All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

With renewed confidence swelling in her chest, Usa Saion stepped down from the stage. Instead of returning to her previous spot in the corner, she strode directly toward Kotomi Izumi and her friends.

Kotomi Izumi, who was at that moment discussing with Yui and Yukino whether they should have grilled beef rolls with green peppers or cheesy Orleans chicken rolls after the ceremony, instinctively looked up when she heard approaching footsteps.

Seeing that it was Usa Saion walking toward them, Kotomi didn’t think much of it. Instead, she turned back to Yui and said:

”Yui, I want both the grilled beef rolls with green peppers and the cheesy Orleans chicken rolls, but I don’t like green peppers, so I’ll leave them to you, okay?”

Yui Yuigahama nodded enthusiastically. ”No problem!”

Yukino Yukinoshita, on the other hand, sighed and said, ”You can’t be picky with food, Kotomi. You’re not a child anymore. You should at least try eating the green peppers—you might find they actually taste good. And Yui, you shouldn’t spoil her like that. Let her eat them herself.”

Kotomi pouted pitifully, furrowing her brows. ”But green peppers taste awful... If it were grilled onions, I could eat them.”

Yukino raised an eyebrow. ”Now I’m curious—what do you do at home when your family makes stuffed peppers?”

Kotomi replied matter-of-factly, ”I take the meat out from inside the pepper and have Aimi eat the peppers for me!”

”You can’t just dump the food you don’t like on your little sister! I thought only my foolish sister would do something like that.”

”All big brothers and sisters do that~” Kotomi joked playfully, then added curiously, ”Wait, so Haruno does that too?”

Yukino nodded slightly. ”When we were kids, my sister hated cabbage. Every time there was cabbage in our meals, she’d wait until I wasn’t looking and dump all the cabbage from her plate onto mine. And if that wasn’t bad enough, right before pulling her chopsticks back, she’d steal a few pieces of meat from my plate.”

Hearing about Haruno Yukinoshita’s childhood antics, Kotomi couldn’t help but comment:

”Haruno really is a terrible big sister, huh.”

”I completely agree,” Yukino said with a small nod.

During their casual chat, Usa Saion drew closer and closer until Yukino Yukinoshita finally noticed her.

Yukino nudged Kotomi Izumi’s arm lightly and said quietly, ”She’s not coming with good intentions.”

Kotomi glanced up at the approaching Usa and, pretending not to understand, asked innocently, ”Sugarcane? Where’s sugarcane? I’m actually kind of thirsty.”

”...When we leave the gym later, head east—there’s a stall selling freshly pressed sugarcane juice,” Yukino replied dryly.

When Usa Saion stopped in front of Kotomi Izumi, she sneered and said, ”Why hasn’t your name been called even after all the awards were announced? Did they make a mistake on the list, or did you just not win anything?”

Her tone was arrogantly loud—clearly intended for everyone nearby to hear.

Kotomi’s eyes darkened slightly. It seemed Yukino was right—she really wasn’t here for anything good.

Usa’s words caused a ripple through the crowd. Whispers spread around them:

”What’s going on over there?”

”That girl looks like Usa Saion. She’s got a really... aggressive personality.”

”Is she picking a fight with Kotomi?”

Kotomi cast Usa a calm, almost indifferent glance. The faint curve of her lips—like a sharp thorn—pierced straight into Usa’s heart.

To Usa, Kotomi’s tranquil composure looked like unbearable arrogance—like a queen who never deigned to notice the crawling ants beneath her feet. That subtle, polite smile on her lips wasn’t warmth—it was cutting mockery disguised as kindness.

”What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Usa snapped coldly.

Kotomi didn’t rush to reply. Instead, she turned slightly to glance behind her—at Yui Yuigahama, who, upon seeing someone trying to pick a fight with Kotomi, had quietly picked up a nearby folding chair. She even gave it a few experimental swings, testing the weight.

From the look of it, Yui was planning to sneak up behind Usa and bring the chair down on her head—

So she could, as she might say, ”gently awaken her sleeping soul.”

”Ahem.”

Kotomi coughed softly. As touched as she was by her beloved dumpling’s fierce protectiveness, she couldn’t quite let this one play out. With Yui’s strength, if she really swung that chair down on someone’s head...

The result would probably look like when you drop a watermelon in summer—smashed to pieces, red juice splattered everywhere.