I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

In an unreadable exchange of glances, intense sparks flew through the air.

The two stared at each other coldly, neither willing to back down, trying to freeze each other completely with their coldest gazes.

However, in the eyes of the surrounding students, after Yuuki greeted Yukino Yukinoshita warmly, the girl did not show her usual cold and aloof demeanor, but instead gave him a beautiful and gentle smile.

Regardless of the occasion, the way the two gazed at each other with deep affection spoke volumes, and the audience understood without needing to say a word.

A moment of silence fell over the school gate.

Immediately, sparks of even more agitated and intense discussion ignited, and like dry tinder meeting a raging fire, it quickly spread.

that's it.

The rumors surrounding Yuki-onna, who is at the top of her class, and the "Servant Prince" who stole the show at the club performance, have gradually become the number one gossip at Soubu High School.

"……Um?"

Silently passing by the periphery of the crowd, the silver-haired girl frowned slightly, thoughtfully observing the two people in the distance.

Then she winked and revealed a cunning and beautiful smile.

Chapter Four is here! Natsukawa is so cool!

"Yu, everyone at school is saying that you're dating that Yukinoshita girl."

The classroom of Class 2F before morning self-study.

This was the first thing Totsuka Saika said to Tenkuji Yu when she returned from outside.

Those moist, gentle eyes looked at him, completely healing his unpleasant mood after confronting a certain beautiful girl that morning.

"How could this be misunderstood? I simply greeted her in a friendly manner, and she gave me an annoyed glare. Didn't anyone else feel the absolute zero in her eyes?"

Yuu Tenkuji sighed helplessly, propping his cheek up with his hand, and scoffed, "Totsuka, let me tell you, even if I'm about to be hacked to death with a woodcutter's axe, I'd rather jump off here and die outside than..."

He remembered the existence of the system halfway through his sentence and shut his mouth as if he had been choked.

Making promises you can't keep is not a good thing. If you get betrayed by the system one day, it'll be too late to regret it.

"Yu?"

Totsuka Ayaka tilted her head in confusion at his slight change in expression, her smooth, silver-white short hair falling onto her slender shoulders.

Yuu Tenkuji rubbed his temples, his head aching slightly: "...It's nothing, I'm not dating her anymore, we're just members of the same club."

"I see~" Totsuka Saika patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief, then smiled as if relieved.

The hand slowly left his head, and Tenkuji Yu looked at him with a subtle expression: "Totsuka, your reaction..."

"Huh? No, no, that's not it!"

Totsuka Ayaka hurriedly waved her little hands in a fluster, her handsome and cute face flushed red, and she inexplicably dared not meet his gaze.

"I... I just feel that although Yuu and Yukinoshita are a good match, if you two really started dating, it would feel like a celebrity wedding, with an atmosphere that makes you seem unapproachable, or something like that..."

"Really?" Tenkuji Yu frowned, ignoring his futile attempt to cover up his misunderstanding, and said thoughtfully, "I can understand Yukinoshita's perspective, but I'm pretty approachable, right? I'm not one of those popular kids standing at the top of the school and social pyramids, they don't need to elevate me to such a high position..."

"Yu, you underestimate yourself."

Totsuka Ayaka gave a slight wry smile, wiping her flushed cheek with the back of her hand, and looked at him with gentle sincerity: "You were really cool yesterday! Just playing the piano so well was enough to attract attention, but you also defeated so many clubs in front of everyone, and beat that invincible kendo club president—"

"You'll see, even just sitting in your seat, quite a few people are watching you."

Following his gaze, Tenkuji Yu openly surveyed the classroom, meeting the eyes of certain people without flinching.

Indeed, out of the thirty or forty people in the classroom, about a dozen were secretly watching him.

Some used themselves as the subject of conversation, some looked at him as if he were some alien creature, and some would quickly look away when their eyes met, casually looking elsewhere.

Just like when he was surrounded by onlookers at the school gate, even though he was sitting still, he became the focus of everyone's attention and the atmosphere.

The only difference was that one of the girls widened her eyes, as if she had been abandoned by someone, pouting her little mouth in dissatisfaction and grievance, glaring at him from afar.

Even when their eyes met, the girl did not back down in the slightest. Instead, she puffed out her full chest and stared even more intently into her already large eyes, making one worry that they might fall out of their sockets.

That huffy look in his eyes seemed to be a silent protest.

"...Indeed, indeed."

Yuu Tenkuji deliberately looked away, cupped his hand in front of his mouth, and coughed twice as if nothing had happened.

It's clear that Yui Yuigahama is very unhappy after hearing the rumors about her relationship with Yukinoshita and urgently needs a reasonable explanation.

As a mutual friend of both of them (in her own opinion), she probably didn't like feeling excluded.

Having figured this out, Tenkuji Yu couldn't help but sigh again.

He then began to regret his retaliatory actions at the school gate, realizing he had acted too rashly and made an already troublesome situation even more complicated.

To be honest, if you want to tease Yukino, why not just go back to the Service Club, close the door, and do it however you want?

When any small matter is magnified by the masses, it never leads to a good outcome—for example, there are more people seeking entertainment, and those ambiguous gazes become even more annoying.

If Yukino were ever chosen as a mission target by the system, he figured that once the relationship was exposed, regardless of whether it was true or not, he would still have to face this situation until the gossip died down...

and many more!

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and Tenkuji Yu couldn't help but curse in his mind.

—Could this dog-like system be trying to take advantage of this commotion to make him and Yukino Yukinoshita's relationship a legitimate "fake boyfriend" or "officially recognized couple"?!

I hope I'm just overthinking things...

△

Despite the growing rumors surrounding the two, Yuu Tenkuji's daily life as an ordinary Japanese high school student remains largely unchanged.

The four classes in the morning passed peacefully. Apart from being called on by the teacher to answer questions more frequently than usual, no one came to ask him for autographs after class. Everyone seemed to consciously maintain a "respectful distance" from him.

Yuu Tenkuji finally understood what Yukino Yukinoshita felt like on a daily basis. Fortunately, he still had Saika Totsuka as a good friend, so he wasn't completely isolated and helpless.

During lunch break, he didn't go to the Service Club to pick a fight with anyone. Instead, he chatted and ate with Totsuka in the classroom.

Yui Yuigahama walked over halfway through, seemingly wanting to talk to him, but her group of popular friends dragged her to the cafeteria for lunch. Not long after, she sent a private message saying, "Meet at the club today!!" with a strong sense of resentment.

Despite having a three-person group chat for the Service Club, she insisted on using private messages, as if she was afraid of running away because she felt guilty.

In the afternoon, during music class, Yuu Tenkuji was called up to perform a piano piece by the teacher. Afterwards, the teacher jokingly said, "You played much better than me; you'll be teaching music from now on!"

"Alright, alright, students, this self-study period is going to be fun! I'll teach you how to get hyped up!" — Tenkuji Yuu really wanted to say that, but he held back.

After all three afternoon classes were finished, it was finally 3:30 p.m.

The students around me were packing their bags, discussing whether there would be any club activities later, or whether they should go to the city to play.

Yuzuru Tenkuji sat in his original seat, looking at the large words on the system panel: "Sit in your seat for ten minutes and don't move around." He hugged his elbows and stomped his feet to the rhythm of "la~lila~lalililila~".

Completely different from his mindset in the early morning, he now has absolutely no expectations for the mission objectives.

"Judging from this statement, the mission objective will come to us on its own, right?"

Instead of falling from the sky like the Deviluke aliens, they walked directly into the classroom and talked to themselves.

I hope Yukino has already gone to the Service Club by now...

Thinking this, Yuu Tenkuji couldn't help but look towards the classroom door.

"Yu, aren't you going back?" Totsuka Saika, carrying a schoolbag, looked at him strangely as she passed by. "Are you waiting for Yui-san? Are you going to the clubroom with her?"

He shook his head, sighed, and replied, "No, I'm thinking about something. I'll be leaving in a bit."

"..."

Although puzzled, the silver-haired boy was busy going to his club and didn't ask any more questions. After saying goodbye, he left the classroom.

Two minutes passed, and Tenkuji Yu continued to wait.

Yui Yuigahama had been lingering at the back of the classroom for a long time, and finally managed to find an excuse to let her friends leave first before looking at Yuu Tenkuji at the front of the classroom.

I originally wanted to walk with him, but I found that he was not only sitting in his seat without moving, but also staring blankly at the classroom door, looking like he was thinking about some beautiful girl somewhere.

Her soft cheeks puffed up like two buns again as she took out her phone and frantically typed messages.

"Stop daydreaming, let's go to the clubroom! (メ?皿?)メ!!!"

send!

Feeling the vibration, Yuu Tenkuji took out his phone from his pocket, glanced at it, and then looked down to reply to the message.

"You go first. My pants are stuck with super glue, it will take me ten minutes to get up."

"??? Really? Should we ask the teacher for help?"

"It's not true, but it's true that I want you to go to the club room first. I'll catch up soon."

"..."

After sending a few angry stickers, Yui Yuigahama stood up sullenly, glared at his back with a look that seemed to pierce him, picked up her schoolbag, and headed towards the back door of the classroom.

At this time, about five minutes after class ended, a commotion could be faintly heard at the front door of the classroom.

"It's from Class J..."

"Just passing by..."

"This place is quite a distance from the international education program. Who is she here to see, I suppose..."

The sound grew closer and clearer.

A faint, delicate fragrance drifted on the breeze, carrying a hint of exoticism.

Yui Yuigahama stopped in her tracks and looked over curiously.

Tenkuji Yuu rubbed his face helplessly, as if he had guessed some ominous premonition, and there was no life in his eyes.

However, he wrinkled his nose and frowned, dismissing his earlier guess.

"Excuse me, may I ask..."

The curiosity and doubt of the people in the classroom were not left to linger for too long.

Walking through the crowd in the corridor, with her long, slender, white legs, the girl stepped into the classroom of Class 2-F and stood gracefully at the door.

With her hands behind her back, she tilted her head and smiled, calling out in her elegant and light voice:

"Is Tenkuji from your class there?"