Watching the girl's adorably furious expression, Kamijou Mutsuki couldn't help but smile.
However, the donut lady's senses were unexpectedly sharp at this moment.
"Did you just laugh?"
"No."
Hearing this, Kamijou Mutsuki immediately straightened his expression.
"I've received professional training. Normally, I don't laugh."
"…Unless I can't hold it in!"
"Even you're bullying me!"
Looking at the smile curling on the boy's lips, the donut lady's face instantly flushed red with anger, and she immediately raised her fists to attack him.
However, with that soft and powerless strength, even the current Kamijou Mutsuki could block it easily.
In the end, the pouting donut lady was directly pulled into his arms.
Only after calming down did the girl shyly struggle free from his embrace.
"How about… I give it a try instead?"
In the end, Kamijou Mutsuki made the suggestion.
The donut lady didn't refuse.
At this point, already fired up, she had long forgotten her original purpose.
Although this hateful Demon King had just laughed at her, if he now redeemed himself through good deeds, then the magnanimous donut lady could forgive him!
But judging by how confident Kamijou Mutsuki looked, could it be that he was actually good at this too?
The girl immediately became serious, seemingly intending to secretly learn his techniques.
And then, she watched as Kamijou Mutsuki went to ask someone about buying out the entire machine section.
Wait—so this was his solution?!
As an idol with quite a high income, the donut lady experienced for the first time what it meant for poverty to limit one's imagination.
Hold on, is this really necessary just for a stuffed toy?
Finally reacting, the girl hurried forward to stop him.
And seeing the lingering regret in Kamijou Mutsuki's eyes, she couldn't help but feel a little helpless.
Seriously, how are you even more obsessed than me?
Yet at the same time, a strange feeling rose in her heart.
Did this guy really care that much about her matters?
…No, calm down, Mana. This has to be another one of the Demon King's schemes!
However, just when the donut lady had completely given up, she still ended up getting the fluffy little penguin plush.
"You…"
The girl's eyes were full of suspicion.
He didn't actually buy out the whole section, did he?
"I asked the staff girl managing this area for one…"
Given the donut lady's performance here, the staff really didn't mind directly giving her one. In a sense, this counted as another kind of pity reward.
But after hearing Kamijou Mutsuki's explanation, the girl somehow felt even more upset.
Was she really that much worse than Sakiko?
But after thinking about it again, so what if Sakiko was good at claw machines?
The boy Sakiko liked was still standing beside her, wasn't he?
And besides…
Thinking back to how Kamijou Mutsuki had wanted to buy out the entire section just because of her thoughts—and after being stopped by her, had still gone specially to the staff to get her a "pity prize"…
A faint unnatural blush appeared on the girl's face, while her mood improved considerably.
This was the donut lady's victory!
"Stop wasting time already—Uika's already gone too far and we won't be able to find her!"
Holding the plush, the girl curled her lips into a smile, then—under Kamijou Mutsuki's slightly puzzled gaze—hugged his arm and chased after the direction the two girls had left in.
As for the fact that the plush had originally been something she wanted to win for Kamijou Mutsuki?
Once it got into her hands, it belonged to her anyway!
Although the two had wasted quite a bit of time at the claw machines, the mall wasn't that big. The donut lady quickly found Uika and Sakiko again.
However, seeing the harmonious atmosphere between the two girls, she puffed up her cheeks once more.
Then, basically whatever the two girls did, the donut lady would drag Kamijou Mutsuki into doing an even more exaggerated version of it.
Of course, just like with the claw machine earlier, there were also disasters.
"Why is the so-called couple's set like this?!"
Looking at the juice with straws woven into a heart shape and extending toward both sides, the girl became so embarrassed her head started spinning.
Were these the shameless interactions couples normally had?!
This was way too indecent!
The girl suddenly regretted ordering the couple's set just to make the "date" feel authentic.
"Isn't dating supposed to be like this?"
"This is pretty normal for couples, right?"
Kamijou Mutsuki, meanwhile, looked completely unconcerned.
This wasn't even close to anything serious.
"If it's really too much, why don't we just forget it?"
"How can we just forget it?!"
Kamijou Mutsuki had basically figured out the donut lady's weakness by now.
And so he watched as, despite being embarrassed to death, the girl still stubbornly finished sharing the drink with him.
Afterward, even her walking became wobbly.
Uwaaaah, Uika, I'm no longer pure!
"Does this count as an indirect kiss?"
Only then did the girl truly become aware that the two of them were on a date.
But once the bow was drawn, there was no turning back.
Besides, could she really watch Sakiko Togawa dig away her partner without doing anything?
Still, as the date passed the halfway point, Donut Lady watched Sakiko Togawa and Misumi Uika standing together, smiling and chatting, and suddenly didn't feel as angry as she had at the beginning.
By the end, the two of them really did look like a perfectly normal couple on a date—though naturally, Kamijou Mutsuki was the one leading things.
He realized that as long as he used "this is normal for a date" as the excuse, Donut Lady would basically never refuse.
That included holding hands, hugging, and even some not-too-excessive intimate interactions.
Looking at the girl's dizzy, absent-minded expression, it was obvious that by the latter half, her brain had already overloaded.
All he could do was sigh emotionally. She really was a pure child.
A pure-hearted donut like this—Kamijou Mutsuki felt he could trick her ten times over without even repeating the same excuse.
Thankfully, the person Donut Lady had met was a noble and virtuous good person like him.
Meanwhile, Donut Lady herself was filled with conflict.
In her view, going on a date with Kamijou Mutsuki was merely retaliation against Sakiko's homewrecking behavior.
But then why did it make her feel happy?
In truth, perhaps even Donut Lady herself hadn't realized that she didn't actually hate the Great Demon King Kamijou Mutsuki as much as she acted like she did.
After all, with the girl's personality, how could she fool around with someone she truly disliked?
And even if it was for the sake of getting revenge on Teacher Big Sakiko, with the girl's pure-hearted personality, how could she casually go on a date with someone else?
However, the way things developed had indeed gone far beyond Donut Lady's original expectations.
Holding hands, hugging, all sorts of intimate little interactions between couples…
Every single one struck at the girl's heart.
Dating the boy she liked behind Sakiko's back really was thrilling.
But improper feelings had begun to sprout within the girl's heart.
Her mind clearly told her this was wrong, yet her body acted on its own and betrayed her.
So this was what dating felt like?
Just as Donut Lady was about to completely immerse herself in it, the destination of Uika and Sakiko snapped her back to reality.
"They're going to the… planetarium?"
......................