If Jiecheng Yuan hadn’t needed to get on good terms with the other Magical Girls to clear her name, she wouldn’t have wanted to show her face at all. Before the commotion, she’d been the one drawing the most attention.

Jiecheng Yuan hadn’t decided to help Herika out of trouble solely because she felt sorry for her, surrounded by people taking shots at her. That was part of it, of course.

More importantly, Xiwei Li wasn’t here. That meant Cou could use this chance to claim the starting affection points that should’ve gone to Xiwei Li—even if she wasn’t in a virtual world made up of zeroes and ones, so calling them affection points felt a little weird.

Sorry, Xiao Li. While you’re gone, your script’s mine.

“Wait! Don’t argue!”

Jiecheng Yuan’s shout cut through the crowd, only to be swallowed by the tide of voices. The crowd kept pouring their complaints onto Herika, showing no sign of stopping over one insignificant shout from Cou.

Rather than venting their frustration, it was more like they’d spotted a brat who kept shirking responsibility and shouting about breaking up the band, then joined everyone else in taking the moral high ground to scold her.

Every time someone criticized Herika, she fired back without hesitation, even though all it did was make her enemies everywhere.

A single person’s words weighed no more than a feather. Facing so many people, Herika’s retorts didn’t amount to much—but when everyone piled their words together, they became a monstrous weight, enough to crush someone.

If Herika had shown even the slightest weakness, the others would’ve taken the chance to end this one-sided argument. But she just gritted her teeth, stubbornly pretending to be tough, and faced down everyone who opposed her.

It wasn’t very rational, but if she didn’t act this way, she wouldn’t be Tenrai Herika.

“Stop arguing!”

Jiecheng Yuan raised her voice again, but, as expected, it was instantly drowned out. The only person who responded was Quanshan Baqi, who was making her way over.

“What, what? What’s going on?” Quanshan Baqi finally squeezed her way to Cou’s side and grabbed her hand. She paid no attention at all to the commotion unfolding in the cafeteria. Her eyes stayed on Cou, full of undisguised concern.

Jiecheng Yuan held a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture, then nodded toward the cafeteria, which was roaring with noise. Quanshan Baqi nodded as if she understood—more or less. Only then did Cou clear her throat and raise her voice as loud as she could.

“Hey! I said, stop arguing!”

This time, it worked. A few students nearby covered their ears. The students in the middle of the confrontation stopped arguing when she interrupted them, and several students blocking the cafeteria entrance moved aside to open a path. The chaos shifted its focus to Jiecheng Yuan.

Doing something this mortifying wasn’t like Jiecheng Yuan at all, but the moment had already been set. She could only grit her teeth and go through with it.

Between dying of embarrassment now and getting ‘pleasured to death’ later if things went wrong, dying of embarrassment was still the better option.

Social death was just a figure of speech. At most, it meant taking a little emotional damage. Getting raped until both your mind and body reached their limits wasn’t fun at all.

“Isn’t it a bit much for a whole crowd to gang up on one girl?” Jiecheng Yuan put extra emphasis on “one,” stressing how unfair it was for so many people to pick on a single person.

Voices agreeing with Jiecheng Yuan began to emerge. After all, only a few people had chosen to argue with Herika. Before Cou stepped forward, the few who were willing to speak up for Herika had been drowned out, and many people had chosen to stay silent.

Now that Jiecheng Yuan had taken the lead, people with similar opinions had room to express themselves.

“She’s right. We’re all classmates. There’s no need to let things get this heated, is there?”

“This is the cafeteria. Arguing here is going to disturb everyone else.”

“I think they should sort this out among themselves.”

The wording varied, but they all had one thing in common: they wanted this farce to end.

Cou even heard someone in the crowd say that the Trashy Pink-Haired Girl from the class next door was taking the chance to flirt with girls again.

Rumors die with the wise. Rumors die with the wise. I can’t let them ruin the image I’ve worked so hard to maintain.

Hey! Why was someone saying, “She spent all morning trying to win over the transfer student because Cou’s the school’s resident lesbian”?

Baki, at least deny it! Don’t smile so bashfully! That’s not your character, is it?!

With Jiecheng Yuan breaking in, the focus of the discussion began to drift, and the attacks on Herika temporarily died down. Quite a few classmates who understood what Cou meant began quietly withdrawing from the fray, and the tension in the cafeteria finally eased a little.

Jiecheng Yuan remembered that when Xiwei Li had helped, things hadn’t gone like this at all. Back then, Xiwei Li had needed only a few words to make the arguing students back down politely.

Oh, well. As long as she accomplished her goal, she didn’t mind embarrassing herself a little.

Not everyone could act purely on reason. Some of the students Herika had pointed at and snapped back at were angrily defending themselves, and the atmosphere, which had just begun to ease, grew tense again.

“Okay, okay, listen up, everyone. It’s lunchtime. Arguing here is only going to disturb the other students. Can we all calm down a little?”

If they started arguing again, Jiecheng Yuan would’ve put herself out there for nothing. It wouldn’t help clear her name at all, so she had to keep smoothing things over. She wouldn’t stop until Herika delivered the standard, “It’s not like I’m going to thank you!”

“And you can all talk over the band stuff later, okay? Tenrai just wants what’s best for the band.”

That was pure selfishness on Jiecheng Yuan’s part. If she had to pick her favorite of the original trio, she’d absolutely choose Herika, whose personality took the gap-moe contrast to the extreme. That was why Cou was willing to take Herika’s side a little and try to earn more of her affection.

“This is our band’s business! You’re an outsider, so stay out of it!”

The one who picked up the thread of her words was actually Herika. She stepped in front of the other band members first, putting her body between Jiecheng Yuan and everyone else. Her pale yellow eyes glared fiercely at Cou, and despite her small frame, she gave off an intense sense of pressure—like a serval guarding its food.

Before Jiecheng Yuan could say a word, Quanshan Baqi, still holding Cou’s hand, couldn’t hold back. “What’s your problem? Xiao Yuan was helping you out!”

“Huh?” Herika knitted her brows and tilted her head to one side, as if she’d heard something unexpected. The corner of her mouth twitched. “I can handle it myself. Did I ask her to help me?”

“You…” Quanshan Baqi was left speechless.

“And who are you? I’m talking to her. Why are you butting in?” Herika didn’t let up, even after she’d left Baqi speechless.

Someone in the crowd suddenly blurted, “It’s a love-triangle showdown!” No way!

Before a new round of arguing could start, Jiecheng Yuan hurriedly pulled the agitated Quanshan Baqi out of the cafeteria.

Her reaction was a little different from the game, but that affection boost should still count as a success, right?