“Don’t go too far, damn it! You—”
Heita angrily cut into the conversation, but I raised my right hand to restrain his impulse.
From Makura Ling to this BHAO club president in front of me—even the delinquents from before.
The words they spat out were like shards of broken glass, stabbing into me piece by piece.
Even when I had talked back to Ling, it only shifted the “being stepped on” from one foot to the other.
It couldn’t change my position in this school at all—I was the type of person who could be kicked around without making a sound.
“Oh? Is there actually someone who wants to help this dwarf?”
“Yoruichi…”
Heita’s tone wavered between helplessness and rage. A bundle of trapped fire was forced onto his face.
“No need, Heita—you really are my best friend.”
I mixed the anger that had been accumulating deep in my heart with all the resentment I had built up over the years of oppression and clenched my fist tightly.
To prevent others from seeing the expression on my face, I lowered my head even further.
“But there are some things that even your best friend can’t help with… things they are powerless to change at their very core.”
After saying these words that sounded like pretentious self-comfort, I raised my head with a smile that even I found overly confident.
“So relax, Heita. Let me prove everything with facts!”
“Prove? How is a piece of trash supposed to prove anything?”
The president’s mouth curled up so high it nearly touched the tip of his nose. Exaggerated as it was, his expression truly looked like some kind of grotesquely distorted artwork.
Heita moved in front of me, gave a slight bitter smile, and nodded anyway.
“Mm. I believe in you, Yoruichi.”
“I’m extremely grateful.”
I replied earnestly.
His trust and support were more than enough for me to say those words out loud.
But to the spectators who found pleasure in mocking others, this harmony was as刺眼 as a sharp blade.
“Damn it. You dare ignore me.”
Haa~ Of course he’s going to keep making a fuss.
I had expected this, so I sighed and replied in a tired but resigned tone:
“May I ask… Mr. President? Aside from coming all the way here specifically to say those things to me, is there anything else?”
I blinked my deep purple eyes a few times, tilted my head slightly, and put on an expression of naive stupidity.
…Of course, this act was obvious at a glance.
But I didn’t make a living from acting.
“Yae Yoruichi!”
He practically trembled as he squeezed my name out through gritted teeth, then continued with a scornful chuckle:
“BHAO is a game that only true ‘Adapters’ can play… Someone like you, who will eventually be eliminated by society, leaving Blue Sea Academy early wouldn’t make much of a difference, would it?”
He put both hands behind his back and deliberately turned his face away, acting like he “didn’t care at all.”
I let out two humph sounds, playing along with his little performance:
“Probably… yeah.”
“Ne~ I’m really looking forward to seeing the loser’s crying face!”
As if he had exhausted all his available mockery, he pulled back his expression and quickly turned to leave.
“He’s finally gone… that guy.”
“Kyuusei Ya.”
“Huh? What, Heita?”
Heita suddenly murmured a name, his mood clearly off.
“That’s the guy’s name—the BHAO club president.”
“Seriously, it would be so much better if there were fewer people like him causing random harassment.”
I complained out loud, but Heita didn’t respond with his usual cheerful teasing to change the subject like he normally would.
Instead, he fell silent.
This is weird… This really isn’t like Heita.
I didn’t know how to break the awkward atmosphere, so I took out Hatsuyuki’s phone and pretended to seriously browse BHAO messages.
Then, a short message suddenly popped up—
★ Night Witch, this is Kiyama Yune.
● First, regarding your real-life identity, I need to have a detailed discussion with you.
● About the BUG that appeared that day—the information that DEATH LORD and I possess still doesn’t cover all the secrets related to ENDLESS WORLD. Since this is a personal request, I will offer 5000 points as compensation and exchange for the information.
Ah… PROGRAM TAMPER is still as meticulous as ever, the type who would fold the entire world into perfect right angles.
I tilted my head and pondered for a moment before finding the meeting address Yune had attached at the end of the message via the plugin.
My eyes shifted to the clock in the center of the classroom—
It’s currently 11 o’clock.
The “BHAO KNOCKOUT” competition was scheduled for the afternoon. There were still roughly two hours until it officially began.
If we only talked during lunch, it should still be within acceptable limits.
However—
I glanced at the still-silent Heita, sighed, and gave the spacing-out boy a simple “I’m heading out first” reminder.
Then I walked toward the location Yune had provided—the café next to Blue Sea Academy.
――――
――――
It was an extremely minimalist café.
I opened the lift-style door handle with a click.
At the end of the gravel path stood a wooden door with a “NEKO COFFEE” sign hanging on it.
The interior felt like one room nested inside another: several small private booths were neatly arranged, the floor was paved with crushed stone, and the walls were spliced together from hard wooden panels in a fixed pattern.
It was so simple it felt as if all unnecessary emotions had been completely deleted.
I pushed the door open and entered.
Kiyama Yune was sitting inside.
With soft huff huff breathing sounds, the quiet girl in my view held what looked like an extremely hot croquette and took tiny bites out of it.
“So hot~ Uui.”
She suddenly let out a strange exclamation, her cheeks puffing out slightly as if sulking at the heat.
The next second, she noticed me and immediately looked up and shouted:
“So rude— Suddenly appearing in someone’s sight without even saying ‘Sorry for disturbing you~’!”
“Y-yes, yes! I’m sorry!”
Only then did I snap out of my daze and realize I had indeed been too abrupt.
After bowing several times, I sat down opposite her as she instructed.
“For convenience, you can just call me by my name.”
She reluctantly placed the croquette back onto the plate. Her cheeks were still slightly flushed red, as if making an excuse for her earlier lapse in composure.
I ordered coffee and some snacks for lunch through the automatic ordering machine and lowered my voice:
“So, Yune, what did you want to see me about?”
“Before that, there’s one thing I need to confirm.”
Yune took a small sip of hot milk and instantly became serious, as if a switch had been flipped.
“Witch—no, Yoruichi. You and the male Yoruichi at Blue Sea Academy… are the same person, right?”