He thought it was a mere coincidence until the second incident happened in his second middle school year. Since then, he started playing more otome games as a means of survival. Particularly those with school themes, villains with the same name as him, and or characters with the exact same name as people in his real life.

Call him paranoid, but he wasn't going to stop any soon. He has played [Heartthrob Disaster] even before meeting Touya and the others. His effort didn't go in vain.

If you wondered why he didn't just avoid them once he knew their names, the answer was that he can't. Even if he wasn't close to them, he would still get involved just like in middle school. And it was more chaotic since he didn't know what the hell was going on when those male 'characters' kept picking fights with him.

He even became a public enemy for something he didn't do. In the end, he used the police for the second time to clear his name and move out from the city after the whole incident was over. He didn't want to see anyone from his school ever again. Not those from elementary and not those from middle school

He was already disoriented enough with his existential crisis. He didn't need any additional stress in his high school years.

Cats were his only allies.

"Stop watching these cat videos and eat your lunch first," Touya snatched Sei's phone away, "Your ramen is becoming soggy."

Sei tried to take it back, but Touya decisively put it in his inner blazer pocket. Sei ate his lunch in defeat.

Daichi and Touya helplessly looked at his little pout the person never knew he was always making when he sulked. When Sei looked up from his bowl they promptly looked away.

"By the way, where's Reita?" Daichi asked.

"He's giving a tour to the transfer student." Touya answered.

"Transfer student?"

"Yes, a girl named Fuyukawa-san. She was given a seat next to Reita, so Chiba-sensei told him to tour her around."

"Let's just hope he didn't make a fool of himself by tripping and falling."

"Or getting lost," Touya added, "It just hits me how bad of a choice it is to let Reita tour her."

Sei finished his lunch and looked at the time in his phone after it was returned by Touya, "I'm going first."

"The library?" Touya asked.

Sei nodded, "Right, I think I'll be needing help with something," he looked at Daichi, "Can you come and help me?"

"No prob." Daichi stood up from his seat.

"I'll wait for Reita here. He said he's on his way." Touya read the text sent by Reita.

Sei and Daichi left the cafeteria after putting their tray and dishes away. As they walked to the library, Sei felt a bit nervous. He has never done something like this in his previous 2 experiences.

According to the game, once Reita arrived at the cafeteria later, it would be the first introduction of the 3 capture targets. He wanted to know what happened if he messed up the game events.

"Kurosaki-kun, you're here." The student at the front desk greeted him.

Sei slightly bowed at her, "Good afternoon, senior."

"I see you brought help," the senior pointed to her back, "The returned books are over here in the box along with some newly donated books."

Sei circled to where she pointed with Daichi following him. 5 boxes full of books were placed behind the counter.

"This is what you need help with?" Daichi asked.

"The cart broke a few days ago and it hasn't been replaced yet. We already requested a new one to the student council, but they're still processing it." the senior explained.

Sei nodded, "Last time, I did it myself and almost broke my arm."

The senior shook her head, "It was a disaster. Most of us are girls, so only Kurosaki and a friend of mine can shelf up these books."

Daichi understood the situation, "So, which one first?"

Sei pointed to a box of newly donated books. The other librarians have grouped them up according to their genre, so it would be faster for him to shelf them first.

Daichi lifted the box up and told Sei he could carry one more.

"It's dangerous. Just bring one at a time." Sei disagreed.

"It's all good. Didn't you ask for my help instead of Touya because of my strength?" Daichi moved the box to be carried in one hand and flexed his other arm, "I can carry 2 with no problem."

"…Alright."

Sei chose another box with the closest section from the previous one and they headed to the first section. Just as he said, Daichi carried the 2 boxes with no problem.

Daichi was a member of the judo club and one of the aces of the school. Sei and the others predicted that he would be the next captain once the current one step down. Daichi didn't want that though since he felt he wasn't good leader material.

But the real reason was probably that he wouldn't have enough time to play at the internet cafe with them anymore. He was the type that ditched practice from time to time.

Daichi placed down the 2 boxes at the start of the section and carry one according to the section they were in after opening it.

"Just put it here." Sei stopped him.

"It'll be a hassle if you need to keep coming back and forth. It's faster this way."

Sei was actually feeling a bit guilty. For the purpose of pulling out Daichi from the introduction event, he was the one who broke the library cart. He donated these books as an apology, but it was also for a purpose which was why he chose yesterday of all days to be delivered here. Of course, he used a different name to hide it was from him.

Thankfully, the books were already labeled and arranged in the boxes, so it didn't take much time to organize them into the shelves.

When they were about to pick the last box of the donated books, Sei found that it hasn't been labeled yet.

"Senior, this one hasn't been labeled yet?"

The senior checked it, "Ah, you're right. I forgot. I'm planning to do it later after school with Mio, so you can leave that one."

Sei looked at the time, "I think I can help label half of it after shelving the returned books."

"Really?" the senior brightened, "Then, I'll leave half of them to you."

Sei nodded before proceeding to shelf the last box. Once the box was empty, he went back to the front desk to print the labels, but the senior had already done it for him.

"Thanks for your help, Daichi," Sei accepted the label stickers from the senior and turned to Daichi, "I'm going to stay here for a little longer. You can go back to your class first if you want."

"No, I think I'll stay. I don't have anything to do anyway. Maybe I can lend an extra hand?"

"I'm worried you'll mess the labels instead…"

Daichi rested his arm on Sei's shoulders, "Come on, how hard can it be?"

"…"

10 minutes later, Sei looked in exasperation at Daichi next to him. Although he didn't rip any of the labels, all the ones he put were crooked and creased. Sei stopped him before Daichi kept adding more work rather than helping.

"Just pass me the labels." Sei took the book away from Daichi.

Daichi didn't insist anymore and let Sei do his work. He passed a new label to him, "What can I say? I'm not good in handcrafts."

"I know. But labeling is not a handcrafting activity, so I thought you can do it with how confident you were." Sei stuck it neatly on the side of the book and moved to another one, accepting another label from Daichi.

"You're just too nitpicky."

"I'm not. It needs to be neat and tidy for people to see easily."

Daichi stuck a label to Sei's cheek, "Yes, yes. Whatever you say."

"Don't waste them."

Sei gave him a reprimanding look but let the label be. It wouldn't stick as strong as it initially was anyway even if he took it off.

Daichi rested his head on his free hand while putting out his label-filled fingers on his other hand to Sei.

"It's boring, right? That's why I said you should just go back first."

A breeze passed by, swaying the thin curtain of the window next to Sei. Sei's hair was slightly swept by it, wafting the scent of milk shampoo he always used. The sunlight fell onto his face, highlighting his long eyelashes behind the lenses of his glasses. His eyes were lowered, focusing on his task.

"No, I think this is kind of nice." Daichi replied.

Sei looked at him strangely before taking a label from his finger, "If you say so."