Ryunosuke felt a bit confused, but he still complied with Ibuki's wish; the two of them swapped ice creams once again.
Finally, Ibuki could no longer contain herself and asked, "How about we watch a movie? And then go grab a bite to eat afterward."
Ryunosuke's movement as he licked the ice cream stopped, and he looked at her strangely. "Isn't that basically a date?"
Ibuki's face instantly turned bright red. "Who! Who would even want to go on a date with you?! Idiot!"
Ryunosuke felt helpless; he could actually read the girl's small intentions. As a man with 16 lovers, he wasn't that dense. He actually wanted to ask if Ibuki liked him, but he wasn't a fool who would ask that directly; if he did, he was sure he would get hit.
Ryunosuke pretended not to care and gave a short answer, "Alright."
Thus, the two of them went to watch a movie.
In this environment that felt both familiar and yet foreign, the two of them sat very close, yet felt very far apart. This feeling was difficult to explain. However, if Ryunosuke expressed his feelings first, there was a high probability that Ibuki would accept them. And Ibuki herself—what was she waiting for?
The two of them spent their time at the cinema watching a Godzilla movie—it was a film that Ryunosuke liked. For the sake of matching the man's tastes, Ibuki truly restrained herself from watching a movie she actually preferred.
Love is indeed a confusing thing. If it were the old her, Ibuki would have surely gotten angry and gone to watch her own choice of film rather than considering someone else's feelings. Ryunosuke took out some snacks and gave them to her; Ibuki took them, opened the wrapper, and began to eat.
Their hands were always positioned very close to each other, yet they never touched, because... their relationship had not yet reached that stage.
After they finished watching the movie, they left the theater. Ibuki kicked a drink can beneath her feet, then turned toward Ryunosuke. "Thanks for accompanying me today."
Ryunosuke slowly picked up the can, threw it into a recycling bin, brushed off his hands, and replied. "You're welcome. After all, you are my senior. If you need any help, just say so, and I'll help as much as I can."
"Senior, huh?"
"I'm just your senior?..."
Ibuki uttered a strange sentence, then did not reply further. She tucked both hands into her pockets and prepared to leave.
"Well then... see you tomorrow..."
Ryunosuke waved his hand. "See you tomorrow..."
The two of them parted ways. Ryunosuke actually knew what was in Ibuki's heart, but he didn't dare give an answer. He already had so many lovers, not to mention his romantic debts out there that he couldn't even count. Under these conditions, to prevent his 16 lovers from getting jealous and fighting, he had to limit the number as much as possible. After all, he was only one person; there wouldn't be enough of him to go around if divided among 16 people. Adding one more would only make the pressure even greater.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
The following morning.
An announcement through the school broadcast system delivered news of a new transfer student. Inside the classroom, Ryunosuke felt a bit puzzled; at a time like this, there was still a transfer student?
Who could it be?
He began to think. A transfer student entering at this time likely had an "insider," because without connections, how could someone possibly sneak in mid-semester?
Furthermore, the semester had already been running for several months, and this school placed a high priority on ability; entering at a time like this—wasn't that unfair to the old students?
That was the logic. Ryunosuke wanted to see who exactly was transferring to this school.
As it turned out, the moment he saw him, he was immediately shocked; the transfer student was Tomoya. And as luck would have it, he had transferred into the exact same class as Ryunosuke.
Ryunosuke's face looked displeased. This man had once tried to snatch Megumi away from him in the past.
At the front of the class, Sae introduced the new student to everyone. However, Tomoya didn't care at all; his eyes kept darting here and there, as if he were searching for a certain someone.
This caused Sae's brow to furrow sharply. (This student is truly disrespectful, ignoring the teacher's words.)
Tomoya finally found his target: Megumi, who was sitting in a seat near the window.
Megumi remained sitting there with an expressionless face. Although her face was as calm as still water, a sense of disgust had already crept into her heart.
(Why did this person chase me all the way here?)
Megumi tilted her head slightly, not understanding how the man could have entered this High School for Advanced Nurturing.
Did Tomoya enter through the back door? That was the only logical explanation; otherwise, there was no way he could have entered at such a critical time.
From the moment he saw Megumi, Tomoya trembled with excitement. He ignored Sae, who was speaking with a darkening face at the front of the class, and walked directly toward Megumi.
For some reason, Megumi, who usually couldn't be noticed by anyone, appeared so prominent at this moment that she was being noticed by all her classmates. Everyone began to think: "Is there a girl this cute in our class?"
Megumi's ability to vanish wasn't working; even her presence surged drastically to the level of a beautiful school idol. This made her feel a bit of a headache. If it were the old her, she would have desperately wanted to be noticed, but that was before she met Ryunosuke. Now, she only wanted to be noticed by Ryunosuke. Being noticed by other men actually made her feel uncomfortable.
However, Tomoya didn't care about that. He was just about to grab Megumi's hand to plead for the girl to become his heroine, but Ryunosuke, who was alert beforehand, caught his wrist first.
Don't be ridiculous; even a mere handshake was something he strongly objected to if it involved his woman. Otherwise, why would he arrange so many people to guard Chizuru when she became an actress? It was because the entertainment world was too dark; he was afraid Chizuru would be taken advantage of by other men.
Ryunosuke, who possessed an overreaction even if his woman was touched only slightly, could never possibly let Chizuru struggle alone in the entertainment world. That was why he arranged so many backers for her.
Tomoya stared at his wrist, which was being gripped tightly by Ryunosuke. It felt so painful that his face grimaced slightly. This man had repeatedly blocked his meetings with Megumi; he finally couldn't take it anymore and snapped at him.
"Don't stop me from talking to Kato-san!"
Megumi was stunned to hear it; the man had clearly misspoken her name.
Ryunosuke wasn't surprised; given how thin Megumi's presence was, being able to correctly name even one out of the three characters of her name was already impressive.
But that was no excuse for Ryunosuke to let it slide.
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