Various things were presented during lunch break.
"Bwah. My stomach is growling like an animal..."
Missing out on breakfast due to various circumstances, Kamijou somehow made it through the morning classes.
As soon as break started, he dashed from the classroom to the cafeteria to make a purchase.
From the hallway, you could hear, "Hey, no running in the hallway…!!" coming from a small teacher. "…if you're going to run, take off your indoor shoes and slide on your socks!!"
"Unfolded socks drift!!" a sports club member's voice mixed in.
What speed! The sports club's way was the Doppler effect.
Even with his average strength, Kamijou would always get a late start.
Always being delayed to lunch break would be fatal, but today was fine. With a bang, he pulled a thin student bag out and placed it on his desk, and from it he pulled out a killer bento box.
"Now, time to eat," he said while pulling off the lid, but the cell phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated by chance.
Checking, he saw that the latest number and email address came from Misaka Mikoto.
"Ah?"
Seeing that, he scratched his head while staring at the LCD screen.
Data is corrupted, this mail cannot be opened appeared.
(What? How did she send mail over here in the first place?)
Kamijou, little by little, pressed the buttons to send a message saying that he couldn't read the mail, and to resend it.
He shoved the phone back in his pocket, as it was time for lunch.
"Mnmn. Today seems weird, somehow."
Getting closer while holding a small bag was Himegami Aisa.
She was a very Japanese-looking girl with long black hair, and would bring a bento every day.
"Again, you've brought something delicious."
"The side dish isn't divided. I'll trade you."
After saying that, Himegami dragged over a chair with a "zuzuzuzuzu" sound.
Kamijou himself pulled open the top of his bento.
"…There was food left over from yesterday, and I had packed a decent breakfast, but…it was eaten this morning by that girl…"
"?"
Kamijou felt faint as Himegami tilted her head to understand.
After lunch break started, the majority of the class disappeared into the hallway to buy food from the cafeteria. The remaining took out their lunches and encamped at some desks, without worrying about space.
Kamijou pulled out the cold barley tea that he had obtained on the way to school (and was lukewarm now) from inside his bag.
"Himegami, you have the drive to make nicely prepared bentos every day. I just pack leftovers and it's tiring to do."
"Once you make a habit of it, you won't have so much trouble."
The difference between their bentos was obvious. Himegami's had vegetable tempura as the staple food, and it wasn't mixed with rice; it looked very tasty.
While Kamijou had merely packed in leftovers, Himegami had planned from the beginning to make her bento. Even worse, because of his way of cooking it, the broth surprisingly had eroded and leaked into the rice's zone.
There was a small look of pity in her eyes while watching him grip the plastic chopsticks.
"This doesn't look like a bento. The broth has unexpectedly, skillfully soaked in."
"...Sore loser?"
"I am not! Today's meal is simmered in broth made from the perfect soft potato; soaking it into the rice was clever! Tch, if you wanna make that kind of face, then try this taro! You'll know Kamijou Touma's underlying strength of using Mirin to kick it up a notch!!"
Then Himegami and Kamijou's chopsticks crossed each other's as they swapped her Pumpkin Tempura.
(What a hassle, frying it in the morning, but it's good; just how early does this person get up?)
Maybe she was a surprisingly hard-worker, Kamijou thought as he put the Tempura in his mouth. It was frustratingly delicious. It should have been a long time since it was put into the Bento box, but it was still crisp. He pleaded with her to teach him the recipe.
On the other hand, Himegami vaguely recalled her learning to cook after her father's work-related transfer left her alone.
While staring at the Taro, she said while chewing, "Hm. Not bad—"
Her words were suddenly cut off with a "Nugh!" and a moan. Like that rounding out the back, she placed her hands on her throat.
Apparently her throat was blocked.
"A-are you okay!?" He reflexively said in a loud voice, but she didn't reply.
With tears in her eyes, she reached for the bottle of mineral water. Kamijou panicked when she grabbed his hand and pulled it to her back.
"Eh, what? I'd better pat you on the back?!" he cried, as Himegami was nodding with water in her mouth.
Touma moved her long hair to expose her back, while deciding to gently rub her back up and down, as she painfully shivered in her seat.
"Damn!! I should take you the infirmary—!"
"Mugu! Mugugu!"
"Oh, you want me to do it harder!?"
As she pointed at her back with his hand, she nodded little by little. Kamijou, who wanted to help her as soon as possible, lost himself in her instructions and patted her back, when suddenly, a snap was heard.
The irregular feeling of her bra unhooking could be felt on his fingers.
To that, she silently molded her hand into a fist, and mercilessly drove it into his stomach (Her breasts shaking upwards slightly).
*Zudom!!* It was as if his stomach was making that sound as his body flew backwards, rolling on the floor. Himegami held her chest area as she ran to the bathroom.
"Guagh. I–I just did it like she said to do it. What were those unpleasant eyes for…?" Kamijou was on the ground, shaking little by little from his core when a classmate with long brows, long black hair, and huge breasts named Fukiyose Seiri came in while holding a Side Bread Plastic bag in one hand. It seemed she had gone to her locker to get the food she had there.
In an amazed voice, she said, "What are you doing?"
"Fu–Fukiyose?"
He slowly got up and sat in a chair while looking at her lunch.
"Why are you always eating that sort of horrible bread?"
"It's not horrible! It's perfectly delicious!!"
She shouted shamelessly while holding a bundle of the bread with the wrapper that said "Carries 21 nutrients to increase the brain's capacity." It was like medicine for lunch.
Frowning, Fukiyose sat at Kamijou's desk while she bit into and guzzled down the bread, which still didn't look appetizing.
"If you don't have any side dishes, you can have my taro."
"I'll tell you now: today I'm wearing a front hook."
"?"
Not understanding the reason for that outburst, he tilted his head in confusion. While she watched him in that state, she cleared her throat.
"Still, it's rare for you to make a bento."
"Earlier, Himegami said the same thing. Even I find it unusual."
Kamijou once again started poking at the bento with his chopsticks, while the rest of his classmates, who had gone to buy side dish bread at the last moment, began returning to the classroom in groups with it in one hand. It seemed the cafeteria would be set a little later. Now that the ban had been lifted, the season's trend seemed to have been about going outside the school to buy things like Oden at convenience stores. That was how students passed their lunch break.
After eating, they rolled up a handout flier to play catch with, and others pulled out their cell phones to watch a variety show while eating. But there was one topic that everyone was discussing. .As if listening to them aimlessly, the same thing came out of Fukiyose mouth.
"…War, is it?"
She sighed as those dangerous words came out, and Kamijou unintentionally stopped his chopsticks.
Fukiyose, while hiding a frown on her face from his visage, said, "What, you don't know? Try checking the news a little more."
"I know. I really do."
Rather, he knew better than anyone. Still, he could never tell her that.
"Well, at least you know about that. Some fighting from sects of a religious group somewhere has caused a worldwide movement of protests."
The degree of that second-hand story Fukiyose had heard somewhere was a bit unreliable.
"Maybe I'll go."
Her tone held a sense of anxiety and fear in those words. Kamijou's face went dim. He stopped noticing his chopsticks and she let out a sigh before continuing.
"But if war started, the price of things—such as meat and vegetables—would rise. So would the usual oil."
Those sudden, out-of-place words confused Kamijou a little.
However, there were rumors about it circling around as well.
The sports club group, who were watching TV on their cell phones, said, "They've placed tighter restrictions on the exits, so the story is that there won't be any more school field trips."
"Really!? Ichihanaransai will still be affected!!"
Other things were said by girls next to them.
"But earlier in the staff room, I heard from the Anti-Skill teachers that because of the counter-plan, the midterm test got lost."
"Lucky~!! I wasn't confident in the body inspection, so this saved me!!"
"Excuse me? I've been training extra hard to outdo everyone at bending a spoon with one hand; what am I supposed to do now?"
And they all laughed.
This school...or rather, this entire city was filled with the current "War causes big problems" issues.
Academy City and the Roman Catholic Church disputes happen; even if they knew that, they were so cemented into their positions that they couldn't even imagine it.
(So good,) Kamijou thought.
So that such an environment where one could imagine such a blood drenched battle, was at an end.
So that it didn't happen, Kamijou Touma took action.
"Why've you been quiet for so long?"
"N-no-nothing!"
"…Stop looking at other people's breasts when they're talking. Geez, what were you imagining?"
"I'm not imagining anything like that! Once in a while I have to shoulder serious things!!"
In a fit of irritation, he thrust his chopstick into the taro in the bento box.
"But, why would meat and vegetables be so expensive? Academy City clones meat and has artificial vegetables. Look, there are agricultural buildings everywhere. Even District 17, which is famed as the industrial area."
"Besides, isn't there a limit? There's no such thing as complete self-sufficiency—from working with partner organizations, you can just take it from somewhere else!"
"Hmph."
Kamijou saw that Himegami had just returned to the classroom at a glance from the corner of his eye.
"Then, I wonder if it's better to get Nabe now. After the price rises, you can't help but think it is a good value."
"Well, there's a reason. The prices in the supermarket rise bit by bit during the winter. It's still early, but I better buy Nabe quickly."
And after those words, he could hear Aogami Pierce and Tsuchimikado Motoharu near the blackboard in a deep discussion.
"Like I said, the lap pillow doesn't really exist. That was only a product of fiction!"
"…No, it does, nya~."
They stopped their conversation and looked over to Kamijou. Aogami Pierce said, "So Kami-yan, do you want to go out for Nabe today?"
Tsuchimikado followed up, "Nya. If it's Sukiyaki, I know a cheap but delicious shop."
That conversation spread to the neighboring student.
"It's October and too soon for Nabe. Right?"
The circle of the conversation expanded from there at once.
His classmates got closer, one-by-one.
"What? You guys aren't going to the store somewhere today?"
"We won't allow you to have a monopoly of the delicious shops."
"I prefer Nabe to Yakiniku, personally."
"Wait, wait, everyone pull out your cash. We'll let the majority decide where we go."
"Huh," Kamijou's eye spotted it.
The subject of the conversation went from "I'll eat nabe" to "Go out to eat with everyone in class."
"Why did it suddenly go to nabe again?"
"The launch of this was the Daihaseisai some time ago."
"This feels like preparations for the Ichihanaransai, doesn't it?"
The group surrounding Kamijou exchanged a variety of suggestions, until he finally said "Never mind the reason! Just Nabe will be fine!!" to change the direction. But Kamijou, who was at the center of the conversation, was left alone.
"Majority voting!!"
"Sukiyaki!!"
"BBQ!!"
"Oden!" "I want oden too!!"
"Who was using ventriloquism?"
"Sha—bu—sha—bu— (x 6)"
"5.1 channel surround sound!? Someone raise the sound!!"
Then the whole classroom became like a stadium with an explosion of loud noise.
In the end, Tsuchimikado screamed out "This Tsuchimikado-style hidden store can meet all of your needs nya~!"
Aogami Pierce countered with "Hop by my place where there's waitresses! There's one with huge tits and the smile of an angel with no boyfriend!"
An uproar of, "No, I want cheerleader uniform waitresses!"
"I've seen it, it's more like tennis-wear."
The debate was moving on to a point where it wasn't understandable.
Kamijou let out a nervous "Gyaa."
"Fukiyose-san, what should we do about this difficult thing!?"
"Geez…"
Fukiyose took a short breath, hid her face with both hands, and then raised them both behind her head at once, sweeping her back hair behind her ears perfectly. After that, she fixed her hair clips.
She was serious.
Kamijou let out a small cry reflexively.
"—Fukiyose forehead deluxe!!?"
"Now!! I'll take care of the voting quickly and quietly!!"
Fukiyose went to the podium and cleanly cleared the blackboard.