Vol 2 Chapter 0 – Prologue: Flirt in Public and Then You Can Go Home【Volume 2: The Flirting-All-Over-the-Place Second Semester Arc】

It was the afternoon of the very next day after they’d decided to gradually let people know about their relationship, starting with those closest to them.

Sandai had just finished watching Shino head straight off to her shift from a distance, and was about to make his own way home, when it happened.

“Hey, Fujiwara — got a minute?”

Shino’s group of girlfriends stopped him, and Sandai furrowed his brow in genuine puzzlement.

What could they possibly want to talk to me about…?

He couldn’t think of a single reason they’d be approaching him.

Still — these were Shino’s friends. He couldn’t exactly brush them off. He agreed to hear them out somewhere else and followed them to a nearby café popular with students, where he sat nursing a juice while five girls fixed him with a collective look that could only be described as pointed.

“We kind of had a feeling something was going on, but — you and Shino are together, right?”

It seemed Shino moved fast. She’d already told her friends about them.

But the group’s atmosphere was a touch heavy. Maybe they were here to tell him he wasn’t good enough for her.

Sandai braced himself instinctively — and all five girls sighed at the same time.

“Look, we’re not here to say anything about you. Shino picked you because she thinks you’re a good guy, and we’re not going to argue with that. …That’s not the issue. We’ve got a situation.”

“A situation…?”

“We’ve been trying to get Shino to come to a mixer for a while now. She keeps saying no. She was always kind of a hard sell, but lately it’s a flat-out wall. Makes sense now that she’s got a boyfriend. …But the thing is, whether Shino comes or not makes a massive difference. The Shino Boost is absolutely unreal.”

“I’m not following where this is going…”

“We want to ask you a favor. Come to the mixer with us. If you’re there, Shino will come too.”

It was a deeply strange request.

“We just want the Shino Boost one more time. Seriously, the difference in how many guys show up is incomparable. …Please.”

All five of them bowed their heads at once.

They were dead serious.

“I understand what you’re saying, but… wouldn’t the guys at the mixer be annoyed if her boyfriend showed up? Honestly, you might be better off just accepting that Shino’s not—”

“Actually, that’s what makes it work. If anything, it helps.”

“…What?”

“We can tell the guys: ‘Shino’s actually taken, sorry — but why not pick from the rest of us?’ …Your only job is to prove you’re her boyfriend in front of everyone. Kiss her or whatever. Then you’re done — come, flirt a little, and you can go home.”

She said it with a completely straight face.

Apparently, he was to show up, be publicly affectionate, and then leave.

“What, you and Shino haven’t even kissed yet?”

“No, we’ve already — “

“Then what’s the problem?”

Easy for her to say.

Yes, kissing Shino was something he did — but that was, as a rule, when the two of them were alone. Doing it in front of a crowd was a different matter entirely. Even Sandai had his dignity.

“Besides, there’s something in it for you, too. If word gets out that Shino’s taken, the guys quietly lining up for her will back off. That doesn’t worry you at all?”

That landed.

It did worry him — it was one of the exact reasons they’d decided to start spreading the news about their relationship in the first place.

But “kissing in public” was still… a hurdle.

“…Actually, hold on. Can we do something about the way you look? You’re a little on the plain side. If we’re taking you to a mixer, we need to work with what we’ve got. And honestly, a big glow-up might get a good reaction out of Shino, too.”

One of the girls suddenly said this out of nowhere.

The other four immediately perked up.

Before he knew what was happening, Sandai was being physically steered out the door.

He hadn’t given any kind of answer yet — and yet somehow, attending the mixer had already been treated as a done deal.

And as a bonus, it appeared he was now getting a makeover whether he liked it or not.