"Um… Shuya-kun, was what you said earlier about being kept by Marikawa-sensei… actually true?"
After the motorcycle had traveled a short distance, Saya Takagi finally took a deep breath, lifted her face from Shuya's back, and gathered the courage to ask the question that had been burning in her mind since earlier.
Shuya didn't even turn his head. "So what if it is?"
"I can keep you too!"
The words slipped out before Saya could stop herself—her brain had overheated and blurted the thought straight from her heart.
By the time she realized what she had just said, it was already too late.
Words couldn't be deleted like a chat message within two minutes.
With a sharp screech of tires—
The speeding motorcycle slammed on the brakes.
The sudden inertia threw Saya's body forward.
As everyone knows, force is mutual.
So under that abrupt forward momentum—
Shuya felt two massive, soft pressures slam against his back.
Even he couldn't help but sigh in admiration. The girl behind him was truly gifted.
She had skipped a grade, so she was actually younger than both Saeko and Rei, yet her figure was even more exaggerated than theirs—on a scale that would make any loli with "future potential" grind her teeth in envy and curse it as downright immoral.
This was what "future potential" truly meant!
"Do you even know what you're saying?"
Shuya stabilized the bike, turned around, and stared straight at the pink-haired girl who had just made such a bold declaration.
Under his direct gaze, Saya's mouth went dry. Her first instinct was to run away from those eyes.
But that thought lasted less than half a second.
The proud Saya Takagi refused to back down.
For some reason, she felt extremely irritated.
Shuya was already acting all lovey-dovey with Rei at school, then did that with Saeko right in front of her, and now he casually dropped that he was being kept by Shizuka.
If they could do it, why couldn't she?!
I, Saya Takagi, have never been inferior to anyone in my life!
Gritting her teeth, she lifted her head and met Shuya's gaze head-on.
But after only one second of eye contact, her resolve started to crumble.
She forced herself to stay calm and stammered out an explanation:
"D-don't misunderstand! I just think you're really strong, and you have that Nen superpower thing. Our Takagi family needs someone like you!"
"If you join the Takagi family, we can give you wealth, resources normal people could never dream of—anything you want, we'll prioritize you!"
"Oh right, you like famous swords, don't you? I can authorize giving you every single treasured blade my father has collected!"
"And if we get along… even I… I could consider being with you…"
The more Saya spoke, the more tangled her words became. Her face grew redder and redder until steam was practically rising from her head.
Shuya couldn't help rolling his eyes.
Wow, you want to eat the meal and take the plate too, huh?
If it had been a more impulsive transmigrator, they would have wiped out the entire Takagi family instead of bothering to send her home in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
There was no such thing as a free lunch like that.
"You're living in a dream, Takagi."
Shuya lightly flicked her forehead, then said disdainfully, "Did you misunderstand something? I'm not actually that interested in famous swords. I only asked for one as payment for sending you home."
"Besides, the Takagi family might be a big deal in Bedmaster City, but outside this city? Honestly, what are you guys worth?"
"I'm more interested in things like King Arthur's Excalibur, the Sword in the Stone, or the legendary Doujigiri Yasutsuna that once slayed the great yokai Shuten-douji. Can your family produce those?"
Shuya wasn't lying.
He really wasn't interested in Japan's so-called treasured katanas.
The only reason he had agreed to send Saya home was because he was in a good mood today.
But more importantly—
Shuya believed in fair trade.
Just like how he had traded his extra bento for Rei's secret on the rooftop.
Or how he had given the class a warning when the zombie crisis began that afternoon—it was simply a small repayment for the relaxed school life they had unknowingly provided him.
That was how he saw it.
Sometimes even Shuya himself wondered: maybe it was this deep-rooted obsession with equivalent exchange that caused his Specialist Nen to awaken as "Equivalent Exchange" in the first place.
And the "Contract" ability that evolved from it?
Perhaps it came from that memorable line the protagonist said to the heroine in Fullmetal Alchemist:
"I'll give you half my life, so you give me half of yours!"
That carried the exact same meaning of equivalent exchange.
That was why he had asked Saya for the katana Saeko used in the original story.
"Th-this… this…"
Saya's face flushed even deeper. She stammered for a long time but couldn't squeeze out a single coherent sentence.
Her face was the same shade of red as before, yet the emotion behind it had completely changed.
It was strangely fascinating.
"Takagi, don't tell me… you actually like me?"
Seeing her reaction, Shuya placed both hands on her shoulders and asked calmly.
"Ha?!"
A shocking wave of heat rose from the top of Saya's head.
She panicked and blurted out, "W-what are you saying?! H-how could I possibly like you?!"
"You're just a little better at studying, a little better-looking, and… and you have a little superpower! What's there to be proud of?!"
"I… I don't… I don't… l-like you…"
By the end, her voice had become so quiet it was almost inaudible.
The three great misconceptions of life: phone vibrating, I can still win this, and…
She likes me?!
But looking at the pink-haired girl right now, this wasn't a misconception at all.
It was basically confirmed.
Shuya carefully studied the girl in front of him.
Rich young lady!
Tsundere personality!
Twin-tail hairstyle!
Glasses-wearing genius!
Childhood friend (kindergarten classmate with Takashi)!
Emotional loser (completely unable to compete with Saeko and Rei, destined to be left on the roadside)!
He ran through the checklist again. Confirmed it three times.
Suddenly, Shuya had a flash of realization as he looked at Saya Takagi.
Is that you? Golden-haired defeated dog Eriri?
Aside from not being blonde, not drawing doujins, and possessing a figure so outrageously stacked that even Eriri would only dream of it… they were practically identical.