It had to be said that Sakura Airi's transformation was truly significant—much greater than Shikime Natsu had imagined.
Taking the initiative to attack, and almost causing Satou Maya and the others to lose their fighting spirit directly—it was really quite dangerous. He hadn't expected that Sakura Airi could actually utilize forms of address and gift-giving to stir up so many things.
Shikime Natsu was naturally aware of Sakura Airi's little scheme; naturally, she wanted to monopolize him. This was nothing more than an everyday occurrence for Shikime Natsu. Almost every cute girl who saw him wanted to monopolize him.
Excellent character model, outstanding person—it really was an enviable trouble to have.
However... Shikime Natsu intended to stabilize his harem relationships first, to avoid the harem catching fire and him becoming Makoto Itou.
Soon, the time arrived for lunch. A group of girls directly surrounded Shikime Natsu, looking at him with expectant eyes.
Sakura Airi was a bit puzzled. She had also noticed Shikime Natsu's bento yesterday; after all, it was still somewhat rare for a boy to prepare a bento.
But... was Shikime Natsu's bento really that delicious?
"Let's go."
Shikime Natsu lifted three bento boxes, and these were the relatively large kind. If there were too many, it would be inconvenient for Shikime Natsu to carry them.
The group quickly arrived at the school cafeteria, where there happened to be quite a few empty seats. Once everyone had gotten their food, Shikime Natsu finally opened his own bento boxes.
In the next instant, a fragrance overflowed. Just smelling it, the group of girls couldn't help but swallow their saliva. This cuisine was definitely delicious!
"Please, help yourselves."
Shikime Natsu pushed two of the bento boxes forward, keeping one for himself. Although he had eaten the cafeteria cuisine shared by Satou Maya and the others yesterday, still... after Shikime Natsu tried his own cooking, he felt that his own cooking was indeed more delicious.
"Thanks! I'm digging in!"
The girls didn't hold back anymore and picked up their chopsticks one after another. Seeing the happy expressions on the girls' faces, Shikime Natsu smiled faintly. This scene was truly quite harmonious.
"Delicious!"
"It's simply too tasty!"
"Natsu, your cooking is way too delicious!"
Sakura Airi's exquisite face was filled with disbelief. Was this fair? Originally, Sakura Airi had some confidence in her own cooking skills, but compared to this dish of Shikime Natsu's, her own cooking was really nothing at all.
This gap was a bit too large. Sakura Airi felt that it would be difficult for her to catch up to Shikime Natsu's footsteps in this lifetime.
"Haha, it's alright. Thanks for the praise."
"Um... Natsu, could you teach me how to make cuisine like yours?"
Mei-Yu Wang asked timidly. Would it be inappropriate to address Shikime Natsu like this directly in front of so many girls?
But the words almost blurted out of the girl's mouth, because the name "Natsu" had already been called out in Mei-Yu Wang's heart countless times.
Although she was very shy... their relationship had finally become close enough to use such an intimate form of address. If she called him "Shikime-san," would their relationship regress? If that really happened, the girl's heart would break.
Beautiful girls were quite sensitive to things like forms of address. Hearing that not only Kushida Kikyou and Sakura Airi addressed Shikime Natsu this way, but even Mei-Yu Wang—who was considered a bit of a wallflower in the class—was this intimate, Satou Maya and Karuizawa Kei were filled with a sense of crisis.
As for Matsushita Chiaki, she didn't feel much about it. After all... she didn't have that kind of intention yet. Although Shikime Natsu was quite handsome—and on the girls' ranking of handsome boys, he was the undisputed number one with a massive gap—he sang well, was good at cooking, and chatting with him was very comfortable...
Mn, a boy with quite a lot of strong points. Ordinary girls would definitely set their sights on him, but... Matsushita Chiaki was different. Although Shikime Natsu was excellent, but...
Matsushita Chiaki wasn't moved like the other girls. Right now, she was mainly accompanying her two best friends. Mn... these two best friends of hers could be said to have quite strong objectives. Who knew who would have the last laugh?
"Of course. If Mei-chan wants to learn, I'll carve out some time to teach you then."
Shikime Natsu nodded. Teaching a beautiful girl to practice culinary arts was also a quite nice thing.
"That's great!"
Mei-Yu Wang breathed a sigh of relief. If she had been rejected, the courage the girl had struggled to muster would have vanished.
"By the way, regarding this challenge the school mentioned, what exactly are we supposed to challenge? I'm still completely in the fog."
Karuizawa Kei, hearing that the previous topic had ended, proactively guided the conversation to a new topic.
Kushida Kikyou, who was a step too slow, maintained her smile. She had lost the focal position again, but... forget it. Right now, Kushida Kikyou was the little angel who got along very well with everyone in the class; she wouldn't have any dissatisfaction towards everyone in the class.
"I'm not clear either, but it should be exams or something similar, right?"
"That makes sense. If the school wants to issue a challenge, then it can only be that."
Shikime Natsu's answer received everyone's approval.
"Who does Shikime-san plan to challenge?"
Satou Maya's gaze landed on Shikime Natsu. She didn't say something like "You can choose me. If you choose me, I'll lose to Shikime-san and let Shikime-san take ten thousand points."
Such words would be too arrogant. Moreover... if comparing grades, Satou Maya had absolutely no confidence either. She had only been excellent in elementary school, but during middle school, because she constantly went out to play with friends, her grades had become quite regrettable.
Although Shikime Natsu was coming to challenge someone from Class D, the girls didn't care about this matter. On the contrary, they hoped Shikime Natsu could properly secure a victory in Class D.
"Mn... Yamauchi Haruki, I suppose."
Shikime Natsu pretended to hesitate. If this school could establish another rule where the loser would have ten thousand personal points deducted, that would be great.
Of course, Yamauchi Haruki hadn't even finished repaying his own debts yet. Even if ten thousand personal points were deducted, for Yamauchi Haruki, it would probably be irrelevant itchiness.
Anyway, he had no money. As the saying goes, when you have too much debt, you stop worrying about it.
Shikime Natsu discovered that Yamauchi Haruki had really become a massive bug. In terms of reputation, Yamauchi Haruki's reputation in Class D now—no, it should be said in the entire school—could essentially be described as completely rotten, especially after that incident at Keyaki Mall.
And regarding personal points, Yamauchi Haruki had nothing right now, basically relying on the school's mountain vegetable set meal to get by. At least for now, it seemed there really was no way to do anything to Yamauchi Haruki.
"Yamauchi?"
Hearing Shikime Natsu's answer, the few girls couldn't help but stare blankly. Shikime Natsu's choice didn't have any problems; after all, if talking about academic grades, Yamauchi Haruki was absolutely in the lower tier of the entire Class D.
And Yamauchi Haruki was still in a state of being all talk.
Choosing Yamauchi Haruki, Shikime Natsu would definitely win. Although Yamauchi Haruki was in the same class as this group of beautiful girls, no one hoped for Yamauchi Haruki to win the competition.
"If that's the case, Shikime-san has practically already won."
Satou Maya smiled.
"Yeah, that guy Yamauchi won't be Shikime-san's opponent no matter what."
Karuizawa Kei also spoke up as a matter of course. Listening to the conversation of the two beautiful girls, Shikime Natsu suddenly felt as if he were the villain. Why were they suddenly setting up flags for him?
Of course, if Shikime Natsu really couldn't beat Yamauchi Haruki, then Shikime Natsu should probably find a place to jump off. If he couldn't beat Yamauchi Haruki even with cheats, such a life should just end early.
No, it should be said that even without cheats, if he couldn't beat Yamauchi Haruki, he would have to respawn.
"Um... are Shikime-san's academic grades very good?"
Satou Maya suddenly looked at Shikime Natsu somewhat coyly.
"Mn, they're considered decent."
Shikime Natsu spoke quite modestly. Currently, Shikime Natsu had basically memorized all the textbooks in his mind. Coupled with the buff bonuses obtained from Ichinose Honami and Horikita Suzune, calling the current Shikime Natsu number one in the whole school in terms of learning ability wouldn't be an exaggeration.
The feeling of using cheats was just this unpretentious.
"Then... could you help tutor me in my schoolwork?"
Satou Maya blushed, looking at Shikime Natsu nervously, deeply afraid she would be rejected. Originally, Satou Maya had thought of relying on herself to study; after all, school had only started for a week, so if she worked hard, she could still catch up.
However... Satou Maya's foundation just wasn't good enough; she had no way to smoothly bridge the gap to high school coursework. Of course, there was another reason, and the most direct one: she wanted to stay with Shikime Natsu more.
The girl harbored selfish motives. If they stayed together for a long time, maybe feelings would grow over time or something.
"Neither Kei nor I are very good at schoolwork."
The girl hesitated for a moment. She had originally thought about monopolizing Shikime Natsu, but... there were so many beautiful girls on the scene. If she wanted to monopolize him, the consequences would be unimaginable, right?
Therefore, Satou Maya dragged Karuizawa Kei along without hesitation.
"Huh? Um, yes! Could we trouble you, Shikime-san?"
Karuizawa Kei was befuddled by this move of Satou Maya, but she reacted quickly. Was Satou Maya planning to compete fairly with her?
"Of course. Let's hold a study group after school in the afternoon."
Shikime Natsu revealed a quite gentle smile. Quite gentle indeed.
"Everyone is also welcome to join."
Shikime Natsu added a sentence.
"Then I want to join too."
Sakura Airi spoke up. She absolutely couldn't let Shikime Natsu be snatched away just like that. They were all girls; naturally, Sakura Airi was quite clear about Satou Maya's thoughts, so... she absolutely couldn't give way so easily.
Becoming a losing heroine or something—she absolutely didn't want that!
"Mei-chan and I have an appointment today... Can we join your study group next time?"
Kushida Kikyou put her palms together and spoke with an apologetic face.
"It's fine, this is just a study group; you're welcome anytime."
Looking at Kushida Kikyou's appearance, Shikime Natsu still couldn't help but lament the terror of this woman. Spending quite a lot of energy to build interpersonal relationships, and then not being able to display her imperfect side—it really was tiring enough.
Finally, the list for the study group was settled: the gal trio plus one Sakura Airi. Speaking of the gal trio, their academic grades should all be quite average. Mn... Satou Maya described her own academic grades as arguably terrible, the kind hovering on the edge of passing. The same went for Karuizawa Kei.
Among the trio, only Matsushita Chiaki's academic grades were above passing.
As for Sakura Airi, her academic grades were decent, basically able to reach the level of passing to good in all subjects. Having worked hard for a semester, Sakura Airi's efforts couldn't be considered wasted.
This way, the mission objective was quite clear: help Satou Maya and Karuizawa Kei improve their academic grades.
As for whether this behavior of Shikime Natsu counted as aiding the enemy? Please, no one thinks about getting their own harem expelled. For Shikime Natsu, class competition and such were merely incidental.
The most important thing was still collecting all CGs and constantly enabling cheats for himself. Besides, with him around, Class A absolutely couldn't lose. This was Shikime Natsu's confidence in himself.
After school, the few beautiful girls practically surrounded Shikime Natsu as they walked to the library. This kind of treatment was really not something an ordinary person could enjoy. Speaking of the library, a figure suddenly surfaced in Shikime Natsu's mind—that angel in the library.
However... the two had agreed on every Wednesday, and today was only Tuesday, so he didn't know if Shiina Hiyori was there.
No, she was already there.
Just on the way, Shikime Natsu ran into Shiina Hiyori, who was carrying her schoolbag and preparing to head towards the library. When the girl noticed this place, a trace of surprise flashed through those purple eyes, but soon, a quite gentle smile appeared on that face, and she leaned over.
"Shikime-san, are you all planning to go to the library too?"
Watching Shiina Hiyori lean over so naturally, the gal trio and Sakura Airi couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Another quite cute girl, and her whole person emitted a fluffy feeling. If one stayed together with this beautiful girl, one's entire mood would also become fluffy, right?
But... just how exactly did Shikime Natsu get to know so many cute girls? Of course, this was also Shiina Hiyori's thought; there really were a lot of cute girls around Shikime-san.
"Mn, we are planning to hold a study group. This is Class C's Shiina Hiyori. These are classmates from Class D: Satou Maya, Karuizawa Kei, Matsushita Chiaki, and Sakura Airi."
Shikime Natsu introduced everyone in order.
"Hello."
Shiina Hiyori greeted the people from Class D with a smile.
"Hello."
"By the way, Shiina-san, do you want to join our study group?"
Shikime Natsu asked. He discovered that Shiina Hiyori also didn't seem to have any friends, especially in Class C; she could find almost no one who could be called a friend. Right now, there was only himself, this book friend.
"Can I join you?"
Shiina Hiyori was slightly stunned for a moment; she hadn't expected Shikime Natsu to issue an invitation to her.
"Of course. If there are many people, we'll also be more motivated to study."
Sakura Airi spoke up with a smile. She slightly calculated the scope: currently, the gal trio had three people, while she was fighting alone, which absolutely wouldn't do.
Although Shiina Hiyori was also a competitor, but... a multi-party competition was better than facing the gal trio alone.
After receiving everyone's permission, Shiina Hiyori nodded slightly.
"Then please let me join you."
____
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