After we had spent the day at the arcade together, mademoiselle and I made it a daily routine to stop by the local coffee shop and unwind a bit. For me, I needed a break from listening to all the lectures I had already known about from my previous studies in Oden, and for the mademoiselle, the supposed grueling student council tasks she had to constantly deal with. The coffee shop had become our little haven for the duration of our respective breaks, and we would even often have Jelena join us if she felt like taking a break herself.

"Is that so?" Jelena giggled heinously, "So you two went out on a date that day, is that it?"

"Ha-ha, p-please don't misunderstand, J-Jelena..." Mademoiselle blushed, "S-Saying such a thing is disrespectful to monsieur!"

"I do not believe so." I replied as I sipped my tea.

"Hm?" She turned to me, hungry for an elaboration on my words.

"I have noticed this quite a lot, mademoiselle, but you tend to downplay your worth quite a lot. Not only that, but you seem to put the people around you on a pedestal." I explained, "In other words, why would I be offended by such a thing?"

After I had said this, both of the girls sat there with their Eyes wide open. Turning to each other for a second as if to reaffirm they had heard what I said correctly, Jelena had started giggling as mademoiselle started getting even more red in the face. Geez, being a member of the student council must really be difficult if she has such a high fever, huh?

"S-So does that mean...?" Mademoiselle gulped before inquiring.

"Yep!" I then confessed clearly, "I am without a doubt sure that there is a person that would most certainly enjoy pursuing you romantically!"

"Koji kurac...?" Jelena facepalmed, "A-And who exactly is this person you speak of?"

"That, I cannot tell you just yet." I said as I went to reach into my money pouch to pay for my coffee, "But you will both find out soon enough! Ack."

"What's the matter?" Mademoiselle sighed, "Did it happen again?"

"Yeah, I glitched." I said as I weighed the pouch in my hands, noticing it had once again gotten lighter.

The occurrence known as the Glitch is supposed to be super rare apparently, though it had happened to me three times already just in this week. Something isn't adding up. Well, then again, I am quite unlucky, given all the things that had happened to me, yet I still find it hard that I will hit a below 1% chance so often. I smell another mystery to solve...

"Are you sure you aren't just miscounting?" Jelena slouched on the table, "No one can be THAT accurate with their numbers."

"But I can." I said as I turned the pouch upside down, letting all of the money inside fall on the table.

"H-Hey! What are you doing!" Jelena glanced around as everyone's Eyes fixated on our table, "You're causing a scene, dude!"

"Hold on, these are all silver coins...?" Mademoiselle noticed.

"Yeah. I wanted to make sure of something, so I had taken a bit of a detour the other day to the local currency exchange station." I explained, "Sure enough, it seems that this mysterious Glitch only steals small amounts of bytes at a time, so I had filled my pouch with Entropa's currency instead. I had only one byte inside of here, and it seems that was the only money that got taken."

"Whoa, you're right!" Jelena sifted through the coins, "There really isn't a byte in here. To think you actually felt the difference, though. Scary..."

"What I did is not "scary", it is merely counting." I put the coins back into the bag, "But now we know that there isn't a minimum regarding the amount of bytes that get taken. Only a maximum. To me, that just seems way too greedy for an error."

"What are you getting at?" Mademoiselle asked.

"I think the money is not "glitching out", but rather it is getting stolen." I told them my theory, "And if my hypothesis is correct, then that means that there someone or a some group of people that are behind it all. Essentially, a modern group of bandits."

"Dude, that..." Jelena gasped, "Way too paranoic of you. For starters, this campus is protected by the System's FireWall. Not a single hacker managed to get past its defenses."

Huh? Again with the new words... FireWall? Hacker? And that other thing got mentioned again, "The System". I'll need to do some more research before I can continue the investigation, it seems. Well, I came here to learn some new things, after all, so I don't object to it one bit.

"There you are, punk!" Kevin stormed into the establishment, "I made us lunch after our classes were done just like you asked, so where the hell were you!? I walked around campus for an hour straight looking for you, and now I come to find out you were goofing off with two ladies all by yourself! Quit tarnishing our University's reputation with your lecherous intents!"

"K-Kevin!?" Mademoiselle went to my defense, "I-It's not what you think! J-Jelena, please help me explain things clearly!"

"Right. Remember me, hothead?" Jelena waved, "I'm just the waitress here. I don't get into these two's business all that much, I just like watching them when they come by."

"M-Meil...!" Kevin grit his teeth so much so that sparks flew out, "How often do you and Kiria go to this... fine establishment?"

"Hm? Every day." I replied honestly, prompting Jelena to let out a wheeze.

"What the hell, dude!" Kevin got so mad he started crying, "I trusted you! How could you do this to me!?"

"Mei...M-Monsieur, standing him up like that wasn't very nice." Mademoiselle went to console the weeping Kevin, which seemed to have cheered him up a bit, "But wait. Kevin, did you say YOU made lunch?"

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"Yeah, is it so hard to believe?" He scratched his cheek, and a tad bashfully at that, "Now I know you remember me as the kid who didn't wanna set foot in the kitchen, but I've grown quite a lot since that time."

"So these lunchboxes you brought with you here are...?" She pointed to the two boxed lunches that held within them mine and his lunches.

"Yeah. Feel free to try some if you want." He seemed down, "Don't get your hopes up, though. I'm still only a beginner, and this is the only dish I know how to make."

Well, at least he's honest, because to tell you the truth, these fried eggs and bacon are what I like to call the most beginner friendly recipe a person could learn how to make. For the past week or so, I have been teaching him day-by-day how to make them to improve his chances with the mademoiselle, and for the entire duration of our training, this dish is the only thing we had been eating. This is also the reason I stood him up, I kind of got sick of eating only that every day... Though this is perfect! If the mademoiselle likes it and her favorability towards Kevin increases, then it'll all be worth it!

"Mmm!" She looked as if she attained heaven, "This is super good! Well done, Kevin!"

"Ah, I know you're just saying that because we're childhood friends." He didn't really seem all to confident.

"Nom." Jelena stole a bite from mademoiselle's fork, "Opa! Dobar, dobar! Listen here, hothead. Take it from a girl, but a man should really know his strengths and weaknesses well, and this, my good sir, is a strength and a half!"

"R-Really? T-Thanks!" He seemed relieved to hear a second, more objective opinion, "I'm glad you both liked it! I-If you want, I can make some for you everyday-!"

"Not a chance." Jelena immediately said no.

"Nuh-uh." Mademoiselle declined, "A-Ah! That isn't to say I dislike it! I-I'm just saying that eating the same dish every day would quickly get tiring is all!"

"Oh... Oh!" He lightened up, "Then, how about whenever I learn a new dish, you guys can be my taste testers!"

"Hm... Nah, you don't need to spend resources on me, hothead." Jelena read the room, "A University student doesn't have all too much money, right? If you're gonna have taste-testers, then just miss mademoiselle here will do."

"You're absolutely right!" Kevin proudly announced as he stood up from his seat, "Then from hereon out, prepare yourself, Kiria! For I will be making lunch for you and you only everyday from now on!"

Hearing what sounded like a very roundabout confession, the rest of the customers in the coffee shop didn't quite know how to react, but after one person started clapping, everyone else soon followed. It was as if Kevin had gotten down on his knee and proposed right then and there, that's the kind of applause they got. Kiria, of course, didn't appreciate the embarrassment at all.

"Stupid Kevin!" She yelled, "S-Stop calling me by my name! And for the last time, stop embarrassing me!"

Storming out of the coffee shop, leaving only the three of us waiting there awkwardly as everyone stopped clapping and instead started whispering amongst themselves, Kevin and I decided to split the bill for mademoiselle's share and headed out. It was an awkward walk back home, though I did get to try the eggs and bacon he had made for me. They were okay.

***

"Kevin, apologize to the mademoiselle." I advised.

"Apologize? For offering her free food of all things?!" He shot back, "Besides, it was your idea that I learn how to cook!"

"That it was." I figured, "And to be honest, I am not sure why she got mad either, but in these situations it is still best to apologize as soon as possible. You love her, do you not?"

"Hrng...!" He bit his nails, "Yeah, you're right."

Just as he had said these words, a knock on the door came by. Unsure of who to expect, Kevin had opened the door, only to get jumped by Lemmy of all people. Pinning him to the ground in just a split second, Lemmy had started bashing away at him at full force. Fearing he might actually kill Kevin at this rate, I had immediately jumped in to peel him off.

"You damned asshole! What did you do to her!?" Lemmy shouted, "She ran into the student council room crying about how you publicly embarrassed her! Your days are numbered!"

"Aye, ptu." Kevin spat out some blood from his mouth, "Damned tyke... I didn't do nothing! Just gave her some food to eat is all!"

"I'm sure you poisoned it somehow, damned bitch!" He then turned to me, "And you, cellmate! Put me down!"

"No can do, pipsqueak." I said as I still held him up by the collar, "I am taking you to your father. Say your prayers."

"Eep! H-Hey now, I'm sure we can talk this out like adults!" He suddenly got all agreeable.

"I see. But you know, you suddenly trespassed into our dorm, beat up my friend, and started handing out cuss words. That in and of itself is enough to at least throw you out if your position as the student council president." I reasoned, "Though, if you were to help us with our own issue, I would be willing to overlook this one blunder. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yeah! Totally! Name it!" He smiled.

"Then, please have a seat." I let go of his collar, dropping him to the floor, "Have a seat, and tell us everything the student council knows about The Glitch."

"The Glitch?" He got all serious, "Don't tell me you're trying to figure out what it is? I'll tell you in advance, since you're dad's friend, but this isn't something you can track down. It's no person, beast or thing, it's a phenomenon."

"Go on." I sat down as well.

"Hey, you just gonna ignore the fact he chipped my tooth?" Kevin asked as he went to clean himself up, "Damned tyke..."