Fujiwara Chika.
Height: 154 cm.
Bust: visually estimated at above E-cup.
A second-year student in Shuchiin Academy's high school division, and a friend of Shinomiya Kaguya—practically Kaguya's only friend.
In the original work, this girl had a very unique personality: a whimsical being who did things as she pleased—partly natural airhead, partly black-bellied chaos gremlin who loved stirring up trouble. Compared to the relatively traditional and serious Kaguya, the two of them were, in a sense, almost polar opposites.
Incidentally, although early in the story she earned the title of an agent of chaos thanks to her chaotic personality and caused the main cast all sorts of trouble, later she became one of the persecuted victims instead, which was quite amusing in its own way.
But none of that had anything to do with Takumi now.
Facing this adorably cute girl with her rather majestic figure, Takumi glanced at her only once, then very naturally shifted his gaze away, looking instead at the ramen shop owner and casually ordering a bowl of tonkotsu ramen before sitting down to wait.
As for the cute girl slurping noodles not far away, he didn't spare her a single extra look.
Of course, this wasn't because Takumi had changed personalities—that would never happen. Takumi had always been a hopelessly lustful pervert, the kind who would try to push a girl down just because she didn't refuse a passionate kiss first (even though she ended up kicking him).
The reason he had no interest in Fujiwara Chika was simple: he was certain that, as he was now, and as Fujiwara Chika was now, the two of them belonged to two completely different worlds that could never intersect. There was no point in trying to approach her.
His life could now only be calculated one month at a time. If, in any Sacrifice Game dungeon, he ran out of restart chances and still could not clear it, his life would simply end—there would be nothing afterward.
And the girl before him was the daughter of a political family, the child of a diplomat, living a privileged life—someone who inhabited a completely different world from his. Kaguya and Maki were the same in that regard, but at least they, like him, were players. That shared identity gave Takumi the right to interact with them on equal footing and cooperate with them. But with Fujiwara Chika, he could not find any point of contact between them at all, so he had no intention of interacting with her.
However, just as some galgame event branches would suddenly force themselves upon the player due to unexpected developments, even if Takumi had no intention of speaking to her, Fujiwara Chika—who had already noticed him—would not simply sit still. Instead, she immediately focused her gaze on him.
Takumi could feel her gaze—not malicious, perhaps just curious?
After all, the commotion he had caused back at Shuchiin had been quite something. Thinking back on it now, a lot of it had indeed been inappropriate, but at the time he simply could not think of anything else; he had just wanted to see Maki and confirm she was safe.
The ramen was soon served.
Takumi said, "I'm digging in," and began eating.
After finishing the bowl and feeling comfortably full, he paid and prepared to leave—only to turn around and see Fujiwara Chika staring solemnly at him.
She had already eaten half her bowl by the time he entered. By all logic, she should have finished and left by now, yet she still sat there—and with that eager expression on her face, it was obvious she had been suffering in anticipation of the gossip she wanted to ask.
"Um, excuse me… are you Shijō's boyfriend?"
It seemed that after observing Takumi's interaction with the shop owner and confirming he wasn't some kind of potential dangerous person, the girl—who had been waiting quite a while—finally mustered up her courage, leaned in slightly, and asked with great curiosity.
She really was big.
Because they were facing each other, Takumi's gaze could not help shifting slightly, but he soon looked away.
"Mm, I'm Maki's boyfriend. My name is Takahashi Takumi."
In response to Chika's question, Takumi answered without any hesitation.
"So straightforward… it really is romance, huh? Then I'll call you Mr. Takumi. As for you, just call me Fujiwara, Mr. Takumi. Um, may I ask if you're a student at some school? Or are you already a working adult? That hug at school a few days ago has already become a hot topic throughout the entire school, you know."
Perhaps because she'd touched on the topic of romance, Fujiwara Chika's eyes clearly lit up, and her voice carried a hint of excitement.
"Let's say I'm sort of a working adult. I'm engaged in work that can't be made public—protecting from beneath the shadows of darkness and bearing the weight of the path forward for all human civilization. Mm, that sentence was a joke. The way Maki and I met is rather unusual. Don't look at me like that; I have no interest in sharing the matters between me and my girlfriend with outsiders."
Not intending to converse too much with this girl who loved romantic gossip, Takumi casually said a couple of lines and then left with a cold expression—while once again inwardly sighing about her curvy figure.
Although he had seen this kind of body shape in adult videos, encountering it in real life truly was a first.
He originally thought nothing of it, but now, by comparison, it felt like both Maki and Kaguya's "combat strength" was rather weak. Ah, of course, he personally wasn't particularly into breasts, so such things didn't matter much.
Compared to the pot, Takumi felt that what was already in his own bowl smelled much better.
"Ah, I see. What a shame…"
Chika let out a sigh behind him. Although she very much wanted to continue prying into the gossip, being at least polite in front of a stranger, the girl did not chase after Takumi to pester him. She simply frowned, considering whether she should try asking Shijō Maki when she went to school tomorrow.
[Beep-beep——]
Her phone received a message at that moment.
Takumi opened it, and it was a message from Maki: [There's no way I'd give you a reservation chance.]
He moved his fingers, quickly typed a message back, and sent it. The two of them began chatting like that.
[Takumi: I ran into a student from your school at the ramen shop. It looks like quite a lot of people are interested in our relationship.]
[Shijō Maki: You still have the nerve to say that? If you hadn't hugged me like that, how could things have blown up this much!]
[Takumi: That couldn't be helped. At that moment, I wanted to see you so badly that not even security, nor entry restrictions, nor the law or social morals could stop me in that state. Please try to understand a little.]
[Shijō Maki: Make sure to stop that "state" of yours properly! Thinking a little about my difficulties would be the real consideration! By the way, it's already this late—why did you go to a ramen shop so late? Did you just finish dinner? Also, was the person you met a boy or a girl?]
[Takumi: A girl. Fujiwara Chika—do you know her?]
[Shijō Maki: A child of the Fujiwara family? I think I remember her. She seems to be in the Game Club… Wait, why did you run into her there? Did you set this up in advance? When did you get to know other students besides me and my Oba-san?]
[Takumi: No, it was just a coincidence. If she hadn't taken the initiative to talk to me and ask about our relationship, I wouldn't even know her name.]
[Shijō Maki: This feels very suspicious. And I haven't acknowledged you as my boyfriend yet!]
They had already held hands, kissed, and hugged—there was only the last step left. How could this possibly not count as being a couple? This girl's personality was really too awkward.
Knowing that Maki was just being stubborn, Takumi smiled, not minding it at all, and was about to send a few teasing lines back.
At this moment, he had just walked out of the ramen shop. Because he was walking while messaging, his pace was slow, and he was still close to the shop entrance. Behind him, Fujiwara Chika, who was still inside, was saying goodbye to the owner. It seemed she had eaten here several times and was already familiar with him.
He faintly sensed a trace of coldness.
Takumi stopped walking.
Maki's message arrived at that moment as well.
[There's clear hostility approaching. Something might have happened on my side. What about your situation over there?]
He had no time to reply—Takumi had already seen the figure emerging from the alley ahead.
And he felt the extremely intense malice emanating from the other party.
"Even though you're new, you refuse to sell entry tickets inside the market. It feels unlikely, but I still came to check. Kid, was the first game you participated in the instance called [Shirakawa Apartments]?"
A woman heavily laden with makeup wore an exceedingly seductive smile, yet she radiated malice like that of a venomous snake that could kill at any moment.
"Eh? Is Mr. Takumi still at the entrance—wah? Ow—!"
Just as she was about to walk out of the shop, Fujiwara Chika spoke in slight confusion, but Takumi pressed her head down without even looking back, shoved her back inside, and sent her crashing to the floor. Ignoring her cry of pain, Takumi reached out and closed the shop door, then picked up an iron shovel placed beside the entrance, slipped it through the hollow door handles to brace the door shut, and only then walked forward a few steps. Standing before that woman, he smiled and spoke: "You guess."
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