The lunch bell, like a chime of salvation, finally freed Shido from the morning's theoretical class.
However, before he could even take out his plain lunch box, a cool, detached figure appeared precisely by his desk, as if it had been rehearsed.
It was Tobiichi Origami. She held the "Wife's Bento" that had caused a stir that morning, her expression blank, but her eyes holding undeniable resolve.
She pulled out the chair belonging to the Classmate in front of Shido, sat down naturally, and placed her lunch box side-by-side with Shido's.
"Lunch break. We will eat together." Her statement held no question, only a declaration.
"W-wait, wait! Tobiichi! Isn't this a bit much..."
Shido's scalp tingled as he tried to stop her, but Origami had already opened her lunch box lid—inside were exquisitely arranged, temptingly colored dishes, some even shaped cutely from ingredients, truly a work of art.
Just then, another powerful "air pressure" assaulted them from the side.
"Hey! You! Who gave you permission to sit next to Shido!" Tohka rushed over fiercely, like a protective lioness guarding her cub, glaring at Origami with her purple eyes.
She was holding the lunch box Shido had prepared for her (three times the size of Shido's own portion), and seeing that Origami had managed to "enter the inner chamber" first, her cheeks puffed up in anger.
Origami didn't even lift an eyelid. She calmly picked up a piece of carrot meticulously carved into a small rabbit shape with her chopsticks and responded, "I prepared lunch for him. As the party providing nutritional sustenance, it is reasonable to have the priority right to accompany him. This is a girlfriend's privilege."
"Girlfriend?!" Tohka's voice rose sharply. Although she didn't fully grasp the deep meaning of the word, she instinctively felt that it was something extremely important, and she was falling behind!
"I... I'm also with Shido! We're together every day! Shido made a lunch box for me too!" She hurriedly held up her enormous lunch box as if it were a medal.
"That is charity. It is on a different level from the devotion of active contribution." Origami calmly launched the verbal attack.
"Ugh...!" Tohka was choked into silence, her purple eyes instantly misting over with a blend of grievance and indignation.
Watching Origami's "main wife" demeanor, she grew anxious and angry. She simply put down her lunch box, reached out from Shido's other side, and tightly hugged his arm, practically plastering herself against him, declaring loudly as if marking her territory:
"I don't care! Shido is mine! I'm going to sit on this side of Shido!"
Instantly, Shido was plunged into the desperate situation of being "hugged on both sides"—to his left was Origami's cool yet intensely present companionship and the exquisite "Wife's Bento"; to his right was Tohka's warm, soft touch, her dependent embrace, and her substantial, homely lunch box.
The gazes of the surrounding Classmates focused on him like spotlights, filled with complex emotions like envy, jealousy, and schadenfreude. Shido felt like he was being roasted over a fire, his cheeks so hot they could fry an egg.
"U-um... Tohka, let go first, I can't eat like this..."
"Tobiichi, you also... don't need to lean so close..."
"Everyone... please just eat, please just eat..."
He fumbled, trying incoherently to act as a peacemaker, soothing the pouting Tohka one moment, asking her to loosen her grip so he could pick up his chopsticks; the next moment, attempting to make Origami maintain some distance, so she wouldn't try to feed him a dish (because Origami had genuinely just tried to do exactly that!).
He felt like he wasn't enjoying lunch but was instead engaged in a high-stakes diplomatic negotiation.
On one hand, he had to manage Tohka's simple, volatile emotions to prevent her from going berserk; on the other, he had to counter Origami's relentless, strangely logical "offensive" to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
(Why is it so hard just to eat a meal...!)
Shido wailed internally, forced to grit his teeth and, amidst the silent (Tohka) and verbal (Origami) "competition for favor" between the two girls, miserably and tastelessy shovel rice into his mouth, feeling like he was the one being "consumed" for lunch.
Just as Shido was trapped in the pincer attack of Tohka and Origami, feeling his sanity and shame being repeatedly scorched and about to give up, a voice like music from heaven rang out:
"Itsuka-san, please come to the physics preparation room. There are some... academic matters I need to confirm with you."
It was Murasame Reine. She still looked perpetually sleep-deprived, her voice steady yet carrying an undeniable authority as she appeared at the classroom door.
"Yes! Reine-sensei!" Shido instantly sprang from his seat as if grasping a lifesaver. He ignored the dissatisfied glares instantly cast by the two girls on his left and right (Origami's cool stare, Tohka's aggrieved pout), grabbed his barely-eaten lunch box, and hastily followed Reine, fleeing the "asura field."
Behind him, he could still hear the ongoing dispute between Tohka and Origami: "It's your fault! You scared Shido away!" "It was your excessive noise that disturbed Shido's meal."
As well as the unhidden commentary from the "Majikku-Socks" trio: "Wow~ Itsuka, that guy is truly a man burdened by sin~"
"He actually has two beautiful girls fighting over him!"
"I can't stand it."
Shido's scalp tingled. He could only quicken his pace, following Reine into the physics laboratory that was rarely used.
As soon as he pushed the door open, he saw his younger sister Kotori already waiting inside. She was sitting at a makeshift dining table covered with hot, elaborate dishes far more luxurious than school cafeteria food or lunch boxes. She herself was sucking on a precious jewel, wearing an expression that said, "The plan succeeded."
"Oh? You were slow to arrive, Idiot Older Brother." Kotori glanced at the untouched lunch box in Shido's hand. "It seems the 'lunch party' over there was quite intense. Perfect, we prepared the 'Commander Special' for you here, consider it a reward—even though you didn't seem to do anything." Her tone held a hint of smugness at having successfully pulled him away.
Shido looked at the feast on the table, then at his own pitiful lunch box, and sighed helplessly, but obediently sat down. Reine also sat quietly beside them.
The three began to eat, and the atmosphere temporarily returned to normal (if one ignored the fact that they were in a physics lab). But Shido knew that Kotori hadn't called him here just to eat.
"Koushi... he took the day off again today." Shido swallowed his food and brought up the topic first, his brow slightly furrowed.
"Yes, I know." Kotori nodded, her expression growing serious. "Furthermore, that's normal. Because according to our surveillance, Koushi Hōoin—is once again in a state of disappearance."
"Disappearance?!" Shido was so shocked he nearly choked. "What do you mean?"
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