"Eat this Ayanokouji-Kun."

"This too, it's delicious."

"Thank you, your all. But I think if I eat another piece of bread, I'm sure I will vomit." I rejected Sato Maya and Mori Nene politely.

They looked disappointed but they gave up and put the chopstick with the Udong down.

"Hey, Hirata-Kun. Let me feed you too." Kuruizawa Kei who sat across the desk said to Hirata with a smile. He nodded softly and opened his mouth waiting for the food.

I looked at that romantic scene and wonder why I was there. Yesterday, I just sat alone on my desk in the classroom. And now, I sat in the cafeteria, siege by cute girls. Another man at this desk is Hirata who was considered as the class leader. It meant I was at the same level with this Mr.Perfect man, didn't I?

I wouldn't complain. I didn't pay for the food anyway. Sato and Mori said they would treat me although I tried to reject.

Free meal with the cute girls. Who doesn't want it?

If there was something that I didn't like. It's the sweetness of the class perfect couple, Kuruizawa and Hirata. Kuruizawa Kei is a cute blond girl who looked like a gal. She dominated other girls in class and it felt like she was the girls' leader.

In fact. I thought that her influence was from dating Hirata. The king's wife is the queen after all.

"So, Sato-San. Is it real that your cousin is a cop?" Hirata asked Sato.

"Yeah, she is at Beka-police station. She had worked with that famous detective. The one who shared the same surname with Mori-San."

"Oh, Him? No no, different kanji and the pronunciation isn't exactly the same." Mori explained.

"About surname. I wonder if Karuizawa is from Nakano." I said jokily...or not?

The silenced dominated this table.

A girl with blue short hair coughed. I guessed her name is Shinohara or something.

Karuizawa frowned. "Pardon?"

"The city named Karuizwa in Nakano. Karuizawa is... I'm sorry." I bowed my head.

What? Why my luck didn't work? I should try something else.

Do you know which Japanese province has 5 populations? (The answer is Nakano if you want to know.) I opened my mouth and prepared to ask that question. But someone touched my shoulder.

"Don't asked that, Ayanokouji-Kun. It doesn't work." Sounded like the angel's whispered to save me from the endless shame. I turned my head and found my eyes in contact with Kushida Kikyo's.

"Kushida-San, How are you?" Hirata smiled. She returned it with the same thing.

"Can I borrow Ayanokouji-Kun for a while please?"

"Oh, it depends on Ayanokouji-Kun."

"I'm fine with it." I would do anything to take myself out of this place now.

I stood up and followed Kushida to the hallway. I could feel displease look from Sato and Mori. And also from Ike and Yamauchi who sat far away.

"Sorry for interrupting your time. I just want to ask you some questions." Kushida said guiltlessly.

"Nah, it's fine. What do you want to ask?"

"Yesterday I saw you talked with Horikita-San. So I'd like to know if you two are close to each other."

"No, not at all. I sat beside her but we never talk. Yesterday is our first time."

"Our class's first time, actually." Kushida laughed timidly. "Horikita-San never talked to anyone."

And then she sighed. Just like a sad puppy.

"What's the problem? You look so sad."

"Nothing. I just want to befriend with Horikita-San, but she didn't even give me the telephone number."

Horikita said friends are useless. But it's just a telephone number. This girl should become a hermit in the forest. She would enjoy the silence and loneliness.

"Ayanokouji-Kun. Could you help me befriend with Horikita-San, please?"

Kushida suddenly asked me. It made me surprised.

"Why me? Kushida is the best friend-maker of our class. If you can't, no one can." I said. Only a week, Kushida knew the whole class's name, according to Ike.

"I think you can, Ayanokouji-Kun. Like I said you're the first one that could talk with her."

Kushida raised her eyes. That eye sparkled like a star.

"Please, Ayanokouji-Kun."

Cute + Raised the eyes = Nirvana

"I will do my best. But don't hope too much." I said while scratching my head. Kushida smiled widely and grab my hand.

"Thank you so much, Ayanokouji-Kun. You're the best."

Ok, no matter what. I would give my blood and tears to made Horikita befriend Kushida. I didn't care what I would lose. Even the whole world is worth it.

"Oh, Do you still remember that I said we should hang out sometime?"

"Yes." Who didn't?

"What about this afternoon? We can talk about Horikita-San, too." Kushida said.

"Sure, why not?"

"Great, see you this afternoon." Kushida waved for me and then ran back to the cafeteria.

I stood in the hallway until I couldn't see Kushida.

And then I realized.

Is this a date?

I felt thankful to my father and WhiteRoom for a while. Because of their luck's improvement course. Now, I was going to date with 10/10 cute girl.

Ike and Yamauchi would mad me. So I didn't say anything when I went to the classroom.

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When the bell rang. I got my bag and stood up.

I saw Horikita doing the same thing.

"Goodbye, Horikita". I said, almost whispering.

Horikita glimpsed at me and said. "You too."

Then she walked out of the classroom. I saw Kushida waved a hand from across the classroom. So I walked into her.

"Let's go. Ayanokouji-Kun." She smiled and paced.

But suddenly her foot strumbled the table.

"Ouch." She shouted and fell to the ground, her hand accidentally grabbed my shirt so I fell with her too.

After the sound of the crash. I found myself on the ground. Well, it's on Kushida rather than on the ground.

Wait. I should stand up now.

"Sorry, are you okay, Kushida?" I handed her. But she stood up and herself and blushed a little.

"Oh, I'm the one who said sorry."

It's because of the plot convenience or my luck. No one saw this falling. This couldn't be. The room was full of people. But not even one saw us. All of them looked another way. Even Ike was enjoyed his game and didn't see anything. Although, in the class, his eyes watched on Kushida all the time.

Or is this the power of the H.A.R.E.M protagonist? I passed the test so no way I would be like them, wouldn't I? But I'm not sure. Because we had only 2 successful subjects. If Kaxxxa's still alive, we could know he had a girl around him or not.

Wait, why should I care about it? I ran away from that man, from WhiteRoom.

"Ayanokouji-Kun, Let's go" Kushida called me, so I decided to forget all of those things and followed her.

Keyaki Mall was in the middle of the school area. It's as big as the outside mall. It had every kind of store; cafe, restaurant, book store, electronic store, and even the gift store. The most hilarious thing is those kinds of stores didn't have only ones.

Did it felt redundant for 360 students?

But since this school was strange for itself. I decided to not mind the detail.

"Which cafe do you want to go to, Ayanokouji-Kun?" Kushida asked me.

"Can you recommend some? I never come to Keyaki Mall."

"Really? Um. What about Palette? It's popular among the students."

"Sound great..." I stopped my word since I saw the leaflet on the floor. I stopped walking and took it from the floor.

The Moonshine. Bakery and Cafe.

"Moonshine?" Kushida looked at the leaflet. "I've never heard about it."

"This says they have Unique Honey Waffle. Interesting."

"So you want to go there?"

"Depend on you."

Kushida thought for a second. "Ok, Let's go."

So instead of walking in the biggest cafe on the front of the mall. We took a detour and walked on the stone footpath. It led us to the dark narrow alley. There are only three stores in that alley. The giftshop, The weird store called Borgen and Burgh, and our destination--The Moonshine.

On the alley's road, I could see no one. There is no light too. I could feel the smell of darkness from here.

Kushida looked scared so she grabbed my sleeve. If I was lucky enough. Maybe I could grab her hands.

"Do you sure to get inside?" I asked her.

"S--Sure."

I nodded and walked into the Moonshine. This cafe was more impressive than I saw from the outside. The soft yellow light shined on the brick wall. The jazz song and the black furniture made it more calm and classic.

And then, I saw someone unexpected. Horikita Suzune was sitting at the table, eating the waffle with the widest smile. She looked enjoyed the meal so much until didn't notice me and Kushida.

"So wonderful! This is the best thing ever made! I like these waffles as much as Onii-san! Oh my god! This is the worth thing for losing the point! Three more waffles, please!" She told the waiter who bow and walked into the kitchen, then she saw us.

Horikita suddenly became the stone.

I looked at her, she looked at me.

"H--Hi, Horikita-San---" Kushida said awkwardly.

Horikita's smile disappeared. She returned being the ice princess. She stood up and walked toward us.

"Did you heard anything?"

"If I said no, you wouldn't believe me, would you?" I answered her.

"You're right," Horikita mumbled. "If you told anyone about that. I won't forgive you."

"If I do, how would you do?" I teased her

"I would tell everyone that you raped me."

I raised my eyebrows. "You would tell everyone raped you. Kushida too,?"

Horikita stunted. She looked at Kushida and turned her glance to me.

"Please don't tell anybody." She bow and walked to the entrance.

"Wait, Horikita-San," Kushida called her. "We're here after all. Why don't we joined the meal..."

"No, thank you." She said and walked out anyway.

Kushida turned her face to me. No, Don't look at me like that. Don't look at me with a crying face and tearful eyes. I---I would cry too if you did that.

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The date was better than I expected.

We had been talking for a long time, although most of the topic was about Horikita. But just listening to her sweet voice responded my word was the best luck today. The waffle is holy delicious too

About 04.00 am. We said goodbye to each other. Kushida was going to meet her friends at Palette. So I walked to the dorm.

When I passed the supermarket, I stopped. I wonder if I could trust my luck again.

I walked into the store. At food branch. I saw Horikita shopping.

"What a coincidence." I greeted her with friendly words. She greeted me with an evil glare.

"Are you stalking me?" She asked.

"I told you it's a coincidence."

"Really? So at the Moonshine, is it coincidence too?"

"Exactly." I nodded. Look like someone knew how lucky I am."How do you know?"

Horikita sighed and take the pork in her basket. "Why you came here?"

I told her the truth."I just wanted to buy some cup noodles. G-cups, right?"

The ice princess looked at me with disgust.

"What? I mean this cup of noodles. It's a big size."

She didn't believe me at all. I didn't understand why she looked mad until I realized. "I see, Don't worry. Your cup around C or D, I guess." I said some random size but I was pretty sure I was right although I never considered hers.

"Disgusting."She said and stepped my foot. Ayanoluckily I could move my foot before she got me.

"How could you do something harshly with that pretty face?"

"Someone who sexually harassing the stranger with the poker face has no right to ask something like that. You're lucky this time I don't have any compass." Don't say like you can stab someone else with the compass normally.

I sighed. "So we're stranger?"

"At first. I considered you the quiet classmate who didn't annoy me. But after you talked with me yesterday. I downgraded you to the stranger who annoys me." Horikita moved to the flavoring zone.

She was the next-level introvert, no doubt. If I talked with her again. What the damn thing I would become?

I followed her and handed her the bag of waffles. She looked questioningly.

"The waffles that you ordered at the Moonshine. You forgot it. Take it"

Horikita shook his head. "I didn't pay, yet."

"I paid for you. Take it." I forced her to take the bag. She surrendered in the end.

"Don't think I will be your friend just because you treated me."

"You sound like tsundere, don't you? Tsuntsun-ne?"

Okay, I crossed the line. Horikita looked at me liked she wanted to kill me. No, not like. She literally wanted to kill me.

"If you call me like that again. I will stab you with my nail."

"No weapon so use your nail? Why don't you use your blood to explode me?"

"What?"

"What?"

Hm. How could I talk this much? At the lunch, I was still nervous and tried to play the dumb joke. Ok, the joke was still dumb. But now, I wasn't nervous anymore.

I think because I want to impress those cute girls. But Horikita had hated me already. So nothing to lose.

I followed her until we reached the big basket. There were many ingredients in there. I saw the sign hung with it.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I thought it was for the students that lose all their points," Horikita said. "It's low quality than the paying one. But it didn't unacceptable."

"Weird, what kind of students that use 100,000 yens per month but still not enough."

"You'll be surprised how much of them. In the mornings, I usually saw many of 2nd-3rd year battling for the free ingredients."

"Pretty strange, huh."

"What in this school doesn't strange, Ayanokouji-Kun? Don't you think this place is too heavenly? No fee. But get 100,000 yens every month. It claimed it has the highest employed-continue studying rate. But the atmosphere is nothing different from other schools."

I thought I understand her point. The teacher didn't strict as I expected. Let say, they didn't strict at all. Many students played on the phone in class, slept, were late, and even talked loudly in class. But the teacher did as nothing happen.

It didn't as I expected for high school.

Where was the flying shock?

Horikita finished her shopping and walked out of the store. I followed her.

She stopped and turned to me.

"So you're really stalking me?"

"Hey. The first-year lives in the same dorm. There is no way else." I protested.

Horikita squinted. "I was uncomfortable to walk with the poker face sexual harasser like you. So may you keep distances, please? 2 meters."

So polite. And what matters with that specific distances?

"As you wish."

I said with monotone---like I usually did.

In the last shine of the sun. I was walking on the way to the dorm. Horikita was in front of me.

Author's note: I felt like this chapter is out of tone. Nothing funny or comedy. I have to confess to you. I am out of the joke for this chapter. Because I already plan for the 2-3-4 volume and forget to think of any jokes for the first volume.