The ramen stall in the school cafeteria followed this industry rule as well.
Within five minutes, Bai Lan had added noodles twice. Feeling about seventy percent full, he ended his lunch.
After finishing lunch, he had also gained a little legendary fame as the "Ramen-Destroying Dragon" in the cafeteria, along with a wave of hatred from ramen lovers.
When Bai Lan returned beneath the school building after eating, only a dozen minutes or so of the lunch break had passed.
Bai Lan went upstairs and headed toward Class D.
He had just reached the corner leading out of the stairwell.
Suddenly, someone shot out from around the corner and crashed toward the spot where he was about to arrive.
Had someone actually ambushed him?
Had someone finally lost patience and decided to beat him up?
Which strategy had this been the result of?
"Taunting the other class"?
Chaos Strike?
Or "bullying the class flower"?
Whatever.
Bring it on! Bring it on!
His opponent's charge was not particularly fast. Its main strength lay in its suddenness.
Anyone whose reactions were even slightly slow would probably have been hit.
However, Bai Lan's reactions were not slow. In fact, they were faster than most people's.
He shifted his body aside and reached out at the same time, accurately grabbing the front of his opponent's clothes. Next, he could perform a shoulder throw or something and toss the other person into the camera's optimal filming position.
He had just grabbed the other person by the collar and was about to throw them when he suddenly saw their appearance clearly.
It was a cute girl with orange-yellow bobbed hair, an angelic smile, and a full figure.
Bai Lan remembered accidentally hearing others call her "Kushida" and "Kikyo."
Kushida was extremely sociable and loved helping others. She had formed friendly relationships with many people on the very first day of school and was popular in class, making her a central figure on the same level as Hirata.
At the same time, she was one of the girls who had shown him goodwill.
Bai Lan: Did I get the wrong idea? She isn't here to pick a fight with me?
After realizing this, he hurriedly changed the throw into a push, using a skillful force to cancel out the inertia in her body and trying to let her stop safely.
Yet after she came to a steady stop, Bai Lan seemed to feel something "rebound" against his hand.
At that moment, Bai Lan also realized what he had just pushed.
To avoid triggering certain troublesome side routes and affecting his main route of dropping out, Bai Lan pretended not to realize that he had touched something strange.
He slowly withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened, showing no sign of guilt after doing something "bad."
At a time like this, if the other person was willing to cooperate and pretend, they could treat it as though nothing had happened, and neither side would feel awkward.
However.
The moment Bai Lan's hand left, Kushida immediately covered her chest. At the same time, her little face flushed red, like a warning signal, as though emphasizing that the thing Bai Lan had just pretended had not happened had, in fact, happened.
Then Kushida spoke.
"I'm sorry, Bai. It's all because I didn't slow down and walk carefully at the junction. I almost bumped into you." Kushida wore an apologetic expression as she spoke.
"It's fine. I wasn't hit either..."
Besides, I didn't come away empty-handed.
Bai Lan still intended to continue pretending nothing had happened. He prepared to walk around her and return to the classroom directly, lest he trigger some useless side route.
Seeing Bai Lan looking as though he had taken advantage of her and wanted to leave, Kushida immediately grew anxious.
As they said, "When you take something from someone, you go soft; when you eat someone's food, your words grow short."
Although she had not initially intended to let him "take" anything from her, and everything had been an accident, now that he had already "taken" it, couldn't he at least act a little "soft"?
Couldn't he say a couple of gentle words?
How was she supposed to start a conversation when he acted like this?
Forget it...
Before Bai Lan could lift his foot, Kushida immediately revealed her signature angelic smile and took the initiative to start a conversation. "What a coincidence, Bai~"
"A... coincidence?"
Bai Lan's gaze was a little strange. His tone seemed to be going along with her words, yet also seemed to express doubt.
Actually, he did not think this was a coincidence.
Before the other person rushed out, he had already noticed a large mass of moving shadow on the ground beside the corner.
That meant someone had been waiting beside the corner ahead for quite some time.
Thus, Kushida had not simply "forgotten to slow down while passing through the junction." She had been waiting there all along. She had done it deliberately.
Bai Lan recalled the lively yet intimacy-seeking gaze Kushida had directed at him that morning and immediately classified her as one of the love-struck members of Class D.
Adding that "throwing herself into his arms" just now...
Bai Lan reached a conclusion: he suspected Kushida had indeed ambushed him, but her ambush was not meant to pick a fight. Instead, it was meant to "make friends" with him or something?
Kushida seemed to understand what Bai Lan was trying to express.
She immediately lowered her head and said shamefully, "I'm sorry, Bai! This really wasn't a coincidence. I was waiting here specifically for you. There's something I wanted to tell you, but I was worried you wouldn't pay attention to me, so I planned to arrange a 'chance encounter at the corner.' I heard that doing this could increase the initial favorability of a conversation."
"But you sacrificed way too much just to 'increase favorability,' didn't you?" As he said this, Bai Lan shifted both hands uncomfortably.
"I actually practiced this move specifically. I could have stopped by myself originally, but there was an accident. You acted too quickly, and before I had time to use it, you..." Kushida's little face was flushed as she spoke in an extremely adorable manner.
I'm sorry, you're a good person
"But you sacrificed way too much just to 'increase favorability,' didn't you?"
"I actually practiced this move specifically. I could have stopped by myself originally, but there was an accident. Bai, you were too fast. I didn't have time to use it, and then you..." Kushida's little face was flushed as she hurriedly explained, looking like a startled rabbit.
How did the saying go?
A girl's blush spoke louder than a thousand words.
Moreover, she had gone to such lengths merely to "increase the initial favorability of the conversation."
Clearly, she wanted something substantial. Through this conversation, she intended to obtain some enormous benefit from Bai Lan!
Bai Lan grew even more certain of his guess and raised the severity of that guess by another alert level.
The worst-case scenario was that she wanted him!
She wants to confess to me! Bai Lan grew secretly vigilant.
"Even though things have already turned out like this, I still hope you'll seriously listen to my request..."
As she spoke, the girl suddenly reached out with both hands and grabbed Bai Lan's right hand.
Her petite hands clasped together, sandwiching Bai Lan's right hand between them. She then raised it directly in front of her face, bowed slightly to lower her height, and looked up at Bai Lan from a forty-five-degree angle with a pleading, expectant gaze.
"Please!"
Bai Lan tried to pull his hand back. After trying once, he gave up.
He felt that he could pull free, but he did not dare to use too much force, afraid he would fling this girl—who was quite well-endowed but petite overall—away.
After making a little mental preparation, Bai Lan rehearsed a "universal rejection line" in his mind. Finally, he made up his mind and spoke. "All right. What did you want to tell me?"
"It's like this..."
Kushida took a deep breath, then twisted her body unnaturally several times, causing her pleated short skirt to flutter up slightly more than once.
She looked extremely embarrassed and conflicted, as if she were about to say something difficult to bring up.
Bai Lan became even more certain of his guess.
She definitely wants to confess to me!
Bai Lan resigned himself to his fate. He carefully loaded the inspected shell into the cannon, preparing to open fire the moment he spotted the enemy.
Soon, Kushida spoke.
"I want to be friends with Horikita!" / "I'm sorry, you're a good person!"
"Huh?" X2
The two of them froze.
After a moment of silence.
Bai Lan said expressionlessly, "You ambushed me here just to get me to help you become friends with Horikita?"
"That's right, that's right~"
Kushida spoke with the innocent, sweet expression of an angel who could never have bad intentions.
Hearing this, Bai Lan could not help rubbing his face with his hand.
Another addition to his embarrassing history.
How awkward... Not really!
Bai Lan felt it did not matter.
He was going to drop out anyway. Even if people regarded him as an "average self-confident man" or a "narcissist," it did not matter. He could even lower other people's favorability toward him in the process, so there were only benefits and no drawbacks.
Bai Lan was simply not used to responding to other people's goodwill.
Since the other person had not come to express "goodwill" toward him—friendship or a confession—but wanted to use him as a "friendship tool,"
then Bai Lan was quite good at handling this kind of purely exploitative relationship.
He did not even need to think. He only had to follow the muscle memory formed from years of sharp-tongued experience and casually throw out a few unpleasant remarks. That would make it impossible for the atmosphere of the conversation to continue and directly end this "encounter battle."
However, just as he prepared to say something harsh,
he suddenly realized something.
Before you continue