Chapter 229: Donating a Cafeteria to Settle Yuuki's Enrollment (Patreon)

So that's it. You were just trying to get a free ride off me, weren't you, woman?

"Stop slandering me."

"I'm still brand new, factory original."

"Don't believe me? You're welcome to test it yourself."

Natsuka kept his eyes shut and played the rogue with a perfectly straight face.

"Bleh bleh bleh."

"Scumbag!"

Tachibana Rui stuck her tongue out at him and ducked into the taxi.

As the car pulled away, she rolled the window back down, her expression far more earnest.

"Whatever happens, thank you."

Natsuka waved at her with a grin that was thoroughly annoying.

"Then you'd better keep your chastity safe for me. The day I master my divine skill, I'll make sure you learn what 'one step straight to the gut' means."

"Get lost—idiot!"

…

After seeing Tachibana Rui off, Natsuka walked slowly down the street alone, his soles skimming the edges of the puddles while his mind turned over what to do next.

It suddenly struck him that the Ordinary World had plenty of people buried in it who were worth digging up, and plenty of them.

A chance like this didn't come along often. He decided to return to his old trade and kidnap—cough—recruit a few more people into the group.

"First target: schools, naturally."

"While I'm at it, I need to find Yuuki a decent school too."

"After all, she's been out of school since elementary."

"Getting in on her grades alone is probably unrealistic."

"Looks like I'll have to pull a few strings."

"Let's see… Yuuki's family is in Chiba, I think."

"As expected, her big sister is a hardcore sis-con too."

He flagged down a taxi, leaned against the window once he got in, and pulled out his phone to message Kuroneko.

Natsuka: [Are there any schools in Chiba I can get into through the back door?]

Kuroneko: [High school?]

Kuroneko: [Have your grades finally sunk so low that you need the back door to advance?]

Kuroneko: [Could you at least try a little for my sake?]

Natsuka: [Not me. Yuuki.]

Natsuka: [She's about to start middle school, but her grades aren't great.]

Kuroneko: [I see.]

Kuroneko: [If it's middle school, I think I can work something out at my school.]

Kuroneko: [As long as there's money, getting in shouldn't be hard.]

Kuroneko: [It's still compulsory education, after all.]

Natsuka: [Oh, thanks.]

Kuroneko: [You're coming to our school?]

Natsuka: [Yeah.]

Natsuka: [Then I'll trust you to show me the way.]

…

Seventy-five minutes later.

Gorikijun.

Natsuka paid the fare and got out.

It was already past four in the afternoon. The campus had entered club-activity hours, and students were scattered everywhere amid a din of chatter.

The first thing to catch his eye was Kuroneko's elegant, upright figure. Wind stirred her long hair as she stood beside the school gate, as if she had been waiting there for a while.

"Were you waiting for me?"

Kuroneko gave a slight nod, chin raised, her tone as lofty as ever.

"Be grateful. I carved out a great deal of precious leveling time to keep you company."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Natsuka smiled and reached out to ruffle her head. Her hair was ridiculously smooth.

"Mm… don't touch me randomly. You've messed up my hair."

"So it's messy. Big deal."

The way the two of them carried on, oblivious to everyone around them, quickly set the passing students whispering.

"Who is that guy?"

"He's so handsome."

"He can't be some kind of celebrity, can he?"

"I know! He was last year's runner-up in the middle school tennis tournament, from Seishun Academy!"

"Prince-sama?"

"But isn't that girl the famous gloomy one at our school?"

"She's actually that close with Prince-sama!"

"Don't tell me she's his girlfriend!"

"Damn it, why her?!"

"Waaah, I'm so jealous."

An ordinary person might not have caught those hushed whispers. But to high-level adventurers like Natsuka and Kuroneko, it was no different from having them shouted right into their ears.

Kuroneko's face flushed, and she deliberately turned her head away.

"Just a bunch of shallow girls."

"So he's good-looking. So what?"

"And they're already smitten."

Natsuka grinned down at her. "You didn't exactly deny the key point there."

"What key point?"

"The girlfriend line."

Kuroneko's eyes flew wide, and she lashed out with a kick to Natsuka's shin.

"Someone already has a girlfriend, you know. Keep talking nonsense and I'll tell Yuuki."

Natsuka just snickered, not the least bit afraid.

"Sorry. My dream since I was a kid has been to build a harem. Yuuki's known that for ages."

The corner of Kuroneko's mouth curled up. She shut one of her pretty eyes, looking half disdainful, half coquettish.

"Bleh. Scumbag."

"Only she would spoil you like that."

Chatting as they went, the two of them walked into the school.

As they climbed the stairs, they passed the corridor of the second-year middle school floor, and Natsuka suddenly paused.

He had spotted a girl with short blue hair and a vacant expression walking into a classroom.

"What's wrong?" Kuroneko asked.

"Nothing. It's just that she feels a bit…"

Natsuka trailed off halfway.

There was something special about that girl. The problem was that she looked so ordinary, so ordinary that there was almost no strong feature to latch onto. Unlike Kuroneko or Utaha, she didn't carry a vivid label you could read at a glance.

She was probably an important character too, but for the life of him he couldn't place who she was.

Still, it didn't matter. Once Yuuki enrolled, he could have her ask around.

"Let's go."

The two of them crossed the corridor and entered the principal's office.

After a brief explanation of Yuuki's situation, Natsuka casually mentioned that he'd like to donate a cafeteria to the school. Just like that, her admission was in the bag.

The principal's smile had grown so wide it looked like a blooming flower, and his every word dripped with flattery.

"Which class would Yuuki like to be in?"

"I can choose freely?" Natsuka asked.

"Yes, of course."

Natsuka thought it over, and the nameplate on the blue-haired girl's classroom door flashed through his mind.

"Then Class 2-B, please."

…

Once the business was settled, Natsuka and Kuroneko strolled across the school field together.

The evening wind carried a touch of damp, and the leaves along the edge of the field rustled as it passed.

He could tell plainly that Kuroneko didn't fit in at school. She had no regular friends and no companions to speak of. It was worse than Bocchi's case, a downright enhanced edition of the gloomy girl.

"Aren't you happy at school?"

Kuroneko raised her chin, her tone still as high and mighty as ever.