Kuro Kurogane was simply trying to not die during lunch.

The only thing that made lunchtime a struggle for him was the fact that his girlfriend Mina Fujikawa decided to take a seat next to him yet again.

Far too close.As usual.

Kuro said with a completely flat tone, "You’re staring again."

Mina gave him a beautiful smile.

"I’m just observing my boyfriend."

Silence fell around them.Kuro semi-slowly rotated his head to look at Mina, and asked, "Your what?"

Mina leaned back against the wall of the cafeteria, and said, "My boyfriend."

Kuro responded with another "I am not."

"Mhm?" Mina leaned her head to the side as though she were actually pondering something.

After that thought had left Mina’s mind, she then turned to face another group of students who had all also decided to staring at Kuro.

"Oh yeah," Mina shouted, "I forgot to tell people this."

At that moment, Kuro knew he was in trouble.

Mina began to lightly point at Kuro.

"Kuro-kun is my boyfriend," she said.

At that moment the entire cafeteria became dead silent, all of the kids stopped moving their forks, all of the kids stopped talking, even the air appeared to just stop breathing.

Kuro blinked once and then said, "You what?"

Mina smiled at Kuro in a way that made him want to hide.

I’m just kidding, she did not smile like that, she had just smiled brightly.

"I’m only kidding, he is my fake boyfriend."

The details matter much more than you would think.

Unfortunately... it was too late.

Instinctively, a small tornado of whispers blew through the students in the lunchroom.

"No way..." "Mina and Kuro are dating?" "Since when?" "He’s already living with twins and has a girlfriend?"

Kuro laid his head down on the table and said in a loud enough voice that only he could hear, "I’m transferring schools."

At that moment when Kuro thought about that, Mina patted him on the shoulder.

"I told you to relax it’s purely for your convenience."

She pointed to a guy across the room who stood there looking frozen, having just attempted to confess his love for her moments before.

"This is what I am talking about."

Kuro stared at her with a blank expression.

"You used me as an emotional shield."

"That’s right."

"That is not romantic."

"It’s a practical way to have romance."

"That sounds wrong as well."

Mina grinned and said, "Don’t worry I’ll cancel it."

Kuro had doubts immediately on whether she ever would.

By the time lunch ended, the rumor mill version of this situation had spun completely out of control.

Rumor Version 1: "Kuro is dating Mina."

Rumor Version 2: "They’ve been sneaking around behind everyone else’s backs."

Rumor Version 3: "Kuro is a playboy and dates multiple girls."

Rumor Version 4 (most harmful to Kuro): "He is at a center for a love war."

Kuro sat at his desk looking like a blank screen.

"This school is broken."

The classroom door slid open at that moment.Akari walked through the door.

Stopped.Looked around the room.

And then, finally locked onto Kuro’s eyes.

Dead silence.Aoi followed Akari in after.Also stopped and looked around.Dead silence deepened even further.

Mina, now sitting quite smugly, waved and said, "Hey there - you are going to be my sister wives."

That was the wrong thing to say.

Very wrong.Akari was the first to break into a smile.It was an incredibly sweet smile.

"Kuro-kun."

"What do you want me to say?"

"You know... my boyfriend," said Aoi.

Kuro immediately raised both hands and said, "FALSE RUMORS."

Aoi began walking toward Kuro’s desk very slowly.

"Explain?"

"It isn’t real."

Mina leaned back, feeling pleased.

"He didn’t decline upon you quickly enough."

"I DID NOT."

With a crooked head, Akari expressed her interest.

"So do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

Mina was looked at by Aoi.

"...Fabrication with intent?"

"Correct.", the proud Mina responded.

Akari narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Intersting."

That tone was not good news. Not in the slightest bit.

Afterward school had been completed, Kuro was attempting to escape.

Akari and Aoi were already there waiting for him at the gates.Mina was with him like a regular person would be.

This was an awful formation.Akari grabbed onto his sleeve as soon as she got to him.

"Kuro-kun."

"...And now what."

"You are very popular today."

"I am currently suffering."

Aoi gazed at him.

"...Do you like Mina more than I do?"

Kuro stopped walking.

"...Where did you get that from?"

"You are jealous already?" The question made Mina laughed.

"Yes."

Akari came through with a direct answer for her question she had just given.There was no outward reaction from Aoi.

But when she came through with her line her grip on his sleeve tightened just a little bit.

Kuro completely felt the start of emotional warfare upon entering the area.

"...You all stop talking."

Mina came close.

"Or else what, Boyfriend?"

"I WILL LEAVE THIS EARTH."

Akari suddenly stepped in front of him.

"Kuro-kun is not your’s."

"Never said I was serious". Said the smiling Mina.

Calmly Aoi added: "...But rumors do not need to be serious." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Silence.That last sentence hit harder than I thought it would have happened.

Kuro rubbed his forehead in frustration. "This is another reason why I hate words," he said.

Yesterday was bad. Today things got worse. People started to believe them.

Girls began ,to look at Mina during class ,to look at Kuro more often , to whisper whenever Kuro was around Mina

Once again, Kuro was unintentionally becoming more popular.But lunch time was where it really got bad.

At lunch, Akari was on one side, Aoi on the other side, and Mina sitting directly across from Kuro.

A triangular disaster!

Akari was the first to speak. "You should break up with him."

Mina blinked in confusion. "Uh.... What?"

"You’re ruining everybody’s peace."

Mina smirked. "You’re just jealous of me. Aren’t you, stepsister?"

"Of course I am!" Akari shook her head as if her answer was absolute.

Kuro dropped his head into his hands. "My god, I can’t believe this is my life." Aoi spoke calmly. "Your ’Fake boyfriend status’ is disrupting the balance of social order."

"STOP LOOKING AT THIS AS IF IT’S A SYSTEM PROBLEM."

Mina leaned toward Kuro and continued, "But you know what’s funny?"

Kuro shot her an evil eye. "Nothing is funny about this."

"You also still have yet to reject the false rumor directly."

Kuro stared at her. "You started the false rumor."

"That doesn’t change the fact that you have to take responsibility for it now."

"That’s not how responsibility works."

At that moment, Akari suddenly leaned forward. "Kuro-kun," she asked, "Are you really Mina’s boyfriend?"

"No."

"Then say it correctly",

Kuro sighed deeply. Then he stood up slightly and yelled out loud: "I AM NOT MINA’S BOYFRIEND!"

Silence, relief and peace.

Present approximately 2 seconds later.

Mina smiled once again.

"That was so loud."

Kuro sat back down slowly.

"I really hate you."

Mina laughed.

"Very good."

And yet, there is something else beneath the chaos:

Akari and Aoi were relaxing more than they have before.

Their gazes were coming back to Kuro much more frequently than they had before.

And Mina...Mina seemed to be having too much fun.

Kuro breathed out very slowly.

"This school will kill me someday."

No one disagreed with Kuro.