Thanks for Your Generosity, Nagumo-senpai! It's Great Having You in Charge of the Second Years!

Meow!

Mm.

Kushida-senpai instantly decided there was something wrong with this junior in every way, but she didn't mind the thought.

As Kushida thought that, her tense heart relaxed at once, and even her expression turned cheerful.

She glanced toward Nakano Yuu and Horikita.

Unfortunately, neither of them looked at her.

"..."

Kushida.

Whatever.

She was used to it.

Meanwhile.

Nakano-kun, who had no idea Kushida had already set her sights on him, slipped his phone into his pocket.

While he'd been talking with Horikita, Nagumo-senpai had sent him several more messages. But Nakano Yuu hadn't replied to any of them and had simply waited patiently.

Finally.

The morning classes ended, and the students were finally given their lunch break.

"Um..."

Horikita hadn't brought a lunch today.

Horikita's brother's advice had worked. Horikita wasn't as frugal as she'd been at first, and sometimes she'd even learned to take it easy and not cook.

Naturally.

As her desk mate, Nakano Yuu caught a faint minty scent coming from Horikita today.

It was completely different from the light, feminine fragrance Horikita Suzune usually carried.

Of course, some girls used perfume and the like to add a scent to themselves.

But from what Nakano Yuu knew of Horikita Suzune, she wouldn't do that. Horikita didn't own any makeup, and her only skincare product was a bottle of toner.

He knew because he'd once gone to her dorm room and noticed what she had there.

By her washbasin, there was only a bottle of toner and a bottle of hand soap. Very simple.

The tea in Horikita's thermos today was unusual, too. Usually, she seemed to drink the relatively cheap jasmine green tea, but today it was ginger and brown sugar tea.

For keeping warm.

In other words, it was probably what he thought: Horikita was going through that time of the month.

Since it was a difficult time for her, she wouldn't want to tire herself out, so naturally she hadn't gotten up early to make lunch.

"Time to reel him in. I'm going to the cafeteria."

Nakano Yuu said with gentlemanly courtesy.

"Want to come with me?"

"Mm. I'm going to the cafeteria today, too."

Horikita didn't refuse.

Once they reached the cafeteria, while Horikita went to get their food, Nakano Yuu swiftly opened his phone and blocked and deleted Nagumo Miyabi's contact information in one smooth motion.

"Oh, what a coincidence."

While waiting for Horikita to return from the queue, he noticed that Sakayanagi Arisu had somehow made her way to the second-floor cafeteria.

She held her cane in her left hand, and Kamuro wasn't with her.

He didn't know whether she'd taken the elevator and spotted him here or had simply felt like coming to the second-floor cafeteria for lunch today.

He had to admit, every time he saw Sakayanagi Arisu, even though he knew she was just an ex-girlfriend and told himself that she was a woman from his past, he still found it easy to fall for her.

After all, she was the cutest girl in the school.

Nakano Yuu had secretly taken a picture of Karuizawa before, and Karuizawa was cute, too, but she was still a step below Sakayanagi.

Thud.

Just then, Horikita Suzune returned with two meals.

One was for herself, and she slid the other over to Nakano Yuu. Both meals were simple udon, though the toppings were extravagant.

Naturally, they weren't cheap, either.

This was where Horikita deserved some criticism.

The school offered three kinds of udon. The cheapest cost only 400 Private Points, the version with a few toppings cost 800, and the deluxe one cost 2,000. And the bowls she and Nakano had both ordered were the most expensive kind, at 2,000 points each.

She'd gone straight for the priciest option.

Of course.

Nakano-kun wasn't going to begrudge a girl a bowl of noodles.

Besides, it was fair payment for asking her to get his food.

Looking at Horikita's personality from this angle, it became clear that as long as she was paid for her efforts, she'd dutifully do the work—and she'd just as dutifully accept the compensation she was entitled to. It was rather surprising.

"And who is this?"

Sakayanagi Arisu showed no sign of leaving after greeting them. She seemed to be paying attention to Horikita.

Horikita knew someone was watching her, but she sat down without changing her expression.

Then she began eating.

"Could it be your new pet?"

Sakayanagi asked.

"No."

Nakano Yuu shook his head.

"That's a rather dehumanizing way to talk about a classmate."

Mm.

Nobody could deny that.

Sakayanagi Arisu was indeed arrogant. She even treated Kamuro like a dog, which was certainly inhumane.

But.

"This is my girlfriend," Nakano-kun said.

"..."

Sakayanagi.

Introducing his current girlfriend to his ex right in front of her wasn't exactly treating her like a person, either.

"Actually, I'm not."

Horikita Suzune, who had been silent until now, spoke up.

"Stop saying things like that to people. They'll cause trouble for me."

"Sorry."

Nakano Yuu replied obediently.

"I'll remember that."

"..."

Horikita.

Nakano-kun's meek response even made Horikita glance up at him.

It was simple enough to understand why she'd butted into the conversation between Nakano Yuu and his ex-girlfriend, Sakayanagi. She hadn't cared about anyone's gaze before, but she didn't like the way Sakayanagi Arisu had just looked at her. Based on how she interpreted that sort of look, she'd probably just been mistaken for a romantic rival.

In other words.

Nakano-kun, you're dragging her into all kinds of ridiculous romantic trouble.

"Hehe."

Sakayanagi Arisu gave a polite smile, as if trying to save face.

"Looks like Nakano-kun is still single."

"I only went through a breakup recently, after all. I can't just move on from it that easily."

Nakano-kun continued to answer honestly.

"Hehe."

But Sakayanagi's smile didn't reach her eyes.

Because what was this nonsense about a breakup? He'd been the one to break up with her!

Sakayanagi Arisu gripped her cane, displeased, and turned to leave.

Just then, a blond second-year appeared at the cafeteria entrance.

As Sakayanagi left, he hurried over toward them.

It was Miyabi Nagumo from Class 2-A. Sakayanagi had met him once before, but she'd been left with a poor impression of him. Now that she'd spotted Nagumo here, she naturally wanted to get away even faster.

Thinking that, Sakayanagi got back into the elevator.

As it rose, she noticed that Nagumo-senpai hadn't been heading for her at all. He was rushing straight toward Nakano Yuu.

Hmm?

Sakayanagi seemed to sense that something was off. But the elevator had already started moving, carrying her upward.

Sakayanagi Arisu seemed to sense that something was off, but the elevator had already started moving, carrying her upward.

Meanwhile, Nakano Yuu and Horikita noticed Miyabi Nagumo approaching, too.

"Nakano Yuu!"

Compared with the elegant manner he'd had when they first met, Miyabi Nagumo's expression was far less gentle now.

Horikita Suzune remained unfazed.

She knew Nagumo-senpai's appearance here was part of Nakano Yuu's plan. Nakano Yuu had deleted Nagumo's contact information and blocked him, so when Nagumo realized it, he'd surely come after him.

Nakano-kun had explained all of this while tricking her into joining the queue.

She also knew that Nakano Yuu's strategy was to ignore everything Nagumo-senpai said, forcing him to come confront them in person. If that happened, they'd already have won half the battle.

It was psychological warfare.

After all, they wanted to get their hands on the points he'd collected. They couldn't do that without breaking through his mental defenses.

This was a field Horikita had never ventured into, so all she had to do was follow Nakano Yuu's instructions.

And for now, at least, Nakano-kun hadn't asked her to say anything.

So Horikita stayed seated and continued eating.

Nakano-kun kept eating, too, though he still had some respect for a second-year senpai, so after a couple of bites, he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"Nagumo-senpai, you seem to be in quite a hurry. Did something happen?"

He asked.