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A month has passed by since Naoya went on his first date, and after a smooth sailing journey for the most part, Naoya and Utahime formally decided to date each other.
Currently, Naoya was just finishing his classes, and before anyone could stop or ask him anything, Naoya bolted out of the school.
The students and Nagino looked at him bolting out of the school grounds, and without saying anything, all of them looked towards Utahime.
"...His friends from Tokyo have come to Kyoto for their field trip," said Utahime without needing to be asked.
The boys gave a nod to her.
All of them knew that Naoya and Utahime were dating, thanks to Naoya announcing to them so that the two of them could act around freely, and any boy around them wouldn't get any funny ideas about her. He has read enough manga and watched enough dramas to know how hiding a relationship turns out.
Initially, Utahime was quite embarrassed by having their relationship made public, but over the month, she has made terms with it. Honestly, it was quite convenient when their friends gave the two of them some space when they needed it and were normal at other times. It was a big concern for her since she didn't know how to act around Naoya at school.
"...Senpai, does know that tomorrow is the Goodwill Event, right?" asked Hideaki Kamo, a first-year.
"Cashew Raisin," said Shion Inumaki.
"He knows, he was scribbling away some stuff in his jujutsu notes during classes," replied Kuroko.
"...Let's hope it was preparation for the event," said Hideaki.
He was a member of the Kamo clan, one of the stronger youngsters in the clan, too, but despite that, he was not keen on going face-to-face against the menace from the Gojo clan. It was fortunate that an equally menacing force in the form of Naoya Zenin was on their side.
"Best of luck to you guys. I am free from that hell this year," said Utahime.
According to normal rules for the Goodwill event, only the 2nd and 3rd years participate in it, with special addition of the 1st years if their seniors approve their addition to the team. 4th year students were exempted from the matches, though last year, because of threats from Yuki Tsukumo, the HQ decided to let her join in too, though there were some interests to observe the Special Grades in action too.
Utahime was in no way interested in pointless fighting and would rather watch the event from the sidelines while her juniors fight it out.
"Good for you, senpai, *Sigh* I need to fight against humans again....Such a tiresome task," whined Kuroko.
Kuroko was now an official Grade-2 sorcerer, but his strong suit was killing his enemies while their defences were gone and before they could hit him back. Holding back during a fight while making sure that his enemies don't die was a much more difficult task for him. He was neither so strong that he could just go on with little effort to subdue his enemies, nor weak enough to give it his all during the fight. His Technique too required quite some conditions to go into the final phase, and he could not spam it for long while holding back during a fight.
"Raisin Raisin," said Shion and patted Kuroko's back.
Kuroko looked at his juniors.
Hideaki and Shion were both Grade 2 sorcerers from the start of their school, and they were the conventional ones too, who could maintain their output during most of their fight, unlike him.
'...I don't know whether I am fortunate or unfortunate to be among such talented people,' thought Kuroko.
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Back to Naoya:
"Naoya-kun!"
"Izumi!"
The two of them called each other out and ran into each other.
Izumi Miyamura was smiling happily seeing Naoya after so long; however, before he could say anything, Naoya grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him up.
"...How the hell can you get even lighter?" asked Naoya, and he shook the light boy in his hand to estimate his weight.
"And what's up with this hairdo? Cut it!"
"No! My piercings will show!" complained Miyamura.
"...Can you two not make a scene after we all gathered after such a long time?"
Another voice interrupted their reunion, and the boys looked to their side and saw a girl standing there with her arms crossed.
"Misaki-chan!" greeted Naoya.
"...The demon really is here..." muttered Miyamura.
"Don't call me in a cutesy way!!!" yelled Misaki Ayusazawa and pointed towards Naoya.
"And you, you bastard, you dare call me that!"
"...She has not matured at all," said Miyamura with a horrified look on his face and, without saying anything, hid behind Naoya.
Misaki's and Izumi's schools had their school trips around the same time, and that's why the three of them were able to meet here.
The three of them met during their winter breaks and at the end of their first year, and since then, a few months have passed by, so there were a lot of things that they could talk about, and that's what they did
.
.
.
"...So you are telling me that you picked up a kid you found on the street, took him home, and surprisingly, her older sister is your classmate, and now you have a crush on her....What in the romcom manga plot is this?!" complained Naoya.
"EH? C-Crush!!! No. There is nothing like that at all! I mean, I don't suit her!" replied Miyamura in panic.
Misaki and Naoya looked at him with their narrowed eyes as they sipped on their drinks.
Seeing the two of them looking suspiciously at him, Miyamura tried to put the case in point, but the more he tried, the more it felt like he was making excuses.
Still, the two stopped pressuring him soon. They didn't want to make the boy cry out loud because of the pressure.
"What about you? Man-hating as ever?" asked Naoya.
"...Rude....yeah," replied Misaki.
Naoya and Miyamura stared at her for a while before they sighed and gave her pitying looks. The two then took turns to pat her head and prayed that she would get better soon, much to her annoyance. If the two were not friends, she would have already snapped and kicked these two boys by now.
As the three of them continued to fool around, they realised that the sun had already set and they needed to get back to their hotel, where they were staying for their roll calls.
Conveniently, their hotel was the same, too. Though Naoya wasn't surprised much by it. The hotel that they were staying at was a very common one that most schools used during their trips, and it had quite a reputation for it, too.
Naoya decided to escort the two of them to the hotel.
Once they reached there before he could say his goodbyes, the two on the school trip noticed their teachers doing the roll calls and immediately rushed to join their schoolmates.
Being left behind, Naoya shrugged his shoulders and slowly made his way to the toilet.
After he was done refreshing, he met with Izumi, who was done with his roll call and was looking around for Naoya.
The two then started to search for Misaki, and once they spotted her, the two got a bit serious.
"Is something the matter? You want something from our friend, dude?" asked Naoya as he grabbed the shoulder of the blond boy who seemed to be hitting on Misaki.
"Huh?" The blond boy looked at Naoya and Miyamura in surprise.
One was giving him a deadly cold stare, while the other looked quite well built, and his grip was also quite strong too.
"You alright, Misaki?" asked Naoya and glanced at her.
"Oi! Stop it, you two! I am fine! He is from my school!!!" explained Misaki.
"Huh?" muttered Naoya and Miyamura in confusion, and they looked at Misaki before they turned towards the blond boy they were threatening.
"...You know her?" asked Naoya.
The boy nodded.
"You were not messing with her?" asked Miyamura.
"...Only the usual amount," replied the boy.
Naoya and Miyamura looked at each other before their expression turned back to normal, and Naoya stopped gripping the boy's shoulder and gently patted it too.
"Sorry for this. We misunderstood. We didn't know Misaki-chan was close to some boy, considering her personality," said Naoya.
Miyamura nodded and apologised as well.
"Oi! I am not close to this idiot! Don't put me together with this pervert!" complained Misaki.
Naoya looked at Misaki and then towards the boy.
"You are a pervert?" asked Naoya.
"Only a normal one," replied the fellow blond boy.
"Woah. Me too," said Naoya.
In that moment, the two came to an unsaid understanding and shook their hands.
"Nice to meet you. I am Naoya Zenin."
"Takumi Usui, nice to meet you too."
Misaki looked at the scene in shock. The idiot pervert seemingly became friends with her friends.
"No No No! This doesn't make any sense! You two bonded over being perverts?!" asked Misaki.
"Takumi Usui....wait, isn't this the guy who caught you on your part-time job and is now annoying the hell out of you?" asked Naoya.
"Yeah! That one! See, not a good guy at all!" said Misaki.
Usui looked at the scene in surprise. He didn't know that the prez was close to other boys or that they knew about her secret too.....That kinda annoyed him.
However, before he could delve deeper into his thoughts, he felt his shoulder being grabbed again.
"So now, Usui-kun....why the hell are you annoying our Misaki-chan after knowing her secret. You into something shady?" asked Naoya with seriousness.
He was not very fond of his friends being made to feel uncomfortable by others. The guy looked nice on the surface, but if he was someone nasty, then he needed to make sure that he would think thrice before approaching Misaki again.
Usui tried to shake off the hand on his shoulders, but soon realised that it was almost impossible. Naoya was far stronger than he had imagined.
Miyamura was eying the new guy intently, too. He might make fun of Misaki from time to time, but he knew well about the scars that she had because of her father and how men made her uncomfortable. If this guy were bad news, then he was all in to kick his ass.
Seeing her two friends threatening Usui, Misaki felt both relief and panic.
She was relieved that Naoya and Izumi were standing up for her, but for some reason, she felt a bit panicked for Usui.
'...Wait? What the hell am I thinking?! Snap out of it! He is just a pervert!..... I am only saving him because Naoya would fold him with his superpowers. There is no other reason for it!' thought Misaki and immediately called out the two of them.
Naoya and Miyamura looked at her, defending the guy, and were about to say that it was all right and that they would deal with him.
But seeing the noticeable blush on her cheeks made them stop.
Naoya looked towards Izumi.
'You seeing this too?' thought Naoya.
'I am.... Is she the pervert?' thought Izumi.
'...Are they playing some rom-com scenario?' thought Naoya.
'Seems that way.'
'Then are we acting as the 'obstacles' between them?'
'...we are being treated as the side characters.'
None of them said anything, but the two were seemingly having a conversation.
Both of them gave a sagely nod, let go of Usui, ruffled his hair, and turned towards Misaki.
Then, without any warning, both of them bonked her.
"Idiot," said the two of them,
"EH?!?! ME? You two were on my side!"
"Treating us as side characters to your plot," said Naoya.
"I thought you were our friend. How could you?!" complained Izumi.
"What are you two even talking about?!" asked Misaki.
"...Prez, should I leave for now and come to tease you later?" asked Usui.
"No!"
"So should I stay?" asked Usui with a teasing smile.
"No, I mean yes! I mean no!.....Ugh! You idiot pervert! Just go away!"
"Hehe, prez is so confused over me."
The two of them were seemingly drifting into their own world.
Naoya and Izumi looked at the scene and wondered if the two of them were even needed there anymore or not.
"Miyamura! Why are you hitting random girls?! What is wrong with you?!"
Another voice came, and Izumi flinched, hearing that.
"H-Hori-san! No! That's not it!" said Miyamura in panic and turned towards a girl with brown hair who was approaching them rapidly.
"What's not it?! I saw you hit that girl earlier! Apologise now!" ordered the girl.
"No wait! Naoya-kun?! Help me out!!!" cried Izumi.
"...When did you get so out of hand, Izumi? Is that how I raised you? And after causing violence, not even admit it and apologise for it? Bad Izumi," said Naoya, and looked at Izumi with 'sadness'.
Izumi blinked in shock, seeing his friend betray him and immediately grabbed his shoulders and started shaking Naoya violently.
"Don't mess with me right now, Naoya-kun!!! Hori-san is going to get the wrong impression of me! You too, Misaki! Tell her the truth!"
"He is a brute who hits innocent girls. Pulverise him," said Misaki and pointed at Izumi, taking her revenge for calling her a demon earlier.
"Not you too!"
In the end, Hori smacked the 'violent brute' and apologised on his behalf.
Misaki and Naoya broke out laughing, seeing Izumi glare at them and then apologised to the two of them and explained the situation to her.
"I-I am sorry, M-Miyamura," apologised Hori.
"Ugh, she takes strangers' words over mine."
"There, there, don't cry."
Currently, Izumi was being consoled by Naoya, who was hugging and patting him.
Hori was looking at the scene with awkwardness, not knowing what to do in this situation. She knew it was partly her fault for jumping to a conclusion, but she did see Miyamura hitting a random girl from a different school.
"Now, Izumi, don't act like that. You don't want to look uncool in front of your cru-"
"Not another word!!!!" exclaimed Miyamura and closed Naoya's mouth with his hand before he could finish the sentence.
Naoya looked amused. He really missed these interactions with these two.
Misaki chuckled, seeing the two act like that, understanding what Naoya was about to say.
Usui and Hori, the newcomers, looked at them in confusion; they didn't know what these three were talking about, and for now, they were even more confused by the completely new sides of Misaki and Miyamura that they were seeing and were not able to wrap their heads around it.
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A/N: New week, guys, the rank is not gonna boost itself. Do your thing.
Here, enjoy this fun fact.