The two broken pencils in Eriri's hands were about to jab Lin Xiao in the face. His eye twitched, and he hurriedly pushed the flailing blonde twin-tails back before turning to a panting Komachi.
"All right, Komachi, catch your breath. You rushed over right after school. Don't tell me poor Kaneki's been targeted by another inhuman beauty and gone off on a coffee date with her?"
"No, no!"
Komachi waved her hands, caught her breath, and quickly explained:
"Kaneki got such a terrible scare that he crosses the street if a stray cat turns out to be female! How could he possibly be dating someone new?"
Lin Xiao raised an eyebrow. "Then what is it? You didn't run all this way just to check in, did you?"
"It's Kaneki and the others... They're about to descend on the clubroom together!" Komachi wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"The others?"
Everyone in the clubroom froze.
Even Ai Hayasaka, who had been resting on the sofa with her eyes closed, opened one eye in confusion. Yukino set down her teacup and frowned slightly. "By 'the others,' you mean... those boys?"
The day before.
At Sobu High School, inside the clubroom used by that group of problem-plagued male leads.
The sharp smell of raw garlic hung around the table.
Ken Kaneki sat with the Yata no Magatama still firmly around his neck and a plastic bottle of black dog's blood clenched in his hand. He stared at the honest, unsuspecting Kousei Arima across from him with the grave expression of a man facing the end of the world.
"Kousei..."
Kaneki swallowed. His bloodshot eyes showed behind his glasses, and his voice trembled with concern.
"You've been getting pretty close to a girl from school lately, haven't you? You've even been practicing together