Chapter 145: Aiwa's Counter-Kindness (and Rui's Melting Brain)

While Rina and Haruka are busy drafting treaties for the co-management of my time under the guise of punishing Kenji, Aiwa launches her own counter-offensive. Having apparently decided that direct confrontation (both verbal and lip-based) is too risky and unpredictable, she pivots back to her original strategy, but with renewed vigor and focus. Operation: Re-Woo Rui enters Phase Three: The Kindness Blitz.

She seems to have processed the events of the Expo – the sabotage, my defense of her, Rina and Haruka's reaction – and has come to a conclusion: direct warfare is messy, but quiet, persistent, undeniable kindness might just be the key to my confused, beleaguered heart (and a way to subtly assert her claim without triggering open warfare and further interventions from Miki).

Her campaign begins, as all good campaigns do, with food. The occasional homemade snack offering escalates into a full-blown culinary assault designed to bypass my willpower and go straight for my stomach (and possibly my heart). Every morning, I find a small, beautifully arranged container on my desk. Sometimes it is Korean treats like songpyeon (sweet rice cakes) or hotteok (sweet pancakes) that remind me of our shared cultural background (or hers, anyway). Sometimes it is perfectly crafted Japanese onigiri with cute faces drawn on the seaweed, or tiny, intricate fruit carvings that must have taken her hours. They are always delicious, and always accompanied by a small, shy note: 'Hope you have a good day! Fuel for the hero! - A.M.'

It is incredibly sweet. It is also incredibly effective at making me feel flustered, vaguely guilty (because I am still hiding our past), and slightly concerned about her sleep schedule. Where does she find the time?!

Then comes the academic support. Aiwa is, despite her shyness (or perhaps because of it, spending so much time studying alone), a certifiable genius. She starts "casually" offering to help me study, framing it as a way to reinforce her own understanding.

"H-Hinamata-kun," she stammers one afternoon in the library (where we are now forced to study due to the literature project, under the distant but watchful eyes of rotating Rina/Haruka shifts), noticing me struggling with a complex physics problem involving vectors and possibly black magic. "I finished that chapter already. M-maybe I could… explain it? If you want? Explaining helps me remember..."

Her explanations are brilliant. Clear, concise, and patient. She somehow manages to make quantum mechanics seem almost logical, using analogies involving 'Starlight Paladin' power levels that actually, weirdly, make sense to me. Sitting next to her, working through problems, feels surprisingly comfortable. Normal, even. Except for the fact that she keeps blushing furiously whenever our arms accidentally brush, and I keep getting distracted by the faint scent of vanilla and determination that seems to cling to her.

Her kindness extends beyond just me, demonstrating a strategic understanding of group dynamics. She feels genuinely guilty about Kenji's punishment (even though it was entirely his own fault). She starts bringing him snacks too – usually calming herbal teas and healthy rice crackers, clearly trying to counteract his usual diet of pure sugar, caffeine, and despair.

"Here, Tanaka-kun," she says softly one day, offering him a thermos during his arduous task of dusting Rina's extensive collection of prop swords. "Ginseng tea. It is good for… focus. And maybe… less spontaneous sabotage?"

Kenji accepts the offering with the reverence of a disciple receiving holy water from a celestial being. "Thank you, LUNA-sama!" he cries, bowing deeply despite the dust rag in his hand. "Your benevolence knows no bounds! I shall channel this energy into becoming the most focused and least sabotage-y assistant ever!" (He still calls her LUNA-sama in moments of high emotion, much to Aiwa's mortification and Rina's and Haruka's deep annoyance).

This relentless campaign of quiet kindness has several predictable and dangerous effects. Firstly, it drives Rina and Haruka absolutely insane. They cannot fault Aiwa for being nice. They cannot accuse her of any overt manipulation or treaty violations. But they know what she is doing. It is psychological warfare disguised as baked goods and tutoring. And it forces them to escalate their own affection campaigns, lest they be outmaneuvered on the kindness front.

My life becomes a blur of competitive kindness and escalating gestures. Rina starts leaving elaborately decorated cookies on my pillow, sometimes arranged to spell out vaguely threatening messages like "MINE." Haruka "coincidentally" has an extra ticket to that sold-out concert by my favorite obscure indie band and insists I accompany her for "cultural enrichment." Aiwa leaves a perfectly sharpened set of expensive art pencils on my desk before a big art history exam, along with a note saying, 'For capturing beauty accurately.' I am drowning in a sea of thoughtful gestures, each one layered with unspoken intentions, simmering rivalries, and probably trace amounts of glitter.

Secondly, Aiwa's kindness offensive is having a dangerous effect on me. Her shy persistence, her genuine sweetness, the flashes of LUNA-Lite brilliance, the shared secret of her identity, the nostalgic pull of our forgotten past, and now, the undeniable warmth of her constant, quiet affection… it is all starting to wear down my defenses. My brain still screams about the complications, the impossibility of it all, the sheer logistical nightmare of my existence. But my stupid, traitorous heart is definitely starting to get confused. I find myself looking forward to her hesitant smiles, her quiet acts of kindness, the nerdy notes tucked into my textbooks. I start noticing the way her eyes light up when we talk about anime, the way she gets flustered but determined when she tries to help me. I start remembering more flashes of the little girl in the park, her fierce, tearful determination mirroring the quiet strength I see in Aiwa now.

My brain is melting into a puddle of confused goo. I am caught between my sister's forbidden love, my rival's calculating interest, and my childhood friend's shy, persistent, multi-pronged affection offensive. This is not a love triangle anymore. It is a love Bermuda Triangle, and I am lost somewhere in the middle, rapidly losing my bearings and possibly developing a slight sugar addiction.