Chapter 10
Lunch had become a dangerous time of day in Class D.
It used to be simple. Students packed their things, argued about cafeteria seats, complained about prices, and escaped before Chabashira could remember another announcement.
Now, lunch had a visitor.
A very cheerful visitor from Class B who kept arriving at the door with suspicious timing, suspicious innocence, and absolutely suspicious handholding habits.
So when the bell rang, half of Class D looked toward the door before Honami even appeared.
Kiyotaka remained at his seat, scrolling through his phone with the relaxed expression of someone who knew he was about to become everyone's entertainment and had already accepted it.
Ike leaned toward Yamauchi near the front.
"She's coming."
"You sound like you're warning us about a typhoon."
"It is a typhoon. A cute one."
Hirata smiled awkwardly. "Maybe let's not talk about Ichinose-san like weather."
Maya glanced back from Kei's side with a grin. "Too late. Class D already has Honami Lunch Watch."
Kei crossed her arms. "That's stupid."
Chiaki looked at her. "You looked at the door first."
"I didn't."
"You did."
"I was checking the hallway."
"For what?"
Kei clicked her tongue and looked away.
The door slid open.
Honami stood there, smiling brightly, her bag in one hand and her friends trailing behind her with the resigned expressions of people who had accepted that their class leader had become a walking rumor generator.
Mako was already watching closely, ready to collect evidence.
Chihiro looked like she wanted to be supportive but also wanted to hide behind someone taller.
Yume and Kozue were whispering softly, while Sayo looked worried and Yuki looked like she had already judged the entire situation and found everyone guilty.
Honami's eyes immediately found Kiyotaka.
"Kiyotaka-kun."
The classroom absorbed the first-name call like fuel thrown onto dry gossip.
Kiyotaka looked up.
"Honami."
Mako placed a hand over her chest. "There it is again. The name exchange. Smooth. Suspicious. Repeated."
Honami ignored her with a smile that had become far too skilled at denying reality.
She took one step forward.
Then Kikyo moved.
She stepped directly into Honami's path with a smile so sweet it could have been served as dessert and so sharp it could have cut through the plate.
"Kiyotaka-kun already has lunch plans."
The room changed instantly.
It was not loud. It did not need to be.
Honami stopped in front of her, smile still bright, but the warmth in her eyes dimmed into something darker.
"With you?"
Kikyo tilted her head.
"Is that strange? We're classmates."
Honami's smile became prettier.
That was how everyone knew it was getting worse.
"I didn't say it was strange."
"You looked like you thought it was."
"I was only surprised."
"That's cute. You get surprised easily."
Mako's eyes widened. "Oh, she started."
Chihiro whispered, "Please don't start."
Kokoro, standing behind Kikyo, immediately stiffened. Nene and Kayano exchanged a look, and Mei-Yu quietly moved closer as if emotional support could physically prevent murder by smiling.
Kiyotaka watched from his seat.
His expression did not change much, but the corner of his mouth curved with quiet amusement.
'This became troublesome faster than expected.'
Kikyo turned slightly toward him, and her smile softened into something angelic for the room. Her eyes, however, were not angelic at all.
"Kiyotaka-kun, you don't mind eating with me today, right?"
Honami's smile twitched.
Mako whispered, "She asked him in front of Honami. That's illegal."
Yume whispered back, "Is there a rule?"
"There is now."
Kiyotaka stood slowly.
The movement alone made several people stop pretending they were not watching.
Before he could answer, Honami reached out and took his right hand.
The classroom made a collective sound that tried very hard to be silence.
Kikyo looked at their hands.
Her smile sharpened.
"How bold, Honami-san."
Honami's fingers interlocked with Kiyotaka's like she had practiced the motion, which unfortunately for everyone involved, she had.
"Kiyotaka-kun's hand needs monitoring."
Kikyo's eyes narrowed.
"That's the healed hand."
Honami smiled.
"Prevention is important."
Mako covered her face with one hand. "She said it again. She really said it again."
Kikyo stepped closer and took Kiyotaka's left hand.
This time, Class D failed to stay quiet.
Ike nearly fell out of his chair. Yamauchi looked like he had witnessed a myth. Sotomura adjusted his glasses with trembling academic responsibility.
Hirata glanced between the three of them and said carefully, "Maybe we should all calm down before lunch turns into a special exam."
Kikyo's smile stayed sweet as her fingers curled around Kiyotaka's hand.
"Then I'll help with the other one. Balance matters, right?"
Honami slowly looked at her.
"That was my excuse."
"I know. It was useful."
Kiyotaka glanced at Kikyo.
"You're borrowing Honami's logic?"
Kikyo looked up at him with venom hidden behind charm.
"I'm improving it."
Honami's smile became darker.
"You mean copying it."
"Only good things are worth copying."
Mako slowly turned to Chihiro. "Should we intervene?"
Chihiro looked at the two girls smiling at each other like knives in ribbons.
"Yes."
Mako nodded, then stayed exactly where she was.
Chihiro stared at her.
"Mako."
"I'm emotionally intervening."
"That means nothing."
"It means I'm scared."
Kokoro stepped forward with a nervous laugh. "Kikyo-chan, maybe we should go to the cafeteria first?"
Nene nodded quickly. "Yes, food is good. Food reduces... whatever this is."
Kikyo did not look away from Honami.
"I agree. Kiyotaka-kun must be hungry."
Honami's grip tightened slightly.
"He was going to eat with us."
"With you?" Kikyo asked sweetly. "Again?"
Honami's eyes curved.
"Yes."
Kikyo's smile brightened.
"How persistent."
Honami leaned closer by the smallest amount.
"How observant."
The room held its breath.
Kiyotaka finally spoke.
"If both of you keep standing here, none of us will eat."
Kikyo turned her smile toward him instantly.
"Then let's go."
Honami did the same.
"Together."
Kiyotaka looked down at both of his hands, currently claimed by two girls who were very obviously pretending this was normal.
"You're both still holding me."
Kikyo smiled. "You didn't pull away."
Honami nodded. "That means permission."
Kiyotaka's smile deepened.
"That's a dangerous interpretation."
Kikyo and Honami answered at the same time.
"We know."
For a moment, they looked at each other again.
Mako clutched Chihiro's arm.
"They synchronized."
Chihiro looked pale. "That made it worse."
The walk to the cafeteria became a public event.
Kiyotaka walked in the middle, Honami holding his right hand and Kikyo holding his left, while their friends followed behind like a nervous parade escorting a diplomatic disaster.
Students in the hallway stopped talking.
Then started whispering.
"Is that Honami and Kushida?"
"They're both holding Ayanokōji's hands."
"Is this a punishment?"
"No, he looks too calm."
"Why does he always look calm during things that would kill normal people?"
A passing student from Class C muttered, "That guy has anime protagonist lawsuit energy."
Kikyo's smile remained perfect.
Honami's smile remained gentle.
Both looked one insult away from causing property damage.
Kiyotaka glanced sideways at Kikyo.
"You're quiet."
"I'm enjoying the walk."
Honami's voice slipped in smoothly.
"She means she's enjoying the attention."
Kikyo laughed softly.
"That sounds more like you lately. You're the one walking into Class D every lunch like a bride collecting her groom."
Honami's smile did not falter, but Mako made a strangled noise behind them.
Kiyotaka looked at Honami.
"A bride?"
Honami's cheeks turned pink.
"Kikyo-san is exaggerating."
Kikyo's eyes curved.
"Am I?"
Honami looked straight ahead.
"Yes."
Kikyo tilted her head.
"Then you wouldn't mind letting go."
Honami's fingers tightened.
"I'm being responsible."
Kikyo looked down at her own hand holding Kiyotaka's.
"So am I."
Kiyotaka looked between them.
"Responsible people usually don't use me as evidence."
Honami's voice turned soft.
"You don't seem bothered."
Kikyo added, "He likes being popular."
Kiyotaka looked at her.
"Do I?"
Kikyo's smile became venomous for half a second.
"You like watching reactions."
Honami glanced at him.
"She's right."
Kiyotaka smiled.
"Maybe."
The single answer made both girls look at him, and for once, their rivalry paused because both realized he was enjoying this far more than he should.
Mako whispered, "He's worse than both of them."
Kokoro whispered back, "But somehow he's the calmest."
Kayano looked exhausted. "That's what scares me."
The cafeteria reacted exactly as expected.
Badly.
The moment Kiyotaka entered with Honami and Kikyo holding his hands, several conversations crashed into silence. Phones appeared with the speed of emergency weapons. A spoon clattered somewhere. Someone whispered "again?" and someone else whispered "new challenger?" with far too much excitement.
Kiyotaka chose a table near the side.
Honami sat on his right.
Kikyo sat on his left.
Neither released him.
The friends formed around them, half sitting, half hovering, all fully aware that this lunch could become a campus-wide incident by the time the first drink arrived.
Mako pointed at their hands under the table.
"I'm begging everyone here to explain the seating arrangement."
Honami smiled calmly.
"We're eating."
Kikyo nodded. "Normally."
Chihiro looked at the hands.
"Normal people use their hands to eat."
Kiyotaka lifted his gaze toward her.
"Good point."
He tried to move his hands.
Both girls tightened their hold.
The table went silent.
Kiyotaka looked at Honami.
She smiled.
He looked at Kikyo.
She smiled too.
Mako leaned back slowly. "He is trapped."
Kokoro covered her mouth. "Kikyo-chan..."
Kikyo's voice was sweet. "What? I'm just helping him feel welcomed."
Honami looked at her.
"You're from his class. He's already welcomed."
Kikyo's smile sharpened.
"And you're from Class B. Yet here you are."
Honami's eyes darkened slightly.
"Yes. Here I am."
The air between them tightened.
Kiyotaka, still sitting between them, calmly looked at his tray.
"I'll need at least one hand if I'm going to eat."
Honami immediately picked up his spoon.
Kikyo picked up his chopsticks.
They froze.
Then slowly looked at each other.
Mako covered her face.
"This is not lunch anymore. This is a custody battle."
Kiyotaka's expression turned faintly amused.
"Which one of you is feeding me, then?"
Honami turned pink.
Kikyo's smile faltered for a second, then returned with dangerous sweetness.
"I can."
Honami's hand moved first, scooping food with his spoon.
"Kiyotaka-kun has been eating desserts lately. He should eat something proper first."
Kikyo raised the chopsticks.
"Too sweet of you. I'll help with the rest."
Honami smiled.
"How considerate."
Kikyo smiled back.
"How possessive."
Honami's eyes narrowed just a little.
"You noticed?"
Kikyo's lips curved.
"Everyone did."
Mako whispered, "She admitted it."
Yume whispered back, "Which one?"
"Yes."
Kiyotaka accepted the bite Honami offered, then glanced at Kikyo's chopsticks waiting near his face.
"You're both serious."
Kikyo leaned slightly closer.
"You asked who was feeding you."
"I expected discussion."
Honami looked at him, cheeks still pink but voice steady.
"You should be more careful with your questions."
Kikyo's smile turned wicked.
"Especially around girls."
Kiyotaka looked at both of them, then smiled in a way that made several nearby observers lose their train of thought.
"I'll remember that."
The two girls briefly went quiet.
Mako slapped the table softly. "He countered both of them."
Chihiro looked impressed despite herself.
Kokoro whispered, "How is he surviving?"
Mei-Yu answered softly, "Maybe they're the ones not surviving."
The insults began again once lunch settled into an unstable rhythm.
Kikyo, still holding Kiyotaka's left hand beneath the table, smiled at Honami like she was offering tea laced with lemon and poison.
"You're very energetic lately, Honami-san. It's impressive how quickly you recovered from Hiro-kun."
Honami's smile stayed gentle.
"It's impressive how long you stayed loyal to someone who only liked your fake smile."
Kikyo's fingers tightened around Kiyotaka's.
The table went rigid.
Mako's mouth opened.
Chihiro whispered, "Honami-chan..."
Kikyo's smile became brighter.
"At least my fake smile was admired. Yours got used like a class bank account."
Kiyotaka's gaze shifted slightly.
Honami did not flinch.
Instead, her smile became darker, calmer, and far more frightening.
"That's why I stopped paying attention to boys who only withdraw."
Kikyo's eyes sharpened.
"And started holding onto one who breaks furniture?"
Honami glanced at Kiyotaka's hand.
"Yes."
Kikyo looked at their joined hands on the other side.
"Then we agree he needs supervision."
Honami turned back to her.
"We don't agree on who should do it."
Kikyo tilted her head.
"We could share."
The table froze harder than before.
Honami's smile went still.
Kikyo's smile did too.
Kiyotaka looked between them.
"That didn't sound like peace."
Mako muttered, "That sounded like a threat wearing perfume."
Yume nodded seriously. "A very expensive threat."
Kikyo laughed, light and angelic enough that nearby students almost believed it.
"Don't misunderstand. I simply think Kiyotaka-kun attracts trouble."
Honami looked at her.
"You mean you."
Kikyo's eyes curved.
"Maybe. He seems to like troublesome people."
Kiyotaka's smile tilted.
"Do I?"
Both girls looked at him.
Honami's expression softened.
"You do."
Kikyo's smile became more venomous.
"You definitely do."
Kiyotaka considered this with dangerous calm.
"Then I must have strange taste."
Honami and Kikyo both blushed.
Mako stared at him.
"You can't just insult them and flirt at the same time."
Kiyotaka glanced at her.
"I was answering honestly."
Chihiro whispered, "That makes it worse."
Kokoro nodded. "Much worse."
At some point, the cafeteria blog updated.
Nobody knew who posted it, but everyone knew what it said because Mako read it out loud with the misery of someone watching a disaster become public record.
Mako lowered the phone.
"Hostile romantic."
Honami frowned. "That sounds inaccurate."
Kikyo smiled. "I think it's dramatic."
Kiyotaka looked at the dessert menu.
"It sounds like a café theme."
Chihiro almost laughed.
Mako pointed at him. "Don't make this marketable."
Kikyo leaned closer to Kiyotaka.
"What would you order from a hostile romantic café?"
Honami answered before he could.
"Something bitter."
Kikyo looked at her.
"For you, maybe."
Honami smiled sweetly.
"You seem more like something overly sweet with a strange aftertaste."
Kikyo's angel smile sharpened.
"And you're warm milk with a knife in it."
Honami blinked.
Then smiled.
"That was almost a compliment."
Kikyo looked faintly annoyed.
"It wasn't."
"I'll accept it anyway."
Kiyotaka's smile widened.
Kikyo noticed.
"You taught her that."
Honami looked pleased.
"He teaches useful things."
Kikyo's gaze flicked toward him.
"Does he?"
Kiyotaka leaned back slightly, both hands still captured.
"Apparently."
Mako groaned. "This is impossible. They're insulting each other and somehow making it sound like flirting with collateral damage."
Yume laughed. "Collateral damage is us."
Sayo nodded gently. "We chose to sit here."
Yuki looked at her. "Did we?"
Chihiro looked at Honami and Kikyo's hands, then at Kiyotaka's calm face.
"Kiyotaka-kun, are you really okay?"
He looked at her.
"Yes."
"You don't seem troubled."
"I'm eating."
"You're being handcuffed by friendship."
Honami and Kikyo both turned to Chihiro.
She immediately hid behind her drink.
Mako placed a proud hand on Chihiro's shoulder. "She's growing."
Kiyotaka gave Chihiro a faint smile.
"Accurate."
Chihiro turned red.
Honami's eyes narrowed slightly.
Kikyo noticed and smiled wider.
"Oh? Jealous?"
Honami looked at her.
"Of Chihiro?"
Kikyo's smile became innocent.
"I didn't say that."
"You implied it."
"Did I?"
Kiyotaka looked at Kikyo.
"You did."
Kikyo blinked, betrayed.
Then Honami's smile became radiant.
"Thank you, Kiyotaka-kun."
Kikyo tightened her grip.
"Traitor."
Kiyotaka glanced at her.
"You're the one who asked indirectly."
"I didn't ask you."
"You brought me into it."
Kikyo looked away, cheeks faintly pink.
"I hate how reasonable you sound."
Honami leaned slightly closer to him.
"He is reasonable."
Kikyo's eyes returned to her.
"With you, maybe."
The table quieted.
The comment landed somewhere softer than the insults before it.
Honami looked at Kikyo for a moment.
Then at Kiyotaka.
Her smile turned less sharp.
"Maybe."
Kikyo looked like she regretted saying anything remotely honest.
Kiyotaka noticed.
His voice dropped slightly.
"You're both troublesome."
Honami smiled.
Kikyo smiled too.
This time, neither insulted him.
Mako watched them and sighed.
"I hate to say this, but somehow that calmed them down."
Kokoro looked relieved. "Good."
Nene nodded. "Let's keep it calm."
Kikyo immediately said, "Honami-san still eats too slowly."
Honami replied, "Kikyo-san talks too much for someone who wanted lunch."
Kokoro closed her eyes in defeat.
Mako picked up her spoon. "Never mind. The war has resumed."
By the end of lunch, Kiyotaka had managed to eat half his meal while being fed by both sides like a prisoner of affection with elite treatment.
Honami still held his right hand.
Kikyo still held his left.
Neither admitted anything.
Both smiled whenever someone pointed it out.
The cafeteria had given up pretending not to watch.
Kiyotaka finally looked between them.
"Are you planning to release me before the next class?"
Honami glanced at the clock.
"We have a few minutes."
Kikyo nodded.
"Enough time."
"For what?"
Neither answered.
Mako leaned toward Chihiro and whispered, "He asked a dangerous question again."
Chihiro whispered back, "He never learns."
Kiyotaka's smile curved.
"I heard that."
Chihiro froze.
Mako patted her shoulder. "You're fine. Probably."
Honami looked at Kikyo one last time.
"This doesn't mean I'm giving up lunch with him."
Kikyo smiled.
"I didn't ask you to."
"Good."
"I'll just be there too."
Honami's smile sharpened.
"Then I'll arrive earlier."
Kikyo's eyes glittered.
"Then I won't wait for lunch."
Mako slowly set her spoon down.
"Oh, this is going to become a schedule war."
Kiyotaka looked mildly interested.
"A schedule war?"
Honami and Kikyo both turned toward him.
Their smiles matched for one terrifying second.
"You don't need to worry," Honami said sweetly.
"We'll handle it," Kikyo added.
Kiyotaka looked down at his captured hands.
"I feel involved."
Honami squeezed lightly.
"You are."
Kikyo squeezed the other.
"Very."
Kiyotaka's expression remained calm, but amusement warmed the edges of his smile.
The two girls looked at each other again, dark auras brushing together beneath bright cafeteria lights, their smiles polished enough to fool strangers and sharp enough to worry their friends.
Around them, the gossip continued to grow.
Class B had lost a prince.
Class D had gained a storm.
And Kiyotaka, sitting between an angel who had found her darkness and a devil wearing an angel mask, looked far too entertained for someone at the center of the chaos.
Mako watched the three of them and shook her head.
"This is not friendship."
Honami and Kikyo answered together, still holding Kiyotaka's hands.
"It is."
The table erupted into laughter, groans, and exhausted disbelief.
Kiyotaka simply smiled.
For once, lunch at ANHS almost felt normal.
Almost.