“Akira, what did I say about you making a decision.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve made it.”

“I’m glad that you have. You made me wait quite a while.”

My elevator had just arrived on my floor and Kai was there, waiting.

He stuck out his hand.

“You’re just going to reject my offer again, correct?”

“I guess you figured.”

He laughed a little. As usual, his body language was as calm as can be. It was something that you’d expect from a jock like him.

He was just trying to hide his real feelings, after all.

“Of course, I’m not an idiot. But here, I’ve got another offer for you, Akira Kumagawa.”

Sigh.

“What is it?”

“I’ll leave you alone if you win a duel against one of my girls.”

Before I could respond, he stuck out his finger.

“Nah, before you speak, let me finish. Obviously, you’re not simply going to accept that, but I’ll give you something you’ll definitely want.”

“And that is?”

“Five million points. Your carefree life isn’t free, you know. I’m sure you’ll want this.”

He must’ve had some trump card up his sleeve. If he was willing to put my participation with him in a bet, then he should’ve had some surefire way to win the duel.

Well, Stella was his trump card—but the question was, can he play it?

It wasn’t a bad deal, per se.

“You better decide now,” he continued.

“What’s the other option?”

“The other option is you never being able to have privacy ever again. I’m sure you’ve noticed all my girls around the place, right? Your life is going to get ten times harder.”

That wouldn’t be fun.

“Sure, I’ll accept the duel then.”

He smiled.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I’m glad you came around in the end. Sign this, the duel’s in two days, and one last thing… do your worst, Akira~.”

*

Sumire was sitting on my table, eating a mixture of raisin bran and yoghurt that was topped with various chopped fruits along with a bottle of Calypso Sweat. Happily munching away, she turned her head toward me and waved, her blondish hair just barely missing the edge of her bowl.

“You’re finally back, Akira.”

“Yeah. I didn’t realise you made your own food in my room.”

“Of course I did. None of the restaurants serve this the way I like it, so I could only make it myself.”

“I guess so.”

Maybe she was pickier than me about food, or maybe she was better at adapting to this comfortable environment better than I was.

I took a seat on my bed and lay back a little. I did notice that Kai left a [Scanner] underneath it, meaning that he must’ve entered my room at some point.

Honestly, I should probably care more about this, but just from the number of times that Sumire’s entered my room uninvited, I’ve been desensitised to the whole thing. He was probably just trying to collect information on me for the duel—so it didn’t really matter that much.

“Do you want some?”

She raised the bowl of food toward me.

“No thanks.”

I really wasn’t hungry.

A few moments later, I saw a notification on my phone.

It was from Erika again.

—Can I come over? I want to talk to you.

I guess that was fine. Hopefully, she didn’t mind Sumire’s presence too much.

“Also, I’m surprised that you’re wearing some new clothes. Where did you get them, Akira?”

“Ah, I went out with Erika yesterday.”

She laughed a little.

“You guys went shopping together? Isn’t that cute? She has pretty good taste in fashion though, I won’t lie.”

I guess that was a good thing.

“Still, I didn’t realise you were that close with Erika already,” she continued.

“Well, it was more that she was trying to get away from Fern.”

“Some romantic drama I assume.”

I guess she could tell as well. Fern wasn’t exactly the best at hiding his emotions.

“Yeah.”

…

There was a knock at the door.

Opening the door, it was the other blonde girl that I expected.

“Hey… Akira.”

“Hi.”

I gestured for her to come in.

“Speak of the devil,” Sumire commented.

However, Erika’s expression was still somewhat solemn. Taking off her shoes and making her way inside, she timidly sat on the ground.

“You can sit on my bed if you want.”

“N-no, it’s fine. I’m fine on the ground.”

“The table’s also pretty comfortable,” Sumire added, her mouth still full of cereal.

Erika continued to look at the ground.

I guess something really did happen between her and Fern.

She looked up at me.

“So, what’s the matter?” I asked.

“Well, I told him that I didn’t want a relationship, and then he ran off. I tried texting him but he’s been ignoring me ever since.”

Sumire looked down at Erika.

“Isn’t that expected? You don’t expect him to just brighten right up and talk to you like nothing happened right? Just give it a few days, maybe he won’t ever talk to you again.”

That was true. This was the expected outcome—better than an outcome which involves Fern doing something rash.

Erika looked tearfully (although she wasn’t crying) at Sumire.

“But… I don’t want us to just fall apart like this.”

Sumire seemed to be taking care of being Erika’s therapist, so I opened up my phone.

POINTS

Your current points: 144,375

Current Rank: #40,927

“…do you just want his attention, or do you genuinely want to just be friends with him?”

“Of course I want to continue being friends with him! We’ve been together all these years, I want to make it through this school with him as well.”

“In that case, you’ll have to ask him what he wants. Maybe he’ll be fine with it, maybe he won’t want to talk to you again. Just accept whatever answer he gives.”

There was a notification on my phone—from the school.