147 Life is Like a River, If You Can't Resist, Then Just...?
"You, you stay away from me..."
Miharutaki Sakura said in a panic.
Instinctively, she crossed her arms over her chest and shrank back slightly, as if trying to block Yomozuki Runa's invasive gaze in a childish way.
"Don't be like that, Runa."
She subconsciously tried to pick up the dignity of her position as Beautification Committee Chair, but someone who lost a gamble had no dignity to speak of.
Seeing her like this, Yomozuki Runa dropped her previous cute, loli-like demeanor; her face twisted into something fierce and terrifying, emanating a chilling aura.
This was the pressure from the head of the Management Committee.
Anyone who had become livestock could not resist such terrifying pressure.
Even Miharutaki Sakura, who had been the Beautification Chair just moments before, was no exception.
At this moment, Miharutaki looked at her former colleague before her, bitterness filling her heart.
Fear turned into a boundless darkness that enveloped her.
"Could it be that Sakura-chan, you want to break the bet in front of me?"
"You should know, right? That's absolutely impossible. No one at Hyakkaou Academy can break the iron rule of 'a bet must be honored'."
After speaking, Yomozuki's expression shifted again, her eyes blinking with a pitiful, aggrieved look:
"Besides, Sakura-chan, the one you should fear is Hikigaya Hachiman, not me, because—"
"You're his personal livestock now, heehee~"
While saying that, Yomozuki swayed her slim legs wrapped in straight socks, and looked at Hikigaya Hachiman:
"Hey hey, Hachiman-kun, Sakura-chan is already your personal livestock, you know~ Whatever you want to do, hurry up and do it."
"Do you still remember what I said at the beginning, Miharutaki-senpai?"
The victorious Hikigaya Hachiman didn't become arrogant. Instead, he stood up, walked to the place where the Management Committee stored the stray cat tags, and took out a brand-new stray cat tag.
The silver stray cat tag gleamed coldly under the sunlight.
The clinking of the chain fell into Miharutaki Sakura's ears like the devil's summons from hell.
Her terrified eyes stared at the cat tag engraved with the words "stray cat" — only when hell arrives does a person truly feel fear.
"My plan has three steps, but for now, we'll just start with a simple photo."
"N-no... please no."
Trembling, Miharutaki Sakura stood up, backing away until her back was against the wall, nowhere left to retreat.
"You just need to cooperate with me for a simple photo, that's all."
"I'll blur it heavily, or you can operate it yourself if you want."
"I don't like forcing people, so... I hope you will cooperate, Senpai."
Hachiman's gaze was sincere, and his voice gentle, like magic calming her inner turmoil. Miharutaki Sakura's fear slowly eased a little.
She stared into Hachiman's calm eyes:
"Really... you won't do anything excessive to me?"
"I won't. I'm not interested in you."
"But all this hinges on you cooperating, and according to the terms of our bet, before the unsealing period, you absolutely must not reveal even a word to Mibuomi Aoi. Otherwise..."
The threat in Hachiman's words was obvious.
At the side, Yomozuki Runa nodded and agreed:
"That's right, desu~ If I find out Sakura-chan leaks information before the unsealing, I'll be in a tough spot."
"And then I'd have to ask Ikishima-chan to do something very unfriendly to you~"
"As her superior, you should know what that girl might do to those who break a bet if she loses control, right, Sakura-chan?"
"You guys..."
Surrounded left and right by the pair, Miharutaki Sakura painfully shut her eyes, tears streaming from the corners.
Finally, she gritted her teeth tightly and wiped away her tears.
There's a saying: Life is like being river; if you can't resist, then you have to try to accept it.
And right now, Miharutaki Sakura was trying to reconcile with herself.
When she reopened her eyes, she seemed to regain the spirit of the Beautification Chair — proud, unyielding, pure... radiating an aura that made people want to corrupt her.
"Just a photo, right? Hurry up and get it over with."
Miharutaki Sakura gritted her teeth tightly, proudly lifting her pale, slender neck — a territory no one had ever set foot in, now laid bare before Hikigaya Hachiman.
"Mm... alright."
Hikigaya Hachiman was a little surprised, but only that.
Without any pity, he walked forward and without hesitation hung the symbol of humiliation — the cat tag — around Miharutaki Sakura's neck.
As he moved, Miharutaki bit her lip, a numbing shame flushing through her, a drunken blush coloring her cheeks.
"Heehee, Sakura-chan looks so cute with the cat tag~"
Yomozuki Runa, lying on the desk with her skinny body, rested her chin in her hands and swung her small legs in striped black-and-white socks.
She licked her lollipop and said regretfully:
"Too bad I don't have a collar. According to regulations, cat tags are for the Student Council's stray cats. For private livestock, you should use a collar. But if Hachiman-kun doesn't mind, I guess it's fine."
With everything ready, Yomozuki Runa pulled out the latest iPhone from her pocket, opened the rear camera, and aimed it at the two.
"Since it needs heavy mosaic, why don't I, the Management Committee Chair, handle it?"
"I'm very good at censoring, you know~"
Runa chuckled as she spoke.
Since it was just taking a picture, it didn't matter who did it.
Hachiman nodded naturally:
"I'll leave it to you, Yomozuki Runa."
After that, Hachiman moved behind Miharutaki Sakura.
Lowering his head, he looked at her high ponytail — it resembled the reins of a holy knight's horse...
A strange emotion filled Hachiman's heart.
He softly said:
"Excuse me, Miharutaki-senpai."
Then he reached out and gently grabbed her high ponytail.
He could clearly feel the owner of the ponytail shudder violently.
"Mm..."
Yomozuki Runa sucked on her lollipop and said dissatisfied:
"No good, no good at all. This composition looks so ugly."
"Sakura-chan~ cooperate a little, come, come, lay down on this table."
Yomozuki Runa shifted her position, guiding Miharutaki Sakura, who had her ponytail captured, step by step to lie down on the table.
Strangely, Miharutaki was abnormally obedient the entire time — no resistance at all.
From the moment her ponytail was seized, it was as if her soul had been trapped in Hachiman's small palm.
And so, her body half-lay across the luxurious desk.
Her eyes rolled up unconsciously.