"Just because of that, such a simple reason!?"
Kōhei Imamura was pinned against the wall, his mind utterly blank upon hearing the reason the Cakey was hunting him. There was no emotional connection, they hadn't even exchanged a single word before this, and she was confessing to him just because of his face?
While he was honored, as a girl, this Cakey was a disgrace! Even in dating sims, no player would buy it if a girl fell for them this hard!
"Well~ There are a lot of handsome guys in the Tinker Bell club, right? That's why I joined in the first place!"
She puffed out her chest and put her hands on her hips, swaying as she continued without hesitation. "I mean, if you find a handsome boyfriend, you'll be happy, right? I wanted the rose-colored college life that you read about in books!"
"Oh! You get it~"
"Well said! Drinking all day is ridiculous. Are you supposed to study in college if you're not dating!"
Miyazawa Yu, despite being a man of a different persuasion, completely agreed with her reckless statement! After all, he was spending all his time with the seniors, a far cry from the harem he had envisioned, so he held a bit of resentment about it all.
"Right! But..."
Having found a kindred spirit, Aina Yoshiwara became emotional, but then a wave of sadness washed over her.
"Just— tell me, okay?— tell me why I keep failing! Ughhhh!"
"Ugh... Is she having a drunken tantrum?"
"Agh, a drunken monster, like Shuten Doji?"
Cold sweat ran down his back. Faced with the drunken, sobbing Aina Yoshiwara, Iori Kitahara wanted to stay away, but her loneliness touched him. He grabbed Kohei, who was already preparing to run away to avoid the campus police, and took the finger Miyazawa Yu had given him. He carefully reached out.
"Um... your tears and makeup?"
"Ugh... I worked so hard, didn't I? I really worked so hard, didn't I?"
"Yeah, okay."
"You really did work hard. In the opposite direction."
Miyazawa Yu and Iori exchanged a look. Yu couldn't understand what painting her face like a corpse had to do with a rose-colored campus life. He could only go along with it.
"I taught myself how to do makeup, and I even bought clothes I normally wouldn't wear..."
Aina Yoshiwara's sobs slowly subsided, only to be replaced by a roar towards the sky. "I tried so hard to go along with them! What was the point! After all that, they still made me drink! Movies and TV shows never showed anything like this!"
"Did this person learn about common sense from movies?"
"Seems so..."
"But why do they still treat me like an idiot—"
After her final outburst, Aina Yoshiwara was overcome with sadness again. She fell to the ground and started crying, rubbing her makeup all over her sleeves. Hearing this, Miyazawa Yu finally understood what was happening. It was a common problem with female comedians: they weren't stupid, but to get along with their friends, they played along until everyone really started treating them like an idiot and making fun of them.
This kind of thing could cause a lot of psychological damage. It was a form of invisible bullying or betrayal.
"But if you don't like it, you don't have to dress like that, right?"
"It's normal to be laughed at when you dress so flashy..."
Iori and Kohei looked at each other, not knowing how to comfort Aina Yoshiwara. They could only try to make her see her own mistake.
Hearing this, Aina Yoshiwara immediately shot back, "Nonsense! Everyone told me I was cute at first!"
"That's not true! They were laughing at you!"
"You were being made fun of. They never treated you as a friend from the start, so they wouldn't respect the laughter you provided at your own expense."
"Ugh—"
After Miyazawa Yu decided to lay it all out, Aina Yoshiwara's entire face contorted into a 囧 symbol, making her look even more like a corpse.
"Hey! Yu, that's too harsh!"
Seeing that Aina had completely lost her spirit, Iori Kitahara punched Miyazawa Yu and pinned him to the ground, lecturing him. Kohei took two steps forward, hesitating before trying to comfort her. "Um... did that hurt? Yu isn't very good with his words. We'll make sure we teach him a lesson!"
"...It's okay. I understand what he said."
She lowered her head, counting the empty beer cans she had collected. Aina Yoshiwara's eyes welled up with tears. But this time, she wasn't lying to herself. How could friends force you to drink when they knew you couldn't handle it? (Iori: Isn't that just the Pab Club way?)
So the answer was simple. It was just something she didn't want to accept since the first day of school, and—
"At first, I didn't think it was a big deal to be a laughingstock. As long as I could get along with everyone, it was fine."
"Ah, I see."
"But in the end, you just become their target, don't you?"
"Yu! Shut up!"
Iori pulled at his face, but Miyazawa Yu still insisted. "Cakey, we want to know what happened!"
"!"
Aina Yoshiwara looked up at the three people who had been so against her just moments ago. But this time, she saw no mockery in their eyes. Instead, they were all incredibly serious.
"Those people, at the drinking party after the beauty pageant..."
Her long, painted nails scraped the ground, leaving ten faint marks. She held back her sobs and parroted what they had said. "'We've laughed enough, you can go back now!' That's what they said!"
"..."
Miyazawa Yu's brows furrowed deeply. If his talk about burying people had been a joke before, it was now a serious thought. All three of them were sweating, and their hearts were filled with a burning desire to see if it was possible to plant humans.
"Thank you guys. I really shouldn't have forced myself to change..."
Completely defeated, Aina Yoshiwara shrugged and laughed at herself. "In the end, I can't do anything right. Everything I do gets laughed at and makes me a joke for those guys..."
"Monster... you..."
"What are you saying?"
Iori Kitahara became uncharacteristically serious. He crossed his arms and said earnestly, "In this world, there is no one who can only laugh at others and never be laughed at!"
"But..."
"No buts!"
He pointed his finger. The Pab Club's innate talent hidden in his bloodline awakened. He declared loudly, "Just watch! I'll show you something fun!"
"That's right! Tinker Bell is too arrogant. Only our Pab Club has the right to be above everyone else!"
"Exactly! There's no reason we shouldn't help!"
Miyazawa Yu and Kōhei Imamura smiled reliably and fist-bumped Iori. The three naked men then put their heads together and began to plan their next move.
Following the Pab Club's usual style, combined with Iori's genius-level cunning, their smiles soon stretched from ear to ear. Aina Yoshiwara just stood there and felt a chill go down her spine. Her instincts were screaming at her to stay away from these three beasts in human form!
But... they were the only ones on her side.
She secretly compared them. Compared to that scumbag President Kudou who used her and threw her away, Iori, despite his lewd smile, was at least a human being.
"Um... do you need my help? I can be an insider!"
For some reason, she felt a strong urge to help. Aina Yoshiwara also crouched down, wanting to see if there was anything she could do.
"No, no, no! We can't let a girl do the work. You just wait and watch! Right, Yu!"
"That's right! Don't worry, this Iori guy is pretty shameless! He'll definitely satisfy you!"
"That's the last thing I want to hear from you."
"Hahahaha!!!"
For the first thirty minutes of the "Handsome Men," horrifying laughter echoed in the dark hallway. The sheer amount of conspiracy was almost overflowing!