"With covering for you, who would dare to bully you?"
It was a bold statent, an arrogant one, but in most situations, Ryuju Momo did have the ability to back up her words and protect soone.
The problem was—that "soone" was Takashi.
"If, and I an if—this is just a hypothetical scenario."
Takashi carefully chose his words, making sure not to say anything that might provoke Ryuju Momo.
"What if the person you're trying to protect accidentally ends up offending the Shijo family, the Kashiwagi family, and in the future, maybe—possibly—offends the Shinomiya family too?
Would you still be able to cover for them?"
He didn't even ntion the Sawamura family, the Hiratsuka family, or the Nakano family—those weren't even worth bringing up in comparison.
"..."
Ryuju Momo's head turned toward Takashi like a rusty screw, slowly and stiffly, as if she was trying to burn a hole into his face with her gaze.
"The person you're talking about… isn't you, right?"
"Hahaha!"
Takashi let out a dry laugh, the kind that sounded like canned laughter from a variety show. Completely fake.
Under Ryuju Momo's emotionless stare, he guiltily looked away.
"I already said, it's hypothetical."
Sotis, avoiding the question was just another way of answering it.
'Deep breath, stay calm. Feeling dizzy is normal.'
At this mont, Ryuju Momo felt like her brain was running out of oxygen. She took a sharp inhale, trying to steady herself.
"What was it you just asked ?"
"If Ryuju-san—"
"Not that one. The question before that."
The previous question?
Takashi thought for a mont before answering, "If I go to Shuchiin, what do I do if I get bullied?"
Ryuju Momo smiled and encouraged him, "Do your best!"
"???"
Takashi stared at her, dumbfounded.
I just asked you what I should do if I get bullied, and you tell to "do my best"?!
Do my best at what?
Get bullied?
"Ryuju-san, that's not what you said earlier."
Ryuju Momo scoffed, "I didn't expect you to piss off that many people either."
With the people Takashi had antagonized, there wasn't a single person in Japan who could truly protect him.
Unless she were the President of the United States.
"The best I can do is make sure you get a proper burial."
If the situation was really as bad as Takashi described, the only thing she could do for him was make sure he didn't die too miserably.
"By the way, how exactly did you manage to piss them all off?"
Ryuju Momo genuinely couldn't figure out what Takashi had done to provoke both the Shinomiya and Shijo families—to the point where they were willing to set aside their own conflicts just to deal with him.
"How would I know? I'm just asking randomly."
Takashi added a silent "for now."
At this mont, things were still in a delicate balance.
He was only asking Ryuju Momo about it because he had a gut feeling that if he kept going at this rate, he wouldn't end up in a good place.
If things got worse, he had already prepared a plan to flee the country, build a legendary reputation overseas using his system, recruit a rcenary army, and establish the Dragon King's Palace.
Three years later, the Dragon King would return, and then...
Alright, never mind. He couldn't even keep this fantasy going.
Even when he read those Arrogant Dragon King novels, he only got through the first few chapters before giving up.
"You'd better really just be asking randomly."
Ryuju Momo warned him before straightening up and walking away.
"Where are you going?"
Takashi instinctively tried to follow.
He was terrified of running into another rich woman like Sanka Aria.
Because against them, he had absolutely no way to fight back.
He felt much safer sticking close to Ryuju Momo in this kind of environnt.
Ryuju Momo paused for a mont, then continued walking with her long, slender legs in her denim shorts.
"If you want to follow into the won's restroom, I don't mind."
Her tone was as indifferent as ever, as if she genuinely didn't care whether Takashi followed her or not.
Takashi imdiately stopped in his tracks.
He had no interest in following her into the ladies' room.
"Then I'll head back first. Co find later—I'm in one of the open seats near the bar."
"Got it."
Ryuju Momo waved a hand before disappearing into the restroom.
Takashi turned and left as well.
On the way back, he politely declined the advances of a yamauba (mountain witch), a married woman, and a college student before finally returning to his seat.
The table that originally only had him and Haruno now had an extra guest.
The woman sitting there had long, wavy hair and wore a revealing outfit—showing off everything she could in the na of "fashion freedom."
She had heavy makeup on, but even with that, she was nowhere near as stunning as Haruno.
If Takashi had to guess based on his system's rating scale, this woman was probably a 6.
A solid 6 was still considered pretty, but next to Haruno, she was completely overshadowed.
It wasn't hard to guess—this woman was most likely the club owner.
"You're finally back."
As soon as Takashi sat down, Haruno stopped her conversation with the woman and turned to him.
"What took you so long? Don't tell you got hit on?"
"Yeah, almost didn't make it back."
"Huh?"
Haruno's mouth opened into an "O" shape in surprise.
Then, she straightened up slightly, put her cocktail down on the table, and half-jokingly said,
"You didn't tell them you're Shizuka's man?"
The wavy-haired woman beside them instantly turned her head toward Takashi in shock.
No way!
Shizuka actually found a man?
At first, she thought Takashi was a new host at the club.
She had been wondering when they hired such a handso young boy toy.
But it turned out he was actually Shizuka's boyfriend?!
"I didn't get the chance. Soone saved first."
Takashi knew Haruno's words were directed at the club owner rather than at him.
Taking a slice of waterlon from the fruit platter, he quickly ate it clean.
Sumr and waterlon—an unbeatable combination.
"You ran into soone you know?"
Haruno didn't think much of it, assuming it was just a college classmate of his.
It wasn't uncommon for university students to take part-ti jobs at host clubs.
Though, most didn't last very long before quitting.
"Sort of."
Could soone he had only t once be considered an acquaintance?
"Say, Yamata-san, I brought a guest to your club, and he got harassed. How do you plan to handle this?" Haruno suddenly turned to the wavy-haired woman.
"Who dared to ss with you? Tell , and I'll make them apologize."
The confidence in Yamata Kazumi's voice reminded Takashi of Ryuju Momo just monts ago.
She had been just as confident…
Only to get completely humbled afterward.
Takashi shook his head.
"Forget it. It's in the past."
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