The digital contract had been signed.
With a trembling thumb, I scanned Haruka's QR code, and just like that, [Hinata Haruka] was officially added to my friends list.
The radiant, world-saving smile she gave me when the confirmation screen popped up was worth at least five hundred points of pure spiritual healing.
But our rooftop sanctuary didn't last forever.
The afternoon bell rang with its usual, uncaring mechanical chime, signaling the absolute end of our peaceful lunch hour.
"Let's go to the library now, Mei-chan! Just like we promised!"
Haruka beamed, carefully packing up the empty bento box.
"Lead the way, Captain. My body is functioning entirely on sugar and domestic warmth,"
I said, pushing my glasses up my nose as we descended the concrete stairwell into the massive, cathedral like archives of Youka Academy.
The school library didn't just have books, it had mahogany vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows, and rows of mahogany shelves that smelled like ancient paper and generational wealth.
While Haruka went off to find the historical section, I casually wandered down a secluded, dimly lit aisle in the back corner of the fiction shelves.
I pulled out a sleek, beautifully bound volume with a vibrant cover illustration. The title read: The Flower Blooming Inside Me.
"Oh, a botanical guide? How sophisticated,"
I muttered, flipping the book open to a random page.
My eyes nearly bulged out of my head, and my glasses instantly fogged over from the sheer thermal energy radiating from my face.
The text on the page was a beautifully written, highly descriptive, borderline ecchi romance scene between a cool, red haired upperclassman and a blushing underclassman.
It was pure, unadulterated yuri.
How on earth does an elite, prestigious academy library have something this spicy sitting on the shelves?! my internal monologue shrieked in absolute, panicked delight.
Did a student hide this here?! Is the head librarian a closeted woman of culture?!
"Mei-chan! Look what I found!"
"Gah!"
I gasped, my reflexes kicking into overdrive.
I slammed the book shut and shoved it back into the shelf with the force of a professional athlete just as Haruka rounded the corner.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst through my blazer.
"H-Hinata-san! Wow! Books! So many words in one place!"
Haruka blinked, a heavy, beautifully illustrated tome about 19th-century regional history clutched against her chest. She didn't notice my absolute moral crisis.
"I found the rare illustration texts! Let's go sit by the window and study together!"
"Yes, please! Let's look at completely historical, safe, non-flower-blooming objects!"
I scrambled after her, wiping the sweat from my brow.
We sat side-by-side at a large oak table, the soft afternoon light bathing us as we studied.
While Fuyumi and Shiori were still locked away downstairs handling their respective club and student council businesses, Haruka and I were in our own little world.
Eventually, the final bell of the day rang, liberating the student body from their academic duties.
My brain felt like overcooked tofu, and my bladder was staging a localized protest.
"Hinata-san, save yourself. I must march to the facilities before my internal plumbing completely fails,"
I deadpanned, gripping the edge of the table.
"Ah! I'll wait for you out here, Mei-chan!"
Haruka called out with a warm wave.
I bolted out of the library and sprinted straight into the nearby third-floor girls' restroom.
The cool, pristine marble of the Youka Academy facilities always made me feel out of place, but right now, I just needed five minutes of absolute isolation.
Leaning against the polished counter just outside the main restroom door, Haruka pulled out her smartphone.
Her lips curved into a soft, dizzyingly sweet smile as she stared down at her screen.
Open on her display was my freshly added profile page.
The profile picture was an incredibly average, slightly blurry photo of me blinky behind my glasses, but to Haruka, it was a prized trophy.
Her fingers hovered over the screen, already drafting a custom nickname with little flower emojis.
Clack. Clack.
The sharp, rhythmic sound of expensive designer shoes and the quiet, elegant rustle of a student council blazer echoed into the restroom foyer.
Haruka blinked, snapping out of her trance as two towering figures entered her field of vision.
Shizuku Fuyumi and Kazari Shiori.
The two legendary background beauties had finally broken free from their administrative prison downstairs.
Fuyumi was adjusting her silver ponytail, her piercing blue eyes carrying a trace of lingering irritation from the paperwork, while Shiori was gracefully tucking her gold plated pen back into her luxury clutch.
As they walked past to adjust their uniforms in the mirror, their elite instincts simultaneously locked onto the school's official heroine.
Shiori's golden eyes flicked downward, effortlessly catching a glimpse of the bright smartphone screen Haruka was clutching.
Right there, illuminated in high-definition glare, was the unmistakable, plain-faced student ID profile name: Kurogane Mei.
Fuyumi paused beside the paper towel dispenser, her icy gaze tracking the name on the screen for a fraction of a second before her face returned to its usual, untouchable mask of absolute stoicism.
"Good afternoon, Hinata-san,"
Shiori purred, her lips curling into a flawless, polite society smile as she elegantly turned on the automated faucet.
She didn't let a single trace of her internal surprise show.
"You look remarkably cheerful for someone who just survived a long afternoon."
"A-Ah! Kazari-senpai, Shizuku-senpai Good afternoon!"
Haruka squeaked, her protagonist instincts instantly flaring as she quickly locked her phone screen and pressed it against her chest like a shielded deck of cards.
"Yes! I was just... checking my notifications before heading home!"
Fuyumi murmured, her deep, cool voice echoing slightly against the marble tiles.
She dried her slender hands with methodical precision.
She didn't press the issue.
She didn't mention the plain black hair or the thick glasses she had just seen on the screen.
"Do not linger too long. The hallway monitors will be clearing the floors shortly."
"Yes, Senpai! I'm just waiting for a friend!"
Haruka beamed, her territorial defenses relaxing just a bit since the two upperclassmen seemed completely unbothered by her digital activities.
"Have a safe trip home then, Hinata-san,"
Shiori smiled, waving her lace fan with an effortless, casual grace as she and Fuyumi turned around and glided out of the restroom foyer, their magnificent main-character auras fading down the corridor.
But the moment the heavy restroom doors clicked shut behind them, the polite, detached atmosphere shattered entirely.
Out in the quiet hallway, safely out of Haruka's line of sight, Shiori stopped in her tracks.
Her perfect golden eyebrows knitted together, and her fan snapped closed with an uncharacteristically sharp
CRACK.
" Fuyumi,"
Shiori whispered, her golden eyes flashing with a dangerously competitive, aristocratic fire.
"Did you see that? Himata-san has already secured her social media. Our little kitten has surrendered her network to Hinata-san."
Fuyumi didn't answer immediately.
She stood perfectly still, her long silver bangs casting a shadow over her face.
Her grip on her clipboard tightened until the aluminum frame gave a faint creak.
Her icy blue eyes were narrowed, staring at the floorboards as her chest rose and fell with a slow, controlled breath.
Deep down, beneath her stoic discipline, a sharp, unfamiliar jolt of pure, unadulterated jealousy had just spiked through her core.
The underclassmen who had split her dojo ceiling, the plain-faced girl whose eyes looked entirely too captivating without her glasses... had given her social media to someone else first.
"It is an unranked security breach,"
Fuyumi said, her voice dropping into a register that was colder than a mid-winter blizzard.
"If a background asset is distributing personal network data to the general student body, it must be monitored. We need to secure that account."
"Oh, absolutely,"
Shiori purred, a dark, beautiful smirk returning to her lips as she pulled out her own gold-plated smartphone.
"We can't have our entertaining little commoner being monopolized by Hinata-san. Let's figure out exactly how to make her add us tomorrow."
Inside the bathroom, completely oblivious to the fact that my digital privacy was currently being targeted by a billionaire conglomerate and a traditional weapons expert, I finally stepped out of the stall and walked up to the sink, letting out a massive sigh of relief.
"Ah, much better. Now, time to go home and eat cheap noodles, might as well try eating noodles while wearing only my underwear." :smug