"This is really good."
Eating her beef noodles, Amaha Rize remarked. "Even though it's been so long now, it still feels somewhat unreal. Before, I only ever saw humans as food."
Since Rize made no effort to lower her voice, quite a few students nearby heard what she said.
Especially that part about "seeing humans as food"—the students were nearly frightened and looked at Rize with various expressions.
However, when they noticed Amaha Byakuya sitting beside her, many of them relaxed.
"That gave me a scare. I guess that girl used to be a ghoul—now that she's become human, she can attend school normally with us."
"And isn't the guy next to her Amaha Byakuya, the CCG Bureau Director? I've seen him on TV before."
"Seeing how close they are, could they be dating? Suddenly I have this strange feeling..."
"..."
Fortunately, it didn't cause any panic.
...
After eating their fill,
Amaha Byakuya and Amaha Rize left the cafeteria and strolled around campus to rest.
"Though the cafeteria food was pretty good, it's still not as good as what you make. Let's just eat at home from now on."
As they walked hand in hand, Amaha Rize suddenly said.
"Either way works for me. I'm used to cooking myself anyway."
Amaha Byakuya nodded.
...
Since it was just the start of the freshman year, there weren't many classes.
Morning classes were done, and there were no afternoon classes.
After strolling around campus for a while, Amaha Byakuya and Rize were about to head straight home.
But just then, they happened to run into a certain old acquaintance.
It was Nimura Furuta, who still hadn't graduated from Kamii University.
"Oh my, isn't this Amaha-san?"
Nimura Furuta immediately greeted Amaha Byakuya with a smile.
"Furuta-san, long time no see."
Amaha Byakuya also greeted Nimura Furuta normally.
"And... Rize-chan~"
Nimura Furuta's smile remained, though his tone was a bit strange.
Amaha Rize's expression immediately turned cold. "Furuta, you have the nerve to show your face in front of me."
"Why wouldn't I? I'm a witness to your love story, you two. If not for that incident back then, it wouldn't have been so easy for Rize-chan to fall for Byakuya-san, am I right?"
Nimura Furuta said with a faint smile.
The "incident" he referred to was, of course, the steel beam falling at the construction site.
"Well, I suppose I do have you to thank for that—your malicious scheme ended up doing us a favor."
Amaha Rize shot back sarcastically.
"Really now, we finally get to meet after so long, and Rize-chan is being so cold."
Nimura Furuta sighed with an exaggerated show of hurt feelings.
"..."
Amaha Rize couldn't be bothered to waste words on this guy anymore.
Just for that incident alone, she could never forgive him.
Nimura Furuta didn't press his luck further. Instead, he leaned close to Amaha Byakuya's ear and whispered, "Byakuya-san, inherit my dying wish—remember to have a hundred babies with Rize~"
"..."
Amaha Byakuya could only smile awkwardly. This Furuta guy was still as "humorous" as ever.
Amaha Rize, who was standing right there, had actually heard Nimura Furuta's outrageous statement. She immediately kicked him. "My relationship with Byakuya is none of your business. Even if we had a thousand, it would have nothing to do with you."