Tsundere Twin Tails

In the afternoon, inside the cafeteria of Trillan Junior High.

Sunlight shone through the glass doors at the entrance, falling over Dekola and his group.

Unlike the sarcastic barbs he had thrown at Chen Kong earlier, Dekola still had no grasp of Tiandao's true background.

So, despite the bellyful of bad intentions, he did not rush to make trouble.

Instead, he wisely chose to say nothing and wait to see how things unfolded.

But while he kept quiet, someone determined to quickly win himself some "popularity" would not let such a perfect chance to steal the scene slip away.

"Kong, when we were at the entrance just now, I heard you were going to buy drinks for the whole class and get along with everyone else, right?"

"Huh?" Chen Kong froze for a moment before instinctively replying, "No, Brother Tian Dao, that was actually—"

Before Chen Kong could finish, Tiandao immediately cut him off.

"If you ask me, don't make it so troublesome. I'll cover the drinks for the whole class!"

"After all, if I remembered correctly, I should have been assigned to the same class as you."

"In that case, aren't your classmates also my classmates?"

"Come on, here's my card. Don't stand there like an idiot. Go buy them already."

Tiandao shoved the bank card he had quietly "borrowed" from Yun Meng into Chen Kong's hand.

Then he gave him a hard push, telling him to stop standing around foolishly and hurry up to buy Blue Mountain City.

Looking at the bank card in his hand, Chen Kong had no idea what Tiandao was planning.

But based on what he knew of Tiandao, since Tiandao had heard what they had said earlier, there was an eighty or ninety percent chance that he wanted to teach Dekola a little lesson.

As for why Chen Kong was so sure?

Naturally, it was because he had seen Tiandao do similar things more than once back at Ember Base.

After all, compared with those Starborn children at the base, Dekola, who was merely an ordinary person, was far easier to deal with.

Yet whenever those difficult Starborn brats saw Tiandao catch them bullying him, not only would Chen Kong be rescued quickly, but those bad kids usually ended badly too.

Because although Tiandao would not directly resort to violence, his wild, unbridled way of thinking always let him severely punish those who liked bullying the weak without using force.

And make them fear Tiandao from the bottom of their hearts.

The king of Stellaris's bad children—Tiandao truly deserved the title!

Thinking of that, Chen Kong could not help feeling sorry for Dekola.

Restricted by his identity as a Star Envoy, he did not want to use that power to bully an ordinary person.

But Tiandao clearly had no such reservations.

After all, to Tiandao, there was no difference at all between ordinary people and Star Envoys!

Meanwhile, seeing Tiandao act so "enthusiastically" right from the start, Dekola's sense of danger immediately plummeted.

At first, he had thought Tiandao might be troublesome.

But now, it seemed Tiandao was merely a simple country boy like Chen Kong. He was just a little more handsome, with a somewhat more striking air about him.

There was nothing else that needed special attention. He would be easy to handle!

Thinking this, Dekola, who fancied himself deeply calculating, could not stop a smug smile from spreading across his face.

It was as if he could already see himself wrapping Tiandao around his finger.

Yet just as Dekola sank into his fantasy, Tiandao suddenly spoke, interrupting him.

"Classmate, here."

Dekola came back to his senses. What met his eyes was Tiandao's "kind" smile, along with a bottle of Blue Mountain City being held out to him.

Looking at the bottle in Tiandao's hand, its surface constantly giving off cold mist and its contents a clear, vivid blue, Dekola might have harbored ill intent toward Tiandao, but he did not intend to expose himself just yet. He planned to maintain his image as a "good classmate" for the time being.

So he reached out, instinctively wanting to take the bottle of Blue Mountain City from Tiandao.

But just as his hand extended—

The Blue Mountain City in Tiandao's hand suddenly exploded.

Bang!

The flying plastic cap streaked past Dekola's cheek. Countless bubbles of blue soda sprayed from the bottle's mouth, drenching his entire body.

That thick, fizzy soda not only turned Dekola's carefully styled hair into a mass of seaweed in an instant—

It also left his expensive custom school uniform covered in foam, making him look utterly bedraggled.

Seeing Dekola's fate, Chen Kong revealed an expression that said, Just as expected.

He had long guessed that Tiandao had absolutely not intended to treat Dekola and the others to drinks out of kindness.

There had to be some nasty little trick behind it.

See? Hadn't it come true?

As the culprit behind it all, Tiandao's acting at that moment was as exaggerated as it could possibly be.

"Wow, sorry about that, classmate. I didn't expect this drink to be so easy to squeeze. It exploded with just a little force. You're not dead, are you?"

You're not dead?

Looking at Tiandao's teasing expression, how could Dekola possibly not realize that he had done it on purpose?

He silently took out the expensive handkerchief tucked into his breast pocket. After wiping away the remaining soda on his face, his expression turned incomparably grim.

"You did that on purpose?"

Tiandao smiled, then answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "What else? You didn't seriously think it was an accident, did you?"

Not only did Tiandao answer casually, he also acted outrageously arrogant.

He clearly did not take Dekola seriously at all.

And for Dekola, who had been pampered since childhood and was used to being surrounded like the moon by stars—

That was utterly intolerable!

He stared at the unrestrained Tiandao, his right fist clenched tight and veins bulging across his forehead.

He was clearly struggling to suppress his fury and wanted to make a move.

But before he could "teach" Tiandao a lesson—

A cold voice rang out from nearby.

"Dekola, what do you think you're doing?"

That suddenly appearing, cool female voice not only made Dekola calm down instantly—

It also caused the crowd watching the show to part on its own.

Dekola turned toward the voice and saw a delicate-featured girl with golden twin tails walking toward them in gleaming little leather shoes.

The moment he saw who had spoken, Dekola's expression stiffened.

"Is-Isabelle."

Isabelle did not even spare him a glance. She merely swept her gaze across the mess on the floor and said calmly, "Go back to your dormitory now, and I can pretend I saw nothing. Otherwise, wait for the school's disciplinary action."

"But..."

Seeing that Dekola not only did not leave but even wanted to argue, Isabelle's gaze immediately turned dangerous.

How could Dekola dare linger any longer after seeing that?

Still, before leaving, he gave Tiandao one last vicious glare, as if saying, You got lucky today. We'll meet again.

Tiandao did not care in the slightest.

He was just an overconfident clown. What was there to pay attention to?

And with Dekola, that nuisance, gone—

Isabelle casually glanced at Tiandao and Chen Kong, then haughtily flicked her golden twin tails and strode out of the cafeteria with flair.

It had to be said, her bearing and style were indeed cool and impressive. She perfectly captured the hearts of a crowd of half-grown boys.

That included Chen Kong, who had left Ember Base for the first time.

As for Tiandao, having read the original work, he knew very well what Isabelle was really like.

The real her was not nearly as cold and noble as she appeared.

Instead, she was a little vain and a little fond of showing off.

She was a standard tsundere young miss who liked standing beneath the spotlight.

And that type undoubtedly struck right at the heart of one particular insecure, affection-starved guy.

Seeing Chen Kong still staring at her retreating figure, Tiandao immediately teased him. "All right, stop staring. She only helped on a whim. She wasn't thinking that much about it."

Hearing Tiandao's words, Chen Kong came back to his senses and froze.

Then, somewhat embarrassed, he scratched his head, wanting to explain himself.

But before he could say anything, Tiandao interrupted him first.

"By the way, I was originally worrying about how to get you in contact with her. But now that we've got this beauty-saving-the-hero scene, hasn't the opportunity practically fallen into our laps?"

"Kong, I'm entrusting you with the arduous mission of becoming friends with Isabelle and sticking close to her for a long time!"

"Huh?"

"What do you mean, 'huh'? If you don't go, are you expecting us to?"

"Think about your sister's personality, then think about Caroline's utterly unapproachable look. If we sent them, I'm worried that before Isabelle even encountered danger, they'd be the ones bringing danger to Isabelle first."

"So, the person best suited to protect Isabelle at close range can only be you!"

"But Brother Tian Dao, why do I feel like you're actually better suited for it than me? After all—"

Tiandao cut Chen Kong off without hesitation and took a bottle of Blue Mountain City from the crate of drinks in his arms.

"What 'after all'? I don't like being a simp. It's settled, then."

"???"

Looking at Chen Kong's utterly baffled face, Tiandao immediately thought of how, in the original work, Chen Kong had been effortlessly wrapped around Isabelle's finger—simping himself to the extreme and getting nothing in return.

He could not help patting Chen Kong on the shoulder and saying earnestly, "It's nothing, Kong. Don't overthink it. I was joking."

"Besides, being a so-called simp is not necessarily an insult. After all, some people don't even have the qualifications to be a simp."

"All right, enough talking. I'm going to register first."

"As for these drinks, take them to the classroom and hand them out for me. Just say you're the one treating everyone. See you later."

Without giving Chen Kong a chance to refuse, Tiandao immediately waved his hand and left the cafeteria without looking back.

Only after Tiandao's figure had completely disappeared from view did Chen Kong uncertainly mutter to himself.

"Brother Tian Dao... is being a simp really not an insult?"