"Uuu… the actual compensation…", Bocchi watched his expression uneasily and said in a small voice, "I-I've been saving up some private money recently…"
She'd always been working part-time at the livehouse run by Nijika's family, and with her parents' allowance added in, it totaled around 60,000 yen.
"I'm not interested in money."
In psychology, there's a phenomenon called "cute aggression syndrome."
Simply put, when people face something cute, they sometimes feel a desire to destroy or bully it, and feel a twisted pleasure from doing so.
It's a dark side that exists in everyone to some extent.
Kaito's current mentality was just like that.
It's hard to learn to be good, but one slip and it's easy to go bad.
He recalled how he used to be so upright, single-mindedly seeking the Way, and keeping away from women.
But ever since he and Yumiko opened the door to the forbidden realm, his views had started to shift ever so slightly.
'How joyous and worthy of celebration… no, how pitiful and lamentable.'
"B-but…", Bocchi looked troubled. As an ordinary female college student, aside from her private savings, she didn't really have anything worth offering…
'W-wait!'
She looked down, but not at her toes. Bocchi's little face flushed red, a watery mist forming in her eyes, and her legs felt weak.
"I-if Kaito-senpai doesn't mind…", She trembled as she spoke, too shy to even lift her head, "…I'll try my best… not to make any noise…"
'Uh, what?'
'Why the heck are you blushing like a bubble teapot?'
Kaito had only meant to tease her, but who would've thought that with just one normal attack, the other side would flash and ult all at once, looking ready to give it up completely.
But looking at Bocchi-chan, her eyes already closed, long lashes trembling slightly, her breathing growing rapid from nerves, she looked like a small, timid beast, separated from the warmth of its mother's embrace, now facing the apex predator.
That aura of "weak, pitiful, and helpless" made one want to break her, to see that cute face melt into an expression of dreamy delirium.
If it were a different time, a different place, that'd be one thing.
But here in the corridor of the school building, there could be other students passing by at any moment.
This kind of exhibitionism play was still a bit too advanced for him. After pondering for a moment, Kaito was just about to change the subject when a surprised voice suddenly rang out:
"Ah hey, Kurumizaka-senpai, and Bocchi-chan!", They turned toward the voice and saw a red-haired girl full of energy waving her arms vigorously, then running over.
"I-it's Kita, good afternoon," Bocchi flusteredly opened her eyes and greeted her with a guilty look.
"Good afternoon," It wasn't until Kita Ikuyo got closer that she noticed something was off.
'Why is Bocchi-chan's face so red all of a sudden?'
And her gaze kept darting around, unable to look straight at her.
'She totally looks like she is hiding something…'
Bocchi shrank under the suspicious gaze of the cheerful girl and worried that she might figure out what had just happened, so she quickly changed the subject, "K-Kita, did you come looking for me for something?"
"Can't I come find you even if it's nothing? I thought we were bandmates," As expected, Kita's attention was diverted. She wrinkled her cute nose and pretended to be annoyed.
But she soon showed a bright smile, sneaking a glance at Kaito with the corner of her eye and said seriously, "Today's our band's first team-building day since we formed. Ryou-senpai just messaged to hurry us to the STARRY gathering point."
"Oh right…", Bocchi remembered too, but before she could say anything, Kita's cheerful voice interrupted with an eager invitation.
"Hey hey, Kurumizaka-senpai, do you want to come too?"
"Me?"
Kaito thought for a moment, then chose to decline.
'It is supposed to be an internal band event. Won't it be weird for me to just jump in?'
"Eh?", Kita looked a bit disappointed but still tried to persuade him, "Come on, come on~ It'll be more fun with more people. Group dinners are really fun, you know~?"
"No thanks," Kaito shook his head and smiled politely, "Hope you all have a good time."
Though his gentle smile was nice to look at, Bocchi had seen him enough as a classmate and clubmate to have built up some resistance to his charm.
But not Kita.
The last time she saw Kaito was… well, the last time.
She couldn't bring herself to stalk him like some creepy fangirl, and now this smile had her head spinning. She even forgot what she was trying to say and just stood there grinning like an idiot.
Unable to keep watching, Bocchi surprisingly took the lead for once, quickly said goodbye to Kaito, and dragged Kita away.
Watching the two girls disappear around the corner, Kaito took out his phone. There had been a message notification beeping for a while.
The sender was labeled as [Nagasaki Soyo].
[Kaito-senpai, do you have time right now?]
The message had been sent fifteen minutes ago.
Kaito recalled quickly and remembered who it was.
'Ah, it is that poor girl who was possessed by that ghost.'
[What is it?]
The girl on the other end seemed to be watching her phone closely and replied almost instantly.
[You helped me a lot last time, and I still haven't thanked you.]
[If you don't mind, could I treat you to a meal as a thank you?]
———
High-rise duplex, sea and river view.
In a bedroom with giant floor-to-ceiling windows, a brown-haired girl still wearing her school uniform lay sideways on the bed, nervously staring at her screen.
This was the first time Nagasaki Soyo had invited a boy her age to go out.
She'd been struggling over this for a long time, even looked up "100 ways to invite a guy out" online, but none of them seemed reliable.
In the end, Soyo decided that sincerity was the strongest secret weapon.
Staring at the big [Read] label on the screen but getting no reply for a long time, Soyo started to doubt herself.
'Was I too forward?'
Finally, the phone buzzed.
[Sorry, I probably won't have time today.]
Soyo felt a bit disappointed.
But she quickly composed herself and typed again.
[No problem, of course your work comes first.]
[I won't bother you then, Kurumizaka-senpai~ Bye~]
She even added a cute cat emoji waving its paw.
———
[Elsewhere]
Kaito put his phone away and looked at the absolutely stunning girl with waist-length black hair in front of him, slightly surprised.
"Yukinoshita-san?"
It had only been a few days, but Yukino's condition had clearly improved.
With Kirara's demonic aura gone and her schedule back in order, the dark circles under her eyes had vanished, and her ink-black hair had regained its shine.
"Good afternoon, Kurumizaka-kun," Yukino greeted him softly, a rare look of hesitation on her pretty face.
There weren't many things that could make this ice-cold, snow-like girl falter, and Kaito quickly guessed what was going on.
"You came because of Kirara, right?"
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