Just Want to Be a Slacker

Seeing the closed door before her, Kushida Kikyo's eyelids twitched violently several times.

Damn it!

Kushida Kikyo pulled out her phone to curse Kamio Tatsuya a few times, but after thinking it over, she gave up—wasn't that just handing him leverage on a silver platter?

Back in his dorm, Kamio Tatsuya plugged his phone into the charger and flopped onto the bed to sleep.

As for that Kushida woman, he hadn't given her a second thought.

The next day, perhaps because his sleep quality the night before was decent, Kamio Tatsuya woke up a bit earlier than usual.

"Good morning, Kamio-kun."

Seeing Kushida Kikyo standing inside the elevator, the corner of Kamio Tatsuya's mouth twitched.

What the hell?

In the past month or so, he'd barely run into her twice, so why today of all days? And besides Kushida, there were other people in the elevator too.

As luck would have it, they were also acquaintances—Kamuro Masumi and Sakayanagi Arisu.

Sigh, couldn't exactly pretend not to know them.

Kamio Tatsuya just nodded at Kamuro, who was at the back, then silently walked into the elevator and stood by the door without a word.

When the elevator reached the lobby, Kushida said a quick goodbye and immediately went to meet up with her friends.

But Kamio Tatsuya's troubles clearly weren't over yet.

"Good morning, Masumi... and Sakayanagi."

Since he'd already spotted Kamuro, he had to greet her, but only greeting Kamuro seemed a bit off, so he tacked on Sakayanagi too.

"In this school, you've managed to find yourself three scapegoats. Kamio-kun, your moves really have me impressed."

Sure enough, that white-haired loli never opened her mouth with anything good.

Though it sounded like praise, that was usually just her way of kicking off a conversation.

"If you have something to say, just say it." Kamio Tatsuya glanced at her. "And besides, leaving the dorm at this hour, with your walking speed, won't you be late?"

Sakayanagi's face twitched a little—Kamio Tatsuya was the first person who dared say that to her face.

"Kamio-kun, personal attacks aren't something a proper gentleman should do."

Right, Kamio Tatsuya was hinting at her physical condition, but of course he couldn't admit that, or at least not yet.

"What are you talking about?" Kamio Tatsuya immediately played the victim, putting on a pained expression. "I was just worried whether your legs could get you to school in time. How can you wrong me like this? It's really heartbreaking."

This time, not just Sakayanagi, but even Kamuro, who'd been silently following the two, couldn't hold it in.

"Pfft!"

Her laugh made Sakayanagi a bit angry, and the sound of her cane hitting the ground grew louder.

Behind her back, Kamio Tatsuya quietly gave Kamuro a thumbs-up.

Only for Kamuro to slap his hand away.

Good thing Sakayanagi didn't see it, or who knows how mad she'd get.

"Kamio-kun, let's have lunch together. I have something I'd like your help with. I'll have Masumi-san come pick you up at Class D's door."

After being tormented for a bit, Sakayanagi finally got to the point.

If you'd just said that from the start, Kamio Tatsuya thought with a curl of his lip.

"Are you treating?"

You just swindled three million Points out of me, and now you're asking if I'm treating? Your Points should be way more than mine, right?

"What a stingy man, making a girl pay."

Starting trouble again, huh?

And you're so flustered you're using such a lame provocation.

"Gender equality, and you're the one asking for my help."

With one sentence, he deflected Sakayanagi Arisu's attack and even threw in a counter.

Kamio Tatsuya believed in one thing: if you lost ground in a verbal spar, it was probably because your skin wasn't thick enough.

And while Kamio Tatsuya's skin wasn't that thick, compared to these high schoolers, it was more than enough.

In short, is your skin thick enough?

Answer: Enough.

Relatively speaking, Sakayanagi Arisu fell short, so she rarely got the upper hand with Kamio Tatsuya.

Chapter 67: I Just Want to See the Look on Your Face When I Stand You Up

Seeing Kamio Tatsuya completely unfazed, Sakayanagi was at a loss.

She was good at exploiting others' weaknesses to attack, but Kamio Tatsuya? She still hadn't found his weak point.

A guy who couldn't be swayed by anything.

After silently grumbling to herself, she pulled the topic back.

"In that case, we'll meet at noon without fail. Kamuro-san, please trouble yourself to pick up Kamio-kun and bring him to our usual booth at lunch."

Kamuro Masumi knew this was punishment for her earlier laugh.

But she didn't mind it much. She wasn't the type to be shy about these things, and she didn't dislike Kamio Tatsuya—in fact, she rather liked him, or she wouldn't have let him touch her legs so willingly.

It was just that this guy was way too infuriating, never once reaching out to her on his own!

"No problem."

"Then I'll wait for you after school."

"No need. See you in the cafeteria."

The distance between the dorm and school wasn't far, and soon they arrived. Kamio Tatsuya parted ways with her and headed toward the school building.

After the Midterm Exam, the atmosphere in Class D had relaxed a bit.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the classroom, he was met with a noisy racket.

"You're still the same as ever."

Just as he sat down, Horikita, who hadn't spoken to him in a while, directly started a conversation.

"What else would I be?"

Kamio Tatsuya was a bit baffled.

"I thought you might let loose a little after getting three scapegoats."

MD, who do you think you're looking down on?

Kamio Tatsuya was a little annoyed. Did she think he was like the Three Fools?

Oh, Sudo seemed to have toned it down after this incident—he'd even arrived earlier than Kamio Tatsuya.

But come to think of it, with Ike and Yamauchi both absent from class and it still being this loud, Class D was probably done for.

Still, things quieted down once the teacher arrived, and overall, it was much better than before.

Hirata and the others' efforts were paying off.

Soon, it was time for the last class of the morning. Kamio Tatsuya wondered what Sakayanagi wanted with him.

He had a bad feeling about it.

What if he just ditched?

He felt like Sakayanagi would get pissed off.

Sure, you can run but you can't hide, but he'd deal with running first.

And from what he could tell, her looking for him definitely wasn't good news. If only he could make her back off.

The last class was homeroom teacher Majima Tomoya-sensei's English lesson. In the final few minutes, he'd finished the lecture and just let the students review on their own.

"Sensei, my stomach hurts. Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Go ahead."

Kamio Tatsuya raised his hand, claiming an urgent need, and Majima-sensei generously let him leave early.

Then Kamio Tatsuya did actually go to the bathroom first.

Since class wasn't over yet, leaving the Teaching Building would be recorded as an early departure, and might even deduct the hard-earned Class Points.

He didn't have much goodwill toward Class D, but screwing them over like that wasn't great either. He was already a bit of a jerk, but he couldn't be too much of one.

When the bell rang for dismissal, Kamio Tatsuya left the bathroom and headed straight for the school's Supermarket.

He decided he'd just eat a bread roll today.

Sakayanagi was probably waiting at Class D's door right now.

Heh, trying to outsmart me?

You're still twenty thousand years too early!

In reality, Sakayanagi never believed Kamio Tatsuya's "see you in the cafeteria" line.

So as soon as school ended, she headed straight for Class D.

What she didn't expect was that Class D's students filed out one after another, but Kamio Tatsuya wasn't among them.

"Hello, you're Sakayanagi-san from Class A, right? Are you waiting for someone? Or if you need any help, please feel free to tell me."

At that moment, Hirata Yosuke from Class D appeared. His persona was that he couldn't leave a troubled classmate alone.

So when he saw Sakayanagi Arisu standing alone in the hallway outside Class D, he couldn't help but approach her.

"Thank you. If it's not too much trouble, could you call Kamio-kun for me?"

"Kamio-kun? You mean Kamio Tatsuya-kun?"

"That's right."

Sakayanagi gave a polite smile.

"Kamio-kun said his stomach hurt and left the classroom near the end of the last period. He hasn't come back yet." Hirata gave a wry smile, signaling he couldn't help.

Hirata's words hit like a thunderbolt, leaving Sakayanagi blinking blankly twice.

Did he really have to avoid her that badly?

She didn't believe for a second that Kamio Tatsuya actually had a stomachache and went to the bathroom.

"Is there something you need from Kamio-kun? I can pass along a message for you."

Seeing Sakayanagi's expression, Hirata's irrepressible sympathy kicked in again.

Sakayanagi opened her mouth, wanting to say, We agreed to eat together, but shook her head instead.

If she said that, the Class D students would probably think Kamio Tatsuya was untrustworthy for standing up a cute girl.

She came to ask Kamio Tatsuya for help, not to pick a fight.

If she offended him now, things would only get harder.

"No need. I'll just wait here for him."

After buying two popular yakisoba breads at the supermarket, Kamio Tatsuya headed straight back to the Teaching Building, planning to eat on the rooftop.

Sakayanagi that girl probably wasn't still blocking the classroom door waiting for him, right.

Well, whatever. He did this just to stand her up, not because he didn't want to see her.

Either way, he actually liked that White Hair loli's stubborn, never-give-up personality.

Then he glanced at the vending machine by the supermarket entrance. Eating only bread would probably make him thirsty.

"Yo, you really did wait here to block me."

At the door of Class D, seeing Sakayanagi Arisu standing in the hallway leaning on her cane, Kamio Tatsuya grinned with delight.

"Kamio-kun, breaking promises isn't a good habit, you know."