Chapter 71: Yuuka Kazami: Rebellious Master-Attacker.
....
After receiving word from Momo that she still stood a chance, Anna Yanami had been so thrilled she ate two extra bowls of food at dinner. Having not seen Kihara for a whole day, she missed him immensely, even diving straight into his arms to nuzzle against his chest for over ten seconds right in front of Lala.
"Ah, sorry... I got a bit too excited. Lala, you don't mind, right?"
"Of course not! Yesterday when Kihara ate without you by his side, he felt a bit unaccustomed to it as well!"
"R-Really?!"
"Mmhmm!"
'Calm down, stay calm! If I burst out laughing right now, I won't be able to hold it in anymore!'
Exerting every ounce of her strength to suppress the corners of her lips that kept curving upward, Anna hurriedly turned around and picked up her pace toward the school: "Let's hurry to school! It won't be good if we're late."
...
During history class, the phone in Kihara's pocket vibrated. Stealthily pulling it out to check, he saw it was a message from Yuuka Kazami.
Yuuka Kazami: "I got lost inside the school. Come find me."
Kihara: "Why did you run into the school all of a sudden?"
Yuuka Kazami: "Aren't all the yokai coming over from Gensokyo transfer students? Although I have zero interest in learning human knowledge, sightseeing the place where my disciple studies is quite a nice pastime."
Kihara: "Take a picture of your surroundings and send it to me. I'll come find you."
Yuuka Kazami: "[Image]. I'm here."
Kihara: "The Courtyard Garden, huh? On my way."
Stowing his phone away, Kihara raised his hand and spoke to the history teacher: "Teacher, I have some affairs that require me to take leave and step out!"
"Understood, go ahead."
As a universally known top-tier actor and the rank one student in his grade, Kihara had never been rejected by a teacher when asking for leave. Under the envious gazes of his classmates, he swiftly departed the classroom.
Taking roughly two minutes, he rushed over to the Courtyard Garden where Yuuka Kazami was located.
She was merely standing quietly under the shade of the trees holding her flower parasol, yet the blooming flowers all around turned toward her as if surrounding their queen. Even the air was saturated with a unique, rich floral fragrance.
"As expected of my master, surrounded by a hundred flowers wherever you go."
"Flattering me at a time like this... Are you trying to fool me onto your bed just like you fooled Remilia?" Yuuka shot a half-smile sidelong glance at him, her tone completely inscrutable.
It felt like teasing, yet also like a genuine interrogation.
"Uh... Master is obviously not as easy to fool as Remilia. Wait!! How did you know?!"
"Guess."
Kihara's reaction remained exceptionally calm: "Not guessing. Doesn't matter if Master knows anyway."
Failing to see a panic-stricken expression on his face, Yuuka felt a slight touch of regret. Crouching down before a flower, she lightly touched a petal with her clean, fair fingertip: "Suika carries your scent on her as well. Are you really planning to wipe out all the yokai of Gensokyo over on this side?"
"Don't put it so harshly. Everyone is engaging in mutual, freely chosen romance. How come it sounds like I'm deliberately using sneaky moves to conquer them?"
"Your mouth remains as sharp as ever. Let me see if the skills you learned from me have degraded."
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't tell me you came over just to do this?!"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
Yuuka flashed a wild, domineering smile, her fist whistling through the air as she swung straight toward Kihara.
...
The moment class ended, Anna Yanami couldn't wait to trot over to Lala's side to probe for news.
"Lala, what did you and Kihara-kun do at school yesterday?"
Lala blinked her eyes, recalling for a short second before smiling in reply: "Nothing different from usual! Attending class, heading to the club to make delicious food, and then going home after school."
"Didn't any girls take advantage of my absence to proactively come over and strike up a chat with him?"
Searching her memory, Lala didn't find any instance fitting that description, shaking her head in denial: "Nope."
"How can that be... Clearly in the past, whenever I wasn't around, those girls would try every trick in the book to chat with Kihara-kun."
Just as she was feeling thoroughly puzzled, Anna accidentally caught sight of Lala leaning back against her chair to stretch her arms. Her captivating, flawless body curves made Anna feel as though she could hear the breaking hearts of numerous girls in the classroom.
Only then did realization dawn upon her. Because of Lala's presence—a rival who was practically a perfect, flawless all-rounder in the eyes of any bystander—the other girls didn't dare approach Kihara on their own to suffer a crushing defeat.
If their figure, looks, or grades were inferior in even a single aspect, they would face ruthless mockery from other competitors.
Labels like 'overestimating oneself,'
'narcissistic,' and 'arrogant' would quickly be slapped onto them, impossible to remove until high school graduation. That was the real reason they had remained so well-behaved yesterday.
Once Anna figured it out, beside breathing a sigh of relief, she felt secretly fortunate.
'Thank goodness Momo came to talk to me about the Harem Plan on her own initiative, or I probably would have ended up becoming one of them.'
The scheme named the "Harem Plan" was, at its core, Momo's blueprint to build a harem for Kihara. It was a clever shortcut to overcome Lala—whom it was almost impossible to defeat in a head-on match—and legitimate staying by his side.
Otherwise, Momo held virtually zero confidence in stealing a man away from her big sister.
Halfway through Lala and Anna's chat, Kihara—who had taken leave during class—returned to the classroom holding a bag, though the contents inside weren't clearly visible.
Sniff, sniff—
Possessing a sense of smell comparable to a dog's, Anna caught a faint, delicate floral scent wafting from the bag.
Unceremoniously leaning over to rummage through the plastic bag, she pulled out two boxes of treats that looked like flaky pastries.
"Kihara-kun, where did you buy this from?"
"Didn't buy it. I made these flower cakes using the food machine."
"Flower cakes?"
While Lala was still examining the golden, crispy outer crust of the flower cakes, Anna had already unwrapped the box. Breaking a flower cake in half, she revealed the deep crimson rose filling inside.
The unique, rich fragrance of roses instantly drifted through the entire classroom.
"Strange, did someone bring roses into the classroom?"
"The only person who just walked in was Kihara-kun, but he isn't holding any flowers."
"It smells so good!"
Before the other classmates could discover the source of the fragrance, Anna hastily stuffed the flower cake into her mouth, her cheeks puffing up like a squirrel's as she narrowed her eyes in pure bliss.
"So delicious~~"
"The petals inside seem a bit special..."
"Yeah. Yuuka Kazami gave them to me," Kihara said, his expression looking somewhat unnatural as he spoke.
Rather than calling it a gift, it was more like Yuuka Kazami using him as her nostalgic "rebellious disciple punchbag" to satisfy her desire for battle, before pulling these petals out from her pouch as compensation.
Having done all that, she departed back to Gensokyo, taking along a phone and flower seeds Kihara had bought for her.
She was truly worthy of being called an unpredictable Great Yokai—doing everything cleanly and decisively, without a single shred of hesitation.
Lala held a half-eaten flower cake up to Kihara's lips: "You seem to have prepared portions for only the two of us. Let's share it half and half!"
He nodded, just about to open his mouth, when another small hand—trembling yet resolute—brought a flower cake over. It had a massive bite taken out of it, still carrying a touch of glistening moisture on the crust.
"Kihara-kun, I-I'll share half of mine with you too!"
....
Thank you for reading.