Chapter 21: The Golden-Haired Trio’s Retreat

  The chubby blonde’s loud voice made the entire css turn their heads. Many eyes nded on Aoi Yuu.

  With no choice, the timid girl slowly rose from her chair.

  Takumi frowned. What kind of scene was this? Bullying her right in front of everyone?

  Aoi Yuu walked over to the cssroom door. The blonde sneered.

  “You’ve got some nerve, standing me up like that. Come with me.”

  Aoi Yuu kept her head down, silent.

  Just as Takumi opened his mouth to speak, a cold voice cut through the air.

  “Wait.”

  All eyes snapped toward the source.

  It was the blonde princess herself.

  She slowly walked to the doorway. The entrance wasn’t very wide—Takumi, Aoi Yuu, and Ryūko ended up squeezed together. Somehow (or maybe not somehow), the two girls fnked him perfectly, one on each side.

  “Who the hell are you? Mind your own business!”

  The blonde gnced at her own dyed hair, then at Ryūko’s natural golden locks. A fsh of inferiority hit her—quickly repced by burning jealousy. She gred defiantly at the princess.

  Ryūko spoke calmly.

  “I’m the css representative of this css. Are you even students of this school?”

  “Which eye of yours didn’t see our school badges?!”

  The blonde pointed aggressively at the emblem pinned to her chest.

  Ryūko cupped her own chest with both hands, deliberately making her own much more prominent school badge stand out.

  “Oh my, sorry. It’s so small I completely missed it.”

  Her apology carried a perfect double meaning.

  The blonde looked down at her own tiny, barely noticeable badge. A wave of bitterness washed over her—she was a repeat-year student, at least two years older than this girl, yet… the developmental gap was tragic.

  Nameless jealousy fred up.

  She roared, “I’m a third-year! So what if you’re some css rep? If you keep sticking your nose in, believe me—I’ll cw up that fox face of yours and show you why roses are red!”

  “Actually, not all flowers are red. And while being css rep may not mean much, I do have the authority to protect the students in my css. Your earlier words already count as verbal assault. As the student council president, I can’t just stand by.”

  Ryūko smiled sweetly as she spoke.

  Takumi, listening from the side, whispered to Aoi Yuu,

  “Our school has a student council?”

  “Yes.”

  “How have I never noticed? That’s not right… Wait, is it full of cute girls? Does anyone ever decre they’re building a harem in the student council or something?”

  Aoi Yuu shook her head—whether she didn’t know or simply didn’t understand what he was talking about was unclear.

  “Student council president? Yeah, right.”

  The blonde clearly didn’t believe it.

  But at that moment, her pink-haired and red-haired ckeys recognized the golden-haired girl.

  The redhead tugged at her urgently.

  “Big Sis, she really is the student council president. And Aniki said—never, ever mess with the student council. Especially not President Ryūko.”

  “What? She’s Ryūko?!”

  The blonde’s face changed instantly. A strange expression crossed her features.

  She shot Aoi Yuu one st vicious gre, then turned and left without another word—no parting shot, nothing.

  “That’s it? I thought I was gonna have to step in.”

  Seeing the matter resolved, Takumi let out a relieved breath. He really didn’t want to get physical with girls.

  Aoi Yuu turned to Ryūko.

  “Css rep… thank you.”

  “It’s nothing. Just my duty as css representative.”

  Ryūko gnced at Takumi and added,

  “Though if I hadn’t stepped in, it seems you already had a knight in shining armor.”

  With that, she turned and walked back into the cssroom.

  Takumi smiled at Aoi Yuu.

  “Yuu-chan, if you ever have trouble at school, just go to the css rep. Her aura is on another level—those dye-job, power-level-two fake magical girls can’t compare. And if it’s outside school… you can come to me. What’s your phone number?”

  “133…”

  Aoi Yuu reflexively recited it.

  By the time she realized what she’d done, Takumi had already pulled out his phone, saved the number, and dialed it.

  A simple, pin ringtone chimed.

  Aoi Yuu fumbled in a panic to pull her phone from her pocket.

  Takumi ended the call.

  “That’s my number. If they don’t give up and try to bully you again, don’t be scared. Call me. I’ve got ways to handle them.”

  He gave her shoulder a light pat and walked off.

  From her seat, Ryūko watched the entire exchange from afar.

  After Takumi left, she propped her elbow on the desk, rested her cheek on one hand, and twirled a ballpoint pen in the other like a gymnastics baton. Finally, she stopped and wrote a string of numbers on a bnk sheet of paper.

  “Good guy? Pervert? Siscon? Otaku?”

  Finally, school was over.

  Takumi pushed his electric bike, feeling reflective. Quite a lot had happened today.

  He hadn’t gone to the so-called “Cute Billiards Room” as the note demanded. No way was he letting someone lead him around by the nose. Better to ignore it for a few days—let the instigator come crawling out themselves.

  “Magic Point usage… I came up with a bunch of ideas during css today. First, pick up my little sister, then head to the bookstore.”

  He hopped on the bike and was about to ride off when Aoki Haruto’s voice rang out.

  “Aniki! Wait up!”

  The lolicon came sprinting over, panting.

  “Didn’t we say we were going to see a movie?!”

  “No time. Gotta pick up the Empress first, then go to bookstore to buy books, and after that hit the market for groceries.”

  “Why buy books?”

  “Someone stole my textbooks. Obviously I need new ones.”

  “Seriously? Wait—is that why you were glued to Aoi Yuu today? Rabbit eating the grass by its own burrow, huh? You must be thrilled.”

  “Get lost. And why would I be thrilled about that?”

  “Because it means your interest in women is finally awakening! You’ll leave the otaku life behind, get a girlfriend, and your siscon disease gets cured—then the Empress will be all mine!”

  (……)

  Takumi was speechless.

  He pointed at the sun still high in the sky.

  “It’s still daytime, you know. Wake up.”

  “You saying I’m dreaming? Hmph, don’t underestimate me. My dream is to become a great gynecologist—curing all kinds of women’s love-reted illnesses. Chuunibyou is the main focus, of course.”

  Takumi had zero interest in continuing the nonsense.

  He kicked off on the bike—only to feel something fall from above.

  Instinctively he jerked his head aside, but it was too te. Whatever it was spttered right across his face.

  “Chirp chirp chirp.”

  Takumi looked up. A sparrow circled once overhead before flying away.

  …Bird poop?

  Before he could even get mad, Aoki Haruto started frantically digging through his bag.

  Takumi thought the guy was looking for tissues to help.

  Instead, the idiot pulled out his iPhone, turned it on, and shouted,

  “Don’t move! Don’t move! This kind of probability is super rare—I’m posting this on Instagram!”

  Ten thousand alpacas stampeded over Takumi’s fleeting moment of gratitude.

  Without a word, he rode off.

  Far away, on the second floor of the teaching building, the golden-haired princess’s hair danced in the wind.

  A faint blue light fshed in her eyes.

  The corner of her mouth curved into a mysterious smile.

  “Punishment complete.”

  That smile was the smile of a true witch.

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