The Sakayanagi Faction's Invitation

There was no one else in Star Color's room at the moment. Only Masumi Kamuro was there.

Star Color had suddenly announced that he was going to do something like, "I'm going to teach Classmate Kamuro how to do naughty things. It'll be a hundred times more thrilling than stealing! Don't you dare run away!" Then he'd gone out.

Masumi Kamuro hugged her knees and stared at the ceiling, but inside, she was a nervous wreck.

"What do I do, what do I do..."

She really was looking forward to that sort of development... but still...

She kept muttering the same words, her ability to think noticeably declining as her thoughts tangled into a mess like twisted strands of dough.

Masumi Kamuro could feel her cheeks growing hot.

"Sorry for the wait!"

Hearing the door open, she nervously swallowed.

Star Color hummed as he walked in, carrying two tubs of ice cream... Wait, what? Why ice cream? Why was there ice cream here?

Only then did Masumi Kamuro realize that she'd been thinking of him too much as a "normal guy." If another guy had a video of a girl stealing, he'd probably use it to threaten her or hand it over to a teacher to judge. At the very least, not everyone had the "special qualities" of Seishiki Otonashi.

"What's wrong? Eating a tub of ice cream in the middle of the night is pretty thrilling, you know. If you were at home, your parents would scold you mercilessly: 'No ice cream this late at night!' 'You'll get a stomachache!' 'You just ate not long ago!' 'No means no!'"

"So having ice cream at night is like a victory toast! Is that thrilling enough for you?"

Star Color put his hands on his hips. Masumi Kamuro could practically see little stars sparkling around him. She couldn't imagine that this guy had lectured her at lunchtime. What was going on now? Had his intelligence regressed to that of an elementary schooler?!

Masumi Kamuro just wanted Star Color to give back all the embarrassment and nervousness she'd felt a moment ago. His behavior was basically a scam targeting an innocent girl's pure heart.

"Sigh..."

"What's wrong? Sighing like that will give you wrinkles, you know."

"Shut up."

Star Color obediently fell silent and took out a spoon, enjoying his tub of ice cream. His clearly visible catlike mouth gradually turned into an extremely abstract wavy line.

"Is it really that good?"

Masumi Kamuro pursed her lips and looked at the tub of chocolate ice cream Star Color had left for her on the table, then at Star Color, who seemed to be glowing all over. In the end, she chose not to turn down his kind gesture... Not that she wanted the ice cream or anything. Yep, that was it.

"Classmate Sakayanagi? What is it?"

Once again, she'd invited him to a café. Coffee was awful! Why did so many people flock to the cafés in Keyaki's commercial district to drink something that was supposedly "coffee" but was really just "trendy"?

Star Color yawned. Besides Sakayanagi Arisu, Miki Yamamura, Masayoshi Hashimoto, Mori Shige Takuro, and Nishikawa Ryoko were also in the café.

"What is this, a gathering of all the elites?"

Star Color muttered weakly.

Mori Shige Takuro sized Star Color up, a strange glint reflecting off his glasses.

"Can this guy really do anything for our group?"

Their class was in an awkward position. Little Fist Stone, Kohei Katsuragi, and Toilet Delia, Sakayanagi Arisu, both wanted to compete for the position of class leader. Most of the boys in the class were in the Katsuragi Faction, though. After all, a clean-cut, responsible, bald guy would surely appeal to more men than the tiny Sakayanagi Arisu.

Some of the girls were neutral. At least Tamiya Emi and Miki Yamamura seemed to be neutral for now. But with Nishikawa Ryoko around, they'd probably end up siding with the Sakayanagi Faction before long. Whatever, it wasn't his problem. Star Color himself liked Little Fist Stone.

The two were friends, bound together by their shared love of games. And Kohei Katsuragi did his best to maintain order in the class; he had the air of a father. It was hard to imagine anyone disliking a dependable, big-brother-type class leader like him!

Ah, why couldn't the two factions coexist? Well, there weren't many factions in the real world that did. The Sakayanagi Faction was still taking it easy and hadn't tried to stop the Katsuragi Faction from expanding. And the Katsuragi Faction hadn't suppressed the Sakayanagi Faction either... The calm before the storm.

"Don't say that. Seishiki Otonashi has exceptional talent."

"I don't, though."

Star Color said in displeasure. He had talent? Really? How come he didn't know?

"How modest, Seishiki Otonashi. What do you have to say about the matter with Classmate Kamuro?"

"Huh?"

"I was there yesterday."

"Oh."

Star Color calmly played dumb.

"Heh. I never would've guessed Classmate Kamuro was a 'thief.'"

"She's turned over a new leaf. I don't think your opinion will have any effect on Classmate Kamuro. Even if you expose the whole thing, she'll just keep living her life on her own terms. All you'd accomplish is making things worse for yourself."

Even if Classmate Sakayanagi spread the "theft incident" involving Classmate Kamuro throughout the school, and no one helped, trusted, or even spoke to her, he would still reach out to her and trust her without hesitation. Masumi Kamuro had been "called by her conscience." The fact that she'd managed to apologize was proof enough that she was human. So Star Color wouldn't let something like that happen.

"Are you threatening me? I wouldn't have expected that from you, Seishiki Otonashi..."

Sakayanagi Arisu gazed into Star Color's eyes, trying to glimpse the colors of a distant planet. He was an incomprehensible being, and mysterious emotions flickered like streams of light in those purplish eyes.

"Ah, no, I'm not."

Star Color shook his head, simply stating it calmly.

Miki Yamamura spoke coldly.

"Seishiki Otonashi is actually hiding his energy. And he's a shy bread roll, too."

"Wait, what kind of weird nickname is 'shy bread roll'?"

"I can tune in to Seishiki Otonashi's brainwaves. They're only a tiny amount of electrical particles, but they flow into my body and coexist with me."

"Huh?!"

This was unreal. He couldn't deal with this. Ever since Star Color had interfered with Masumi Kamuro's fate, Miki Yamamura had gotten weirder and weirder. She'd even developed the ability to target Star Color himself.

"I already knew he was shy. I could tell Seishiki Otonashi was hiding his talents, too. If Classmate Yamamura says so, then it must be true."

"Guess I can't keep it hidden any longer."

Star Color sighed and slowly began to speak.

"Listen up. Behold, my talent! I can play five romance games starring beautiful girls at the same time!"

"Who asked you that?! And don't announce your weird hobby of playing games like that in public!"

Nishikawa Ryoko slapped the table, then scolded Star Color in a somewhat lecturing tone.

"Then I have another talent: the talent of an ultimate god! Don't be shocked, but I can accurately guess the artist just by looking at a manga's art style!"

"And another one! I've memorized the transformation moves of every Kamen Rider from the Showa era through the Heisei era!"

Star Color rambled on about the extraordinary talents he thought he had.

"Classmate Yamamura, could you check whether Seishiki Otonashi's head is still working properly?"

Beneath Sakayanagi Arisu's composed smile, she seemed a little speechless. Classmate Yamamura might be on the same wavelength as him, but at least she could hold a normal conversation. When Seishiki Otonashi got going, he really did go off the rails.

"Don't talk about me like I'm a TV that needs fixing! Hey!"

Star Color objected to Sakayanagi Arisu treating him like an object.

"This guy really is putting out weird waves."

Masayoshi Hashimoto just thought they were noisy. He wanted to join the conversation, but he had no idea where to begin. Somehow, the "plan to recruit Seishiki Otonashi" had veered into romance games starring beautiful girls!

Sakayanagi Arisu thought highly of Seishiki Otonashi. Miki Yamamura had mentioned him several times, and Masayoshi Hashimoto himself had also recommended Seishiki Otonashi.

(As for his inner monologue, Hashimoto no longer called Sakayanagi Arisu "Her Highness the Princess.")

If Sakayanagi Arisu and Miki Yamamura were right, and Seishiki Otonashi really was hiding his abilities, wouldn't that mean his own nature had been exposed? He recalled Seishiki Otonashi's "theory" from that day. The feeling of being understood and validated, and the sense of security he'd felt, hadn't been fake.

Looks like he'd have to run two missions at once. Besides the mission from "Her Highness the Princess" to recruit Hayato Kito, he'd add an investigation into Seishiki Otonashi. The real world really was one of those clichéd RPGs you couldn't put down...

Masayoshi Hashimoto grumbled to himself.