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Kai was entirely oblivious to Shizuka Hiratsuka's internal crisis.
In reality, he had been genuinely busy over the past few days. It mostly revolved around Miko Yotsuya. He wasn't sure what kind of bizarre, spirit-attracting constitution she possessed, but she was constantly bumping into Cursed Spirits.
Since his Cursed Spirit Manipulation fundamentally required him to endlessly consume and absorb Cursed Spirits to grow stronger, Kai obviously wasn't going to let such an incredibly reliable food source go to waste.
"You got rejected at your matchmaking session again, didn't you?"
Sitting nearby, Yukino Yukinoshita took one look at Shizuka's melancholic face and delivered the brutal question with a perfectly deadpan tone.
"Hey, hey! I am still your teacher, you know! Have you completely forgotten what the word 'respect' means??"
Hearing Yukino call her out so bluntly, Shizuka instantly flared up in protest.
'Damn it all. Do even my own students know I got rejected now?? It's completely over for me. I'm definitely not finding a husband before I hit thirty.'
"U-Um..." Finally, Hitori Gotoh timidly raised her hand and spoke in a small, shaky voice.
"Didn't you say... someone was coming who needed our help?"
Hitori was actually looking forward to the Service Club's very first official activity.
"Oh, right!"
Prompted by Hitori, Shizuka finally remembered that she was actually here on official business. She had almost completely forgotten.
"Ahem!"
She cleared her throat awkwardly.
Turning toward the door, Shizuka called out. "Kitagawa-san, right? You can come in now!"
Kitagawa? Hearing the surname, Kai slightly raised an eyebrow.
In the very next moment, a blonde girl decked out in full gyaru fashion strolled through the door, a bright, bubbly smile radiating from her face.
"Hi there, everyone!"
Marin Kitagawa possessed an incredibly outgoing and cheerful personality. Even though this was her first time meeting them, she didn't show a single ounce of stage fright or awkwardness.
"You must be Yukinoshita-san, right?"
"Hello."
Seeing that the girl already knew her name, Yukino wasn't surprised. Given her reputation around the school, it probably wasn't a particularly flattering impression anyway.
"Oh, wait, Kai-kun is here too?"
Catching sight of Kai and Hitori sitting off to the side, Marin's gaze lingered noticeably longer on Kai.
"Yeah. I'm a member of the Service Club now." Shrugging, Kai replied casually.
He then briefly explained to Yukino and Hitori that Marin was another classmate from their homeroom.
However, despite being classmates, Kai and Marin Kitagawa had practically zero interaction. They simply ran in two completely different social circles. Kai was part of the popular "normie" clique, while Marin was the undisputed center of the gyaru group.
Even though there weren't that many students in the class, they still managed to aggressively self-segregate into distinct cliques. It was a highly typical Japanese high school dynamic.
"Alright, alright, you guys can catch up later. Kitagawa-san, you came to us because you have some sort of problem, right? Feel free to lay it all out. The Service Club is here to help you solve it."
Having said her piece, Shizuka turned to shoot Yukino a teasing look.
"This is the Service Club's very first official request. Don't go failing right out of the gate now!"
"That comment is entirely unnecessary. Aren't you going to leave, Hiratsuka-sensei?"
"I am the faculty advisor for this club, after all! It's your first request—of course I'm going to stay and supervise the entire process!"
But judging purely by the glint in Shizuka's eyes...
It was glaringly obvious that she only wanted to stick around because she thought it would be highly entertaining. Her staying had absolutely nothing to do with being a "responsible" teacher.
"..." Knowing Shizuka's shameless personality far too well, Yukino simply chose to completely ignore her.
She turned her serious gaze back to Marin.
"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day—teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. We will solely assist you in finding a method to overcome your problem, rather than just blindly fixing it for you. Otherwise, the next time you encounter a similar obstacle, you won't have experienced any personal growth."
She crossed her arms.
When it was time to get down to business, Yukino Yukinoshita possessed a level of strict professionalism that completely defied her age.
"Wow, that is so cool!"
Listening to Yukino's absolute confidence, Marin's eyes practically sparkled with pure awe and admiration.
"Ahem. Please, tell us about your situation first."
"Um... can you guys really solve any problem?"
It was a heavily loaded question.
"Probably."
Yukino wasn't the type to be blinded by idealism—she didn't make an absolute, iron-clad promise, instead opting for a realistic approximation.
After hesitating for a long moment, her gaze sweeping nervously over Kai, Hitori, and the others, Marin finally spoke up.
"I was wondering... have any of you ever heard of Saint Slippery's Academy for Girls - The Young Ladies of the Humiliation Club: Debauched Miracle Life 2?"
"??"
The moment that absurdly long, convoluted title dropped...
Let alone Yukino, even Shizuka and Hitori were left completely dumbfounded, invisible question marks popping up above their heads.
What on earth is she talking about??
Only Kai's mouth twitched slightly. He hadn't expected Marin Kitagawa to actually blurt out that massive, ridiculous title with a perfectly straight face. As expected of Marin Kitagawa.
"You're talking about an eroge, right?"
An eroge?? Kai's casual clarification made Yukino and the others completely freeze in shock.
Marin, on the other hand, immediately widened her eyes. She looked at Kai with a face full of sheer, unadulterated delight.
"Oh my gosh, you actually know it, Kai-kun? Does that mean you've played it?? That's so awesome! I thought absolutely no one around me liked playing these kinds of games. I can't believe a fellow fan was right here in my class all along! What do you think of the game??"
"The main heroine, Shizuku Kuroe, is insanely gorgeous, right?? Isn't she just the best??"
As she rambled excitedly.
Marin instinctively leaned in extremely close to Kai, her eyes brimming with intense expectation.
From this angle, he could clearly see the tongue piercing catching the light whenever she spoke. She truly lived up to her gyaru aesthetics.
"You don't need to get so worked up, Kitagawa-san."
Honestly, if it had just been Marin alone in the room, Kai might have already made a move. But with so many pairs of eyes currently locked onto them, he had to maintain his composure.
"Just call me Marin!"
Having finally stumbled across a fellow otaku who shared her exact, highly specific niche interests, Marin was overjoyed. She instantly dropped all formalities.
After all, even among her close friends in the gyaru clique, Marin had never breathed a single word about her obsession with adult visual novels. She had been terrified they would think she was a complete weirdo.
"Wait, so that absurdly long title you just said... is an adult game??"
Just because she had never played one didn't mean Yukino Yukinoshita was entirely ignorant of what an "eroge" was. It had just taken her a second to process the slang.
Now that she fully understood...
The look Yukino shot Kai instantly turned incredibly loaded and piercing.
"Ahem, don't get the wrong idea. It's been a very long time since I last played it."
"WHAT?? HOW COULD YOU JUST DROP A MASTERPIECE LIKE THAT??"
Hearing that Kai hadn't played it in ages made Marin visibly distressed.
"Well, some things came up a while ago, and I was pretty broke, so I couldn't afford to keep playing. I just know the game exists, that's all."
Kai didn't mind admitting he used to be short on cash.
Besides, Yukino and Hitori already knew all about him writing a wildly successful light novel. They were perfectly aware of the massive royalty checks currently flowing into his bank account.
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