After leaving the room, Ichinose's face remained flushed with lingering embarrassment.

She really had become a shameless woman.

At this rate, it wouldn't be her correcting Mitoma—it would be Mitoma corrupting her.

Even realizing this, Ichinose didn't know what to do.

Their relationship wasn't a normal romantic one, and she had no prior experience with love, leaving her completely lost.

No, wait—that wasn't right.

She and him were a couple, so why should she care about whether it was "normal"?

It was precisely because she had always considered their relationship special that she felt so uncertain.

But if she put herself in the shoes of a normal girlfriend, wouldn't she be able to gradually change Kaoru?

Ichinose Honami recalled many girlfriend-specific tactics, like the classic checking up on him, or making their relationship public, strictly prohibiting other women from getting close to Kaoru.

It did seem like a good idea, but would it really work?

For the young girl, this question was too profound.

Although Kaoru had expressed to her that he was already reflecting on himself, she still didn't believe she had changed anything about him.

Initially, she had planned to use so-called possessiveness as an excuse to make Kaoru pay more attention to her.

However, possessiveness wasn't entirely the same as liking someone—it was simply not wanting to share something with others.

In other words, what exactly was liking someone?

Kaoru said his liking was a feeling, and Ichinose Honami also thought it made sense.

Being with him was comfortable, and she didn't dislike doing naughty things with him.

But sometimes, she really did get quite angry with him.

And how could any girl not care if their partner was a huge flirt?

With a heart full of confusion and disappointment, Ichinose Honami left the second floor and returned to the girls' dormitory, stopping in front of Amikura Mako's room.

Soon after, Amikura Mako appeared in her pajamas, looking somewhat surprised to see Ichinose Honami.

"Honami-chan, what happened to you?" Amikura Mako first noticed Ichinose Honami's condition.

She was wearing a jacket over her shirt—one that didn't look like it belonged to a girl—and the shirt underneath was damp with suspicious stains, as if she had been fooling around with someone and hadn't had time to tidy up.

Even her hair was a mess.

Ichinose Honami's face flushed red.

Not only had she helped Kaoru wash his back, but she had also done something naughty with him.

Her mind hadn't fully processed it yet, and she hadn't had time to clean up the traces on her body.

She could still feel her hands and mouth sticky.

"N-nothing, I just wanted to talk with Mako-chan for a bit. Can I come in?"

"Sure, that's fine. Come in."

"Excuse me."

Amikura Mako wore a smile, which made Ichinose Honami let her guard down slightly.

However, the moment she stepped inside, Amikura Mako sniffed the air, her eyes devoid of any warmth.

A strange scent, a boy's jacket—could she have just come from his room?

A girl's room was naturally different from a certain boy's.

After all, this was a place where she would live for three years, and Amikura Mako had decorated her room warmly, filled with personal belongings everywhere.

A few plush toys sat on her bed, ones she had won herself from a claw machine during an outing with Ichinose Honami and the others in the past.

Seeing the plushies, Ichinose Honami's gaze involuntarily drifted elsewhere as she sat properly at the desk, while Amikura Mako sat somewhat casually across from her.

"Are we talking about what happened today?" Amikura Mako spoke first. "I really think no one minds Honami-chan's past. Everyone makes mistakes—I once accidentally lost someone else's belongings too."

No one could understand the taste of malice better than Amikura Mako.

In a way, she and Ichinose Honami had shared similar experiences.

"No, that's not what I wanted to talk about…" Ichinose paused, her chest tightening as if bound by something.

A flicker of self-loathing flashed in her eyes before she pressed her lips together and spoke again.

"You already knew, didn't you?"

Amikura Mako stiffened slightly, then tilted her head.

"Huh? What do you mean, Honami-chan?"

"I never intended to hide it from everyone. At first, I really disliked him. The only reason I agreed was because I had no choice." Ichinose's expression turned remorseful.

"I'm sorry, Mako-chan."

Amikura Mako fell silent for a moment.

"Why apologize? I never said I liked him."

Seeing this, a complicated look crossed Ichinose's face.

In truth, she had been testing Amikura Mako.

If Amikura Mako hadn't known who "he" was, she would have been completely confused.

But the fact that she could respond like this meant she not only knew but was also aware of Ichinose's relationship with "him."

"But… I like him now." Ichinose took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"At first, I thought about stepping aside for you, but I was worried he might do something bad to you. And he's just… terrible. I was really concerned for you, Mako-chan."

"Why worry about me?" Amikura Mako seemed to be suppressing her emotions.

"I don't like him. The problem is you—how could you like him? Don't you know what he's really like?"

Amikura Mako felt her worldview had been shaken.

She couldn't understand how Ichinose could accept Kaoru Mitoma, even though he could be kind at times.

"I know. That's why I wanted to talk to you about it." Ichinose looked at her seriously, enunciating each word.

"Mako-chan, I'm Kaoru's girlfriend. We've been together since before summer break."

Amikura Mako averted her gaze.

Girlfriend or not, there's no need to stare at me like that.

It's not like I'd steal him.

Then, Ichinose began explaining how she and Kaoru had gotten together, including the initial blackmail.

Aside from the parts involving Amikura Mako, she summarized the past briefly—she had been short on Personal Points at the time, so she agreed to his conditions.

If it were anyone else, they might not have brought this up voluntarily, perhaps feeling too ashamed or even embellishing the story of their relationship.

Ichinose Honami, however, was different.

She felt that although her memories with Kaoru had moments of sadness and humiliation, there were also times of joy and happiness.

These were unique and precious things to her, and she wouldn't avoid or hide them.

Just like how Kaoru shamelessly declared he would "Take em all," she would openly acknowledge her feelings for him.

Thus, Ichinose Honami chose to lay her cards on the table with Amikura Mako.

After hearing everything, Amikura Mako fell completely silent, as if she didn't understand Kaoru at all—whereas Ichinose Honami seemed to know him far better than she did.

And under these circumstances, Ichinose Honami could still accept Kaoru?

But upon closer thought, Kaoru's words and actions were sometimes better than most guys.

If you ignored his lecherous side, he was actually quite charming.

For a moment, Amikura Mako's emotions were incredibly complicated.

Because she had already experienced it once yesterday—Kaoru Mitoma didn't seem to treat Ichinose Honami as just a convenient woman.

Instead, he had genuinely considered her feelings.

In comparison, she felt like she had no advantage.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Why do you like him?"

"I don't know," Ichinose Honami smiled. "Maybe because liking someone is just a feeling. Being with him feels... nice."

Amikura Mako froze.

She suddenly realized she had been searching for reasons all along—trying to find a justification to either accept or reject him.

In the end, she had convinced herself of a reason to refuse, which was why she had been so conflicted and hesitant.

After a while, the girl spoke bitterly, "I see. But... he has a lot of women around him, Honami-chan. You'd better be prepared."

Ichinose Honami gave her a soft smile, then slowly moved closer and gently took her small hand.

"That's why... I want Mako-chan to help me."