I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

The girl lowered her head and stared into his eyes, her pale gold pupils revealing no emotion.

"May I?"

Her voice was soft, yet it could be clearly heard in the noisy cafeteria.

Yuu Tenkuji nodded: "Okay, I don't particularly like Mapo Tofu either."

"Thank you." The girl bowed politely and deftly bought a curry pork chop rice bowl voucher, exchanging it with him.

As Yu received the new meal voucher and was about to turn and leave, the girl spoke again, her voice as gentle and melodious as a breeze floating on the clouds:

"Mapo tofu is delicious."

"Ok?"

Turning around, Tenkuji Yu looked at her with a puzzled expression: "I know, after all, I can do it too."

"will do?"

Upon hearing this, she opened her eyes slightly, her small mouth parted slightly, and her tender face seemed to glow.

Before she could say anything, Yuu Tenkuji walked straight into the crowd and went to queue up at the curry pork cutlet counter.

"..."

Silent, as if trying to memorize his silhouette, the silver-haired girl finally looked away and gazed at the Mapo Tofu Rice Bowl voucher in her hand.

"If only I could do it myself..."

Then you won't need to come to the cafeteria specifically, and you can eat there every day.

Thinking of this, the girl couldn't help but purse her lips and sigh softly.

"Lihua, have you bought your meal tickets? Why aren't you in line?"

Her classmate's voice brought her back to her senses.

"...It's nothing, let's go now."

As always, she gave a brief answer and walked briskly to the food counter filled with the aroma of mapo pomelo, casually asking the flaxen-haired girl beside her:

"Isshiki-kun, what did you buy?"

"Me? Hehehe, you'd never guess!" She laughed triumphantly, her eyes darting around mischievously.

"I bought a macaron dessert set!"

"Um, this isn't lunch, is it..." Tachibana Kanade blinked blankly.

Iroha Isshiki confidently puffed out her chest: "This is the lunch of modern girls! A girl like you who likes Mapo Tofu is probably one in a hundred years, a special case!"

Tachibana Kanade tilted her head in confusion: "Really...?"

Because of this adorable gesture, Isshiki couldn't help but hug her head and rub her cheek against hers several times.

"Ah, Tachibana is so cute! No wonder she's the mascot goddess of the first grade!"

"Um, this is really bothering me..."

Chapter Sixteen: The Chinese People's Ecstasy

"Um……"

Slowly put down your chopsticks and push the pork chop curry rice bowl, which you've already eaten a few bites of, forward.

Yuu Tenkuji began to think about whether she should bring her own lunch to school starting tomorrow.

Before summer vacation, his cooking skills were only average, and he was too lazy to get up early to make himself a bento box, so he always relied on convenience stores and cafeterias to meet his needs.

After summer vacation, he, who could cook dishes to the point of being able to poison someone and perhaps even shine at the perfect level, had already looked down on the cafeteria's cooking...

Although the school cafeteria is as good as the restaurants outside, once you get used to the taste of your own cooking, it's like once you've played a AAA game, you can no longer enjoy those mass-produced IP mobile games.

"Having seen the vast ocean, other waters seem insignificant; having beheld the clouds of Wushan, other clouds are not worth seeing"—Kasugano Sora said something similar about this:

"Make a little extra for dinner, and I'll reheat the leftovers for lunch the next day. After getting used to your taste, I don't want to eat any other takeout except for fast food."

Putting aside the obviously misleading interpretation, is this what they mean by "winning a girl's heart is winning her stomach"?

In that case, getting system rewards might not be so troublesome in the future; you can just stuff the bento you made into the target's mouth...

"Okay, I'll bring a lunchbox."

Having quickly made a decision, Yuu Tenkuji picked up his chopsticks again, intending to finish this curry rice first.

Suddenly, chaos erupted at the entrance of the cafeteria.

A group of more than a dozen people walked into the cafeteria. Although the procession was not large, it made everyone who passed by turn around and look back, attracting the attention of most students like a magnet.

The reason, of course, is the silver-haired girl who walks at the front and becomes the center of that group.

Saying it's silver hair isn't quite accurate; her hair is silver with a hint of blue, like stardust scattered on the Rhine River, shimmering in the light.

Speaking of which, isn't the proportion of people with premature gray hair... cough cough, silver-white hair a bit too high in this world?

He has a younger sister, Totsuka Ayaka, the junior who likes Mapo Tofu, and this high-profile transfer student.

It's practically a paradise for Chinese people to revel in...

Shaking off the jumbled thoughts, Yuu Tenkuji munched on a pork cutlet while watching the transfer student, led by his "guards," rush to the automatic meal ticket machine, where they were all chattering about the best dishes in the cafeteria.

In the end, no one knew what she chose, but the group followed her to the counter to queue up for their food.

"It's so miserable..."

Yuu Tenkuji couldn't help but sigh, taking another bite of the slightly soggy fried pork cutlet.

With his keen eyesight, it wasn't hard for him to see that the transfer student's smile was almost impossible to maintain; his cheeks and eyebrows were twitching, and his kind and friendly mask was gradually crumbling.

Those bright, beautiful blue eyes were now tinged with shadow, and when they looked ahead, it was as if they were uttering a mournful cry of "I am so desperate" to the air.

It's obvious that she couldn't refuse her classmates' enthusiasm, yet she wanted to maintain her image as a well-mannered and easy-going girl, which ultimately led to her current predicament.

For ordinary high school students, without the social skills of Yukino Yukinoshita, being too popular will only bring more trouble.

Just then, the sound of conversation from the men at the next table came through.

"Hey, hey, hey, that looks like the mixed-race transfer student who transferred today."

"Really? She's so beautiful! My friend says he wants to meet her..."

"My friend can just use the viewer."

"My friend is already washing his pants."

"Damn it, before you finish speaking, I'm breaking off all ties with you."

"Stop fooling around, let's get down to business... Among all the second-year girls, Yukinoshita is probably the only one who can stand shoulder to shoulder with her, right?"

"Haha, are you kidding me? Yukinoshita's figure is completely outclassed, okay?"

"Indeed...and that snow woman is not easy to get along with, unlike Natsukawa-kun, who always has a warm smile for everyone."

"The title of 'Second-Year Beauty of the Year' is about to change hands..."

"Should we go up and talk to her? Ask her to hang out after school?"

"Screw dating. That kind of person is obviously not someone we can hook up with. Let's just have a meal together."

So the group picked up their bowls and chopsticks, staring intently at Natsukawa Masaki in the distance with hungry wolf-like eyes, and ate with great enjoyment.

“No wonder you guys don’t have girlfriends…” Yuu Tenkuji muttered, quickly losing interest in the transfer student and focusing on finishing the remaining pork cutlet rice.

Not long after, a chair was pulled out in front of her, and Yui Yuigahama, her fair cheeks covered with a thin layer of sweat, sat down.

"I'm sorry I'm late! It's all because of Yumiko..."

"It's okay, there's still some time before lunch break." Tenkuji Yu shrugged, raising an eyebrow as she looked at the untouched bento box in her hand. "What's wrong with that blonde with the double diamond haircut? Aren't you allowed to eat lunch?"

"No, no, it's just that it's a bit difficult to get rid of them and stop them from following us..." A wry smile appeared on her round and cute face as she said helplessly, "Also, don't say that Yumiko is a double-dealer, she's still my friend after all."

"Just stating the facts." Glancing at the table, Tenkuji Yu stood up, went to the vending machine behind him, bought a can of Gintoki's favorite strawberry milk, and placed it in front of her. "Didn't you bring any water?"

"Ah, I just forgot..." Yui Yuigahama, who had just run over and was a little thirsty, excitedly picked up the strawberry milk, but quickly put it down in a hurry and took out her wallet from her pocket. "Um, how much is it? I'll pay you."

"You can treat me next time," he replied casually.

With her large, bright, moist eyes looking up, Yui Yuigahama glanced at him discreetly, then pursed her lips and smiled foolishly and happily.

"Hehehe, I got it~"

The expression was so familiar that Yuu Tenkuji didn't know what to say for a while, so he continued to finish the rest of his pork cutlet curry rice.

Before opening her bento box, Yui Yuigahama bowed to him, her expression becoming extremely serious and solemn.

"Xiaoyou, I'm really sorry about this morning, and thank you for giving me a chance to apologize!"

Yuu Tenkuji paused, her chopsticks still in her mouth, and frowned as if she were not used to it: "This is not like you. Did what happened this morning change your mind?"

"What?!" Yui Yuigahama's face fell immediately, and she pouted and complained, "I'm apologizing to you very sincerely, of course I have to show the same attitude... Yui, you've always been like this, always targeting me."

"Who told you to be Yuihama?" Yuu Tenkuji rolled her eyes, making no attempt to hide her contempt for her.

He had thought that since she was already in her second year of high school, she would have made some progress, but what happened this morning directly showed him that the silly dumpling was still a silly girl at seventeen and hadn't improved at all.

Strangely, even though he was clearly looking down on her, Yui blushed, touched her hair, and shyly looked away.

"Oh, I see~ That's wonderful."

"Good job, my foot! I wasn't praising you."

Sky Temple sighed, rubbing its forehead.

Chapter Seventeen: Yui Yuigahama

Sending a message to invite Yui Yuigahama to lunch was not just to give her a chance to let go; Yuu Tenkuji also had some questions to ask.

"What happened next? Did the car owner say he wanted to drag that stupid little dog away to be executed?"

“Sabre is not a stupid dog! He’s just a little naughty, but he doesn’t deserve to be punished!” After protesting angrily, Yui Yuigahama shook her two buns and explained with her pink and glistening little mouth.

"After I apologized, the driver... I think he was the driver? Anyway, he told me to be more careful when walking the dog in the future, and asked for your contact information. He didn't say much else and just left."

"My contact information?" Yuu Tenkuji was stunned. "Why is he asking for that? I'm not interested in men."