A Real Man Would Never Be Defeated by a Love Triangle

In downtown Chiba Prefecture, at an exceptionally upscale Japanese wagyu barbecue restaurant.

"Welcome! Do you have a reservation?"

"A private room for four. Also, bring out ten of today's limited premium A5 wagyu set meals."

He had exchanged a gold bar Batman sent him for a considerable amount of "operating funds" today.

With tens of millions of yen in cash on hand, the Light Giant declared: Young Master Lin was treating everyone tonight!

A few minutes later, the four of them were seated in an extremely spacious tatami private room.

At the table for four, Miko Yotsuya, in order to stay alive, very consciously shrank into the innermost corner at the "speed of light," disguising herself as a clump of air.

That made the remaining three seats extremely delicate.

"I-I'll sit here! It's not because I want to sit next to you. It's just that this side is farther from the air conditioner vent, and the draft gives me a headache!"

Blushing furiously, Eriri stiffly came up with an excuse and plopped down beside Lin Xiao.

Yukino Yukinoshita, meanwhile, very naturally sat directly across from Lin Xiao.

"Since our esteemed club president has burned a great deal of calories saving the Earth."

Yukino skillfully placed a piece of perfectly marbled wagyu onto the grill. As an enticing sizzle filled the air, her cool voice echoed through the private room.

"It seems I'll have no choice but to reluctantly take on the role of a caretaker for once. After all, if we let certain idiots who can't even control the heat do the grilling, this top-grade wagyu might turn into carcinogenic charcoal."

"Y-You calling who an idiot?!"

Eriri instantly flared up. She grabbed another pair of tongs, clamped a slice of meat onto the grill, and pressed it down. "My artistic talent is the best in the entire school! How could something as trivial as grilling meat possibly stump me? Lin Xiao, just wait. I'll grill you the most delicious meat in the entire universe!"

Three minutes later.

With perfect elegance, Yukino placed a piece of wagyu grilled to juicy perfection into Lin Xiao's bowl.

"Please enjoy. Be careful, it's hot. If you choke to death at the dinner table, that would be the most humiliating death in the history of the Light Giant."

Though Yukino's words remained as sharp as ever, her clear eyes held a deeply concealed hint of concern. She had even thoughtfully cut the meat into bite-sized pieces with scissors.

"Thank you, Yukinoshita." Lin Xiao picked up the meat, took a bite, and gave her an appreciative thumbs-up.

"Hey! Eat mine! Eat mine!"

On the other side, Eriri was sweating profusely as she hurriedly stuffed an "unidentified object," its edges fully carbonized into an exceptionally bizarre black color, into Lin Xiao's bowl.

"Th-This is a special 'charred aroma flavor' I made for you! Didn't you say back at the orphanage that you liked crunchy things?! Hurry up and try it!"

Eriri folded her arms and turned her head away. Her fair cheeks were red enough to bleed, yet her azure eyes still couldn't resist sneaking glances at Lin Xiao from the corner of her eye.

Looking at that piece of "poison" in his bowl, then at Yukino's smile across from him.

Lin Xiao took a deep breath.

A real man could never wipe out in a love triangle!

Without hesitation, he shoved the carbonized wagyu into his mouth and even chewed hard enough to make it crunch! His body had been enhanced by the power of light. Forget charcoal—even glass would be digestible!

"Delicious! This charred texture goes straight to the soul! Eriri, give me another piece!" Lin Xiao gave an extravagantly enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"Hmph! At least you know what's good for you!" Eriri's lips curled wildly upward as she smugly lifted her chin at Yukino across the table.

Yukino merely picked up another slice of premium marbled meat and placed it on the grill. "It seems Lin Xiao's taste buds have been destroyed along with his nerves."

Just as this icy-hot love triangle was reaching a lively peak.

Lin Xiao's sharp hearing suddenly caught an exceedingly resentful yet familiar sigh from the private room next door.

"Sigh... This is too much. We clearly ran all the way here, so why did the limited wagyu set meals happen to sell out just now..."

"Waiter."

Lin Xiao snapped his fingers and generously pointed at the two untouched premium wagyu platters on the table. "Please send these two set meals to the room next door."

"Certainly, sir."

Half a minute later, a lazy yet pleasantly surprised female voice came from the neighboring private room.

"Oh? The guests next door are this generous? They actually sent over the last limited wagyu. As someone who has accepted such a gift, it would seem impolite not to thank them in person."

Very soon, the Japanese sliding door to the private room was gently pushed open.

"Excuse me, sir from next door. Thank you very much for your generosity. If you don't mind..."

A breathtakingly beautiful girl in black pantyhose leaned halfway inside, her tall, enviable figure, smooth long black hair, and white headband accompanied by an elegant, captivating smile.

The famous light novel author, Utaha Kasumigaoka!

However, the instant her gaze passed over the grill and landed on the face of that "generous gentleman."

Utaha Kasumigaoka's elegant words of thanks came to an abrupt halt. Her wine-red eyes, usually carrying a hint of laziness and amusement, widened sharply, and even her breathing seemed to stop.

"Lin... Xiao?!" Utaha Kasumigaoka stared fixedly at Lin Xiao, an utterly terrifying frost instantly forming over her exquisite face.

Inside the room, Eriri, who had been about to fight Lin Xiao for grilled meat, abruptly raised her head at the sound of that voice.

"Utaha Kasumigaoka?!" Eriri pointed at the black-haired girl at the door in astonishment. "What are you, you scheming woman, doing here?!"

Utaha Kasumigaoka completely ignored her former rival Eriri. She walked straight into the private room, her high heels setting an extraordinarily dangerous rhythm on the tatami as she came directly before Lin Xiao.

"Long time no see, Lin Xiao." Utaha Kasumigaoka looked down at the cold-sweating Lin Xiao. Her lovely voice now carried a murderous resentment. "Two years ago, at that hot spring inn in Hokkaido, you were the one who came up to me and said you were interested in the setting of my light novel. You even promised to help me read the manuscript for my new book the next day!"

"And what happened?! The next morning, I took the manuscript and knocked on your door, but there wasn't even a shadow of you inside! You only left behind an utterly ridiculous note!"

Utaha Kasumigaoka laughed in fury and loudly recited Lin Xiao's "glorious deed" in front of everyone in the room.

"'Sorry, the M78 Nebula has come under attack by the Dark Emperor of the Universe, and the Land of Light needs my power. I'm going to fight Space Dinosaur Zetton. I'll read the manuscript after I save the universe'—"

Utaha Kasumigaoka roared through gritted teeth, "You actually used such an absurd light novel setup to brush me off?! Going to the M78 Nebula to fight monsters?! Did you think I had the intelligence of a three-year-old?!"

The moment those words came out.

The air in the entire private room seemed to be completely sucked away.

The smile on Lin Xiao's face instantly froze, and a fine layer of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

Who would have thought the world was so small? He had run into the victim of his old "chuunibyou farewell" just by having barbecue?!

Crack.

An exceptionally crisp, spine-chilling sound rang through the private room.

It was the sound of Sawamura Eriri forcibly snapping the wooden barbecue tongs in her hand.

Eriri slowly turned her head. All the light had vanished from her azure eyes, replaced by horrifying, almost tangible murderous intent! Her golden twin-tails moved without wind in midair like a demon's tentacles.

"M78 Nebula? Land of Light? Space Dinosaur Zetton?" Eriri's voice was as cold as a blade being sharpened in hell. "Well then... Lin Xiao... You really are something..."

"Back then, you told me you were going to [Rule Through All Ages]. Then you went traveling around the world, met this scheming woman in Hokkaido, and suddenly you were off to [Save the M78 Nebula]?!"

"The farewell lines you prepared for every girl were actually all different?!!!"

Eriri completely broke down! She had thought that, at the very least, Lin Xiao's chuunibyou was something special reserved for her! But now she realized this guy was simply a playboy who traveled everywhere, spreading chuunibyou excuses wherever he went!!!

Yukino Yukinoshita, seated across from him, calmly set down her black tea.

"I see. I finally understand why Lin Xiao, despite possessing godlike power, still founded the All-Heavens Rescue Club." Yukino rested her crossed hands beneath her chin, while a blizzard capable of destroying everything seemed to brew in her cool eyes. "In one city, you abandon your childhood friend with 'Rule Through All Ages.' In another, you deceive a famous female author with 'Defend the Land of Light.' During all your years of traveling the world, I suppose every region of Japan has victims you abandoned because 'a great calamity was imminent,' doesn't it?"

"No, no, no! Listen to my explanation!" Locked tightly beneath three terrifying killing intents, the mighty Light Giant was actually forced to cower trembling against the wall.

"I really had something to do." Lin Xiao desperately stretched out a pleading hand, trying to argue.

"And you still dare use that line to fool us!"

Utaha Kasumigaoka slammed her hand down on the table in anger. Even she, who was usually so elegant, could no longer maintain her composure.

"Lin! Xiao!!!"

Eriri pounced directly on him like an enraged lioness, clutching Lin Xiao's neck with both hands and shaking him wildly. "You big liar! You shameless womanizer! Today, I'm definitely taking you down with me!!!"

"Cough, cough... Yukinoshita, save me... Miko, protect your lord..." Lin Xiao rolled his eyes and frantically begged for help under Eriri's "chokehold attack."

"God, please rest assured and be on your way. This truly is something you brought upon yourself." Yukino lifted her tea and took an elegant sip, choosing to watch coldly from the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Miko Yotsuya, curled up in the corner, stuffed the last piece of wagyu into her mouth without a shred of loyalty while silently making the sign of the cross in her heart.

"Sure enough... compared to those grotesque evil spirits and monsters..."

"High school girls caught in a love triangle are the most indescribable, terrifying beings in this world!!!"