By the time Hikigaya Hachiman made it back to his classroom from the special building, the next period was about to start.
But as he approached his seat, he froze.
Someone was sitting there.
Or, more accurately—someone had turned his desk into a lunch table.
"Hey, Rin! Look over here!""I just used the app to make Rin into a total hottie~!""Damn, I look good! No surprise there—it's me, after all!""Too bad Rin can't actually turn into a hot guy. Then I'd totally date him.""Even if I did turn into a guy, I'd go out with Yuna, not you."
Three gyaru were clustered around his desk, eating bento lunches and playing with their phones, laughing and teasing one another. Empty lunchboxes and drink cartons covered the tabletop.
Their own seats were crammed against the wall, so rather than eat separately, they'd dragged over a few chairs and hijacked an unused desk—apparently his—to hang out together.
It wasn't exactly a big deal. As long as they cleaned up afterward, he didn't really mind.Or rather—he did mind, but not enough to say anything.
"Uh, excuse me. Class is about to start," he said flatly.
"Ah! Sorry, we totally took your desk!"
The pink-haired girl with a curvy figure—Shirosaki Yuna—immediately sprang to her feet, bowing slightly.
The gyaru in his class were, technically speaking, still pretty tame. They dressed up and spoke a little rough, but they weren't the delinquent type.
The real problem gyaru were in other classes—the kind rumored to bully or extort people, though the disciplinary committee never managed to catch them in the act.
Even at Soubu High, with its strict rules, these girls couldn't show up with heavy makeup or Shibuya-style outfits. The most they could get away with was skipping a button or two and using faint nail polish.
"It's fine," Hachiman said, shaking his head.
He waited as they hurriedly packed up their trash and cleared the table.
"Sorry again for always borrowing your desk," Yuna said cheerfully. "How about I make it up to you? I'll use the app to turn you into a hottie too!"
Before he could refuse, she snapped a quick photo of him and started fiddling with her phone.
She'd meant to show him a goofy edit, but when the image processed, her eyes widened in disbelief.
"…Wait, what? How did it change this much? He actually looks kinda… hot?"
Hachiman frowned and reached out, taking the phone from her.
On the screen was a picture of him—except it wasn't.
It was his face, his features, but refined—his eyes sharp and bright, his expression confident, his jawline clean and defined. The dead-fish eyes that usually broadcast "social disaster" had vanished completely.
"…"
He stared at the image in silence for a few seconds before handing the phone back.
So yeah, he did have decent features. They were just… sabotaged by the aura of despair permanently etched into his eyes.
Just as Komachi always teased him—without that expression, he might actually have a chance at a girlfriend. But the reality was that unless someone like Kaede or Shizuku, who had known him since childhood, vouched for him, most people's first impression was… less than stellar.
Even Hayase Saki had once mistaken him for Yukinoshita Yukino's gloomy lackey.
"Whoa, what the hell? Hikigaya actually looks that good?!""Right? Take away the dead-fish eyes and he's kinda cool-looking!"
Yuna's friends—Nijo Rin, a brunette, and Kousaka Minami, the blonde—leaned over to see, gasping and laughing openly.
Hachiman's eyebrow twitched. They didn't even bother to whisper.
Yuna blinked, glancing between him and her phone, as if debating whether to say something more. But the warning bell rang before she could decide, and all three girls scampered back to their seats, still giggling and whispering as they cast occasional looks in his direction.
Hachiman sighed. The whole situation felt strangely familiar. Three gyaru, a photo-editing app that "makes you handsome"… yeah, he'd definitely seen this trope somewhere before.
These three were all on his so-called romantic target list too, though when he'd seen their names earlier, he hadn't recognized them at all.
A "handsome app" and three gyaru… yeah, this was definitely déjà vu from another world.
"Where did you go for lunch, Hikigaya?"
The voice came from his side—Gabriel, seated next to him, watching curiously.
"I noticed you came back really late."
Soubu High's lunch break was unusually long for a Japanese school—nearly an hour. Hachiman had gone straight to the cafeteria when the bell rang, yet he was just now returning.
"Nowhere special," he replied. "Just walked around after eating."
He didn't mention the whole Miwa and Hayase Saki situation.
Right now, Gabriel was in her "honor student" mode, and while Miwa Kenichirou absolutely deserved the consequences he'd gotten, Hachiman wasn't sure Gabriel would approve of his… methods. She might even think Miwa didn't deserve punishment that severe.
And the last thing he needed was to end up arguing morality with a literal angel.
Gabriel frowned slightly. Hachiman looked pale, his usual deadpan expression a bit weaker than normal. He claimed he was fine, but he looked exhausted.
She opened her mouth to ask again—but at that moment, Kurisu Takeshi, their teacher, walked into the classroom, and Gabriel reluctantly turned her attention to the lesson.
Unlike teachers like Hiratsuka Shizuka or Kirisu Mafuyu, Kurisu-sensei was utterly average in both appearance and personality—the kind of man who could vanish into a crowd unnoticed.
Still, Gabriel treated every teacher with the proper respect.
Hachiman, meanwhile, stared blankly at the blackboard, half-listening, half-brooding.
The fight with Miwa had left him drained. He hadn't been injured, but every kick he'd landed had used serious force, and his stamina wasn't exactly impressive to begin with.
Then there was Hayase Saki's little "incident," which had cost him even more energy.
Now, after sprinting back to class to avoid being late, he felt like his body was running on fumes.
He'd only had a bowl of udon for lunch, and it was already long digested.
Yeah… maybe it was time to start working out.
He wasn't exactly the athletic type. His life goals were simple—find a tall, cool, black-haired rich beauty and become her stay-at-home husband. A noble dream of total surrender to domestic bliss.
But in this world? That kind of peaceful life felt more and more like a luxury he couldn't afford.
He'd wandered around campus earlier, and every few steps, his "system" chimed in his head—ding, ding, ding—adding new names to his growing "romance list."
Some of the names he recognized. Most, he didn't.
Which meant they were from the Inner Dimension—the darker, more dangerous side of this world.
And that place… was full of trouble.
With angels and demons already appearing, he wouldn't even be surprised if interdimensional invasions started next.
If he wanted that stay-at-home-husband dream, he'd need to get stronger first.
Sure, he could wait for the system to hand him a "physical enhancement" reward—but there was no harm in starting training on his own.
At the very least, it would toughen his willpower.
Besides, if he could just look half as cool as the version of himself on Yuna's phone, that'd be progress enough.
The final bell rang, signaling the end of classes.
"Bye, Amane-san.""See you tomorrow, Hikigaya-kun."
Hachiman packed up quickly, exchanging a brief wave with Gabriel before slipping out of the room.
He had plans for after school—specifically, to deal with Miwa once and for all. But first, he needed to stop by the Service Club to handle Yukinoshita Yukino and Hayase Saki's club membership paperwork.
As he headed down the corridor, students poured out of classrooms all around him, their laughter filling the air.
Hachiman didn't notice the three small shadows following quietly behind him.