Villain: Your Heroines Were Delicious - Chapter 116 - 37

Chapter 116: Chapter 37

The cafeteria was a sea of clattering trays and student chatter, but the corner where Tachibana Rei sat was vibrating with a very specific, low-frequency rage.

She was currently stabbing a piece of karaage with her fork as if she were trying to assassinate it.

“I hate her,” Rei muttered, her cheeks puffed out. “I hope her cane broke into. I hope she accidentally drinks orange juice right after brushing her teeth for the rest of her life.”

Fujiwara Touka, who was sitting across from her, paused her delicate eating to stare at Rei and blinked, her large eyes filled with genuine concern. “Um, Rei-chan? Are you alright? You’ve been whispering hexes into your food for the last ten minutes.”

Rei waved a dismissive, frantic hand. “It’s nothing, Touka. It’s just… the Gremlin is back. The purple-haired Harbinger of Annoyance has been discharged from the hospital, and she’s already drained my mental health bar to zero.”

“Gremlin?” Touka tilted her head, confused. “Is that a new student?”

“Oh, if only,” a sharp, melodic voice cut through the air.

Touka and Rei both looked up to see Kurosaki Erina approaching their table.

She moved with her usual slow, deliberate grace, her cane tapping rhythmically against the floor.

“Erina!” Rei growled.

Erina smirked smugly as she ignored Rei’s immediate, guttural growl and turned a surprisingly pleasant smile toward Touka.

“Good afternoon, Fujiwara-san,” Erina said, her voice smooth. “I see you’re spending your lunch break performing community service for the intellectually challenged. Truly, your kindness knows no bounds.”

“Good afternoon, Kurosaki-san,” Touka replied politely, bowing her head slightly.

Rei’s head snapped back and forth between them, her eyes bulging. “Wait! Touka! You know this… this creature?! You’ve been talking to the enemy behind my back?!”

Erina sighed, pulling out a chair and sitting down with an audible groan of relief. “Don’t be so dramatic, Rei. Your voice is at a frequency that’s making my teeth vibrate. Fujiwara-san and I are classmates. And unlike you, she actually knows how to say ’hello’ without sounding like a wet cat in a blender.”

“How do you even know what a wet cat in a blender sounds like?! You really are a devil! Touka, listen to me!” Rei grabbed Touka’s shoulders, her expression frantic. “Do not get close to this Gremlin! She’s a menace! She’ll bribe you, scam you, and eventually talk you into selling your soul for a limited-edition keychain! She’s a corruption of everything holy!”

Erina leaned her chin on her hand, looking bored. “Honestly, Rei, if I were going to corrupt someone, I’d start with you, but there’s really nothing left to work with. And speaking of bad decisions, how is that shadow of yours? I don’t see him anywhere? Did you get tired of him and kick him away?”

Erina smirked, waiting for the explosion. Usually, even mentioning Taro’s name was enough to make Rei go into “Protective Childhood Friend” mode, sparking a ten-minute lecture about how misunderstood and “sweet” he was.

But the explosion didn’t come.

Rei’s face turned red, but she just huffed. “…what do you mean there’s nothing left to work with?!”

Erina froze, her purple eyes narrowing in sudden, sharp interest.

She had expected a spirited defense of her childhood friend. Instead, she had completely ignored that part of her sentence.

Yes. Something is definitely wrong here, she thought. And she is dying to find out what.

“I mean nothing by it, Rei.” Erina smiled, a predatory glint in her eyes. “By the way, you didn’t answer me, or is that he finally get tired of following you around like a lost soul? Or maybe you finally realize that being seen with him is the social equivalent of wearing underwear over your pants?”

“Shut up!” Rei snapped, though her voice lacked its usual conviction. “… you have no room to talk about fashion! You’re wearing a business-formal cravat to a high school cafeteria! You look like you’re about to sue the lunch lady for malpractice!”

“I wear this because I have class, Rei. Something you wouldn’t recognize if it hit you in the face, which, given your lack of coordination, is a very likely occurrence.” Erina leaned forward, lowering her voice to a mock-whisper.

“That’s it!” Rei stood up, slamming her hands on the table. “I have enough of you! You pint-sized tyrant!”

“Pint-sized?” Erina gasped, clutching her chest in mock horror. “Rei, I’m petite. You, on the other hand, are just… loud. I swear if we were in a horror movie, you’d be the one who dies in the first five minutes because you couldn’t stop screaming at the killer to check his privilege.”

“At least I’d be in the movie! You’d be the one who gets cut from the script because the audience forgot you existed during your third rest break!”

Touka looked back and forth between them, her hands trembling as she held her spoon. “P-please! Rei-chan! Kurosaki-san! People are starting to stare! We’re making a scene! Can’t we just talk about… about the weather? Or the new flavor of juice in the vending machine?”

“No!” Rei shouted, before turning back to glare at Erina who was simply smiling at her.

“…Well, I am off to go and pray for your soul, Rei,” Erina said, standing up and grabbing her cane. “But I suspect the gods have already blocked your number.”

“I hope you trip on a flat surface, Erina!” Rei screamed after her as Erina limped away, laughing to herself.

Touka sighed, slumping in her seat. “I think… I think I need to go to the nurse’s office. My head hurts.”

*

*

*

Erina limped down the quiet hallway of the east wing, the rhythmic thump-click of her cane against the floor providing a beat to her internal monologue.

Her violet eyes were sharp, reflecting a mind that operated like a grandmaster analyzing a chess board.

Rei didn’t bite, she mused. Usually, if she even imply something insulting towards Taro, Rei spends the next twenty minutes reciting his virtues like a holy scripture.

But today… she was indifferent. Cold, even.

Something definitely happened between them.

For Erina, this was a development of strategic importance.

The friction between Erina and Rei was legendary, fueled by years of “scams,” verbal warfare, and a mutual, unspoken rivalry over the same boy.

They both harbored a crush on Tadano Taro, though for Erina, it was a complicated mix of genuine affection and the desire to possess something that Rei valued.

“Hm?” Erina paused, spotting someone familiar in front of her.

Tadano Taro was walking toward her, his shoulders slumped and his head hanging low.

He looked exactly like a kicked puppy, staring at the linoleum tiles as if they held the answers to his bruised ego. He was so lost in his self-pity that he didn’t even notice her presence.

Erina immediately transitioned. She smoothed the front of her uniform, adjusted her cravat, and tucked a strand of purple hair behind her ear.

“If you keep looking at the floor, Taro-kun, you’ll eventually bump your head. And honestly, I’m not sure you can afford to lose any more brain cells,” she said, her voice coming out like a cool, melodic tease.

Taro jumped slightly, his head snapping up, and when he realized who was speaking, his eyes widened, and a bright, relieved smile broke across his face. “Erina! You’re back! When did you get out of the hospital?”

Erina tilted her head, enjoying the way his face lit up for her, a stark contrast to the way he usually looked when Rei was nagging him.

“This morning. The doctors decided I was far too interesting to keep in a room full of sick people. As long as I don’t go running marathons, I’m free. But more importantly… you look like someone just told you Santa Claus isn’t real. How are you?”

Taro sighed, the brightness in his eyes dimming. “I’m fine. Just finished lunch. I was just… heading back to class.”

“Hm. Walk with me,” Erina commanded.

It wasn’t a request, it was like an imperial decree!

She began to move forward without waiting for a response, her cane clicking with newfound confidence.

Taro hesitated, a flash of irritation crossing his face.

He hated it when she did that, ordering him around as if he were a personal attendant or a loyal footman.

But the alternative was walking back to a classroom alone and get made fun of by the boys, so he swallowed his pride and fell into step beside her.

“So,” Erina began, her eyes focused on the hallway ahead. “What happened between you and the loud one? Rei seemed… uncharacteristically quiet about you during lunch.”

Taro’s jaw tightened as he let out a low grunt of frustration. “She’s changing, Erina. She’s not the Rei I grew up with. She’s becoming… cold and even dismissive. And I’m sure it’s all because of that bastard, Kageyama.”

Erina’s pace slowed for a fraction of a second. “Kageyama? You mean Kageyama Seijirou?”

The name sent a jolt through her.

Erina was well-versed in the politics of high society, especially now with her family, the Kurosaki family, is currently walking a razor’s edge.

A series of disastrous investments had left their coffers nearly empty, and her parents had already begun floating her name in secret circles as a potential wife candidate for the Kageyama heir.

It was a move designed to secure an alliance and, more importantly, a massive influx of Kageyama capital to keep their family name afloat.

Nothing was finalized, but the talks were serious.

After all, even though the Kurosaki family was on the verge of bankruptcy, Erina’s grandfather used to be a bigwig in political circle, and still has some connections that the Kageyama family can use.

“Yeah, that lowlife,” Taro cursed, his voice growing bolder since the man in question wasn’t there to hear him. “Ever since she started hanging around him and his group of thugs, she’s been acting like her childhood friends don’t matter. She even slapped my hand away when I was trying to call out to her! Can you believe that? Over nothing!”

Erina’s brows furrowed.

Rei is getting close to Seijirou? The man I might be forced to marry? This was no longer just a schoolyard squabble over a boy; this was a complication in her family’s survival strategy.

If Seijirou was distracted by a commoner like Rei, it could jeopardize the negotiations.

Or, more intriguingly, it could be a leverage point.

“I see,” Erina said, her voice becoming uncharacteristically distant as she stopped and turned towards him. “Go on to class, Taro-kun. I just remembered I have a very important matter to discuss with Rei.”

Without waiting for his goodbye, she turned on her heel and limped away, her mind already racing through the implications of Rei’s new alliance.

Taro stood in the middle of the hallway, staring at her retreating back before he let out an audible groan of annoyance.

“Seriously? Not even a ’see you later’?”

He adjusted his tie, his resentment simmering.

He had never truly liked Erina’s attitude, the way she looked down on him from her ivory tower, her arrogance, and her commanding tone.

The only reason he tolerated her at all was that she was undeniably cute and her family was incredibly wealthy.

To a boy like Taro, who craved status and validation, having a rich, beautiful girl like Erina interested in him was a trophy he wasn’t willing to lose.

“Whatever,” he muttered, turning back toward his classroom. “At least she doesn’t hit me.”