The next morning.
Kei rolled around in bed, unable to close her eyes because her mind was filled with Ryunosuke's cool figure from yesterday.
Perhaps because of the "filter" of love, Kei who was saved like a princess in a fairy tale felt Ryunosuke became more handsome every time she thought of him.
Over time, her face reddened by itself. She immediately sat up and patted her hot cheeks.
"This must be the suspension bridge effect, it must be! Don't panic! I can't possibly fall in love with that ordinary-looking Akasaka-kun~"
Kei reflexively used the respectful suffix "-kun," then fell silent...
Was she already seriously ill? Why was her brain full of Akasaka!!!
Kei banged her head against the wall, trying to bring herself to her senses.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Meanwhile, what was Ryunosuke doing?
Currently he was on a building rooftop, wearing a black cloak with red clouds (Akatsuki) and acting as Pain Rikudo.
"You only see the tree, not the forest. You don't understand the meaning of true pain."
"This world will never know true peace without experiencing the same suffering. Only through pain can humans grow."
"Feel the pain. Think about the pain. Accept the pain. Know the pain. Those who don't know the meaning of true pain will never be able to understand true peace!"
"Now... the world will know pain."
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
Ryunosuke spread his hands and shouted on the rooftop, then sighed. He took out his phone and contacted his homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae.
The call was immediately connected, Sae's lazy voice was heard, clearly just woken up. Since Class C jumped far ahead with a total of 70,000-plus points after the ship exam (only a 200-point difference from Class B), yesterday she celebrated by drinking until drunk.
Sae held her dizzy head, then looked at the clock. There was still an hour and a half before work hours. With the characteristic voice of someone just woken up, somewhat annoyed, she snapped at Ryunosuke on the other end of the phone:
"What is it? Calling me this early, work hours haven't started yet!"
Facing Sae's anger, Ryunosuke didn't beat around the bush and immediately stated his request.
"I want to request leave."
Sae was stunned for a moment, then reflexively asked, "Why do you want leave?"
"I'm sick..." Ryunosuke answered with a flat face.
Sae sat on her bed. "If you're sick, that's understandable. I'll allow it. Explain to me which part is uncomfortable, so I can report to my superiors to file your leave."
Sae took a pen with the professional attitude of a teacher, ready to take notes.
Ryunosuke let out a long breath and said in a heavy tone:
"Chuunibyou..."
*CLACK!*
The sound of a pen falling to the floor.
Sae was so shocked she dropped her pen. She gaped, doubting whether she misheard, then asked back:
"Are you messing with me?"
To prove his condition, Ryunosuke answered very dramatically, "Watashi wa Pain, Kami da!!! (I am Pain, I am God!!!)"
Sae immediately cut in. "Enough, enough, enough! I believe you've got terminal-stage Chuunibyou."
On the other end of the phone, Sae covered her face with her hand. "Turns out you have such an embarrassing illness, I just found out... Sensei will keep this secret for you..."
Responding to her understanding, Ryunosuke was silent for a moment. "Thank you, Sensei..."
He closed the phone, looked at the cloudy sky, and lamented:
"This illness... seems like it won't heal in a week..."
"Haa..."
Ryunosuke complained sadly.
From the 6th floor balcony, he jumped in Pain's style, as if he could really fly.
*THUD!*
A loud impact sound was heard.
That was the sound of him landing on the 4th floor balcony. He hung on the balcony railing like laundry being dried, his lips trembling.
"Damn! Really thought I was Pain Rikudo, dared to actually jump..."
Because of the leave he took, he didn't know about the new transfer students at all, and he also successfully passed by (missed) Shizuka who was looking for him.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
On the other side, Kei who had arrived at school kept looking for the figure she knew. Upon finding Ryunosuke absent, her gaze dimmed and her expression looked disappointed.
Hirata tried to approach to give attention, but Kei avoided him.
Hirata's hand hanging in the air froze, then he pulled it back quietly. He knew well, because of yesterday's incident, his relationship with Kei would never return to how it was.
Hirata smiled bitterly again; he didn't know how many times he had smiled bitterly today. This time, he really messed everything up.
Kei sat in her chair with an expressionless face, completely ignoring her boyfriend, Hirata.
Classmates glanced at each other.
"What's going on? Is that golden couple fighting?"
Wang Mei-yu, who always paid attention to Hirata, felt sad seeing him look so dejected.
Meanwhile, Kei kept recalling yesterday's events until she had no enthusiasm following the lesson.
Chiaki who saw her friend like that just shook her head and thought: (The result is better than I imagined. I thought because Akasaka-kun isn't very handsome, Karuizawa wouldn't be interested. Unexpectedly~)
(The suspension bridge effect is indeed terrifying.)
She had already predicted this situation. From the beginning, that was the plan she devised: having the more competent Ryunosuke replace Hirata's position.
The result was very clear.
Kei was already hooked... the rest was just waiting for Ryunosuke.
Chiaki was sure, as a normal male, Ryunosuke wouldn't reject a beautiful girl like Kei, right?
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
But currently, Ryunosuke was dating Morishita Ai, his current girlfriend.
Learning her boyfriend was on sick leave, Ai immediately skipped class without permission at all... class points would likely be deducted, but she didn't care.
Right now she was leaning on Ryunosuke's lap, sleeping soundly.
This was precious time with her boyfriend, of course Ai wanted to lie down comfortably.
Ryunosuke affectionately didn't wake her. He stroked Ai's hair so it wouldn't enter her mouth, while his other hand held his phone typing a manuscript.
After all, he still had novels to write, and he also had to pay attention to Hiyori...
That's how it was, one of Ryunosuke's hands stroked Ai like petting a cat, while the other hand busily typed.
Time passed, about three hours later dusk arrived and darkness began to blanket.
Ai woke up with sleepy eyes and rubbed them. "What time is it now, Ryunosuke-kun?"
Ryunosuke turned off his phone and rubbed Ai's head. "Around 6 PM."
"Oh~" Ai lay down lazily again. "Then let me sleep a bit more~ zzzZ."
Seeing Ai fall back asleep on his lap, Ryunosuke didn't scold her... well, he indeed spoiled this girl too much.
He resignedly carried Ai on his back to take her back to the dormitory.
As a boyfriend, he was very competent because he spoiled Ai too much.
This was Ryunosuke's first dating experience, so he spoiled his partner in everything, even if her requests were very strange or troublesome.