Chapter 24: Girl Issues

"By the way, what do you think about the previous matter?" Mai Sakurajima asked softly, with a nervous expression on her face.

"What do you mean?" Shido pondered for a while, and looked at the other party in confusion.

"About pretending to be my boyfriend!" Mai Sakurajima said softly.

"Oh, that!" Shido responded with a shake of his head. "You can just tell your mother that your boyfriend is busy, or just let Isshiki go." Based on his experience of watching anime, he knew the matter of pretending to be a popular girls' boyfriend would definitely be very troublesome, so it would be better to avoid it.

"Isshiki is a girl, I can't really tell my mother that her daughter became a lesbian!" Mai said angrily, and at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but Shido was still unwilling to agree.

"I'm sorry! It's really not convenient for me..." Shido smiled embarrassedly. Although the terms and conditions were clear, he still couldn't accept it.

"Forget it, can you help me find another way?" Mai asked softly. Although the relationship with her mother was relatively cold, she still didn't want her to investigate her privacy too much.

"Make Isshiki wear men's clothes!" Shido made an unexpected proposal. He remembered the time where he had to cross-dress, so it would only be fair if someone were to do the same.

"No! I'm a cute and beautiful girl, so I don't know how to wear men's clothes. Also, my voice will give me away as soon as I speak..." Iroha shook her head, unwilling to agree.

"You can use a voice changer." Shido said with a smile.

"No! Pretending to be a guy and using a voice changer? I'd rather die." Iroha said very firmly.

"How about having your mother come to the cultural festival?" Yukino said suddenly.

"Cultural Festival?" Mai tilted her head, as if wondering if it was possible.

"That's right, you can tell your mother that your boyfriend is busy because he has to prepare for the cultural festival, and then you can bring her to the cultural festival, lead her to Shido's classroom, and point at him from a distance, telling her that this guy is your boyfriend. How about that?" Yukino expressed her thoughts in great detail.

"Will this really work? What if she asks? " Mai asked with a frown. In fact, she still felt that Yukino's proposal was not a bad idea. She had a little selfish desire of wanting to express the "fact" that Shido was her boyfriend.

"As long as Shido sees you and waves at you from a distance, you can pretend to be blushing." Yukino said softly. "You should have the skills to act shy!"

"Shido, if that's the case, are you willing to cooperate?" Mai asked expectantly.

"If that's the case...it's not impossible!" Shido hesitated for a while, but finally agreed. As long as he doesn't speak to her as a boyfriend, it should be fine.

"See, isn't this a much better way?" Yukino said with a smile.

"Thank you, Yukino!" Mai hugged Yukino happily, causing the latter to flicker her hair behind her ear uneasily.

Shido looked at the two tall girls with a smile. He was glad that those two found friendships in each other.

Things had gotten really messy for Shido recently. He made sure not to get too close to the anime girls in this world, yet he made compromises to them within certain boundaries. Could it be that deep in his heart, he still had a little feeling toward the anime heroines that he used to like?

It shouldn't be! He had more than enough girlfriends already! If he had never watched those anime, he wouldn't be able to recognize those heroines, and then he would be wary of them. It was only because he knew those characters well that he let his guard down around them from time to time.

"By the way, the girl from yesterday was also very beautiful!" Umaru couldn't help saying, catching everyone's attention.

"Yesterday's girl?" Yukino and Mai looked at each other, and they were also very curious. It seemed that there was another girlfriend of Shido that they didn't know.

Where the hell did this come from? Shido couldn't help but think to himself.

"Well, her name is Mayuri, isn't it?" Umaru nodded and said.

"Yes, what's wrong with Mayuri?" Shido frowned. Due to the fact that she had just been resurrected, he was still a little sensitive to this topic.

"Nothing.." Umaru quickly shook her head.

"Mayuri... What kind of girl is she?" Yukino asked with some concern. She knew that every one of Shido's girlfriend's names had a number, and Mayuri's "Ma" could also be regarded as a number.

"Blonde, side ponytail, unbelievably cute, and she's wearing a sailor suit!" Umaru said positively.

"Is she your new girlfriend?" Yukino stared at Shido and asked. Considering that Shido was on leave yesterday, it meant that he attached great importance to this girl named Mayuri.

"No... I mean, yes?" Shido hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

"So which one is it?" Yukino couldn't help but ask. This seemed very important, because she also found out that most of Shido's girlfriends had been with him for a while.

But if there were girls who had only recently started dating Shido, it meant that there would be a slight chance for her no matter how resistant Shido was.

"We've known each other a long time ago, but she disappeared from my life." Shido pondered for a while, recollecting his interactions with Mayuri. "Then, we met again recently, and we just got together naturally."

"So she's not only a childhood friend, but also a new girl!" Umaru couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

"What do you mean?" Mai asked in confusion.

"Generally, the heroines of anime are divided into two types: New interests and childhood friends. The childhood friends are the ones who accompany the protagonists and hold feelings toward them silently, while the new interests meet them when the story begins. According to a certain informal Statistics, childhood friends always lose to those new interests!" Umaru explained in detail like an expert, since she was a die-hard otaku.

"And this girl has both traits?" Mai asked again.

"Indeed! She used to play with Shido, but because of some issues, the two got separated and met again when they grew up." Umaru said dreamily. "At this moment, they are amazed by each other's astonishing change in appearances, not to mention the nostalgia of childhood memories kicking in, so they can't let go of each other again!"

"Is this Mayuri a childhood friend of yours?" Yukino asked, looking at Shido.

"You can say that..." Shido smiled and didn't explain much. Mayuri loved him ever since she was born, and they met again recently, so technically, what Umaru said made sense.

"Is that so..." Yukino nodded thoughtfully. If that was the case, she stood no chance.

Suddenly, the bell rang, telling everyone to go back to class, so the service club members dissembled.

While Shido was sitting in class, he was not paying attention to the lecture. Why? Because Natsumi was making a lot of comments about him excitedly.

"Pretending to be bunny girl senpai's boyfriend? Every guy is gonna hate you!"

"Teaching a girl to cross dress? Shiori-san will be proud!"

"Skipping school to date Mayuri-san? So much for a model student!"

…

Shido had to whisper in response to satisfy her curiosity. Fortunately, the teacher didn't ask him to answer questions, so he made it to noon in one piece.

As soon as the bell rang, Shido got up and ran to the restroom quickly.

He scanned left and right, making sure nobody was there, then he raised his hand and summoned a ray of golden light.

"Michael!"

He teleported himself along with the tiny Natsumi in his shirt!

"Where are we, Shido?" Natsumi asked curiously after the teleportation. "Don't tell me you are skipping school again."

"Well, we are skipping lunch break, 'cause we got something important for you." Shido replied with a smile, then stepped out of the restroom. "Look around, recognize this place?" He asked as the view of a vast library was presented in front of him.

"Wait, isn't this the Bunko Library?" Natsumi quickly recognized the place. Indeed, they were at the Bunko Library that accepted her manga draft!

"Smart girl! The editor has an interview for you, so you better get ready." Shido gently poked the tiny head of Natsumi with his index finger.

Natsumi blushed at Shido's intimate action, but she quickly obliged and transformed into a butterfly, flying into the women's bathroom, and walked out in her human form.

"Alright, let's go see the editor!" Shido held on to Natsumi's delicate hand and led her to the office, with the girl nodding a bit nervously.

She was flattered that Shido remembered the time of her interview with the editor when she forgot it herself. This clearly proved that he paid very close attention to her, and she could feel her heart pounding violently.

A/N:

Hello, everyone. I'm back! Hope things have been going well for you too.