Chapter 171: Chapter 179: The Mysterious Fainting in Chapter Five
"Hey, Demon-san, how did we end up like this?"
In a spacious room, Yukinoshita Haruno lay spread out on the bed in her casual home clothes, staring blankly at the familiar ceiling, her face full of frustration.
She was grounded. For a whole week.
Aside from school, she wasn't allowed to go anywhere else.
School days were fine, but today was Saturday. And that sucked. Being stuck at home all day was beyond boring.
And it was all thanks to a certain drunk demon.
"This is all your mom's fault," Hayashizaki said righteously. "If she hadn't caught me drinking at the bar, we wouldn't be grounded."
Haruno let out a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, so me getting grounded has nothing to do with you drinking while looking like me, huh?"
"Well, it does," Hayashizaki admitted with a shake of his head. "If you weren't underage, this wouldn't have been a problem."
Haruno was speechless.
She had seen shameless people before, but this level of shamelessness was a first.
Not only did he get caught drinking while looking like her, making her take the blame, but now he was saying the problem was her age?
Truly, a demon. Always dodging responsibility.
"At least you can leave your clone at home and sneak out with your real body," Hayashizaki comforted her.
"Why don't you get out of my body and into the clone instead?" Haruno asked. "You should be the one staying home! You're the one who should be punished!"
The short-haired girl's body flickered, and a white shadow separated from her. Another Yukinoshita Haruno now stood by the bed.
Hayashizaki raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the idea. He decided to give it a try.
But, just as expected, it didn't work.
"The clone created by the technique can't hold my soul," he said just before his shared vision with Haruno blurred. The next second, everything turned black.
As Hayashizaki tried to transfer his consciousness into the clone, Haruno suddenly felt a sharp headache. Her mind became foggy, and the clone flickered twice before vanishing back into her body.
A moment later, her eyes shut, and she passed out on her bed.
"Did she just faint?"
In the soul domain, the black-haired young man looked stunned. He quickly checked her condition, only to find that her energy had been completely drained in an instant.
"What's going on?" He frowned, trying to figure out what had happened, but he had no answers.
All he could do was wait for Yukinoshita Haruno to wake up on her own.
And she slept from morning until night.
During that time, a maid knocked on her door once, but there was no response.
"Haruno? It's time for dinner."
As dinnertime arrived, there was another knock on the door, followed by the voice of Yukinoshita's mother from outside.
But there was no response from inside the room. Yukinoshita Haruno was still fast asleep.
The sound of the door unlocking echoed through the room. Even at home, the mature woman who entered was dressed in a yukata, her hair neatly tied up.
Seeing her eldest daughter lying on the bed, Yukinoshita's mother instinctively frowned.
Haruno was sprawled across the bed, completely knocked out. Her light yellow blouse had ridden up slightly, exposing her smooth, fair stomach, while her long, slender legs were casually stretched out over the messy sheets. She looked just like a lazy shut-in.
"Are you trying to sleep your way through boredom? There are plenty of ways to pass the time, so why not do something meaningful? Sleeping like this will only mess up your schedule… You didn't even come down for lunch."
Yukinoshita's mother let out a small sigh. She had always considered Haruno an outstanding daughter, someone she was proud of. She never expected to see such a sloppy side of her.
A truly excellent person should take care of even the smallest details in their daily life.
And to top it off, she had secretly gone drinking at yesterday's banquet. Was this what parents meant when they talked about the rebellious phase?
"Haruno, get up. It's time to eat."
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Yukinoshita's mother reached out and gently shook her daughter. But there was no response. If not for her steady breathing, she might have thought something was seriously wrong.
"Haruno?"
She raised her voice and shook her a little harder. Still, Haruno didn't react at all, sleeping like a log. At this point, even an earthquake probably wouldn't wake her.
"That's strange… Does Haruno usually sleep this deeply?"
She frowned in confusion, but seeing that Haruno looked perfectly fine, she figured she must just be an unusually heavy sleeper.
Since she couldn't wake her up, Yukinoshita's mother had no choice but to leave. She told the staff to put aside a portion of dinner in the fridge so Haruno could reheat it later when she woke up.
She could have asked the chef to prepare a fresh meal when Haruno woke up, but missing dinner was her own fault, so she had to deal with the consequences herself.
It wasn't until after 8 PM that Haruno finally woke up.
"Ugh… Did I fall asleep without meaning to?"
She groggily sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her hair was messy, strands sticking out in different directions, making her already cute face look even more adorable.
Grabbing her phone, she glanced at the time.
"Whoa! It's already past eight? I slept that long?!"
"No, it's because all the cursed energy in your body drained at once, which caused you to pass out," Hayashizaki explained.
"What did you do this time?" Haruno frowned.
She didn't even need to think about it—this had to be his fault.
"I just did what you told me. I tried projecting my consciousness onto your clone."
Hayashizaki sighed.
"To be honest, I have no idea what went wrong."
"So you're saying you're innocent?" Haruno shot back.
"No, I think it was the act of projecting my consciousness that caused your blackout. I just don't know why."
This time, Hayashizaki didn't try to argue—he admitted it directly.
"Haah…"
*Gurgle~*
Having missed both lunch and dinner, Haruno's stomach let out a loud protest.
She clutched her stomach.
"Whatever, what's done is done. I should eat first."
"Oh, by the way, while you were asleep, both your maid and your mom came to check on you. But neither of them could wake you up," Hayashizaki reminded her.
Haruno had just slipped on her slippers and was about to open the door when she froze.
She could already picture her mother sitting at the cleaned-up dinner table, waiting for her.
Suddenly, she didn't feel that hungry anymore.
But there was no escaping this. She couldn't just stay in her room forever. And knowing her mother, even if she waited until midnight to sneak into the kitchen, she'd probably still find her sitting in the dark, waiting.
Taking a deep breath, the short-haired girl gripped the door handle and gritted her teeth.
"Hayashizaki, you've really caused a lot of trouble!"
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