The next morning, I woke up, ate a completely average breakfast of toasted bread, and proceeded to school as my usual, invisible NPC self.
I was determined to blend seamlessly into the background.
The moment I slid into my desk, I turned to my left and saw my beautiful heroin looking so gorgeous first thing in the morning, i offered my standard, polite smile.
"Good morning, Hinata-san!"
The radiant aura around her instantly vanished.
Haruka froze, her shoulders dropping as a deeply tragic, heartbroken expression washed over her amber eyes.
She looked at me like I had just trampled over her favorite flower garden.
"Hinata-san...?" she murmured, her voice trembling slightly.
"Mei-chan, after yesterday... after the rooftop, the homemade bento, and adding each other on social media... calling me by my family name? It feels like we aren't close at all"
"Eh?! But it's basic school etiquette"
Suddenly, Haruka leaned across the gap between our desks.
Her face was flushed, her amber eyes burning with a sudden, unyielding intensity that completely overrode her usual gentle demeanor.
She grabbed my wrist, trapping me.
"No! I won't accept it. You have to call me by my first name. Right now, Mei-chan."
Ding!
[HEROINE'S FIRST-NAME PRIVILEGE EVENT: ACTIVATED! WARNING: ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE!]
RINGGGGG.
The morning bell violently chimed, signaling the immediate arrival of our homeroom teacher.
I could already hear the teacher's heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway.
"H-Hinata-san, the bell just rang! The teacher is right outside the door!"
I whispered in a panic, my face turning bright red as the surrounding background students began to glance over at us.
"I don't care about the teacher!"
"I'm not letting go until you say it. Even better without the '-san' suffix, Mei-chan. Say it!"
"A-Alright! I get it! Let go!"
I buried my burning face that shows a flash of redness and my ear that clearly screams with shyness, my heart hammering against my ribs as the classroom door slid open.
"G-good morning... Haruka...-san!"
Haruka instantly let go of my wrist, her face bursting into a brilliant, triumphant, drop-dead gorgeous smile that practically illuminated the entire third floor.
She spun back around to her desk just as the teacher stepped up to the podium, leaving me sitting there clutching my chest, my brain completely short-circuiting from a massive, early-morning yuri overload.
Fast forward through four grueling periods of history and advanced mathematics.
The lunch bell finally rang, but before Haruka and I could even pull out our lunch boxes, the class representative marched over.
Haruka had been called into the administration office for an unexpected scholarship review.
With my favorite heroine missing, I ended up eating my lunch entirely alone in the quiet, European-style courtyard.
After finishing the last bite, I packed up my things and began wandering around the campus, looking for any sign of Haruka.
As I turned the corner into a secluded, sun-drenched corridor near the old storage building, the atmospheric pressure suddenly dropped.
Two towering shadows completely blocked the corridor, trapping me against the wall.
Shizuku Fuyumi and Kazari Shiori.
"Target secured,"
Shiori purred, closing her space with a sharp, elegant stride.
Her glittering golden eyes crinkled into a flawless, predatory smile as she held up her gold-plated smartphone.
"Good afternoon, Kurogane-san. We noticed you've been quite busy distributing your digital coordinates to the classroom heroine... yet our private contact logs remain entirely empty."
"I—It was a mutual desk-border agreement!"
I stammered, my face turning a chaotic shade of crimson as I pushed my glasses up my nose.
"I am just an NPC, I don't think I am cleared to be in your digital database"
Fuyumi stepped forward, her tall, majestic figure completely eclipsing the remaining sunlight.
Her piercing blue eyes locked dead onto my face, her cool, mint-scented presence making my nervous system collapse.
She pulled out her own smartphone, displaying a messaging app QR code.
"Save the excuses, Kurogane,"
Fuyumi commanded, her deep, velvety voice dropping into a quiet, dangerous register.
"Unlock your phone and scan our codes right now. If you don't comply within thirty seconds, Shiori is going to call her father's real estate division. She will personally buy your entire apartment building, evict your landlord, and turn your bedroom into a high-end asphalt parking lot for her personal driver."
"A PARKING LOT?!"
I shrieked, my inner commoner experiencing a total financial panic. "You can't just pave over my apartment!"
"I'm not joking,"
Fuyumi added, her icy gaze narrowing.
"And once you add us, if you dare to leave our chat windows on read... if you do not reply to our messages within exactly three minutes of receiving them, I will join her corporate venture. I will buy whatever new apartment building you flee to, and I will personally ensure the archery club utilizes your living room for long-range target practice."
Ding!
[EVENT TRIGGERED: THE DUAL HIGH-SOCIETY EXTORTION! WARNING: MEI'S REAL ESTATE ASSETS ARE UNDER SEVERE YURI THREAT!]
"You two are completely unhinged!"
I wailed, my hands shaking like a malfunctioning washing machine as I frantically pulled out my phone, scanned both of their QR codes, and added them.
"There! Added! Verified! Please leave my residential zoning laws alone!"
Shoori chuckled, playfully pinching my flushed cheek with her lace fan.
"Excellent compliance, Kurogane-san. Remember the three-minute rule. We will be testing your response times tonight."
The two legendary background beauties finally stepped aside, letting me slide past them.
I scrambled back to the classroom, completely out of breath, but lunch hour was already over and Haruka still hadn't returned.
I spent the remainder of the afternoon staring blankly at the chalkboard, my phone burning a hole in my blazer pocket.
Finally, the final bell of the day rang.
Class was over, it was time to go home, and my digital nightmare was about to begin.