房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Zoemi's seat was third to last in the middle row so he nodded to both of his neighbors before sitting down and taking out the math book and the notebook.

The girl sitting on his right was constantly glancing at him as if she was keen to ask him something but the boy wasn't quite sure how to react to her.

After all, she was basically the black-haired Kierul.

Zoemi had all of his memories back now, so he remembered her both as the mastermind behind the rape accusation directed against him and his cunning best friend and master.

Knowing her like that gives a lot of context to why she acted as she did in the first timeline but it didn't completely erase the wariness in Zoemi's heart.

*twack* *thump*

"?!?!"

All of a sudden, while copying everything from the blackboard, Zoemi was attacked from the side – an unknown projectile hit his temple and fell on the ground, bouncing off a few times, not harming the boy but confusing him to no end.

When he looked around he first noticed that the projectile used was an eraser – now laying under the black-haired-Kierul-looking girl's desk – and the second one was the glare that said the girl was giving him, clearly pissed off about something.

"Why are you not paying attention, Sato?"

The Rokiana-like teacher asked without turning away from the blackboard... but changing the grip on the piece of chalk she was writing the formulas as if readying to throw it...

"Excuse me, teacher, I dropped my eraser."

"!!!"

The Kierul-like girl raised her hand and apologized before leaning down for the eraser and glaring at the utterly shocked Zoemi while she was straightening her back.

|Wait, she's Sato?! If we're friends then why is she angry at me?!|

The boy thought in disbelief glancing down at his pocket containing the phone.

The lesson ended and the Rokiana-like teacher left the classroom.

As she did, the Kierul-like girl immediately stood up and moved her chair right by Zoemi, where she seated herself with her back turned to the stunned boy.

"The hell, dude? I'm worried about you and you treat me like air? You better take responsibility for stressing me out and massage my shoulders!"

The girl demanded, raising her arm and pointing her thumb at her back merely giving Zoemi a side-eye.

"..."

|...the fuck...? I might not remember shit but I'm definitely not your servant in this timeline!|

Zoemi remained silent although he wasn't nearly as calm on the inside.

Even so, he reached out his hands and touched Sato's shoulders...

*rustle*

"EH?!"

...and instantly moved his thumbs, unhooking her bra, causing the girl to grab her chest protectively and call out in shock...

"You little asshole! I'm sorry for throwing the eraser at you okay?!"

"...?"

Zoemi expected the girl to get even angrier, maybe even slap him, but instead, despite cursing at him, Sato sulked and slid closer to him, using the boy as a shield and hurriedly hooking the bra in place... she even apologized for her earlier actions...?

"I'm going to the toilet!"

Sato stood up and marched out of the classroom making Zoemi wonder what kind of relationship they had in this timeline.

They seemed even closer than before, with the Kierul-like Sato trusting him completely and not expecting any ulterior motives out of his scandalous behavior besides just getting back at her for getting hit.

...still...

With the distraction gone, Zoemi got up from his seat to begin the search for Miriette.

Since after his arrival he took the only free spot and Miriette was not there, there was still hope that she was a student in another class or grade.

The break was rather short Zoemi could not search too far and his short escapade did not yield any results.

He returned to the classroom and took his seat just when the next teacher entered the classroom... while trying to ignore Sato's glare.

*thump*

"...?"

All of a sudden juice was placed on the side of his desk... by none other than Sato.

"Here. We are even, okay? Can you tell me what is going on, dude?"

The Kierul-like girl returned to her seat and asked with a softer expression.

She... was seemed genuinely worried.

"...it's nothing. I fell off my bed and hit my head the wrong way so I'm just grumpy because of a headache. Sorry for worrying you."

With her looking like that and extending the peace offer despite Zoemi being the first offender and acting weird, the black-haired boy decided to cautiously explain things while carefully bending the truth so it wouldn't sound too suspicious in case someone connected with Cherro was listening in.

"It must have been one hell of a fall if you had to go to a hospital just in case."

The Kierul-like Sato fidgetted from unrest and pointed out looking as if she started seriously worrying about the boy next to her.

"It was just a nearby clinic."

"Still..."

Zoemi waved his hand dismissively although the reassuring smile that he had given her didn't quite put her worries to rest.

"Twins separated at birth, it's already after the bell. Focus."

The teacher scolded the pair making the class chuckle – but that paired with Sato's lighthearted reaction told Zoemi everything he needed to know about the relationship they had in this timeline.

|Now... how should I use it to get what I want without getting too suspicious...?|

The boy thought and spent the whole class pondering about what approach he should take.

Immediately after the bell Zoemi took out his phone and searched for something in the browser.

"Sato... by any chance have you ever seen someone similar to her?"

Zoemi said, showing the in-game model of Miriette from the Kampf um die liebe.

After all that thinking the boy decided it was okay to be direct with the search for Miriette. All in all, he in this timeline should be as obsessed about the game and the unfortunate villainess as he was all the previous times.

"...dude..."

"...!"

...it should be okay but what he didn't expect was the pure disappointment in Sato's eyes once she glanced at his phone and then looked him straight in the eyes.

"I thought that since you were silent about it for a few days you gave up on that 2D crush of yours, but it got that much worse, huh..."

Sato shook her head in disbelief actually relieving some of Zoemi's worries.

If that was her response then he should still be in the clear with his actions.

"You know me the best, isn't being loyal my best trait?"

He snickered boastfully puffing out his chest.

"Pffft! Yeah, whatever. As for the real-life version of your waifu – no. I have never seen anyone similar to her, but hey – I don't know everyone in this school."

Sato snorted and leaned back into her seat and dismissively shrugging her shoulders.

"Alright, then all I have to do is look for her then~"

"Hold up, dude...! You're serious?"

With the initial questioning done, the black-haired boy stood up from his seat and moved towards the door, causing his friend to gasp and call after him in disbelief.

"What can I do? I might have a heart big enough to host many, but she will always be my number one~!"

Zoemi turned around for a moment, spinning on his heel, and declared while raising his hands to the sides in a dismissive gesture...

...and leaving the classroom...

Basically, that was how he spent the rest of the day – staying in class where there was time for it and then going around the school observing other students in hopes of finding Miriette.

The search did not yield the expected results, but it did confirm that the school was filled with characters from the game. Truth be told that also included Arisu – who in the previous timeline was the reincarnation of that filth Cherro but...

For whatever messed up reason, even after only glancing at the Arisu-faced third-year student, Zoemi could tell that he was not Cherro this time around.

Actually, that was something within Zoemi's expectations – if anything, this Arisu was placed in the school as bait.

If he, Zoemi, started acting hostile towards him all of a sudden, the real Cherro would realize that he regained his memories and is planning something.

"Dude, you don't want to hit up the arcade?"

After school Zoemi was stopped by Sato grabbing his shoulder and asking in confusion at him going the opposite direction to hers.

"Sorry, the head trauma, remember? See you tomorrow though~"

"...okay..."

The boy shook his head and tapped his temple with his index finger, making the Kierul-like girl lower her head and grumble as he walked away.

"...I am pretty sure that this is the right direction..."

Already out of the girl's hearing range Zoemi looked around the buildings and muttered to himself trying to find his way around.

Things looked different than when he was in the car...

nonetheless, the boy didn't want to stay in place so he continued walking.

"...huh...?"

After a couple of minutes of walking a rather unexpected sight greeted him...

It was the small clinic that his parents took him to this morning... meaning, it was Burushi's home!

"...I was looking the other way on my way to the school..."

The boy pointed out, doing his best to convince himself that he wasn't lost and just wasn't paying attention.

...but since he was already there anyway...

"Hello, again~"

"!!!" *thump*

Zoemi entered the clinic and the Burushi-like girl who was about to walk up the stairs looked at him and dropped a whole stack of books that she was carrying.