With final exams just days away and a rare day off, Kaoru didn't make Hasebe Haruka and the others continue with their supplementary lessons.

Airi, however, was unusually proactive.

Since Kaoru hadn't taken her shoes or stockings last time, she was now clumsily yet cautiously trying to gauge his thoughts.

The girl assumed it was her fault—worn stockings inevitably carried some odor, and she felt Kaoru might be put off by that.

Moreover, suddenly losing her "pervert account" left Airi deeply unsettled.

To her, that account represented Kaoru's other side.

Without it, she had no way of knowing what Kaoru was thinking.

Airi was on the verge of a meltdown.

Even if a man had slightly strange fetishes, it wasn't particularly hard to accept.

She wouldn't judge him for it—after all, she liked the real person, not some online pervert.

Kaoru remained completely unaware of these thoughts swirling in her mind.

Since the "Black-framed Glasses" were already in use on himself, he decided to spare some time today to assess the academic level of Shiho Manabe and her group.

To put it bluntly, delinquents were still delinquents.

They were much like Karuizawa Kei—rarely interested in studying, their minds preoccupied with fashion magazines, celebrities, food, entertainment, and beauty treatments.

Now that they had pledged loyalty to Kaoru, Shiho Manabe and the others were more focused on figuring out how to seduce him.

At first, it might seem odd, but imagine a puppy meeting its favorite owner—it would naturally want to stick close.

Otherwise, the term "simp" wouldn't exist in this world.

...

After tutoring them for a few hours and ensuring they wouldn't flunk out, Kaoru finally returned to his room.

Yet, even then, he wasn't free.

He still had to check in with Katsuragi and the others to confirm today's progress.

Though his "Black-framed Glasses" could deceive everyone else, they couldn't fool the actual parties involved.

To make the situation appear more convincing, those individuals had to be present.

Kaoru had already briefed them on what to do.

Meanwhile, Karuizawa bombarded him with messages, sharing the fun she'd had hanging out with friends today and even showing off her newly done nails.

Kaoru replied to each one.

Since it was a day off, Karuizawa couldn't use any excuses to sneak away from her friends for a secret rendezvous, leaving them with only these exchanges for now.

At the same time, Ichinose Honami and Mako Amikura were acting a bit strange lately—their relationship seemed closer than before.

Around 11 p.m., after finishing a call with Ichinose, Kaoru was about to sleep when Kushida immediately launched a barrage of calls at him.

"Enough, enough. You can go pee now," Kaoru said, preparing to hang up the phone.

"Hah? What do you mean?" Kushida sounded slightly angry.

"Is that the only reason I called you? If you dare hang up, I'll squat outside your door and cry until someone comes."

Kaoru had no choice but to stop.

If a girl was shameless, there really wasn't much he could do about it.

"Just say what you want. I'm already used to you needing to pee at night."

"Can you stop bringing that up? You're making me feel like I can't hold it anymore, you pervert!"

"Hey, isn't the one who can't hold it the real pervert here?"

"You're the worst! Lolicon, foot fetishist!"

"..."

Suddenly, the sound of running water came from the other end of the call.

Kaoru fell silent—the girl really couldn't hold it anymore, cursing him while rushing to the bathroom.

Pavlov's experiment was indeed correct.

Habit truly was a powerful force—before the brain could even process it, the body had already reacted on instinct.

Still, Kaoru was a little worried about Kushida.

Her bladder couldn't possibly be that weak, could it?

"Perverted foot freak, you'll never guess what I just ran into!" Kushida, unaware of his internal mockery, had long grown accustomed to being ordered to pee by Kaoru and hardly felt embarrassed anymore.

"What did you run into?" Kaoru could hear the excitement in her voice, though it sounded a bit strange mixed with the sound of running water.

"Take a guess. If you get it right, I'll give you a reward," Kushida said, giggling in her excitement.

"Here's a hint—the girl you forcibly kissed, her brain's gone completely broken."

Kaoru's expression turned odd.

He had forcibly kissed quite a few people, but Kushida was probably referring to Horikita Suzune.

Unless… she meant that his brain was broken?

"First, tell me what the reward is."

"Guess first! I've already made it super obvious."

"Is it Suzune?"

"Tch, she's your first thought? And you call her so intimately too."

"What's the reward?"

"There is no reward, because you only guessed the name. I was asking what happened that I ran into."

"You ran into Suzune, talked to her for a bit, and then decided her brain was broken."

Kushida seemed speechless.

His answer was basically a non-answer, and she couldn't even refute it.

"Fine, fine. I'll count that as correct."

"So, what's the reward?"

"The reward is… I'm going to tell you what happened~"

As she spoke, Kushida burst into laughter, feeling like tonight might be the happiest she'd ever been.

"Once you hear it, you'll definitely think her brain's broken too!"

Since she was laughing so happily, Kaoru decided to listen carefully.

"Horikita just knocked on my door earlier, and then suddenly told me she thinks you like her." Kushida suppressed her laughter as she recalled the scene.

"She analyzed a bunch of things—how you tricked her the first time, how you forcibly kissed her—and concluded that you must've done it all on purpose."

"..."

For a moment, Kaoru didn't know how to respond.

Though, well, he had done it on purpose.

But for Horikita Suzune—someone so emotionally dense—to reach that conclusion… that kiss must have left an indelible impression on her.

"She talked to me for a long time, and it seems she's not ready to accept your feelings. She feels she hasn't changed her brother's opinion of her yet, so she can't start a relationship."

"At the time, I asked her what if you forced yourself on her. Her expression became particularly conflicted and confused, constantly avoiding my question. So I said, even if Mitoma-kun doesn't force himself on you, what if he does it to me right in front of you, making you watch? What would you do then?"

"Horikita's expression grew even more conflicted. She still tried to act tough, saying things like kissing is normal, that virginity isn't really important, that love doesn't necessarily have to lead to marriage—almost like she was hypnotizing herself. In the end, she even tried to turn it around and ask me how I would feel."

"Of course I'd want to laugh. I'm not her. As long as I can see her pinned beneath a man, showing that lewd expression, what would I have to complain about?"

"Finally, as if talking to herself, she gave me an answer. Do you want to know what it was?"

Kushida didn't find her own words strange at all.

Subconsciously, she had already accepted the fact that Kaoru could force himself on her and didn't find the idea unpleasant.

Compared to that, she was more concerned about how Kaoru would react to Horikita Suzune.

"What did she say to you?" Kaoru thought about Horikita past responses—either kill him or marry him.

Of course, Horikita was naturally stubborn, so it was possible she would deny her true feelings.

"Horikita doesn't think she could ever like you. Even if you forced yourself on her, she still wouldn't like you." Kushidapaused.

"Not only does she think she wouldn't like you, she believes she wouldn't like any man at all."

The answer was about what he expected.

Kaoru felt a bit frustrated.

Horikita Suzune was clearly still lucid—her mind wasn't broken.

"You foot-fetishist pervert, I know what you're thinking. Good thing I kept pressing her." Kushida grinned.

"She told me that even if she had to marry you in the future, she still wouldn't think she'd like you."

Wait, she's already thinking about marriage?

"You think her brain's broken too, right? That's how I felt at the time. She was so convinced you already liked her, swearing up and down about it, and even thinking about how to reject you."

"..."

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

Kushida finally noticed something was off and frowned.

"She's not wrong." Kaoru said bluntly. "No matter how you look at it, I won't let her go."

As soon as he finished speaking, a strange noise came from the other end, as if something had been knocked over.

Then, Kushida's voice slowly sounded again: "You... you actually like her?"

"Yeah. I don't just like her—I like you too." Kaoru's reply was even more straightforward.

Thud—

Another odd noise came from the other side, making one wonder if Kushida had fallen in the bathroom.