Chapter 148: Valentine's Day
February 14th, Valentine's Day.
On this perfect day, Haruto officially began his counterattack.
He stored all the chocolates given to him by girls he knew and didn't know into his portable space, then opened one pink, heart-adorned love letter after another.
The contents weren't particularly interesting—mostly similar, generally expressing confession, with some bluntly proposing hookups.
Rather than the content, Haruto paid more attention to the signatures.
"Natsuha Shinomiya..."
Looking at the two distinct piles of love letters on the table, he picked up one from the smaller pile. "She really is a great... specimen. I wonder if the butterfly effect has affected her. If Blondie hasn't gotten to her yet, she's definitely worth taking."
Natsuha Shinomiya, Class F, First Year, Private Kuoh Academy. With an exquisite, enchanting face, a voluptuous and fiery figure, a straightforward personality, and skilled in Aikido.
In terms of combat ability alone, one or two ordinary adult men would hardly be able to lay a hand on her.
Beyond that, she was also the heroine of the H-game "Hydrangea," which Haruto had once collected.
Recalling the general information, Haruto placed the remaining small stack of love letters into his personal space as well. As for those with completely unfamiliar signatures, he incinerated them entirely with his blue flames.
Whether discarding them directly or letting them gather dust at home seemed inappropriate. After careful consideration, he decided it was best to dispose of them without leaving any trace.
Looking at the nearly full personal space, Haruto sighed helplessly, "It seems I need to continue studying Space magic. One cubic meter of space really isn't enough."
After breaking through to S-class, he had been constantly thinking about creating a personal space. Not long ago, he finally succeeded in mastering the method to create a Mustard seed space.
However, it could only maintain a space of about one cubic meter. To create a larger Mustard seed space, he would either need to advance further in strength or gain deeper insights into Space magic.
In reality, although Space magic was difficult, it was surprisingly not that rare.
Whether it was the Teleportation magic circles Rias often used, various fixed spatial passages, or even some small alternate dimensions—all were considered common knowledge in this world.
Sometimes, to conduct a Rating game, the Satans would directly create a temporary Subspace, and live broadcasts also utilized Space magic.
However, few people created small personal spaces for storing items like Haruto did. There were even very few Space items available.
Haruto had asked Rias about this matter, and the answer he received was that created spaces couldn't be carried around, and items stored in alternate dimensions could be directly accessed by others if they knew the coordinates.
But through repeated experiments, Haruto found that the Mustard seed space he created could be carried with him, and others couldn't open it—they couldn't even sense its existence, let alone access it.
When Rias and others tried to create spaces using Haruto's method, the result was the same as before: they simply couldn't form their own unique Mustard seed spaces.
In the end, they could only attribute it to Haruto's inherent uniqueness.
After all, he already had plenty of strange qualities—one more wouldn't make much difference.
However, there were both advantages and disadvantages. While other Space magic remained uncertain, when it came to creating spaces, Haruto faced much greater difficulties than others.
Despite being of the same S-class strength and possibly even stronger than Rias, while Rias could easily create a space the size of a classroom, Haruto struggled with even one cubic meter.
...
After school, Haruto took Natsuha Shinomiya's love letter and walked to Class 1-F with a smile.
"Good afternoon, Shinomiya-san."
Natsuha was packing her schoolbag when a magnetic male voice suddenly sounded by her ear. She instinctively looked up, "Haruto-kun?!"
"Yes, it's me. Just call me Haruto."
Haruto smiled and waved the pink envelope in his hand. "I read your letter~ I have feelings for you too, Natsuha. So, let's go on a date now."
"...Huh?!!!"
The beautiful girl with pale purple hair widened her eyes, her cherry lips slowly parting as she let out an incredulous scream.
All the students still in the classroom instinctively turned to look, curious about what was happening.
Due to Rias and Sona's instructions, and the fact that Haruto had essentially stopped pursuing ordinary girls, the students at Kuoh Academy rarely paid him any attention anymore.
If it weren't for the Cuckold Protagonist Template acting up again, and if Haruto hadn't actively suppressed his charm and charisma, he wouldn't have received such an exaggerated number of love letters and chocolates this Valentine's Day.
But Natsuha's startled cry awakened the students' long-buried memories.
"Hey, isn't that the Great Demon King Haruto?"
"Yeah, it seems he's set his sights on Shinomiya this time."
"Tsk tsk, Shinomiya... If I had the Great Demon King Haruto's skills, I wouldn't let her slip away either."
"True, that chest, those legs, and that face... If I weren't afraid of her giving me a shoulder throw, I would've confessed long ago."
"Wake up, stop dreaming. You don't even qualify for a shoulder throw."
"He's not here to confess—look at what he's holding. It's probably Shinomiya throwing herself at him."
"Dammit... I'm so jealous."
Haruto had gone so far down the path of being a playboy that he was now completely immune to such discussions. But Natsuha, whose heart had only just begun to stir, couldn't bear to hear them.
As the whispers grew more explicit, her snow-white face turned pink. She shyly lowered her head, her alluring body squirming uncomfortably.
"Natsuha... may I call you that?"
Natsuha nodded and murmured, "Yes..."
"Natsuha, this letter was written by you, right?" Haruto gave a bright laugh and reached out to lift the girl's smooth, delicate chin. "If it's someone else's prank, then forget what I said earlier."
Forced to meet Haruto's gaze, staring into those deep, starry eyes that shone with brilliance, the girl's heart began to race uncontrollably. Her pale pink cheeks flushed crimson.
"Y-yes... I wrote it..."
Summoning her courage, Natsuha said firmly, "I never thought Haruto would actually read it... and even agree..."
With so many girls giving Haruto chocolates and love letters, of course he couldn't accept each one in person. Most were secretly slipped into his shoe locker or desk.
"As long as it's from you, that's fine." Haruto grabbed the girl's fair wrist firmly. "We'll talk about the rest during our date."
Natsuha offered no resistance, her face still flushed, and let Haruto lead her out.
Before leaving, Haruto glanced out of the corner of his eye toward the classroom corner.
A tall boy with deep yellow hair, dark skin, a fierce appearance, and two silver earrings was glaring intently in their direction.
It seemed this yellow-haired guy hadn't succeeded yet. Realizing this, Haruto felt even more pleased.
Originally, Natsuha, unable to bear the loneliness, had actively given away her first time, setting herself on a path of no return.
Now she was still making the first move, but because Haruto had appeared, she naturally wouldn't choose someone she had never liked—or even despised.
Compared to Oga Masaru, who also fooled around with many girls, someone like Haruto, with his pretty-boy looks, was clearly more her type.
Thus, the restless-hearted Natsuha was bound to choose Haruto.
This love letter and exquisitely packaged chocolate were the best proof.
"Tch, that bitch. After all the time I spent pursuing her, she still ended up choosing a useless loser in the end."
Watching Haruto's retreating figure, Oga Masaru spat viciously, "You may have second-year seniors protecting you at school, but let's see who you can turn to for help outside campus."
His peak S-rank strength had barely increased Haruto's height and weight—he now stood at 177 cm and weighed 75 kg.
However, since it was all muscle, he still appeared quite slender when clothed. Paired with his delicate, submissive-looking face, as long as Haruto didn't actively project a fierce aura, most ordinary people's first impression of him remained that of a herbivorous boy.
The delinquent types particularly looked down on these gentle male protagonists who wouldn't take what was offered to them. They'd be fine if they never encountered any "cuckolding" situations, but once they did, they'd basically become prime candidates for being victims.