Still, this was a public place, so Yūto Shō didn't dare push his luck for too long. After loosening his lips with a quick flick of her pinky, he bit off the fish ball hanging on the toothpick and chewed it like nothing had happened at all.
Sato Ruri stared blankly at her damp pinky before snapping back to reality, her face flushing crimson with rage. After shooting him a glare sharp enough to cut steel, she snatched up a tissue and started scrubbing her finger like she was trying to erase the memory.
Yūto Shō smiled and lifted a beef meatball toward her mouth. "Here, eat."
Sato Ruri pressed her lips tightly shut, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a response.
Seeing that, Yūto Shō pressed the beef ball against her rosy little mouth as if he intended to force it past her teeth.
A flicker of embarrassment and irritation crossed Sato Ruri's eyes. She parted her lips and swallowed the meatball whole, then chewed with vicious intensity, as if the poor beef ball had personally wronged her.
Yūto Shō's gaze drifted to her puffed-out cheeks. As she ate, her lips moved and flushed, full and rosy, glossed as though dipped in a thin layer of transparent honey.
Yūto Shō swallowed hard, hit with the sudden urge to kiss her senseless. He glanced around and noticed quite a few eyes already on him, so he forced down the restlessness rising in his chest.
Even so, Yūto Shō lost any desire to linger. He turned to Sato Ruri. "Let's go, somewhere else."
Sato Ruri's face lit up with relief, and she nodded eagerly. She seriously couldn't endure another second of this feed-each-other tsundere romance scene, and since Yūto Shō kept ambushing her with cheap moves, she was practically vibrating with shame and fury.
Yūto Shō watched her practically scrambling to leave, the corners of his mouth tilting up. She had absolutely no clue he was already plotting to drag her somewhere far quieter.
Smoothing the smile off his face, Yūto Shō walked over, took the girl's hand, and led her toward the exit.
Sato Ruri stiffened, her instinct to yank her hand free flaring instantly—then she remembered the leverage he held over her and went limp with defeat, letting Yūto Shō tow her out.
To everyone watching, the way they walked hand in hand looked exactly like a couple deep in their honeymoon arc.
…
Catching the lingering stares from the surrounding crowd, Sato Ruri felt her face burn with humiliation. She hadn't registered much when Yūto Shō had grabbed her hand on the street the previous day, since everyone out there had just clocked out of work and was hustling somewhere. But the food court was a slower, lazier zone, full of people with nothing better to do than scan the pair of them like background NPCs analyzing a side quest.
The two of them slipped out of the food street fast. By now, dusk had bled into night. Sato Ruri, with no clue where Yūto Shō was steering her, said uneasily, "I'm going home, or my mom's gonna freak out."
Yūto Shō glanced at her, considered it for a beat, and said, "Fine, I'll walk you home."
Sato Ruri shook her head fast. "No need, I can get back myself."
She didn't want to be anywhere near Yūto Shō for another second; every minute spent in his orbit felt like another notch closer to her chastity flag getting raided.
"How could I possibly let that fly? We're on a date. What kind of guy lets his girlfriend walk home alone?" Yūto Shō said it with zero shame—ever since the system had loaded, his face had thickened to roughly the durability of a Stand user's armor.
Sato Ruri had no fight left in her and gave in. "Fine, you can walk me home, but you can't hold my hand. I don't want anyone seeing us."
"No problem, my hands stay in my pockets, I swear." Yūto Shō agreed without hesitation.
Sato Ruri blinked at him in suspicion, wondering since when this pervert had become so reasonable. Internally she put up her guard, deciding to stay sharp on the walk back so he couldn't sneak in another exploit.
Right then, Yūto Shō's eyes glinted. "But I do have one condition—we have to walk."
Sato Ruri's tense shoulders dropped immediately, and she nodded. "Deal."
She'd been uneasy not knowing what Yūto Shō was scheming, but once his "plan" turned out to be that mild, she actually relaxed.
Besides, she was walking home along the sidewalk, and once evening hit, pedestrians swarmed the street. There was no way Yūto Shō would dare pull anything serious in front of that many witnesses.
What the girl failed to notice was the faint smile curling at the corner of Yūto Shō's mouth. He thought to himself that she'd already gotten weirdly accustomed to his trash routine—she just hadn't caught onto it herself yet.
…
The two walked along the road toward Sato Ruri's place. Her home sat several kilometers off, which was exactly why Yūto Shō had picked this area—lower odds of bumping into anyone he knew. The trek back would take at least half an hour on foot.
As they walked, Sato Ruri deliberately quickened her steps, putting four or five meters of buffer between them. Every time Yūto Shō closed the gap, she pushed her pace, refusing to let him within striking distance.
Picking up on the pattern, Yūto Shō decided to stop chasing her. He just trailed behind, brows furrowing inwardly as he wondered why the new route selection still hadn't dropped.
He'd worked out that the scumbag rating tied into route choices was a midnight mechanic, and he kept trying to trigger the selection screen, but the pattern was infuriatingly inconsistent—it only popped at certain key beats.
Stuck with no shortcut, Yūto Shō had no choice but to patiently grind it out.
After roughly two kilometers, Sato Ruri, still walking ahead, began slowing down. Her brows pinched together, her eyes darting around like she was hunting for something specific in her field of view.
Yūto Shō's heart jumped, realizing she was hitting the urgent pee-meter zone. That oversized milk tea was no joke. Even though Sato Ruri had only drained less than a third of it, the bladder damage was real.
Right at that moment, ripples rolled across his vision, and Yūto Shō internally fist-pumped—the prompt had finally loaded in.
"Route One: Corner the girl and refuse to let her use the bathroom until she agrees to your perverted demand, then let her go."
"Route Two: You realize the girl is desperate, and as the depraved pervert you are, you cook up a galaxy-brained idea—you want to follow her into the women's restroom."
Staring at the new route choice, Yūto Shō gave himself a wry smile. Yeah, his scumbag stats were still maxed out as always. But his Scum Points balance was running on empty, so without much hesitation, he tapped Route One.
Compared to Route Two, Route One looked downright tame.
…
After locking in, Yūto Shō caught up fast and pulled even with Sato Ruri.
Sato Ruri's expression shifted the second she noticed him beside her, because she'd been busy scanning for any public restrooms nearby and hadn't clocked Yūto Shō closing the distance in time.
"Sato Ruri, you've gotta pee, don't you."
Yūto Shō asked it bluntly, dropping right beside her.
Sato Ruri froze, then forced an awkward expression and shook her head. "No."
Yūto Shō smiled. "No point lying, it's written all over your face. Honestly, I'm cutting it close too, so let's find somewhere to handle it. I know a public restroom nearby."
Sato Ruri had been silently fuming at Yūto Shō's main-character-villain energy, but the second he mentioned a nearby restroom, she felt herself wavering. Mostly because the situation was genuinely critical. She'd already started feeling it on the walk home from school, then Yūto Shō had hijacked her for this date and made her hold it through every checkpoint. Her bladder was on its final HP bar.
But the thought of going to the restroom together with Yūto Shō made her stomach twist. She frowned. "Just tell me where it is, I'll go on my own."
Yūto Shō whined, "Sato Ruri, you're seriously such a selfish protagonist, only thinking about your own pee. Aren't you the least bit worried I might not make it and end up wetting my pants?"
At this point, Sato Ruri realized her demand had been kind of cold, and her face flushed with embarrassment—but what mortified her even more was that this guy kept hammering on the word "pee" like it was his favorite catchphrase. It was genuinely rage-inducing.
Yūto Shō's expression suddenly twisted, and he said urgently, "Move, I can't hold it anymore."
The second the words left his mouth, Yūto Shō grabbed her hand and yanked her down a side alley.
Sato Ruri's eyes went wide. "Wait a second——"
It's seriously about to leak!