In short, it was truly a relief to have safely made it through all three years of high school and then amicably broke up right after graduation.
Why did it have to be right after graduating high school? Well, isn't it pretty normal and even common for high school couples to break up right after graduating? Absolutely not because both of his ex-girlfriends had applied and been admitted to Todai, an outcome which might have made life a bit dangerous for Kazuma Kiryuu if he had also decided to attend Todai himself.
With thoughts like these, Kazuma Kiryuu was simultaneously grateful to Eros and Fortuna for their blessings and care over these three years, while also hoping the two deities would continue to look after him in his upcoming college life.
As he walked along a cherry blossom-covered path, Kiryuu entered the campus of Izu University.
"What's going on up ahead? Is someone confessing?"
When Kazuma Kiryuu followed the signs to the lecture hall building, he noticed a crowd gathering not too far in front of him.
"Whoa, now this is something I definitely can't miss."
Kazuma Kiryuu wasn't going to miss this, Muttering under his breath Kiryuu quickened his steps and walked over.
Yet, just as Kiryuu squeezed through the crowd with great effort and finally saw what everyone was gawking at, the sparkle of excitement in their eyes instantly vanished without a trace. Rather than the sweet scene of a heartfelt confession that Kiryuu had hoped for, it turned out to be three half-naked men sprawled out on the ground in extremely unsightly positions, snoring away, wearing nothing but their underwear. Scattered around them were numerous empty beer bottles and cans, evidently the handiwork of these three.
"What did these three even go through last night to drink themselves all the way to campus?" Kiryuu couldn't help but grumble.
And those three... they weren't just random strangers. They were none other than Kitahara Iori and the two wild beasts from yesterday.
"Hey, you know them?"
A guy standing nearby, busy snapping photos on his phone, seemed to have caught part of what Kiryuu said and struck up a conversation.
Kiryuu, without a moment of hesitation, shook his head decisively. "Nope, don't know them."
Absolutely not—admitting any association with Kitahara Iori and his crew would be like throwing away any future opportunities at university romance on the spot! Even though Kiryuu had a likely target already in mind plus some incredible fallback options in the form of his distant cousins, you could never be too sure, right?
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Kiryuu noted that Kitahara Iori seemed to be waking up. Taking out his own phone, he quickly snapped a photo of the trio. Blackmail material—acquired! And it was in glorious high definition!
As soon as the photo was taken, Kitahara Iori conveniently opened his eyes, clutching his head as he got up. To avoid being recognized by Kitahara Iori, which would inevitably expose his own connection to him, Kiryuu discreetly tucked away his phone.
Then, just as Kiryuu had mysteriously produced a phone earlier, Kiryuu pulled out a white baseball cap from who-knows-where. Adjusting the cap over his head to dip the brim low, Kiryuu lowered his face and turned around, squeezing out of the crowd while purposefully taking a longer route around the edge, heading toward the lecture hall.
Just as Kiryuu reached the entrance, they heard Kitahara Iori anguished and despair shout filled bellow from behind.
"Are you two idiots completely brain-dead?!!"
Kiryuu paused mid-step, then shook his head ruefully. Still not too great at verbal comebacks, huh. There's definitely some room for improvement on the damage front.
Arriving at the mechanical engineering lecture hall, Kiryuu chose a seat in the back corner near the window. The spot offered a wide view, plus it was perfect for casually enjoying the scenery outside—a prime protagonist location.
With about ten minutes left until the formal orientation began, and neither the teacher nor most of the students having arrived yet, Kiryuu decided to kill some time by fiddling with his phone and browsing the web. That's when Kiryuu inadvertently noticed a girl making her way up the aisle, eventually sitting down in the same row.
Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, Kiryuu noted her slender and cute figure. She wore a pair of white over-the-knee socks, the rims of which softly indented into her rounded thighs just enough to leave light marks. The exposed skin between her denim shorts and the edge of her socks appeared all the more supple and enticing.
What a shame. It was a bit of a disappointment to Kazuma Kiryuu that this girl didn't have long hair. In Kazuma Kiryuu mind, nothing ranked higher than long hair, except maybe long legs.
Wait—long hair.
Kiryuu, the manga artist, mentally photoshopped some long hair onto the girl, only to find that, with long hair, she looked incredibly familiar.
"Hey there, I'm Kazuma Kiryuu. Sorry to be abrupt, but could I ask your name?"
"Hm? I'm Chisa Kotegawa, nice to meet you." Chisa glanced at Kiryuu and introduced herself.
"I thought so."
"?"
"Is Kotegawa Nanaka-senpai related to you in any way?"
When Kiryuu asked this, Chisa looked surprised. "You know my sister?"
Kiryuu nodded. Now that it was clear this was Kotegawa-senpai little sister, there was no need to hide knowing Iori Kitahara, so Kiryuu explained, "I saw Nanaka-senpai yesterday when I dropped Kitahara off at your family's shop."
"So it was you who brought Iori to our place yesterday?"
"Yeah."
Chisa had an "aha" moment—come to think of it, she hadn't actually asked Iori Kitahara how Iori ended up at their house, mainly because, on her way home yesterday, she happened to catch Iori Kitahara and Shinji Tokita half-naked and drinking heavily, which pretty much killed any desire to interact or communicate with Iori on any level.
After that, with Nanaka Kotegawa and Iori Kitahara as mutual connections, Kiryuu ended up chatting with Chisa Kotegawa instead of scrolling aimlessly through his phone, which had been the original plan.
After all, neither of those two ex-girlfriends nor the blonde maid had posted anything about college life on Twitter—so chatting with Chisa made for a better time waste anyway.
Besides, Chisa might not have long hair, but she was Nanaka-senpai little sister, which made her the cute "sister-in-law" Kiryuu would probably need to sweet-talk her when trying to win over Nanaka-senpai in the future.
Meanwhile, as the two were chatting off and on, the rest of the students started filing into the classroom—including Iori Kitahara, who was still only in a pair of boxers. Maybe due to the trauma of social death, Iori Kitahara seemed out of it and didn't even notice Kiryuu and Chisa talking, instead taking a seat alone a few rows in front of them by the window.
Police, there's a pervert right here.
...
"Hey, Chisa, Kazuma—let's go check out the clubs together!"
The bell signaling the end of class rang, and Kitahara seemed to have recovered. While calling out to them, Iori came striding toward Kiryuu and Chisa at the back. At the sound of Iori voice, the two subconsciously shot a glance Iori way, exchanged a look, and both stood to leave.
"I'm going to check out a few clubs. How about you, Kotegawa?"
"I'm heading home."
"Come on, don't just start talking and ignore me like I'm not here!" Iori dashed over and blocked their way.
Staring at Iori over-the-top expression, Kiryuu sighed. "Hey, Kitahara."
"What?"
"Before you start talking to us, could you at least put on some proper clothes?"
"Clothes?" Iori grabbed his own chin, looked down, and nodded, "Good point. I want to go back and change, but honestly, I have no idea how to get home."
At that, Kiryuu was genuinely stumped. "Then… How'd you make it to campus yesterday?"
Instantly, Iori pictured last night—wedged between those two wild 'beast-senpais' and dragged all the way here. Iori face flushed in shame, hands covering it. "Long story."
"Yeah, got it," Kiryuu replied evenly. They didn't know the details, but Kiryuu was sure it had something to do with those two muscle-bound upperclassmen.
"Right?!" Kitahara grabbed Kiryuu shoulders, getting all worked up.
"Easy, don't get handsy," Kiryuu said, coolly brushing Kitahara hand away.
"What, is my hands that filthy? You too, Chisa? You as well?" Kitahara was on the verge of tears.
Kiryuu brow lifted at that and shot a surprised look at Chisa. Chisa, feeling their gazes, quietly turned her head aside.
"So, anyway, what's your plan now?" Kiryuu asked Kitahara.
"I have no idea," Iori sighed, then brightened, eyes landing on Kiryuu. "Hey, Kazuma, can I have one of your shirts?"
"Nope," Kiryuu replied at once.
"Why not? You're wearing two. Just give me one, what's the big deal?"
"Because I'm a clean freak. I'm not comfortable with others wearing my clothes," Kiryuu lied with a straight face. Of course, that wasn't true—both ex-girlfriends and the blonde maid had borrowed Kiryuu clothes before.
"You're lying, aren't you?" Kitahara asked.
"Yep." To Kitahara's surprise, Kiryuu even nodded. "Actually, the real reason is that both shirts were gifts from my ex-girlfriends."
Kitahara fell silent, then, after a long moment, morphed into a beast and lunged for Kiryuu again.
"That's definitely another lie! There's no way you have ex-girlfriends! Just hand over the shirt. We're brothers from other mothers, remember?!"
"Stop spouting nonsense! And what's with your drama, Kitahara—didn't date any girls in high school, did you?" Kiryuu also raised a hand to block Kitahara latest attack, lightly and mercilessly taunting the whole time.
Kitahara was instantly rattled, bursting into tears and yelling, "Stop mocking you bastard! Quit resisting and just hand over your shirt already!"
"Save your sleep talk for when you're actually sleeping! And do you seriously think you're fine with just one shirt anyway?"
"?!"
Kitahara froze for a second, then started thinking hard. After a second, it hit. Kitahara looked over at Chisa.
"Chisa…"
"I'm going home." Chisa turned and started to leave.
Kitahara hurriedly reached out, "Wait, Chisa—let me finish!" Chisa paused and glanced back at Kitahara. "You give me one of your shirts, then!"
"..."
Chisa started walking off again, but Kitahara was quick, grabbing her wrist. "Come on, Chisa, we live under the same roof, we're close cousins, right? We should help each other out!"
Chisa trembled at that, face turning bright red. "Idiot, don't say that out loud!"
"Hm?" Kitahara seemed to have a flash of insight, then held up an index finger. "Well, if you don't give me a shirt, I'll tell everyone about this. You wouldn't want that, would you?"
"Officer, it's this pervert here. Not only did he run around half-naked, he's even threatening innocent girls to take their clothes off." Kiryuu voice came at the perfect moment. Kitahara instinctively turned and his whole face froze.
Because over by the door stood Kiryuu, next to a policeman with a square jaw, pointing directly at Kitahara. While talking, Kiryuu even shot Kitahara a meaningful glance from the corner of his eye.
"Damnit! Kazuma, you bastard! I'll remember this!" As the officer unclipped a pair of handcuffs from his belt, Kitahara snapped back to reality. With a howl of outrage, Kitahara spun on a dime and bolted for the door.
He runs and the police chases him, there's nowhere to escape. Once Kitahara Iori and the cops had disappeared from view, Kotekawa Chisa finally let out a breath, turning to look at Kazuma Kiryuu.
"Thanks."
"No problem, it was nothing." Kazuma Kiryuu gave a bright, sunny smile. Kiryuu didn't say anything about how standing up to perverts is everyone's duty, because even though both of them knew Kitahara Iori was definitely a pervert, Iori and Chisa were still cousins after all. And badmouthing an older brother in front of his little sister is not just rude—it's a quick way to ruin any chance of making a good impression. Besides, let's not forget, Kazuma Kiryuu was hoping to pursue both Kotekawa sisters.
"You mentioned earlier you wanted to check out some clubs?" Kotekawa Chisa hesitated for a moment before asking.
"That's right, why?"
"I'll tag along with you then."
Kiryuu was genuinely surprised. "With me? Weren't you planning to go home?"
"I'd probably just get called back out again anyway. This way, we can just go straight there—and consider it a little thank you for helping me out earlier, and for bringing Iori home for me." There was something complicated in Chisa expression as she explained.
"If that's the case, I'll be counting on you to show me around then, Kotegawa-san." KKiryuu grinned, silently offering heartfelt thanks to Kitahara Iori.
Kotekawa Chisa nodded. "Let's go."
"Alright."
...
"By the way, Kazuma, is there a club you're hoping to join?"