The Goddess Needs A Break!

After the weird dream that he had, Takei continued his life without giving it a second thought.

Due to all the studying that he has been doing, Takei was now past the current curriculum in class and was no much farther ahead than everyone else.

With exams for the current material coming up, it was going to be a cake walk for Takei.

Even so, he still studied hard as a way of not getting complacent.

A wise man once said that complacency was the greatest evil to mankind.

"..."

So then, why was Takei out with a group of friends instead of studying?

"Takeichi~ Hurry upppp."

"Helena, you're getting too close to him!"

On both sides of him, there were two of the most popular girls leaning onto him.

Helena and Akari somehow dragged him out to go on an adventure after school.

"Why am I here as well?"

Somehow, Eiji was dragged along by Takei as a way of making sure that the current situation didn't escalate too much.

"Insurance."

Takei needed another male here in order to ensure that the negative comments about him would be kept to a minimum.

Currently, they were heading towards a new bubble tea spot that had recently opened up.

It was incredibly popular amongst teens, but they left school early in order to be in a decent place in line.

Rikka wasn't able to make it due to her club duties, so she sent Eiji in order to monitor the situation.

Even though he was supposed to be a monitor, Eiji didn't plan to do his job.

He was too busy watching the romcom-like scenario that was going on in front of him.

Takei was currently being sandwiched by two beauties and was incredibly frustrated about the situation.

It wasn't due to embarrassment, it was due to the envious stares that he had been getting since a while ago.

After a couple minutes of painful walking, the four students finally reached the long awaited bubble tea spot.

There was a small line in front of the store, but it was nowhere as long as it usually would be.

Everyone went up to the end of the line and lined up behind the people that were already in line.

Akari and Helena seemed excited to try out the new place, but Takei and Eiji were not entirely convinced.

They were both men of cultured tastes, such as anime and video games. Those two couldn't possibly understand why the girls were getting so excited over just tea.

One by one, the line moved up and they were eventually let into the store.

The new bubble tea spot catered to mostly teens, so the aesthetic of the store was very vibrant and lively.

In other words, it was a perfect spot for students to interact and mingle without worrying about their social statuses being weakened.

"It's a bit...different than what I expected."

Takei looked around and immediately determined that this was a spot for popular people to go to, which meant he definitely didn't belong here.

Looking around, he saw many high-spec people that looked like they were at the top of the social hierarchy.

Feeling nauseous at the sight of this, Takei tried to escape the situation.

"Okay, I'm going outside. Call me when you're done."

He tried to exit through the front door, but Helena grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Oh no you don't."

The immense grip on the collar of his shirt left him without any chance to get away.

"You don't want to make Akarin sad, right?" Helena protested. "Hey Akarin, speak up. You'll be lonely if he leaves, correct?"

Helena passed the conversation onto Akari, which made her surprised for a second, but she quickly turned bashful after hearing the question.

"Um... yes. Takei can do anything he wants, but... I would prefer it if he stays. He makes me feel safe."

Surprisingly, Akari said such an embarrassing line out in public.

In response, Takei was just dumbfounded and was stuck on how to respond to that embarrassing line.

A few moments passed and he finally recollected himself.

Realizing his foolishness by making her utter that line, Takei could only blame himself and accept his due punishment.

"Okay, fine. I'll stay."

"Yayyy~"

"Thank you."

"Can I leave yet?"

There were many different reactions to his responses, but Takei mostly ignored all of them except for one.

Once the uproar was over, Takei looked at the menu board that was hanging above them.

There were many wacky flavors and combinations, which ended up giving him a headache.

To be on the safe side, Takei decided to order a safe combination.

He walked up to the cashier and stated his order.

"Large milk tea with boba please."

"Understood, your total will be $6.77."

The cashier rang him up while Takei paid in cash.

Soon after he ordered, the rest of the group ordered as well.

Akari ordered a strawberry milk tea, Helena ordered a brown sugar milk tea, and Eiji ordered a peach tea. Of course, all of them were with boba pearls.

Due to it being a new store trying to make a name for itself, there were many employees working at this busy hour which resulted in drinks being made at a stupendous rate.

Not even a minute had passed after the drinks were ordered, but they were already finished and brought out.

Takei took a sip of his drink and was seriously surprised at the delicate taste of it.

Unlike other bubble tea shops, this drink tasted a lot more delicate and refined compared to them. It was most likely due to strenuous testing that they had done beforehand to ensure the quality of their drinks.

Looking at his fellow comrades, Takei could tell they were enjoying the drinks as well.

Helena had a smug expression on her face, while Akari face muscles were slowly loosening up.

Eiji was well... he was Eiji.

Seeing the different reactions amongst the group, Takei tried to suppress a light chuckle.

The key word being "tried."

Helena and Eiji didn't hear it, but Akari just barely managed to hear him laugh to himself.

She was delighted to see that he was enjoying himself, so Akari walked up to Takei and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Wha-?"

As expected, Takei was extremely confused about the situation.

In response, Akari looked at him with a mischievous smile on her face.

"I just felt like doing it..."

"..."

At this point in time, Takei knew it was better to just accept the goddess's affection instead of getting embarrassed about it.

To pay Akari back for her surprise attack, he began to lightly stroke her hair.

Since both of them were getting more used to this type of affection, neither of them were getting as embarrassed anymore.

It was just a matter of when and where now for their acts of affection to happen.

To them, it was as normal as breathing.

However, they forgot to account for other people not feeling the same way.

"They look like newlyweds."

"More like an old couple."

Helena and Eiji both commented on the situation, but made no move to stop it.

Rather, they couldn't make a move to stop it since the intensity of the sugary atmosphere was too strong.

Instead of bubble tea, it seemed that both Takei and Akari found something much sweeter today.

---

Akari's Final Affection Meter: 25 -> 28%

Thai milk tea boba is undefeated, don't even question me.

Serious-san: Personally, I prefer something with a more bitter taste.

Sugar-san: Of course you do.