Steam Princess

Since classes had just let out at noon, the corridors were full of students.

All the students wore the same school uniforms.

The boys wore Western-style uniforms with ties, while the girls wore sailor uniforms, pleated skirts that came almost to their knees, and mostly white or black knee-high socks.

Asaba Kotone and Kobeni Higashiyama were no exception, one in a boys' uniform and the other in a girls' uniform.

Kobeni was leading the way for Kotone, but she kept her head lowered, her face flushed and her heart beating a little faster.

She had only worked up the nerve to invite Asaba on a sudden burst of enthusiasm. Although someone had nearly beaten her to it, everything had worked out in the end.

But now she had a new problem. She was so terribly shy that she could not even give Asaba a proper tour of the school.

No, no!

This won't do!

Kobeni patted her cheeks.

She had finally gotten an opportunity like this. If she ended up upsetting Asaba instead, she would hate herself for it.

Seeing Kobeni's strange behavior, Kotone knew she was getting too nervous again.

He said nothing, giving her time to calm down on her own. Speaking up now might have the opposite effect and make her even more nervous.

As they walked down the corridor, students from other classes noticed Kotone too.

"Look! Doesn't that boy look just like that Asaba Kotone guy on TV?"

"He probably just looks like him. Would a Devil Hunter that powerful really be a student at our school? And in our year, too? If it really were him, word would've gotten around ages ago, right?"

"Who knows? But apparently Class 1 got a transfer student today. Maybe that's him. Could he actually be that Devil Hunter called Asaba Kotone?"

"..."

The media had publicized Kotone so heavily that plenty of students had seen stories about him on television, in newspapers, and through other outlets.

Although Kotone heard the students talking about him, he did not like drawing too much attention, so he said nothing.

After quite a while, Kobeni gradually relaxed a little, constantly encouraging herself in her mind.

"Asaba..."

Kobeni nearly addressed him too familiarly again, but quickly corrected herself. "Did you bring a packed lunch, Asaba?"

"No, I didn't."

Kotone shook his head slightly.

"Then I'll take you to the c-cafeteria first, Asaba. We can h-have lunch first, then take our time looking around the rest of the school!"

Not wanting Asaba to find her too slow, Kobeni deliberately spoke faster, but she still stammered a little.

Then she apologized, her voice on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry... I'm so bad at expressing myself..."

She had wanted to come across as more confident, after all, but had ended up making something of a mess of it.

"No, no, it's fine. I think you're great just the way you are, Kobeni. You're pretty cute. There's no need to go out of your way to change yourself."

Kotone smiled as he spoke.

Honestly, he did not find Kobeni's personality off-putting at all. On the contrary, he thought she was quite cute. Her pitiful air made him want to protect her.

[Kobeni Higashiyama's affection +5%]

[Kobeni Higashiyama's affection progress has reached 30%. Achievement reward obtained: constitution +1]

"...Huh?!"

Kobeni's mind instantly went blank.

He just called me by my first name?

And he said I was cute?!

[Kobeni Higashiyama's affection +5%]

This time, Kobeni's affection increased in separate increments rather than all at once because her brain had overloaded the instant she heard Kotone call her "Kobeni." Only afterward did she register that he had also called her cute.

Once that initial blankness passed, Kobeni's whole face instantly turned scarlet. She could barely control her expression, turning into a "steam princess."

Even Kotone was a little surprised by how intensely Kobeni reacted.

He had not expected his words to affect her so strongly. Apparently, he had still underestimated just how easily she got embarrassed.

Thinking about it, that made sense. In the original story, Kobeni was already twenty and had spent half a year working as a Devil Hunter for Public Safety. She must have matured somewhat compared to her high school days.

For the moment, Kotone did not dare say anything else casually. Her affection was rising quickly, but he feared something bad might happen if her reaction became too extreme.

Kobeni had only just managed to pull herself together, and now she could not calm down at all.

Even when they reached the cafeteria, Kobeni still had not recovered.

Looking at the cafeteria packed almost wall to wall, Kotone realized he seemed to have arrived a little late.

Perhaps because this was a public high school, the cafeteria was not very large, yet its student population was no smaller than that of other high schools.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! It's all because I took so long..."

Of course, Kobeni noticed the state of the cafeteria too. Realizing it was her fault, since her mind had been so full of certain things that she had walked too slowly, she apologized to Kotone over and over.

The crowded cafeteria was only part of the problem. They were also running short on time. Their lunch break was only fifty minutes, and in practice, it was less than that, since they obviously had to return to the classroom before class started.

If they joined the line now, they might not finish lunch before class.

"It's fine, it's fine. I can just buy some bread."

Kotone had no intention of blaming Kobeni.

"But that won't do! It's all my fault... Why don't you have my packed lunch, Asaba? I can just eat bread..."

Kobeni had her packed lunch with her. Her parents would never give her money to buy food herself, so every day she brought a simple lunch they had made at home.

She immediately held her lunch out to Kotone.

"Then why don't we just eat together? I'll buy some bread first, and we can share everything. How does that sound?"

Kotone offered the suggestion.

"Huh...? Okay..."

Kobeni did not immediately realize just how "dangerous" this would be.