"What? It sounds like there was some kind of commotion during lunch break. Were you alright, Tachibana-kun?"

"You hear things fast, Tatara-hama-san."

Classes ended, and it was time for the homeroom before dismissal.

Tatara-hama-san, acting as the homeroom moderator at the podium in place of Ecchan-sensei who was absent with a slipped back, asked me the question first thing.

"A girl named Iriyamasu Kaguya who enrolled late into Class 1 caused a bit of a scene in front of the boys-only room."

"I see. That explains it. Earlier, the grade supervisor gave a notice saying, 'Female students are not to gather in front of the boys-only room or cause disturbances.'"

"Yeees!"

"Iriyamasu... that's that actress who's been famous since she was a child actor, right? They call her Princess Kaguya."

"Princess Kaguya goes to this school?"

"Apparently her enrollment was delayed because she was busy with entertainment industry work."

"I saw in a weekly magazine that she's a selfish troublemaking actress."

"As expected of Honey Academy... there are tons of students with ridiculous backgrounds..."

"Class 1 just got even stronger now."

"Should we increase our training even more?"

Oh.

Everyone hears that Princess Kaguya joined Class 1 and their fighting spirit ignites.

Right now we've only been receiving challenges from other classes, and previously they said they wouldn't challenge Class 1 to a class transfer battle with Haruto at stake, but the hearts of maidens are fickle.

I sincerely hope everyone in Class 2 stops fixating on someone like me, challenges Class 1 to a class transfer battle, shakes them up and raises Class 1's unity.

"That concludes today's homeroom."

As if they had been waiting for Tatara-hama-san to announce the end of homeroom, the door to Class 2's classroom opened.

"Oh, Haruto?"

"Haa... haa... Tomoki-kun... let's go home together."

Haruto came running in, breathing heavily.

"What's wrong?"

"I'll explain later! Let's run!"

The moment he said that, Haruto grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the entrance.

"An escape between boys!"

While hearing the girls behind us collapse dramatically.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

"Sorry, Tomoki-kun... for dragging you out like that."

Inside the hired car on the way home.

Haruto, sitting beside me in the back seat, apologized with a troubled expression.

"It's fine. I was planning to head home early anyway to prepare for the class transfer battle. But what happened?"

"Well... it's about Iriyamasu-san..."

Seeing Haruto's bitter expression, I can guess a lot already.

"What was it like in class after that?"

"It was a mess... Right after finishing her self-introduction, Iriyamasu-san tried to sit in the seat next to me and it turned into a battle with the other girls in class..."

"Ah..."

I can picture it.

She was completely drawn to Haruto.

Wait... that's strange.

She tried to sit next to him?

"But didn't Princess Kaguya talk back to you sarcastically or something?"

"Hm? No, not really. She's rude to the other girls, but she's polite only to me, which somehow makes me feel even more uncomfortable..."

"Really? She didn't say something like 'Don't get full of yourself just because you're a rare boy!'?"

"What? There's no way a girl would say something like that."

"I see..."

Huh?

That's supposed to be Princess Kaguya's first line when she appears in the game.

After all, Princess Kaguya is one of the rare tsundere characters in this chastity-reversal world with a 1:99 male-to-female ratio.

At the beginning, because she earned her position as a famous young actress through her own ability, she reacts against the protagonist being treated specially just for being male.

"To be honest... I don't really like that girl."

"I see..."

Class 1's atmosphere is already bad enough.

If you add a powerful irritant like Princess Kaguya, instead of acting as the story's lubricant it'll probably just cause a massive explosion.

Haruto in this world has become much more passive toward girls, probably because I twisted the scenario.

Ah.

Since Haruto is like this, maybe the gods lowered the difficulty and made Princess Kaguya soften toward him earlier.

"So what are you doing after this, Tomoki-kun?"

"Let's see..."

Haruto looks at me with an expectant gaze.

Looking up at me like that from below is exactly like a puppy wagging its tail asking to play together.

If he used these calculated moves on girls they'd fall instantly, so why is he wasting them on me, his male friend?

Still, today was exhausting, so maybe I should spoil Haruto a little...

Just as I was about to open my mouth, I suddenly remembered something.

"Sorry, Haruto. I actually have something to do."

"Huh?"

"Driver, excuse me. Please stop by a drugstore."

Of course being the protagonist's male friend is important.

But I remembered that right now there was someone who needed my help even more, so I opened that person's contact information on my smartphone.