"What trouble did you get into this time?"
Tadano's deep scowl made no effort to hide his disdain, to the point that Reiji felt like facepalming.
"Nothing yet, don't worry," he shrugged, thinking of teasing him a little.
"Yet?... YET?? What exactly are you planning to do?" Tadano asked with wide eyes, his apprehension quite clear.
"Well, what's the fun in just telling you? That would be counterproductive."
"What nonsense is this? Don't even think about causing another commotion after this recent drama! Don't think that I'm unaware that you were behind the whole video operation!"
"Whoa, so smart! How did you catch me?" Reiji snorted sarcastically.
Tadano's already red face darkened even further as he took a deep breath to calm himself down.
"I'm not sure why you weren't punished for that whole debacle, but if you cross the line even once, just once, I'll make sure that it's the last time you'll ever do so at this school," he warned, his voice dropping low.
"Oh come on, at least give me one extra chance? I might really need it!"
Noa, who had been listening quietly this entire time, finally sighed and dropped her file on the table, the sharp sound cutting through their friendly conversation.
"That's enough, Yagami. Why tease him like this?" she asked.
"Because it's fun," he replied. "Plus, he started it."
"Tease? Wait, were you just messing with me?" Tadano snapped, his mouth twisting with fury.
Seeing him get so upset, Noa intervened again.
"Vice-President, why are you here?"
"Ah? Oh, I just wanted to let you know that the event organizers for the tournament are asking for the remaining files."
"I see. I'll send it over in a bit. Thank you for informing me."
After saying that, she returned to her desk and sat down, making it clear that she wouldn't talk anymore.
This made the atmosphere strange, because Tadano clearly wanted to continue arguing with Reiji, but her clear indifference and the fact that she had already started typing something on her computer made it difficult for him to say anything else.
So he simply glared at Reiji one last time and left the room in a huff.
Once the door shut behind him, Noa looked up.
"Seriously, why do you keep antagonizing him?"
"You expect me to just smile and go along with his bullshit?" Reiji retorted.
"No, but you're the more sensible one of the two, so can't you be the bigger person?"
Reiji froze, his expression shifting to complete bewilderment at that sentence.
".....He's the vice-freaking-president, shouldn't he be the more sensible one?"
"In an ideal world, that would be the case," Noa groaned softly, leaning back in her chair. "Unfortunately, he's far from the person I expected him to be. I'm hoping he'll change, but that's not going to be an immediate process."
Reiji pursed his lips, contemplating something.
He had been considering warning her about Tadano, since he wasn't sure what that man would do after this recent incident, which is why he'd stayed behind.
The only problem was how to bring it up.
And here was his opportunity.
"Hmmm....I actually wanted to say something, but wasn't sure you'd believe me. I feel like that guy isn't trustworthy and that you should be careful around him, but then again, I have no real evidence for it. Still, I thought I should give you my two cents."
But hearing his words, Noa just raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly.
"If you want to insult him, just insult him. Hiding it behind flowery words like 'untrustworthy' isn't like you," she replied.
"Huh? Wait, no. I was being serious!"
"Really? Well, either way, I'm very careful with my work, even more so after that scandal. I know how important it is that everything I do is by the book to prevent others from taking advantage of any holes I leave behind, so there won't be any problems."
Reiji nodded, understanding her point of view.
'She's right. I guess that did sort of give her an incentive to be more thorough.....'
Seeing that Tadano had reminded her of the document submission, it seemed like he wasn't planning on doing anything in the short term, at least.
Reiji had done his part by reminding her, and now that he'd gotten some reassurance from Noa herself, he was satisfied.
Just as he was lost in these thoughts, Noa called out to him again.
"By the way, you're not planning on skipping class by camping out in my office, do you?" she suddenly questioned with a stern look.
".....Well, it was worth a shot. Bye-bye!"
Reiji quickly turned around and left, leaving an exasperated Noa behind.
There was no telling if Tadano had completely given up on this event or if it was delayed, but no matter what he chose to do, it wouldn't be as easy as it would've been before.
All thanks to dear old Kahawara.
'What's that creep doing now anyway?'
There hadn't been an update on his case yet, but it had only been a few days.
Reiji returned to his class while pondering this and slid the door open, but he stopped when he saw something quite interesting.
Riku was standing in front of Haruna's desk, adjusting his styled tuft of hair as he 'chatted' with her.
'What does he want now?'
***
(Riku POV)
The R9 wasn't the worst thing in the world.
No, I'm not trying to delude myself into acceptance; I seriously think it has its advantages.
After I was sentenced to get this haircut from Spice, I was forced to leave school early to get it done at a barber shop, which wasn't as easy as it seemed.
The barber first asked if I needed to see a doctor when I showed him the reference picture.
When I said no, he tried calling the hospital anyway.
It took me a while to convince him that I hadn't gone batshit crazy, forcing me to use a bet as an excuse.
And once he gave me the haircut, I refused to buzz my remaining tuft of hair down to what the reference picture showed.
It was too short, and I wanted to feel like I had hair. So I left it a little long.
Thankfully, Spice didn't say anything about that.
When I went home, my parents asked me if I needed to see a doctor.
When I said no, they tried calling the hospital anyway.
It took me a while to convince them that I hadn't gone batshit crazy, forcing me to use a bet as an excuse.
Huh?
Deja vu?
Tell me about it...
This happened a couple more times, including my neighbors, the mailman, and even the street food seller near my house.
Obviously, my parents were furious, demanding to know which asshole had made me get this haircut just because of a bet.
How was I supposed to explain Spice to them?
So I just gave them Tooro's name, since he was the first person to pop into my mind.
He's in for a world of pain the next time he comes over, which serves him right!
That piece of crap made soooo much fun of me.
The problem for me was how I was supposed to go to school with this witchcraft on my head, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't convince myself.
I thought skipping a day of school would let me build enough courage to get through this, but it didn't really help.
But, surprisingly, it wasn't that tough!
Who knew that the ladies would love strange haircuts like mine??
So many random women came to see me yesterday, and a lot of them even asked for pictures.
I'm not an idiot; I knew they were partly making fun of me.
But there were a lot that were genuinely curious about it, with no trace of mockery!
Who knows, it may lead to a wonderful, fated romance in the future with one or more of them.
Of course, that would have to wait until I conquered the heroines.
I had barely made any progre-
Scratch that, I had made no progress whatsoever, especially due to the fact that I was very distracted by the quest.
Ugh, that stupid quest.....
It wasn't all bad, though, because I did get something incredibly useful out of it, aside from the physique enhancements.
The piece of information about a heroine.
A glorious opportunity!
'Spice, bring up the piece of information for me again!' I called out internally.
[DING]
[Information Target: Yuzuki Haruna]
[Haruna's family is currently trying to repay a massive debt. Helping her out with it might be beneficial]
[Warning: direct approach is not recommended, but the duration the debt remains is growing shorter and shorter]
'Hmmm....'
My heart ached for this poor girl.
Such a lively and innocent person, and yet she had such a major problem hidden away from everyone.
'Fear not, lovely lady! I shall be your salvation!'
I knew that it would be stupid to ask her about it straight up; that would just be creepy.
How would I be able to explain how I found out?
So my plan was to first interact with Haruna and try to mend our relationship using the system choices, while also getting in touch with that old woman at the street market who might be related to her.
Maybe she was aware of all this, and I could pry the information from her.
It wasn't foolproof, but it was something.
Which brings me to this current situation, where I finally thought of a brilliant way to strike up a conversation with her after I managed to escape from the mentally deranged guy who chased me through the entire school.
"Yuzuki-san, what do you think of my haircut?" I asked, sweeping my hair back.
It took a while to comb it to perfection, giving it a faint noble quality despite the overall baldness.
The beautiful blonde girl stared at me for a few seconds.
Just when I thought she was going to ignore me, she smiled.
".....I think it suits you very well!!"