“Hello everyone, nice to meet you! As the teacher said… I’m Kuzuru Souma. Hope we get along! And there’s something I want all of you to be aware of as well!! I’m also engaged to Fuyunagi Shizuku-san! I transferred here so I could be with her! I’d be delighted if all of you could support our future together!”

The handsome transfer student, Kuzuru Souma, declared this frankly with a sparkling smile.

The handsome transfer student, Kuzuryuu Souma, flashed a dazzling smile as he declared it bluntly.

That Fuyunagi Shizuku was his fiancée, and they shared a firm, marriage-bound relationship.

And therefore, the rest of us should stay away from her.

That was what he was implicitly saying.

And the classmates’ reactions were…

“Uooohhh!! It’s here!!”

“A love declaration on the very first day!!”

“Kyaa kyaa!! Isn’t this crazy!? Like, seriously, isn’t this crazy!?”

“Huh? Huh? Wait! Fiancée means, like, that, right?”

There was a huge uproar.

Kuzuryu Souma’s appearance is outstandingly excellent.

He is tall with a lean, muscular build.

His face was an A… no, an S-rank level of handsome.

Anyone would straightforwardly call him good-looking.

On top of that, he’s probably the son of a wealthy family.

A handsome boy and a beautiful girl, engaged to each other.

For gossip-loving teenagers, what else could they possibly get excited about if not this?

You could see that energy bubbling up all around.

Just the other day, everyone was in the middle of a huge scandal involving bullying and teachers secretly being involved, and yet here they are, diving headfirst into a brand-new topic without hesitation. Truly, that’s youth for you.

The elderly homeroom teacher wiped his sweat with a handkerchief, muttering “U-uhh…” as he finished dealing with Souma’s flashy self-introduction and guided him to an empty seat.

Then, just as the teacher was about to start morning homeroom, he opened his mouth again and said something unnecessary.

“I, as the fiancé of Fuyunagi Shizuku-san, demand a seat change… no, I demand the seat next to Shizuku-san!!”

“…Eh? Um, Kuzuryuu-kun, that’s impossible, you know? It’s not the time of year for changing seats, and we can’t rearrange the seating for the whim of a single student… because if we catered to one student’s selfishness, it would undermine the discipline of the entire class…”

“I don’t care about your excuses! As fiancés, we must deepen our bond! Therefore, from now on, I request that I always be seated next to Shizuku-san!!”

“Eh… um… did you listen to anything I just said…?”

From the very first day of his transfer, the handsome new student forced an overwhelmingly strong character impression onto the class, flaunting himself as hard as he could.

Takuma was so stunned by this ridiculously intense character’s sudden appearance that he couldn’t even get a word out.

But then, a voice cut through it all, calling for a stop.

“Wait, wait a minute!?”

“H–Hey, hold on a second!?”

“Hm? And who might you be?”

“I’m Sado. And Fuyunagi-san already has a boyfriend—she’s dating someone. Fiancé or whatever, that doesn’t give you the right to tear the two of them apart, does it?”

“Oh? So Shizuku-san has a lover? Of course I’m aware. And? Would that lover be you?”

“Unfortunately, I’m not Fuyunagi-san’s boyfriend.”

“In that case, get out of the way! You’re quite the handsome man yourself, but that doesn’t give an outsider the right to interfere, does it?”

“Guh…!”

“I-I’m Fuyunagi-san’s boyfriend!!”

“…Oh?”

Thanks to Sado saying that, I made up my mind.

There was no reason for Sado to be lectured at length by someone like that.

I—the boyfriend of Fuyunagi-san—have to step forward.

However, I immediately regretted stepping forward.

An overwhelming extrovert aura was radiating from the handsome transfer student in front of me.

…I’m bad with people like this. Really bad.

“You, huh? fufu… kufufu… Honestly, I don’t want to say this, you know? But, well, don’t you think you’re completely incompatible with Shizuku-san?”

“…!”

“Your face and height are utterly average. Don’t tell me you’re at the top of the grade academically? Or maybe you’re exceptionally athletic? Sorry, but you don’t look like someone with any standout traits. You just look like an ordinary guy, through and through.”

“A-And what are you trying to say…?”

“Do I really have to spell it out for you? Haa… fine. Think of this as advice given out of kindness—be grateful, alright? Fuyunagi Shizuku-san is an unparalleled beauty. Anyone walking beside her must be someone worthy of that position. Otherwise, you won’t withstand the pressure from the people around you. Can you handle that? I certainly don’t see that kind of backbone in you. I don’t see even a shred of resolve. Deep down, you actually want to break up with her, don’t you? But I can guarantee you this—someone like you will never again get the chance to date a girl as beautiful as her. That’s why you’re clinging to her, isn’t it? Fufu… how pathetic. There’s no way someone like you could ever make her happy!! You’re not worthy of her. Not at all.”

“Ugh….”

The classroom fell completely silent.

The elderly teacher had turned into nothing more than a puppet whose only function was to wipe away cold sweat.

Sado was looking at Takuma with a pained expression.

Sakurada watched him with clear worry.

Katou, too, looked at Takuma with concern.

Fuyunagi Shizuku, who was at the center of the storm, watched Takuma with an expressionless face.

And Takuma… wasn’t shaken at all.

If anything…

“Haha… ahaha…”

He was laughing, genuinely finding it funny.

“? What are you laughing about?”

“Ahahaha… hah~ sorry… but, uh… Kuzuryuu-kun, was it? You have absolutely no chance of being liked by Fuyunagi-san. I’d bet on it.”

“Haa?”

“Someone like you is exactly the type Fuyunagi-san hates the most. Haah… I’m relieved now. I’d been imagining what kind of guy her so-called fiancé might be and worrying about it since yesterday, but if it’s you, then I can relax. There’s no way you could ever steal her from me.”

“Hah…? Haa…? Were you even listening to me? Do you seriously think an ordinary nobody like you could ever match Shizuku? Your looks, your height, your grades, your athletic ability—everything about you is average!! You have no redeeming qualities at all! A plain nobody like you!!”

“Fuyunagi-san hates people the most when all they have to show for themselves is their appearance or their background—people like you, Kuzuryuu. …I’ll give you some advice you don’t deserve: you should give up on her. To use your own words, think of it as a ‘kind warning.’”

“Ku… kuhahaha!! Don’t act tough, you nobody!! No matter what you say, you’re not a match for Shizuku!! You—someone like you think you can make her happy?? You can’t, right!? And why? Because you’re a nobody!! Someone like you, who doesn’t have a single noteworthy—”

“Hey.”

“—trait… wh— yes?”

Kuzuryuu’s machine-gun barrage of words, driven by sheer momentum, was completely erased by Fuyunagi Shizuku’s single, quiet “Hey.”

Her voice alone carried enough force to overpower him.

“First of all, please don’t call me by my first name without permission. It’s unpleasant.”

“He…?”

“But what’s even more unpleasant… is the fact that someone like you thinks it’s acceptable to insult my Taku-chan.”

“………?”

“Haa… just like Taku-chan said, I hate spoiled rich brats like you the most. Do you understand? Watching kids who think their parents’ status automatically makes them special absolutely turns my stomach. You can’t do anything on your own… you haven’t achieved anything yourself, and yet you go around bragging as if it’s all your own accomplishment. It’s pathetic. I’ve seen countless good-looking fools who tried approaching me while hiding under their parents’ protection, but even among them, you stand out. In that one regard, I suppose that’s impressive. But anyway, none of that really matters.”

So it doesn’t matter.

Fuyunagi-san quietly drew in a short breath and then released it all at once, along with everything she’d been holding back.

“What I absolutely cannot forgive… is that you insulted Taku-chan.

Hey? Who do you think you are? A fiancé? The marriage partner your parents picked out? And that makes you think you get to act all high and mighty? This is literally the first time we’ve ever met, right? What exactly do you think you know about me?

And with such a shallow connection, you seriously thought you could wedge yourself between Taku-chan and me? Sado-kun is a billion times better than you. Well… he’s still a billion times below Taku-chan, of course. So tell me—what do you have that makes you superior to Taku-chan?

Hey, what? What is it?

Money? Looks? Grades? Athletic ability? Those are all gifts from your parents, aren’t they? You can only live under your parents’ protection—so what are you getting so full of yourself for?

Well, whatever. None of that really matters!

Right—you want to hear what’s good about Taku-chan, don’t you? Fine! I’ll tell you!!! I’ll tell you the countless ways he’s trillions of times better than you!!

First of all, he doesn’t treat me like I’m special!! Every other guy always tried to put me on a pedestal, treating me like some brand-name accessory! But he never assigns any special value to me!! To him, I’m worth no more than a pebble on the side of the road!!

Depending on the situation, he can throw me away just like that!! Isn’t that amazing!? Do you get it!? He’s actually dumped me before!! You said earlier that Taku-chan wants to break up with me, but can’t because he thinks I’m too precious, right?

He dumped me, you know!! He actually dumped me!!

I’m not bragging, but I’ve dumped more guys than I can count—more than the stars in the sky—and I’ve never once been dumped myself!! Not once!! But he tossed me aside without hesitation!! If Sado-kun and Katou-kun hadn’t stepped in, I would still be abandoned even now… Do you have any idea how I felt then!? The humiliation, the frustration, the sadness, the anger! The pain! The hatred!!!

I overcame all of it—and I fell in love with him!!!

He owns my heart!!!!

He ripped my heart apart, messed it up, shattered it, trampled on it!! It was basically emotional rape!! My heart was violated and ravaged by him!! Hah… hah… hahhh!!! Taku-chan is the one and only boy who stole my virginityyyyyyyyy!!!”

Silence… absolute silence.

Fuyunagi Shizuku, cheeks flushed as if she were a maiden in love, had just spoken.

The classroom… the entire room has fallen into complete stillness.

Everyone froze.

The room was shrouded in a sense of restless anxiety, as though everything had just burned out to pure white ash.

Even the elderly homeroom teacher had frozen in place.

We all found ourselves wondering:

What on earth… did we just hear?

Takuma himself, the person in question, was made to keenly realize, ‘Oh wow, this is bad,’ after finally hearing Fuyunagi Shizuku’s true feelings, which had been vague to him until then.

But the one who had shut down the hardest, the one whose thoughts had come to a complete halt, was certainly Kuzuryuu, standing right at the epicenter.

His mind was still pure white—utterly blank.