Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Kanako’s Luck With Women

Whenever Tohyama Kanako thought about what she had done to Aria earlier, she would clutch her head and squat on the ground, wanting to find a crack to bury herself in. Just recalling those shameless, flirtatious lines made her want to find a time machine, go back, and put her past self out of her misery.

“Why do I have to have such an abnormal X fetish anyway?! This is completely different from what the Tohyama family ancestors recorded!” Tohyama Kanako wailed inwardly.

Although she had tried reading ordinary romance manga and other love stories, she could never truly place herself in the heroine’s shoes. At most, her impressions amounted to thinking the female characters were charming, and she would even find herself wishing she could replace the male characters.

However, Tohyama Kanako possessed another trait.

From childhood to adulthood, Tohyama Kanako had always been very popular with other girls.

The extent of it was exaggerated to the point of including, but not limited to being “kidnapped” by a female teacher in kindergarten, becoming friends with every girl in elementary school, so much so that she filled several graduation autograph books, and things becoming even more unspeakable in middle school, culminating in an incident that caused the class to collapse, with the final outcome being her departure from Kanagawa to attend high school in Tokyo.

Rather than calling it popularity, Tohyama Kanako felt that “enchantment” was a more accurate description.

In short, her luck with women was inexplicably good, perhaps too good.

Being extremely popular with women, and becoming aroused by girls, these two constitutions met head-on within Tohyama Kanako, producing countless accidents and so-called “lucky erotic incidents.”

Even after coming to Tokyo, Tohyama Kanako was unable to escape the influence of these two traits.

On the day of the Tokyo Butei High School entrance exam, during the practical combat segment, Tohyama Kanako unexpectedly reunited with Hotogi Shirayuki.

That practical exam was essentially a battle royale inside a building. All examinees were enemies to one another, while also having to evade pursuit by the examiners. Only those who remained uneliminated when the time ran out could enroll, and rankings were determined by the number of other examinees defeated.

Due to an accident, Tohyama Kanako encountered her childhood friend, who was also being chased by other examinees. As a result, something indescribable happened, triggering her Burst Mode.

In the end, Tohyama Kanako flirted with Hotogi Shirayuki while single-handedly taking down all the other examinees, and even dealt with the examiners as a bonus, earning herself an S-rank in the Assault Division the moment she enrolled.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that from then on, even though Tohyama Kanako tried her best to keep herself in check, the way some of the girls in her year looked at her was clearly off.

Perhaps it was only out of fear of Tohyama Kanako’s rank and the strength she had displayed that those girls didn’t take further action.

As for Hotogi Shirayuki, it goes without saying, once she had acquired the “please, big brother” trump card, her behavior only grew more excessive.

Tohyama Kanako believed that one day, her childhood friend would forcibly move into her dorm room.

The ability passed down through generations of the Tohyama family was extremely troublesome, even Tohyama Kanako’s brother had met a grim end because of it.

Coupled with Tohyama Kanako’s own personal circumstances, the overlapping effects of these two constitutions once made her life unbearable, and from the bottom of her heart, she cursed them both.

Bombed on the very first morning of school, her glasses missing on top of that, Tohyama Kanako patted her cheeks, shoved aside her worries, gathered herself, and headed for the newly assigned Class 2-A. The homeroom meeting should have just begun.

“Sorry, I’m late because of some matter,” Tohyama Kanako said as she opened the back door of the classroom and walked in.

Before she could even finish closing the door, she heard a familiar, doll-like voice from the direction of the podium.

“I want to sit next to that girl.”

Tohyama Kanako turned her head and saw Aria standing on the podium. They hadn’t been apart for long, but while she knew she’d been assigned to Class 2-A for the new term, she hadn’t expected Aria to be here as well.

The homeroom teacher, Takamagahara Yutori, was flipping through the roster and seating chart.

“Oh my, let me see… the student sitting next to Kanako is Mutou-san… Mutou-san, what do you think? You can refuse if you don’t want to,” Takamagahara Yutori asked a male student in a gentle tone.

“That’s fine, sensei. Since it’s the transfer student’s request, I’ll change seats. She’s from overseas, after all, we should look after her,” the named male student said as he began packing up his belongings.

This student was Mutou Gouki: spiky-haired, 190 centimeters tall, solidly built, an honors student from the Vehicle Division. He was said to be able to handle anything from scooters to aerospace rockets, and was widely recognized as a genuinely nice guy.

When Tohyama Kanako used to go on missions with the Assault Division, she often rode in vehicles driven by Mutou Gouki to reach the scene.

“I see. Then Aria-san can sit next to Kanako-san. Be sure to thank Mutou-san properly,” Takamagahara Yutori said, pointing toward Mutou Gouki’s seat.

Tohyama Kanako’s seat was immediately to Mutou Gouki’s left, the second seat from the back in the fourth row.

The boys all showed curious expressions, wondering why the transfer student specifically wanted to sit next to Tohyama Kanako.

After all, Tohyama Kanako was something of a fringe presence in the class, at least in her own opinion. Leaving the girls aside for the moment, the boys actually knew very little about her.

The only male classmates she was relatively close to were the nice guy Mutou Gouki and the handsome Shiranui Ryou.

The atmosphere among the girls, however, was far less amicable. Quite a few of them were glaring at Aria with unfriendly eyes.

If looks could kill, Aria would already have been riddled with holes.

“So she’s taking advantage of being a transfer student to cut in line.”

“How sly.”

“Die…”

Such whispers, mixed with cold laughter, reached Tohyama Kanako’s ears, and the temperature in the classroom seemed to drop by several degrees.

Aria seemed completely unaware of the hostility directed at her. As she walked toward Tohyama Kanako, she pulled something out of her skirt pocket.

“Kanako, here, you dropped these. Your glasses,” Aria said casually, calling Tohyama Kanako by name as if they were already close.

“Oh, thanks…” Tohyama Kanako had been planning to search the sports equipment warehouse during lunch break, but she hadn’t expected Aria to retrieve her glasses first.

That said, this only made the girls’ gazes toward Aria even more vicious.

“Riko knows! Riko knows everything! Hime-kun’s flag has been raised!”

A petite girl sitting to Tohyama Kanako’s left suddenly sprang to her feet. Her name was Mine Riko, a student from the Detective Division. She was about the same height as Aria, with a baby face, but an ample chest, making her the polar opposite of Aria.

“Hime-kun didn’t wear her glasses today, but Aria brought Hime-kun’s glasses with her! Strange, right? Mysterious, right? But Riko has already reasoned it out, I know the secret!”

Mine Riko’s school uniform was adorned with extra layers of frilly ruffles, giving her an overall sweet, Lolita-style appearance. When she moved, all the frills trembled along with her, like a flower in full bloom.

“Hime-kun” was the nickname Mine Riko had given Tohyama Kanako.

But Tohyama Kanako had no idea what it was supposed to mean, and the honorific “-kun” was usually used for boys.

“Hime-kun is in the Detective Division, and Aria is in the Assault Division, their dorms aren’t even in the same area. Yet Aria has one of Hime-kun’s personal belongings!” Mine Riko paused dramatically, letting the suspense build until she saw everyone thoroughly hooked. Then she continued, “That means they’re living together!”

“What? That’s it?”

“What’s so strange about two girls living together…”

“So precious…”

Most of the boys didn’t think much of it, while a small portion wore blissful expressions.

The girls, on the other hand, exploded.

“Didn’t they say Tohyama-san lives alone?”

“The transfer student got there first?”

“Kill, kill, kill…”

“Unforgivable!”

The murderous intent among the girls skyrocketed in an instant. If they hadn’t been in a classroom, they might have already swarmed Aria on the spot.

[To be continued.]