After deciding to give up, I became popular

His closest buddies had all said so… what else could he do?

After standing there for a while, he finally couldn't hold back his frustration. He grabbed a bath towel and stormed out of the room.

Hachiman Hikigaya, behind him, immediately panicked and shouted, "Where are you going? Don't do anything stupid!"

He really felt sorry for him. It was supposed to be a time to comfort him. But just as he was about to get up and check on him, the door opened again, and Kanade Natsukawa stood expressionlessly in the doorway:

"Bath,"

After saying the word slowly, he walked back into the room, grabbed his pajamas, and left again without a word.

Leaving the three people in the room looking at each other.

187. The Boys' Night Talk

By the time Kanade Natsukawa returned to the dormitory, his anger had completely dissipated… although he wasn't really angry to begin with. He was just annoyed that all his efforts had been in vain, so he wanted to dispel the frustration in his heart by taking a bath.

Of course, he still had to get the gossip, or he would have lost a billion!

"Hurry up, it's your turn! If you don't say something today, I won't let you sleep!"

"You're being too demanding…" Hachiman Hikigaya complained, but was immediately glared at by Kanade Natsukawa, who was already lying on his bed.

"Let's start with you, Hachiman!"

"Huh? What's there to say about me…" Hachiman Hikigaya shrank his head, looking cautious.

"About you and Yui Yuigahama," Kanade Natsukawa naturally didn't give him any face, and even revealed her name. "Don't forget, I'm the student council president! I've handled all kinds of partner request lists!"

"…" Hachiman Hikigaya couldn't hide it this time, and the other two also turned their heads to him, their eyes shining as if to say, "Quick, talk about you."

"I, it's not what you think…" He still wanted to quibble, but the others were already sitting upright. Kanade Natsukawa quietly moved closer to him and patted him on the shoulder meaningfully.

"If you don't want to be mistaken for a guy who's only interested in boys or a silent pervert… you understand, right?"

"…" Hachiman's eyes widened suddenly, and he struggled, but then he realized that what he said seemed to be true? After all, he had thought about Saika… No! How did he know about this? Was he that obvious???

In the end, he succumbed because he couldn't resist.

"W-well, there's nothing special, it's just… she wanted to participate in the test of courage, but didn't want to go with someone she didn't know, so she asked me to help…" Hachiman said sullenly, but the next second he saw the others give him a knowing look.

"Really! That's all! There were no other factors at all!"

"Really? Even in this atmosphere… even when you were at the venue, nothing happened?" The question came from Tsubasa Tanuma. Among the four, he was always the one who cared most about this kind of thing. He was also the first to bring up the "love topic".

"H-how could anything happen? Reality isn't a light novel…" Hachiman subconsciously retorted, but then seemed to realize something and immediately stopped talking.

Seeing his strange appearance, Kanade Natsukawa understood—this guy was definitely hiding something.

But he wasn't a particularly cruel person. Knowing that he was shy, he naturally wouldn't pursue it any further, but said in a helpless tone, "Well, at your pace… maybe I should remind Yuigahama to be a little braver?"

"Huh?" Hachiman Hikigaya immediately turned his head and looked at him in disbelief. "Could it be you? … No! What are you talking about? What do you mean by remind? Don't talk nonsense!"

Seeing his flustered appearance, Kanade Natsukawa felt satisfied and simply ignored him.

"Hey, you, make yourself clear. What did you instigate her to do?" Hachiman couldn't rest assured.

"Don't talk nonsense! I didn't interfere with other people's love preferences. It was clearly Yuigahama who came to me. She wanted to ask about you, so I 'kindly' told her some information. Don't blame me for everything," Kanade Natsukawa naturally refused. He wasn't the kind of person who liked to matchmake couples. He just accidentally discovered in his daily life that these two guys really had eyes for each other, so he provided some help at the right time.

"Huh? But… e-even so, you can't just tell her about me, right? A-after all, it's my privacy…" Hachiman's movements suddenly became weak again, but he still persisted.

"Am I that kind of person?" Kanade Natsukawa rolled his eyes at him, and then explained again, "I just said a little about your hobbies, what kind of light novels you like to read, things that you can find out if you just observe a little carefully."

"…, B-but…"

"Alright, alright, Hachiman, be quiet. Don't make so much noise, or the dorm manager will come and we won't be able to chat." Seeing that he had basically resigned himself to his fate, Kanade Natsukawa stopped paying attention to him, just said a light sentence, and looked at the next person.

So Hachiman Hikigaya didn't yell anymore, thinking that since he had been exposed, he had to get enough gossip from the others to make it worth it! So he also turned his gaze to the next person—Miyuki Shirogane.

This guy's love life is simple enough, so let's just treat it as an appetizer. The remaining heavyweight is the gossip he wants to seriously understand.

On this point, Kanade Natsukawa thought exactly the same as him, and immediately said, "Next is Shirogane, I believe you must have prepared a story, right?"

"Huh? Story? No, not really…" Miyuki Shirogane quickly waved his hand, but after receiving the instruction, he began to think seriously.

"As for me… everything went pretty smoothly?"

"Oh? Tell me the details!" The others also gathered around.

"Well… she accepted the invitation, and the date went pretty smoothly…" Miyuki Shirogane tried to recall the details of what happened before. "Although we encountered a lot of difficulties, we finally solved all the games' riddles, and finally got the Medal of Courage and various small accessories…"

"…That's it?"

"That's it," Miyuki Shirogane nodded.

Everyone: "…"

"That doesn't sound like it went smoothly at all, does it?" Hachiman Hikigaya subconsciously retorted, and the other two nodded.

"That's right, Shirogane, even I don't think this can be called a 'smooth' date." The person who replied was Tsubasa Tanuma, the guy who was completely clueless about romance before the training camp started.

"At this time, shouldn't something unusual happen? If it's just 'solving puzzles', 'passing levels', and 'clearing the game', then what's the point of the test of courage?"

"Huh? Is… is that so?" Miyuki Shirogane suddenly began to doubt himself, and then he looked at Kanade Natsukawa, who nodded with a complicated expression.

"In a sense, that's true."

"…"

188. You're the Main Character!

Everyone present, without exception, wasn't an experienced player in the field of love, but rather a novice with possibly not-so-rich theoretical knowledge.

However, when giving advice to their friends, they transformed into love masters.

"At this time, there should be some special plots, right? For example—a girl who is usually dignified and generous, but runs into your arms for comfort because she is frightened; or because she is afraid of ghosts, she keeps her eyes closed and doesn't dare to look around, but can only pull on your clothes or grab your arm, and then lean on you the whole time…" The one who gave the opinion was still Tsubasa Tanuma, this man who was unusually active on love topics.

"In short, no matter what the reason, there should be an 'affectionate' atmosphere, right? Otherwise, it wouldn't be any different from a normal date, would it?" His understanding wasn't unreasonable, although the details were a bit exaggerated. However, the definition of "making progress" should be like this.

"Of course, it's not to say that it must be like these. Other things that can enhance the relationship between each other are also possible, like…" Hachiman Hikigaya actually started to help out. After all, this guy had read a lot of light novels, but he suddenly stopped talking halfway, and didn't say another word for a long time.

Seeing that the others had all looked at him and were patiently waiting for the rest of the sentence, he had to bite the bullet and say, "Like… caused by various unexpected events, and then finding that they have been holding hands all the time, and it's too late to let go when they realize this… In short, as long as it creates an enchanting atmosphere, that's enough!"

"Hmm?" Kanade Natsukawa was shocked. He was happily eating the gossip, but suddenly captured a strange piece of information from Hachiman Hikigaya's words.

So he couldn't help but raise his hand and say, "Let me interrupt! You just said… holding hands because of an accident? Don't tell me you guys weren't holding hands the whole time when you were at the venue?"

"Huh? How is that possible! We're not elementary school students, how could we hold hands because we're afraid!" Hachiman Hikigaya shouted like a puppy that had suddenly been stepped on its tail. "Don't lump us in with you!"

"…" Kanade Natsukawa, who had suddenly been attacked, felt a burst of pain, but he was obviously more concerned about another thing—

If it wasn't necessary to keep holding hands the whole time when entering the venue, then why did Kaguya remind him to do so? … What exactly is going on?

Seeing Kanade Natsukawa's shocked expression, Hachiman Hikigaya didn't pay attention to him anymore. Of course, he didn't continue to speak either, since he had already said what he wanted to say.

"I see…" Although everyone's speeches weren't particularly long, Miyuki Shirogane felt that he had benefited a lot. "In other words—as long as you create some accidents and make things less ordinary, you can make the date go more 'smoothly'?"

"Huh? But… this way of saying it?…" Hachiman Hikigaya's eyes widened, wondering who exactly had a problem. But after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that this way of saying it couldn't be completely wrong in a sense?

"Sorry, maybe I didn't express myself well…" Miyuki Shirogane added again, "In short, that's about what I mean. I already understand the true meaning of it—thank you very much for your help! My problem has been solved."

To express his gratitude, he even stood up and bowed to the others.

"No, it's nothing…" Hachiman scratched his head embarrassedly.

"You're welcome, Shirogane. We're friends," Tsubasa Tanuma also spoke to comfort him.

"…"

Only Kanade Natsukawa, after a long time, came back to his senses and responded in a daze, "Oh, it's good that it's solved… Well, let's go to the next one…"

It wasn't that he didn't want to eat the gossip at all, but the information he had just received was too shocking, so he subconsciously delved into it. But under the gaze of the others, he gradually recovered.

Then he took a deep breath and said slowly, "Sorry, I was thinking about something just now and got lost in thought. I'm fine now, let's continue…"

The atmosphere was strong now, and everyone was involved, so he naturally couldn't be an atmosphere destroyer. He forcibly suppressed his thoughts, preparing to find the person involved later to investigate.

"As for me… there is actually a little progress? But I don't know if it counts…" The one who spoke this time was naturally Tsubasa Tanuma. This guy didn't have the slightest hesitation or embarrassment, and even felt like he had been looking forward to it for a long time.

"It doesn't matter, just pick the places where you think there is progress and talk about them. It would be even better if you could add some details!" The others encouraged him.

According to the conclusions drawn from the last night talk, it seemed that this guy's emotional situation was the most turbulent, except for Kanade Natsukawa, of course, and it was also the most worthy of gossip, so everyone had the same thoughts—they didn't want to miss it at all.

"Well… let's start with before choosing a partner?" Tsubasa Tanuma paused, and then continued, "This matter is a long story… In short, with your help, I also began to suspect that there might be someone among that group of girls who really likes me."

"So I started to take action. A few days before the test of courage, I deliberately wandered in front of their small group, and then occasionally revealed a piece of information—I don't want to be randomly partnered according to the student number. I really want to participate in the test of courage with a cute girl~ like that, and wait to see if anyone will invite me, because they are basically all people who study very well…"

"And then someone invited you?" Hachiman asked curiously, thinking that this guy was indeed a popular person, and it was so easy for a girl to come…

"No, actually no one paid attention to me at all," Tsubasa Tanuma shook his head.

Okay, I misunderstood you, I'm very sorry! Hachiman's heart was filled with apology.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Hachiman suddenly lower his head with a strange look, Tanezaki Tsubasa asked in confusion.

Natsukawa Kanade just glanced at him casually and understood what he was thinking, so she immediately said, "It's nothing, you can continue, don't mind him."

"Okay..." Tanezaki Tsubasa nodded, and then continued, "Although no girls paid attention to me at the time, a male classmate came to me later—he couldn't continue to participate because he was going to volunteer with his girlfriend, and he was originally my friend, and according to the student number, he happened to be my partner for this test of courage."

"..."

"Then I was left out, but I didn't really care at the time, after all, the student council would help arrange me later, but this matter seemed to be known by those girls, and then one of the girls found me and said, 'Anyway, you don't have a partner and you're going to be left out, why don't you come and join us—be responsible for clearing the way and doing the hard work for us! After all, it's more convenient to have a guy to pass the checkpoints.' Isn't this what I wanted at the beginning? So I immediately agreed."

Everyone: "..."

Is that even allowed?

189. Betting on my reputation, I will never lose this time!

Tanezaki Tsubasa's experience is too rare, and things are so coincidental that it's like they were arranged.

But whether it's a real coincidence or some other reason, exploring those girls' views on Tanezaki Tsubasa is their key mission.

"Then who invited you this time? Is it the same one who asked if you had a girlfriend before?" Natsukawa Kanade also asked appropriately.

His road to love can't be called bumpy, but in a sense, it's like a detective novel. The process of finding out whether there is a 'culprit' and how many people committed the crime is very interesting, so the strategists are also racking their brains.

"It's another one." Tanezaki Tsubasa shook his head, but then immediately added, "But the girl from before was also there, standing next to her."

"This..." So everyone looked at each other, feeling a headache.

Leaving aside Shirogane Miyuki, he was originally participating as a "student", and it was mainly Hachiman and Natsukawa Kanade who provided advice, but even they, with their rich theories, felt that this matter was very tricky—A asked Tanezaki Tsubasa if he had a girlfriend before, but then B invited him to participate in the test of courage? Doesn't that mean they're both using each other as shields? ...But it's unlikely that both girls like Tanezaki Tsubasa, right?

It's not that this guy isn't worthy, but they subconsciously feel that in a small group of only girls, if one person takes the lead in expressing their love for a certain guy, then the other girls, no matter what, absolutely cannot make a move on that guy, because this is a tacit rule!

And if you break the rules, you will be expelled from the team! In severe cases, it may even develop into school bullying!

Therefore, the possibility that both people like Tanezaki Tsubasa is ruled out—they are not covering for each other.

But just confirming this is not enough, they need more details, so Natsukawa Kanade decisively asked, "What happened after that? Did you participate in the test of courage with one of them? Or have you participated with both of them separately?"

After all, he himself was going to do this at the beginning, but for various reasons, only his team with Kaguya completed the final clearance.

"That's not it..." Tanezaki Tsubasa immediately shook his head. He clearly wanted to say something, but suddenly put on a hesitant expression.

"Actually... I kind of 'snuck' in."

"Snuck in?"

"Yeah." Tanezaki Tsubasa nodded slightly, affirming, "Of course, it's not accurate to say I snuck in, I should say I participated in it openly..."

"Of course, this wasn't my suggestion! It was one of the girls who said it—because the notice issued by the president didn't say that multiple people weren't allowed to team up, so I just joined them both to act together. By having one person invite me and the other invite her, we can achieve a 3-person group."

Everyone: "..."

Hachiman even turned his head and looked at Natsukawa Kanade, the student council president, with a puzzled look, as if asking with his eyes, "Is that even allowed?"

Then Natsukawa Kanade had to return a look that said, "Don't ask me, how could I have guessed that there would be such an operation?"