Chapter 21: The Problem with a Piece of Pie

Mono started eating the pie he had just bought while glancing at Sako.

"Special pie... last promo," Sako said weakly, sitting on the floor.

"Huh? You want this pie? I'll split it with you," Mono offered.

"No!! It's been touched by a guy, that's disgusting," Sako replied, standing up with a look of disgust on her face.

"So, do you want it or not?" Mono asked, furrowing his brow.

"Of course not! You've already bitten into it," Sako said loudly.

"Alright then," Mono replied flatly.

"Tch, you seem like one of those guys who acts all cold in front of girls. You're probably a player," Sako said mockingly.

Mono was starting to get annoyed with Sako, but he told himself, "Be patient, Mono. Just ignore her and leave."

Mono walked away, but as soon as he took a few steps, Sako shouted.

"Eww, running away. What a coward. Disgusting guy!"

Mono immediately got angry and turned back to Sako, saying, "Hey, listen here, you fucking picky girl. This is just how I am. If you wanted the pie, you could've just said so. You're such a sharp-tongued girl, can't even smile, and flat-chested too! You'll have a hard time finding a boyfriend."

SLAP!!

"YOU'RE OUT OF LINE!!" Sako screamed, slapping Mono hard across the face. The slap landed on the bruise Mono had from Aruta's punch earlier. Mono was shocked by the strength of Sako's slap.

"Damn, crazy girl..." Mono was sent flying into a table behind him and collapsed.

"Hmph! Why do I keep meeting weird people today," Sako muttered as she walked out of the cafeteria.

***

Meanwhile, Mona was strolling leisurely, stretching her arms and yawning.

"Ugh, I'm so bored," Mona mumbled as she continued walking.

Mona eventually reached the school cafeteria and saw a crowd of students gathered. She quickly approached that crowd.

"Hey-hey, what's going on here?" Mona asked as she pushed her way to the center of the crowd.

Once inside, Mona saw Aruta sprawled on a table with a bowl of noodles beside him.

"Huh? Aruta?" Mona was surprised.

"Mona, Mono's also collapsed over here!" another student called out.

Mona quickly went over and saw Mono lying on the floor with a table on top of him.

"Ugh, you guys. How many times do I have to take you to the infirmary?" Mona said, holding her head.

***

Meanwhile, the Devil Noodle vendor.

"Huh, why is one of my salt packets missing?" the vendor muttered, searching for the missing salt.

***

In the infirmary, Mono began to wake up and saw Aruta sitting next to his bed.

"A...ruta?" Mono opened his eyes.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Aruta said, still holding his stomach.

"What happened to you?" Mono asked.

"I had a noodle-eating contest with that girl earlier. But instead of the spiciness being demonic, it was the saltiness that was insane," Aruta explained.

"So you're her victim too, huh? Who brought us here?" Mono asked, trying to sit up while holding his cheek that Sako had slapped.

"The nurse said Mona brought us here," Aruta replied.

"Oh, her," Mono muttered.

The room fell silent. Mono didn't say anything, and Aruta was also at a loss for words.

Aruta thought for a moment and finally broke the silence. "By the way, your sister's the student council president, right? Why don't you join the student council too?" Aruta asked.

"Huh? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" Mono asked.

"Hey, come on. I don't want to die from all this tension," Aruta said.

"Ugh, fine. I'm not officially a member, but my sister always makes me do student council work. So even though I'm not a member, I still have to do their tasks," Mono explained.

Not long after, Mono heard a notification sound from his phone. He checked it and saw a message from Mr. Kuroto. The message read:

Yo Mono! I've got a mission for you, and it's also Aruta's first mission. Make sure to take good care of him during the mission. Oh, and we're getting a new Juntoshi mage. Good luck with your mission! Meet me this afternoon.

"A new Juntoshi mage again?" Mono asked.

"Huh? A new Juntoshi mage? So I'll have a junior then," Aruta said.

"But you just joined yesterday. They'll be in the same year as you," Mono replied.

***

That afternoon

The school bell rang, and Aruta quickly packed up his books and left. As he was walking out of school, he saw Mono also heading out.

"Hey Mono!" Aruta called out.

"Huh?" Mono turned to look at Aruta.

Aruta quickly caught up and patted Mono on the shoulder.

"Let's go to the headquarter together," Aruta suggested.

"Okay," Mono replied.

They walked together, but less than a minute later, someone else called out to Mono.

"Mono!!"

Aruta and Mono turned around and saw Mona running toward them at full speed.

"Mono, I need your help!" Mona said, grabbing Mono's right arm tightly and whining.

"H-hey, help with what?" Mono asked.

"I need you to handle some documents. All my secretaries are sick, so I have to do it all by myself," Mona said.

"Hey, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm not in the student council!" Mono said, annoyed.

"And maybe you've forgotten our rule. You can't say 'no' to your big sister!" Suddenly, Mona hoisted Mono onto her shoulder and ran off with him.

"Hey, what the hell! HEEYYYyyy..." Mono's voice trailed off as he became the victim of his sister's kidnapping.

"Well, I guess I'll have to go alone," Aruta muttered, watching the scene unfold.

Aruta went to the base by himself.

***

When he arrived, he saw Mrs. Haruki sitting alone in the living room, watching TV.

"Good afternoon, Ma'am," Aruta greeted.

"Oh, Aruta. Come on in," Haruki said, standing up and approaching Aruta.

"Where is everyone else?" Aruta asked.

"Some are on missions, and some just didn't come. Only me and Mr. Kuroto are here right now," Haruki replied.

"Oh, then I'll go see Mr. Kuroto. Where is he now?" Aruta asked.

"Over there, go forward that hallway and look for the door with a flower vase next to it. That's his room," Haruki said, pointing to a hallway.

"Okay, thank you, Ma'am," Aruta said.

"You're welcome. I heard you're going on your first mission. Good luck," Haruki said with a smile.

"Hehe, thank you, Ma'am!"

Aruta walked down the hallway Haruki had pointed out. There were four doors in the hallway. Aruta found the one with the flower vase next to it.

Aruta knocked on the door.

Knock knock knock.

"Who's there?" Kuroto's voice came from inside.

"It's me, Aruta," Aruta replied.

"Oh, Aruta. Come in, the door's unlocked," Kuroto said.

Aruta opened the door and saw Kuroto's simple room. It had only basic furniture like a bed, a wardrobe, a bookshelf, a desk, and a chair.

"Hello, Aruta," Kuroto greeted calmly.

"Hello, sir," Aruta replied.

Aruta looked at Kuroto, who was sitting at his desk. On the desk, there was only a laptop. But when Aruta looked closer, he noticed an old book open in front of the laptop.

"Mr. Kuroto, do you like reading a books?" Aruta asked.

"Oh, not really. I just happened to find this one," Kuroto replied, standing up.

"That book looks really old. What is it about?" Aruta asked.

"Just a regular novel. Someone probably forgot where they left it, so it ended up collecting dust," Kuroto said. "Oh, by the way, where's Mono?"

"Mono got kidnapped by his sister," Aruta replied.

"Oh, I see," Kuroto said, sitting back down. "Well, let's chat for a bit while we wait for Mono and our new member to arrive."