"See, people are actually very simple. It's nothing more than food, warmth, and lust."
"Why think about things so profoundly? Just let nature take its course."
Facing Hachiman Hikigaya, whose head was nearly lowered beneath the desk, Ren let out a laugh. It wasn't exactly something to be ashamed of; was there really a need for that?
"Ren, you talk big, but why don't you have a girlfriend yet?"
Hearing Ren's mockery, Hachiman snapped up his face, which was flushed bright red, and retorted. With Ren's looks, he had already received countless love letters, yet he hadn't opened a single one, acting as if they didn't exist. It was as if he had no interest whatsoever in the girls who wrote to him.
For this version of Ren to tell him that the only meaningful thing was lust, Hachiman obviously didn't believe it. He just felt Ren was messing with him. At that thought, Hachiman's already flushed face turned even redder.
"I have girlfriends. More than one," Ren chuckled, propping his chin up with his right hand on the desk.
"Heh, keep dreaming. More than one? Ren, can you be a bit more realistic with your bragging?"
If Ren said he had a girlfriend, Hachiman would believe him. But for Ren to brazenly admit he had more than one? Hachiman sneered. As the saying goes on the internet: If you like one person, you can't hide it; but if you like two, you better hide them well.
Seeing Ren remain silent, Hachiman pressed his advantage.
"If you really have more than one, then why has no one come by since school started—"
Knock knock—
A knock on the door sounded. One of the girls chatting at the classroom door turned and called out to Ren at the back: "Ren, someone is looking for you."
As soon as they heard there was gossip involving Ren, the students in the class all snapped their gazes toward the door. There stood a beautiful girl with two butterfly hair ornaments, looking down at her toes in a somewhat shy manner—though she couldn't actually see them.
Nino Nakano hadn't expected Ren to be so "special" in his class. she had only asked the student at the door to call him for her, and as a result, the whole class was now staring her way.
"Looking for you..."
Hachiman, who had also turned toward the door, stiffly choked out the rest of his sentence.
Fuck! Hachiman roared in his heart. The Face-slapping came way too fast.
[Wait, Ren might not necessarily know that beautiful girl at the door. Maybe she's just like those love letters, here to confess to him.]
At that thought, Hachiman stared intently at Ren, wanting to see how he would react.
"Hina..." Yumiko Miura had a massive headache. She had just warned Hina Ebina, yet here she was starting up again.
"Sorry, Yumiko. My bad." Hurriedly pulling out a tissue to plug her nose as it began to bleed again, Hina Ebina apologized to Yumiko Miura with a look of embarrassment.
It wasn't that she wanted to enter fujoshi mode, but Hachiman first looked toward the girl at the door, then immediately turned back to look at Ren with an unidentifiable expression. This was just... too much to ship!
"Nino, what's up?" Ren stood up and walked toward the door.
Shit! He really does know her! Hachiman felt like he was going to lose it.
"Ren-kun... um... I baked some cookies for you..." Nino's face was bright red, yet she still wanted to personally hand the cookies to Ren.
[Ren-kun...] Hachiman's eyes glazed over, followed by him grinding his teeth. I'm afraid of my brother suffering, but I'm even more afraid of him driving a Ferrari.
"Ren-kun?"
Megumi Kato, whom Hachiman had automatically ignored, sat in her seat and murmured softly. In this land of Japan, a girl calling a boy by his name followed by "-kun" expressed a very strong sense of intimacy.
Megumi tilted her head, her gaze toward Nino Nakano becoming somewhat empty.
[Ren is my prey.]
To Megumi, Ren—who was immune to her special constitution—was unique. She didn't want to just let go. In this lifetime, he might be the only one immune to her trait.
"Hiss... why did it suddenly get so chilly?" Hachiman, having resigned to his fate, felt the surrounding temperature drop abruptly.
"Ren-kun, is it really okay?"
Nino, walking side-by-side with Ren in the courtyard, asked with some concern. Class was about to start soon, yet Ren had followed her downstairs for a walk. Nino, whose grades weren't great to begin with, didn't care much about being late; at most, she'd get a scolding from the teacher.
But a top student like Ren... would she be delaying his progress?
"It's fine. Our next class is PE."
"That's good then." Nino felt relieved.
"Let's sit for a bit, Nino," Ren suggested, pointing to a bench not far away.
Nino, currently in her "love brain" phase, was very proactive. As soon as Ren sat down, she showed no concept of "physical boundaries between men and women" and sat right up against him. Ren didn't mind, letting her press against him.
As for emotions like shyness or embarrassment? Ren had none of those. As a guy, he was the one getting the better end of the deal anyway. Since the girl was being this proactive, how could he refuse a beautiful girl's clinginess? Ren wasn't some chaste saint; it would be a waste not to take advantage of such a thing when it was handed to him.
Nino, sensing no rejection from Ren, wanted to press even closer.
"Nino, is there something on your mind?"
They were already pressed close enough; any closer and she'd be in his lap. Ren had to interrupt her maneuvers. He didn't mind taking advantage, but pressing into his arms without an actual relationship was a bit much.
"Why do you ask, Ren-kun?" Nino didn't understand how he could tell, her expression puzzled.
"I'm the one asking you right now," Ren played the "riddle man" for a moment.
The emotions the girl was radiating, aside from thick affection, contained a trace of dejection. He didn't want to make things too complicated with such unexplained matters.
"Ren-kun, do you think grades are important?" Nino didn't hide what was on her mind, nervously grabbing Ren's arm.
Not knowing what kind of person Ren liked, she felt uneasy. She thought he might like the "good girl" type and would place high importance on grades. And grades... were Nino's greatest weakness.
"Grades? Grades don't really matter. Learning requires talent anyway."
"I see. That's a relief then." After hearing his answer, Nino felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
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