Sae looked at the students in front of her, nodded, then spoke to Megumi standing beside her.
"Kato-san, you sit with Akasaka. In the back row near the window." Sae pointed toward Ryunosuke.
Ryunosuke's eyes instantly sparkled. This was truly like "when you want something, it comes to you."
(Thank you, Chabashira-sensei!)
Megumi nodded softly, came down from the front of the class with calm steps, and walked toward Ryunosuke's seat.
Ryunosuke politely adjusted his desk position to make room.
"Please sit," Ryunosuke said.
Megumi's eyes sparkled slightly, she murmured "Thank you" in a low voice, then sat down preparing to follow the lesson.
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Approaching noon.
Ayanokouji and Suzune were called by Sae to talk privately. Ryunosuke stared toward Megumi whose presence was so thin it was scary.
Although Megumi was a new transfer student, not a single classmate came to greet her. Really...
It seemed if she committed murder of the president in broad daylight, no one might notice. Of course that was just a joke, but it illustrated how amazing Megumi's ability was at hiding her presence aura.
Ryunosuke stared at his benchmate and asked, "Kato-san, do you need me to escort you to the cafeteria?"
"This is your first day, you might not know the way to the cafeteria yet. Let me guide you."
Megumi's usually calm unwavering eyes seemed to tremble slightly, then she nodded. "If so, please help me, Akasaka-kun."
The two stood up and left the class heading to the cafeteria.
Meanwhile, Ayanokouji and Suzune had just returned from the teachers' office with quite heavy expressions.
Ayanokouji now shouldered a big responsibility to help Class D rise in rank—although actually he didn't want to do it. He preferred making Suzune a "tool" or shield in the front line, while he lived peacefully behind the scenes.
Kushida saw Ayanokouji and Suzune going to eat together with an expression that wasn't pleasant to look at. Other students also whispered, wondering since when their relationship had become so close.
"Let's eat, even though the menu at the free window isn't good, but what can we do. Our points have been spent by someone," Kei insinuated while glancing at Yamauchi.
Kei held a deep grudge against Yamauchi because of the crude insults the other day. Other students also began to blame Yamauchi. They looked for a scapegoat to cover up the fact that the 0 point score was actually the result of collective error contributions, not just one person.
Yamauchi didn't care about their chatter. He snorted, got up from his seat, and walked toward the cafeteria with an arrogant style. He wouldn't care about people he considered "stupid."
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
On the other side, Ryunosuke had arrived at the cafeteria with Megumi and was queuing at the free menu window.
Because this was the second month for Megumi entering school, Ryunosuke assumed the girl didn't have points.
Megumi tilted her head cutely. "Um... Akasaka-kun, do we have to eat this free food?"
She stared at the very clear and bland free menu, then gazed at the beef ramen priced at 500 Yen in the next window.
Ryunosuke's movement stopped. "You have points?"
Megumi nodded and showed her phone. "I do, Akasaka-kun. Did you bring me here because you thought I didn't have points?"
Ryunosuke nodded awkwardly. "Considering our class points this month are zero, and you just transferred, I reflexively thought you didn't have any..."
Megumi showed a meaningful smile. "Akasaka-kun is really a good person. But don't worry, the school gave me 10,000 points as initial pocket money. If I'm frugal, this is enough for four or five months."
Ryunosuke didn't really notice the change in Megumi's way of calling him, now mentioning him with the more familiar "-kun" suffix. He just answered, "Oh, I see. Then I don't need to worry."
Ryunosuke pointed to the paid window. "I recommend the tonkatsu set for 428 Yen. Just add 28 Yen more and you get a free glass of lemonade. Very economical."
Megumi played with the tip of her hair. "Thank you for the suggestion, Akasaka-kun. I'll order the food."
Shortly after, Megumi came carrying a bowl of beef ramen priced at 500 Yen. Ryunosuke was stunned for a moment.
"Turns out Kato-san is quite rebellious... Not only didn't you order the tonkatsu set I recommended, you instead ordered the more expensive beef ramen," Ryunosuke joked.
Megumi shook her head and replied, "Akasaka-kun should know, tonkatsu calories are very high, especially fried. Very easy to gain weight."
Megumi pointed at him with chopsticks with a serious face. "Women pay great attention to body health, we won't eat high-calorie foods carelessly."
Ryunosuke stared at her and replied, "It seems it's not health you're paying attention to, but you're afraid of getting fat."
Megumi took a piece of beef and fed it to Ryunosuke's mouth to silence him. "Akasaka-kun, telling a girl she'll get fat can make you hated, you know."
Ryunosuke immediately devoured that beef roll. After all, there was food thrust into his mouth, how could he refuse? Moreover, he hadn't eaten good meat in a long time.
Megumi saw how heartily Ryunosuke ate and finally moved half her beef portion to Ryunosuke's very pitiful free food set plate—which only contained rice doused with tea water and bonito flakes (katsuobushi) sprinkles.
Although bland and not oily, Ryunosuke still ate that menu. Why? Because it was free. If it weren't free, what sane person would want to eat that.