Next Target, 400PS!!
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Still deeply immersed in her own heartbreak, Mutsumi Wakaba didn't hear a single word of Soyo Nagasaki's subsequent rant.
"I know it! Saki absolutely must have been tricked by that despicable man!"
"Just wait. I am definitely going to snatch Saki back, and I'll bring everyone back to the band too!"
As she delivered her final declaration, an unprecedented intensity burned in Soyo's eyes. Without an instant of hesitation, she turned sharply on her heel and stormed off.
It was a long time after Soyo's departure before Mutsumi finally snapped out of her daze. She slowly pulled out her phone, deliberated for several agonizing minutes, and finally sent a single message to Sakiko.
'Saki… do you have a boyfriend?'
——————————
Meanwhile.
Over at Sobu High, Sakiko Togawa had barely sat down at her desk before she received Mutsumi's text.
She frowned slightly in confusion.
"How on earth did Mutsumi find out?"
Sakiko quickly replied:
'Who told you?'
Almost immediately, Mutsumi's reply popped up:
'Soyo told me. She came to see me just now.'
Soyo… Thinking back to the aggressive, relentless texts Kai had shown her that morning, Sakiko wasn't that surprised.
She just hadn't expected Soyo to actively track down Mutsumi about it.
Considering they used to be close bandmates, Sakiko obviously still harbored some lingering fondness for them. However, Soyo's obsessive, nonstop stalking was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.
She really just won't give up...
'We just made things official recently, so I haven't had the chance to tell anyone yet.'
'When I have some free time, I'll properly introduce him to you, Mutsumi.'
Sakiko genuinely treasured her friendship with Mutsumi.
Furthermore, she had fully and wholeheartedly accepted Kai as her man. There was nothing shameful about their relationship—she had no reason to hide him.
Seeing Sakiko's confirmation…
The heavy sense of dejection that was weighing Mutsumi down instantly vanished.
'Okay!'
She had worried that Sakiko was hiding something from her on purpose. Realizing it was just bad timing made her feel hugely relieved.
This is wonderful.
'I knew it. Saki would never deliberately try to shut me out.' Deep down, a trace of authentic curiosity started to flourish. Mutsumi sincerely wondered exactly what kind of person Sakiko's new boyfriend was.
——————————
After concluding her brief conversation with Mutsumi, Sakiko saw Soyo Nagasaki's frantic texts keep coming in. She sighed, locked her phone, and ignored them.
As she shifted in her seat—
"Hiss!"
A sudden pain shot through her, making Sakiko suck in a sharp breath.
While walking was no longer a problem, sudden or exaggerated movements still triggered a sharp, very uncomfortable soreness. Fortunately, the pain remained fully manageable.
"Togawa-san? Are you okay?"
Her deskmate noticed Sakiko wincing and asked with genuine concern.
"It's nothing. I just slightly twisted my ankle on the way to school. I'm fine now."
"I see!"
Her deskmate nodded, accepting the excuse right away.
Even though Sakiko largely kept to herself, the elegant, dignified aura she constantly projected made her seem exactly like an elite, untouchable noblewoman. Consequently, even without the protection of a clique, none of the girls in the class ever had the courage to try to bully her.
"What a wicked guy…"
After giving her body a moment to adjust, Sakiko finally settled back into her chair.
She couldn't stop herself from softly murmuring the complaint.
However, as the vivid, chaotic memories of last night flooded her mind, she couldn't hide the bright, loving smile spreading across her face.
——————————
The morning classes passed quickly in a haze.
The teachers mostly just stood at the front and lectured. The students who actually cared paid attention, while the ones who didn't simply messed around or slept. As long as they weren't actively disrupting the class, the teachers rarely intervened.
When the lunch bell finally rang, Kai briefly informed Marin Kitagawa and Megumi Kato that he had some pressing business to attend to, so he wouldn't be joining them in the Service Club today.
"Yui!"
Watching Kai walk out the door, Yumiko Miura thought for a moment, then slid into the seat next to Yui Yuigahama.
"Tomorrow is the weekend! Do you want to go hang out somewhere?"
Usually, their specific group of girls would always plan some sort of shopping trip or hangout during the weekends.
Under any other circumstances, Yui definitely wouldn't have refused.
"Ah… tomorrow? Yumiko, Kai-kun already asked me out on a date for tomorrow. How about we hang out on Sunday instead?"
After all, they had two days off.
"But… I already have plans for Sunday."
"Oh…"
Hearing that, Yui immediately felt stuck in an awkward situation.
On one hand, she didn't want to cancel her date with her boyfriend. On the other hand, she was notoriously terrible at rejecting her friends, especially someone as forceful as Yumiko.
"Why don't the three of us just go together?"
Quietly eating her bento a few desks away…
Hina Ebina met Yumiko's intense, desperate stare. She exhaled quietly inside and calmly offered her suggestion.
YES!
Yumiko had been frantically trying to figure out how to invite herself along without sounding suspicious. But since Ebina—an objective third party—was the one proposing it, she had the perfect cover!
"But... wouldn't that be a little weird?"
Yui scratched her cheek, looking deeply conflicted.
During their previous date, Utaha Kasumigaoka had essentially forcefully inserted herself as a massive third wheel. Was their second date seriously going to be hijacked by yet another third wheel?
It wasn't that Yui disliked Yumiko, but the situation just felt bizarre.
"What's weird about it? Relax, I promise I won't third-wheel your date at all!"
Yumiko waved her hand, adopting an expression of total nonchalance.
"I just really hate sitting at home all by myself. It's too boring."
"Well… alright then!"
Since Yumiko put it that way, Yui didn't know how to say no. She just agreed.
Ebina saw Yumiko's huge grin and quietly lowered her head. 'Do you seriously expect anyone to believe you just want to hang out with Yui? It's obvious you have your sights dead-set on Kai.'
"Hina, what about you? Are you going to come with us?"
Yumiko hadn't forgotten to reward Ebina for the crucial assist. Since it was already going to be a group outing, adding one more person wouldn't change anything.
"I'll pass. My parents are planning a trip to a neighboring city this weekend, and I'm going with them."
Pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, Ebina calmly delivered her excuse.
Helping Yumiko already made Ebina feel guilty toward Yui. If things got serious between Yumiko and Kai this weekend, Ebina wasn't sure whose side to take.
The guilt seemed suffocating!
"Alright then!" Yumiko didn't push the issue. Instead, her mind was already racing, frantically trying to plan out the perfect, most stunning outfit for tomorrow.
She was determined to make Kai clearly see what he was missing.
He spent all his time staring exclusively at Yui, acting exactly as if Yumiko lacked any charm or appeal whatsoever!
<><><><><><><><>
Meanwhile.
Kai had no idea that his relaxing weekend plans had already been thoroughly hijacked.
"Excuse me, are you looking for someone?"
Just outside Sobu High's Art Club room, Kai had just arrived when several female club members noticed him. He was tall and good-looking, and lately he carried himself with even more confidence.
Even standing in a massive crowd, he easily stood out.
Seeing such a handsome guy standing outside their club room, a few of the girls couldn't stop themselves from blushing.
Unfortunately... Unless they possessed system quests, Kai had zero interest in ordinary mob characters. Aside from perhaps the occasional casual fling, he didn't even harbor the slightest desire to conquer them.
"Hello. I'm looking for Sawamura-san. Would you kindly let her know I'm here?"
"Sawamura?"
Hearing that specific surname, the girls instantly realized exactly what was going on.
After all, Eriri Spencer Sawamura was the ace of their Art Club.
Not only were her artistic skills phenomenal, but she was also stunningly beautiful and came from a wealthy, elite family. She was essentially the textbook definition of perfection.
It was obvious that this handsome guy was yet another one of Eriri's suitors.
Realizing this, the girl shook her head in sheer disappointment but still politely agreed.
"Alright, please wait here for a moment."
Kai wasn't in any rush.
He stood in the hallway and waited.
The girl entered the club room again and promptly went to Eriri, who was deeply absorbed in her artwork.
"Eriri, someone is outside asking for you."
"For me?" Hearing this, Eriri turned around in genuine surprise.
Sporting her iconic golden twin-tails, aside from her famously lacking physical curves, she was undoubtedly a top-tier heroine.
"Yep! And he is so handsome! He's definitely one of your suitors, Eriri!"
Hearing that, the surrounding girls immediately started teasing and egging her on.
"You're so lucky!"
"Of course, someone as gorgeous as Eriri has tons of guys chasing after her!"
"I wish a guy that hot would come looking for me."
"…"
Listening to their endless chatter, Eriri maintained a perfectly polite, mild smile on the surface, while inwardly rolling her eyes so hard it hurt.
'These girls are so unbelievably boring. What's the point of romance? I'd rather spend that time finishing a few more sketches.'
'It's definitely just another annoying and persistent suitor. Whatever, I'll just go reject him quickly and get back to work.'
In reality, Eriri was not only a massive, hardcore otaku but also a very famous and controversial doujin artist known as "Kashiwagi Eri."
However, she aggressively hid her true nature while at school. Having been brutally ostracized and bullied for her otaku hobbies when she was younger, Eriri had mastered the art of total deception.
To her classmates, Eriri was nothing more than a flawless, refined, and entirely unapproachable Ojou-sama.
"Hurry up and go see him, Eriri! You can't keep a guy that hot waiting! I swear I'm not exaggerating, he really is gorgeous!"
"…"
'Who cares how handsome he is?'
Eriri scoffed internally, but she kept her sweet smile perfectly intact.
"Alright, alright. I'll go see what he wants. You girls just keep chatting!"
Saying that, Eriri gracefully rose and exited the club room, sporting a flawless, well-rehearsed smile.
——————————
'WOW, HE'S SO HANDSOME.'
Seeing Kai standing in the hallway, Eriri was slightly taken aback.
She had honestly assumed her clubmates were just exaggerating, but he really was stunning.
Unfortunately for him, she had zero interest in dating.
Simultaneously, while Eriri was mildly evaluating Kai, Kai was busy evaluating Eriri as well.
More specifically, he was heavily focused on the massive list of system quests hovering directly above her head.
[Read her doujinshi directly in front of her]
[Eriri, you wouldn't want…]
[Grab her twin-tails]
[Goddess-tier feet! Goddess-tier feet!]
[Mother-Daughter Donburi!]
[Test out the sharpness of her snaggletooth]
[Put a collar on her]
[…]
As expected of one of the most popular heroines in anime history—the immense quantity of quests attached to her was staggering.
However, most of these quests were seriously unhinged and pretty degenerate.
Completely oblivious to the deeply depraved thoughts running through Kai's mind, Eriri took a quiet breath to steady herself and mentally apologized to him.
She had no intention of dating anyone. He was destined for a harsh rejection.
"I'm really sorry, but I—"
Easily predicting exactly what she was about to say, Kai smirked.
Before Eriri could even finish her polite rejection, Kai casually dropped a destructive name.
"Kashiwagi Eri?"
"???"
Those three simple words smacked Eriri like a sudden impact, instantly freezing the kind smile right off her face.
The perfect, polished Ojou-sama image she had spent years building fell apart in an instant.
"!!!"
'What did I just hear??'
Kashiwagi Eri?? HOW… HOW ON EARTH DOES HE KNOW THAT NAME??
"So, you really are Kashiwagi Er—"
"Shut up!" Seeing that he was fully prepared to say the cursed name out loud again, a panicked Eriri violently threw herself forward and slapped her hand tightly over Kai's mouth to silence him.
"Whoa!"
However, from the girls' perspective, watching from inside the club room…
It looked exactly as if Eriri Sawamura had just aggressively thrown herself into the handsome guy's arms.
A series of shocked gasps and excited squeals burst out of the Art Club.
It was pretty obvious that her clubmates were keeping an eye on the situation.
Eriri desperately lowered her head to hide her face. The onlookers definitely assumed she was just acting shy and embarrassed, but Kai could clearly feel the bone-crushing grip she currently had on his sleeve.
"Come with me right now!"
Knowing perfectly well that this was not the place to have this conversation—
Under the excited cheers of her clubmates, Eriri aggressively dragged Kai down the hallway toward a more secluded area.
Kai didn't seem bothered at all. He looked relaxed and let Eriri drag him away.
He had to admit, even though she was small and had tiny hands, he could really notice how soft her skin was up close.
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