Why is the Demon King like this?

After waiting for almost half an hour, the fragrant eel rice was finally served.

The rice was served in a beautiful black lacquered box, decorated with a depiction of the Japanese custom of eating eel on the "Doyo no Ushi no Hi" (Day of the Ox). The golden-brown grilled eel completely covered the rice, with oil and sauce constantly seeping out.

Along with the soup came a bowl of eel liver soup, with a small amount of kelp added, seasoned with salt and soy sauce, which tasted very delicious.

The side dishes were ordinary pickled vegetables and radishes.

"Let's dig in!"

Asuka Arisugawa adorably clasped her hands together, and when she saw Keisuke Ao looking over, she thanked him again.

Japanese people have a tradition of eating eel in three ways: first, the original flavor; second, mixing eel with scallions, seaweed, wasabi, and rice; and third, the classic ochazuke (rice soaked in tea).

As for the remaining quarter, you can eat it as you please, even if you just add some side dishes.

Keisuke Ao imitated Arisugawa Asuka's way of eating, and before he knew it, he was drawn to the girl's lips. He took a bite or two, and her satisfied expression made it hard to look away.

The Demon Lord's understanding of sharing food has reached a new level.

"Oh, I see~"

After quickly finishing half of their meal, the two slowed down and started chatting.

"Arisugawa-kun, you can say what you wanted to say before, right? It's here now, isn't it?"

Arisugawa Asuka swallowed the rice in her mouth and wiped her greasy lips: "I thought you already knew. Actually, it's about the thing I told you about before!"

What about that incident before?

I'm sorry, but I can't help you with memories that even the original owner has forgotten.

Seeing his expression, Arisugawa Asuka's beautiful eyes widened immediately: "You haven't forgotten everything, have you?"

—It doesn't look like a confession. Aokiji tensed up.

So he tentatively replied, "About school?"

"Yes!"

Asuka Arisugawa rolled her eyes at him, as if blaming him for remembering to make such a joke, but because her expression was too gentle, it only made her look cute.

"This is a very serious matter. Although... many sad things have happened, Qinggui, you must move forward, otherwise—"

You're going to have to repeat a year!

Repeating a grade—?

Make eye contact.

Keisuke Ao frowned, wondering if repeating a year would affect his life.

The result seems to be... even more enjoyable?

Even if he were to suspend his studies, it wouldn't have any impact on him, right?

Wait a minute, if someone does this before they're a minor, the police will probably come knocking on their door, so what?

"Ahem, repeating a grade doesn't seem to matter, does it?" he said.

Asuka Arisugawa looked at him in shock, never expecting him to have such thoughts—although he was much more proactive than before, hadn't he gone completely astray?

"Repeating a grade is terrible. You have to attend school-organized training courses during the summer vacation, and I've heard you'll be ostracized by younger students, and you might not even have a place in the whole class..."

Aoki Keisuke said uncertainly, "In my current class, I guess nobody cares about me anymore, right?"

Asuka Arisugawa pointed forcefully at herself.

The girl was furious, but because of her good upbringing, she only blushed.

"you……!"

Aoki Keisuke never expected that his words would turn the usually gentle girl into this. Just as he was about to try to reason with her, he heard Arisugawa Asuka reprimand him in a stern tone for the first time: "You can't waste your life like this, Aoki! Every year of high school is gone forever. No matter how many times you repeat a grade, your life is never a second chance!"

"..."

Noticing the gazes gathering in the store, the girl's face turned a different shade of red, she shrank back, and her voice dropped eight octaves: "Anyway, don't say such childish things."

Keisuke Ao ignored those stares and temporarily set aside the flaws in Arisugawa Asuka's words; the literary girl's words struck him like a heavy blow to the chest.

He had been searching for a new meaning in life, so these words hit him right in the head.

Or perhaps it was a sudden enlightenment.

Even if there are unexpected events that the girl cannot understand or imagine, as well as Keisuke Ao's own calculations, it does not change the absolute correctness of this statement.

He finally understood why Arisugawa Asuka had parted ways with the original owner of the body on bad terms—that person was a piece of trash countless times more useless than himself.

Even after being subjected to even more furious questioning, Arisugawa Asuka was still willing to come forward and offer help, which made Keisuke Ao realize her precious qualities even more clearly.

The ambiguous or curious gazes in the store gradually shifted away, returning privacy to the young men and women.

"Thank you, Arisugawa-kun."

Aoki Keisuke understood what he should say to repay this expectation.

It's burning up!

"I completely understand now. How about going back to class next Monday?"

"real?"

Keisuke Ao pushed open the lacquer box, leaned forward, and smiled, "We can go to school together."

"this……"

Arisugawa Asuka shrank back a little more: "This is just to help you adjust to school life."

"Um."

Keisuke Ao laughed, picked up the remaining half of the eel with his chopsticks, folded it twice, stuffed it into his mouth, and began to chew it heartily.

The eel rice was indeed delicious!

……

evening.

Keisuke Ao carried the pet carrier and walked alone on the way back.

The kitten was still under anesthesia and looked completely useless, which made those who love cats exclaim that it was abhorrent.

After explaining the details of returning to school, Arisugawa Asuka led Hiromi away. The girl was very sensitive about going to school with Ao Keisuke the day after tomorrow morning and seemed to be preoccupied.

"Senior~~~~"

"Oh, it's Kobayashi-san. What's up?"

"Oh my god~ You used to call me Kobayashi-chan!"

Where is it?

Keisuke Ao used his phone to rub his temples. He had only called her that to dissuade Rena Kobayashi back then, hadn't he?

"Hehehe, look at this!"

"photo.jpg"

With one hand, Keisuke Ao opened the photo, which showed two discount coupons.

"Put this coupon at the store to enjoy a 5% discount! We have everything from eel and sushi to tempura!"

"Senior, I'll treat you to dinner with a discount coupon!"

"Ah...sorry, I just went out to lunch with someone."

"Huh???"

"Crying Hippo Head.jpg" x5

"Why! How could someone like you, a senior, possibly go out to eat with someone else!"

"Hey, didn't you just say something really rude?"

"There's nothing I can do. My seniors have hurt my feelings again. One generation after another, oh, oh, oh."

Keisuke Ao smiled, took a picture through the gap in the pet carrier, and sent it to the sender.

"Today I took Yuki to the hospital for a check-up and ran into the class's academic representative, so we chatted about returning to school."

"Is my senior going back to school?!"

"Damn thief!"

"Speaking of which, why isn't the kitten's name 'Nana'?!"