The two bid Tazaki goodbye and headed toward Ren’s seat. With most classmates still out, it was a perfect moment for a quick private chat.

“Harutaki, what’s the deal with that Tazaki guy?”

“Huh?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about…”

Ren sighed, shooting his friend a look that landed somewhere between helpless and exasperated.

“Tazaki’s the type who… well, doesn’t really fit in with our crowd.”

Harutaki understood perfectly well what Ren meant by that, and also that he wasn’t saying it out of arrogance or malice.

It was simply the truth.

Someone like Tazaki, awkward, out of shape, perpetually radiating “background character” energy, could never pull off the kind of quick social rise Harutaki had, even with Ren’s help.

But Harutaki didn’t need anything dramatic. He just wanted Ren to give the guy a nudge in the right direction. As someone who could strike up a conversation with literally anyone, Ren was the ideal person to help Tazaki get used to talking to normal people, especially the well-adjusted, “normie” types.

“Relax. I’m just asking you to help him get used to interacting with classmates, maybe hold a normal conversation or two. That’s a class rep’s job anyway, isn’t it?”

“Whew, that’s fine then… So, what about you, Harutaki? Got any plans for Golden Week? Wanna come hang out in Shin-Ōkubo? Miho, Haruto, and some friends from other classes are going too.”

“Sorry, already made plans.”

It was a perfect chance to broaden his social circle, but he’d already promised to meet up with Shihou.

“A girl?”

“Yeah. Shihou-san invited me to go out.”

“Wait, what? Nogami actually invited you out? Hold on? ”

Ren froze mid-sentence, eyes going wide. He grabbed Harutaki’s shoulders and shook him like a man possessed.

“You mean the one who invited you was— ”

“Shihou-san?”

The voice came from behind, calm but edged with danger.

Both Ren and Harutaki stiffened in place.

“N-Nogami-san! W-what brings you here?”

That bastard Ren, wasn’t he just trying to dump the whole “helping Tazaki” thing on him? Taking advantage of the moment when both hands were gripping his shoulders, he spun him around, putting him right at the front, face-to-face with Nogami.

“Murai…”

“Ahaha, I just remembered! Haruto asked me to grab him a bottle of Pocari Sweat from the vending machine, totally forgot, gotta go!”

Ren flashed a look that said good luck, buddy, then darted out of the classroom.

Coward. Completely spineless, no sense of loyalty whatsoever!

Harutaki wanted to curse under his breath, but he wasn’t even mad. He and Ren both knew full well what kind of “relationship” he and Nogami had, so slipping away before things exploded was, honestly, the smartest move.

“Hoshikawa you said Shihou invited you on a date?”

Why are you glaring at me like that?

What does it matter to you who I go out with?

Of course, he didn’t say that aloud. He wasn’t suicidal. He could tell perfectly well that Nogami liked him, maybe even more than she realized herself.

But…

Sorry, Nogami.

Until Shihou turns me down for good, I need you to stay as the standby option.

Which, he realized with grim self-awareness, made him a total scumbag.

A scumbag who took advantage of the fact that no one else would ever dare pursue Nogami, and that she herself probably couldn’t fall for anyone else.

Still… this was the only way he could think of that would keep everyone from getting hurt, or at least, hurt as little as possible.

“Ah, it’s not a date or anything. Just going with her to a mixer. Shihou-san figured it’d be awkward to go alone.”

He’d meant to nod and confirm it directly, but when the words left his mouth, they came out twisted into a careful half-truth.

“You’re not going.”

“…Huh?”

“I said, you’re not allowed to go!”

Nogami yanked him down by his tie until their eyes met, her tone sharp and imperious, the very image of a queen issuing an order.

“But… ”

“What? You got a problem with that?”

He didn’t want to upset her, not after she’d stood in front of him at the morning assembly yesterday, but that didn’t mean he was about to let her dictate his every move.

He was still deciding how to respond when a soft, melodic voice cut in beside him, as sudden and soundless as Nogami’s own arrival.

“Sorry, Nogami-san. But Hoshikawa-kun really did promise me first.”

Chouko smiled sweetly, resting her left hand on Harutaki’s arm.

Nogami’s eye twitched. A vein pulsed visibly at her temple.

In the past, she would’ve scoffed, maybe thrown a few insults, and tossed her “toy” away like a hand-me-down gift to spare herself the trouble.

But Harutaki wasn’t a disposable toy anymore.

She ignored Chouko completely, locking her rose-red eyes on him instead.

“Push her away. You’re not going.”

“Hey, Nogami-san, what exactly gives you the right to order me around?”

He sighed inwardly. It was the only countermeasure he could think of.

“I, I…”

“You’re not my parent or my guardian. You’re not my girlfriend or fiancée. So why exactly do I have to obey you about who I spend time with?”

Her lips trembled. Her face paled, then hardened.

A part of him felt bad, but he also knew there was no reason to keep indulging her like this. Best to cut it clean, quickly, before things got any messier.

“If you asked me out normally, Nogami-san, I’d probably be too excited to sleep all night, ”

He gave her a small, apologetic smile, offering her a graceful way to back down.

“But if you keep this up, the school forum’s gonna have a brand-new headline by tomorrow. Something like, ‘Shihou and Nogami, Two Girls, One Boyfriend?!’”

He gave a shrug and added lightly, “Not that I’d mind. I am the ‘scumbag,’ after all.”

Nogami valued her reputation and image too much to let that rumor spread.

And Shihou, well, she still had her “Onii” she adored. No way she’d want him hearing she was tangled up with a so-called womanizer.

Sure enough, both girls recoiled at once, stepping back as if he’d suddenly turned contagious.

See? Being a “scumbag” wasn’t always a bad thing.

Or so Harutaki told himself, trying to find comfort in the thought.

What he didn’t know was that for the next three afternoon periods, Nogami barely heard a single word the teachers said.

Her mind was a storm of restless thoughts, replaying, again and again, his question: “what exactly gives you the right?”

She knew perfectly well that calling him a dumb mutt or a lecherous dog was just a way to provoke Harutaki, she wasn’t stupid enough to take it seriously. But then… what was she supposed to be to him?

A defeated rival?

The Demon Queen of Nichiya High?

A cruel girl?

…Or a girl in love?

Come to think of it, did she even like him that way?

Having never experienced love before, Nogami found herself lost in the thought for the very first time.

Even as her friend Sae rambled on about the headaches of the girls’ track club, Nogami’s mind was somewhere far, far away.

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