Even an idiot would be able to tell that she was just acting spoiled instead of being serious if they saw her expression.

However, the boy on the other end of the phone couldn't see her expression. He seemed to be quite worried and kept trying to console her, asking her where she was.

"Hmph… you only know how to say such nice things."

"I want you to stop treating other girls so kindly, to stop meeting other girls by yourself, to stop touching other girls, and to stop talking to any other girls for longer than five minutes… Can you do that?"

"No talking back, just tell me if you can do it or not."

"You sound so reluctant… Honestly…"

After she acted spoiled for a while, she finally "unwillingly" told the boy that she was in the library, and then hung up the phone.

Miyabi was now sitting in front of her.

"Who are you?" The student librarian wanted to ask in a severe tone, but instead spoke in a complex one as she looked at this girl who looked identical to her.

The girl didn't respond immediately. Instead, she smiled ambiguously at Miyabi while sipping on some tea.

"You know who I am."

"No… you can't be me…"

"Why not?"

"Because… I definitely wouldn't…"

"Are you sure that you 'definitely' wouldn't?"

"…"

Miyabi was temporarily speechless.

The girl smiled at her.

"Actually, it's not that you 'definitely' wouldn't, it's that you think that you 'definitely couldn't do it.' If you could do such a thing, you'll become me. Falling in love with your handsome junior, tempting him, conquering him, taking him for yourself, enjoying the pleasure as much as you want, experiencing the stimulation of a taboo romance…"

"No!!" Miyabi shouted. "I wouldn't… like that…"

"Wouldn't be so shameless?" The girl chuckled. "Wake up! Who do you think you are! You're not special at all. You're no fairy tale princess. You're just an ordinary person in the real world. You have ugly desires, just like everyone else! You only restrained your desires for a simple reason: because you felt like you couldn't realize them. And I, am the you who realized her desires."

Miyabi received a tremendous impact from hearing this!

"Lies… Impossible… That won't… Absolutely…" Miyabi began trembling. "How could I… how could…"

"Heeheehee~" The girl across from her chuckled.

"Wahh…" Miyabi was incredibly pained as she closed her eyes and covered her ears.

She felt her entire body becoming colder as if she was sinking into the darkness…

"…Senpai… Ishihara-senpai…" a seemingly distant male voice called out to her with a gentle and caring tone.

Miyabi reflexively responded to the voice, and floated upwards again. She gradually felt the light before she slowly opened her eyes.

She saw Seigo Harano sitting right across from her. He was resting his face on his hands, and smiling while looking at her.

He was so handsome that even such an ordinary pose would make any girl's heart skip a beat.

"Harano-san… Why are you here?"

"Didn't we agree to meet here, Senpai?" Seiji chuckled. "Are you confused because you just woke up?"

Miyabi thought about it, and finally recalled that she had just received a phone call from him asking to meet up for a face to face discussion. She had indeed told him that she was currently at the school library.

While she was waiting for him, she started reading a book, and then fell asleep without realizing it… and then had such a terrible dream!

As she recalled the dream she just had, Miyabi felt her face becoming hot and flushed.

Embarrassment, disgust, anger, awkwardness… Her emotions were incredibly complex. She was unable to face her junior directly.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" She averted her gaze and forced herself to speak rather stiffly.

"I wanted to talk about the mysterious story draft that you previously told me you received." Seiji stopped smiling, and became serious. "I learned some things…"

Seiji summarized Yukari's experiences and what the purple-haired girl had learned.

"…That's how it is. Although your circumstances might be different from that person's, I think that it's still a good reference."

Miyabi fell silent.

"In the future, please pay close attention to your own condition. If you see any strange illusions or something else that seems strange, let me know right away," Seiji told her.

'I've already seen it!' Miyabi shouted in her mind.

She was now certain that the terrible dream she'd just had was another type of "trial".

But to tell him the contents of that dream… She absolutely couldn't do it!

She would prefer to die rather than tell him about such a dream.

Seiji looked over Miyabi, and felt that his senpai seemed a little strange. Her face was really red, and she kept looking elsewhere.

"Ishihara-senpai, your complexion doesn't look so well. Is something the matter?" Seiji tried asking.

"It's nothing…"

Miyabi became frustrated as the dream she'd just had kept uncontrollably popping up in her mind.

"Is that everything you had to tell me?" she stated in an even stiffer tone than earlier.

Seiji could tell that she obviously didn't want to talk to him right now.

He immediately sensed that something was wrong.

Something seemed off about Miyabi Ishihara right now. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have minded it if something was a little off, but he had just finished telling her about the trial…

"Senpai, I feel that something's strange about you right now. Did something happen already?"

"Nothing at all." Miyabi turned her head away.

Seeing her like this, Seiji felt even more certain that "something" had happened!

"Senpai, as I just said, please tell me immediately if there's anything that seems off," he spoke in a stern tone. "I can only help you if I know what's going on."

"I said it's nothing… there's nothing at all." Miyabi continued denying it.

"Really?" Seiji heavily emphasized this word.

"Of course, really…"

"Then why can't you look me in the eyes when you say that?"

Miyabi: "…"

"I hope that Senpai can properly tell me about things rather than bearing everything by yourself." Seiji changed to a gentle tone. "I don't want to see anything happening to Senpai… I'll really regret it if something happens because I didn't know what was going on."

Miyabi felt her heart skip a beat when she heard his sincere worry for her.

Yet, that dream… It was so difficult for her to talk about it!

"You mentioned a trial, which I have to face by myself, right?" She tried to speak as calmly as possible.

"…Indeed, in the end, Senpai will have to face it by herself." Seiji nodded. "However, facing it by yourself doesn't mean that you have to do it all alone. Perhaps I might not even be of any assistance at all. But, as long as I know what's going on, it might be possible for me to help in some way. Previously, I told you that you're a beautiful and strong girl. I believe that Senpai has more than enough willpower to face your trial by yourself. But, even so, I still want to be of assistance to Senpai. So, this actually isn't for Senpai, it's for myself." Seiji smiled again. "As your junior, I'm being shameless in requesting my senpai to tell me her secrets. But, I'd still rather be shameless so that I might be of help rather than having regrets because I didn't know anything.

"So, please satisfy your junior's shameless desire, Ishihara-senpai!"

Seiji flashed a bright smile as he spoke such a cheesy sentence.

Miyabi received a huge impact from seeing his smile. Her heart was filled with indescribable emotions.

chapter-731
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