"5"

  "9"

  "9, green"

  "+2, green"

  "+2, red"

  "+4, I chose yellow"

  "..."

  "Um...Do you wanna challenge or have any +4 cards? If no, please draw, Sui-chan"

  Suiri looked at her hands. The cards she had were neither a single functional 'Plus' card nor a card that could reverse the situation. Because she had decred 'UNO' before, only a single card in her hand didn't help this situation.

  "..."

  Silently and unwillingly, Suiri had to draw 8 cards without being able to fight back.

  "Miwako-nee, why are you here?"

  Suiri asked unwillingly. It seemed that those people had a conspiracy against her. How could they do a streak of "Plus' cards?

  "Hehe, you guys py Uno. Of course, how can I be absent?"

  Miwako smiled smugly, but Suiri found it annoying instead. After all, that girl was the one who mercilessly gave a '+4' card.

  The Uno match still kept going. As long as someone decred "Uno", everyone in the game would take special care of her. That was the rule. No one was willing to let the other win so easily...

  Time passed, and 12 minutes had been wasted successfully. Nagisha and Hanae had almost finished their jobs while staring at this 'infinite duel' without any result.

  "We've already done the first patch of pancakes, but you guys haven't finished a duel yet!?"

  Nagisha compined.

  "We didn't want it either!"

  Charlotte replied with more than 20 cards in her hand. Yet, her painful eyes betrayed the calm voice she uttered.

  The loop of being able to shout Uno and being forced to draw more than 6 cards was enough to challenge the bottom line of human beings.

  Everyone in the duel had the same thoughts. When would I win?

  Finally, with the interruption of the pair of Hanae and Nagisha, they eventually put down the cards in their hand and enjoyed the fluffy and sweetness of pancakes.

  "Wow, so delicious"

  Komi tried to savor this tasty fvor.

  "Mofu mofu feeling...Nagisha and Hanae, both of you are so skillful..."

  Miwako didn't hold back from giving her compliments.

  "Um...ummm...Yummy"

  Suiri didn't save any of her compliments while munching the mouthwatering pancake.

  Both Charlotte and Sakura just used the common sentence 'it's tasty' because they weren't originally fans of the sweet. However, they had to admit the craftmanship of both.

  "Woa woa woa, it reduces my stress a lot, as expected from Hanae's pancakes"

  Aoi sighed like an old man. She took a sip of tea to ease the sweet exploding in her mouth. Her gesture was elegant but very irritating to other people.

  "You just only py a game, and you're stressed?"

  Moeni retorted speechlessly.

  If it weren't for other friends here, she would have summoned her fist in an attack position.

  "You can't understand the duel that can't be finished when everyone has drawing function cards in their hands!"

  Aoi said like some old sages hiding in a living world.

  "Is that so?"

  Nagisha brought the second batch of pancakes to everyone. Seeing Suiri's happy expression in her eyes, she was quite pleased. However, her heart ached strangely because of her incompetence. Yet, it would be washed away easily when she comforted herself. 'As long as Sui-senpai is happy'. Being blinded by love was just like that...

  "Ah"

  "???"

  Aoi suddenly remembered something...

  "Hmp! How about competing in strength, everyone?"

  Aoi suggested.

  "Strength?"

  Komi couldn't catch up with those string thoughts of Aoi.

  "Sui-chan, let's have a hand wrestle!"

  Aoi jumped up excitedly while she hadn't wiped her mouth yet.

  "Why me?"

  Suiri was puzzled while munching the pancakes.

  "She just feels inferior to you in every field, so she wants to take you down in your weakest field"

  "She said to me that when she grows old, at least she will have an achievement in defeating Hoshiyuki Suiri so she can feel comfortable"

  Moeni sold Aoi without any hesitation.

  "Snder! You snder me!!!"

  Aoi retorted in anger.

  "You, you're the worst, senpai"

  "..."

  Nagisha looked at Aoi with contempt.

  Komi, Charlotte, and Sakura were all speechless. So despicable must be the correct adjective to describe this creature.

  "It's okay"

  At this time, Suiri accepted Aoi's proposal without any hesitation.

  "Eh?"

  "Are you sure, Sui-chan?"

  Miwako asked strangely.

  "Um"

  Suiri replied softly.

  "Hump, Sui-chan, do you have any st words?"

  Aoi smiled confidently because she had the backbone proof that Suiri was sucked at sport. Suiri was a weakling in the sport, and she had trampled on her since middle school.

  "Fall seven times, stand up eight"

  Suiri answered, making others speechless. Now, they understood why her songs were intellectual. Because the power of literature sharpened the edges of Suiri's knife, tragedies in the original plot didn't happen to Suiri in this world. Sakura also found it amusing. She didn't become a stumbling block like the game one, but it was just a part of a whole conspiracy.

  She didn't know what the future would hold.

  "Ready!"

  "Fight"

  Hanae held hands, serving as a referee for Aoi and Suiri...

  *Bam*

  Before Aoi came back to her senses, Suiri brutally crushed her right hand.

  "Wow"

  Suiri also didn't believe in this result in front of her.

  "Fueh?"

  Aoi looked at her numb hand and turned to look at Suiri. Her eyes wandered around between the beautiful face with a confused look and her already numb right hand.

  "Hahahaha~"

  At this time, a burst of ughter erupted.

  Sakura couldn't hold back this funny scene.

  "Aoi-san, Sui-chan could be a scumbag at sport, you're right but also wrong"

  Sakura said while ughing heartily.

  "What do you expect from an Omega woman, who has carried a lot of musical instruments?"

  Charlotte chimed in.

  "Guitar, bass, even drum...According to Sui-chan's sheet arrangement, if Sui-chan were weak, then we would've been ants"

  Miwako also expined. She had also experienced them, so she knew them very well. At first, she was originally a violinist. The violin weighed around 400 to 600 grams. Until she participated in the same club as Suiri, she was taught how to py bass. She thought it was easy. Yeah, it was easy, but her shoulders almost crashed down. Carrying a bass that weighed more than 5 kilograms almost cost her back.

  You must know that her back was very important to do some extraordinary exercises with her lover...

  But it wasn't the point.

  Yet, Sui-chan carried it with ease. Even when pying the drums, her force was not a joke to be underestimated. Her arms' forces...

  "I can only say 'It's karma', Aoi"

  The room soon was filled with ughter.

  However, Sakura saw Suiri's eyes filled with sadness. She suddenly remembered her mother, Natasha, who had also mentioned it, and several news reports about Suiri being a talented musician cursed with an emotionless face.

  While her other friends let out heartily ughter, she could only show one expression through the times. In the game plot, she thought it was a kuudere design. She only caught her emotions through her eyes and the redness from blushing by embarrassment.

  She could ugh but her face didn't do so. There was an event in the game in which the protagonist Sakura would try to make Suiri ugh. Of course, it ended up in failure. Only you chose Suiri's route and achieved the happy ending, you could see her lovely curled lips smiling at you while hiding her face in the dark.

  And...It seemed that she wasn't the only one who noticed the strangeness of Suiri.

  Everyone here knew Suiri's effectiveness. Nonetheless, none of them wanted to mention it and act as if it was a matter of course. Encouraging her? Coaxing her? Nah...

  Just like that, the group study had come to an end.

  "Sui-chan~"

  A soft voice called out to Suiri.

  "What's wrong, Miwako-nee?"

  Suiri titled her head.

  "Do you know Kurabeji Meiko?"

  Miwako asked.

  "Um...I do know her a little?"

  "Her songs are quite catchy"

  Suiri pondered.

  Suiri knew Meiko as the mentioned girl who had joined her group not long ago. She was also a professional musician so she had always paid attention to Meiko. She even helped new members to get familiar with music. Perhaps, she was a good person? Suiri wondered.

  "Um, um ,um"

  "That's right"

  Miwako nodded in understanding.

  "Be careful of her"

  "As your manager, I smell some conspiracies"

  Miwako expined.

  "Eh?"

  Suiri was puzzled, just as Miwako had expected.

  "She is a famous pianist, so you do"

  "By the way, we haven't known what her purpose was in the Stardust Academy"

  "Recently, you and she have never crossed each other path. That's why I find it suspicious"

  Miwako knew what Suiri was thinking. Suiri's road in the entertainment industry was too smooth due to her family's influence and her talent was no doubt that hater couldn't find anything. Yet, in high school, Suiri carried a sensitive taint that every idol was afraid of being in public widely.

  "Oh"

  Suiri would have a fiancee. Everyone knew that she would have this thing but...

  "Anyway, you should go back to your friends and enjoy your youth"

  Miwako smiled gently and patted Suiri's shoulder. What if someone found out she had so many fiancee candidates but didn't do anything? The masses would think Suiri's on the bad side. Going several boats, hanging others, or something...Miwako only found it reasonable because she was close to her but what about the others?

  After all, love was something too extraordinary for Suiri to understand. Suiri also expressed her opinion in the newly released album. There was a saying 'The artist's creation reflects their mentality and personality'. She was just a high school girl trying to understand the definition of love.

  More than that, Miwako had once mistaken Suiri in the past so she knew the public's brain worked quite well.

  "Um...Thank you"

  Suiri heard that as she would keep that in mind. Don't ever let your guard down.

  "It's ok, it's ok"

  Miwako waved her hands in embarrassment. Honestly, she found Suiri too cute now, but also pitiful...

  It was hard not to ignore Suiri's complex emotions, but Miwako didn't say anything to let Suiri develop normally.

  "Remember to sleep early, we have a schedule tomorrow"

  Miwako reminded Suiri as if she were an elementary student, while Suiri nodded in understanding.

  Seeing Miwako left there, Suiri's heart was filled with a warm feeling. Feelings of being cared for, watched over, and loved were hard to find the correct words to describe the current mood.

  'Kurabeji Meiko'...Suiri also had the same thoughts as Miwako-nee. She was a rising newcomer in the piano field. Thinking back again, it was indeed suspicious.

  "Bath~ bath~ bath~"

  Aoi hummed in a weird melody.

  "Nagisha, Hanae~ Aren't you two taking too long?"

  Aoi sat on the wide bathtub, and beside her was naturally Suiri.

  *Water noise*

  "Can you be more sensitive? They help to clean the mess so can you give them time?"

  Komi said after washing her long hair.

  "Agree"

  Suiri closed her eyes, and only the upper half of her face protruded from the surface of the water bath. Perhaps, Suiri had already become numb to women's bodies, so she didn't care as much as she did when she first transmigrated. She guessed that the hormone and perverted mind of a boy had been decayed for a long time.

  What was the point of struggling with this TS problem?

  "Anyway, bathing is fun when everybody gathers here"

  Aoi shrugged, took off her bath towel, and threw herself in the warm water.

  "Ah~, so satisfying~"

  Aoi groaned.

  "I didn't expect Sui-chan's house to have this huge bathroom"

  Komi also joined in.

  "Isn't it?"

  A voice from outside chimed in as Hanae began to bathe herself before soaking. Nagisha also followed suit.

  If it weren't for the thick smoke from the bath, her blushing face would be more obvious and easier to discover. However, she was only interested in Suiri, while just feeling bnd with the others.

  "Anousha~"

  "Thinking about it, when we first met Suiri, I thought she was the legendary Ice Queen in the romcom Manga. Expressionless face, monotone voice, word saving, and always having a barrier with others were some of my first impressions"

  "Now, she has changed so much"

  Aoi sighed.

  "Eh? Ice Queen?"

  Komi raised her voice.

  "Komi didn't know about it, did you? After all, that was her nickname back then in the Middle School period when the Stardust Academy hadn't opened itself yet"

  Hanae expined.

  "Ah, I remember...At that time, senpai was like an Ice sculpture, a walking doll, or an instrumental pying machine"

  "Everything changed a little when senpai was kidnapped by Aka-chan-sensei"

  Nagisha pondered as if she rewound her memories.

  "Hehhh~ I really didn't know that. Sorry for offending, but Sui-chan's never-changing face was naturally born right?"

  "I heard your speech on the radio a long time ago"

  Komi looked at the girl opposite her.

  *Bubble noise*

  "Um..."

  Suiri answered underwater, causing bubble noise.

  "Yeah, we thought Sui-chan was an arrogant girl looking down on us. If it weren't for Aoi-chan's insistence on making friends with her, we would've really thought so"

  Hanae added.

  "Mah~, it's good to know Sui-chan's true side, anyway"

  Hanae smiled softly.

  "But Sui-chan, at that time, there were opposite-sex people so I didn't intend to bring up this matter"

  "You have already begun to research Love, haven't you? No need to be embarrassed, you've reached that age, after all"

  Aoi smugly nodded.

  "Oh~"

  Nagisha pretended to chime in as if she were very interested. Komi nodded but said nothing because her retionship time was quite short.

  "Hahahaha~, then, Sui-chan, have you noticed anybody? Charlotte has almost stuck to you since the Middle School..."

  Hanae guessed but got interfered.

  "Yeah, but I didn't get it..."

  Suiri grew distressed inside.

  'Didn't get what?'

  Aoi and Hanae compined in their heart. The other party had already expressed herself so much that you didn't even get it? Was your brain made of mud or something?

  "Anou~, can I have a speech?"

  At this time, Komi raised her voice.

  "Yeah, welcome"

  Nagisha nodded.

  "Sui-chan, I'll be straightforward from the perspective of an outsider. I don't know much about your retionship but from what I heard. Your behavior is no different from King of Sea. I meant you hung on others so long"

  "You must know that Charlotte had a feeling for you right?"

  *Guh*

  Being stabbed by a Miko, Suiri felt like she was a failure.

  "Wait a minute, but Senpai hasn't gotten confessed either, so it doesn't count"

  Nagisha excused Suiri. Nevertheless, she never knew that she would stab another knife into Suiri's heart.

  *guh*

  "Guh guh guh"

  "Eh!? Sui-chan, are you okay?!"

  Aoi caught Suiri fainting in the bath.

  "Sui-chan, Sui-chan!"

  Hanae, Komi, and Nagisha hurriedly helped Aoi to take Suiri out.