Shiki had extremely low standards when it came to his quality of life.
He never cared about flashy styles or following trends.
As long as something was usable, it was fine by him.
At the same time, he was a guy who had absolutely zero connection to fashion.
His clothes were always simple and plain, and his hair was totally average, falling right above his eyebrows.
Aside from having a handsome face, giving him a single glance would just leave you with the impression that he was a very boring guy.
Of course, this lifestyle didn’t just come from his poor financial situation.
It mostly came from his incredibly easygoing personality.
Because of this, he shopped incredibly fast.
He basically just walked to the aisle with the things he needed, compared the prices, picked the absolute cheapest one, and threw it into his shopping basket.
In just about five minutes, he had already gathered all of his daily necessities.
While he was busy picking out shampoo, he suddenly heard a familiar clicking sound, followed immediately by a soft, delicate voice.
“Ara, it’s been quite a while, Shiki-kun.”
Shiki didn’t even turn his head.
His eyes just kept bouncing back and forth between the price tags on the shampoo bottles.
“When interacting with people normally, please use their last name, Sakayanagi-san.”
He didn’t even need to look.
Just by hearing the tone and voice, he instantly knew it was Sakayanagi Arisu.
Her way of speaking and her delicate voice were so unique that they were practically impossible to forget.
Also, didn’t she realize that calling him “Shiki-kun” was incredibly weird?
Normally, people would use “Tsugikuni-kun” or just “Shiki.” Who mixes a formal honorific with such a casual first name basis?
“Alright then, Shiki-kun.
No problem, Shiki-kun.” Sakayanagi giggled softly behind her hand, acting exactly like a little devil playing with people’s minds.
(TL:Cute~)
(You completely ignored what I just said!)
Shiki tossed his chosen shampoo into the basket, turned around, and looked at her helplessly.
“Do you need something, Sakayanagi-san who completely ignores human speech?”
“Oh my, so cold.
Even though we were getting along so perfectly well this morning,” she said, her silver hair catching the soft glow of the fluorescent lights.
“I think you seriously misunderstand the definition of ‘getting along perfectly well’.
Or have you just never had a single friend in your entire life?” he shot back without holding back.
“What a harsh accusation.
If I said that Shiki-kun was my very first friend, would that make you extremely happy?” She blinked her moist, pretty eyes at him.
(TL:Cute…)
Shiki’s mouth twitched.
He realized his initial impression of Sakayanagi had been slightly off.
She wasn’t an elf out of a fantasy book; she was a succubus.
The former is beautiful and pure, while the latter just drags people down to hell.
“Happy.
So happy!
My heart is so happy I’m about to go into cardiac arrest.”
Shiki thought it was pretty funny how tied he was to silver hair today.
He had run into two girls with the same hair color on his very first day.
“Where is the servant you were supposed to find?
Seems like things aren’t going smoothly for you.
Who would’ve thought the great Sakayanagi-sama would face such a setback and have to come buy things at the supermarket all alone.”
Girls everywhere seemed to love traveling in packs.
Even going to the bathroom required a whole group.
Shiki honestly could never understand it.
Did girls really need friends standing guard while they peed?
“A total loner like Shiki-kun shouldn’t say such mean things, you know.”
Hearing the teasing in his voice, Sakayanagi didn’t even flinch.
She calmly picked out the shampoo and conditioner she wanted and reached up to grab them.
She stood slightly on her tiptoes, but they were just out of reach.
“Pfft!” Someone couldn’t hold back their laughter.
Sakayanagi calmly turned her head and looked at Shiki, whose face remained perfectly blank.
“Standing back and watching a lady struggle is not something a gentleman would do…”
“I’m amazed you can say that with a totally straight face.
If you want someone’s help, just ask properly.
Don’t beat around the bush.
Besides, I was never a gentleman to begin with, and you’re definitely not a lady!” Shiki effortlessly reached up, grabbed the bottles that were far beyond her reach, and handed them to her with a completely casual look.
Standing over her, he perfectly displayed the arrogance of looking down on someone from above.
“You should say thank you, Sakayanagi-san.”
“…Thank you.”
Sakayanagi took the bottles quietly, suddenly not wanting to talk anymore.
She hated her weak body more than ever.
Being naturally sick was bad enough, but her height was just insulting.
“Speaking of which, Sakayanagi~”, Shiki said, seemingly totally lacking any ability to read the room, “do you think there is a single girl in this entire school smaller than you?”
That is enough!
Sakayanagi’s eyebrow twitched violently.
Smiling without a trace of actual happiness, she stared daggers at him.
“You can just speak plainly, Tsugikuni Shiki-kun.
Are you trying to call me short?”
(Whoa, full name drop.
Looks like Sakayanagi is actually pissed!)
“I didn’t!
I never!
Pure slander!”
Shiki fired off three rapid denials.
“Seeing a lady fall into an embarrassing situation and openly mocking her flaws is not something a gentleman would do.”
“You are not a gentleman, just as you said yourself”, Sakayanagi parroted his earlier excuse perfectly.
“Exactly.
Therefore, you are not a lady.
You’re a little girl.” Shiki nodded in agreement.
(TL:Bro is just rage baiting~)
Sakayanagi: “…”
She was starting to regret coming over to talk to him.
If they kept talking like this, she felt like she might actually have a heart attack.
The two of them were almost done with their shopping anyway.
Since Sakayanagi had a hard time getting around—having to use her cane while carrying a heavy shopping basket—Shiki reluctantly decided to help her out for the rest of the trip since he had nothing better to do.
He definitely wasn’t a good person, but he didn’t mind lending a hand when it was easy.
As long as it didn’t hurt his own interests and the effort matched the reward, he was more than happy to go with the flow.
As they were wrapping up, Sakayanagi finally got a chance to peek into Shiki’s shopping basket.
She blinked in surprise.
“Shiki-kun”, she said, “why are you buying such cheap, low quality items?
Even if you want to save money, you don’t need to go this far, do you?”
Shiki replied honestly, “I don’t have high standards for daily necessities.
Unlike you girls who carefully pick out the most expensive stuff, who knows how many points we’ll actually get next month?
Until I secure a stable source of income, playing it safe is the only right move.
I don’t want to hit game over before I even start.”
“Eh?
Aren’t we guaranteed to get 100,000 points next month?
Why would you say that?”
Shiki gave the ‘surprised’ Sakayanagi a deadpan look.
“This is getting boring.
Is playing dumb in front of me really that fun?
If you want to lie to me without getting caught, you really need to polish your acting skills, Sakayanagi.”
“Want me to recommend an absolute master?
She is a genuine, two-faced pro.
When it comes to acting, you’re not even in the same league as her.”
Facing his cold sarcasm, Sakayanagi didn’t get angry or embarrassed.
Instead, a deeply interested smile spread across her face.
“I didn’t expect Class D to have so many interesting students.
It seems things won’t be boring from now on.”
Seeing the excited, eager look in her eyes, Shiki’s mouth twitched.
(Interesting?
If you mean ‘absolute weirdos just like you’, then yeah, Class D is completely crawling with them.)
“So, what has Shiki-kun figured out about this school’s true nature?” Sakayanagi asked, highly amused.
“Not much.
And I can’t just give out the details for free.
If you want to know, you have to pay extra.” Shiki narrowed his eyes, rubbing his thumb and index finger together like a greedy merchant.
“Ara, aren’t we best friends?” Sakayanagi pretended to look deeply hurt.
Seeing his business deal instantly fall apart, Shiki said coldly, “Fine, I’ll give you the ‘best friend’ discount.
One percent off.
How about that?”
Sakayanagi was speechless.
“I never imagined Shiki-kun’s friendship was only worth a one percent discount…”
“Still better than you literally selling people out!” Shiki didn’t hold back.
This trashy loli had a lot of nerve judging him, considering her own absolutely terrible personality.
As they started heading to the checkout counter, Sakayanagi spoke up again.
“By the way, when I was walking around earlier, I saw a section in the corner offering free daily necessities.
You…”
Before she even finished her sentence, Shiki bolted off like a rocket toward the corner she pointed at, leaving Sakayanagi standing alone in the wind.
Over at the free items section, Shiki stared at the sign above the shelf, muttering, “Limited to three free items per month, huh…”
Sakayanagi slowly walked over, a look of helplessness on her delicate little face.
“Does Shiki-kun really need to be this stingy?”
“Someone born with a silver spoon like you could never understand the struggles of a workhorse like me.
Every single penny has to be perfectly calculated just to survive.” Shiki didn’t even look at her.
He pulled the three most expensive items out of his basket and swapped them for the free versions, putting the ones he originally chose back on the shelves.
Sakayanagi didn’t say anything more.
She wasn’t an idiot, she understood how the world worked.
It was just that she had never needed to worry about things like this herself.
Since he had already explained it so bluntly, she wasn’t going to tactlessly ask why he didn’t just ask his parents for money.
Some things are better left unspoken.
There was no need to dig into his past.
After putting the items back, Shiki looked at his basket with complete satisfaction.
When he turned around, he found Sakayanagi waiting obediently right where he left her.
The tiny girl looked incredibly cute in her uniform.
Her perfectly delicate face completely blurred the line between reality and fantasy, making her look exactly like an expensive doll.
“I didn’t expect you to wait for me.”
“Of course I would.
I really want to walk back to the dorms with Shiki-kun.”
“You just wanted a free servant to carry your stuff.
Stop making it sound so romantic.” Shiki picked up her shopping basket from the floor.
“Hehe.” Sakayanagi covered her mouth and giggled in delight.
(TL:Cute…)
Honestly, the supermarket was incredibly large, and the variety of items was massive.
They basically had everything you could ever need.
However, as they were walking past one of the aisles, Shiki and Sakayanagi completely stopped at the exact same time.
They both stared straight ahead.
“Is she…
trying to steal something?” Shiki’s eye twitched violently.
Right in front of them, a girl with purple hair tied in a half ponytail was acting incredibly suspicious.
She was nervously looking around, her face a mix of deep guilt and wild excitement.
Just as she was about to look in their direction, Shiki and Sakayanagi perfectly synced up, hiding behind the shelf to avoid being seen.
“An undeniable truth.
Judging by her face, she seems to be a student in my class.
I believe her name is…
Kamuro Masumi.” Sakayanagi poked her small head out, easily identifying the thief.
“She’s in your class?!” Shiki leaned back in shock.
He thought his own class was already completely packed with top tier weirdos, but he didn’t expect Class A to have a master like this!
(Whose subordinate is this!)
This tiny Advanced Nurturing High School actually contained the Sleeping Dragon of Class A and the Fledgling Phoenix of Class D!
It truly was the will of the heavens!
It was important to note that the school had literally just handed everyone 100,000 points today.
If you lived normally and saved a little, that was easily enough money to survive for three whole months.
There was absolutely no way Kamuro Masumi had spent it all already.
Adding in the fact that her face was a mix of guilt and sheer thrill, Shiki instantly realized the truth.
This girl wasn’t stealing because she was broke—she was stealing for the adrenaline rush.
Either that, or she was an actual kleptomaniac.
Shiki could only marvel at the school’s incredible selection process.
Gathering this many unhinged weirdos in one place was not an easy task.
He genuinely started to wonder if the school was secretly running some kind of sick psychological experiment to breed the ultimate weirdo.
Shiki shook his head and sighed.
He had no intention of getting involved with this Kamuro Masumi.
After all, it had nothing to do with him.
Plus, since she was purely doing it for the thrill, jumping out to stop her would just be acting like a busybody sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
Furthermore, stepping in was way too risky.
He had no idea what her personality was like.
Having only known of her existence for about sixty seconds, he couldn’t predict how she would react.
If she got angry out of embarrassment and decided to falsely accuse him of harassment to cover her tracks, it would be almost impossible for him to prove his innocence.
The law doesn’t exist to guarantee absolute fairness; it exists to protect the weak.
And society almost always assumes women are the weaker party.
“There’s nothing to see here, let’s just go…
What the hell are you doing?!” Shiki snapped as he watched Sakayanagi pull out her phone, switch to the camera, and aim it directly at Kamuro.
“Securing the evidence, of course,” Sakayanagi smiled a truly demonic smile, but her words sounded perfectly righteous.
“Shiki-kun, I know you prefer to calculate the risks and rewards before acting.
However, as an excellent student with perfect grades, focusing solely on academics is not enough.
We must also cultivate strong moral character.
Right now, a fellow student is committing a crime.
How can we possibly turn a blind eye?
We must record the evidence, confront her directly, and correct her terrible behavior!”
Shiki: “…”
Watching her lecture him with a completely serious face, looking just like a strict mother scolding a disobedient child, Shiki actually felt like he was losing his mind.
(I don’t believe a single word you just said!
You just want to use this to enslave her!
You absolute sadist!)
Whether it was because Kamuro’s situational awareness was garbage, or because Shiki and Sakayanagi were stealth masters, they completely avoided getting caught.
Watching the clear footage on her screen, Sakayanagi nodded in total satisfaction.
She then followed a deeply mentally exhausted Shiki to the checkout counter to pay.
After leaving the supermarket, Shiki carried two large bags—the biggest one belonging to Sakayanagi.
The two of them began walking straight back to the dormitories.
However, on the way back, they unexpectedly spotted a familiar purple figure ahead of them.
Sakayanagi’s eyes instantly lit up.
Shiki silently prayed for the poor girl, knowing that her high school life for the next three years was officially over.
“Excuse me, classmate.
Please wait a moment!”
Kamuro Masumi, still completely paranoid from her crime, jumped in absolute terror.
She turned her head and saw a short girl with a bad leg walking toward her with a massive smile.
The deeply mocking, predatory vibe coming from that smile made Kamuro’s blood run cold.
“W-What do you want?” Kamuro recognized her instantly.
After all, she was the only frail, disabled girl in the entire school, and the only one shorter than her.
For some reason, Sakayanagi felt a sudden flash of annoyance, but the gentle smile on her face only grew wider.
“Classmate, you stole something from the supermarket just now, didn’t you?
Please don’t try to deny it.
The classmate behind me and I saw it perfectly clearly.
The stolen item is in your shoulder bag right now, isn’t it?” Sakayanagi’s tone left absolutely no room for argument.
Kamuro Masumi glanced behind Sakayanagi and, sure enough, a guy with panda eyes was standing a short distance away.
Even though Kamuro was far physically stronger, her presence instantly shrank.
“What do you want?”
Seeing that rare, vulnerable expression appear on her usually cold, distant face actually made her look weak and pitiful.
Watching this entire scene unfold, Shiki suddenly felt like this plotline was incredibly familiar.
A very weird expression slowly crept onto his face.
“You have quite the quick hands, you know.” Sakayanagi smiled the smile of a successful predator.
“Kamuro Masumi-san…
you wouldn’t want anyone to find out that you were stealing from the supermarket, would you?”