Chapter 105 Not disliking it means liking it. ...
Tsukino and Chiya picked up the neatly folded blankets, gently shook them open, and then walked back towards where Ohma Kokichi was.
The weather wasn't actually that cool these days, and not covering oneself with a blanket wouldn't seem to cause anything like catching a cold. However, after a brief consideration, Tsukino and Chiya decided to cover Ohma Kokichi with a blanket to show their concern.
While covering themselves with the blankets, Tsukino and Chiya inevitably got close to Ohma Kokichi once again.
However, in the end, covering oneself with a blanket is just that—covering oneself with a blanket. Tsukino and Chiya acted without any unnecessary hesitation or deliberation, nor did they try to peek out to examine the other person's sleeping face—Chiya had already seen that as soon as she entered the room.
If I had to say there was anything else...
Tsukino and Chiya's gazes fell on a small section of fair nape peeking out from beneath Ouma Kokichi's slightly messy purple hair, caused by his posture while slumped over the table.
Then, without changing his expression, he covered himself with the blanket.
Such actions did not take much time from beginning to end, but Tsukino and Chiya were waiting for Ohma Kokichi to suddenly sit up in shock from his deathbed and open his eyes, and to reach out and grab his wrist, but none of these actions occurred, which surprised Chiya a little.
Was he really asleep? Is Ouma Kokichi the kind of person who would confidently let himself fall asleep in someone else's room with the door half open?
...Not sure, let's see.
Since the only chair in the room was currently occupied by someone in a Schrödinger-like slumber, Tsukino and Chiya, having nowhere to sit, ended up sitting on the bed, just like they had done when they talked with Hinata Hajime that morning.
What should we do now?
The sudden appearance of an uninvited guest in their dormitory made it difficult for Tsukino and Chiya not to focus their attention on that person.
Especially since this person is Wang Ma Xiao Ji.
If Tsukino and Chiya were to open the door and find someone else sleeping in their dorm room, they might wonder, "Did someone come to the wrong room?" "Um, did I forget to lock the door before I left?" "Could it be Aurora who came to kill us?" "Or maybe I'm the one who came to the wrong room?"
But when he saw that the person in his dormitory was Wang Ma Xiaoji, he suddenly felt that this development was quite normal.
—After all, it's Ouma Kokichi.
Sometimes, the above sentence can be used to explain many things that have happened around Oma Kokichi.
No matter how ridiculous or absurd the developments may be, as long as Ouma Shokichi is involved, everything seems to become reasonable. This is because Ouma Shokichi himself is someone who easily makes people think, "If it were this person, it seems possible for him to do anything or appear anywhere."
For someone to evoke such a feeling, there must first be a wealth of examples to back it up. In his daily life, Wang Ma Xiaoji has done quite a few things that leave people speechless, which is why people gradually form this impression upon first seeing him.
In other words... while this impression isn't entirely negative, it's certainly not positive either.
However, for Tsukino and Chiya...
Isn't that what makes Ouma Kokichi so interesting?
Tsukino and Chiya quietly watched Ohma Kokichi's back as he slept on the table, unusually refraining from immediately racking their brains for ideas like "Why is he here?", "Did Hinata say something to him?", and "What should we do next? Should we try to get information out of him?"
He just...
At this moment, at least at this moment, I suddenly feel like I just want to stop thinking about anything and simply gaze at this person quietly, without any other purpose.
And it was at this very moment—
Knock knock knock.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
The sound wasn't loud or too urgent, but it was exceptionally clear in the dormitory room where no other sounds came in except for the cicadas chirping outside the window.
Awakened by the sound, Tsukino and Chiya first subconsciously observed Ohma Kokichi. After confirming that he was not moving and did not seem to have been awakened by the knocking, they stood up again and walked towards the door.
Tsukino and Chiya opened the door.
The person standing at the door wasn't someone Tsukino and Chiya knew. He briefly recalled for two seconds before realizing that this seemed to be a classmate. —However, his despicable act of not remembering his classmate's face went unnoticed by the person in question. After all, not everyone could successfully discern what Tsukino and Chiya were thinking or feeling from their perpetually unchanging faces.
The black-haired boy didn't fully open the door, but only opened it a crack just wide enough for him to peek out from the side, while preventing others from unconsciously glancing into the room.
"What is it?" he asked, his voice seemingly lower than usual.
However, for classmates who weren't very familiar with Tsukino and Chiya, their memories of Tsukino and Chiya were always the same: expressionless, with no intonation, and a consistently calm voice, perfectly fitting the stereotype.
In addition, since they weren't very familiar with each other, the classmate who knocked on the door didn't think much of the distance that Tsukino and Chiyo were maintaining. He just reached out and scratched his head, revealing the embarrassed smile that often appears when someone needs a favor.
"Ah, Tsukino-kun, it's so nice to have you in the room. Actually, I came to ask you something..."
The student who knocked on the door came to borrow something.
Unfortunately, it wasn't that Tsukino and Chiya were unwilling to help him, but rather that his dormitory simply didn't have what this student needed.
After Tsukino and Chiya said they couldn't help, the student's face immediately showed a very obvious look of disappointment. However, he didn't linger, and after apologizing to Tsukino and Chiya for disturbing them, he left, seemingly heading in the direction of someone else to ask.
This is just an ordinary little episode in daily life.
Tsukino and Chiya didn't pay much attention. After closing the door again, he turned around and then—
"Wow!"
Then, a smiling face suddenly appeared behind him.
Tsukino and Chiya lowered their heads slightly to meet the smiling and expectant eyes: "...Ah, that scared me to death."
"I feel like I've seen this reaction before, like something similar has happened before."
Instead of the expected startling reaction, Ohma Kokichi, who had quietly appeared behind Tsukino and Chiya while they were opening the door, wasn't too disappointed, clearly having anticipated this development.
The purple-haired boy pondered: "As expected, such a simple and crude prank method cannot be used when dealing with Kozuki Kazu.
Tsukino and Chiya, who had previously said they were frightened, nodded in agreement.
From the moment they heard the knocking and the subsequent conversation, Tsukino and Chiya felt that, given Ohma Kokichi's keen senses, he should have been woken up even if he wasn't pretending to be asleep.
not to mention……
Tsukino and Chiya's gazes remained fixed on Ohma Kokichi's face.
To be honest, this face is just too cute, which makes him feel absolutely no fear when he sees it... Although sometimes, the contrast between Ouma Kokichi's face and personality is the real source of fear for many people.
But it's really beautiful.
Just as this thought popped into his head, Ouma Kokichi, who had been openly considering how to play a prank next time, seemed to have read Tsukino and Chiya's minds. Suddenly, the corners of his mouth turned up in a wicked smile, expanding into a rather suspicious arc.
"Hehe, I know, Kozuki is probably thinking to herself that I can't scare anyone at all looking like this."
"—What if that's the case?"
Before Tsukino and Chiya could say anything, they saw that the smile on Ouma Kokichi's face not only did not fade, but instead began to intensify.
Finally, the curve of his lips went from suspicious to something downright eerie. His face suddenly darkened, and even his eyes widened considerably compared to usual, revealing a bottomless, malevolent darkness within them.
Hahahaha!
Tsukino and Chiya: "..." This is really a bit terrifying. Who understands this feeling of salvation, like seeing a ghost in broad daylight?
Scary!
Tsukino and Chiya silently protested in their hearts, but he was well aware of his own expressionless nature. He knew that although he was genuinely momentarily stunned by the change in expression, he would not show any sign of it on the surface.
That's the kind of confidence I have!
Always self-aware, Tsukino and Chiya confidently returned an innocent look that probably only they could see, but were somewhat surprised to find that Ohma Kokichi did not meet their gaze in time.
Moreover, judging from Wang Ma Xiaoji's slightly raised head and upward-pointing eyes... he seems to be staring at something higher up.
Tsukino and Chiya didn't quite understand, but they chose to ask anyway: "Ouma, what are you looking at?"
"Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking about something."
Wang Ma Xiaoji had returned to his usual normal expression. It was as if he had only snapped out of his reverie after Tsukino and Chiya's words, but his gaze remained stubbornly fixed on the top of his head.
"If Kazuya Ozuki also had a cowlick, would others be able to judge Kazuya Ozuki's true emotions just by looking at her cowlick?"
Tsukino and Chiya thought for a moment: "Like Hinata?
When he used to chat with Hinata Hajime, he would sometimes see Hinata's ahoge (cowlick) stand up like lightning or droop down like a wilted eggplant, depending on his emotions, which was very interesting.
Wang Ma Xiaoji nodded happily: "Yes, yes!"
Tsukino and Chiya questioned, "But even with the ahoge (cowlick), given Hinata's current condition, it's unlikely we'll see anything in the future."
"Hmm? That sounds reasonable, but upon closer inspection, it seems rather suspicious."
"Hmm? Suspicious? Why?"
"Because you used Kohinata as an example to refute this, it actually shows that Kotsukino thinks that she is just like Kohinata now. Even with the addition of a cowlick, she can still make those who try to see into her heart fail, right? Wahaha, I didn't expect you to be secretly praising yourself like this, Kotsukino!"
"...No, that's not true."
The atmosphere immediately became much more cheerful.
Should he say, "As expected of Ouma Kokichi"? The moment this person woke up, the previously silent atmosphere was instantly awakened, and there was not the slightest bit of awkwardness or discomfort caused by the question of "Why are you in my room?"
Wang Ma Xiaoji has always been good at setting the mood, but how far the mood will go depends mainly on how far he wants to go.
...Of course, this is only the case in most cases.
Tsukino and Chiya looked down at each other, while the purple-haired boy smiled back at them—the earlier chilling expression seemed like an illusion, and he now looked so harmless.
Tsukino and Chiya knew that they were not attracted to his harmlessness.
He once complained about how someone could have the ability to "not distinguish between fear and pleasure" and liked to actively seek out dangerous places.
However, Tsukino and Chiya do not deny that sometimes "mystery" and "danger" do indeed have a strange attraction to people.
However, such attraction is often not enough to drive people to irrational behavior. As rational beings, the innate fear of danger is enough to make humans retreat in the face of such a being.
...But what if the attraction isn't so weak?
Reason and emotion—these coexisting traits in humans are truly wondrous. And aside from fear and attraction, which represent a tug-of-war between emotion and reason, there are many other situations where this tension exists.
Just as Komaeda Nagito could see that Ohma Kōkichi didn't want others to know too much about him, Tsukino and Chiya, who had spent more time with him, could also see this.
Tsukino and Chiya knew very well that some topics could not be avoided.
He knew what to do and also knew that Ouma Kokichi's arrival was most likely related to his conversation with Hinata Hajime.
But when their eyes met those purple eyes, for a fleeting moment, Tsukino and Chiyo suddenly felt reluctant to initiate the conversation that was about to begin.
Because that would involve Ouma Kokichi's past and experiences... Tsukino and Chiya knew that the other had been hiding those things, but they didn't know to what extent Ouma Kokichi valued what he was hiding, or what the consequences would be if they had to bring up such a topic.
Tsukino and Chiya prepared for the worst.
Instead of asking Wang Ma Xiaoji's reason for appearing in their dormitory room as is customary, Tsukino and Chiya chose to ask a more direct question.
"Wang Ma, could you explain in detail?"
"—About what happened before you and I met."
There seemed to be a moment of silence in the air.
But it was only "seemingly" true, because after asking that question, Tsukino and Chiya saw the purple-haired boy blink and his expression become knowing.
Wang Ma Xiaoji turned around and walked a few steps into the house. Then he sat down casually on the chair he had previously used, his arms draped over the armrests on either side. He crossed his legs with practiced elegance, looking languid as he sank into the chair.
"As expected, this kind of heartless, cold-hearted, and unwavering person... is Kazuo Kozuki."
As he said this, Wang Ma Xiaoji, who had been leaning back in his chair, leaned forward slightly, one hand still resting on the armrest, and the other hand supporting his chin, looking over openly and with great interest.
"But... I don't dislike it."
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Author's Note: I'm back! [heart eyes][heart eyes]
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