Can't We Skip Dating?

The next day, it was overcast.

Akira had checked the weather forecast the night before and knew it would rain today, so he brought an umbrella when he left. 

Along the way, he yawned several times—since most of his work and daily life happened at night, it had been a long time since he'd gotten up this early.

Seeing the morning light even felt oddly unfamiliar.

He parked his car in front of Sakura Dormitory and sent an email saying he had arrived.

Not long after, the door to Sakura Dorm opened. Nanami leaned against the frame, panting lightly. When she saw Akira, she gave a bright smile.

Akira recalled that in the original story, Nanami's first attempt to sneak out had failed. 

Mashiro had found out and called Sorata to send her back to her room. 

Only later, thanks to Mashiro's plea and everyone's help, did she finally escape the teacher's control and get out the door.

This time, she'd walked out by herself. It seemed that leaving work early yesterday, and the bowl of chicken soup sent by Kimihiro last night, had made a difference.

But clearly, her poor condition hadn't gone unnoticed. Before she could even step over the threshold, Sorata and Mashiro appeared at the entrance.

"Aoyama, what are you…"

Sorata's voice cut off the moment he saw Akira standing outside the gate.

Nanami turned back and forced a smile. "Morning, Sorata-kun, Shiina-san."

"Nanami-chan! What's wrong, Nanami-chan?!"

Misaki came rushing out at Sorata's earlier shout, with Jin following behind. 

When they saw what was happening at the door, both of them fell silent for a moment.

Facing their worried expressions, Nanami could only smile again. "Good morning, Misaki-senpai, Jin-senpai. Today… is the presentation at voice acting school."

Misaki stepped forward and gently touched Nanami's still-feverish forehead. "But Nanami-chan, your body…"

Nanami shook her head. "It's fine. I rested a lot yesterday, and I had some very nutritious chicken soup. I'm already feeling much better."

Sorata remembered the person who delivered the soup yesterday. 

He looked like a high school student from another school and had arrived quite late—probably coming from far away.

The guy hadn't shown any particular emotion about being sent to deliver chicken soup; instead, he'd asked about the patient's condition, seeming easygoing and respectful toward Akira.

Even so, that wasn't enough to put the Sakura Dorm members at ease.

After Akira left last night, they held an emergency meeting. The main topic: whether Akira was trustworthy, and what exactly he intended to do with Nanami.

Regarding the latter, both Jin and the teacher had originally felt pretty reassured. 

Although Akira had used some provocative words yesterday, the focus had clearly been on "support," and he seemed genuinely protective of Nanami. 

So the mood had been relatively positive.

Later, they also sounded out Nanami's feelings and found that she trusted Akira quite a bit. That pretty much confirmed he was trying to help her.

The problem started when Jin recognized Utaha.

Her refusal to admit her identity was already suspicious. 

A famous high school light novel author following a seemingly powerful young man? 

It invited all sorts of speculation. More importantly, after some online digging, Akasaka Ryuunosuke had delivered troubling news.

Or more accurately—there was no news.

For over a month now, there had been no promotions or interviews for the up-and-coming popular author Kasumi Utako, not even events related to her debut work. 

It was as if she had vanished overnight.

Once suspicion arises, it tends to snowball. And what confirmed their doubts was Akira casually calling out Akasaka Ryuunosuke's name.

Aside from his notoriety for skipping class, not many people actually knew he lived at Sakura Dorm. 

Even fewer were aware that he had developed that maid AI software. 

For someone to identify the creator just from interacting with the AI, no one would believe it hadn't been thoroughly investigated in advance.

Which begged the question—was Akira's meeting with Nanami really a coincidence?

And how had he earned her trust in just one day?

It was especially suspicious given he seemingly "kept" Kasumi Utako.

But then a new question arose—why would Akira do such a thing?

After all, Nanami was just a relatively pretty high school girl. Her most notable trait was her tireless effort. 

That couldn't possibly be enough for someone like Akira, who clearly held a special status, to target her so early on… right?

These questions had no answers. 

Nanami had slept deeply after that, and only got up in the middle of the night to drink the soup. She hadn't had a chance to see Akira again until this morning.

"Do you really have to go, Aoyama?" Sorata frowned worriedly as he looked at her unsteady posture.

"Yes! I have to go!"

Nanami nodded firmly and stepped forward. But her leg gave out, and she collapsed at the doorframe.

Fortunately, Misaki, standing next to her, reacted quickly and grabbed her arm before she hit the ground. But even then, she couldn't help Nanami stand back up right away.

"Nanami-chan, maybe today—"

Going from calm to collapse only takes a second.

Just a moment ago, Nanami had been smiling and speaking to everyone, taking a determined step forward. 

But the instant Misaki tried to dissuade her, she suddenly turned hysterical.

"No! Let me go! I have to go! I've been preparing for so long—how can I give up today?!"

Because her family had opposed her studying voice acting, Nanami had promised to support herself financially without relying on her parents. 

Only then had they agreed to let her enroll at a school in another city. If she asked for help now, she'd be brought back home for sure.

Under those conditions, she'd managed to become independent—maintaining her daily expenses and paying for expensive voice training through high-intensity part-time jobs. 

She'd handled everything by herself. You could say she had gotten this far purely through willpower, even staking her life on it.

If she gave up today's presentation, it would feel like denying all her past diligence, exhaustion, hard work, and despair—denying the life-or-death determination that got her this far.

How could she be willing to give that up?

How could she possibly be willing?

Step—

With a light footfall, everyone looked up to see Akira already stepping over the Sakura Dorm fence and walking inside.

Ignoring the wary gazes from the others, he crouched down in front of Nanami and spoke in a voice so serious it bordered on cold: 

"First of all, let me tell you—you're very likely to fail today. And you should fail. I've already explained why."

Triggered by that cold attitude and those harsh words, Nanami clenched her teeth, trembling like she was on the verge of tears.

But in the end, what she did was lift her head—with fierce determination—and met Akira's eyes without flinching.

Akira's expression almost softened. But he forced himself to maintain that chill and continued.

"You know it'll be a failure. And you still want to go?"

"Yes! I want to go!"

"Good. Then stand up."

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