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Chapter 28: The Symbol of an Anime Heroine
After leaving a lunch portion behind for Shizuka, the two left the house and headed to Fujimi Academy.
Because the second-year and third-year classrooms were located in completely different buildings, Suyan quickly parted ways with Saeko upon arriving at the campus.
He then strolled into his own classroom. The very first person he spotted was Miyamoto Rei, who had arrived even earlier than him.
As if sensing his gaze, Rei lifted her head, her eyes locking onto Suyan's face. However, their eyes only met for a fraction of a second before the girl frantically lowered her head, pretending she hadn't seen him at all. Yet, out of the corner of her eye, her attention remained entirely fixed on him.
Suyan smirked and casually walked over toward her.
Rei's heart skipped a beat. He's coming over!
At this moment, the girl's mind was completely saturated with the memory of yesterday afternoon—the moment she had impulsively kissed Suyan on the cheek. Seeing him walk toward her, she panicked, completely at a loss for what to do.
In her fluster, she snatched a textbook from under her desk and held it up right in front of her face, pretending to read while blocking his line of sight.
"Your book is upside down, Miyamoto."
Suyan sat down in the seat directly in front of hers. He reached out, tapping his index finger twice against the cover of the textbook she was holding to remind her.
"Ah?"
Startled by Suyan's comment, Rei frantically fumbled to flip the textbook right-side up, briefly dropping her gaze to the pages.
Only then did she realize that it had been perfectly fine. She hadn't been holding it upside down at all.
The girl glared at Suyan, a flash of annoyance in her eyes.
"You ran pretty fast yesterday afternoon, Miyamoto," Suyan teased playfully, a smirk hanging on his lips as she finally lowered the book to look at him.
"That..." Rei's gaze darted nervously around the room, her hands awkwardly wringing together.
She had to admit, she had been far too impulsive when she did that to Suyan yesterday. Sure, kissing him and immediately running away had felt incredibly thrilling in the moment. But she had completely forgotten one crucial detail: he sat directly in front of her in class.
Run? Where exactly was she supposed to run to?
Once she remembered that tiny detail, the thrill turned into sheer panic. That was why she had arrived at the classroom so early today, sitting at her desk in a state of constant distraction, her eyes glued to his empty seat and the classroom door.
Faced with Suyan's teasing interrogation, Rei puffed out her cheeks and muttered defensively, "Whose fault is it that you decided to act so cool in front of me yesterday? Stepping up and shielding a girl when she was at her most helpless..."
"That was completely unfair, okay? Under those circumstances, what normal girl wouldn't be moved by that?"
"Oh?" Suyan raised an eyebrow, his tone dripping with amusement. "So you're saying this completely normal girl has fallen for me?"
"N-No I haven't!" Rei's face instantly flushed a brilliant crimson. She quickly raised the book back up to cover the lower half of her face, arguing back, "It's gratitude! Just gratitude!"
"Is that so? Good." Suyan said bluntly. "While certain things have definitely improved my impression of you, you're still a long way off from making me actually like you."
"Of course, the offer I made on the roof yesterday at noon still stands. You can come find me anytime."
"After all, you are a very pretty girl, Miyamoto."
Rei trembled slightly, shooting Suyan a highly resentful glare.
Yep, there's that familiar, infuriating personality. If only Suyan were mute, he'd be perfect. What did he mean, his impression of her had improved? Was she really such a terrible girl to begin with? Sure, compared to an untouchable flower on a high peak like Busujima Saeko, she might fall a little short, but she wasn't bad by any means! She was a beautiful girl who was extremely popular with boys; she just happened to have never accepted anyone's confession before.
What right did he have to say he didn't like her?!
Wait, what was that about his offer on the roof yesterday at noon? What had he said?
The girl racked her brain, recalling the events of yesterday while continuing to glare at Suyan.
Suddenly, it clicked.
A deep, burning blush crawled rapidly up her neck, taking over her cheeks, spreading across her forehead, and finally conquering her delicate earlobes.
Rei couldn't stop herself from screeching at him: "Ecchi!"
She finally remembered. He was referring to his audacious declaration that if she ever needed to satisfy her physical needs, she could come to him as a "friend with benefits."
Had yesterday afternoon's events not happened, her response today would have been identical to yesterday: she would have cursed him out and told him to keep dreaming. But because her emotional state had shifted so drastically, her internal reaction to the exact same question was now entirely different.
For instance, right now, the only thought echoing in the girl's head was: Suyan wants to sleep with me... Does he actually like me?
When she finally snapped out of her daze, she realized that her loud screech of 'Ecchi!' had successfully attracted the stares of every single student in the classroom.
Even though it was still early and the classroom was mostly empty, it was more than enough to make her want to instantly drop dead from social mortification. She could already vividly imagine the wild gossip that would be spreading through the school by the end of the day.
At the thought of this, Rei's embarrassment broke the charts. Like a frightened ostrich, she slammed her head down onto her desk and buried her face in her arms.
Suyan didn't mind the stares in the slightest; he had never been the type to care about the opinions of background extras anyway. If anything, he found Rei's rapid-fire mood swings and instant blushing highly entertaining.
Rei wore her hair in a highly energetic half-up ponytail. Furthermore, as an anime heroine, she possessed a very specific physical trait common among her kind.
Ahoge! The foolish hair.
Not only did Rei have it, but she had two distinct strands of it. Suyan had seen plenty of ahoge in anime, but observing them up close in reality was a first. Instantly, he developed a profound fascination with the two strands standing proudly atop her head.
Suyan reached out and pressed the ahoge flat against her head.
Duang! They immediately sprang right back up.
At the exact same time, Rei's head popped up too. How could she not react when someone was actively petting her head? But upon seeing that the culprit was Suyan, all she could do was stare at him in total confusion.
"Don't mind me, go back to sleep. Didn't you say you were super grateful for what I did yesterday? Let me play with your ahoge for a bit and we'll call it even," Suyan said nonchalantly.
Hearing this, Rei's fists clenched. She desperately wanted to explode at him. You're doing this to me right now? Aren't you just trying to humiliate me further?
But seeing the look of absolute, childlike fascination on Suyan's face, she couldn't bring herself to swat his hand away. So, she simply buried her head back into her arms, pretending absolutely nothing was happening.
Having secured the girl's tacit permission, Suyan went into overdrive. He grabbed the two strands of ahoge and attempted to tie them into a dead knot, curious to see what would happen.
Thus, a magical scene unfolded. The dead knot stealthily slid from the roots of the hair all the way to the tips, gracefully untying itself in the process. Then, as if completely unaffected by the laws of physics, the two strands stood tall and proud once more.
"Whoa~" Suyan gasped in genuine amazement.
Simultaneously, a bizarre thought crossed his mind: If he ever formed a Contract with Miyamoto Rei, would her ahoge count as an "ability"? Would he suddenly sprout two cowlicks on top of his own head?
He sat in the back row by the window—the legendary protagonist's seat. Add an ahoge on top of that...
Girl, could you be the legendary Ahoge King, Saber?
...
And so it went.
Between teasing Miyamoto Rei, mentoring Busujima Saeko, and relentlessly bullying Marikawa Shizuka, Suyan spent the next half-month enjoying a delightfully peaceful daily routine.
Half a month later.
Suyan's relaxing, carefree school life finally came to a crashing halt.
Because today was the day the zombie apocalypse broke out in this world.
On a beautiful, sunny afternoon...
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