Chapter 160: The Smile Gradually Stiffens

"Boss! You have to save me this once! If I can end up with Salted Fish-chan, I'll pray for you at the temple!" Fujiwara Miu dropped to his knees with a thud, hugging Tsukasa Aoki's leg and rubbing against it with a face full of desperate entreaty.

Tsukasa Aoki shook his leg expressionlessly. "Go by yourself. It's just an online-to-offline meet-up; why do you need me to tag along?"

Damn it, they've already reached the stage of meeting in real life? How long have they even known each other? Has this Salted Fish-chan never seen what Fujiwara Miu looks like? He's bald! Bald!

Is this Salted Fish-chan a pervert? Does she have some weird fetish? How on earth did she fall for Fujiwara Miu? Aren't they afraid of getting kidnapped during an offline meet-up?

Tsukasa Aoki clenched his teeth inwardly. This time, he was definitely not falling for it!

Fujiwara Miu hugged Tsukasa Aoki's leg, swaying back and forth with his leg-shaking movements while his mouth rattled on like a machine gun: "Boss, you absolutely cannot abandon your loyal underling! If I go alone, I definitely won't be able to say a single word and Salted Fish-chan will end up disgusted with me!"

"If that happens, I won't be able to date Salted Fish-chan, work hard together to get into our dream university, and then get married and have three kids—oh, wait, two boys and a girl. Then I won't be able to make Boss their godfather, and I wouldn't get to brag about my glorious days with Boss to my adorable children!"

"Boss! If this fails, my life will completely lose all meaning! My three adorable children—Fujiwara Takumi, Fujiwara Bunta, and Fujiwara Tsukasa—won't even be able to be born!" Fujiwara Miu clung desperately to Tsukasa Aoki's leg, completely oblivious to Tsukasa Aoki's dazed expression.

You've even thought as far as having me be your kids' godfather? Why on earth do you want to name your child Fujiwara Tsukasa? Didn't you want the third child to be a girl?

The corners of Tsukasa Aoki's mouth twitched slightly as he cast a plea for help toward Teruhashi Kokomi standing beside them.

Teruhashi Kokomi, however, merely looked at Fujiwara Miu hugging Tsukasa Aoki's leg with slightly flushed cheeks, her breathing growing marginally faster as her mind wandered into all sorts of wild daydreams.

If Tsukasa Aoki becomes the godfather of Fujiwara Miu's children, wouldn't that make me the godmother? What kind of gift should I bring when Fujiwara Miu's child turns one month old? Is money a bit too tacky? And if they have three kids, wouldn't I need to prepare three gifts? Exactly how many children do I need to have with Tsukasa-kun to earn the gift money back...

The deeper Teruhashi Kokomi thought, the more absorbed she became, completely failing to notice the subtle signals Tsukasa Aoki was flashing her.

With an irritated huff, Tsukasa Aoki gave his leg a shake, but Fujiwara Miu still wouldn't let go. Eventually, dragging Fujiwara Miu along with him, Tsukasa Aoki sat down on the sofa and said in a helpless tone, "Alright, spill it. What is this all about?"

Seeing Tsukasa Aoki soften his tone, Fujiwara Miu instantly let go with dog-like eagerness, smoothly pulling a still-warm canned coffee from his pocket, popping the tab, and handing it to Tsukasa Aoki with a flattering smile. "Well, you see, Salted Fish-chan and I agreed to meet up this weekend. Boss, please come with me, I'm begging you!"

"Wouldn't it be better to ask Maeda Tora or Otake to go with you?" Tsukasa Aoki scratched his head in distress. He had plenty of things he wanted to do this weekend: he wanted to check if there were any traditional Chinese medicine shops where he could buy some herbs to practice with, and he wanted to check on Natto and the others that he had left in Gogokuri's care.

Besides, the sparring partner Matsuyama Iwa arranged for supposedly would arrive around Saturday as well. When he really thought about it, the sheer number of things on his to-do list made his scalp tingle.

"Ah, the crew of *Gokudo Winds* is coming to Yachiyo for location shooting this weekend, and Maeda Tora is going to beg his idol for an autograph... Otake said he's going on a date with his Matsuko." Fujiwara Miu wore an expression of utter despair. "You're the only one left, Boss!"

The corners of Tsukasa Aoki's mouth twitched slightly. "I have things to do this weekend too..."

"Boss, can you just stand by and watch your underling get..."

Seeing that Fujiwara Miu was about to launch into another lengthy monologue, Tsukasa Aoki hurriedly interrupted, "Stop, stop, stop! How about I find someone else to go with you!?"

"Huh?" Fujiwara Miu froze at those words.

Tsukasa Aoki smiled bitterly. "Look at me, I look so fierce. If I go with you, no matter whether it's Salted Fish or Shark, wouldn't they all be scared stiff into dead fish? By then, forget about staying friends with you, it'll be a miracle if they don't run away in terror on the spot."

Hearing this, Fujiwara Miu actually felt it made a lot of sense—what if he brought the Boss along and ended up scaring Salted Fish-chan away?

"But Boss, I really don't feel confident going alone." Noticing that Teruhashi Kokomi was still standing nearby looking unsure of where to sit, Fujiwara Miu had a sudden stroke of inspiration. "Boss, how about this? You and Teruhashi-san can come with me on Saturday! You don't even have to sit next to me; just find a spot in the cafe and sit down for a cup of coffee."

"If anything comes up, I'll secretly text Boss!" Fujiwara Miu found his own idea immensely viable and nodded as he spoke. "That way, even if Boss looks fierce, having Teruhashi-san around will keep things from being too intimidating."

"Ha?" Although Tsukasa Aoki felt that Fujiwara Miu's logic made a twisted kind of sense, he raised an eyebrow in deep annoyance. "Blame my fierce face on me, then!"

"No, no, it's mainly having Boss backing me up that gives me the courage," Fujiwara Miu quickly smoothed things over with a full-face smile. "I don't think Boss looks fierce at all. In my eyes, Boss is simply..."

Having already deeply grasped Fujiwara Miu's ability to spout utter nonsense disguised as flattery, Tsukasa Aoki cut straight to the point. "I don't have the final say on this. You'd better ask Kokomi-san yourself."

*Heh*, Teruhashi Kokomi usually had cram school every evening; how could she possibly have time on the weekend to accompany you on such a boring errand? Tsukasa Aoki sneered inwardly. He turned his head to look, only to see Teruhashi Kokomi's cheeks blushing red as she let out a flustered, "Eh?"

"Eh? Um, well... does that mean you want me and Tsukasa-kun to pretend we're on a date at the cafe, but actually keep an eye out for him?" Teruhashi Kokomi's breathing quickened slightly.

A date?

A date with Tsukasa-kun? This would be our first time doing something like that. Can... can I just agree to it this casually? Shouldn't my first date be at a top-tier hotel with a candlelight dinner...

Teruhashi Kokomi fell into internal conflict, her expression looking rather hesitant.

"Yeah, that way Salted Fish-chan won't feel pressured, and I'll have some peace of mind." Unable to read what Teruhashi Kokomi was really thinking, Fujiwara Miu could only look at her with pitiful puppy-dog eyes and plead, "Teruhashi-san, please."

Teruhashi Kokomi swallowed involuntarily, casting a glance at Tsukasa Aoki, only to see him flashing her a smile. A fierce battle immediately broke out in her heart: *If I agree, will Tsukasa-kun think I'm too frivolous? And he hasn't even said he likes me yet—how can I just casually go on a date with him?*

*But if I refuse, will Tsukasa-kun think I hate him? Look at his smile; he must think I wouldn't say no, right?*

Watching Teruhashi Kokomi's conflicted expression, Tsukasa Aoki's smile grew even wider: *That's right, Kokomi-san, just say the word "no"! Say it boldly!*

*Damn it... Tsukasa-kun's smile is too dazzling! I completely can't bring myself to say no! There's no help for it, I'll just have to agree for now... But if I agree to Tsukasa-kun and show willingness to go on a date with him, he'll definitely be so happy he'll cry out in joy!* Looking at Tsukasa Aoki's expectant expression, Teruhashi Kokomi gritted her teeth and made up her mind, though outwardly she merely smiled slightly. "Alright."

"Thank you!" Fujiwara Miu gave a swift ninety-degree bow, his face beaming with joy.

"Huh?" Tsukasa Aoki couldn't help letting out a gasp, his eyes widening as he looked at Teruhashi Kokomi: *This is a fake date! A date! Didn't you hear clearly? Aren't you worried people will misunderstand?*

Watching Tsukasa Aoki's wide-eyed, gasping reaction, Teruhashi Kokomi couldn't help breaking into a radiant smile: *Tsukasa-kun, I knew you'd be thrilled! Well, of course, you're just an ordinary boy after all—how could you possibly resist going "Ooh!" over me?*

*This is pretty much... reaching your limit, isn't it? Come on, don't hold back anymore; shower me with twenty "Oohs" in a row!*

Looking at Teruhashi Kokomi, who was beaming with radiant anticipation, Tsukasa Aoki's smile gradually stiffened.

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PS: That's all for today's update. I'll go write after finishing this game of Auto Chess. Just one last match, right after this! Damn it, I have to pick Druid this time.