บท 430: You dress to look slimmer

　　In this way, the game progresses round after round.

　　Almost everyone is a question generator, and they ask questions.

　　The atmosphere was lively, everyone was having fun, and everyone had a smile on their face.

　　In the middle of the process, Shinichi even felt hopeless and asked 'people with very high hairlines'. This is what he regrets now.

　　At this time, he still received cold glances from Kaguya from time to time. All the grudges old and new added up, and somehow he felt like he wouldn't survive the night.

　　Of course, the more questions asked, the more often they swapped seats, and almost everyone had been next to each other for a few minutes.

　　When Shinichi was sitting with Shirogane, he asked about Kaguya in a low voice.

　　When Shinichi sits down with Ishigami, he reluctantly gives him some words of comfort as he descends into paranoia, and even gives him a warning.

　　While Shinichi and Kaguya were sitting, under the friendly and gentle gaze of the other party, Shinichi was forced to confess some of Shirogane's secrets.

　　Shinichi and Iino, nothing happened.

　　When Shinichi and Hayasaka were sitting, she who had the appearance of a beautiful boy, deliberately leaned her shoulders towards him, showing a timid look like a little girl. Her face was bright red and her posture was shy. Chika who had witnessed the scene in front of her, immediately had a nosebleed.

　　While Shinichi was sitting with Kei, to avoid embarrassment, she took out an exercise book from her arms and taught her to study, which made him smile bitterly.

　　When Shinichi is sitting with Chika, she excitedly declares that she finally talked to Rui and learned his secret from her, so she uses this to persuade (threaten) him into joining in to dominate this game.

　　When Shinichi was sitting with Moeha, she asked him, 'What do you think about Kei-chan?', 'Do you really want to lock him up in the basement and train her?', 'Girls who look like white lotuses are simply irresistible~' . Shinichi ignores these strange words and confirms that Meoha is even worse than Chika.

　　And Rui sat with him in the last round.

　　He has been the questioner several times. No matter how simple the question was, a random rotation of chairs was always not what he wanted. Shinichi continued to talk quietly with the other girl. The unwillingness in Rui's eyes became stronger.

　　Regardless of whether this emotion was called jealousy or something else, Rui only knew that the feeling was more uncomfortable than she had imagined. It almost made her want to stop the game and ask them to return their seats to their original positions.

　　However before the last round, Hayasaka who was sitting with Rui whispered something to her, causing her to look at her in surprise.

　　Hayasaka winked at her, placed her fingers in front of her lips, and smiled gently.

　　"Don't worry, I'm just a professional maid."

　　Maid? Not a butler?

　　With doubts, Rui followed Hayasaka's advice and deliberately became the next question creator and posted this question.

　　"Someone who wants to end this game."

　　Shinichi raised his head and looked at Rui.

　　Shirogane and Kaguya looked at each other.

　　Then everyone makes their choice.

　　It position started to move, which seemed natural, but also seemed irregular.

　　Shirogane and Kaguya are sitting together.

　　Ishigami and Iino sat together.

　　 Kei and Moeha sat together.

　　 Chika sat alone.

　　Shinichi and Rui returned to their original position again.

　　Hayasaka stood up from the front seat and pressed the remote control. All traces merged and disappeared, and the floor returned to levelness.

　　"Then this game ends here. Please use your time freely. The dining cart will soon be pushed up. I hope you all have a fun game."

　　She looked at Rui's grateful gaze. After bowing and saluting, she disappeared from everyone's sight as the elevator descended.

　 This medium-sized bus has two floors, upper and lower, as well as an internal lift.

　　The Shinomiya family's technology is the best in Japan.

　　"What did she say to you?"

　　Shinichi looked at Rui.

　　"Is that really 'her'? Miss Maid…" Rui closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair.

　　"After all, this game is designed to cheat. It doesn't matter who cheats in the end... Just ask me to step up and end the game."

　　"Is that so…" Shinichi was confused by Hayasaka's motive for doing this. He looked at the headphones around Rui's neck and asked, "So, won't you get into trouble?"

　　Rui opened her eyes and turned to look at him.

　　She didn't know why, but the time spent talking to him now was much happier than in the past.

　　"Stupid Onii-chan, I didn't cause any trouble in the first place."

　　Taking off her headphones and putting them in her bag, Rui stretched her left palm towards him.

　　"This."

　　Shinichi held her hand without much thought. The next second he realized that this action was like a puppy learning to shake hands, and he reflexively wanted to withdraw his hand.

　　But Rui refused to let go and squeezed his hand harder.

　　Once you realize the loss, it's hard to let go.

　　Shinichi met her gaze without hesitation. His serious face made her emotion-filled eyes shine brighter.

　　Then, she took his hand and placed it on her chest.

　　With her cheeks stained with color, Rui asked in a low voice.

　　"...How do you feel like this?"

　　Soft enough.

　　(You dress to look slimmer.)

　　Shinichi didn't say it directly, but looked around.

　　Chika left her seat and was chatting with two of her school friends. Ishigami and Iino are fighting. During the argument, they started shoving snacks into each other's mouths.

　　Shirogane and Kaguya had completely entered their world, chatting in whispers like innocent elementary school students who liked each other but didn't know how to express it.

　　After confirming that no one was watching this rather ambiguous scene, Shinichi let out a sigh of relief and then tried to retract his hand.

　　In order not to attract other people's attention with his big movements, he couldn't use too much force to break free, as a result he couldn't move back more than a few centimeters before Rui pressed him back harder.

　　"Let go first."

　　Rui didn't show any shy expression, still persistent.

　　"Answer first."

(What crime did I commit in my previous life to meet a cousin like this...)

　　Shinichi was powerless to answer.

　　"…Your heart is beating really fast."

　　"What does this mean?"

　　Rui's head was slightly lowered, but her eyes were raised and she looked at him seriously.

　　"Can you tell me the answer?"

　　"...Ah."

　　After a while, a sigh emerged from the gap between his lips.

　　Shinichi opened the bag with his other hand and spoke at the same time.

　　"If you really want me to say it, fine..."

　　Taking out a stack of printed paper, Shinichi began to read.

　　"The confusion between family affection and love, the ambiguity between respect and goodwill..."

　　"…Enough, I know."

　　Rui let go of his hand, took the headphones again and put them on.

　　She turned her head and glanced at Shinichi, the emotion in her eyes slowly replaced by disappointment.

　　"Still the same, so we can't..."

　　Rui stopped talking.

　　Rui's expression returned to indifference, and she rested quietly.

　　Shinichi looked at her, and sighed softly.

　　After the pile of printed paper was put away, the air conditioner in the bus became a little louder, so he adjusted the direction of the air conditioning ventilation at the top so that it wouldn't blow directly on Ru's clothes. Then Shinichi asked Hayasaka for two blankets.

　　Then, he also leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes and began to fall asleep.

　　△

　　After more than two hours of travel, the Shinomiya family's exclusive bus finally arrived at a promontory surrounded by green plants. From a distance, you can see that the forest and sea are connected without any separation.

　　When they got off the bus, almost everyone was rubbing their eyes and just recovering from sleep.