My System Always Wants to Force Me to Confess
Chapter 179: You Won’t Die if You Don’t Plant the Flag

"...It’s best if you don’t know."

The short-haired female shop manager scoffed and instructed, "Anyway, since you’re going with Jin, I’ll leave that side to you."

"This year, I finally don’t have to take Jin, the little burden, with me! This time, I’m going to be the sales champion!"

"Stop dreaming, Sister Rion. Your theme already dooms you from becoming the sales champion."

Watching these two childhood friends about to start arguing over principles again, Shirakawa Sawahei quickly stepped in between them, saying, "Miss Hinata, you should pay more attention to Mr. Watanabe’s shop. Even if the target customer groups are different, there should still be some impact."

"Hmm... that’s true, but I can’t stop him either... If I can get rid of that fool by sacrificing a bit of traffic, I can still accept it."

"Jin, remember to use your big Twitter account to promote for me when the time comes!"

"Got it, but you won’t even give me ad fees. Sister Rion, you’re really stingy."

"Inviting you to a meal counts as ad fees, doesn’t it? What more do you want? How about I sell my employee to you?"

His fists hardened, hardened, the Pure Love War God’s fists hardened.

Hinata Rion saw the situation and quickly backed down, "Just kidding... You all work well, I’ll go back and read manga~"

The female café owner came and left quickly, disappearing in front of the two of them in an instant. The slacking girl stood there dumbfounded for a moment, finally snapped back by a pat on the back of her head by Shirakawa Sawahei.

"Get to work."

"Eh... so soon? Wait a minute, Shirakawa, you haven’t even shown me the notes you took! There must be something wrong with my notes..."

...

On the road home in the evening, Ise Yu and Shirakawa each had a box of takoyaki, casually chatting while walking leisurely.

"Shirakawa, if you hadn’t secretly bad-mouthed me on the Line notes, this box of takoyaki would have become a dish in a fancy family restaurant."

"I didn’t bad-mouth you, stop making stuff up." Shirakawa Sawahei picked a piece and wouldn’t admit it no matter what.

"Hmph, your reaction says it all! It was to get back at you, so I reduced the meal to just a box of takoyaki for you!"

"Really? Then I really lost out."

"Please sound more regretful." Ise Yu or Orikin complained discontentedly, then she picked up a piece of takoyaki and suddenly exclaimed, "Look, Shirakawa, this little guy looks so cute, it’s the cutest of all my pieces!"

"But it looks like it’s crying, maybe feeling honored to be sacrificed to Lord Ise Yu?" The slacking girl gleefully made eye contact with the little ball, claiming proudly.

Shirakawa Sawahei mercilessly retorted, "Maybe it’s unwilling to become calories and turn into your fat."

"??? Shirakawa, write a book if you can talk like that, alright?!"

"No, no time."

"Well, although what you said was mean, the problem of calorie intake is tough... I’ll let you eat it!"

"No."

"Why not! It’s so cute."

"You licked it."

"??? You’re lying! My tongue didn’t even touch it."

"Even if you didn’t, it’s still your takoyaki. If you give it to me, wouldn’t that be stealing love?"

"Do you really want to experience the Minotaur element you hate the most?"

Ise Yu: "???"

"Shirakawa, are you a devil? How does something as ordinary as this sound so horrifying coming from you..."

"Just tell me if you still want to give it to me."

"No! I’d rather gain weight myself than allow any Minotaurs!"

Ise Yu said, biting the whole takoyaki, her cheeks puffing up, looking like they might deflate if poked.

"Ugh... Shirakawa; the sauce is so thick... I can’t swallow it, ugh..."

Shirakawa Sawahei handed her a bottle of water. Whether it was from spending too much time with manga artists or something else, he felt there was a speed limit kind of feeling in Ise Yu’s speech just now...

The wheels rolled, the headlights flashed, and in the end, only two tire marks were left from drifting...

Hmm, an illusion. This must be an illusion.

The slacking girl finished eating her box of takoyaki, took the packaging box to the roadside trash bin, sorted the items, then clapped her hands and came back saying, "Finally done, so full~"

"Didn’t you just have an omurice for dinner at the shop?"

The girl righteously replied, "That was a snack! Not counted in the daily meal intake."

"..."

Heh, woman, once you step on the weight scale, you’ll see what cruelty means!

"Oh, by the way, Shirakawa, you mentioned the beach training camp before. Can I really go?" The cute little Ise Yu restarted casual chatting mode after satisfying her hunger: "Even though I’m not a member of the Calligraphy Club."

"It’s okay, Ishihara is going too."

"Really? Then I’m relieved! I’ll pay for the event costs!"

"By the way, I didn’t ask you last time, since Asano’s performance has reached a level you can’t teach anymore, will you continue tutoring?"

Upon mentioning this topic, a familiar clapping sound seemed to resound in Ise Yu’s ears...

That was the sound of a poor student getting brutally smacked by a top student.

She sighed, regrettably saying, "Although I’ve lost the motivation to study, studying together with you, Shirakawa, is still quite helpful..."

"Really wish for another little angel as adorable as Asano to appear, so I can get motivated again!"

"Continuing, huh? Alright."

"Continuing is fine, but can we reduce the frequency a bit? If it’s as frequent as before, my willpower might not hold..."

"..."

Don’t make me out to be some devil, alright? I’m sometimes quite gentle in tutoring.

"Ah~ Great, I can go to the beach again this year... Oh, Shirakawa, do you have any other plans for summer vacation besides training with the Calligraphy Club and going to the anime comic with me?"

"No."

"Shirakawa, are you a homebody? This is a rare youth!"

"I don’t have any special arrangements for summer break. If nothing unexpected happens, I should be home alone doing my own things."

"Sounds so boring... Are you really not planning to go out, Shirakawa?"

Shirakawa Sawahei sneered a couple of times and didn’t answer that.

Summer vacation? Going out? Impossible. Going out is impossible, not even this summer vacation. I can only rely on staying home, leveling up skills, and lazing around to barely get by!

...

The next day, in the headmaster’s office, a middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses cheerfully spoke to the two students in front of him.

"Shirakawa, Hayakawa, given the excellent talents Shirakawa displayed last time, and Hayakawa’s always steady proficiency, the school hopes both of you can participate in a piano competition this summer..."

"What do you think... about coordinating practice schedules?"

Shirakawa Sawahei: "..."

This time, this time not setting a flag won’t kill you.