This was not the first time that I've been approached by a girl but her astonishing appearance took me aback for an instance.

I'm not the type of guy to contemplate the appearance of something or in this case, someone yet her effulgent light blonde hair was the first thing I noticed from Yulia's overall appearance.

Sincerely, a normal boy would immediately feel abashed just from looking at her straight up. Plus, her pink-colored eyes were truly alluring. They felt as if they would capture anyone who would look at her in the eyes if that time you looked into her eyes were either short or long.

Perhaps my view of girls overall, in order for them to be perfect is far too quixotic, however---

Yulia was somewhat, if not, completely qualified when it came to appearance alone.

Furthermore, regardless of the cold chilly winter, she was wearing black tights along with the usual semi-long skirt.

Essentially, in conclusion, her whole appearance was ecstatic, really. Clear yet tan skin was enough for some, but in addition to that, Yulia also had red lipstick.

Nonetheless, I wasn't going to let those enthralling traits blind me.

"I'll pass. I've got something to d--"

"I'm leaving. 10 minutes have passed."

Are you fucking with me?!

Seriously!? After all that hype, you're just gonna take that music away?!

Hell no!

"No, please. Stay."

I didn't really care if the situation was being awkward, I wasn't going to let her leave.

"What? The deal was that I stayed here for 10 minutes. The deal is over. Bye."

....................

Well, she had officially taken off.

I was expecting a certain someone to also leave after I said the word 'pass' but she really didn't leave.

While I hate to internally admit it, she is right. I'm extremely addicted to her songs. It's actually not her songs, it's just the genre.

...

Even though I wasn't looking at her, she was looking at me still.

It's supposedly my fault here. I'm aware that she is my partner for the upcoming special exam but what's the point of talking to each other right now? We don't know the contests of the upcoming special exam, do we?

Therefore, our interaction itself has no purpose. Oh right, this brought me back a little. I recall my partner saying something similar, how a person needed a reason to interact with another person. I never really disagreed with her whole idea, I just brought different points up which confused her a little.

But, right now, there's no reason at all. Sure, she said that she would pay me lunch, but---

Wait.

She said she would pay me lunch?

Did I hear that correctly?

I'll make sure.

"Um, does your offer still stand?"

"Yep. You know... We will run out of time at this rate... So, it's gotta be now--"

"I'm in. Lead the way."

It's not manipulation when the one who thinks that is doing the manipulation doesn't realize that the one she's manipulating is actually aware of her schemes.

More importantly, I have not eaten a damn lunch in weeks. This calls for a celebration.

Assuming that I do get to eat...

"Wow, that was quick. What changed your mind?"

In addition to her heavenly appearance, I had noticed a Spanish accent. Given by her tan skin, she was most likely not from Japan...

"I'm just hungry. You'll pay me, right? RIGHT?"

"Aye, aye, I will. Just follow me. I do have some words to say to you, after all."

With that in mind, we left off.

However, I wasn't exactly sure as to where she would take me. If I recall correctly, the girls all had lunch in her own cafeteria, but she was walking in the exact opposite direction.

Yulia, was, instead, walking towards the main school which was fairly distant from the F block. It's as if the F block itself is a partial existence from the rest of the school blocks.

"Aren't you curious as to where I'm going?"

"Yeah, honestly. But then again, I didn't really have an idea as to where you'd go. But still, are you seriously thinking of..."

In comparison to our usual days, we would noticeably only ever interact with the rest of the people in the class. Actually, we really didn't. My point was, the situation was far too different from the usual situation where our only links of interaction would be the students in our class.

This time around, it was different because, we were officially walking in the middle of the main school blocks, where multiple people could see us.

"Are you scared?"

Yulia lightly smirked at me. Realistically, all these stares were a bit comprehensible. Our only way of interaction would be with people in our class. If they were not from our class then we could not interact with the other students.

I didn't particularly care about this.

"Why would I be?"

"Hehe. As expected of someone who has 1000 years of jail to fulfill."

Some people that were scaredly passing by immediately created distance.

Oi, seriously, would you actually believe someone who says that there's someone on this planet who has 1000 years of jail to fulfill? That's just absurd.

Yet absurd, it is the case, it seems.

"...Where are you taking me exactly?"

"The main cafeteria. Hey, did you know? There, they actually serve meals. Anyone can buy them at any time, however, you need to pay for them. Of course, if you are a student at this school, you get them daily for free. From my understanding, teachers have to pay for them."

Yulia's information was certainly something that I was going to question first, but these side stares weren't the nicest thing there is. Therefore...

"Eeeeeeeeek!!! He looked in my direction!!"

"H-Hey, let's report this to the teachers!!"

I'm fucking sure you can't report this to the teachers. I simply glared back. Well, it might've been with malicious intent, but it's not something that can be qualified as a rule breaker.

Regardless the two little shits ran like hell for some reason.

If I take Yulia's words for granted then the main cafeteria, according to the school plant was in block A. We were essentially in block C still. It would still take a bit of walking to get there.

Also---

"How come you know all of this, Yulia?"

"Oh, that's because I eat there every day. The food at my dorm sucks so much. The big major reason as to why most of the girls in our class avoid eating is either because they don't have the money to pay for the meals or they just don't want to be viewed as criminals by the rest of the students. Well, if you were to ask me, that's really counterproductive. Why bother with how someone looks at you?"

"Ehh, I didn't expect you to say all of that. It's true though. I can say this because I'm a man but it doesn't bother me in the slightest how anyone perceives me."

Speaking strictly, humans are constantly bothered by how they are perceived, however, that's only if you believe that you have something that you lack. I'm aware that I lack certain aspects, but I'm confident that I can conquer those aspects if I actually put the minimal effort into them.

That's why I'm not bothered. Because I haven't tried to ever live up to their expectations nor will I ever.

"Daniel, whether you are a man or not, it doesn't matter, in my opinion. Anyone is capable of upholding this perspective. Wouldn't you agree?"

She's not defending her gender yet she isn't exactly striking back at my gender at the same time...

What is this sense of integrity that I'm feeling?

"Yeah, I agree. But you know, it's up to the individual to be able to uphold that perspective. And, as you might not or might know, not everyone is capable of ignoring their surroundings like we are."

Honestly, I was lying a bit. I did get bothered by the looks but all I did was glare back. It's nothing that impressive yet it still showed a bit of contradiction in my own words.

In light of that, Yulia was the one who truly didn't care.

"True. That might just be too hard for some people. Yet, aren't you and I different in that regard?"

"I suppose we are."

Without saying much after that, we eventually made our way to block A.

Obviously, we were met with glares, but it's whatever. What actually was confusing me was how they already knew that we were specifically the ones in class F.

How did they know that?

"Choose whatever you want. I'll pay for it."

"Well, thanks. But, what will you be having?"

The choices were abundant, honestly. That was only the case because once we sat on a table, the lunch menu was already there. Also, Yulia was receiving looks from several guys in a lustful way while I was receiving them in a hateful way.

It appears that a misunderstanding has been formed.

If I was a casual virgin, then I was done for. Yulia, who was performing somewhat shameful conduct while choosing what to have for lunch, made the boys around her delirious.

To be more precise, Yulia was holding her thumb on her lips while holding her cleavage against the table.

"Hmm... You choose."

She looked at me with enchanting eyes for a split second.

Given that she was right in front of me, it wouldn't be such a blunder to assume that we were on a date or something.

However, that was clearly not the case.

Also, I wasn't going to show her any mercy.

"Korean noodles."

"Wuuahh. You're serious?"

"Dead serious. Plus, you said that it was my choice, right? Are you backing down on your own words?"

I had to make sure she didn't forget what she said.

"No--- I'm just stunned. Are you perhaps a spice lover too?"

Swallowing all my remaining saliva, my jaw fell a little bit.

Never ever did I think that I would meet someone who liked spicy things too.

"Saying the word 'lover' is a bit of an understatement... I happen to be someone who adores the very existence of spice."

"Seriously!? I'm the same! Then, why don't we make a competition to see who can hold out the longest?"

"Say no more. I'll order the exact same then if you don't mind."

"Ahh, we have to call a waitress though. Still, I'm surprised that a waitress has not arrived yet. Normally, someone comes right away, but this time..."

"...Did something happen?"

"No, it's just weird."

"Hold on, I'll check it out."

A true alpha will never make a girl wait, regardless of the occasion. Especially when Yulia is paying me something to eat. This is the least I can do.

Nevertheless, the whole cafeteria was somewhat full. Therefore, where would I start?

Accordingly, calling a waitress would be the correct thing to do, but after witnessing that a male waiter had a certain uniform, I took the independent action of consulting someone who had the same uniform, but, was not busy attending someone.

Ultimately, there were both male waiters and waitresses.

Regardless, the one I picked was a casual male waiter.

Despite being a shallow fat man, he had the uniform of a male waiter. In other words, he would do.

Still, why the fuck are you on your phone instead of doing your damn job...

"Hey. I want to place an order. Could you come to attend me and my acquaintance at our table?"

"I'll be there in a minute..."

What?

What the fuck did this fucker just say?

In a minute? Oh well, for the record, I don't have a good past with people who do this type of shit.

By common sense, if you are someone who is employed to a certain job then it's your duty to do your job, right?

If that's the case, then what's up with this shitty attitude?

"Not in a minute. Right now."

I wasn't speaking in a loud tone, so no one except this fat idiotic piece of shit could hear me.

"Ahhh, what the--- Just give me a minute, damn it. I'll be right the---"

It's against my policy to bother people with a killer intent but I don't exactly forgive this type of bullshit.

"Why aren't you doing your job? Just come on to the damn table. Or are you disobeying me?"

"N-No, I'll come right away..."

At least he had caught up. Unfortunately, I attracted the attention of a few students who were looking at the male waiter who had a frozen expression. Thankfully, he followed my lead and went to the table.

Small talks could be heard from here and here, but I didn't really care. I can't stand employees who do this shit on a daily basis. Quit your job if you aren't going to do it.

Lastly, I sat on the table back with Yulia, who was waiting.

"W-What will you two be having...?"

His bad breath was also getting on my nerves. Furthermore, every time he spoke he would spit out small portions of saliva at to who he was speaking.

"We will be having the Korean noodles menu. Extra spicy. Ah, I'll drink a lemon ice tea."

"I'll have the exact same."

I didn't have a reason to agree with Yulia here. Although, I prefer peach ice tea instead of lemon ice tea. But, lemon ice tea isn't bad at all.

"I will pay in the end, if that's possible."

For some reason, he was showing signs of spite. His facial expression was emitting a small glimpse of frustration and rage.

He might just deny her request at this point...

Not of course, unless...

"..."

"O-Of course, it's without a doubt possible. Then, just wait a bit, the menus will be ready under five minutes or so..."

Well, it didn't seem like he was lying this time. That's a good thing.

Fortunately, I didn't have to cast a killer intent on to him yet again.

It's funny how it works. There's supposedly no logical explanation to a killer's intent, it's just a tremendous fear that someone feels when someone who has the intention of killing them stares right at them. There's nothing that says that this will work, but once you are able to transmit a minimal yet enough portion of rage with a mixture of bloodlust to who you want to feel fear, they will naturally feel it.

Pathetically walking away, I was finally alone with Yulia yet again.

"...What just happened?"

"What do you mean? We were attended. Isn't that normal considering the circumstances that we were under?"

From an outsider's perspective, what just occurred was nothing more than simple attendance. Whether or not the employee showed a frightened expression while attending us, is completely partial and irrelevant.

Needless to say, that wasn't quite the case. I had to make sure he at least understood who he was trying to disobey. After all, rebellion is something I can barely overlook.

Yet, in the midst of Yulia's captivating lips who stole my entire field of vision, I slowly forgot about that.

They weren't exactly close but they weren't that distant as well.

Sincerely, it was getting hard to stay composed.

I must pat myself on the back if I survive this long without showing a fascination for Yulia's salacious appearance.

"I get that, but his words were a bit too odd. After all, it's as if he was scared of something..."

"Who knows. Maybe he's just bad at attending. Well, what truly matters is that we got our request taken. Even if it meant searching for someone whose job is to attend someone. How ironic, right?"

"Well, yeah. But that aside, I've been curious about something."

"What? What are you curious about?"

..............

I began to think that her cleavage would collide right to my chest as soon as she began to move to the seat right next to mine. That's right, instead of being right in front of me, Yulia had moved right next to me.

In addition to that, my nostrils were quickly being filled up with a wondrous substance. This was, without a doubt, her perfume, which, under my guess would be apple perfume.

Seriously, why does it smell so good?

That aside, I could barely look at her in the eye despite the fact that we were undoubtedly physically close. No, it was truly because of that.

As a matter of fact, her lips were at a distance which could be qualified as almost connected.

Resist, damn it!

"Um, are you..."

No reason to be tense here. Even if Yulia just so happens to be basically perfect when it comes to appearance, that alone isn't reason enough.

That's right, she is---

She is what?

No, seriously, what's there to say about her so far that can be labeled as bad?

Frankly, I began, with time, to create an idea. My idea revolved around the fact that the majority of the time, pretty girls are pretty because they have to compensate for the lack of their personality.

Realistically speaking, a wide number of pretty girls can be a bliss to gaze at, but they just have so many personality issues that it almost feels as if their beauty is a sign of compensation. Therefore, I created that idea that pretty girls only are pretty.

That personality is a myth.

But this---

This girl that's in front of me has so far shown me the exact opposite of my idea. It's as if her own existence was made to contrast my idea. Regardless, it's way too soon to assume that she doesn't have any personality issues.

No----

She obviously has personality issues. My point is, I'm aware that she is a criminal which would, therefore, indicate that she has a twisted mind. Yet Yulia has not shown any signs of possessing an annoying personality.

Now that I think about it. What actually bothers me in a pretty girl is how much they lack personality. It's not as if I'm bothered by their personality, I'm bothered by how much they lack it. In light of that, if someone like Yulia possesses both personality and looks, what's actually the catch here?

Damn it, it's too late to think about that!

Is she actually going to kiss me!?

Why are your lips so close?

"...What?"

"Daniel, are you gay or something?"

...........

Oh, I see. So that's what this was about.

I guess it makes sense now.

"No, Yulia, I'm not. Why do you ask though?"

I'm not homophobic nor am I gay. In all likelihood, if life goes well, which, let's be honest, it probably won't, I would like to have a girlfriend.

There's just a slight problem when it comes to that.

"Are you sure you aren't? It's fine if you are. I really don't judge."

It appears that she is not convinced.

Then--- should I prove my point straight up?

"Do you want evidence?"

"Mhm, wait, how can you prove whether or not you are g---"

This time, I was the one who closed our distance, but I didn't fully connect. In fact, our lips didn't connect, they were just borderline close to each other. This was all for the sake of proving my point.

"E-Erm, my bad there. I'll believe you, I really will."

And on top of that, I managed to get a cute reaction out of Yulia, who, in order to hide her transient embarrassment, moved to her initial seat, which was in front of me.

"Sorry about that... It's just..."

She didn't finish her own words for some reason. More like, she was far too self-aware of what she wanted to say yet she wouldn't complete them out of nobility.

"What? Are you surprised that I haven't shown any signs of being embarrassed despite how gorgeous you look?"

I was expecting a somewhat embarrassed reaction from Yulia, but she didn't really show a reaction that resembled that.

"Haha, sorry about that. I might be getting a little too ahead of myself here, but I think you're the first person who hasn't been awkward around me despite my appearance."

Yulia isn't exactly denying her appearance, which could mean that she does take pride in her appearance.

"No, this is hard. Believe me, it is for me."

"Wow, blunt. Wait, seriously?"

"Hm? Yeah. I won't deny it. You are cute, truly."

No flirt intended I'm just spreading a fact.

Plus, I was trying to get a cute reaction out of her but she wasn't budging in.

Also---

In order to not make this conversation any more awkward, I should get to the main point...

"But, more importantly, what is it that you wanted to talk about? It wasn't that, right?"

"Ah, no. No, it was something else. Since today is February 20th, I thought that we, since we are a selected pair for the upcoming exam, could think about how to prepare ourselves for the exam..."

Fair enough. That's something that's been on my mind for a while too.

What would our approach as a pair, be, for this upcoming exam?

I'm also glad that she is cooperating on this independently. I'll admit, if it were completely up to me then I wouldn't make a single move.

However---

"We don't actually have a way to prepare ourselves for the upcoming special exam. And that's because we don't know what the contents of it will be in it. However, that will change in the afternoon, since Yuka-sensei will give us a full explanation about that."

There was no real point to this conversation for that reason, really. I only accepted to have this conversation under the premise that I would have lunch, which appears to be the case, in theory.

"I'm aware. But, hey, why not play a guessing game to see who is right?"

"Is there even a point? We will get the answers out anyway."

"Yes, that's certainly true. But, don't you think it would be fun? Don't you like competition, Daniel?"

"I don't mind it. It's just that competition should have a point. Mindless competition really goes against the premise of competition which is to determine the outcome of something."

"But that's exactly it! You even said it. The whole point of this is to determine which one of us is right!"

"So if let's say, both of our predictions are wrong, then what?"

"I guess neither of us wins and we both lose?"

"Hm, that does sound acceptable."

In the meantime, our noodles had arrived.

Once again, I bothered to trade glances with him just to make sure that he wouldn't show any signs of possible retaliation.

"Well, one thing at its time. Firstly, we have to fight over this."

"That's true. However, let me show you how serious I am about this."

My first move would be to grab the spicy-sweet chilly spice bottle. Next, by grabbing a portion of wasabi, I, manly, took the courage to put them all in my noodles while shuffling the noodles around the cup.

"..."

For the very first time, Yulia had fallen silent.

Was this too much for her? Such a shame.

I was deeply looking forward to this.

"!"

"Hehe, okay then. Let me show you how serious I am about this too."

"H-Hey, you can't be serious!!"

Is she insane!? She's going to explode if she gets a taste of all that!

"Oh, but I am serious!"

Shit, she wasn't joking about it.

As we speak, Yulia was doing what I had done but instead of applying the same portions, she was going even further and beyond.

Yulia, you're insane.

"Damn it! Fine, I'll do it too!"

I couldn't just stand still and watch her pour all those seasonings into her noodles while having the inferior portion of sauces in my noodles.

"Well-- This should be enough, don't you think?"

"Yes, for sure."

Being provocative and adamant about this, Yulia was ready to begin.

Now then---

"Shall we begin?"

"Of course. Any tim--"

Too bad I wasn't going to wait for you.

"I see how it is! I won't hold back then!"

Zurp.

We had officially engaged in a noddle eating contest.

The first few chews weren't anything special.

They never are.

Anyone who is fooled by how simple and not spicy their noodles initially are is a fool.

It's common sense to never expect anything that spicy from noodles at the start.

What would truly matter was after that...

"Hey, hey, what's with that face? You want to throw the towel?"

While eating the noodles, I threw that jab at Yulia.

"Not happening. How about you though? You're getting pretty red."

Well, so are you.

But we both knew why.

"From here on out is where it gets hard. Can you keep up with me?"

Digging a massive portion of the noodles onto my chopsticks, I dove right into this contest with fury.

...!!!!

It's so fucking hot, Jesus!!

I-I know that's to be expected, but it actually feels like this is Satan's caldera or something!

B-But, she must be feeling something, right!?

"!"

C-Crap, she's not even budging! How!?

We put the same sauces, right!? How is it humanly possible to hold out for that long!?

Even though our noodle cups were still half full, I was essentially almost on the verge of giving in.

Yet, I simply couldn't show any signs of doing that.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to drink a bit of ice tea?"

"Hm? Yeah, you're rig-- No way in hell will I!"

Stubbornly denying her offer, I resumed my furious yet painful eating.

I don't think that my lips have ever gotten to this state. I can't even feel them.

The only feeling I can feel is a searing sensation on my throat.

It's telling me to fucking stop or I might stop functioning.

But, my pride as a person who adores spice could not allow myself to be defeated here.

"I-I'm almost done! How about y--"

Naive fool.

Did you actually think I would back down from that?

Your words can't possibly faze me when I'm this serious about something.

I'm gonna bring this mother down!!

"I'll finish first! It's useless!"

Don't 'MUDA' me like that you monster!

"No, I'll be the one who finishes it first!!"

Grasping all my possible lung strength, I took a massive breath of oxygen and embarked on the movement that would decide who would be the loser and who would be the winner.

Roughly a few seconds later, I had finished and therefore was about to slam the cup of noodles right into the table but...

"!"

...

We both slammed the cup of noodles into the table at the exact same time...

"...A draw huh?"

"...It seems..."

I did try my best to eat as fast as possible. I'm also trying my hardest to not show any signs that I want to drink my ice tea or that I just feel like I'm actually breathing fire right now.

No, there's no way in hell, pun intended, that I was going to show her that weak side of me.

But...

"..."

"..."

"Aren't you going to drink your ice tea, Yulia?"

"No, I'm good. I'll pass, Daniel."

Yulia was showing an equal stubbornness it seems.

It might just be that our minds aren't that different in this regard.

"..."

"..."

.......

In the end, without showing any signs of resistance, we rapidly grabbed our ice teacups and drank like we were stuck on the Saara desert for days.