After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

"Please come in."

"Sorry to disturb you..."

With a strange expression, Kagura Hikaru and an even more oddly nervous Ayakoji Chiyoko than the first time, stepped into the Kagura Family's entryway.

"Mister Hikaru, you're back... Oh?"

The stepmother, who had been watching television in the living room, got up to greet them, but upon seeing the unexpected guest, Ayakoji Chiyoko, she glanced at Kagura Hikaru, covered her mouth with a pretense of secrecy, and chuckled as she looked at the girl, "Well, if it isn't Miss Ayakoji from last time, welcome, welcome! Are you here to see Mister Hikaru again today?"

"Yes, sorry for the disturbance, Aunt," said Ayakoji Chiyoko with a blush and a nod.

"Not at all, not at all."

The stepmother smiled like a farmer delighting in the growth of their cabbages, "It's hot outside, isn't it? There's air conditioning in the upstairs room; go rest in Mister Hikaru's room first, and I'll prepare some drinks for you."

"Thank you, Aunt."

Ayakoji Chiyoko obediently responded.

That was completely unlike her.

"What are you blushing about?" Kagura Hikaru couldn't help but ask after the stepmother turned to head to the kitchen.

Her like this, people would suspect she'd been possessed, and her character setting had changed too much!

Ayakoji Chiyoko turned away awkwardly, and whispered with pursed lips, "It's my first time entering a friend's house...!"

"But you've been here before, haven't you?"

"That time was different, we were a couple then, and now we're friends."

What's the difference?

Kagura Hikaru was puzzled, for the first time somewhat unable to guess her train of thought. Was there really such a big difference between visiting a lover's house and a friend's house?

He escorted Ayakoji Chiyoko upstairs to his room.

There weren't many things in his room, and even without deliberate cleaning, it still appeared very tidy, so a sudden visitor wouldn't bring any shame.

Kagura Hikaru casually set down his backpack and stuffed the honey he bought today under the desk.

Then he brought over a small table, invited Ayakoji Chiyoko to sit on the wooden floor, and went to pull open the curtains at the window.

As soon as he drew the curtains, Kagura Hikaru caught sight of a familiar figure downstairs, and hesitated momentarily.

Clothed in black, with seaweed-like wet and messy curls and an ugly face... it was the Happiness Cult missionary from the Happiness Sanatorium, that 'Ms. Kurosaki'!

Kagura Hikaru stared as she approached his front door, disappeared under the eaves after entering, and probably was ringing the doorbell by now.

He didn't need to think about it; she was obviously there to see him.

Kagura Hikaru felt a cold sweat on his back.

His stepmother was at home, right downstairs.

What to do? He didn't want them to meet at all.

"Sorry, Ayakoji, could you wait here for a bit? I suddenly have an urgent matter to attend to," he said quickly, then dashed out of the room.

Ayakoji Chiyoko watched his retreating figure with puzzlement, listening as his footsteps faded.

Gradually, she began to smile.

Propping herself up, she got to her feet and began to leisurely hum a tune, looking around the room.

She flipped through Kagura Hikaru's book collection, opened his wardrobe to investigate his fashion sense, checked the smell of his quilt, and crouched down with her phone to search for erotic magazines under the bed.

She was having a great time throughout.

But she didn't find anything particularly interesting.

Just as Ayakoji Chiyoko was starting to feel a little disappointed, she accidentally noticed she had missed something under the desk - two yellow bags tucked away, and she let out a soft "Huh?"

"What's that...?"

The items seemed to possess some sort of magic power, drawing her curiosity as she reached out her hand...

.............

As Kagura Hikaru ran downstairs, he nearly collided with his stepmother, who had heard the doorbell and was approaching the entryway to answer it.

"Wait, I was just about to go out; I'll get the door!" he hastily said.

"Eh?"

Before the stepmother had time to react, Kagura Hikaru had already slipped on his shoes, swiftly opened the door and left, thoughtfully closing it behind him, and the stepmother hadn't even seen clearly who had rung the doorbell.

By the time she made sense of it and opened the door, there was no one there.

"Strange..." The stepmother stepped back in confusion.

Around the corner outside, with his back against the wall, Kagura Hikaru heard the door close and sighed with relief.

Ms. Kurosaki, whom he had just seen, was standing right next to him, looking at him with a half-smile, "Mr. Kagura, it seems you didn't want your family to see me? Why is that?"

Kagura Hikaru was half-serious, half-pretending to be helpless as he said, "Ms. Kurosaki, I don't want my family to know that I... that I've seen a psychologist, and even visited a sanatorium, do you understand?"

"Of course, that's your right," Ms. Kurosaki said, appearing very respectful, "Moreover, it was my mistake this time for not sending a greeting message before coming. I didn't know your mobile number, so I had to visit like this."

"Is there something important?"

"Ah, not particularly important, just wanted to deliver an invitation to you."

"Invitation?"

"Yes."

Ms. Kurosaki's face was full of wrinkles as she smiled, eyes narrowing, and she pulled a deep blue, elegant invitation card from her designer handbag and handed it to Kagura Hikaru.

"Next Monday evening, Happiness Sanatorium will be hosting a small gathering, and Mr. Kagura must honor us with his presence. If you're lucky, you might even meet the Great Shrine Maiden."

"You're talking about the Shrine Maiden?"

Kagura Hikaru frowned.

"Correct." Ms. Kurosaki smiled cryptically, gave a slight bow, "With that, I'll take my leave, as I must deliver more invitations to others. I wish you a pleasant day, Mr. Kagura."

Then, she briskly turned and left.

Finally, the old witch posing in her act was gone.

Kagura Hikaru exhaled a sigh of relief and looked down at the invitation in his hand.

There was no writing on it, just a cutout emblem resembling a folding screen.

A gathering at Happiness Sanatorium? The Great Shrine Maiden?... No matter how he thought about it, it seemed he had no reason not to go.

He slipped the invitation into his pocket, ran to the nearest convenience store as if he were buying a bag of snacks, and returned to his room in about fifteen minutes.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Kagura Hikaru said as he came in through the door.

Ayakoji Chiyoko, who was sitting listlessly in front of a low table doing her homework, looked up and scowled, "You're slow!"

"Sorry."

Kagura Hikaru set down the snacks and sat cross-legged, "The notes?" Your next read awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

"Here." Ayakoji Chiyoko pushed a notebook from atop the table toward him, then went back to her homework.

She seemed like she wasn't planning on leaving.@@novelbin@@

Without speaking, Kagura Hikaru likewise didn't know how to start a conversation and also took out his homework, and started writing.

As it turned out, Ayakoji Chiyoko apparently just came to Kagura's household to do homework, had some of the snacks he bought, finished her work, and then left.

Kagura Hikaru was somewhat bemused.

But perhaps it was a good thing nothing happened.

After seeing off the visitor, Kagura Hikaru returned to his room and instinctively looked towards the yellow bag stored under his desk.

To be precise, at the honey inside the bag.

He hesitated for a moment, but decided to take out the honey jar to check, just to be safe.

On the outside of the glass jar, there was a mark he had made the last time he ate from it. If the level of the honey was lower than the mark, it would mean someone else had eaten some.

He was a bit worried that Ayakoji Chiyoko, during the fifteen minutes he was out of his room, might have succumbed to curiosity and taken some.

While he knew it was unlikely, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility... that person occasionally did unexpected things.

After checking, Kagura Hikaru concluded that the honey had not been touched.

He was relieved, and put the honey jar back in place.