Chapter 385: Good

On this particular day, the members of the **Service Club** gathered early, but the club president, **Yukinoshita Yukino**, had yet to arrive. As a result, Li Mo was reluctantly tasked with preparing the tea.

"I didn't expect Xiao Mo to be as good at making tea as Yukino-chan," **Yuigahama Yui** remarked.

"I'm just somewhat proficient at muscle control," Li Mo replied, sitting down.

Earlier, he had performed a flashy tea-making routine, moving with casual ease and no regard for elegance, making it look more like a circus act than a refined skill.

Yukinoshita Yukino entered the clubroom while the two were talking, carrying something in her hand.

"Yukino-chan looks really happy today," Yuigahama observed.

Li Mo said, "When something that's been troubling you gets resolved, when your family relationships improve, and when some of your past worries are finally put to rest, isn't that something worth being happy about?"

"Xiao Mo, I don't really get it," Yuigahama said, looking confused.

**Hachiman** muttered under his breath, "At a time like this, you should be complaining and asking why Li Mo is answering for Yukino instead of her!"

"Hachiman is right. Li-kun, you have no right to speak for me," Yukino said.

As Li Mo poured tea for Yukino, he added, "Did I fabricate anything?"

Yukino placed the item she was carrying on the long table and sat down gracefully. "Yes, your statement was a classic example of nonsense, revealing absolutely no useful information. It didn't even come close to constituting a criminal offense."

"But… you wasted our time."

After delivering her retort, Yukino continued, "These are sweets my sister sent over. She specifically asked us to try them. Apparently, they were made by a private pastry chef."

"A private pastry chef? My mouth is watering just thinking about it," Yuigahama said, her eyes sparkling.

Sweets were irresistible to everyone. For humans, "sweetness" had always been a luxury. In the past, desserts were symbols of opulence, and ordinary people rarely got to taste anything sweet except for the occasional wild honey.

In modern times, thanks to the industrial revolution and increased productivity, sweets were no longer a luxury. People could easily satisfy their cravings for sweetness. But even among desserts, there were still "luxurious sweets."

"This is delicious!" Yuigahama exclaimed after taking a bite, her face glowing with happiness.

Hachiman nodded. "Yeah, it's really good. Almost as good as Komachi's cakes."

"Hachiman, you sis-con, stop exposing your biases," Li Mo teased.

"I'm just giving an honest review of the taste," Hachiman said with a straight face.

Li Mo shot back, "That's just your sister complex talking! Even if Komachi served you a plate of charcoal, you'd eat it with tears in your eyes and say it was delicious!"

"Komachi would never do that to me. And why are you calling her so familiarly?"

"Hachiman, as your bro, your sister is my sister too. Isn't it natural for an older brother to call her that?"

"You're not my bro."

Hachiman only became this defensive when his sister was mentioned.

*I wonder if big sisters are like that too?*

*No way…*

Yukino dismissed the thought and took a bite of the dessert, a faint smile appearing on her face. These pastries were indeed much better than store-bought ones.

After a round of verbal sparring, Li Mo and Hachiman finally called a truce, thanks to the desserts.

As he ate, Li Mo suddenly realized something. "Yukino-chan, why did Haruno-san suddenly send us these sweets? If she's doting on you, wouldn't it make more sense to send them just to you?"

"You've been acting strange today," Yukino said.

"Alright, I'll just ask directly. Did Haruno-san send these as a reward for me helping improve your sisterly relationship?" Li Mo said bluntly.

Yukino raised an eyebrow. "Were you eavesdropping yesterday?"

"Eavesdropping? Yukino-chan, you know how good the soundproofing is in high-end apartments. Anyone could tell just by looking that your relationship with your sister has improved. Did you just go for it?"

Li Mo was a master at lying through his teeth.

This kind of "white lie" came naturally to him, and it didn't harm anyone.

By answering and asking a question at the same time, he avoided further probing from Yukino. Sure enough, Yukino didn't press the issue and instead said, "My sister is just concerned about my social environment."

"I see. Haruno-san is worried that your personality might offend us, right? After all, you're the always-right Yukinoshita!"

Li Mo squinted, his tone teasing.

While the two of them bickered, Yuigahama and Hachiman were having their own quiet conversation.

"Hikki, Xiao Mo's at it again. Why does he always like to pick on Yukino-chan with his words?"

"It's probably like those kids who used to play pranks on the class president when she was younger. Except Li-kun is… more unrestrained."

Hachiman spoke with a hint of gravity.

As everyone grew closer, Li Mo's words became increasingly bold. Yet, somehow, he never crossed the line into being unlikeable. Especially these past few days… for some reason, he'd been smiling a lot.

And that smile was contagious.

*Ugh, even an observer like me is being affected?*

Hachiman understood deeply how emotions could influence people.

As the verbal sparring continued, the Service Club's activities for the day came to an end.

"Another day with no requests. President, why don't we just rename the Service Club to the Light Music Club? We're basically just eating and drinking every day without doing any real work," Li Mo suggested. "Or how about the Brainwave Club?"

"The Brainwave Club? Is Li-kun trying to mask his laziness with an interest in the supernatural, or is he testing our interest in such topics?"

"You know me so well, President," Li Mo said.

After a pause, Yukino, now on her bicycle, said, "I thought about your suggestion from yesterday. It's not entirely out of the question."

"Huh? What suggestion?" Li Mo asked, sitting on his beloved sky-blue bicycle, a symbol of his pure, childlike innocence.

In his past life, having grown up in a mountainous city, bicycles were something he'd never even considered—one wrong move and it could turn into a death charge. It definitely wasn't because he had terrible balance and couldn't ride one.

"Forming a band."

"What?" Li Mo blinked. "Are we really turning into the Light Music Club?"

"A light music club like the one at **Sakuragaoka Girls' High School** would be nice."

"Wait, that actually exists?"

In this mishmash of a world, Li Mo wouldn't be surprised by the inclusion of any comedy or slice-of-life series. But how did Yukino know about it? Had the fourth wall been broken?

Was Yukinoshita Yukino about to become Yukinoshita Deadpool?

"I heard about it from **Hiratsuka-sensei**. She has a junior who teaches music at Sakuragaoka Girls' High School. She told me our club is similar to the light music club her junior oversees."

Yukino paused, then added, "These sweets might have something to do with the members of that light music club."

"Oh." The Yukinoshita family's influence in Chiba wasn't insignificant, so it wasn't impossible for them to have connections there.

Li Mo didn't dwell on it and instead addressed the original topic. "I was just joking about the band thing, Yukino-chan. You shouldn't take it seriously."

"Given your personality, I'd expect you to say something like, 'You actually believed me?' to rub it in."

"I was hoping to mooch dinner off you tonight," Li Mo said. "I'm tired of takeout."

"Fine."

Yukino's response was unusually decisive.