25 Chapter 20

He continued with his research until morning, then headed to school and met up with his sisters on the way. Yuna insisted on having lunch with him, threatening to move in with him. Upon reaching his class, he spotted Sajou and approached him with an unusual friendliness.

"Hey, Sajou-kun, my buddy, my pal! How's it going?" he said while walking over.

"Not much, Eden," Sajou replied, seemingly puzzled by Eden's sudden friendliness.

Eden guided Sajou away from the main area, seeking a more private spot. "Sajou, do you know the American saying 'snitches get stitches and end up in ditches'?"

"No, I wouldn't say I do," Sajou responded, a bit confused as the saying didn't rhyme in Japanese like it did in English.

"Well, it's pretty self-explanatory. So, why shouldn't I give you stitches and throw you in a ditch for saying I wasn't here on Monday?"

"I... I was just scared. The teacher was really intimidating," Sajou explained.

"Listen, you owe me two favors, and I'll call them in whenever I feel like it, alright?"

"Okay," Sajou agreed. Eden then added his number to Wataru's phone before returning to class. He stayed there until the class began, at which point he cast the spell "Mass Modify Memory." Seeing that the spell worked, he used Misty Step to leave the classroom.

He returned to the classroom he had taken over the previous day, determined to turn it into an extension of his Mansion Infinitas. It was a ritual that took up half of the first block, and he successfully completed it. This process aligned all the characteristics of his mansion with the room. Additionally, it allowed him to utilize the reorganize feature to move things around within the room. He could also bring items from the mansion to the classroom.

To avoid raising suspicion, he rearranged the tables to form a central block of desks. He brought over a rug and a mini fridge filled with light alcoholic beverages. He also added cigarettes, an ashtray, and a deck of cards. He then sent text messages to both Ryoko and Hinami-chan. He asked Ryoko to come to this room instead of the courtyard, and he inquired if Hinami-chan could look after Asia if she was in the same class. He received affirmative responses from both of them. Hinami-chan's response even included a big thumbs-up emoji.

While waiting for the class break, he decided to check his Instalife to see how things were going. He was quite surprised by the results. Initially, he had only six followers, but now he had 985. His first post had received around 2,092 likes and approximately 210 comments. Most of the comments either mentioned how attractive Eden was or praised the beauty of his garden. After taking a quick look, he closed the app to prevent his ego from getting too inflated before waiting for Ryoko's arrival.

About five minutes later, the afternoon break began, and Ryoko finally arrived. "Finally joining the party, Ryoko-chan?" Eden teased.

"What is this place?" Ryoko asked, clearly curious.

"This is my castle, my fortress of solitude, where I can skip school without anyone being the wiser."

"How did you manage to bring all this stuff in here?" Ryoko inquired.

"I have my ways. So, do you want a beer?"

"You have beer?"

"And smokes. You shouldn't go and buy them from that guy anymore either." Eden reached into his bag and pulled out a phone. "You mentioned your old one's screen was broken. Here."

After handing her the phone, Ryoko looked at it and asked, "Are we dating?"

Eden took a moment to consider before answering, "I don't know, but if you want to be one of my girlfriends you can"

"One?" she questioned.

"Yes." There was a brief silence, then she responded, "Well, you are quite handsome," she said before lighting a cigarette. Polygamy had been legal for about twenty years. The story about it has been turned into a movie, a TV show, and an anime. It was a tale about a man who wished to marry his two mistresses before succumbing to cancer. Eden had watched the movie, and it was quite good. However, after twenty years, most of the taboo surrounding it had been exhausted by the media and reality TV shows featuring both men and women who had an amusing number of lovers. But now, after twenty years, the excitement had waned. While there were a good number of polygamous relationships, they mostly involved people from the upper crust with too much time and money on their hands, much like Eden. "Well, what do you want to play?" As they began to play, Eden shared more about himself with his new girlfriend, enjoying each other's company. "This isn't fair, how do you keep winning?" After uttering those words, Ryoko moved over to sit on Eden's lap and pulled him into a deep kiss. Their lips locked until Ryoko felt like she might faint from lack of air, and then Eden let go, allowing her to rest on his chest. "You lasted way longer that time," he teased, causing Ryoko to blush ". This had become their 'punishment' for losing the game, although they both saw it more as an excuse to be close.

After catching her breath, Ryoko returned to her seat with her drink. "You know, you're a bad influence on me. Now I'm drinking in school and skipping classes," she admitted, taking a sip of her third beer. "Do you prefer the German or Irish one better?" In Eden's mansion, he had a bar stocked with various types of alcohol. For this occasion, he had chosen to offer light beers in the mini-fridge, wanting to keep Ryoko from getting too intoxicated. However, even if she did, he planned to use healing magic on her before leaving. "I think the German one," she replied before realizing something. "Did you even respond when I said you're a bad influence?"

"I mean I would not even be here if I did not see you smoking yesterday I think this is all your fault"

And like that, they kept going with there little date.