Chapter 7: That Accident From Last Year

All the Spirits liked little animals, and the one who liked cats the most should be Kurumi and Tohka. Considering that Tohka was not very good at making cookies, then it must be Kurumi.

Also, Shido meowed three times in total, which also confirmed that it was Kurumi (the number in her name is "3").

But, Kotori didn't expect Kurumi to be this proactive. Well, after Shido came to this world, she had no way to monitor Shido's dating life, so naturally she had no idea what Shido and Kurumi had done together.

Now it seemed that it was much better than she imagined!

"Kotori-chan?"

Yumiko asked in a low voice.

"Oh sorry..."

Kotori came back to her senses, and seeing that Yumiko was looking at her expectantly, she didn't know what the blonde girl was expecting.

But thinking that she already knew that Shido had a girlfriend, then there was no need to reject the other party on behalf of Shido. All she needed to do was tell her about Kurumi.

Although it felt a little uncomfortable, it was the best method for now.

"That must be Kurumi..."

Kotori said.

"Kurumi."

Yumiko murmured, this name felt quite special.

"Is she your big brother's girlfriend?"

Yui asked on her behalf.

"Yes, that's right!"

Kotori nodded as a matter of course.

"It turned out to be true...!"

Yumiko lowered her head with a face full of disappointment. It turned out that she used a misunderstanding as a way to comfort herself a little bit, but if Kotori personally confirmed, then there would be no misunderstanding.

Shido really had a girlfriend, and that was a girl named Kurumi.

"What kind of person is Kurumi-san?"

Yumiko asked with a little concern. She gritted her teeth, and she wanted to know what kind of person she lost to.

"Kurumi?"

Kotori frowned. How should I describe her?

Unscrupulous for her purpose, hands stained with blood, chuunibyou in her terminal stage, over-confident with her curvy figure?

Oops! I can't think of anything good about her?

"I don't really know..."

Kotori smiled and said, pretending to know nothing.

"Oh?"

Yumiko blinked, but she didn't suspect anything. Maybe the girl named Kurumi had just dated Shido, so Kotori didn't know what kind of person she was.

Yumiko sighed, but in this way, she really didn't seem to have a chance!

After a while of silence, Yui suddenly called:

"Kotori-chan!"

"What's up?"

Kotori was startled and asked.

"That Kurumi-san is your brother's boyfriend, so didn't she come with you?"

Yui asked curiously.

"She... has something to do at home, so she didn't come."

Kotori said nonsense casually.

"In other words, is it just you and your brother here?"

Hina asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"That's right!"

Kotori nodded affirmatively.

"The big brother and the little sister are traveling together to a hot spring hotel. It's gonna be good doujinshi material..."

Hina smiled strangely.

Everyone else didn't know what she meant by that, so they didn't think much about it, only thinking that the relationship between the brother and the sister was particularly good.

"Then when did your brother and Kurumi-san start dating?"

Yui asked again. Seeing that Yukiko had lost her spirit, she planned to ask for more information.

If it turned out that the couple's relationship was very close, it would make Yumiko give up completely. Although it would be cruel, Yumiko would cheer up later on.

Of course, Yui didn't come up with such a clever idea by herself, it was actually Hina who told her about it yesterday. She just thought it made sense, so she followed suit.

"It's been over a year..."

Kotori recalled for a moment, and then responded.

"More than a year?"

Yui frowned, she had never heard Shido mention it.

But after thinking about it, with Shido's character, this was not surprising. After all, he always looked mysterious, and he rarely talked to other people. It seemed that he withheld a lot of secrets from everyone else.

"I see. No wonder why he turned down all the extra-curricular activities..."

Yumiko gave a wry smile, and finally figured it out. Her opponent was never Nino Nakano, but the mysterious and beautiful Kurumi; it seemed that she should give up on this relationship.

But a part of her was still clinging on to one thing: Does Shido still remember what happened in the soccer field last year?

"Does Miura-san like my brother?"

Kotori asked a little suddenly.

Yumiko was stunned, and then she realized that her behavior was too obvious not to have her covers blown, resulting in a wry smile.

"Yes, I do."

Yumiko nodded and affirmed it. She was not a shy little girl, nor was she Tsundere, she was able to express her thoughts in front of everyone.

The reason why she didn't confess to Shido was because of this inexplicable premonition; she didn't expect this premonition to be so accurate!

If she had confessed to Shido earlier, she would have been rejected long ago!

"What do you like about him?"

Kotori asked again. She wanted to find out more about Yumiko's thoughts, and Shido could easily hear them too.

"He's... gentle, kind, confident, and willing to help others without expecting anything in return..."

Yumiko said a little embarrassedly. She said a lot of things, but they could be summed up in one word: Gentle.

And this was indeed Shido's greatest strength, but also his greatest weakness.

Kotori peeked in the direction of Shido, thinking: When did Shido help this blonde girl and made her fall for him?

Shido, who was listening attentively, frowned at this time. Although he didn't see the romance on the other side of the hot spring, he had been listening carefully, because he still cared about Yumiko.

The reason he cared was not that he liked her, but that he wanted to reject her, so he wanted to understand why Yumiko liked him in the first place.

And Kotori also seemed to understand this, so she kept trying to help him.

"Did Shido help you?"

Kotori asked again.

"Yes!"

Yumiko nodded.

"Can you tell me?"

Kotori asked curiously.

Yumiko thought about it for a while, and then said in agreement:

"All right!"

In fact, only she knew about these things, even Yui didn't know anything about it.

Now that the relationship was about to collapse, it was time to talk to others. She glanced at the girls in front of her. Two of them were her best friends, one was Shido's little sister, who was definitely the best person to tell.

Yumiko raised her head and said while recalling:

"Actually, it's like this..."

Last year, not long after the start of school, Yumiko Miura, thinking about securing her title as the Queen of the class, went to visit the soccer club.

The soccer club of this high school was very famous. The team made it to top 8 in the Kanto competition almost every year. Last year, because of the participation of Hayato Hayama, it even made it to the top 4!

But this was not important. Yumiko just wanted to take up the position of soccer club manager.

As soon as she won such a position, she would undoubtedly be not just the Queen of the class, but the Queen of the School! She used to be in the tennis club, and she was quite good at sports, so she was very confident about winning this position.

When she came to the soccer club, she saw that the club was conducting an entrance test. There were 11 freshmen in the first grade, playing against seven seniors in the second and third grades.

Due to the lack of experience, strength and tacit, the freshmen got their asses handed to the upper-classmen.

But thanks to Hayato, the MVP with the most experience in soccer, the freshmen team started making a comeback in the second half.

Hayato was quite handsome, easy-going, and gentle, not to mention he was really good at soccer. If everything was normal, Yumiko would have liked this person.

And just then, the accident happened...

"What accident?"

Kotori frowned and asked. In fact, she probably guessed what was going on.

"At that time, a senior seemed to have stumbled, kicked the ball into the auditorium, and flew to one of the female spectators. No one reacted, except for Shido, who subconsciously blocked the ball..."

Yumiko continued to explain softly:

"Shido blocked this fierce ball head-on, and he should have been injured, but he ignored his pain and ran to check the girl's injury! It turned out that the girl was startled by the high-speed soccer ball, and when she tried to move, she accidentally sprained her foot..."

"So that's it, you're that girl?"

Kotori guessed. She knew that Shido was not blocking the ball subconsciously, it was just that his reaction was quicker.

In the same way, it was not that he ignored the pain on his body, it was just that a mere soccer ball couldn't hurt him at all!

If it was such an accident, and Shido saved the injured girl, there was indeed a good chance for her to fall in love.

However...

"No!"

Yumiko shook her head unexpectedly, and then explained:

"I was just watching from the side at the time, but because of this, I clearly felt it all. Shido was kind and gentle. When he saw that the girl was injured, he did not hesitate to help her and walk her to the infirmary, despite giving up the opportunity to join the soccer club."

"Because you witnessed this scene, you thought Shido was kind, so you fell in love with him?"

Kotori briefly summarized it.

"That's about it!"

Yumiko nodded affirmatively. She felt a lot more relaxed after letting out her secrets.

"Does Miura-san know who the girl rescued by Shido is?"

Kotori asked with a little concern.

After all, Yumiko was just a bystander in this scenario, yet she fell in love with Shido. As for the girl who was rescued at that time, it was impossible to remain indifferent!

On the contrary, Kotori thought that the injured girl was the more dangerous rival.

"I don't know."

Yumiko shook her head. Her memory was filled with Shido, leaving no space for the other girl.

"Is that so..."

Kotori nodded in understanding, and then stopped asking further. Thinking that Shido learned this much, he should know how to deal with it!

"Yumiko, what's going on, how come I've never heard of it from you?"

Yui said in surprise. If she had known this earlier, she would have supported Yumiko's relationship a long time ago.

"The knight saved the princess in shiny armor! I didn't expect that Itsuka-kun would actually..."

Hina said with a bit of surprise, but unlike Yui who had changed her mind recently, she had never hated Shido, and it could even be said that she quite liked him, in a normal sense.

"It used to feel like an unspeakable secret, so I didn't say it, but now it doesn't really matter..."

Yumiko explained with a wry smile.

After a while of silence, Yui took Yumiko and left the hot spring. She originally brought her friend to relax, but when she met Kotori, she obviously couldn't calm down.

So, after they finished talking, Yui proposed to leave temporarily for afternoon tea, and the others had no objection.

After the two left, Hina took a step behind. She turned around and faced in the direction of the huge rock.

"Itsuka-kun!"

Naturally, Shido did not respond, but he was sure that the other party had already guessed that he was here.

"Please give Yumiko a response soon!"

Hina said before departing the hot spring.