Chapter 143: Awakening Love

"So, are you hoping to take this opportunity to get closer to Ren Amamiya?"

Kaguya Shinomiya stared at Ai Hayasaka with wide eyes.

She wasn't actually some naive, sheltered girl; she understood exactly what that meant.

Her heart fluttered inexplicably, yet her voice couldn't help but tremble.

"Hayasaka, what do you mean by that?"

To this, a hint of a smile remained in Ai Hayasaka's voice.

"Don't you know?"

"Your attitude when facing Ren Amamiya has changed."

"Where... has it changed?"

Kaguya Shinomiya forced herself to appear calm, though at this moment, she couldn't settle down.

"It seems that ever since you saw the contents of the diary, your attitude toward Ren Amamiya has been different."

"It seems to have started around the time the diary mentioned a female neighbor, right?"

"I even asked you back then if you needed to show some care toward that female neighbor. You refused directly."

Hayasaka's words reminded her; it seemed that had indeed happened.

"If it were the past you, would you have chosen to ignore it?"

"I..."

Kaguya Shinomiya was at a loss for words.

For the sake of her goals, making preparations was a matter of course. Targeting someone's weakness was one tactic, and helping someone so they would naturally owe her a favor was another.

If it were the past, Kaguya Shinomiya felt she wouldn't have hesitated at all; she would have chosen to use both methods simultaneously.

Grab the weakness, and make them owe a favor.

Only by using both could she ensure precise control.

Yet, last time, when faced with the issue of that female neighbor, Kaguya Shinomiya hesitated and chose to do nothing.

Why?

To put it politely, it was because she didn't want to use schemes to win Ren Amamiya's friendship.

To put it bluntly, it was because she didn't want Ren Amamiya to discover these schemes and end up hating her.

Kaguya Shinomiya's hesitation wasn't because she didn't want to seize the opportunity, but because she knew that seizing it was equivalent to being hated.

So, after hesitating, she chose to give up.

If it were purely a relationship of interests, Kaguya Shinomiya's choice would undoubtedly have been wrong.

But if some personal emotions were involved, then Kaguya Shinomiya's choice was undoubtedly correct.

So, what were these personal emotions?

"It's because you care, right?"

Hayasaka's words made Kaguya Shinomiya's heart tremble once more.

"If you didn't care, you would rationally choose the option that was advantageous to you."

"But precisely because you care, you feel that such an advantageous option is the wrong one."

"The variable in all this must be Ren Amamiya."

Seeing Kaguya unable to speak, Ai Hayasaka knew her goal had been achieved.

It was necessary for Kaguya to recognize some of her inner thoughts today, thereby changing her attitude toward Ren Amamiya.

"I... but... it's too fast..."

At this moment, Kaguya Shinomiya's face was full of conflict.

She knew what Hayasaka meant; wasn't this just asking her to admit that she had started to care about Ren Amamiya, which was a precursor to liking him?

But her past reserve made her wonder if these feelings were coming on too quickly.

This "too fast" also seemed a bit unreserved.

It was as if she had started... caring about Ren Amamiya for some specific reason.

Looking at Kaguya's conflicted face and the words she had just let slip, Ai Hayasaka generally understood the reason for her struggle.

Reserve.

This was a problem every young lady had... ah, for Miss Suzuki, this probably didn't count as a problem.

Based on the intelligence Ai Hayasaka had gathered, that Miss Suzuki seemed to have invited Ren Amamiya on a date even before knowing his secret.

The further development of their relationship was also because Miss Mao Li had dragged Miss Suzuki along to confess to Ren Amamiya.

From this perspective, Kaguya's care for Ren Amamiya wasn't too fast at all.

It could only be said to be just right.

It was truly because Kaguya was overly reserved that she was still dragging her feet now.

Therefore, Ai Hayasaka felt it was necessary to change Kaguya's outdated thinking.

"Miss Kaguya, please recall your past life as a canary."

Kaguya Shinomiya's mind was in chaos, and she subconsciously followed Ai Hayasaka's prompt to think.

But just by thinking about it, her chaotic mind suddenly cleared.

"While you were experiencing that life, a light suddenly appeared before your eyes."

"That was a light Ren Amamiya cast unconsciously, but to you, it was the only hope in a desperate life."

Kaguya Shinomiya couldn't help but agree.

That was indeed the only hope in her desperate life.

"You relied on this hope to break the shackles that bound you."

"You used this to take control of your own destiny and trampled the Shinomiya family underfoot."

"Then you took the initiative to contact Ren Amamiya."

"He didn't have any excessive demands; he only explained to you what you would have to face by profiting from the diary: that your fate would be intertwined with his."

"From then on, you and Ren Amamiya became connected."

"You couldn't suppress your curiosity about Ren Amamiya, and you gradually began to care more about him because of that gratitude."

"This is the situation you are facing now."

Ai Hayasaka's voice was very gentle, and the logic she summarized was very coherent.

This allowed Kaguya Shinomiya to see her own changes from a third-person perspective.

Indeed, she knew that she had truly started to care more about Ren Amamiya beginning with gratitude.

"Ren Amamiya has no designs on you; he doesn't even care about your probing or your profiteering."

"It is precisely because Ren Amamiya is different from others that you care more."

"It has even reached the point where him mentioning other women makes you feel uncomfortable."

"Miss Kaguya, your situation can be completely described as being in love."

"That uncomfortable feeling of yours can be described as jealousy."

Kaguya Shinomiya was completely stunned by this summary.

For the first time, she realized that her emotional changes were jealousy, and for the first time, she realized that the emotion she felt for Ren Amamiya was called love.

"If you were just an ordinary person, you might be able to choose other methods, but since you are facing Ren Amamiya, those methods for dealing with ordinary people won't work."

"Furthermore, you are destined not to be able to monopolize Ren Amamiya alone."

"Why!?"

The words "not be able to monopolize" stung Kaguya Shinomiya's newly awakened heart.

"Because of the diary."

Kaguya Shinomiya's thoughts paused.

"Didn't Ren Amamiya say it himself? Your fates are intertwined with his."

"This intertwined fate doesn't just include you; there's also Miss Nagi and Miss Mao Li."

"Besides, there will be more people holding diaries in the future."

"Perhaps even Miss Fujiwara."

"Your desire to monopolize him is destined to never be realized."

— Author's Notes —

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