I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

“I’ve already discovered it.”

The girl's deep voice drifted over: "You little pervert, what gave you the illusion that you can do anything without being discovered as long as the lights are dim?"

Mrs. Yuihama leaned closer and said with a soft laugh, "Yes, I thought you were just whispering in his ear, but I didn't expect you to be whispering so boldly~ I've changed my opinion of you a little."

Yui Yuigahama: "..."

Like an innocent girl caught cheating, she was so ashamed that she couldn't speak. She could only silently shrink back and refuse her mother's encouraging pat on the shoulder.

Subconsciously, Yuu touched his slightly damp earlobe. The heat, just like on her face, hadn't subsided, making him a little restless.

In short, I'm a little excited.

Thinking of Yukino, who was still working, Yuuto Tenkuji couldn't help but think with a strange expression:

'Was it contagious, or did they plan this in advance...? Why do they all love to launch sneak attacks?'

"What, do you really enjoy being teased like this?" His sister's slightly jealous voice broke his thoughts. "I thought Yu was such a gentleman, but it turns out he's just a pervert who likes this kind of play. I'm so disappointed in you!"

Upon hearing this, Yuu Tenkuji felt it necessary to explain herself: "How am I a pervert? You're the pervert, Yui-nee! I was just sitting there without moving..."

Before he could finish speaking, the chair was kicked, and familiar fingers landed on the soft flesh of his waist, pinching and twisting it with a threatening undertone.

Tenkuji Yu stopped speaking, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

...As expected, girlfriends all have something in common.

Before he could finish his reflection, the speakers in front of him began to play soft, natural music, completely drowning out all other sounds in the classroom.

At the same time, the spotlight moved, completely illuminating the silver-haired 'girl' who slowly appeared at the edge of the stage. The student who was narrating slowly opened his mouth in the darkness, using a clear and gentle voice to draw the audience into the world of the story.

"The girl had heard that the edge of the forest was the abode of the Grim Reaper Adler..."

Amidst the spotlight, the stage play "Adler" by Class 2-F unfolds.

△

"Please let me know twenty minutes in advance if you need a ride."

"Understood. Thank you, Ms. Sada."

Please be careful.

After saying goodbye to the driver, Asuna Yuuki arrived at Soubu High School alone, looking up at the ornately decorated school gate sign in front of her.

"Luckily, my mom suddenly had something come up and couldn't come, otherwise she would have asked me where I was, which would have been annoying and prevented me from finding her..."

He muttered to himself, but a smile involuntarily crept onto his face.

She stretched vigorously, twisted her wrists and ankles, and relaxed all her joints, feeling that her physical condition was better than ever before!

Then, like a general preparing to win a battle, the girl strode confidently through the unfamiliar school gates with her long, slender legs.

"Well then, I'll go check their classroom first! If I really can't find them, I'll call them and ask them to come pick me up. It might be a bit sudden, but they shouldn't be unwelcoming to a friend who's about to transfer, right?"

Her chestnut-brown hair flowed like a cloak, billowing in the wind behind her.

Without hesitation, Yuuki Asuna checked the map and headed straight for the bustling teaching building.

……

Audiovisual classroom.

"They came here about an hour ago, and now we don't know where they are?"

Having received this information from the staff, Yukinoshita Haruno slapped her forehead and grimaced, "Was it really too late? Maybe I should just forget about the surprise and take Mom directly to them..."

Yukinoshita Saori glanced at her indifferently, too lazy to bother with this overthinking and useless daughter, and walked up to the staff member, gently confirming the upcoming movie schedule.

After paying the 400 yen entrance fee, she walked into the dark audiovisual classroom, leaving Yang with only one unquestionable instruction.

"After watching the movie, we called Yukino to ask what she was doing, and then we went to find her."

"Okay, okay~"

Although somewhat unwilling, Yukinoshita Haruno lowered her shoulders as if admitting defeat and followed her into the audiovisual classroom listlessly.

……

Like countless tributaries about to flow into the sea.

Beneath the seemingly calm surface of the sea, undercurrents have already begun to surge.

Chapter 151 An Impromptu Performance in Class (6,500 words)

The plot of the play is actually very simple, or rather, somewhat formulaic.

After all, it's just a student-led performance that lasts only half an hour. No matter how profound the original plot is, the script has to be condensed to extract its essence. Otherwise, it won't be able to be performed many times a day and it's easy for the audience to get impatient.

The protagonist of the story is a lively and quick-witted village girl who, after hearing the story of the Grim Reaper Adler, recklessly crossed the forbidden zone out of curiosity and ran to the edge of the forest to find its dwelling place. There, she happened to see the true face of the Grim Reaper after he took off his deer head mask.

The enraged Grim Reaper was about to take up his scythe and cut off her head, but the girl cleverly tricked him, and in the end, she did not take her life, but instead embarked on a journey with her to find the place of death.

As time passed, the human and the god encountered all sorts of things on their journey, including thrilling encounters with enemies and heartwarming moments of saving others. They traveled through villages and cities, cursing each other's flaws in the shadows and sharing their pasts around the campfire.

As their feelings deepened, both humans and Death came to realize that living is a story of joy and sorrow going hand in hand.

Death did not take the girl's life initially because it knew she would live no more than seven days and refrained from acting immediately out of a desire to observe her. However, in the end, even knowing she would lose her life the next day, the smile on the girl's face remained, and she still stubbornly wanted to take it to the most beautiful place and die peacefully there.

Adler, who had already fallen in love with the girl but was unwilling to take her life, chose to leave alone on the eighth day, heading to the ends of the world where mortals could not catch up, to face the punishment that other Grim Reapers were about to bring upon him alone—changing the fate of mortals is the greatest taboo of all, and its only consequence is to face true death as a Grim Reaper, with both body and soul annihilated.

So, in the flower field where flowers bloom all year round, Adler calmly closed his eyes, preparing to have his former colleague cut off his head to take responsibility for his dereliction of duty.

But then, they heard a girl's voice that shouldn't have been there.

To save Adler, the girl tried to push aside the executioner Grim Reaper, but was easily slashed and seriously injured. Enraged, she fought back without thinking and, after a fierce battle, finally wiped out the entire team of Grim Reapers who came to execute her, but at the cost of exhaustion.

In the end, the dying Grim Reaper and the girl nestled together in the world's most beautiful flower field, confessing their feelings for each other and vowing to live together in their next life. Then, they peacefully and happily closed their eyes, their bodies buried by flower petals, and the story ended.

—The whole class knew the script, not to mention that it had been rehearsed several times. Soukuji Yu was naturally very familiar with the plot and even knew what their next line would be.

Now, as an audience member, he was formally enjoying his classmates' performance. Although he knew what would happen next, his viewing experience was surprisingly not diminished. He was able to feel his emotions rise and fall with the play and sigh repeatedly.

'I never expected that Hina Ebina, that fujoshi, could write such delicate emotional scenes... Is it true that true love is more likely to blossom between people of the same sex?'

'Tsk tsk, Totsuka looks so good in a wig! While he's not as pretty as Sora or Yukino, with this look, I bet at least four or five people in our class will have designs on him from today onwards… and most of them will be guys.'

'Oh, the main character mispronounced a line, but his improvisation was pretty good; the audience didn't even notice... Totsuka's stage presence was also excellent; it was worth the extra lessons I gave him after class—he's about a tenth as good as me!'

"The trees in the background are moving! It's so unprofessional, and they seem to be chatting quietly with their backs to the audience… If I were the director, I'd cut them down in the scene."

Although she wasn't particularly interested in the play's plot, Yuu Tenkuji was still quite immersed in it overall.

But he hadn't forgotten that Miura Yumiko wanted to mess with him, and he was just waiting for her to suddenly make her move.

But as we waited and waited, the story unknowingly came to an end.

In the flower field, Death Adler has already surrendered, while the girl played by Totsuka stands at the edge of the stage, ready to pounce and deliver a standard headshot at any moment...

"Strange, why hasn't anything been done yet?"

Tenkuji Yu frowned slightly, crossed her arms, and shook her feet.

He was getting impatient; the plot was progressing steadily, with no sign of anything exciting happening.

Are we going to wait until the curtain falls before we make our move?

Considering this was a formal performance, it was understandable that she was being cautious. So, Yuu Tenkuji suppressed her temper and watched as Totsuka finally rushed out, lightly bumping into the lead executioner with her shoulder, only to be easily dodged by him.

"Mortals dare to obstruct the judgment of Death? How presumptuous!"

With a melodramatic shout, the scythe ruthlessly swung down, slowly slashing at the village girl version of Totsuka who had fallen to the ground.

But before that—

Adler, who should have just stared wide-eyed and watched this tragedy unfold, suddenly got up from the ground, bravely pushed aside the pitiful village girl Totsuka, and straightened his chest, which was wrapped up with a breast wrap, so that the sickle could slash down.

"Ugh—" Amidst an exaggerated scream, the female lead, dressed as a man, swayed and collapsed weakly, even coughing up blood twice in a realistic manner.

"Adler!" Totsuka quickly caught her body, carefully maintaining a distance. "Why did you do this for me, who was dying..."

The deer-head mask tilted to one side. Adler struggled to lift his head, forced a smile, and recited his lines with deep emotion: "I am your Grim Reaper. Your life belongs only to me, and no one can take it away."

"Adler..."

"Boring." The Grim Reaper, his entire body shrouded in black robes, who seemed poised to launch a holy war at any moment, sneered. He raised his scythe once more, aiming it at the two men on the ground. "This time, I'll chop you both down together!"

"No, you mustn't lay a hand on her..." Adler raised his hand weakly, as if trying to make a futile resistance.

However, in the next instant, she suddenly bent her wrist at a ninety-degree angle, pointing straight at Tenkuji Yu in the first row of seats below the stage, as if she had already found her target precisely, while she was wailing loudly with great force:

"Who, who can save our lovely and innocent village girl!"

"I am but a dying Grim Reaper, and where is the hero who can protect me?!"

Even though the lead actor's eyes were still fixed on the ceiling, Yuu Tenkuji knew that these words were directed at him.

"...They really know how to have fun." He couldn't help but mutter under his breath, his lips twitching slightly.

The other audience members, after a brief moment of surprise, realized that this was not a performance mishap, but rather a deliberate prank by the actors.

Instead of being dissatisfied with this abrupt break from the scene, they became quite excited and started making noise, like a stagnant pool beginning to ripple.

"Was this improvised, or was it already in the script?"

“My friend just watched the last show and he didn’t mention this segment... It’s not like the hero stage you often see in department stores where you have to ask the audience to go up and defeat the bad guys.”

"I actually find it quite interesting. To be honest, the script is a bit clichéd; I could tell what would happen next from the middle, so I didn't expect there to be any funny moments..."

"What, you want to go up and save the village girl too?"

"also?"

"Yeah, to be honest, I'm a little tempted. Which class is the female lead in? She's so cute, I really want to get to know her..."

"No, even if you can't tell from the voice, you can tell from the Adam's apple that it's a junior dressed as a woman, right?"

"Isn't that even better?!"

"...Uh, that seems to make sense."

"Idiot, I told you it was a prank! Didn't you see that Grim Reaper had already pointed at the right person and was waiting for him to come up? Tsk tsk, look at his dumbfounded expression, he probably only just realized he'd been pranked, right? Poor thing..."

Yuu Tenkuji touched his face, then suddenly turned to Kasugano Sora and asked:

"Do I look like I'm terrified?"