"To protect our Calligraphy Club's Xiao Mo, Shirakawa, you descended like a Heavenly God, making a grand entrance, and slapped Oga Masato's face hard in front of everyone... tsk tsk tsk, that's you, Shirakawa, no wonder I insisted on recruiting you into the Calligraphy Club back then..."
"Back then, it was you hugging my leg and crying, begging me to join." Shirakawa Sawahei didn't give Paramecium Minister any chance to boast.
Clearly, someone who lives like a single-celled organism, with no sense of tidying or knowing what cleanliness is - how does this mere minister even have the face to brag about being farsighted?
When you stop making the club room a mess, I'll give you a chance to show off.
Tsukimi Sakurazawa blushed, pouting, "Actually, it's about the same though~"
"But." Tsukimi Sakurazawa continued, "That Oga Masato was really disgusting... So hypocritical yet pretending to be casual and modest. I hate that kind of guy the most..."
"And he actually wanted to force Xiao Mo to accept his confession. Xiao Mo is so cute, how could he even think of doing such a detestable thing!"
"I bet none of those accomplices are any good either, all aiding and abetting!"
"It's infuriating! If we had come any later, Xiao Mo might have been scared to tears by them!"
Beside her, Tachibana Tomoku's face turned red, not retorting anything, and silently followed behind Shirakawa Sawahei. Shirakawa Sawahei suddenly asked: "Tachibana, has Oga Masato pursued any other girls in class?"
Tachibana Tomoku, who was originally lost in her own world, was following Shirakawa Sawahei's steps with her head down. Now, with Shirakawa Sawahei suddenly turning around and stopping, she was caught off guard and bumped right into Shirakawa Sawahei's embrace.
She covered her forehead, tears welling up as she looked at Shirakawa Sawahei. Shirakawa Sawahei, upon seeing those clear, deer-like innocent eyes, awkwardly turned his head after a few seconds.
"Ahem... sorry, Tachibana..."
"No...no problem, it was me not watching where I was going...um... Oga Masato hasn't been in a relationship in class... but many classmates seem to like him..." Tachibana Tomoku looked tense and worried.
"Of course that's the case! Flirty guys like that, and some kind of star player from a sports club, brainless girls just go for that type." Paramecium Minister confidently stated.
Shirakawa Sawahei glanced at her oddly.
"What are you looking at?" Tsukimi Sakurazawa felt a little creeped out, tightly guarding her precious chest, but unfortunately, this gesture was bound to neglect something else.
Shirakawa Sawahei rarely cracked a joke: "I just think your cognitive ability seems a bit more advanced than single-celled organisms."
"...You bastard, what exactly did you think of me before!"
Messing with Oga Masato's gang ate up the Calligraphy Club's activity time. Shirakawa Sawahei soon found himself riding home alone on the train.
It was clearly the first day of school, yet for some reason, it felt like a lot happened.
Shirakawa Sawahei thought of Oga Masato after school, furrowing his brows unconsciously. From his point of view, this matter probably wasn't over yet.
Oga Masato, after failing his confession, surely wouldn't let it go. Having suffered such a loss, he'd definitely want to regain some face in some way.
But Shirakawa Sawahei wasn't afraid of Oga Masato causing trouble for him. On the contrary, if Oga Masato actively sought to pick a fight with him, that would actually be a good thing.
What he feared was Oga Masato causing trouble for Tachibana Tomoku.
During school days, these top-of-the-class social groups often held a lot of sway and influence. Oga Masato, being a guy, wouldn't have the face to lead others to ostracize Tachibana Tomoku, as that would contradict his persona.
However, just because he wouldn't do it doesn't mean he couldn't influence others to do so.
Those girls who liked Oga Masato became the perfect scapegoats.
How to completely solve this problem once and for all? Shirakawa Sawahei was suddenly at a loss. If it were him being ostracized, it would be very easy to handle.
After all, he had no intention of making friends with that group of immature high school students; being ostracized would give him peace.
As someone with a Huaxia soul, he didn't have the same near-craving need for group labels as many Neon people do.
But Tachibana Tomoku isn't like that; she's just a simple high school student. Moreover, ostracism in school can easily lead to all sorts of dirty tricks and schemes.
Things like pouring glue into indoor shoes, throwing trash into lockers, locking the door from outside the bathroom, and so on. Although they can't cause any substantial harm to you, they make you feel very tormented.
In his first year of high school, some people tried to disgust him with such methods, but he found each one and gave them a hard beating, after which they gradually behaved themselves.
They knew it was Shirakawa Sawahei who did it, but they didn't dare to retaliate.
After all, they were just a bunch of bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong. Since Shirakawa Sawahei came here, he'd never heard of a delinquent being ostracized.
Good people fear bad people, and bad people fear evil people - this is a universal food chain.
Could it be, that he'll need to use those two again?
Shirakawa Sawahei sat on the train, lost in thought...
The newly rented apartment was just ten minutes by train from Akihisa High School. Although it was a bit rundown, it was convenient and hassle-free. He wasn't as vain as the original owner, who insisted on keeping up appearances no matter what. For him, as long as where he lived wasn't dirty or messy, everything else didn't matter.
The landlord was an elderly lady from the Showa Era, who was very impressed with Shirakawa Sawahei for pursuing his studies alone, and voluntarily reduced the rent by a fifth, saving him a bit of money.
Entering his small apartment, Shirakawa Sawahei first placed the ready-made bento he bought at the convenience store on the table, then casually turned on the old television set in the room.
This action wasn't because he wanted to watch TV; it was purely out of habit from his time in Huaxia, where he would return home and turn on the TV while doing his own things.
It's as if the sound of the TV was the background noise of a home, and without it, the place seemed a little less lively.
The bento was for breakfast the next day; Shirakawa Sawahei's dinner still needed to be resolved later.
After working on some problems for a while, Shirakawa Sawahei turned off the TV, grabbed his wallet, and headed out the door.
Here, unlike the advanced mobile payment systems in Huaxia in his past life, having a wallet was still necessary; otherwise, he'd have to dine and dash.
Shirakawa Sawahei knew the consequences of such actions.
Not far from Shirakawa Sawahei's place was a famous ramen shop known for its soy sauce and tonkotsu ramen. The owner was quite temperamental, not accepting takeout orders, forcing locals to visit and queue at the shop to savor the delicacies.
The owner's reasoning was that anyone without reverence for fine cuisine didn't deserve to taste it.
However, this was Neon's typical rhetoric. Translated into real motives, it was likely because labor costs were high, and takeout might diminish the establishment's prestige, so operating the store was the honest approach.
Perhaps they could even boast a bit about craftsmanship at that point.