The cafeteria buzzed with murmurs and movement as students passed each other with trays in hand. Isagi had come here with his soccer team friends, whom he met on the way out of class for lunch, and they were in the middle of looking at the menu at the entrance while pondering what to order.
"Oh, look at that. They've got something new."
An item with the word "new" below it caught Isagi's attention: mapo-tofu ramen, a simple dish of spicy mapo tofu over ramen. He wasn't too fond of it…
"Mapo-tofu ramen? So it's Chinese food stacked on Chinese food," Tomonori Tada laughed. Unlike this morning, he was wearing the usual Ichinan High School uniform.
"Tada-kun, technically, ramen isn't Chinese food, is it?"
"Wait. It isn't?"
"No. The word ramen itself is actually Japanese."
Takeshi was the one who shared this tidbit. He was the soccer team's fullback, somewhat intelligent by average standards compared to Tomonori, who was famously scatterbrained…
"Have you two decided what you're getting?" Isagi asked with a sigh.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
After exchanging brief nods, they entered the cafeteria, placed a handkerchief and some napkins on a table to reserve it, and headed to the food line. After placing their orders, they returned to their seats.
When the three came back with their trays, something unusual caught Isagi's eye.
"Hey, hold on… Isn't that Kuze?" Takeshi said, jutting his chin toward a corner table.
Sitting alone, with a relaxed and carefree posture, was Masachika Kuze. His black hair, always disheveled as if he'd just rolled out of bed, fell carelessly over his forehead. He was dressed in the standard school uniform, his tie slightly loose, collar faintly rumpled—a lazy look that somehow worked on him.
"Pretty rare to see him without his sister or the other two," Tomonori Tada remarked, furrowing his brow with curiosity.
"He's always with that Hikaru guy and my lookalike, isn't he?" Takeshi added.
Isagi stayed silent, just watching Masachika as the boy brought a spoonful of curry to his mouth, chewing slowly, as if lost in his own world.
Tomonori, as usual, couldn't hold back.
"Yo! Kuze! Doing a lone wolf cosplay today, huh?" he called with a wide wave, marching over to Masachika's table.
The boy raised his eyes slowly, as if only now noticing he was being watched. When he saw the trio approaching, he arched an eyebrow slightly and responded with his typical lazy expression.
"Oh… You guys."
"You're alone? It's not every day you lunch without your harem…" Takeshi teased with a mischievous grin.
"Since when do I have a harem? I'm just eating. Those two were busy, and Yuki said she'd be having lunch with her student council friends today…" Masachika replied in his usual drawl, shrugging as he pointed his spoon at the seats across from him. "Sit down if you want."
"Don't need to ask me twice." Tomonori was already pulling out a chair before Masachika even finished his sentence.
Isagi sat across from Masachika, eyeing the boy's tray.
Naturally, the new mapo-tofu ramen they'd seen on the menu, which Masachika had ordered, became the focus of attention for the three soccer team stars.
"Whoa… It's even redder than it looked in the picture."
"This looks seriously spicy."
"No way. It needs to be *more* spicy, if anything. Still tastes good, though."
Sitting across from Masachika, Tada and Takeshi watched with obvious disbelief as he slurped his noodles, but Masachika himself was unfazed.
"Hmm… Let me try some of your noodles."
"Ooh, me too."
"Sure."
"Thanks… What…?! This is insanely spicy!"
"Ugh! It's burning all the way down…!"
They dipped their chopsticks into the noodles, but the moment they took a bite, they grimaced and reached for their cups.
"Okay, guys. You can't call something spicy if the steam doesn't make your eyes water," Masachika chided.
"That's a weird definition of spicy."
"You can say that again."
"Real spicy ramen burns your lips so bad you can't even slurp it like regular noodles."
"'Spicy'? Sounds more like sassy. Am I right?"
"I can't even imagine ramen *that* spicy."
"It'd probably wreck your stomach too."
"What the hell, man? Don't eat stuff you *know* will give you diarrhea…" Tada shot back, making an exaggerated grimace as he fanned his tongue, trying to douse the fire the ramen had left in his mouth.
Isagi, who had been quietly watching the scene with a half-smile, decided to step in.
"You guys talk like he's not immune to this stuff. I've seen Kuze eat blood-red curry last summer while laughing at everyone else sweating their souls out."
"It's not about immunity," Masachika replied with a vaguely thoughtful look, resting his chin on his hand. "It's more about training your soul. You guys should try it—it's a good way to understand the concept of voluntary suffering."
"Oh, here we go. He's philosophizing about spicy food now," Takeshi huffed, shaking his head. "But speaking of suffering, Tada-kun knows all about it, doesn't he?"
"What?!" Tada blinked, confused, before remembering. "Oh! Don't even get me started, man! Can you believe Isagi took a ball to the FACE this morning at practice?"
"It was a solid kick, I'll admit," Takeshi added proudly, as if it were a badge of honor.
Masachika widened his eyes in mock surprise before raising his hands in a dramatic gesture.
"Ladies and gentlemen, behold Japan's soccer prodigy, Yoichi Isagi, now testing his facial durability as a tactical strategy."
"Don't start, Kuze…" Isagi let out a resigned sigh, already used to this kind of teasing.
"Man, it was hilarious," Tada continued, leaning forward excitedly. "Isagi was just standing there, all pretty, fixing his shirt collar, and then—BAM! Ball straight to the nose! He fell flat on his back like an anime character, I swear."
"At least he didn't try to head it with his face," Takeshi added, laughing. "But the sound was glorious."
"See, Kuze?" Tada chuckled. "Soul training exists in soccer too. Voluntary suffering."
"Sounds like Isagi's practicing the Bushido of the ball," Masachika commented, calmly taking another bite of his mapo-tofu ramen, as if the conversation were just background noise.
"Speaking of…" Takeshi grabbed his water bottle, took a big gulp, and said casually, "This new mapo-tofu is gonna be a hit, huh? It's bold, different, spicy… Just showed up and it's already making waves."
At that, Masachika stopped chewing and raised an eyebrow with obvious sarcasm.
"'Just showed up'? Takeshi, this ramen's been on the menu since last week."
Silence hung in the air for a moment as Tada, Takeshi, and even Isagi blinked in disbelief.
"No way…" Tada muttered, eyes wide.
"You three only noticed it today? Well, I'm not surprised about Tada. Airhead like he is, I'm sure he'd forget his own name if it wasn't sewn onto his uniform."
"Hey!" Tada protested, but his indignation was ignored.
"Isagi…" Masachika continued, looking directly at him, "…you, at least, have an excuse. Soccer takes up 90% of your mental CPU, which is understandable."
Isagi just scratched his head, not denying it. That's just how his predecessor was…
"But you, Takeshi…" Masachika pointed his chopsticks like it was a formal accusation. "You eat here every single day. And you didn't notice this for a whole week? That's impressive, even by this school's standards."
Takeshi went quiet for a second before shrugging.
"Maybe I was too focused on surviving practice… Or maybe the food here is so monotonous that we don't even notice when they add something new," he countered, trying to mask his embarrassment.
"You can justify it all you want," Masachika said with a lazy smile. "But the fact is, even the cleaning staff knew about this new ramen before you guys did."
Tada and Takeshi sighed in unison, defeated. Isagi, on the other hand, just shook his head with a smile. He was about to speak when, suddenly, a commotion broke out at the cafeteria entrance. They instinctively looked toward the noise and saw three girls walking in.
"Oh, it's the student council… Don't see the president or vice-president anywhere, though. Still, it's not every day you see three of them together like this. It's… Wow."
Takeshi gasped as they passed, his friends sighing and admiring the whole time. The boys were drooling over them, while the girls idolized them.
"The Kujou sisters are so gorgeous, aren't they?" Tada murmured softly, staring at Alisa, who stood out more with her silver hair, and the slightly shorter girl walking in front of her.
That girl, Maria Mikhailovna Kujou, was a second-year student and the student council secretary. She was Alisa's older sister by a year and was called Masha by those close to her. However, neither the color nor the style of her hair resembled her sister's. While Maria had fair skin, it was more like a soft glow compared to the average Japanese person, unlike Alisa's almost translucent, milky complexion. Her shoulder-length wavy hair was light brown, and she had gentle, almond-shaped chocolate-brown eyes. Her figure, including her baby face, was closer to the Japanese average. It was almost hard to tell which of them was older at first glance when she stood beside Alisa, who had a slender, tall, and mature figure.
However, one glance below Maria's face would clear up any misunderstanding. She had the body of an older sister. More specifically, she had enormous breasts. And a big backside too. While Alisa had a figure that stood out from the average Japanese person, Maria had an even more "feminine" body. Her voluptuous figure, inherently kind personality, and style gave her a very maternal appearance, which was unexpected for someone her age. In fact, she was even called Madonna by some of her classmates.
"Maria's so cute. I'd love to get to know her."
"I heard she has a boyfriend, though," Takeshi added.
"Yeah, I know! Damn it! Who's the lucky guy?!"
Tada's dreamy expression instantly turned into a grimace, making Isagi raise an eyebrow in surprise.
"Wait. Takeshi? 'Who's the lucky guy'? I thought *you*, of all people, would know."
"Not sure what you mean by 'you, of all people,' but whatever. All I know is it's some Russian guy."
"Hmm."
"I wonder if it's a long-distance relationship. I heard Maria goes to Russia pretty often."
Masachika had a point.
The Kujou sisters frequently traveled between Russia and Japan due to their father's work. Alisa even lived in Russia until she was five, before coming to Japan for her first year of elementary school. Then she went back to Russia during fourth grade and returned to Japan during her third year of high school.
"I guess if they're in a long-distance relationship, that means they've been dating for over a year now… I don't stand a chance."
"Yeah… Plus, she's apparently turned down every guy who's asked her out so far because of this boyfriend."
"Either way, Tada wouldn't have a shot…" Isagi added, forcing his friend to face that cold, hard fact.
"Oh, shut up! Don't get all smug just because you and Princess Alya are close!" Tada huffed angrily.
"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that. It's more like she puts up with me," Isagi sighed, speaking calmly. His friend would probably lose it if he knew Alya was always flirting with him in Russian…? Probably…
"It's still better than her being completely uninterested in you. She barely talks to anyone, and if you try to get close, she basically shuts you down with a formal response."
"Well, we *have* been sitting next to each other for over a year now…"
"Even so, man. I mean, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who can call her by her nickname to her face."
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Man… I wish the lone princess would let me call her by her nickname too…"
"Why don't you try, then? Be bold," Masachika suggested, jumping into the conversation.
Tada grimaced, waving his hand in front of his face.
"No way, man. I wouldn't even know how to approach someone so perfect. I've never seen anyone that gorgeous in my life."
Isagi rolled his eyes and said:
"I mean, I'll admit they're pretty, but you shouldn't put them on a pedestal. Alya's actually kind of funny when you get to know her… in a lot of ways."
"'Oh, look at me. I'm Yoichi Isagi. I know the real Alya.' You're not bragging too much?"
"I wasn't bragging."
"So she's 'kind of funny,' huh? I'm impressed you, of all people, can say something like that with a straight face."
"Detecting some sarcasm there, Takeshi? You trying to tell me to know my place?"
"That's not what I meant. I was just saying I admire how you can say something like that about someone who gets on your case every day."
"Oh…"
Isagi looked away and gave a slight nod. One of the reasons he was okay with Alisa scolding him every day was because she was right. But more than that, it was because what she whispered to herself in Russian was always incredibly sweet. Plus, Alisa wouldn't be nagging him all the time if she really hated him from the start. She'd just ignore him… which meant, deep down, she probably enjoyed their exchanges.
"Anyway, why not try talking to her? It's no big deal. You might be surprised to find you have a lot in common."
"Yeah, but after what happened last year? I don't know."
The other two nodded in understanding with Tada.
Last year, a young, beautiful transfer student appeared out of nowhere like a comet. She, Alisa, instantly became the center of attention. Transfer students, in general, were extremely rare at Ichinan High School. The reason was simple: the entrance exam for transfer students was incredibly difficult. While the highly selective school was already hard to get into, the transfer exam was so tough that, at most, only one-tenth of the current students could pass it. Yet not only did Alisa pass the transfer entrance exam, but she also scored the highest on her midterms in her class. Plus, she was gorgeous. It'd be more surprising if she *wasn't* the center of attention. However, while countless boys and girls tried to befriend her, she always kept her distance and never tried to get close to anyone. In no time, people started calling her the lone princess.
"If I'm gonna go for one of them, it'll be Yuki. By process of elimination, obviously," Takeshi stated, glancing at one of the girls in line to order food.
She had glossy black hair that reached her waist, and though she was petite in stature, she had a well-proportioned feminine figure. She didn't seem as sensual as Alisa or Maria at first glance. However, despite her delicate appearance, she exuded elegance through her poised posture and graceful gestures, as if hinting at a proper noble upbringing. She, Yuki Suou, was a first-year student and the student council's publicist. She was the eldest daughter of a family of former nobles who had served as diplomats for generations. She was genuinely one of the elite. Just as students called Alisa the lone princess, Yuki's peers called her the noble princess due to her refined social skills and polished demeanor, making her the other "beautiful princess" on campus.
"Like, I know she's out of my league, but she's easy to talk to, so at least I've still got a shot, unlike with Princess Alya." While Takeshi kept nodding optimistically, Tada tilted his head skeptically.
"You really think you've got a shot, though? Yuki's known for turning down more guys than even Alisa."
"Hmm… Yeah… Maybe she's not looking for a boyfriend? Or maybe she already has a fiancé, like true nobility? So, Masachika? What do you say?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"Who else am I supposed to ask? You two are siblings, right?" Takeshi argued, emphasizing each word as his eyes burned with jealousy.
Masachika sighed.
"She doesn't have a fiancé, as far as I know. I don't know if she's interested in dating, though."
"Then go ask her."
"No."
"Why not?! Come on! Be a good friend!"
"Real friends don't use friendship to pressure others into doing something," Masachika replied with a tone of mock morality, drawing a muffled laugh from Isagi.
"That was a hard no, huh?" Tada remarked, defeated, before crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "Damn, I just wanted some inside info."
Masachika gave a half-smile as he stirred his mapo-tofu again.
"Inside info doesn't work with decent people, Tada. And besides, if you really want to know what's going on in Yuki's head, go ask her yourself."
Takeshi and Tada exchanged looks as if Masachika had just suggested they walk across a minefield.
Isagi just shook his head, amused by his friends' hesitation.
Somehow, this whole conversation with his friends made him feel a bit more at ease with his new life.
With one last, drawn-out sigh of satisfaction, Masachika set his chopsticks down on his tray, leaning back in his chair with the expression of someone who'd just won a silent battle against the spicy ramen.
"Well… That concludes my daily session of culinary self-flagellation."
While the others were still aimlessly debating their "hypothetical chances" of winning over one of the school's princesses, Masachika cast a quick glance toward the cafeteria entrance.
And that's when he noticed.
Yuki Suou was scanning the room with her eyes, tray in hand, while Maria and Alisa chatted casually beside her. The three were looking for a table, but the cafeteria was packed. Typical for lunchtime, but there was something different about the way Yuki carried herself.
Her eyes weren't just wandering. They were searching for something—or rather, someone.
And for just a fraction of a second, almost imperceptible, Yuki's gaze met his.
…That look, from the corner of her eye, pretending to be casual but carrying a silent expectation.
Masachika understood immediately.
She was waiting for him to call her over.
The corner of his mouth twitched, almost imperceptibly, into an ironic smile.
Tch. What a proud girl.
It was obvious Yuki was hesitating to approach with the other two. Maybe because she knew he was with the soccer team guys, a social circle she wasn't as familiar with, except for Isagi, who was precisely why she was hesitant. But at the same time, she didn't want to give in and take the initiative to ask to join them.
He stood up from his chair, grabbed his tray, and said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
"Well, I'm done. Gonna return my tray."
Takeshi and Tada didn't even notice, still lost in their bubble of fantasies about unattainable relationships.
Isagi, however, raised an eyebrow, noticing Masachika's sudden movement.
"Leaving already? Thought you'd stick around a bit longer."
"Got stuff to do," he replied vaguely, with a neutral tone, before turning toward the exit.
As he passed near Yuki, Maria, and Alisa, Masachika gave a slight nod, subtle, just enough for Yuki to understand—a silent invitation, typical of him.
And the three girls approached the group…
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