n

n

n|Reo's route bad endings would be difficult to prevent from happening, but I actually want the heroine to choose him...|

nZoemi's thought surprised even himself.

nHe should be thinking of his master first, right?

nWell, yes...

n...and he was already ready to sacrifice everything to make the dark-haired girl happy...

n...but that even though he liked Horeo as a friend, there was no guarantee that the blond prince won't turn his back on his current fiancee, and as such, the backup plan had to be set up – just like he wanted to do with Grazio when he was younger.

nAlthough that failure pushed him away from the idea for a while, now after witnessing that the heroine was indeed there, it became a necessity.

nAnd with that in mind, the black-haired boy didn't feel particularly guilty about playing favorites.

nBecause - you see - when the scarred attendant's world was still just a game named Kampf um die Liebe, and the human named Kuro Aku, that would become Zoemi, played it - he had a ranking of characters that he liked.

nOf course, Miriette was at the top, while the heroine was scraping the bottom in search for the new low together a better half of the capture targets who threw the villainess under the bus.

nAnd yet, there was a single male character that Kuro Aku genuinely liked.

nReo Serentii Moyena, the wind attribute wielding prankster.

nThe reen-haired youth was the fourth son of the kingdom's treasurer that developed the twisted personality because as the youngest child of the mother who died after giving birth to him, he never got any kind of attention from his father who seemed to be blaming him for the untimely death of his wife.

nTo make things worse for Reo, any chance for the fatherly love was always stolen from him by his smarter and more powerful siblings - so young Reo started causing trouble just so his father wouldn't forget about his existence.

nThe green-haired boy preferred being shouted over being treated as still air – so he became a destructive gale to remain seen.

nIf only someone would just properly look at Reo, they would see a very lonely person who just wanted someone to love him.

nWell...

nTo be absolutely honest, the deciding factor of Kuro Aku's favorable opinion of the green-haired capture target was that Reo admired Miriette, and Miriette's bad endings in his route weren't caused by the prankster boy... but it was still a feeling that remained in the heart and mind of the Zoemi as he was today.

n---

nA couple of minutes passed, the heroine seemed to be anxious and Zoemi caught her glancing with worry at the pot in which the wind bomb was set up, which caused the black-haired attendant to start suspecting that she somehow has caught the wind of the prank and he started to worry whether the event will paly out correctly, while Xeonith was just about to get his lunch...

n*WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH*

n*SPLASH*

n

"WH- WHAT THE...?!

"

n

"KYAAAAAH!

"

n...when the timed spell finally activated and a metal pot was launched spinning towards the ceiling while splashing the content everywhere around, causing the shocked students to start running away while screaming in shock.

n*CLANG*

nBefore the pot fell down on the ground with a loud noise – but away from anyone so it did not cause any harm with its weight - the sticky grayish oatmeal had been splashed on one-fourth of the cafeteria.

n

"...pfft... pfff...! Pffft...!

"

nZoemi started chewing on the inside of his cheek just to stop himself from bursting into laughter, but even so, he could barely hold back.

n

"...ugh...! Khe...! Khe...!

"

nEven though at the beginning it looked like the heroine was going to sit in the back, she ended up taking a spot relatively close to the pot - which resulted in her getting gooped all over her face and was coughing while wiping the oatmeal off...

n...and the brown-haired Xeonith ended up in a much worse state than she...

n

"PFFFHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"

nZoemi managed to hold himself back - but Reo was laughing his socks off.

nThe green-haired second-year was holding his stomach and even had tears of laughter shining in his eyes...

n

"...!

"

nIn a short, Reo was way too obvious...

n

"...you...!

"

nXeonith heard the laugh and pinpointed the location of the one making the noise.

nWhen he saw the green-haired youth, he squinted his eyes and his arms shook when he clenched his fists as the thick oatmeal was slowly dripping down his hair and clothes.

n

"Moyena!

"

n*RUMBLE*

n

"!!!!

"

nThe brown-haired youth shouted and stomped his foot and made the whole building tremble from the impact - making everyone in the cafeteria go silent...

n...except for Reo, of course...

n

"Aw, what's the long face for, Xeoni? Did the baby make a mess while trying to eat? Do you need a napkin?

"

nReo asked a very rude question in a completely innocent voice and offered Xeonith his handkerchief.

n

"I've had enough of you when we were freshmen, I'm not going to deal with your ** from now on. This ends now! Since words can't seem to pierce through that thick skull of yours, I let the pain be your teacher, fool! Rock barrage, ready!

"

n

"!!!

"

n

"Wh-wha...?! They're going to fight?! Here?!

"

n

"RUN!

"

n

"Idiot, move!

"

nXeonith gritted his teeth and pointed his left-hand palm-first towards Reo and more than a few people screamed in fear when the stone tiles of the floor underneath their feet broke down and what remained of them flew towards Xeonith to form a wall of tens of fist-sized orbs between him and the green-haired prankster.

n

"Whoa, there...! Xeoni, aren't you being too hasty in pointing out whose guilty?! Why are you so sure it was even my fault!?

"

nSeeing the attack that he wouldn't ever be able to defend against considering the difference in the amount of mana, Reo stopped smiling and backed off, trying to hide behind his chair.

n

"You will not deploy that spell with so many innocent people around, that would be far too reckless, right? You're trying to scare me, right...?

"

nThe green-haired capture target gulped down his saliva nervously while his face became pale as a ghost's.

n

"Ha!

"

nSeeing that brown-haired second year smirked coldly.

n

"What people? You're alone, like always.

"

n

"!!!!

"

nXeonith snorted while Reo flinched and looked around.

nWhat the brown-haired capture target said was true - everyone around Reo evacuated to either side of the cafeteria and he was the only one standing in the way of the volley of rock projectiles ready to be fired...

n

"It's time for you to learn manners the hard way.

"

nXeonith scoffed, squinting his eyes coldly.

n|Now's the time! Who will she choose?|

nZoemi shook with anticipation - looking at the picture on the screen and watching the event unfold before him in real life were two completely different things.

nAfter all, in his current situation, the outcome would determine the hardships that he would have to protect his master from!

n|Now even the trashy heroine will be able to be useful!|

nZoemi thought to himself, peeking from behind the doorway.

nNo matter who the girl chooses - she'll stand up bravely between two sophomores and...!

n

"You poor thing, how could this happen to you... Please, let me assist you to your room.

"

n

"N-no...! My prince, thank you for your care but, please wait...! I need to...

"

nSecond prince Surou protectively but prudently grasped the heroine's hand and was leading her out of the cafeteria even though the blond heroine was fidgeting in unease, looking back at the two capture targets.

n

"No, no. Let those two settle their difference on their own... you see... it's far too dangerous to mess with sir Xeonith...

"

nThe blue-haired capture target leaned a little bit closer to the heroine and revealed in a hushed tone...

n...if the two of them weren't passing by the scarred attendant at that moment, the black-haired boy would not have heard it...

n|...huh...?|

nZoemi opened his mouth in shock. What was going on? That's not how this even was supposed to play out!

nThe second prince shouldn't even be in the cafeteria at that time!

n