"See you later~"

"Don’t go and take Haruto down and then come right back~"

At last, the strategy meeting with clingy bug No.1, Princess Kaguya, had ended and I sent her back to Class 1, but lunch break was already over.

"Hey, Tachibana, hurry up and get to the boys-only room."

But my lunch break still wasn’t over.

I still couldn’t shake off clingy bug No.2, Toramine.

"I’m not happy about a guy sticking to me..."

"If there’s a girl around we can’t talk, right? I waited for you to finish talking with that loud girl, you know, me, a guy."

"Yeah yeah, I get it already."

Seriously.

In a chastity-reversed world with a 1:99 male-to-female ratio, why do I have to spend all my time hanging out with another guy?

I already had enough of that in my past life’s youth.

Well, hanging out with guys back then was fun in its own way though.

Thinking that, I head into the boys-only room.

"Ah, Tomoki-kun, you’re late today. I’ve been wai—"

As I enter, Haruto, who had been sitting at a café table inside the boys-only room looking bored, suddenly lifts his face and calls out to me.

"Hm? Oh, a guy from Class 1."

"...Nemuro-kun, what do you want?"

Seeing Toramine beside me, Haruto’s expression clouds over.

These two were paired up in PE before, but they haven’t really talked directly, right?

Even so, they’ve barely had any interaction until now, yet Haruto’s being strangely cold toward Toramine.

"It’s normal for a guy to use this room during lunch break, right? Or do we need permission from the great Class 1 male to use this boys-only room?"

"It’s not like that... It’s just... this place has always been a space for just me and Tomoki-kun..."

Toramine, who calls him with honorifics but shows zero respect, and Haruto, who clearly looks dissatisfied.

"Hmph, whatever. I’ve got something to talk about with Tachibana. Go somewhere else."

"...Why can’t I stay here!?"

"I only associate with people I acknowledge. I don’t acknowledge a guy who just looks good and grins while being fawned over by girls."

"I’m not grinning! I’m not like Tomoki-kun!"

Seriously, just like when we were picking pairs for soft tennis in PE, it’s another tug-of-war over me.

But wait, Haruto... wasn’t that kind of a subtle jab at me just now?

"More importantly, why are you suddenly getting along with Tomoki-kun, Nemuro-kun? You were pretty hostile during soft tennis the other day."

"Both Tachibana and I survived a harsh environment together. We’re comrades who entrusted our backs to each other on a filthy and gruesome battlefield, and the only man I acknowledge as my equal."

To Haruto’s suspicious question, Toramine answers proudly with his chest puffed out.

But wow, that’s been glorified quite a bit.

"No, Toramine... you were just crouching and trembling on the battlefield. Also, don’t call that place filthy when it was full of beautiful, enchanting older women we were enjoying ourselves with."

Honestly, what a poser.

"I don’t really get it, but judging from what Tomoki-kun said, Nemuro-kun talks big but is actually a coward, huh?"

"Wha!?"

Hit right on the mark by Haruto, Toramine panics.

I might as well ride this wave too.

"That’s right, Haruto. This guy was trembling and crying in the courtyard saying ‘I don’t want to go...’ So I went along with him."

"I wasn’t crying!"

"I wish you could’ve seen how meek that selfish rich boy Toramine was, Haruto~"

The reason I keep teasing Toramine like this is because I need to make him understand that Haruto is above him.

After all, Haruto is the protagonist.

If a side character mob like Toramine starts butting in, who knows what kind of effects it’ll have.

He needs to know his place.

"Hmm... but knowing you, Tomoki-kun, you probably heard from Nemuro-kun that you’d be going to a gathering full of beautiful, enchanting older women, and you got all excited and insisted on tagging along, right?"

"Gah! How did you know..."

"I just bluffed, but you really are easy to read, Tomoki-kun."

Haruto shoots me a sidelong glance, and suddenly the focus of attack shifts to me, making me flustered.

"You really do understand me well, Haruto. As expected of my male friend."

"You think I’ll be happy just because you compliment me, don’t you? Honestly..."

Even as he says that, Haruto’s expression looked somewhat pleased.