After school.
Keyaki Mall, karaoke.
Prince Ganlongdao and the others arrived at the private room Shiho Manabe and her friends had booked.
Inside the room.
Prince Ganlongdao sat in the middle of the sofa.
His right-hand man, Ishizaki, sat on his right. Shiho Manabe, Nanami Yabu, Saki Yamashita, and Rika Morofuji sat on his left, while Albert poured drinks for them.
At that moment.
Ishizaki was animatedly showing off what had just happened.
"You guys have no idea. Prince Brother was so badass back there. There must've been dozens of people standing against us, and even the Student Council president was there, glaring at us with a face so scary it could frighten anyone."
"And yet they couldn't do a thing to Prince Brother!"
"Huh?" Nanami Yabu looked worried. "Won't the Student Council president hold a grudge against you for doing that?"
"With Prince Brother around, what's there to worry about?"
Shiho Manabe scoffed, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at Prince Ganlongdao.
"What a shame. If only I'd gone to the club fair with you guys earlier. I really wanted to see the looks on their faces."
It went without saying.
Prince Ganlongdao must have looked incredibly cool, taking on so many people by himself.
It had to be said.
Ishizaki and Shiho Manabe were both rather shallow.
As long as someone was bold and reckless enough to fight back, and could leave others too angry to speak up, they thought it was cool!
As for the consequences...
Shiho Manabe wasn't thinking about them right now, and neither was Saki Yamashita.
Nanami Yabu and Rika Morofuji did think it was a little wrong.
But.
They thought it was wrong because it was too dangerous.
They weren't worried about causing trouble for other people or anything like that.
Though their personalities varied in strength and weakness,
they all had one thing in common, since they hung out with Shiho Manabe: they had little sense of morality, and always put themselves first.
That was something Prince Ganlongdao appreciated.
Putting yourself first
didn't mean there was anything wrong with you.
To Shiho Manabe and the others, "themselves" didn't just mean each individual girl. It also meant everyone they considered part of their circle.
They had only one way of sorting people.
There were only their own people and outsiders. Appearance, morality, and character didn't factor into it.
"Alright, alright. It's all in the past now."
Prince Ganlongdao waved his hand casually. "I didn't come to karaoke to listen to you talk about that."
"True. What do you want to sing, Prince Brother?"
"Love So Sweet."
Prince Ganlongdao smiled at Shiho Manabe, who was standing by the song selection machine. "Want to sing it with me?"
"Huh?"
Shiho Manabe was delighted, but then hesitated a little.
"I don't think I've heard that song before. I might need a little time to get familiar with it."
"That's fine. Let them sing first!"
Saki Yamashita and the others eagerly grabbed the microphones, while Shiho Manabe took out her phone to get familiar with the song Prince Ganlongdao had mentioned.
Only Rika Morofuji sat shyly on the sofa, watching the two of them sing with a hint of envy.
By the time Ishizaki's turn came around, Shiho Manabe had finally gotten familiar with the song.
"Ishizaki, you sound awful. Stop singing."
"Uh..."
Ishizaki put the microphone down, looking utterly helpless.
Damn.
That was just too much.
Was it a crime to not be handsome?
He knew he wasn't a great singer, but he wasn't that bad, either. He was just average at most.
Shiho Manabe was obviously treating him differently.
There were women in their class who were prettier than Shiho Manabe.
He wouldn't even bring up the others. Just going by her features, wasn't Ibuki Mio a little prettier than Shiho Manabe?
He just couldn't understand it.
How could Prince Brother be so tolerant of a woman like her?
"Prince Brother, I'm ready."
Shiho Manabe picked up two microphones and handed one to Prince Ganlongdao.
The two of them walked onto the stage together.
As the music began,
Prince Ganlongdao swayed gently to the rhythm and started singing softly.
In an instant.
A deep, resonant voice echoed through the room.
Like a whisper in the dead of night, it easily pierced the heart and reached the depths of the soul.
In that moment.
Saki Yamashita, Nanami Yabu, Rika Morofuji, and the others stood rooted to the spot.
It was as if they'd been whisked away from a karaoke room and dropped into a celebrity concert. Come to think of it, with Prince Ganlongdao's looks and voice, he could easily become a star.
Ishizaki, standing to the side, felt a little dejected, too.
Well, compared to Prince Brother, his singing really did sound awful.
Shiho Manabe only came back to her senses when someone nudged her arm and she realized it was her turn.
She picked up the microphone.
Shiho Manabe wasn't intimidated by Prince Ganlongdao.
It was easy to tell that she was a karaoke regular, the kind of person who'd hog the microphone. As long as she wasn't nervous, there was no way she'd sound bad.
But.
Shiho Manabe's attention remained fixed on Prince Ganlongdao beside her.
The two of them took turns singing.
Prince Ganlongdao's voice
sometimes surged like mighty waves, guiding her heartbeat, and sometimes flowed like a gentle stream, soothing her heart.
Her whole heart beat in time with Prince Ganlongdao.
Just then.
Prince Ganlongdao naturally put an arm around her shoulders and drew Shiho Manabe into his embrace, bringing the microphone to her lips.
"The sound of my heart, like the beat of a drum."
"Even the noise reaches me like a whisper."
Shiho Manabe's pretty face flushed like the sunset.
Her little hand, which had been holding her own microphone, instinctively joined Prince Ganlongdao's in holding the one he'd brought over. Yet her gaze lingered uncontrollably on his profile.
"You make my heart flutter, leave me trembling."
Feeling Prince Ganlongdao's warmth and the scent of him, Shiho Manabe's heart raced. She had no idea what she was singing anymore.
And yet.
To Saki Yamashita and the others,
Shiho Manabe seemed to have truly poured her feelings into the song, and her singing had suddenly improved by a whole level.
When the song ended.
The two of them returned to the sofa.
"That was amazing~"
"Prince Brother, did you practice singing before? You were incredible."
"Yeah, I think you could become a star. You'd be really popular."
Saki Yamashita and Nanami Yabu looked at him with admiration.
It wasn't just polite praise—
it was the truth.
And yet.
Sitting on the sofa, Shiho Manabe seemed to have lost all her energy in an instant. She looked dazed.
"It's been a long time since I sang. That felt great. Shiho, let's have a drink."
Prince Ganlongdao picked up his drink and raised it to hers.
"Oh."
Shiho Manabe answered a beat later. After clinking glasses, she held her drink in both hands and took a small sip, her beautiful eyes drifting toward Prince Ganlongdao despite herself.
He was so handsome.
Prince Ganlongdao had already been handsome to begin with.
But at that moment,
Shiho Manabe thought he'd become even more handsome.
His appearance hadn't changed, but it was as if a light had appeared around him.
And she
was like a moth.
Her eyes were drawn to that light every moment, and her body couldn't help wanting to move closer to Prince Ganlongdao.
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