustling of clothing—the faint friction of smooth skin brushing against fabric, like feathery wisps brushing Kotomi’s ears and tickling her heart.

It made her feel a tingly warmth inside.

While trying to keep a composed expression, Kotomi couldn’t help but glance over at Mashiro Shiina, who was changing clothes.

At first, it was just a peek from the corner of her eye, pretending to be a proper, respectful girl. But once she realized Mashiro hadn’t noticed, she got bolder.

She slightly turned on her side, lying there as if still half-asleep, squinting just enough to get a good look at Mashiro, who had already taken off her pajamas.

Her skin was soft and radiant, glowing with a gentle luster. Mashiro, thinking Kotomi was still asleep, didn’t make any effort to cover herself or change modestly.

In fact, if Kotomi had been awake and watching, Mashiro might have welcomed it.

The only thing stopping her from laying her feelings bare was that she hadn’t fully expressed her love for Kotomi yet.

It wasn’t because Mashiro lacked courage or was indecisive. On the contrary, when it came to Kotomi, Mashiro had always been bold—so bold it even startled Kato Megumi at times.

But ever since finding out she’d be taken back to England by her parents after spring break in her second year, Mashiro felt like her steps forward were constantly being pulled back.

...How do I get Mom and Dad to accept Kotomi?

Ever since learning she’d be leaving soon, Mashiro had been quietly worrying about this every night.

Her parents put a lot of value in the idea of being well-matched.

And to make things harder, Kotomi was also a girl. It wasn’t just her parents—the whole Shiina family might never accept such a relationship.

The only method Mashiro had come up with so far: run away together.

Take Kotomi to a place where no one knew them. Get married. Maybe adopt a child one day.

But Mashiro felt that would be unfair to Kotomi. She had a loving family, and if she ran away with Mashiro, they’d be heartbroken. Kotomi wouldn’t be happy either.

To talk about eloping before even trying to convince her parents—that was selfish and immature.

Yes, their future together might be full of pressure from all directions.

But Mashiro had made up her mind. She wouldn’t run. She would make her parents accept Kotomi, and she would earn the acceptance of Kotomi’s family too. And finally—

They would have a wedding, with both their families’ blessings.

So what if vines were wrapping around her ankles?

She’d rip them apart!

The moment Mashiro leaned in last night and kissed Kotomi’s lips, she had already made that vow to herself. There would be no turning back.

Kotomi... Kotomi Shiina!

With my surname, I crown you.

Kotomi, completely distracted by sneaking peeks at Mashiro changing, hadn’t noticed any of these swirling thoughts in Mashiro’s heart.

Once Mashiro was dressed, Kotomi realized she really couldn’t stay in bed anymore—Hibiki was still waiting downstairs.

Getting out from under the covers was a painful task.

Especially for someone like Kotomi, who adored sleeping in. She would rather let Kato Megumi pin her to the bed and ”eat meat” ten times than leave the warm blankets early in the morning.

But life rarely goes the way we want. Kotomi twisted her sinuous waist—a move capable of destroying rational thought—and slowly got dressed.

As the weather turned cold, it didn’t matter how early you slept the night before—waking up always came with the same expression: I didn’t sleep enough!

Kotomi splashed her face with cold water in the bathroom, finally feeling more awake. After brushing her teeth, she and Mashiro took the elevator down to the lobby to meet up with Hibiki.

This was one of the perks of being a beautiful girl—there was no need to spend time on makeup. Take Kotomi for example. Even without makeup, just walking down the street would cause passersby to stare in a daze and bump into light poles.

On the rare occasion she did wear makeup, she could cause fender-benders. If drivers claimed they crashed because they were too distracted by Kotomi’s looks, the traffic police might actually believe them.

In the elevator, Kotomi scrolled through the messages on her phone that she hadn’t checked since last night.

Because of her tweet posted the previous night, Twitter now showed 999+ new notifications. Seeing that red circle, Kotomi smiled—it was proof of her popularity and how active her fans were.

It was a double-edged sword, of course.

The benefit was obvious—with such an active fanbase, whenever a new volume or project was released, she would never lack support. If she ever founded her game company, Type Moon Realm, her fans might just become the first wave of players.

That meant she wouldn’t need to worry about PR during the startup phase. After all, for a fledgling game studio, if it couldn’t quickly gain traction and keep player interest, it might have to shut down within a year of launching.

Kotomi knew how ruthless the gaming industry was. ”Cutthroat” didn’t even begin to cover it. No hype meant death. She’d rather deal with public outrage and trend for the wrong reasons than make something critically praised but commercially ignored.

Still, Kotomi was confident she could strike a balance—maintain hype and sales while minimizing backlash.

Aside from Twitter, she noticed multiple new Line messages—mostly from Aimi.

The first came while Kotomi was watching Titanic with Mashiro, and her phone had been on silent. The rest came while she was asleep.

She finally read them now. Thankfully, nothing urgent—just Aimi complaining about how hard the midterm exams were.

[Good luck with the exams!]

Kotomi replied with a message of encouragement. There was no time to buy a charm from the shrine now, and Aimi’s exams would be over tomorrow anyway.

Still, Kotomi decided that after visiting the museum, she would take a longer route and stop by Inari Shrine to pray for Aimi’s test results.

Kotomi rarely went to shrines—but when she did, it was always with a purpose: to pray for Aimi’s success before or during exams.

Stepping out of the elevator and into the hotel lobby, Kotomi immediately spotted Hibiki waiting nearby.

Standing beside her was another woman who, from a distance, looked vaguely familiar. As Kotomi drew closer, she realized—it was Mei Yamazaki, the woman they had run into yesterday.

Why did she come looking for Naegi-senpai?

When Kotomi saw Mei Yamazaki, she couldn’t help but frown slightly. Mei Yamazaki looked like someone who knew how to talk smoothly, with every sentence seemingly able to hit someone’s soft spot. But those tricks only worked on people their age or younger.

For someone like Kotomi, who had lived two lives as a ”thousand-year-old little fox,” it was easy to see through Mei Yamazaki’s true nature at a glance.

This woman was clearly no good!

Judging by Naegi-senpai’s expression, she and Mei Yamazaki seemed to be getting along quite well?

President, you already have a partner! I don’t know who your partner is, but I definitely saw the love bite on your neck before. You better not let Mei Yamazaki seduce you! Kotomi thought to herself with silent frustration.

She quickened her pace and walked over to interrupt the conversation between Mei Yamazaki and Naegi.

”Naegi-senpai, sorry to keep you waiting. I took a little time changing clothes.”

Kotomi walked up and very naturally put herself between Mei Yamazaki and Naegi.

Naegi-senpai’s partner, you’re welcome!

”Achoo!”

Sitting in class, Seiko Kirigiri suddenly sneezed, rubbing her nose that suddenly felt stuffy, as if she were coming down with a cold.

When Mei Yamazaki saw Kotomi arrive, she immediately shifted her attention from Naegi to Kotomi, ignoring Shiro Mashiro who followed closely behind.

Even though Mashiro was a world-famous genius artist, few people had seen her in person. Naturally, Mei Yamazaki had never seen her before.

Just moments ago, Mei Yamazaki had been talking with Naegi like an intimate old friend, but in an instant, her attitude toward Naegi turned cold and distant. Now it was all ”Kotomi-san” this and ”little Kotomi” that.

Kotomi felt a headache coming on from being called that, in more ways than one.

How much perfume did this woman spray on herself...

Kotomi was annoyed, but kept a polite smile on her face, replying to every four sentences from Mei Yamazaki with just one of her own.

After a while, Mei Yamazaki seemed to notice Kotomi’s distant attitude and stopped being so persistent, deciding to play the long game instead. She was quite confident in her skills at reeling in the catch slowly.

”Kotomi-san, can we exchange contact information?” Mei Yamazaki asked, pulling out her phone.

”Sure,” Kotomi replied with a light smile. ”But I was in a bit of a rush when I left the room and forgot my phone. Since the event organizers gave us those little notebooks and pens, why don’t we just write down our contact info and exchange it that way?”

Her phone was actually in the inner pocket of her jacket...

”Alright.”

Mei Yamazaki could tell Kotomi wasn’t from an ordinary background. After all, not everyone could stay in the presidential suite for three nights. Even if her family didn’t own a mine, they were at least wealthy and doted on her.

Whether male or female, Mei Yamazaki treated them all the same—a potential step up into high society, a way to marry rich.

So Kotomi had become her target.

But in Mei Yamazaki’s mind, the goal wasn’t to make Kotomi fall in love with her for love’s sake. It was to use Kotomi as a stepping stone into the upper class. Once she gained a foothold, Mei Yamazaki planned to ditch her and find a rich heir to marry instead.

To put it bluntly, she wanted Kotomi to be her little simp, her tool, her stepping stone.

While Mei Yamazaki dreamed of climbing the social ladder, she didn’t realize her petty schemes had already been seen through clearly by Kotomi’s sharp pink eyes.

Trying to play the long game with her? Please.

Just as Mei Yamazaki cast her fishing line, Kotomi had already snipped off the hook and line entirely.

Even after deducing Mei Yamazaki’s true intentions, Kotomi couldn’t help but think to herself: Is this woman brain-dead? She’s about to graduate high school, and she still plans things in such a childish way?

If marrying into high society were that simple, there wouldn’t be so many shattered Cinderella dreams in the world.

Besides... I’m not even some rich heiress. This Mei Yamazaki not only has issues with her brain, but her eyes clearly don’t work either, Kotomi silently grumbled in her heart.

Mei Yamazaki quickly jotted down her contact info on the paper and was just about to exchange details when she looked up and saw Kotomi giving her an apologetic smile.

”Ah~ I just checked my pocket and realized I left my notebook and pen back in the suite. It’s a bit of a hassle to go back for them now. How about you just give me yours, and I’ll add you later?”

Kotomi stretched out her hand as she finished speaking.

Mei Yamazaki raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed. Why is this Kotomi so scatterbrained?

Then again, maybe this was just another trait of a pampered heiress!

From childhood, everything had probably been arranged for her, and she was likely doted on by attentive maids. Despite her mature figure, her mindset was likely still that of a naive little girl.

Thinking this, Mei Yamazaki was overjoyed. Wasn’t this exactly what she wanted? Girls like Kotomi, who had never experienced the real world and couldn’t take care of themselves, were the easiest to fool.

Just show her a bit of kindness, let her experience a taste of freedom outside her ”gilded cage,” and she’d grow fond and dependent on you.

She originally thought she’d need to put in some serious effort to win Kotomi over, but now she realized she had completely overestimated her. Kotomi was just another gullible heiress who would remain devoted even after being used.

”Of course! Here you go, this is my contact information,” Mei Yamazaki said with a sweet smile as she placed the slip of paper in Kotomi’s hand.

Kotomi accepted it with a cheerful grin, clutching the paper in her palm.

”I have another appointment soon, so I won’t keep you three. Bye-bye~” Mei Yamazaki said, pretending to maintain an appropriate distance, turning around to leave with feigned elegance.

The moment Mei Yamazaki turned away, Kotomi casually tossed the paper into a nearby trash can.

Score!

A perfect shot!

Everything Mei Yamazaki had done moments ago was treated by Kotomi as nothing more than a forgettable interlude.

Together with Naegi and Mashiro, she boarded the shuttle bus arranged by the contest organizers to the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, saving the hassle of paying for a taxi.

Each taxi ride made Kotomi feel like her wallet was being cut open.

On the bus, Kotomi noticed that Naegi seemed a bit off, like she was holding something back. Thinking back to how Naegi had been chatting with Mei Yamazaki earlier, Kotomi asked softly:

”Naegi-senpai, did Mei Yamazaki say something to you just now?”

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