The "Team Fight" Disturbance at the Coffee Shop

"Phew—thank goodness Hirata didn't insist on me staying."

Just as he returned to the bottom of the dormitory building, Shangguan Che let out a long sigh of relief. Recalling the scene of the five people huddled together just moments ago, he couldn't help but mutter, "If he'd actually made me pull up a chair and sit next to them, it would've been so awkward. I would've felt like a transparent background character just sitting in on a meeting."

The table could only accommodate five people at most; there was simply no room for Shangguan Che to sit. He couldn't exactly sit on Hirata's lap, could he?

He turned his head to glance at the quiet Sakura beside him and silently gave her a mental thumbs-up: "Sakura is truly a saint. Being right next to me gave me the perfect excuse to slip away."

At the elevator entrance, Sakura, holding Shangguan Che's camera, gently tugged at the corner of his shirt: "Shangguan-kun, your camera."

She remembered that back at the electronics store, Shangguan had said the camera was too heavy and asked her to help carry it. Now that they were back at the dorms, she couldn't just keep holding onto someone else's property.

"No, no, keep it for now," Shangguan Che waved his hand, turned, and ran toward the stairwell. "Consider it a thank-you gift for helping me carry it earlier. Bye~"

Before Sakura could react, the camera in her hands still warm from his touch, she saw him dash back like a gust of wind, his eyes sparkling: "Oh, right! Feel free to use it however you want, shoot whatever you like—I really don't mind! This time, for real, see ya!"

Without waiting for a response, he truly vanished at the end of the hallway.

Sakura stood where she was, clutching the camera in a daze, a faint blush slowly creeping onto her cheeks.

She looked down at the camera in her arms. The black body and the lens, polished to a spotless shine, clearly showed how well its owner took care of it.

"Shangguan-kun is such a nice person," she whispered to herself, her footsteps light as she headed toward her own room.

Meanwhile, Shangguan Che, having run back to his room, was leaning against the door.

Of course, it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision to lend the camera to Sakura; he had intended to do so from the very beginning.

But if he had just said "I'm lending this to you," given Sakura's personality, she would surely have felt like it was charity and might have refused to accept it.

By framing it as a "thank-you gift," he had done her a favor without placing any psychological burden on her. It was simply perfect.

"I really am a clever little guy," Shangguan Che shook his head smugly, but then he suddenly remembered Hirata's comment about "Shangguan and Sakura's relationship being more than friends but less than lovers," and his cheeks instantly felt hot.

He touched his face, his heart skipping a beat for no reason: "That Hirata, he really knows how to poke at sensitive spots."

He flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, his mind wandering: Should he maintain this current relationship with Sakura?

If things stayed like this, would they eventually develop into a couple? But he had never even been in a relationship before; he had no idea how to handle that.

After agonizing over it for a long time, Shangguan Che sat up abruptly: "Why think so much about it! Just take it one step at a time. Besides, things are pretty good as they are right now."

Just like that, Shangguan Che resolved his internal mental struggle in a few short moments.

After resting for a while, Shangguan Che suddenly remembered there was one person he hadn't "checked in" on yet: Karuizawa Kei.

"Today I've seen Sakura, Hirata, Ichinose, and Ayanokoji. The only one left is Karuizawa."

He activated his Clairvoyance to start searching, muttering to himself, "I treat everyone equally, even if I don't believe that myself—but there's no harm in talking big, right?"

Karuizawa wasn't in her dorm, nor was she at the mall she usually frequented. Shangguan Che adjusted the direction of his vision and finally found her in a coffee shop.

"This girl, actually slacking off at a cafe," Shangguan Che chuckled, but his expression froze the next second.

Karuizawa was surrounded by a few gal friends, pointing and gesturing toward the table next to them. Judging by the atmosphere, it looked like they were about to "start a fight!"

And looking at the direction they were signaling, the people sitting at the next table seemed to be from Class C?

"No way, is Karuizawa actually trying to stir up trouble?" Shangguan Che sat bolt upright, staring intently at the scene.

One of Karuizawa's gal friends spoke up first, her voice sugary and affected: "Kei-chan, don't you think the sound of them studying next to us is a bit noisy? This is a cafe, not a library."

"Exactly, exactly. It's so loud I can't even chat with Kei-chan," another girl immediately chimed in, deliberately leaning closer to Karuizawa.

The other girls nodded along: "Yeah, yeah, it's so rude to be this loud in a public place."

Karuizawa hesitated. She didn't actually think it was that noisy, but seeing the expectant looks from her friends and remembering how hard she had worked to integrate into this little group, she feared that if she refused, she might be ostracized. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to say, "Yeah, it is a bit noisy."

"Then you should go tell them to stop, Kei-chan!" the girl who spoke first immediately gave her a nudge. "Kei-chan is the best; they'll definitely listen to you."

"That's right, the library is for studying, this is for drinking coffee and chatting. How can they be so loud?" The others joined in the agitation.

Karuizawa's heart skipped a beat, and her palms instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

Make her argue with strangers? That was the thing she feared most in the past.

But thinking of the "gal leader" image she had worked so hard to build, if she backed down now, her friends would surely look down on her.

Go for it! She cheered herself on internally, took a deep breath, stood up, and walked toward the next table.

"Hey! You guys studying over there, can you keep it down!" Karuizawa deliberately raised her voice, trying to use bravado to mask her nervousness. "This is a cafe, not your private study! You're bothering me and my friends!"

No sooner had the words left her mouth than a burly boy at the next table stood up with a "whoosh," his brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly. He roared at Karuizawa: "Hey! What's your problem, you brat! You looking for a fight?!"

Shangguan Che jumped in surprise.

Isn't that Ishizaki Daichi from Class C? He was famous for his short temper. Hadn't Karuizawa just walked right into the line of fire?

Sure enough, Karuizawa flinched at Ishizaki's intensity, her face turning pale instantly. The courage she had forced up vanished without a trace, and she couldn't even get a word out.

Just then, a soft voice suddenly rang out: "Ishizaki-kun, don't say that. We're all classmates, let's talk this out properly."

Shangguan Che looked closely and saw a white-haired girl sitting next to Ishizaki. She was gently tugging at Ishizaki's sleeve, her tone gentle yet carrying an undeniable weight.

Ishizaki looked back at the white-haired girl, his fierce expression softening significantly. He muttered, "Fine, for the sake of Shiina-san, I won't hold it against her."

Shiina Hiyori smiled at Karuizawa, her voice soft: "I'm sorry, classmate. We were too absorbed in our studies and disturbed you. We'll try to be quieter."

Karuizawa was stunned; she hadn't expected the other party to be so reasonable. She quickly waved her hands: "N-no, it's fine, just... please keep it down." With that, she hurried back to her seat.

Shangguan Che finally breathed a sigh of relief: "It's a good thing that white-haired girl was there, otherwise Karuizawa would have definitely suffered today."

He took this opportunity to use Clairvoyance to check briefly, only then learning that the white-haired girl was Shiina Hiyori from Class C, who had excellent grades but somewhat poor physical stamina.

She seemed to have a lot of prestige in her class; even Ishizaki listened to her.

Shiina Hiyori watched Karuizawa's retreating figure, lost in thought for a moment.

In truth, she had originally been tutoring classmates in the library today, but some students couldn't help but discuss loudly while studying, disturbing others, so she had thought of changing locations.

She hadn't expected to disturb others even after coming to the cafe.

"It seems I'll have to study in the classroom next time," she muttered softly, then turned to Ishizaki and said, "Ishizaki-kun, you mustn't be so fierce to girls in the future; you need to be gentler."

"Got it, Shiina-san." Ishizaki scratched his head and smiled sheepishly.

On the other side, Karuizawa slumped into a chair, her heart still pounding, secretly swearing to herself: I will never do something this stupid again; it was too terrifying!

But just as she caught her breath, her friends crowded around her, praising her in a flurry of voices: "Kei-chan, you're amazing! To think you dared to talk to such a fierce guy!"

"Exactly, exactly, Kei-chan is the best, we all admire you!"

"Hey, Maya, how come you're hugging Kei already? I want to hug her too!"

Listening to her friends' praise and feeling their warm closeness, the fear in Karuizawa's heart slowly vanished, replaced by an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

So this is how good it feels to be needed and admired by everyone.

She smiled and patted her friends' hands: "It was nothing, leave anything like this to me in the future!"

Watching Karuizawa's smug expression on the screen, Shangguan Che couldn't help but laugh: "This girl, she was scared to death, yet she still insists on saving face."

However, he also admired Karuizawa quite a bit. To protect her "wonderful life," she actually dared to muster the courage to confront a stranger; that took some guts.

Still, this felt like she was "initiating a team fight" against him. It was obvious at a glance that this wasn't the real Karuizawa Kei. Shangguan Che was left speechless, feeling that she was drifting further and further away from her true self.