Chapter 615: The Squishy Assassin's Defeat and a Gambler's Magic Trick
How could Kasugano Sora possibly tell Yumiko Fuji the truth? If she snitched, Momobami Kirari might endure a mild scolding at worst, but Sora herself would be utterly miserable. The Student Council President would absolutely drag her away for a terrifying, private 'talk' later.
"Ah! Momo-chan! You're ruining my future daughter's livelihood! Stop it!" Nakiri Alice shrieked, causing a ruckus across the room.
"Alice! Let go of Bucchi! Bucchi is innocent!" Akanegakubo Momo cried out, desperately clutching her beloved brown bear plushie to her chest.
Everyone else, including Ren, remained seated in their chairs, silently watching the chaotic domestic theater unfold before them. Honestly, this was far more entertaining than any movie on television. Just as they were getting fully invested in the plushie tug-of-war, the front door slowly creaked open.
"I'm home..." Sora murmured as she stepped inside, freezing as she took in the bizarre scene. "Uh... Ah... What exactly is going on here..."
The entire room turned to look at the silver-haired girl. Under the sudden, concentrated weight of a dozen stares, Sora's internal pressure gauge instantly maxed out. This was simply too difficult for her extreme social anxiety. She stood frozen by the doorway, deliberating for a long, agonizing moment before softly speaking up.
"Um... I have something to say..."
"Were you caught skipping class by Shizuka?" Lucifer asked, raising a skeptical brow.
"Don't tell me you failed the pop quiz?" Ichihara Yuko chimed in, taking a lazy sip from her cup.
"Did a girl confess to you?!" Modeus gasped, her eyes instantly sparkling with dangerous curiosity.
"Did you finally grow taller?" Kobayashi Rindou teased with a wide, feline grin.
Sora immediately dropped to her knees, an imaginary gray filter of utter defeat washing over her entire body. This bullying was simply too much. She was just trying to deliver a simple message, so why did she have to suffer such a concentrated barrage of psychic damage? She was just a squishy assassin, not a frontline tank meant to absorb all this aggro...
Ren chuckled, shaking his head at the display. "Alright, stop picking on the poor girl." He shifted his gaze past Sora, looking directly at the slightly ajar door. "Kirari, are you planning to eat your dinner squatting out there in the hallway?"
"Kirari?!"
Rindou immediately bolted over to Ren's side, her eyes wide with anticipation. Lucifer merely sighed, looking entirely helpless against the rising chaos. Most of the girls in the room had never actually met Kirari in person; they only knew of her legendary, almost Great Demon King-like reputation. A murmur of genuine excitement rippled through the restaurant.
The crisp, measured sound of footsteps echoed against the floorboards as the door was pushed completely open. A silver-haired woman, her hair elegantly woven into twin ring-braided pigtails, stood at the threshold. She offered a serene, chillingly perfect smile as she surveyed the situation inside the shop.
Akanegakubo Momo swallowed hard, instinctively hiding behind her plushie. "Is this... the legendary President of Private Hyakkaou Academy...?"
Kirari stepped into the warm light of the restaurant. With the evening shadows trailing behind her, her pale blue eyes seemed to faintly glow, piercing through the room with a predatory intelligence. Just a single glance from her exuded a unique, suffocating blend of mature allure and primal fear.
"Ren," Kirari purred, her voice smooth as silk. "Would you really let me eat my dinner squatting by the door? But... if that is truly what you wish... I suppose I could do it."
Ren smiled, completely unaffected by her powerful aura, and shook his head. "Alright, you can drop the act. Sayaka, you three can come in too."
As soon as he finished speaking, Igarashi Sayaka stepped into the room, maintaining her usual strict, professional posture. She was closely followed by two beautiful girls with wildly contrasting styles. One of them, a petite girl wearing an oversized animal kigurumi with a lollipop casually resting in her mouth, immediately looked around and gasped.
"Oh! I never would have thought!" Yomotsuki Runa exclaimed, her eyes darting across the elegant interior. "Mr. Ren's restaurant is surprisingly high-tier!"
"Thank you for the compliment," Ren replied smoothly. "We meet again, Miss Yomotsuki."
Runa grinned around her lollipop. "Hey, hey, Mr. Ren is the President's lover, and I'm a loyal member of her Student Council, so just call me Runa!"
"Alright then, welcome, Runa. But you've all arrived a bit too early for service."
Kirari stepped forward, her signature smile never wavering. "Some things simply cannot be held back, isn't that right, Yumeko?"
Lucifer blinked, her demonic pride momentarily replaced by genuine confusion. "Yumeko? Is this the 'interesting' Jabami Yumeko you were talking about the other day, Kirari? She's surprisingly beautiful... she looks exactly like a refined lady from a prominent family."
Just as Lucifer finished her observation, Yuko leaned over and whispered a few choice details into the fallen angel's ear. Lucifer stiffened, her mouth twitching slightly as she re-evaluated the polite, dark-haired girl. It seemed this newcomer was an entirely different breed of extraordinary.
Jabami Yumeko stepped forward, her dark eyes curving into a polite, yet intensely focused crescent. "Mr. Ren, we meet again!"
"Hmm. It is quite interesting that you two decided to appear together," Ren noted, gesturing toward the dining area. "Let's find a place for you all to sit first."
After Kirari selected a prime table and her entourage settled in, she rested her chin on her hands and looked at Ren. "You made Buddha Jumps Over the Wall tonight, didn't you?"
Yuko nearly choked on her drink, looking at the President in sheer surprise. "How on earth do you know that?"
Kirari's gaze drifted toward the Dimensional Witch, her smile turning razor-sharp. "After you went back that day, you loudly complained in the group chat that Ren was preparing Buddha Jumps Over the Wall specifically for the day Erina and the others arrived. So, naturally, I knew. Please do not mistake my intelligence for yours."
Yuko's mouth twitched violently. She desperately wanted to fire back a witty retort, but she was completely caught red-handed.
Runa swung her legs in her chair, looking around the packed room with a puzzled expression. "So, Mr. Ren's shop actually gets quite a few regular customers?"
Lucifer sighed, rubbing her temples. "No, we just live here. As for actual business hours, there is still over an hour to go before the doors officially open."
"You all live here?! This many people?!" Runa gasped, nearly dropping her candy.
Kirari chuckled, gracefully gesturing to her companions. "Allow me to introduce everyone. This is Yomotsuki Runa, a core member of my Student Council. Isn't she adorable?"
Akanegakubo Momo nodded repeatedly from across the room, feeling a strange kinship with the petite, candy-loving girl.
Kirari's smile deepened. "And then there is a very special student from my academy... Jabami Yumeko. She is a truly wonderful child."
"Hello everyone, I am Jabami Yumeko," she greeted, bowing with flawless, aristocratic grace.
"Oh..." the room echoed in a collective, slightly wary chorus.
After Kirari finished introducing the residents on Ren's side, Runa's mouth twitched around her lollipop stick. It seemed the social dynamics of this household were terrifyingly complicated; this single room was packed with enough hidden dragons and crouching tigers to rival a vault full of gold and silver treasures.
Yuko leaned over the counter, her eyes gleaming with gluttonous anticipation. "Say, Ren, how much longer until the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is ready to serve?"
"Five minutes," Ren answered, adjusting the heat on the stove.
"Yay!" the room cheered in unison.
Sitting quietly near the back, Nakiri Mana and Nakiri Erina watched the lively exchange. Both women looked expectant and relaxed, completely detached from the heavy, suffocating trauma they had experienced just days prior.
For Erina, the massive emotional knot that had strangled her heart for years was finally untied. Her daily life was no different from before, yet the crushing weight was gone. Sadness was a useless emotion now; she only needed to pay her respects to the past and move forward. She harbored no lingering desires for self-isolation or depression. She had barely managed to reclaim her own life, and she refused to waste it carelessly. She wanted to become more excellent, to push her culinary boundaries higher and higher. She could not afford to waste this precious life that now carried so many hopes.
Breaking the comfortable silence, Yumeko suddenly leaned forward, her eyes locking onto the chef. "Mr. Ren! May I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"It's just... the President mentioned that she has never once won a gamble against you. What exactly do the two of you usually play?"
Kirari let out a soft, airy laugh. "Ah, that... I suppose I should say that Ren simply understands me far too well. No matter the game, no matter the stakes, I find myself entirely unable to win against him."
Ren wiped his hands on a towel and walked over to their table, a dry, amused smile playing on his lips. "What do we play, you ask? Well... Kirari, what do you think I have in my hand right now? Yumeko, Runa, Sayaka—you are all free to guess as well."
As he spoke, Ren extended his right arm, holding out a tightly clenched fist.
Yumeko blinked, her gambler's instincts flaring to life as she analyzed his posture, the tension in his knuckles, and the size of his grip. "I guess it is a coin!"
"Me too!" Runa chimed in, pointing her lollipop at his hand.
Kirari elegantly tilted her head, her blue eyes tracing the faint lines of his fingers. "I guess... it is a strawberry."
"Eh?" Yumeko, Runa, and Sayaka voiced their confusion simultaneously. How could a strawberry possibly fit in such a tight grip without being crushed?
Ren's smile widened. "Unfortunately, you are all wrong. It's an orange."
He slowly opened his fingers. Rindou immediately burst into a fit of loud, echoing laughter from across the room. This was the exact same sleight-of-hand magic trick Ren had used to tease her weeks ago.
Yumeko stared in stunned silence at the perfectly round, unblemished orange sitting in the center of his palm. It defied all logic. Kirari merely tilted her head further, her smile turning fond. "I still guess it is a strawberry."
"Wrong again," Ren said smoothly. "It's candy."
With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the orange directly at Runa. The girl panicked and pressed her hands together to catch it, only to feel the texture shift instantly against her palms. She looked down, her eyes widening in absolute shock.
"Wow!" Runa gasped, holding up her hands. "There really is candy inside..."
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