Rai Hikaru stood there, watching the girl in front of him. Her face carried the delicate beauty of youth, yet her figure was that of one of the most enviable, top-tier beauties.
Her chest swayed dangerously with each wave of her arm as she called to him, and yet Rai Hikaru's expression remained virtually unchanged.
Perhaps it was the lingering influence of memories from his previous life.
"I'm not Rai Hikaru… my surname's Rai. You can just call me… Rai… no, forget it. Rai Hikaru it is…"
He had opened his mouth, intending to say something more, but paused, as if reconsidering, and then closed it again.
"Huh?"
Shinonome Natsuka tilted her head slightly, her fair, delicate face registering a trace of confusion. She clearly didn't understand what Rai Hikaru had been about to say.
Her head tilt, combined with her high-level beauty, made her look almost irresistibly cute. Yet Rai Hikaru's gaze… remained indifferent.
Maybe her previous life left too strong an impression… looking at her feels like staring at some… female livestock…
Rai Hikaru pressed down the impolite thought forming in his mind.
He forced a faint smile at the girl. "It's nothing. Sorry to keep you waiting, Shinonome. We should head out—it's getting late."
"Right, Rai-kun!"
The girl slung her bag across her shoulder, the curve of her chest outlined in a way that was both youthful and breathtaking. She offered him a polite yet charming smile.
Rai Hikaru didn't reply further and started walking ahead.
For certain reasons, he had to go to school with Shinonome Natsuka lately—but he had very little interest in the purple-haired girl herself.
"Rai-kun~ Slow down, you're walking too fast, I can't keep up~"
Her voice was sweet, teasing, almost like a lover's playful coaxing. But all she got in return was his retreating back.
Watching him leave without a glance, Shinonome Natsuka adjusted her bag, tried to suppress her smile, and struggled to keep pace.
As she looked at his seemingly ordinary but actually broad back, a flicker of doubt—and perhaps frustration—crossed her beautiful eyes.
After a week of being around Rai Hikaru, she still didn't understand him. He seemed completely uninterested in her.
Even stranger was the faint, almost imperceptible feeling she sensed in his eyes—something… odd.
Not vanity. Natsuka had long been accustomed to male attention, particularly after her terrifyingly rapid development during adolescence. By the time she reached her peak, confessions from boys came almost weekly.
Had it not been for her role as a student council officer and her secret engagement to her childhood friend, she could have easily had enough suitors to fill several football teams.
Though she maintained her purity—even refraining from intimate contact with her childhood friend—her allure was undeniable.
She had even tried, on occasion, to coax Rai Hikaru into showing his "true nature," something she had never done with her childhood friend.
Yet nothing worked. Her pride, her charm, seemed utterly ineffective on him.
Though perhaps it was inappropriate, Natsuka had the unsettling impression that Rai Hikaru looked at her as if she were… some creature in the yard back home.
No… that had to be a trick of the mind.
She shook her head.
Rai Hikaru's indifference irritated her, far more than any crude gaze ever could. Her frustration only deepened as she tried, repeatedly, to elicit a reaction—and failed.
Determined to provoke some response, she continued chattering all the way to school. Yet Rai Hikaru paid little attention.
The reason he accompanied her to school wasn't due to her presence—it was another matter entirely.
Yamano Yuta, a friend from Rai Hikaru's time in the countryside, was also Natsuka's childhood friend.
Because Yuta had repeated a year and remained in middle school, he had asked Rai Hikaru to keep an eye on Natsuka over the course of this year. He worried that too many high school boys would harass her, especially since one notorious "playboy"—Ooshika Masaru, famed in their middle school days—attended the same high school.
Rai Hikaru had accepted the request, though he hardly considered Yuta a close friend. To him, Yuta was just a casual acquaintance—a boy trying far too hard to act like an older brother, even wanting Rai to call Natsuka "big sister-in-law." Rai Hikaru had found it ridiculous.
The true reason Rai Hikaru agreed to accompany Natsuka wasn't Yuta—it was Ooshika Masaru.
Yes, the infamous "sea king" of their middle school.
Though Rai Hikaru had only met him briefly, his memories from his previous life left a lasting impression. He, as a Pure Love God of War system user and a firm believer in pure love, despised playboys like Masaru.
And attacking such a person yielded system rewards, allowing him to grow stronger in this perilous world, protect himself, and safeguard those he cared about.
So Rai Hikaru was simply waiting, lying in ambush, for Masaru to appear.
As for Natsuka? She was merely bait.
Mid-chatter, Natsuka suddenly paused—Rai Hikaru had looked at her. Just a single glance, and she sensed something in his eyes.
It wasn't desire of the kind she had hoped for. It was the impatient heat of a hunter watching prey hesitate.
A shiver ran down her spine, her legs suddenly feeling weak. What's happening? I've trained in Aikido!
She didn't understand. If she were still the righteous, upright student council officer of middle school, she would have remained unshaken. But after moving to a new city, living alone in high school, and spending weeks consuming movies, manga, and novels, her inner self had already changed—though her body remained pure.
"W-what's… wrong?" she forced herself to ask, masking her alarm.
"Nothing. I just… Shinonome, you said Masaru ever harassed you back in middle school—was that true?"
Rai Hikaru asked casually, shaking his head.
"Of course it's true! Why would I joke about something like that?"
"That guy leered at me, asked for my contact info, and when I refused, he kept pestering me. If I hadn't mentioned I knew Aikido, he probably wouldn't have left!"
"Rai-kun, are you doubting me?!"
Natsuka's chest heaved, her large, sunlight-glinting breasts swaying. Even if Rai Hikaru wasn't interested, the movement was dizzying.
"Shinonome, calm down. I'm not doubting you—I'm just asking. Relax, okay?"
"I'll go to the bathroom. Drink some water and cool off."
He handed her a bottle and turned toward the nearby public restroom.
Watching his back disappear, Natsuka struggled to regain composure. She twisted the cap off the water bottle with effort, muttering angrily to herself:
Rai-kun actually doubts what I said… Does he think everyone is like him, unable to appreciate beauty? How infuriating!
A voice rang out nearby, light and teasing:
"Exactly. Rai Hikaru doesn't know how to appreciate beauty! Having such a gorgeous girl right in front of him, and he just looks indifferent. If it were me, I'd have enjoyed her long ago! Such a prime beauty, wasted on that idiot Rai Hikaru!"
Natsuka's pupils shrank. She turned her head—and there he was.
A boy with dyed yellow hair, earrings, and a delinquent's attitude emerged slowly from the bushes. That familiar, cocky smirk—the very same Masaru Ooshika who had harassed her not long ago—was back.