"Your stamina is way too terrible, isn't it?"
Shin looked at Goto Hitori, who was nearly exhausted after just experiencing one round, and couldn't help complaining.
But thinking about it carefully, that made sense. After all, Goto Hitori was a socially anxious person who usually stayed home. The most intense exercise she'd experienced in her entire life was continuous guitar playing.
In the original work, there were instances of Goto Hitori running a few steps and becoming exhausted. Looking at it this way, her being able to withstand Shin's one wave of impact was already quite good.
"Isn't... isn't it because Shin is too strong?"
Goto Hitori lay on the desk, her whole body radiating heat, her voice somewhat weak, giving the feeling of a lost traveler who'd walked in the desert for several days.
If not for Shin sensing her "ki" was fine, he might have thought Goto Hitori was about to die.
"Other girls don't get exhausted as easily as you."
Shin said helplessly, then pointed a finger at Goto Hitori—the "Bestowal" ability activated, instantly dressing Goto Hitori in Hayasaka Ai's maid outfit Stand.
As the maid outfit was put on her body, Goto Hitori felt her stamina gradually recovering, which made her somewhat surprised:
"Eh? This maid outfit is?"
"It's another girl's Stand ability. It can improve the wearer's stamina and energy, and can also recover stamina consumed during 'maid work.'"
Shin explained a bit, not hiding that this Stand ability came from another girl—after all, he knew even if Goto Hitori knew about this, she wouldn't get jealous.
It must be said this maid outfit Stand really often came in handy at times like this. Who knows what expression Hayasaka Ai would show if she learned about this.
"Maid work... so, so this is why you had me call you Master just now?"
Goto Hitori gasped for breath, feeling her stamina gradually recovering while looking at Shin with somewhat subtle eyes.
During the earlier activity, Shin had more than once made her address him as Master. Although Goto Hitori was extremely embarrassed, she ultimately did call him that.
"Didn't you call it quite enthusiastically? Little Bocchi."
Shin smiled and rubbed the cheek of Goto Hitori lying on the desk—"Bocchi" was a name often used for pet dogs in Japan, yet Goto Hitori could easily accept this address.
Although largely because "Bocchi" was the first nickname anyone had given Goto Hitori, it also showed from the side that Goto Hitori actually didn't mind being treated like a pet.
Sure enough, when Shin reached out to rub her face, Goto Hitori's face couldn't help showing a comfortable smile—a rare expression for her who was usually lonely and reclusive.
When Shin and Goto Hitori left the clubroom and returned to the classroom, lunch break had completely ended.
Walking into Shin's classroom, as expected, Kato Megumi looked over—her meaningful gaze, though saying nothing, obviously already knew what had just happened.
After all, if Shin was just simply keeping Goto Hitori behind to say something, it shouldn't take as long as an hour, right?
Kato Megumi, who knew Shin's strength every night, could guess what Shin and Goto Hitori had done just from the time consumed.
"Is Goto-san alright?"
After Shin sat down at his seat, Kato Megumi in the front row immediately turned around to look at Shin, then asked in a somewhat subtle tone.
After all, Goto Hitori's stamina didn't look very good. Kato Megumi was somewhat worried Shin might have broken Goto Hitori.
As for jealousy... Kato Megumi had long since gotten over that. She'd already made psychological preparations for the Supernatural Research Club members being eaten clean by Shin.
"Of course she's fine. Isn't there the maid outfit?"
Shin answered with a smile—of course Kato Megumi knew about the maid outfit Stand's existence, since they used it almost every night.
"To need the maid outfit, Goto-san must have been tormented quite badly."
Kato Megumi snorted lightly, able to guess Goto Hitori's condition must have been quite exhausted at the time—after all, Goto Hitori would gasp for breath after just running a few steps even in school PE class.
However, after learning Goto Hitori had no other major problems, Kato Megumi stopped pursuing it and instead brought up another matter:
"By the way, when Akawa wasn't in the classroom earlier, Miura-san came looking for me."
"Hm? Miura came looking for you? I didn't expect anyone would actively come find you."
Hearing this, Shin was also stunned, showing a playful smile on his face—because of Kato Megumi's low presence, usually almost no one in the classroom would actively come talk to her.
Even during class when teachers called on students to answer questions, they'd never called on Kato Megumi, even the most caring teacher Hiratsuka Shizuka couldn't escape this.
"Don't change the subject."
Kato Megumi looked at Shin irritably, then continued.
"She asked me if I'd noticed anything about you and Yuigahama-san's situation, asking if you two had any private contact recently."
"Oh? She was asking about that?"
Shin was stunned, not expecting Miura Yumiko to seek out Kato Megumi to ask about his and Yuigahama Yui's relationship.
It seemed no matter how slow Miura Yumiko was, she'd noticed Yuigahama Yui's behavior was somewhat off—apparently discovering Yuigahama Yui's feelings for him.
Yuigahama Yui probably hadn't told Miura Yumiko about their situation yet, which was why Miura Yumiko was trying to learn something from other classmates.
And Kato Megumi, sitting in front of Shin and seemingly having an unusual relationship with him, naturally became Miura Yumiko's top choice for questioning.
"Miura-san seems very interested in you. I could guess that much."
Kato Megumi glanced at Miura Yumiko sitting in her seat, then looked back at Shin and asked curiously.
"However, I'm hearing about Yuigahama-san's situation for the first time... Have you really also with Yuigahama-san...?"
After all, Miura Yumiko and Yuigahama Yui were both classmates. Naturally Kato Megumi was curious about Shin's relationship with them.
"About that..."
Shin just chuckled without answering Kato Megumi's question.
However, seeing Shin's smile, even without an answer, Kato Megumi had already obtained the answer she wanted.
She sighed, quite helpless about Shin's ability to continuously attract other girls.
The afternoon classes proceeded without incident, everything as peaceful as usual—which suited Shin's wishes perfectly.
Already spending days running around for tasks in the mission worlds, naturally in the real world he hoped for a peaceful life, even just sitting in the classroom attending class was nice.
At this moment, he vaguely understood the JoJo Part 4 antagonist Yoshikage Kira—he probably was so exhausted from hiding his hobbies that he craved a quiet life so extremely.
Of course, though he could understand Yoshikage Kira's psychology of craving a quiet life, Shin was still very different from Yoshikage Kira. He had no interest in randomly finding people to kill when bored.
Although Yoshikage Kira's Stand "Killer Queen's" abilities had all been devoured by Shin, Shin actually still hadn't found many places where he could use them.
Just like that, in peaceful phone-playing and meditation, the afternoon time quickly passed. Shin also packed up his bag, preparing to go home.
"Speaking of which, Akawa didn't study all day today, did he?"
Kato Megumi, sitting in front of Shin, also put away her things, turned back to look at Shin with somewhat strange eyes, and asked the doubt she'd always wanted to ask.
Although Kato Megumi also played on her phone during class and often chatted with Shin on her phone—the time she spent playing on her phone was basically all during class's garbage time.
For instance, when the teacher suddenly started reminiscing while lecturing, or when explaining problems Kato Megumi had completely understood, Kato Megumi would take out her phone and chat with Shin.
After all, Kato Megumi still wanted to get into university, so naturally couldn't waste high school.
However, between studying and chatting, Kato Megumi occasionally found time to look back at what Shin was doing, only to see Shin either playing on his phone or "sleeping."
Naturally Kato Megumi couldn't understand Shin's meditation, so in her view, Shin's behavior was no different from dozing.
"It doesn't matter if I don't study."
Shin smiled. Although he basically never seriously listened in class, his head still contained knowledge from before transmigrating, so dealing with exams was no problem.
Moreover, even if he'd really forgotten all previous knowledge, Shin now had plenty of ways to maintain his grades, so Kato Megumi's worry was completely unnecessary.
"Alright, since Akawa says so... then he's definitely confident."
Seeing Shin didn't seem very worried, Kato Megumi also felt relieved—Shin's grades had always been maintained in the upper-middle range of the grade, so there was no need to worry.
Moreover, even if Shin's grades really had problems, Shin seemed completely unconcerned about future prospects... After all, even the Shinomiya family was Shin's backyard.
Furthermore, with Shin's support now, the Shinomiya family's influence was growing larger. Perhaps before long, even the Shinomiya Financial Group's title as one of "Japan's Four Great Financial Groups" would need changing.
"So, no other girls invited Akawa today, right?"
However, Kato Megumi initiating conversation with Shin wasn't simply to care about Shin's grade issues, but to invite Shin to go home together.
"So can I go home with Akawa today?"
"After school today... I indeed don't have any arrangements."
Shin thought about it. Today he indeed hadn't arranged to meet anyone after school, so if Kato Megumi wanted, he could indeed go home with her.
"But don't you usually need to meet up with Kessoku Band after school? You just bought an electronic keyboard yesterday to formally join the band. Are you already skipping work today?"
Although he said this, Shin was very clear that Kato Megumi wasn't the type to break promises—since she'd decided to join Kessoku Band, she'd definitely work hard at it.
So this statement was mostly teasing in tone.
"Kita-san and Yamada-san both have things today, so Kessoku Band is resting."
Of course Kato Megumi heard Shin was just teasing, so she wasn't angry. Instead, she picked up her phone, waved the phone screen at Shin, and explained why she had free time after school today.
On the screen was clearly Kessoku Band's group chat, showing Kita Ikuyo and Yamada Ryo requesting leave, and Ijichi Nijika's decision to "let's rest today then."
"I see, then let's go home together."
Shin picked up his bag, nodded at Kato Megumi, showing a playful expression.
"However, just because I don't have appointments with others doesn't mean others won't come uninvited... You'd better prepare yourself mentally."
Hearing this, Kato Megumi froze, then immediately understood—previously there had indeed been cases of girls from other schools blocking Shin at the school gate.
That's right, precisely Fujiwara Chika.
Although Shin and Fujiwara Chika had each other's contact information, Fujiwara Chika did things completely as she pleased. Shin didn't dare guarantee whether Fujiwara Chika would come block people at the gate today.
After Shin and Kato Megumi left the classroom, before long, Yuigahama Yui also stood up and said to Miura Yumiko and Ebina Hina:
"Um... I have something after school today, so I'll leave first."
"Mm? I don't have any problem. We don't have any other plans after school today anyway."
Ebina Hina looked at Yuigahama Yui, nodded at her, then looked at nearby Miura Yumiko.
"What about Miura?"
"I'm fine too. If Yuigahama has things to do, go ahead and get busy."
Miura Yumiko looked the same as usual, with a faint smile on her face, nodding at Yuigahama Yui.
Yuigahama Yui carefully looked at Miura Yumiko. Seemingly finding no change in her expression, she breathed a sigh of relief, bowed, then left.
However, as soon as Yuigahama Yui walked out the classroom door, Miura Yumiko's expression instantly became serious.
She suddenly stood up, picked up her bag, and followed in the direction Yuigahama Yui had left.
Clearly, Miura Yumiko had also realized something, so she planned to follow Yuigahama Yui to see what she was going to do.
Although she and Yuigahama Yui were friends, when it involved someone she liked, Miura Yumiko also didn't plan to back down on this matter.
"Oh my, it seems things really have become complicated..."
Ebina Hina watched Miura Yumiko leave with an aggressive air and couldn't help wiping cold sweat from her forehead.
Being caught between Miura Yumiko and Yuigahama Yui, she also felt great pressure.
To be continued…