Today's morning run ended. After returning home and showering, Ren prepared to head into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Ren."
Wearing an apron and oven mitts, Mahiru walked out of the kitchen carrying a pot of hot rice porridge.
Thanks to the cold medicine Ren found last night, Mahiru hadn't caught a cold.
Having slept well, Mahiru woke up very early. Noticing Ren leaving the villa for a morning run, she got up to make breakfast for him.
Placing the rice porridge on the dining table, Mahiru had just turned around when the back of a hand touched her forehead.
"?"
Mahiru tilted her head in confusion, not understanding what Ren was doing, but she didn't refuse.
"Still a bit hot. Take another dose of medicine after eating."
Retracting his hand, Ren instructed Mahiru.
"Okay, I'll listen to you!"
Finding a seat, Ren began to enjoy the breakfast Mahiru had prepared. Mahiru sat down naturally next to Ren, watching him eat just as he had watched her last night.
Ren ate very quickly. Mahiru watched with great satisfaction, a smile appearing on her face. "Ren, is it delicious?"
"Why doesn't my fiancée-san taste it and find out?" Ren said with implied meaning.
Seeing this, Mahiru didn't say more. She took the bowl in front of her and began serving porridge for herself.
For the rest of the meal, neither of them spoke; they just ate.
"I'm done."
Putting down his bowl and chopsticks, Ren was about to clear the empty bowl.
"Ren, I also cooked meat porridge. It's probably cooled down by now. Could you trouble yourself to feed your cats personally?"
Mahiru had thought about feeding the cats herself, but there was Koharu in the house...
The fear engraved in her bones wasn't so easy to overcome. It wouldn't be good to only feed the other two kittens, so in the end, Mahiru handed this task to Ren.
"Well done, my fiancée-san." Ren reached out and ruffled Mahiru's hair, praising her.
It was another novel feeling, and Mahiru didn't hate it.
After what she experienced last night, Mahiru felt a concern from Ren she had never felt before, so she frankly accepted her identity as Ren's fiancée.
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Animals are generally social creatures.
A hierarchy exists among carnivores.
If you can't be the boss, you can only be oppressed until you die.
Herbivores also have to constantly sacrifice their companions to fend off natural enemies and survive.
For them, this must be quite a dilemma.
Just like this,
The so-called group cannot bring any benefit to the individual.
So I chose the path of the bear, which absolutely does not live in groups. The bear is a solitary animal that feels no anxiety about living alone.
If I could be reincarnated, I sincerely hope...
To become...
A male student with dead fish eyes looked at the noisy small groups in the class, sighing continuously in his heart.
"So noisy..."
Before the male student could finish his sigh, Ren, who was napping on the desk behind him, opened his eyes a crack and spoke faintly.
As soon as Ren spoke, the noisy class instantly quieted down.
As a transfer student, he was able to stand on the podium as a student representative right at the start of the school year, and afterward, he openly "bullied" a student of the same grade.
Even so, he received no punishment and came to school normally the next day.
Undoubtedly, Ren belonged to that small group of people at the pinnacle of social life.
They couldn't beat him in studies, and they couldn't beat him in force.
What could they do? They could only swallow their anger and endure it.
A bear...
Hachiman Hikigaya felt the strange atmosphere in the class and couldn't help swallowing his saliva.
Can someone tell me what exactly is going on here?
There's already a handsome, rich guy like Hayato Hayama, a blonde gyaru like Yumiko Miura, and countless small cliques in the class. Isn't that enough? Why did someone put a dragon in this class too...
A giant dragon that has already bared its fangs and spread its wings to cover the sky.
Feeling the cold gaze from behind, Hachiman felt a bit desperate.
Knock, knock—
A knock on the door broke the strange atmosphere in the classroom. Shizuka Hiratsuka, wearing a white lab coat, stood at the classroom door.
"Hikigaya and Katsuragi, come out for a moment."
After calling the names of the two students, Hiratsuka turned and left the classroom.
Hikigaya reacted first, standing up and quickly leaving the classroom to follow Hiratsuka.
"Katsuragi-kun, Hiratsuka-sensei called your name just now."
As Ren's deskmate, Megumi Kato reminded him in a tone as plain as water.
"Yawn... I know. Thanks, Kato."
Yawning, Ren, recovering from his morning grogginess, also stood up and left the classroom.
With Ren's departure, the quiet classroom immediately exploded.
"This new transfer student, Katsuragi-kun, is so fierce..."
"Isn't that obvious? How could someone who bullies others right at the start of school not be fierce?"
"Hayama-kun, what do you think?"
"Yumiko?"
Everyone first discussed Ren's deeds, then collectively turned their gazes to Hayato Hayama and Yumiko Miura.
As the central figures of the two largest groups in the class, they undoubtedly had the most right to speak.
"There was a reason for what happened with Katsuragi-kun yesterday… and we were indeed a bit loud just now."
Hayato Hayama, with his short blonde hair and good-natured personality, made excuses for Ren.
What was Yumiko Miura doing? She was frantically scrolling through blogs at this moment. She understood why Ren felt so familiar to her now.
Teacher's Office.
Shizuka Hiratsuka leaned back in her office chair, skillfully took a cigarette from her pocket, shook one out, and put it in her mouth. She didn't light it, as if she just held it there to satisfy the craving.
"Do you know why I called you here?"
With the cigarette dangling from her lips, Hiratsuka spoke indifferently to Hachiman Hikigaya and Ren.
Hikigaya shook his head to indicate he didn't know. Ren lowered his eyelids, looking drowsy.
Pulling Hikigaya's and Ren's essays separately from a stack, Hiratsuka first opened Hikigaya's essay and began to read it aloud.
Youth is a lie. It is evil.
Those who praise youth are constantly deceiving themselves...
...
After reading Hikigaya's essay on youth in one breath, Hiratsuka sighed, then looked at Hikigaya with calm eyes.
"Hikigaya, is this your understanding of youth?"
"Tell me, do you really think so?"
Slapping Hikigaya's essay onto the desk, Hiratsuka tried hard to suppress the raging fire in her heart.
Seeing Hikigaya lower his head without speaking, while Ren standing beside him nodded in agreement instead, Hiratsuka laughed out of anger.
Putting Hikigaya's essay aside for the moment, Hiratsuka pulled out the white paper with Ren's name on it and placed it on the desk, her tone becoming eerie.
"Katsuragi, what's your explanation?"
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