Chapter 262

Melon Bread was one of the student council officers and handled general affairs.

She had chestnut hair in braided pigtails, wore glasses, and looked like a model honor student.

But... today, she had a different air about her.

She wore a neat light blue dress, had let down her braided hair, and had taken off her glasses.

Melon now looked like a noble lady from the deeper layers of society, and perhaps because she wasn't used to the outfit, her cheeks were flushed red.

"Reina onee-chan, I'm so happy to see you here! It kind of feels like fate!"

If there was a problem... it was that Melon had arrived together with the main character, Luei Biscuit.

As usual, Luei casually spoke to Reina, but Reina returned his words with a cold gaze.

"Why are you two together?"

"Ah... um, that is..."

When Reina asked briefly, Luei was visibly flustered.

It seemed there was something difficult to talk about.

"Could it be... you two are traveling together?"

Seeing the distance between them, Clael voiced the thought that suddenly came to mind.

At that comment, Luei looked awkward.

"No, uh... it's just that I didn't have any plans during winter break. Things are awkward with my family at home, and I just thought I'd like to go somewhere far away..."

"Come to think of it... Biscuit, you invited me to travel before winter break too, didn't you? Said you wanted to take me somewhere special."

Reina muttered softly.

If Reina had chosen Luei's route, the two of them would've gone on a trip together.

"Meili and the others invited me to travel too, and I didn't want to go on an overnight trip with someone I wasn't close to, so I turned you down... but did you invite Bread instead?"

"Wow... that's just the worst."

Clael muttered without thinking.

Luei's actions were just plain off-putting.

He invited Reina, got rejected, and then invited Melon instead and came skiing.

And then... when he happened to run into Reina at the travel destination, he greeted her with his usual 'onee-chaaaan' routine.

(As a man... as a person, this is just pathetic. He's completely different from his game character.)

Because of Luei's bizarre behavior, the gazes from everyone around, including Clael and Reina, grew cold.

Even in the game, the character Luei Biscuit was childish and selfish—a boy whose immaturity and lack of growth stood out.

That's exactly why... the heroine couldn't leave him alone, wanted to watch over him, and deepened their relationship.

(But... if that became reality, he'd just be a painful guy to deal with. Well, Eric and Vincent aren't much better, though...)

If the game's heroes and heroines existed in real life, they might just be seen as troublesome and painful people by those around them.

Someone who spends all day training and fighting without working is nothing but a burden to their spouse and children, and a man who flirts with another woman while having a fiancée and breaks off the engagement is just plain trash.

(The only decent ones are Reina and maybe Will... seriously, they all need to get it together.)

"Um... please don't be too hard on Luei..."

However, someone stepped up to defend Luei.

It was none other than Melon herself, the girl being treated as the convenient fallback.

"I was really happy when Luei invited me on the trip. I know he doesn't like me or anything, and he only asked me because he happened to be free... but still, I was really happy. So please don't blame him. I'm fine, really...!"

Melon pleaded earnestly.

Clael didn't know much about her... but she was a good girl. Her sincerity reminded him of Reina.

(Which only makes Luei's trashiness stand out more... well, if she doesn't mind, it's not my place to say anything.)

"...I'm not blaming him. We're just making small talk."

Reina seemed to share Clael's thoughts, and spoke only to Melon without looking at Luei.

"We just happened to meet at the travel destination. Let's enjoy our trips without getting too involved with each other."

"Okay..."

"No waaaay, Reina onee-chaaaaan..."

Melon nodded solemnly, while Luei let out a pitifully clinging voice.

And to that explosion of patheticness... not only the women present, but even his friend Will cast him a look of contempt.