"Is this... a confession?!" "General Winter and the transfer student?!" "In the hallway?!" "A wall slam—an honest-to-goodness wall slam!"
The surrounding students crowded over, their chattering discussions reaching the two of them.
From an observer's perspective, Lumiere had clearly taken the initiative to pin Orson against the wall, and the two were gazing into each other's eyes with deep affection.
"You... you idiots! How does this look like a confession?!"
Lumiere shouted at the crowd, only to receive a flood of replies saying, "How does this not look like a confession?"
"You people—"
"Sonia?"
Lumiere was just about to roll up her sleeves and settle things with violence when the homeroom teacher's voice suddenly came from behind her.
After that, during second-period chemistry—
"Um, uh, sorry."
In the hallway, Lumiere held two buckets in her hands and balanced a loaf of Kulebyaka Bread on her head as she apologized awkwardly.
"Who did I even offend...?"
Beside her, Orson had to stand there for another class period, with twice as many loaves of Kulebyaka Bread on his head, tears streaming from his eyes like noodles.
Let's Go! Our Goal Is to Gather the Bear Squad! (Part 1)
During the break, Orson leaned against the rooftop railing, searching for and pinpointing Lumen's location.
After improvements to Resonance Beyond, Orson could now use items he had given Lumen and imbued with special frequencies to roughly determine her exact location. The accuracy was fairly good, too.
It was basically a tracker, except the farther away she was and the more complicated the environment became, the worse its effectiveness.
Of course, it was more than sufficient for a place like Peterheim Middle School.
"She hasn't done anything in the classroom. The other noble students must have surrounded her, huh? The president sure is popular."
After confirming that Lumen was fine, Lumiere's voice came from behind him.
"So you really were here. I couldn't find you in the cafeteria or on the field, so this locked rooftop was probably the only place left."
Lumiere walked over to Orson. She had been pestering him for a while now, and of course it was not because she wanted to confess—
"You're strong, aren't you, Orson? You took down a lot of Originium insects back then, so can you tell me how I can become stronger?"
Lumiere asked Orson how she could become like him, standing firm against the rampaging Originium insects.
"Haaah... First of all, the main force that resolved that Originium insect outbreak was actually Talula and FrostNova."
Orson sighed, thinking about how to refuse Lumiere's request.
It was true that Orson had not been the main damage dealer. His Tuner was generally more suited for humanoid targets and single targets. Even Rest Note's crowd-clearing ability could not compare to Talula's flames or FrostNova's ice.
"Second, you're just a student, aren't you, Sonia?"
"Aren't you one too?"
Lumiere was a little unconvinced. She believed that both she and Orson were students.
"I'm not quite the same. I..."
I want to become stronger because if I don't, I won't be able to survive in the eternally frozen northern lands. If I don't become stronger, I won't be able to protect the ordinary days where everyone can smile.
Orson could not say those things to Lumiere.
"Fine. At least tell me why you want to become stronger. I remember you're already pretty famous, General Winter?"
"My reason... I don't know."
Lumiere thought for several seconds before honestly admitting that she had never considered the reason.
"So you're lost about the future, and you want to temporarily forget that confusion by becoming stronger through me?"
"Tch... I already told you I don't know!"
Lumiere irritably shook her head.
That won't do. But I can understand it.
Comforting others was not Orson's strong suit. In the original story, that sort of thing should have been handled by the Bear Squad.
But now that Reunion had changed, those girls probably would not gather around Lumiere anymore.
Wait... if the Peterheim incident did not happen, couldn't he just go find them himself?
Orson thought of something and smiled at Lumiere.
"I can teach you how to become stronger, but first, you need to start a club."
"A club...?"
"Yeah. Find a few like-minded friends. After all, the protagonist in anime always has a little group."
"Huh?"
Lumiere looked completely lost, but Orson took the initiative instead and dragged her off the rooftop.
"First, the team needs a bespectacled strategist!"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about anymore..."
Lumiere could not be bothered to think about what Orson was planning. The two first went to the library and, sure enough, found their target in the mystery section—a quiet girl with mint-green hair and glasses, Anna, also known as Truth.
There is an illustration here. It can be viewed after updating the version.
Bang!
After confirming the target, Lumiere casually sat down across from Truth, while Orson moved to Truth's left. The two formed a pincer formation and trapped the confused Truth in the corner.
"Um... Sonia, it's been a long time since we've been this close. May I ask if you need something?"
Truth put down her book in confusion and looked at Lumiere, who seemed to have come to collect a debt, as well as "Alan," the guy beside her who had been put in a rear naked choke by a teacher on his first day of school.
"Long time no see, Anna. It's actually nothing much. I just came to—"
"I understand. Here's my wallet."
"Mm, it's good that you understand... Wait, wait a second! I'm not here to extort you!?"
Lumiere hurriedly explained herself. Truth nodded to indicate that she understood, and then...
"Then, here's your wallet."
She handed her wallet to Orson beside her.
"I'm not robbing you either... Um, we're actually planning to start a club and are currently looking for members. Would you be interested?"
Orson returned the wallet to Truth while extending the invitation.
"A club? Sorry, I prefer reading alone."
"If you join our club, you'll have plenty of chances in the future to discuss simulated crime scenes!"
Orson prescribed the right medicine. The moment Truth heard about detective cases, she immediately looked interested.
"For example... well, I happen to have a detective script here. It's about a group of people who use cyber immersion technology to travel to a virtual Aincrad... Wrong script. They travel to Baker Street in 1983, where they not only need to investigate a famous murder case from that time, but also figure out which one of them is the infiltrator... So, Anna, what do you—Whoa, you're so close!"
Before Orson could finish, Anna had already leaned close with stars in her eyes. After all, to Truth, who had read every detective novel in the library, this story really was quite novel.
"I understand... Then please count me in."
Truth joined the team!
After finding Truth, their next target was the team's cook.
"A good team needs someone who can control their teammates' stomachs! Like Sanji from One Piece, or Liu Maoxing from Cooking Master Boy!"
"Um... Peterheim Middle School explicitly forbids clubs from using open flames. And I have no idea who those two people are."
In the library, Orson laid out the next step of his plan while Truth pushed up her glasses and tried to tell him that cooking in a club would earn them a warning.
"You need to be flexible, Anna. We can't cook on campus, but when our club goes out for activities, a classmate who can cook can show off her skills, right? Besides, a good cook doesn't just know how to cook. She also needs to be cute, preferably short enough that she can be picked up with one hand. And incidentally, the best choice should have that kind of close-fitting, smooth XX! Curves as obvious as Sonia's, slim enough to make people go win~ win~ win~. The color and pattern just need to be a little different—uh."
Orson had originally intended to subtly fish for information about Gummy, but suddenly realized that his description sounded rather bad when taken on its own.
"Orson, you bastard...!"
"Wait, I can explain—Oof!"
Lumiere, who had been used as an example for stockings, blushed and used the power of the TM Bear to slap Orson straight into the table.
"Pervert. Lolicon."
Truth stared at Orson with the gaze one would reserve for trash.
In the end—
"Please allow me to withdraw from the club."
"Orson...!"
"Ah, well, my name is Alan, actually. Ahaha..."
Truth, Lumiere, and Orson stood side by side at the library entrance with loaves of Kulebyaka Bread on their heads as punishment for making too much noise, each reacting differently.
Has the recent plot been boring? It feels like everyone's enthusiasm has been a little low...
I'm just an amateur writer doing this as a hobby, so if there are any issues, like Chapter 29, I hope everyone can give feedback. I'll do my best to improve.
Let's Go! Our Goal Is to Gather the Bear Squad! (Part 2)
Previously: To inherit the Bear Squad's bonds in this world, Orson decided to gather these girls together himself.
Current progress: Lumiere joined the team. Truth joined the team. Searching for Gummy.
"Excuse me, is Rada here?"
At the entrance to Peterheim Middle School's dedicated home economics classroom, Orson poked his head in and asked the students who were cooking.
"Hm? Are you looking for me?"
Upon hearing Orson's voice, Gummy immediately stood on tiptoe and bounced out from the crowd. The petite, energetic-looking girl with twin buns quickly came over to Orson.
"You're Rada, right? I'm Alan. I came this time hoping that you can join our club."
Alan—Orson's alias when he infiltrated Peterheim—asked whether Gummy could join his still-incomplete Bear Squad.
"A club? Gummy is interested, but Gummy is already in the cooking club."
Gummy pointed at the classroom behind her. The moment they heard someone was trying to poach Gummy, all the students in chef uniforms gathered around with kitchen knives and rolling pins in hand.
"You dare try to poach our little angel Rada!? You've got some nerve, kid!" "That's right! If you want to take Rada away, you'll have to get past us, the Elite Ten of Tōtsuki, first!"
"Don't add completely unnecessary settings to this story!?"
Orson loudly retorted, while thinking that it looked like he would not be able to win Gummy over through clever words.
"If we're competing, then how?"
Orson looked at the group of cooks and considered his next move.
"Hmph, you're in a cooking classroom and asking what we should compete in? How ridiculous. Of course we're competing in cooking!"
"Interesting—I accept the challenge!"
Orson grinned. Back in Reunion, his cooking had crushed FrostNova, Talula, and Patriot's. How could these unknown nobodies who had never seen the world possibly be his opponents?
Orson caught the chef's hat tossed to him and calmly walked over to the stove.
Thirty minutes later...
"—That's what happened, so could you share some lunch with me?"
Orson sat on a chair staring blankly at the sky, looking as though he had been thoroughly broken.
The dish he had confidently prepared received only a failing score of 5.5, along with scathing criticism that made him want to crawl into a crack in the ground. And their finished dishes really did surpass his in every way.
As the loser, Orson was deprived of his lunch. After thinking for a long time about why he had lost so badly, he finally reached one conclusion—
Talula and FrostNova had elevated Orson's cooking to a level it never should have reached.
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