All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

"What a scare! When did I set my phone notification sound to be this loud?"

Hearing the loud alert just now made her heart race, as if something ominous was about to happen. Thankfully, it wasn't a phone call—an unexpected ring at night could sound like something out of a horror movie.

It didn't sound like a text notification either. What could it be? With so many apps installed on her phone, if she didn't limit some permissions, she'd be getting all kinds of random alerts all day long. She wanted to set her phone to silent, but she was afraid of missing calls or messages. Kotomi had been meaning to take time to adjust her app permissions carefully.

This time, she resolved, she would definitely get around to it.

Picking up her phone, she checked what notification it was. Her lips twitched slightly. She hadn't expected her usually quiet, trouble-free Browser to suddenly start pushing notifications at her, and so loudly too.

"Is something wrong?" Megumi asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just the Browser I always use suddenly decided to send me a push notification with this loud alert—probably just some trash news."

Kotomi knew "trash news" on her browser all too well. Typically, it was one of two kinds: either an eye-catching title with a risqué cover image that ended up having no real content when clicked, or headlines that couldn't avoid words like "Shocking" to grab attention.

Between the two, Kotomi didn't mind the former so much; after all, back when she was younger, these types of risqué covers were like her "introductory materials."

It was mainly because she hadn't known much at the time. Now, entering URLs was second nature to her, with all the smoothness of muscle memory—she wasn't even this fluent with her schoolwork.

But when she was little, she didn't even know what URLs were. Just seeing a picture of a model in "intimate clothing" would make her pulse race for half the day.

Just as she was about to dismiss the notification and close her phone, her eyes caught sight of the news headline that she hadn't really noticed before.

"On September 23, witness a rare red moon in the night sky!"

A red moon?

Kotomi raised an eyebrow; she couldn't deny she was intrigued. She no longer wanted to close the phone and instead tapped on the notification.

The news itself was predictable, explaining some expert forecast, blah blah… Then it said that on September 23—the day after tomorrow—it was likely that a rare red moon would be visible in the night sky.

"The range for viewing this red moon will be quite large. According to the forecast, these countries will be able to witness the red moon on the evening of September 23."

Kotomi skimmed through the details and found that on the evening of September 23, both China and Japan would be able to see the red moon.

"Is it an interesting piece of news?" Megumi, noticing Kotomi was still looking at her phone, asked curiously.

"I guess so. We'll be able to see a red moon on the evening of September 23," Kotomi replied, passing her phone over to Megumi so she could see too.

"A red moon~ Sounds exciting. I've never seen one before. Have you, Kotomi?"

"Me neither. I've seen it plenty on TV and online, but I've never actually seen a red moon in person. Too bad I don't have a real camera, but I guess my phone's camera will do. I'll definitely take a bunch of photos for the memory."

Thanks to the internet, people were familiar with the red moon, though few had actually seen it in person. With such a rare chance to witness it in real life, taking plenty of photos was a must.

As Kotomi finished reading and closed her phone, she suddenly realized something about the date the red moon was supposed to appear.

September 23…

Megumi's birthday?!

"What a coincidence," Kotomi murmured.

"What is it?" Megumi asked.

"The red moon's going to appear on your birthday, Megumi!" Kotomi replied quickly.

Megumi blinked, then smiled in realization. "You're right! I was so focused on the red moon in the article that I almost forgot it's my birthday that day!"

"Your birthday is so important—it's something you should always remember."

For Kotomi, birthdays were something to be treasured. Even in her second life, when her parents had passed away and she didn't have much money, she would still buy herself a small cake and make a bowl of long-life noodles for her birthday.

After all, a birthday represents the day a mother endured immense pain to bring her child into the world safely. That alone made it something she felt should be deeply respected and never forgotten.

"Alright, alright~ I promise to remember it well in the future, but with you around, Kotomi, I don't have to worry about forgetting. I want to spend every birthday from now on with you," Megumi said with a sweet smile.

Normally, Megumi's tone and smile were light and understated, but only in front of Kotomi did she show such a smile filled with warmth.

"I'm not your reminder app; you should remember it yourself," Kotomi mumbled, pressing her lips together as her cheeks reddened at her attempt to brush off the affection.

After half an hour had passed—

"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, we're starting to serve your order now."

The Burger King manager, accompanied by several employees, approached carrying multiple trays, each with a 12-layer commemorative King Burger. They'd apparently pulled two tables over to the one Kotomi and Megumi were seated at to make enough space for all the food.

Burger King typically serves customers at the counter, where patrons place their orders and wait to be called to pick them up.

To have the manager himself bring the order to their table was indeed something unusual.

As the manager announced he'd "brought over their food," quite a few other customers in the restaurant glanced over curiously, wondering what made this situation so special.

Those who initially looked over in confusion soon found their bewilderment replaced by even greater shock and disbelief!

???

Did their eyes deceive them? One 12-layer commemorative King Burger they could understand, two they could fathom—but why couldn't they wrap their heads around the sight of twelve of them at once?!

As the twelve 12-layer commemorative King Burgers were placed one by one on the table, the two burgers Megumi had ordered seemed minuscule in comparison.

Kotomi and Megumi were sitting across from each other, but now, with twelve 12-layer commemorative King Burgers towering on the table between them like a fortress, they could no longer see each other.

"This is… a bit over the top," Megumi murmured, amazed that a burger could actually be described as "majestic." She leaned to the side, grabbed her two burgers and her orange juice, and moved to sit beside Kotomi.

"Miss, may I confirm that you're ready to start the challenge?" After setting down the burgers, the manager wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and took out a timer.

"Hm? Of course. Let's get started—I'm starving!"

After saying that, Kotomi grabbed one of the massive burgers and took a huge bite, as if she could devour even a whole cow, bones and all!

At first, the manager didn't believe Kotomi could finish all twelve of the 12-layer commemorative King Burgers. He assumed that, no matter how much a girl could eat, there had to be a limit. She'd probably be raising a white flag before she even got through the first one.

But just like when he'd followed his own investment "secrets" and managed to lose ten million yen, he was wrong once again.

He watched, wide-eyed, as Kotomi devoured each 12-layer commemorative burger one by one, like an unstoppable cavalry plowing through its target. The seemingly unbreakable wall of twelve burgers crumbled before her, and soon there were only six left.

Customers and employees alike stared in dumbfounded shock, some even wanting to bang their heads against a wall to confirm they weren't dreaming. This had to be the Twilight Zone.

Kotomi paid no attention to the stares. Her empty stomach demanded her full focus, so she concentrated on one task only: eating. Even after demolishing six burgers, her pace didn't slow; she continued to "conquer" her burger wall with steady, powerful consistency.

Five, four, three, two...

Perhaps out of nervous anticipation, or maybe disbelief, the manager, who had doubted she could finish, found himself silently counting down.

One!

Zero!

The final number landed, marking the end of the countdown and the completion of Kotomi's challenge.

"Ohhhhhhh!!! Amazing! She actually did it! Twelve of them! Twelve 12-layer commemorative King Burgers!"

"I heard there was a record years back for ten 7-layer commemorative King Burgers—a little girl set it! I thought that was insane enough, but now, in front of my eyes, there's a new record of twelve 12-layer commemorative King Burgers!"

"A living legend in our midst?!"

"Unreal! I wonder who'd win if we put her up against the 7-layer girl in an eating match?"

"If I hadn't seen it myself, I'd swear this was edited CGI!"

The crowd of onlookers erupted with admiration. The initial confusion and disbelief had vanished, replaced by reverence for Kotomi.

People always admire the strong, even if it's someone strong at eating burgers.

"What a thrilling challenge! That was amazing! Alright, as promised, everything's on the house, and here's your 500,000 yen voucher!"

The manager, eyes brimming with tears, exclaimed. It had been years since he'd felt this fired up, especially after the constant beatdowns of adult life.

Soon after, Kotomi was handed the voucher for 500,000 yen.

"Miss, please enter your phone number here to link it to this voucher. Then, if you don't have the voucher on hand, just giving your number will let you use it at any Burger King," the manager explained.

After she entered her phone number and the verification code she received, the voucher was successfully linked.

The manager gave Kotomi a bow and was about to leave when she called him back: "Wait, I haven't finished ordering!"

Startled, the manager nearly stumbled, grabbing onto the nearest chair to steady himself as he stammered, "M-Miss, you're not joking, right? You can really eat more?"

Kotomi shook her head. "I don't feel like eating another burger right now, but I still haven't gotten my blueberry sundae. When I ordered earlier, I asked to swap the free chocolate sundae for blueberry."

The manager stared, bewildered, at the employee who had initially taken her order. The employee nodded hastily and said, "Yes, that's right. I was just so shocked by her 12-burger challenge that I nearly forgot! I'll grab the sundae right now!"

Hehe, Kotomi thought gleefully. After those burgers, I'll have a nice dessert sundae to cleanse my palate.

After eating twelve of those towering burgers, she could definitely use something refreshing, and the sundae would be perfect.

Soon, Kotomi's long-awaited blueberry sundae was brought over, and after the staff cleared away the burger wrappers, the manager and employees returned to their duties.

"I'm digging in!"

Kotomi cheerfully bit into her plastic spoon and reached for the sundae, ready to savor it.

Her spoon came up empty!

Startled, Kotomi looked up to see her precious sundae missing from the table. She glanced around and found it in Megumi's hand.

"Megumi, I want my sundae!" Kotomi protested, brandishing her spoon in defiance.

But today, Megumi wasn't about to let her off the hook so easily. She swiftly reached out, pinching Kotomi's nose gently, and sternly chided her:

"Do I need to drill this into you for you to finally remember? You're not supposed to eat cold things right now! Do you think you're made of iron? You're on your period, and here you are, reaching for ice cream?"

At that moment, Kotomi remembered. Oh, right. I'm on my period and shouldn't be having anything cold these days.

Just earlier, she'd been reminding Megumi to remember her birthday, yet here she was, needing to be reminded of her own condition. Embarrassed, she scratched her head and mumbled awkwardly, "Hehe, I almost forgot about my period. Good thing I didn't get to eat the ice cream."

"You just told me not to rely on you as a reminder app. But it seems like now I'm acting like yours! I reminded you earlier at lunch not to eat anything spicy, and now here I am, having to remind you not to eat anything cold. Kotomi, seriously, get a grip!"

"It's complementary, complementary! We're just complementing each other. You're my reminder app, and I'm yours."

Sigh "There's no helping you, is there? Alright, the ice cream is mine. Here, take my orange juice—it doesn't have any ice."

After snatching Kotomi's spoon, Megumi handed her the orange juice she'd barely sipped from.

Kotomi still wanted that sundae, but there was no way she could ignore the fiery, monthly visit from her period, so she reluctantly accepted the cold ban.

As she sipped the orange juice through the straw, a thought crossed her mind.

Megumi used this straw. And she's using my spoon for the sundae.

Could this be... an indirect kiss?

A warm blush bloomed on Kotomi's cheeks, and she lowered her eyes in contentment, her gaze twinkling as she softly chuckled to herself.

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