Chapter 39 Oh dear, things are getting awkward...

During an ordinary break between classes, Nekono Ikuya turned to talk to two friends.

Rei Furuya casually asked, "Nekono-kun, those annoying guys haven't been bothering me lately. Did you do something?"

Nekono Yuuya was peeling an orange with her head down. When she heard this, she looked up and smiled, readily admitting, "Yes, but I didn't do anything. I just had someone expose their bullying of others in private and scared them a few times by pretending to be a ghost."

Given those people's despicable behavior, Rei Furuya is definitely not the only one being bullied. If they run into a brick wall with Rei, they might escalate their anger and vent it on others. Punishing them would be a way of saving other innocent victims.

Fortunately, their teachers might not care whether anyone was being bullied, but they certainly cared about their own reputation and the strange looks from others. If things escalated even slightly, they would swiftly take action to suppress the bullying children.

"Tch, isn't this just doing your job well? You only stop ignoring things when someone reminds you," Nekono Ikuya scoffed.

As for why he went to all that trouble to act like a ghost and scare those people into screaming, Nekono Ikumi justified himself by saying it was a personal grudge!

He slowly peeled off a segment of orange, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and suddenly shuddered, his body stiffening. After a moment, he tentatively chewed it again, not believing it.

"..." Nekono Ikuya slowly closed her eyes.

He opened his eyes again very quickly!

He stared at the remaining oranges in his hand, which seemed to be avenging his death, with a bitter and resentful look, blinking rapidly in disbelief.

No, Mr. Orange, do you think your taste justifies your expensive price?

Nekono Ikuya began listlessly tearing at the white pith from the orange segments in her hand.

Rei Furuya didn't notice Ikuya Nekono's series of subtle expressions; he touched his chin.

"Is that all?" It sounds so simple, like there's nothing complicated about it. This only highlights the dereliction of duty by those division commanders. Sigh!

But it's alright, at least they did something good to make amends, and now there will be far fewer innocent people being bullied in that school.

“Actually, not all of those annoying people enjoy bullying others; many of them just do it to avoid being bullied,” Rei Furuya suddenly said.

The idea of ​​bullying others to avoid being bullied is undeniably a form of dark humor.

Nekono Ikuya had already painstakingly peeled the orange segments until there wasn't a single white pith left, and he couldn't delay any longer. He looked at the orange in his hand, then at Furuya Rei and Morofushi Kagemitsu.

After a moment's thought, Nekono Ikuya decisively chose her target and very naturally handed the orange in her hand to the silent Morofushi Kagemitsu.

We can't keep teasing Furuya forever.

The rain and dew should be distributed equally, cough cough, the rain and dew should be distributed equally.

As he handed over the orange, he feigned surprise as if nothing had happened: "Huh, really? That's so twisted!" That's the kind of thinking and that kind of person.

“However…” Nekono Ikumi tilted her head, “At least now these people have new choices.” It’s a good thing that they no longer have to protect themselves in a twisted way.

Morofushi Kagemitsu paused for a moment, then took the orange that Nekono Ikuya offered. He keenly sensed that something was amiss, but after glancing at Nekono Ikuya, who wasn't even looking at him, he ultimately didn't dwell on it.

Nekono Ikuya had always shared snacks and fruit with them, which misled Morofushi Kagemitsu.

Morofushi Kagemitsu broke off a segment of an orange! Morofushi Kagemitsu put the orange segment in his mouth! Morofushi Kagemitsu chewed it with his teeth! Morofushi Kagemitsu's face suddenly changed!

An invisible bolt of lightning suddenly pierced through his head, and Zhu Fujingguang's pupils trembled rapidly.

"...!!!"

He took a deep breath, glanced at Nekono Ikuya in disbelief, tightened his somewhat broken expression, and swallowed the orange segment with difficulty.

No, these sour oranges can't be eaten by just him and Yumi, Zero has to have a taste too!

Friends walk together for life, so these three close friends should naturally share both good times and bad. As for where the hardships came from? That's none of your business!

He imitated Nekono Ikuya, casually passing the remaining oranges in his hand to Furuya Rei as if it were a game of musical chairs.

To prevent Furuya Rei from noticing anything amiss, he even steeled himself and stuffed another segment of orange into his mouth, and of course, he didn't let the culprit, Nekono Ikuya, off the hook either.

"I didn't do this, so don't hit me!" Nekono Ikuya glanced at Morofushi Kagemitsu, who was handing over the orange, and then at Furuya Rei, who was taking the orange.

He smiled, and without any objection, opened his mouth and took the orange segment that Morofushi Kagemitsu had handed him, chewing it casually in the air. As he chewed, he also seemingly unintentionally diverted Furuya Rei's attention.

Morofushi Kagemitsu's gaze toward Nekono Ikuya was indescribable: You didn't let Zero off the hook either!

Nekono Ikuya leaned forward and lay on Furuya Rei's desk, cupping her face with anticipation and looking at Furuya Rei and Morofushi Kagemitsu with bright eyes.

"Do you guys want to come over to my house this weekend? My house is big and fun!" Nekono Ikumi said pitifully, "Come on, come on, it's been a long time since I've hosted friends at my house."

As expected, Furuya Rei didn't notice anything amiss. He instinctively took the orange and casually broke off a segment.

He put an orange in his mouth: "Want to come to your house? Okay... cough cough!"

"...???" His face twisted instantly.

Rei Furuya suddenly looked down at the tempting oranges, then looked up in shock at Kagemitsu Morofushi and Ikuya Nekono, who were silently sticking out orange segments.

Nekono Ikuya looked up at the sky, while Morofushi Kagemitsu looked down at the ground; neither of them looked at him.

They're guilty, absolutely guilty!

"You...you guys?!"

How come you guys, with your orange-like appearance, seem innocent and harmless, yet always manage to bring him unexpected and unique stimulation?

"!!!" He cut the remaining orange in his hand in half and stuffed each half into the mouth of the two of them.

“Waaaaah~” Nekono Ikuya and Morofushi Kagemitsu resisted in fear.

Rei Furuya's harsh suppression: Accept the punishment, you two despicable bastards!

...

In the end, we went to visit Nekono Ikuya's house.

On Saturday morning, Rei Furuya found the address of Ikuya Nekono's house based on the address provided by Ikuya Nekono. He declined Ikuya Nekono's offer to send a driver to pick him up and came alone.

Standing in front of Nekono Ikuya's house, Furuya Rei took a deep breath in shock. Nekono Ikuya hadn't lied; his house really was huge. So huge that he almost didn't know how to knock.

Is this the place? Rei Furuya pressed the high-tech doorbell next to him.

"Ding-dong~" The doorbell rang.

Not long after, a muffled sound came from the communicator hanging next to the doorbell.

"Is this Furuya-kun? Please come in."

With a click, no one appeared behind the door, and the door opened a crack.

Rei Furuya paused for a moment, then said, "I'll just come in." He pushed open the slightly ajar door.

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms everywhere. Different varieties of cherry trees fill the courtyard, blooming in layers upon layers, weaving a fragrant cloud of blossoms on both sides of the path. There is also a cherry blossom grove in the distance.

How much does he love cherry blossoms? Following the cherry blossom tree, Furuya Rei arrived at the villa and immediately saw a garden full of roses.

The roses were in full bloom, and there were many different varieties. It was only then that Furuya Rei realized there was a rose garden here.

"Nekono-kun, I'm coming in," Furuya Rei asked politely as he pushed open the slightly ajar villa door.

"Okay—" came a muffled voice of agreement from inside the door, almost inaudible.

Rei Furuya changed his shoes and walked into the entryway, only to find the living room quiet and empty.

Just as he was still hesitating whether to sit down and wait or call out again, a familiar, elegant figure with a dark background and a hint of white on the sofa suddenly caught his attention.

“That cat!” Rei Furuya exclaimed, his eyes widening.

A black, glossy cat with only white tips on its ears, paws, and tail is lazily curled up on the sofa, taking a nap.

Seemingly hearing his movement, the cat's tail tip swayed slightly, and it slowly turned its head to look at him, revealing a pair of clear, emerald-green eyes that carried a hint of indifference and displeasure at being disturbed.

That's it, this is the cat he's seen several times in the park before, there's no mistake. Furuya Rei confirmed instantly.

But how did it end up at Nekono Ikuya's house? A hint of doubt flashed in Furuya Rei's eyes.

He slowly squatted down in front of the sofa, staring at the cat with a serious expression.

Black hair! Green eyes! Cat-like pupils! And such a human-like gaze!

Rei Furuya stared at the black cat, its eyes slightly wide open, seemingly unaware of what was happening.

It looks so alike! It looks so alike!!

Could it be...?

His mind raced back to the first time he saw the black cat. The cat had been comforting him, then suddenly ran away for some reason, and then Nekono-kun appeared not far from where the cat had disappeared… This… this…

Also, during the fight a while ago, the cat appeared and then disappeared, and then Nekono-kun reappeared out of thin air. And there's the eerily similar feeling Nekono-kun and this cat evoke, and the various mysterious things about Nekono-kun that can't be explained by science.

...Rei Furuya's eyes gradually darkened.

"Nekono-kun?" he called tentatively, slowly grasping the black cat's paw.

"Meow?" Tayuki raised her voice in surprise, slowly retracted her paws, and with the tip of her tail brushing against Furuya Rei's hand, suddenly jumped onto the back of the sofa.

It tucked its hands in its pockets and looked down at Rei Furuya with its naturally innocent yet arrogant emerald green cat eyes, as if looking at a fool.

What are kids thinking these days? I just can't understand it!

"Huh?" Seeing the black cat's human-like behavior, Furuya Rei was surprised.

He was momentarily dazed when he called the meticulous black cat with white gloves and earmuffs "Nekono-kun," but he was mostly just joking around.

After all, Nekono's surname sounds like a cat, Nekono's personality is like a cat, and even Nekono's appearance is very similar to this black cat.

So, isn't it interesting to call this black cat Neko-kun?

But the black cat understood!

Rei Furuya was surprised. This black cat understood! Do cats usually have such expressive eyes? Rei Furuya had never paid attention to other cats, so he didn't know.

It can't really be Nekono-kun in disguise, right?

Rei Furuya called out tentatively again, "Nekono-kun?" and then chuckled.

"I'm here." At that moment, a familiar voice sounded softly from behind him.

Rei Furuya froze, then turned around abruptly to see Ikuya Nekono.

Wow, things are getting awkward.