At the very beginning, there was a boy who managed to, somehow, make more than one girl be into him. Hell, he managed to get five girls interested in him, and even though one jumped ship because childhood friends never win, four still remained. Sumireko's role in all of this is too weird to be accounted for. And two of them had delayed their wish for an answer because of the same excuse:

There were things he had to fix with someone first, before he could find love.

But then Izuru and Airi became friends again after she annihilated him with a gigantic and disgusting Hamiel.

That meant that the time had finally come.

On a monday morning, right after the downhill day that was the sunday when they met the Shinjuku Tech students, Izuru opened the doors to the student council room, but the second he stepped inside, he was blocked from going any further.

Mitsuki Chika, his precious upperclassmen, whom he had bonded through their hardwork on the student council. He even taught her how to play Vanguard, that's a major flag in the romantic scene.

Endo Minami, his precious friend, whom he had once shared a bed with on the same he got utterly destroyed by her dad in a dumb fistfight. The power of their bond was strong enough to drill a way through Endo's past schemes.

Hatanaka Kasumi, someone he has known since the cursed days of Hirabyashi, and who supported him from the shadows during his time as the silent hero of Heiwa. The ugly duckling who grew into a beauty so powerful that not even Izuru's time as a closet pervert could deny.

Ban Katsuhito, who was just there against his will to hold a phone that was contacting his sister through video chatting.

Ban Rio, who actually confessed to him and went out of her way to make him fall for her. Hell, she was even the first person to tell him that the harem thing was stupid and that he had to fix his shit instead of being a massive screw up.

Oh and Yukiko was with Rio, just to see his answer, because choosing one of the girls would mean hurting the others, and any excuse to beat the hell out of Izuru is valuable.

The four girls demanded the same thing.

"Choose one of us, Sawada Izuru!"

And Izuru stared blankly at them.

'Huh? What? Wait, this was a thing? Oh god, this was a thing before I had to kick Endo's ass! How am I gonna scum my way out of this?!'

His thought took the form of his best friend, who entered the room soon after him.

"Hey guys!" Tate yelled with a thick engrish accent.

Izuru noticed Tate from the corner of his eye. There was no other way. It had to be done. To escape having to give the girls an answer, Izuru put his one second old backup plan into motion.

It happened fast, but loud too. In an action that carried more confidance than anything in his seventeen years on this world, Izuru gave his best friend a nice wall slam.

"Kabedown! Oya oya, such a cute slavodachi made his way of here." He said with a large smug.

But Tate didn't waver. He didn't even question it. He understood everything right away, almost as if their minds were connected. Well, their minds weren't, but their souls sure were. They shared a brothers' soul, pun fully intended.

Right away, Tate replied with a steamy wall slam of his own, and was also sporting a smug.

"Kabedown! Oya oya, such a cute Miyukidachi made his way over here."

Standing side by side, the two best friends finalized the scummy way out of an answer by proclaiming their fake love for each other.

"We are da-!"

But it was too late. They summoned the anger of someone much stronger than them.

And it wasn't Yukiko. She actually started blushing from the obviously false wall slams because she once read something a certain fujoshi whose sister married into the Sawada wrote.

The first target was Izuru. Minami blasted him into the ground with a powerful kick to the groin that erased an entire Sawada generation and made the past generations tremble in their graves.

"Miyu-!"

And then the target became Tate. Minami blasted him too, but instead of a kick, she rammed her fist across his face with enough strength to make Ban get close to browning his pants.

"If you guys think you can fool me with such dumb lies... Too bad for you... That makes me the worst match-up for you!"

She was in full Endo mode now.

Minami dragged Izuru and Tate into the hallway by their collars and began to execute a physical punishment so severe that it made her friends fear as they watched it. Some would assume this was a war crime.

On the headmaster's office, Endo suddenly shivered. He sensed that someone out there was making him a proud dad.

But that isn't the end of the day. That was only the first phase.

The second phase of the day was during lunch time, where the usual friend group, even including Kasumi, Ako and Takami, was having a peaceful lunch in the student council room.

For Tate, it was heaven, having the girls he loved feed him because of his injuries.

For Izuru, he had to feed himself despite of his injuries. It didn't help that Aimi was next to him, meaning his knees were trembling all the time out of a fear for their lives.

"My, my, who would do such a cruel thing to you, Tate-kun?" Ako asked, guiding some noodles to his mouth. "From all the bruises on you, it probaly was more than one person."

"Don't worry, Tate-kun. We'll take good care of you until you recover from your lynching." Takami giggled.

"I-i'm telling you, A-ako-chan, Tamaki-chan... T-there was at least five dudes!! I fended 'em off best I could, b-but they were just too jacked up!!" Tate explained. He got Minami's permission to twist the story.

"Poor thing... What about you, Izuru-kun?" Tamaki asked.

"I..." Izuru didn't get the permission to twist the story, and saying he punched some tiles wouldn't work here.

"He tried to escape paperwork so I taught him why we love paperwork." Aimi calmly explaining while she snatched a piece of fried chicken from Izuru's bento.

"Screw yourself and leave my chicken alone..."

"A-anyway, we should be glad that no one else got hurt, ahahah!!!" Yumi tried to laugh the awkwardness out of the air, like she tended to. If only that worked on aliviating the awkwardness between her and Ban.

"Y-yeah, that's what matters!" Ban nodded. A poor attempt to make things between the two better, but it dunked right away when Yumi looked away with a blush on her face. "H-hey senpai! Are you feeling between today?!"

"Hm? Y-yeah." Chika nodded. "Ryougi-san's company helped alot. I'm sorry for ruining your day of testing."

"Don't worry about it, senpai." Izuru said, pushing Aimi's chopsticks away from his food. "Leave my food alone. No one could have guessed that that of all things was gonna happen."

"Yeah. Besides, even if we did, why would we blame it on you? It's that damn Ibuki's fault in the end!" Tate exclaimed.

"Oi, what did you three do?" Minami asked.

"T-they didn't do anything, really!" Chika sweatdropped. "We just... Had a bit of a run in with some students from Shinjuku, and had some fights with them. It hurts to admit it but I ended up facing someone too good for my own good... She acted so nice that it didn't even cross my mind that she was that much stronger than me."

"Wait, Ibuki?" Ako tilted her head. "From Shinjuku Tech?"

"Eh?! You know her, Ako-chan?!"

"Not exactly, Tate-kun. One of my neighbours happens to be a student in a school near Shinjuku Tech, so sometimes things he tells his parents end up being told to mine. That's why the name sounded familiar."

"Ah? What's so special about that random girl anyway?" Tamaki asked.

"According to what my neighbours told my parents, Shinjuku Tech suffered a sort of dark age with the sudden exit of a delinquent who lead the students, plunging the school into a hell rulled by different factions from delinquents, and many times attacked by delinquents of the surrounding schools."

'Hm? A delinquent that lead everyone? Wait, isn't that the Jack guy Nakano talked about?' Izuru thought, looking at Ako. "There was someone trying to mantain the peace that the big delinquent created, didn't it?"

"Yes, but he failed in doing so and the rumours never speak his name. But then a new student joined the school and went around beating everyone into better people, as the rumours say. They called that person Ibuki, but I had no idea she was a girl."

"She plays gacha, she asks what type of people other people are into, she went around whooping delinquents, damn man, you really are being replaced by someone hotter, aren't you?" Ban asked.

"Oh god, I really am..." Izuru said, looking down at his last piece of fried chicken as it was stolen before he could eat it. "Aimi... LEAVE MY LUNCH DAMMIT!!"

"I only have cup ramen, though. You should learn how to share, Izuru." Aimi deadpanned. A scummy answer perfect to be used by a scummy person.

"You know what? That's true... That's why you should also learn how to share!" And then said scummy person began furiously slupring Aimi's noodles out of the cup.

"M-MY CUP NOODLES!!"

"Ah, cup ramen is so good!!!" Tamaki cheered. "I could eat it for the rest of my life and never grow bored of it!"

"You'd get fat." Ako snickered.

"That's fine, because all fatening nutrients go somewhere, if you know what I mean." The white haired cackled, flicking her own chest. "That's more than I can say to you, Tanislut."

"Hattobitch."

"That's true, cup ramen is really solid." Tate pondered. "But you know what beats it without even breaking a sweat? Steak! I'm talking those massive, gigantic, slabs of meat that get grilled for hours to achieve peak flavour! We at the footbal club have those whenever we win big tournaments! It makes winning be worth it!"

"It's like I told you, there's no love towards the ball these days." Ban shrugged. "I think that for myself it'd be... I really like salmon. Really solid and tasty fish, possibly the best one. You can have it raw, cooked, steamed, grilled, any way you want and it'll taste amazing. If we're counting both main dishes and deserts, then strawberry cake is the god of all foods."

"Idiot." Minami sighed. "Curry is obviously the greatest dish, specially when it's spicy enough to destroy your insides for one week straight. It's the food of the truly powerful, only those with potent digestive systems and iron-hard mouths can appreciate the true flavours of spicy curry! If it isn't destroying my ass and my toilet for a week straight, then it's shit!" She declared, shaking her fist in the air.

"That sure is one way to go about it, Minami-chan..." Yumi sweatdropped. "I think that for me would be fish fingers with peas and fries. I have it all the time when me and my parents go on vacation to the United Kingdom and it's absolutely delicious!"

"Fish fingers? That's kinda childish." Ban chuckled.

"I-it is not!!" Yumi pouted with a slight blush. "Besides, you said you liked salmon above any other main dish, no matter how it was made! That includes salmon fish fingers, making you as much of a kid as me!!"

"I do enjoy fish fingers as a snack from time to time." Ako chuckled. "For me it would be udon with tempura, without any shadow of a doubt. The richness of the noodles with the spices mixed in the batter for the tempura is just too good to pass on."

"Eh? Alot of people here seem to have a thing towards fish." Chika giggled. "But I'm as guilty as the rest. I really like sturgeon caviar on some toast, specially when it's prepared by Ryougi-san. She's a master of the bread."

"Oh salmon caviar slaps too! That's Rio's favourite food!" Ban laughed.

"Your sister as good taste, without a doubt!" The upperclassmen laughed aswell.

'Damn high class!!!' Izuru and Tate thought.

"Y-yeah, Yukiko really likes bread, specially garlic bread." Kasumi said. "Though some bakeries around where we live has banned her from ever returning there."

"Why does that sound normal?" Izuru deadpanned.

"What did she do?" Minami asked.

"Let's just say that she doesn't unerstand the concept of what glutten is and how it works very well..." The librarian sweatdropped.

"Welcome to the bread bank." Tate said.

"Yeah, and then she calls the establishments by bread banks instead of bakeries..." Kasumi sighed.

"What about you, Kasumi-san?" Chika asked.

"Hm? M-me?"

"Yeah, what's your favourite food?" 

"Hm... T-takoyaki. There really isn't some specific reason for it, but I just enjoy it alot. Yukiko always get us tons of it whenever there's festivals." Kasumi explained, pushing her glasses up.

"Well mine's a common fact by now. Slap my ass and call me big man because I am a fried chicken purist! Wanna eat to celebrate? Fried chicken! Wanna eat because you're sad? Fried chicken! Wanna give someone a Valentine's gift? A bucket of the colonel is always a good gift!" Izuru exclaimed.

"I don't think you got the facilities for that, big man." Ban snickered.

"No, I do have the facilities for that, big man! I got a card sign by an actual roadman that confirms I have the facilities for that!"

"Allow it!" Yumi giggled. "What about you, Aimi-chan? What's your favourite food?"

"E-eh?! M-m-my favourite food?!?! W-well, there's fried chicken, that's really tasty to eat... B-but ramen is also really good, specially seafood ramen!! No wait, I take it back, moshi reigns supreme! No wait, I take that back too!! C-curry with peas- No, okonomiyaki- NO WAIT, OMURICE- NO WAIT- I- I- T-THERE'S TOO MANY TYPES OF FOOD OUT THERE!!!" Aimi screamed in despair, holding her head with confusion beaming across her eyes.

"So food that's part of other people's meals, got it." Izuru joked, making the whole squad laugh.

Just as everyone was finishing laughing from Aimi dealing Izuru some much deserved physical punishment for his jokes about the truth she didn't want to admit, Endo and Airi entered the student council to bring the long awaited news.

"I see things are lively here." Airi chuckled.

"Oh, dad! What's your favourite food?!" Minami asked.

'Wait, she called me dad?' Endo thought, shoving away his surprise in order to give an answer worthy of the name Minami called him. "Dango. It's the first thing I ate after you were born." He smiled.

But then Minami came to her senses and blushed.

"G-go to hell, you worthless deadbeat good for nothing parental thing!"

"And there it is." The headmaster deadpanned.

"What about you, Airi-san?" Yumi asked.

"Natto. I love me some beans." Airi giggled.

"E-eh? N-natto?!" Minami blinked. "Wait, then your thing for natto came from-!"

"Oh yeah, I hated it at first." Izuru sweatdropped. "A-anyway! What brings you here, Endo? Came to get some years yeeted off your lifespan because of things I say?"

"I'm not a masochist like you, Sawapunch Izubag." Endo sighed, but inside he felt pretty proud of that genius name. "As you know, the usual post-midterms school trip had to be reduced to some dumb visit to some dumb museum that had dumb fish, so in order to mantain peace in Heiwa-"

"He means avoiding a student rebellion because kids are dumb and think they're entitled to a school trip after all midterms." Airi added.

"Yes, thank you, Airi-san. To avoid some dumb kids wasting their time doing dumb things, throughout the month of November, Heiwa will not be holding classes on saturdays."

"BRAGGING RIIIIIIIIIGHTS!" Tate and Ban celebrated.

"LET'S GOOOOOOOO! WE CAN RUB ON THOSE HAJIWARA DIPSHITS THE FACT WE HAVE MORE FREE TIME!" Izuru yelled.

"That's good and all, but what about the war criminal? Have you secured the tiny whisks?" Aimi asked.

"Indeed. My original plan to secure them was unable to be used, so we ended up just locking them within a safe with a seventy digit password that only Risei's poor memory for this kind of thing knows."

"That sounds like a terrible idea, dumbass." Airi deadpanned. "Even worse than your first one!"

"I had one simple request!" Endo exclaimed. "And that was to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!"

"Like I said, that's stupid!"

"That is pretty stupid." Izuru nodded.

"That's besides the point! The other I came here is because a source outside Heiwa has kindly donated enough for a trip to a hot springs place near the mountains, but only enough a very exact number of people, that being all of you here, two other people, Airi-san, myself and a teacher of my choosing. And of course, I'm taking Risei."

"Holy shit, that is pretty specific. Who sent the cash?" Tate asked.

"His sister." Endo pointed at Ban.

'N-not again!' Izuru and Ban thought, being hit with the painful flashbacks of the last time Rio caused something that resulted in the group going to a location that was related to her and her money.

"So prepare your things. We'll leave for the hot springs on saturday morning and return sunday morning."

"Just one day?! She's cheap!" Ban exclaimed.

"Then pay for some more time with your money." Izuru and Tate snickered.

"Hell no!"

But that also wasn't the end of the day. Before the day could end, one last thing had to happen, and that was at the end of the school, when only some club members and the student council were still at school.

Because of Aimi needing some files from previous years, Izuru went down to the library to get them, but thanks to the student council being lazy and not organizing their things very well, instead of files, Izuru found some boxes filled with crap. That lead to him and Kasumi sorting everything out to get the files needed.

"Damn it, past Izuru, you always find a new way to screw me over, don't you?" Izuru sighed, throwing some files into one of the boxes. "Any luck on that side?"

"No. The student council still lacks any sense of organization over here." Kasumi deadpanned.

"Yeah, not shit... Y'know, thanks for having lunch with us."

"I-it was nothing..." Kasumi muttered, looking away. "It was only because I ran into Yumi-san on the way here. Otherwise I'd just spend lunch break here by myself again..."

"You can just go there whenver you want, you know?" Izuru sweatdropped.

"I know... But it's not easy to be around others without Yukiko around."

"Yeah, I figure you'd say something like that."He said, putting away some other files. "I guess it explains the takoyaki bit."

"The takoyaki isn't about that." Kasumi sweatdropped and chuckled. "I never had many friends besides Yukiko... I never had friends besides Yukiko until recently. And I'm still surprised we're even friends now. Our differences were like the sun and moon, but she still kept pushing for it until she became friends with some loser like me. She'd go out of out of her way to drag me into all these festivals and would always get me delicious takoyaki."

"Sounds right up her alley." Izuru chuckled. "There we go, this is the one Aimi asked for."

"Finally. Hurry back to the student council, I'll handle storing everything away."

"You sure? We can get this done some seconds if it's the two of us."

"Don't worry about it." Kasumi shook her head. "Just hurry back to the council and save them from more days drowning themselves in paperwork."

"Alright, alright, I got it. Oh, and please come more often to the council room. I mean. The days of trying to save Heiwa are finished, so there's no need for us to meet here in secret all the time."

"Hm? Y-yeah, I'll try..." She smiled.

"And don't forget about the hot springs thing, either!"

"Yeah, I'll try that too..."

"Great! See ya later, Kasumi!" Izuru waved her goodbye and ran out of the library.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow..."

After storing away the boxes with the student council files, Kasumi took off her glasses and scrolled through the contact list on her phone, until she found the number she was seeking.

"...Good afternoon, it's me, mother... I have a request... I already accepted it, so this is the least you can do for me... Delay it for one more day, please. I'll leave Heiwa after the weekend has passed. I swear it... Thank you."

The elusive day of the hot springs was incoming.

From weird love confessions to unwanted meetings, from broken hearts to unknown goodbyes, be it tragedy or comedy, anything and everything could happen.

And then, the day of the hot springs arc arrived.