"So… are you squinty-eyes guys always this intense?"
Iori stood up, brushing off his clothes and looking a little shaken as he watched the white-haired girl walk away.
"Are girls really that terrifying nowadays?!"
"Heh," Kamishiro scoffed condescendingly. "You don't get it~"
That was a white-haired girl.
And he hadn't been on a date with a white-haired girl yet!
No one could resist a white-haired girl—especially when…
Recalling the whisper she left him with before leaving, Kamishiro's breathing grew a little heavier.
Looks like tonight was going to be another sleepless night!
Sorry in advance… my kidneys!
"So anyway, what's this method you mentioned?"
Kamishiro turned to Iori. He had just given up his white-haired cutie for these bastards—if the plan wasn't at least diabolical, there was no way he'd let the three of them leave the cafeteria in one piece.
"No rush. Let's find a place to eat first."
Now that he was free again, Iori reverted to his pervy self, his eyes scanning the girls around them.
Of course—
He still had some pride. At the very least, he wouldn't go after the girls who helped beat them up earlier!
"...I'm fine with that. But are you sure you want to find a place to eat?"
Kamishiro glanced meaningfully at the trio's feet, his eyes filled with pity.
Huh?
The three of them blinked, confused—until they looked down and saw the food that should've been in their bellies.
Σ(っ °Д °;)っ
"Crap!"
"My lunch! My lunch!!"
"That was 1000 yen! I could've had four curry meals in the second cafeteria for that!!"
Yamamoto collapsed helplessly to the floor. A thousand yen! That was huge!
His exaggerated reaction made Kamishiro think that if there weren't so many girls watching, Yamamoto might've just eaten it off the floor.
And honestly… that was probably true.
Yamamoto was very tempted to just use a finger and try a clean part of the food.
A thousand yen!!
Luckily, Nojima stopped him.
"Calm down, Yamamoto. Girls won't sit at the same table as someone who eats like that. You need to act like a gentleman!"
He adjusted his glasses dramatically and walked straight toward the order counter like a millionaire walking into a cheap diner.
Iori and Yamamoto, seemingly convinced by Nojima's words, followed him with grim determination.
Looks like the three of them were ready for a big splurge today!
One minute later—
Kamishiro's eyes twitched as he saw the three return with trays of curry.
"With all that rich-guy bravado earlier… and you picked this?"
A poverty meal? Really?
Faced with his mockery, Nojima just smiled calmly.
"We eat fancy stuff all the time. This time we just wanted to try something different."
"Yeah, sometimes you gotta enjoy the humble stuff too."
"Been a while since I had it. Just happened to see the stand over there."
Watching their pained expressions as they tried to sound cool, Kamishiro's gaze turned strange.
"A while," huh?
"Too much fine dining," huh?
If he remembered correctly, curry was probably a staple for these broke bastards.
After all, you could get full for just 250 yen. It was basically their salvation.
Well… at the second cafeteria.
Kamishiro glanced over at the nearby curry stand.
Curry – 500 yen.
Perfect.
Twice the price of the second cafeteria.
And if the rumors were true, even dogs wouldn't touch the curry here in the first cafeteria.
This area had more girls, so curry wasn't as popular.
The old guy who made it was also notoriously lazy.
He probably figured girls won't eat it.
As for the taste…
Kamishiro hadn't tried it himself, but he was sure it wasn't as good as the second cafeteria's.
No way he'd risk the wrath of the beasts if that curry wasn't decent!
They should really make this lazy old man train over at the second cafeteria sometime!
As for the trio's pride… Kamishiro didn't call them out. He just nodded and said calmly:
"As long as you're happy."
Sometimes, you had to spare these beasts' fragile egos~
Yamamoto already looked like he was about to cry.
Kamishiro really didn't want to see that ugly crying face—he might not be able to resist taking a picture.
And if he did take a picture, he definitely wouldn't be able to resist posting it on the forum.
But there were too many girls here. If they saw the photo, they'd quickly figure out he was the forum's mysterious whistleblower.
He wasn't ready to blow his cover yet. That account had its uses!
What?
The guys already knew it was him on the forum?
Heh. Who cares about them?
Even Kudo-senpai never unmasked his account. Like hell those beasts could do it now!
"Alright then, let's go find a place to sit."
Kamishiro walked toward a four-seater table off to the side—perfect for the four of them.
He couldn't bear to let girls lose their appetite from witnessing these guys' filthy stares.
But—
Just as he was about to sit down, he realized… no one was behind him.
The three idiots were whispering to each other.
(▼皿▼＃)
"Didn't we agree to eat?!"
Fuming, Kamishiro stomped back toward them. He had to hear what ridiculous idea they'd come up with this time.
Nojima: "This is a rare opportunity—we should definitely sit near some girls."
Yamamoto: "Agreed! Preferably a six-person table with only three girls!"
Iori: "Or an eight-person one with five girls. That works too."
Kamishiro: "..."
"Can you three stop daydreaming already? And have you bastards forgotten to count me in? We're supposed to be a team now!"
Hearing that, Iori said helplessly.
"No can do, Kamishiro. The core of this plan lies in being able to sit face-to-face with a girl to build intimacy."
"This requirement is super strict—you need an odd number of people on both sides. If we add you, our side becomes even, and that totally ruins the plan."
After Iori's explanation, Kamishiro glared at him with a look sharp enough to kill.
So… since when did the goal become 'getting closer to girls'?!
Most of the girls here are his fans, okay? If he really wanted to bond with them, would he need to resort to such sneaky tactics?
Right now, he should be enjoying lunch with his white-haired cutie.
What he needs is a revenge plan!
Hand it over, dammit!
Grabbing Iori by the collar, Kamishiro snarled,
"You bastard, don't tell me you never came up with a revenge plan in the first place!"
If that were the case, Kamishiro wouldn't mind giving this punk a taste of just how much influence he had on campus.
While this bunch was off drinking and messing around with the science club animals, he had already captured the hearts of half the girls on campus.
And in this girl-dominated cafeteria, what do these losers have to compete with him?
"Of course I have a plan. I said I'd tell you once we sit down. We just haven't sat down yet, that's all."
Iori shrugged. After being tricked once, there was no way he'd trust this bastard Kamishiro again.
Even he had made up his mind to chase Kamishiro out of the cafeteria after this. How could Kamishiro not be planning the same?
He could already picture it—just as he shared the plan, that monster of a white-haired girl would boot him out.
And he might even lose his lunch over it!
That's a 500-yen curry!
He's never eaten such an expensive curry at the school cafeteria in his life. No way he was giving it up!
Kamishiro pointed toward the seat he had found earlier.
"That spot over there works!"
"Tch."
The trio all clicked their tongues in disdain and continued looking for another target like they hadn't heard him.
m9(｀д′ )!!!!
Kamishiro's forehead bulged with anger. These guys seriously had zero self-awareness. Did they really think sharing a lunch table with a girl would magically land them a girlfriend?
They couldn't even manage basic conversation!
To crush their stupid hopes, Kamishiro directly asked,
"So as long as it's an odd number, it works?"
"Of course! What, you think you can just pull someone out of thin air? And just so we're clear, if you pull in a girl and sit across from her yourself, we will retaliate."
"I'm not planning anything like that."
Kamishiro replied flatly. He wasn't about to throw his fans to the wolves. He was very protective of them!
He doted on them so much that if a particularly passionate fan wanted to explore that bond on a deeper level… he'd generously offer his body in return.
As someone that devoted to his fans, how could he ever let them share a table with a bunch of beasts?
His confidence came from something else—a familiar silhouette he had spotted.
"If I'm not wrong, weren't you four when you first got here?"
He pointed toward the terrace outside where a few open-air tables were.
At one of them, a blond guy sat stiffly eating bread, surrounded by several fiery, passionate girls.
You could tell the blond was under attack—so nervous, he was about to shove the bread up his nose.
Iori and the others followed Kamishiro's finger.
And instantly—
Flames of rage ignited in their eyes!
Traitor!
They'd found a big, fat traitor!
Ha! Saying he needed to cool off alone, that he wouldn't stoop to their level—turns out, he'd just ditched them!
Unforgivable!
Absolutely unforgivable!
Without a word, the three just exchanged glances—and instantly understood what the others were thinking.
Perfectly in sync, they each pulled out a toolkit from god-knows-where: cement, shovel, and a stun baton!
{{(°△°; ")}}!
Their swift movements startled even Kamishiro. Suddenly, he got an idea…
If you bundled these three items and sold them as a "vengeance starter pack", you might actually make bank.
After all, these guys practically represented the entire engineering department.
Tch. No progress at all.
Kamishiro shook his head and didn't bother stopping them.
Let them mess around. The more chaos, the better. The girls in the cafeteria would just look down on them more.
Just spill the plan and let me eat, dammit!
Kamishiro was done wasting time. He still hadn't eaten lunch.
But just as he was settling in to watch the chaos unfold, Iori caught that mischievous glint in Kamishiro's eyes.
Subconsciously, Iori froze.
He remembered—every single time Kamishiro had that look, he ended up suffering.
That surge of betrayal he'd felt earlier evaporated.
Now calm, Iori looked more closely at Kohei.
Three curvy girls had him completely surrounded. One clung to his arm—so tightly, her chest was flattening against him like she didn't even notice.
They were even feeding him bits of food...
Hiss—!
Iori gasped. He was mad. So mad!
If Kamishiro hadn't snapped him out of it just now, he'd already be over there passing judgment on that traitor!
Damn it!
So just because he's good-looking, he gets away with everything?!
Iori spat on the shallowness of Japanese girls. They had no taste.
He was the healthy, ideal type! That blond was just a stick figure! If you want a real man, you go for a land-battlegod like him!
Ahem.
After a brief bout of envy, Iori returned to normal. That was all the girls' doing, anyway.
Kohei wasn't like Kamishiro—he wouldn't shamelessly enjoy it.
He was a hardcore introvert and a die-hard fan of anime and mature-sounding voice actresses. To him, this was pure torment!
That's right!
What they could only dream of… to some people, it was suffering.
How depressing...
He couldn't dwell on it. If he kept thinking, he'd start sobbing.
Sure, beating Kohei would help vent his anger—but he had to stay focused on what they really needed.
And those three girls...
A devilish grin crept across Iori's face.
As the group's master schemer, he had just thought of a brilliant plan.
"Hold up, you two."
He raised his hand to stop Yamamoto and Nojima. Seeing their confused faces, he explained,
"Thinking about it… doing this would be kinda immature."
!
Kamishiro stared at him in disbelief.
Immature?!
Was this really the Iori he knew?
In just a moment, he'd not only restrained himself, but even called something 'immature'?
Had his brain finally developed?
Or maybe... he got so excited earlier that he rubbed one out, and now he was in post-nut clarity mode?
He couldn't make sense of it!
Neither could Yamamoto or Nojima.
"Huh? What did you say?"
"You mean we're letting that traitor off the hook?"
They still clutched cement and shovels, clearly ready to bury Iori if he didn't give a good reason.
But Iori wasn't fazed. He just shook his head and smirked coldly.
For some reason, that smirk felt familiar—like he was tasting the same smug joy Kamishiro always did.
"I'm not saying we don't punish Kohei—just that before that, we need to figure out what we really want. We can totally use Kohei as a stepping stone!"
Hearing Iori's delightfully scummy proposal, Yamamoto and Nojima immediately got it.
Clearly, they weren't good people either!
"You mean... use Kohei to get close to those girls, then take them for ourselves before punishing him?"
"As expected of you, Iori! You always get to the heart of things!"
The two quickly stashed their weapons—no rush, they'd dig Kohei and Kamishiro's graves after lunch.
"Come on, Iori, let's talk details."
"Since you came up with the plan, you get first pick. Just don't take the girl in the black sweater."
"Or the one with the braided hair!"
"Then I only have one choice left!"
"..."
Kamishiro watched the trio divvying up targets with an expression of dead-eyed disbelief.
Where did these guys even get the confidence that they could succeed?
It's been a whole semester—how are they still this delusional?
Do they seriously think the only reason they don't have girlfriends is because the engineering department has too few girls?!
Such a pitiful thought…
They still haven't realized the true meaning of love at first sight.
So-called "love at first sight" is nothing more than lust at first sight!
This truth applies to both men and women!