Get Some Fries and Feed the Pigeons

Palette Cafe.

"Two strawberry parfaits, one pancake, and three strawberry cakes!"

"I'll pay."

Ichinose took out her student ID and handed it to the waiter, ready to pay.

"No, I'll pay. I forgot that you came to find me without having eaten. Consider it a celebration of you successfully climbing out of the mud."

Kamigami Haruo snatched Ichinose's student ID back and handed his own to the waiter.

"Which one do you want to read?"

After carrying their food to a table and sitting down, Kamigami Haruo took several manga volumes and light novels from his bag for Ichinose to choose from.

"I'll take this one. Thanks, Kamigami-kun."

After Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma was taken, Kamigami Haruo picked up Re:Zero and began reading.

"Good afternoon, Haruo-kun, Honami-kun. Are you two on a couple's date?"

"Not at all, Kikyo-san."

Ichinose did not blush. Instead, she answered generously.

"It's a date between friends. I'm not that popular. You're the popular one, Kikyo. It's been two weeks already, so there must be plenty of people pursuing you, right?"

Kamigami Haruo chimed in with a timely compliment.

"Not at all. The upperclassmen and everyone else are just very kind to me. I'm really happy that I got to meet everyone."

Kushida Kikyo said shyly, blushing. She played herself off as an emotional airhead while emphasizing that countless people were pursuing her.

"Your friends are calling you, Kikyo."

Kamigami Haruo looked at the innumerable people behind her who were waving.

"Oh my, I've kept everyone waiting. I'll be going now. See you."

"See you." ×2

"Kikyo-san is really popular. Oh, right, isn't she also one of those overly nice people you mentioned? But you seem very enthusiastic toward her."

Ichinose asked with a sense of unfairness.

"There's no one like that in Class D. Hahaha."

"Huh? Why do you say that? Is there some special meaning behind it?"

"Oh, that's a secret. If you want to know, bring something to trade."

Kamigami Haruo grinned mischievously. Ever since they had opened up to each other, their conversations had become more natural.

"I, Ichinose, will treat you to dinner."

Ichinose placed a hand over her chest, tilted her head back, and said with a smile.

"Alright, alright. Then I'll tell you."

"You can think of the four classes as four social classes. Class A is the elite top students, Class B is ordinary students, Class C is the bottom rung of society, and Class D is a gathering place for defective products."

"But don't underestimate them. Everyone in Class D has their own strengths. If they can be brought together, they have great potential, though it's very difficult."

Kamigami Haruo described the status of each class.

"Huh? So that's how it is. But isn't calling them defective products a little harsh?"

Ichinose looked conflicted.

"Uh, people in Class D either have personality problems, dark histories from middle school, or blank middle-school histories. That blond Vice President explained the whole middle-school history thing to you, right? That's why you opened up to him."

"Kamigami-kun really knows everything. You even know that. If that's how the classes are divided, may I ask why Kamigami-kun was assigned to Class D?"

Ichinose looked at him with slight curiosity. She had always found Kamigami Haruo mysterious, as though he knew everything.

"Me? It's nothing I can't tell you. I got in through connections, so I had a blank history. Then I handed in a blank answer sheet for the written exam."

"A blank answer sheet!?"

Ichinose looked stunned.

"Yeah, whenever I see questions, my whole body goes weak, my head gets dizzy, I have trouble breathing, and then I fall asleep."

Ichinose looked at Kamigami Haruo, who was putting on an innocent act.

Kamigami Haruo looked back at her with an equally pitiful expression.

Their eyes met. There was him in her eyes, and her in his, until Ichinose could no longer take it and changed the subject.

"It feels like Kamigami-kun deliberately ordered desserts with excessive sugar. What should I do? I'll gain weight if I eat like this."

Ichinose looked somewhat embarrassed at the strawberry, pancake, and strawberry parfait in front of her.

"That's right. This is the energy you'll need for exercise later. If you don't want to exercise, that's fine too. I'll just call you Fatty Honami from now on."

Kamigami Haruo scooped up a spoonful of parfait and pointed it at Ichinose.

"You're not allowed to call me that! I only look a little chubby on the outside. If you call me that, then I'll call you... I'll call you... Sexy Mouth Corner! Hmph!"

"I don't mind. You can call me whatever you want."

Kamigami Haruo spread his hands to show that he did not care, then continued.

"But starting today, it won't just be running. Whatever I do later, you'll do too—push-ups, sit-ups, and the like. Train until you drop dead."

"Do your best, so I can live up to everyone's expectations."

Ichinose raised a fist to encourage herself.

"By the way, you're an otaku girl too, aren't you? You shut yourself in at home for half a year, after all."

"Even if I shut myself in, it was impossible to just sit at home staring into space all day. Other than studying constantly, I immersed myself in anime and manga to escape reality. But after deciding to move forward, I stopped watching."

"No wonder you know so much about anime and manga. The next time you're in a bad mood, you can watch Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Angel Beats!, or Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light."

"You're as mean as ever, Kamigami-kun. You can't fool me this time, because I've seen them."

As they chatted, they slowly ate the desserts bite by bite.

Keyaki Mall.

The two sat on a bench, watching pedestrians come and go.

"Um, Ichinose, aside from restaurants and clothing stores, what else is there to do while shopping?"

"Huh? How about the movie theater?"

"Even though this might sound very guy-like, I still want to say that compared to a movie theater, using the computer in the dorm is more cost-effective, has a better atmosphere, and is more comfortable."

"Uwah, that really is a very guy-like thing to say. Then how about an arcade?"

After teasing him, Ichinose touched her index finger to the corner of her mouth as she thought, then made her suggestion.

Kamigami Haruo said this.

"Does the arcade have pachinko? I've never played, so I want to try it."

"Nope. You can't pick up the bad habit of gambling. Even if the school doesn't have it, you still can't. It feels like your entire body reeks of a useless middle-aged man."

Ichinose crossed her arms in a rejecting pose, taking the opportunity to tease him.

"You really care about your friends, Ichinose. Let me think... How about we get some fries and go feed the pigeons by the shore?"

Half an hour later, Ichinose watched Kamigami Haruo feed the pigeons while dodging bird droppings falling from the sky. One hand clutched her stomach while the other wiped away tears of laughter. It was too absurd.

"Phew, safe. Perfect."

"Girl over there, please stop smiling. You're making me very beset."

Kamigami Haruo wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, thinking that this was actually pretty good for training his dodging reflexes.

Seeing Ichinose laughing her heart out over there, Kamigami Haruo imitated someone's manner of speaking to tease her.

"Kamigami-kun, you sound so strange when you talk like that. You're exactly like that blond guy I always see at the cafe. Every time I see him, he's surrounded by so many upperclassmen girls. He's a complete playboy."

"Koenji, huh? I was copying the way he talks."

Kamigami Haruo thought of all the girls surrounding Koenji, and how he could even live off women. It actually seemed pretty nice?