Chapter 889 - 889: Mashiro's Provocation Toward Megumi Kato

Mashiro Shiina's adorable, airheaded voice and tone should normally have had a soothing effect on people's hearts.

Yet whether Mashiro was doing it deliberately or by accident, whenever Megumi Kato, Yukino Yukinoshita, and Yui Yuigahama were all present, she loved saying something astonishing to Kotomi. Not only would it shock everyone, but it would also instantly freeze the atmosphere and make things awkward.

Simply put, Mashiro Shiina was sometimes a walking love-triangle disaster generator.

It was as though, whenever she felt like it, she could make Kotomi spend all 365 days of the year frantically dealing with romantic battlefields.

That was because every time Mashiro Shiina spoke, she was like a war god who had completely gone berserk. Whether it was a basic attack or an ultimate move, every single one dealt AOE damage!

Just like now. One simple sentence from her instantly provoked the displeasure of Megumi Kato and the other two girls.

It also left Kotomi utterly confused.

All she'd done was casually ask what everyone wanted for lunch.

So why had the survival-instinct alarm inside her head started beeping again?

Once Kotomi Izumi finally reacted, she looked at Mashiro Shiina's innocent, adorable face and realized that little Mashiro had once again silently declared war on Megumi Kato and the others!

Megumi Kato considered herself Kotomi's girlfriend. Yui Yuigahama considered herself Kotomi's girlfriend. And Mashiro Shiina also considered herself Kotomi's girlfriend, except Kotomi still had not responded to her feelings.

It had been nearly a month since their last trip to Kyoto. Although Kotomi Izumi still had not given her an answer, Mashiro Shiina had always trusted Kotomi. She believed Kotomi was simply too busy and had not had time to respond. Once Kotomi finished dealing with everything, she would surely give her feelings a serious answer.

Though even Mashiro Shiina did not understand what Kotomi had supposedly been so busy with all this time. Back in Kyoto, Kotomi had clearly taken the initiative to kiss her on the lips. So why had she still not responded to Mashiro's feelings even now?

Counting this latest trip, Kotomi had already gone to Kyoto twice this month!

At that thought, Mashiro Shiina felt a little aggrieved. She pressed her cute face closer to Kotomi until her cheek rested against Kotomi's.

She did not care in the slightest about Megumi Kato, Yukino Yukinoshita, or Yui Yuigahama beside them.

Rather, the entire reason Mashiro Shiina was doing this right now was to declare her claim over Kotomi to Megumi Kato!

At least for the moment, Mashiro Shiina only knew that Kotomi was dating Megumi Kato. After all, when Kotomi and Megumi had secretly kissed in the art room last time, Mashiro had happened to peek in and witness it.

Mashiro Shiina did not know that Kotomi was dating Yui Yuigahama at the same time as Megumi Kato. Nor did she know that during this trip to Kyoto, Kotomi's previously ambiguous relationship with Ayani Kika had entered a new stage. On the way back from Kyoto to Chiba, Kotomi had also sensed the feelings Yukino Yukinoshita wanted to convey to her.

Put simply, Mashiro Shiina, who had already begun pursuing Kotomi during their first trip to Kyoto, had been overtaken on the curve by Yui Yuigahama, Yukino Yukinoshita, and Ayani Kika.

Then again, Kotomi still had not formally responded to Yukino Yukinoshita's feelings, so technically Yukino had not overtaken Mashiro yet.

Mashiro Shiina did not know the specifics of Kotomi's romantic situation. She only knew that Kotomi was currently dating Megumi Kato, and that when she had secretly watched Kotomi and Megumi kissing, Megumi had discovered her spying.

Being caught by Megumi Kato had not made Mashiro Shiina timid. Quite the opposite, it had ignited Mashiro's fighting spirit. That was also why, whenever she spoke, Mashiro always liked looking for opportunities to provoke Megumi Kato.

If she had not been worried about causing Kotomi too much trouble, Mashiro Shiina would have wanted to lay everything out openly in front of Megumi Kato and formally declare war on her!

Megumi Kato could sense Mashiro Shiina's hostility, and she understood perfectly well why Mashiro harbored such hostility toward her. Mashiro Shiina likewise knew perfectly well that Megumi Kato had already noticed her animosity.

Since they both understood the situation perfectly well, there was no longer any need to keep pretending!

It was no exaggeration to say that, at this point, the hostility between Megumi Kato and Mashiro Shiina was only one step away from an outright declaration of war.

Before Kotomi Izumi could decide what to say, Megumi Kato, who had already been irritated for quite some time, refused to back down and spoke first.

"Are you so hungry that you've starved yourself delirious? Maybe think about what you just said. How could you possibly want to eat Kotomi? Kotomi isn't someone just anybody can lay their hands on~ If you want to eat Kotomi, maybe you should first ask yourself whether you're qualified."

The meaning beneath Megumi Kato's words was already perfectly clear. She was warning Mashiro Shiina that Kotomi belonged to her, and that if Mashiro wanted to steal Kotomi away from her, she had better ask herself whether she could withstand Megumi's retaliation.

However, Megumi Kato was still uncertain whether Yui and Yukino also liked Kotomi. To keep them from becoming suspicious about what she had just said, Megumi added with a smile,

"Haha, after all, we're all perfectly ordinary high school girls. It's not like we're cannibalistic ghouls from a movie."

The fact that Mashiro Shiina dared to provoke Megumi Kato directly to her face meant she had already made up her mind. Before Megumi's words had even fully faded, Mashiro Shiina stared straight back at her and reduced the distance between herself and Kotomi until it was practically nonexistent!

"You said, 'Kotomi isn't someone just anybody can lay their hands on.' You're right. Kotomi really isn't someone just anybody can lay their hands on, so please stay farther away from Kotomi from now on. You're an ordinary person, but I'm not. I'm a painting genius, so I can cuddle with Kotomi~"

Her usually innocent, airheaded tone now carried an unmistakable hint of provocation!

"You—"

Megumi Kato froze. Mashiro Shiina's unexpectedly forceful provocation caught even her off guard.

And even once she recovered, Megumi Kato momentarily had no idea how to refute Mashiro Shiina because Mashiro's words had been built entirely around Megumi's own statement.

Seeing the troubled expression on Megumi Kato's face, Mashiro Shiina gave a soft, smug little hum. Even now, she still remembered how, back when she had secretly watched Kotomi and Megumi kissing from outside the door and Megumi accidentally discovered her, Megumi had not looked surprised or nervous in the slightest.

Instead, she had given Mashiro a contemptuous glance with the arrogant posture of a victor, then pulled Kotomi even tighter into her arms right in front of her and kissed her even more deeply.

Mashiro Shiina had never forgotten that provocation. Now that she finally had a chance to get revenge, how could she possibly let it slip away so easily?

Unsurprisingly, the instant Mashiro Shiina finished speaking, Megumi Kato's gaze turned completely cold.

Mashiro Shiina refused to show weakness either. Right in front of Megumi Kato, she hugged Kotomi tightly in her arms. Every breath she inhaled carried Kotomi's delicate fragrance, while every breath she exhaled seemed to brush gently across Kotomi's cheek.

Caught in the middle with nowhere to retreat, Kotomi Izumi looked calm on the surface, but inwardly she was almost crying. What has been going on lately? Why is there practically a romantic battlefield every single day?

If the person Mashiro was provoking right now had not been Megumi Kato but Yui instead, Kotomi would actually have been able to breathe a sigh of relief. Yui had a gentle temper. Even if she became angry, Kotomi could usually find some time afterward to coax her, and things would basically be fine.

But the problem was that the person Mashiro Shiina was provoking right now was none other than Megumi Kato, who could blacken at any moment and pull out a cleaver!

To tell the truth, Kotomi Izumi was already starting to worry about Mashiro Shiina's safety.

After all, if Megumi Kato genuinely got angry, she really could pull out a cleaver and kill someone!

Put more directly, if Kotomi Izumi failed to handle today's conflict properly, Mashiro Shiina might very well die beneath Megumi Kato's blade!

At that point, someone would actually be dead. It would become an extremely serious matter!

Knowing how serious the situation was, Kotomi Izumi's mind raced at full speed as she desperately searched for a way to calm the romantic battlefield before her. At the same time, she firmly decided that she absolutely had to find an opportunity later to properly teach Mashiro a lesson. Of all the people she could provoke, why did she have to provoke Megumi Kato?!

After thinking for a moment, Kotomi Izumi spoke.

"You two, seriously, what are you suddenly talking about? The CPU in my head is practically smoking and I still don't understand what either of you just said. Hurry up and tell me what you want to eat. I'm treating everyone to lunch today, so if there's something you want, don't hold back with me~"

With no time to think properly, Kotomi Izumi could only resort to the classic, time-tested method that almost never failed—changing the subject.

After all... Megumi Kato's expression had already darkened. If Kotomi could not speak before Megumi did, the atmosphere would definitely become even more tense. So Kotomi did not waste time thinking through her words and simply jumped in first. No matter what happened, she needed to redirect the conversation before anything else.

Given the current situation, if she wanted to successfully change the subject, there was only one core principle she could cling to tightly.

Kotomi doesn't know anything.

At a time like this, she could only play dumb. Because if she did not play dumb, Kotomi Izumi would have to explain everything properly.

But there was absolutely no way she could explain things right now. At the very least, Kotomi Izumi did not dare to. She was terrified that she might accidentally let something about herself and Mashiro slip, causing Megumi Kato to instantly blacken and pull out a coldly gleaming cleaver.

"Kotomi, you..."

Megumi Kato hesitantly opened her mouth. She wanted to ask whether something had happened between Kotomi and Mashiro. But the moment her gaze met Kotomi's, those pitiful little eyes made Megumi unable to bring herself to press the matter.

Although Megumi Kato could kill people when she was angry, whenever her emotions were normal—and especially when Kotomi acted spoiled toward her—her tenderness toward Kotomi would make her instinctively believe every word Kotomi said and indulgently agree to every request Kotomi made.

"Fine, fine. I was only joking around with Mashiro just now. You know how it is. During class, you're always looking forward to the bell, but once class ends, you don't know what to do. I was bored, so I joked around with her a little."

Those words from Megumi Kato also gave Mashiro Shiina an easy way out.

Mashiro Shiina did not really understand what it meant to give someone an easy way out, but after hearing Megumi say that, she genuinely thought Megumi had only been joking with her just now, so she did not say anything more.

Still, Mashiro Shiina could not quite figure out why Megumi Kato would suddenly decide to joke around with her.

No matter how forceful Mashiro Shiina had seemed earlier, in truth, her way of thinking was still like that of a child who had never grown up most of the time. It could be described as innocent, or simply pure.

The romantic battlefield temporarily subsided, and Kotomi Izumi quietly breathed a small sigh of relief. Now she only needed to find opportunities to coax Megumi privately and discipline Mashiro.

After all, Mashiro had been the one to provoke Megumi Kato first this time.

As for Yukino Yukinoshita and Yui Yuigahama, who had remained silent throughout, it was not that they did not want to speak. They simply had not found any opportunity to enter the battlefield.

The entire rhythm of the "battlefield" had been dominated by Megumi Kato and Mashiro Shiina from the beginning. Forget entering the fight. They had not even been able to squeeze in a single sentence.

Once the atmosphere finally eased somewhat, Megumi Kato and the others told Kotomi what they wanted for lunch. Kotomi wrote everything down, preparing to buy it from the school store after class.

Just as they finished, the bell signaling the start of class rang.

During fourth period that morning, Kotomi Izumi had originally planned to watch a movie. But after surviving the romantic battlefield during the break, she felt utterly exhausted and only wanted to lay her head on the desk and take a short nap.

...

Ring, ring, ring...

With the bell signaling the end of second period in the afternoon, all of today's classes finally came to an end.

"All right, everyone, school is over. Pack up your belongings and make sure you leave school promptly. I know that at your age, you all like going to places like KTV, arcades, ramen shops, cafés, and family restaurants with your friends after school, but make sure you keep track of the time.

"Even if you're going out to have fun, call your family first. Don't stay out too late, and don't go anywhere dangerous.

"I saw on the news recently that some high school students have been getting curious and secretly going to Shinjuku at night?

"I don't know whether anyone in our class is interested in nighttime Shinjuku, but if you are, I suggest you give up on that idea as soon as possible. That isn't somewhere high school students should be going.

"Besides, at your current age, even if you went there, it would be pointless. There are plenty of those kinds of establishments in nighttime Shinjuku, the ones you often see in adult videos, but they're all perfectly legitimate businesses.

"Whether you need to make a reservation in advance or choose someone in person after arriving, they'll verify the customer's age first. If you're underage, you'll get thrown right out.

"And there are plenty of police officers patrolling the streets of Shinjuku at night. Don't think that simply avoiding your school uniform means the police won't realize you're a high school student. It's usually obvious at a glance who's an adult and who's still in high school. I certainly don't want to hear, on one of my evenings off, that a student from our class got taken to the station by the police for a lecture. Then I'd have to drive all the way to a police station in Shinjuku to pick you up...

"All right, that's everything I wanted to say. Dismissed! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!"

Eiren Kanagawa had spent the entire self-study period sitting at the podium drawing. When she heard the dismissal bell, she put down the pencil in her hand, stood up, and gave the students a few simple reminders.

Once she finished, she left the classroom before everyone else.

"Ah... School's finally over. Time to go home, time to go home. Sure, today's the first day of the new semester, but who told the school to make the first day a Friday? That means tomorrow and the day after are still days off. Yay!"

The instant Kotomi Izumi heard the dismissal bell, she sprang to her feet, eager to get home, and grabbed the schoolbag she had already packed.

Normally, when school ended, Kotomi Izumi might have gone to the faculty office to chat with Shizuka Hiratsuka for a while and tease her a little. But now that Shizuka Hiratsuka had resigned, Kotomi Izumi had lost any motivation to visit the faculty office.

Once again, Kotomi did not take a single textbook home with her.

Because she'd already finished all her homework~

Second period on Friday afternoons was generally self-study, and the teachers at Sobu High School rarely assigned much homework. As long as a student worked with even a little seriousness, one self-study period was usually enough to finish all the homework for the entire weekend.

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