I Accidentally Sent a Love Letter to the School's Most Prestigious Young Lady Instead of My Childhood Friend, and Now She's Bowing to Me, Asking, "Please Date Me—On the Premise of Marriage!" - 7

“Shion-san, lend me some money.”

It happened a few days later on our way home from school. As we walked together toward the station, I suddenly blurted out.

“Money… you say?”

Shion-san looked at me with an expression that said it was rather abrupt.

“Yeah, money, money. I’ve been spending on this social game with beautiful girls, and I’m this close to becoming a top-ranked player. Then I can show off to the girls following me on X. Right? Pretty good, huh?”

Even I felt disgusted hearing myself say such trashy lines. I wasn’t actually spending money on social games, and there were no girls following me. Not to mention I don’t even have an account.

After failing with the homework excuse the other day, I thought “How about this!” and decided to test it out.

Alcohol, cigarettes, gambling – the three vices girls hate most. Well, since I’m just an ordinary high school student, I chose social games, which are closest to gambling among these.

So what would she do? When I glanced at Shion-san, she actually seemed to think for a moment before saying,

“I do have some money on hand, but will it be enough?”

“Come on, think of it as supporting your boyfriend’s status. You can show off too, Shion-san.”

“How much do you need?”

“100,000 yen.”

“……”

Shion-san fell silent.

While my conscience pricked at me painfully, I crushed the guilt by telling myself this would be better for Shion-san if she ended up hating me.

—And then.

“My current funds won’t be enough. In that case…”

“…In that case?”

Expecting words of disgust to follow, Shion-san instead hit me with a line I never could have imagined.

“There are matching apps, so shall we try fundraising through that?”

“…Huh? Match apps…?”

“I think I’ll try doing what’s called ‘papa katsu’.”

“BWWWAAAAAA!!”

I nearly spat out the coffee in my mouth. Well, not that I had any!

“Papa katsu…”

“I might be too young for it, but I’ve heard there’s demand for that too.”

Foaming at the mouth, I immediately denied it.

“No! Sorry! Forget it, forget what I just said!”

“Forget it… you say?”

“I don’t need money! I’m not spending on social games or anything! And papa katsu isn’t something a sheltered young lady like you should even be talking about!”

“Fufu~”

Seeing me flustered, Shion-san laughed cheerfully with a mischievous expression.

“It’s a joke. I won’t do it, so don’t worry about the papa katsu. Since Kisaragi-san seemed to be teasing me, I just decided to play along.”

“……I see… It was a joke… You surprised me.”

I let out a big sigh and patted my chest in relief.

“By the way, for future reference, may I ask what exactly papa katsu entails?”

“……..”

“My apologies, this time I’m genuinely sorry. My joking went too far.”

Shion-san apologized with a truly remorseful, apologetic expression.

……This Princess is way too formidable.

Could it be that this pure, gentle, beautiful young lady understands all my schemes and is making me dance in the palm of her hand?

As I looked at her beautiful profile illuminated by the setting sun, imagining such things sent a chill down my spine on this path through the park on our way home from school.