Ugly Bastard System

When they came out of the butler and maid cafe, Ruri was giving Takeshi a stink eye, who was spacing out in a daze.

"Loser. Pervert."

Takeshi did not react to anything. Annoyed, Ruri stomped on his feet. That got a yelp out of him.

"Hey! What the hell was that for!"

"To teach a loser who made a fool out of himself a lesson."

"W-who the hell are you calling a loser?!"

"You of course, dumbass! She just kept you dancing on her tune and you happily followed! You even almost ordered the most expensive things just because she would feed you by hand!"

"Y-y-y-you are the the one to talk! A guy just calls you by the name of a flower and you start going ga-ga over him!"

"Hah?! T-this and that are different!!!"

"How the hell are they different?!"

Miki was trying to stop the fight between the two, but she was going all wa-wa with teary eyes, which was not helping.

Sighing, Sayuri stepped in and stopped their quarrel. Ah, children on the verge of hitting puberty. They didn't even know what they were doing, and didn't realise why they were mad.

But she had to admit—they kinda looked cute together. Ah, young love she never got to experience. She only met and dated Satoshi after she came to the city to study in the university, after all. The village didn't have any men her age to study in the school together. The ones that were there were either too young or too old.

After wandering around and visiting various exhibitions and shows for a while, they stumbled into a traditional style tea house. This must have been Gojima san's class.

"Wha! This feels completely different from the the butler and maid cafe!" Ruri exclaimed.

Unlike the fancy tables and chairs of the maid cafe, the tea house had traditional style seating cushions. They even covered the floor with  tatami mats! The room was filled with flower arrangements and kinda had the elegant atmosphere where you subconsciously started to act polite.

They were greeted by a really handsome boy. There was a tag on his yukata that read 'Satou'.

"Welcome to the tea house, esteemed guests." He bowed elegantly. The others also bowed with a little stiffness—except Sayuri. They weren't expecting all these formality. Sayuri, however, grew up in a traditional village so she was used to it.

Watching the kids, the handsome boy, whose yukata was squaring up his handsomeness, gave a really refreshing and welcoming smile. Both Ruri and Miki felt their cheeks heating up.

Is this high school filled with handsome boys or something! What if Miki gets fooled by one of them? Oh no! As her best friend, Ruri must be there with her to protect her! Yes, that is totally the only reason she will get in this school! Yep, that's totally it!

The boy, ignoring the cold stares from the young boy and another adult, guided them to a table. They all sat on the cushions.

Then a pretty girl wearing glasses and kimono came and served them with traditional sweets. Sayuri felt nostalgic looking at the Ichigo Daifuku served to them.

The nighborhood aunty back home also used to run a tea house. Here Momo Manjus and Ichigo Daifukus were extremely delicious. Unlike that tea house where there were only one table for the customers and only one host to serve them, this one had a lot more tables, with only two tea makers—two elegant looking girls sitting on the side. One was a curly brown haired girl wearing bright orange-pink floral patterned kimono and the other one had long and straight black hair and she was wearing a crimson red kimono. They were responsible for making the tea for all the tables.

The two girls seemed like north and south poles to her for some reason. But their movements—they were perfect.

Takeshi looked at them amazed. Then squinted his eyes.

"Hmm... that brown haired girl... I feel like I have seen her somewhere. But where? I can't remember..."

"Hm? She kinda looks like one of the models of those fashion magazines Mama reads..." Miki said.

"Nah, that's obviously not possible. Why would a model be here in a tea house?" Takeshi laughed it away.

"Why can't a model be here in a high school? Hm... the Daifuku is tashty... There are already so many good looking oni sans and onee sans, I won't be surprised if one or two of them actually does modeling." Ruri replied while gulping down the Ichigo Daifukus. "Damn, they are really delicious! Uncle, can we take some home?"

Ruri's uncle asked the glasses wearing girl that served them the sweets and now was tending to the other tables.

"Yes esteemed guests, do you need anything?"

"Yes, miss... Ishida," Sunohara read the tag on her kimono, "my niece has really taken a liking to Ichigo Daifuku."

"My, we're really glad to hear that."

"So... we were wondering if it is possible for us to take some home."

Ishida had a wry smile on her face. "I am sorry esteemed guests, but the amount of sweets we can make everyday is limited, and we already have a line forming outside."

"A line?"

"...Yes, you were one of the early ones who managed to arrive before a crowd was formed. We will probably run out of our sweets before managing to serve everyone. So... we are extremely sorry."

"Ah, no... its not your fault. Sometimes you cannot help it with the circumstances." Sunohara hurriedly said.

Ruri's face fell. Sayuri then patted her head.

"Don't worry Ruri chan! I will make as much Ichigo Daifuku you want! And other sweets too!... well, only traditional ones though," Sayuri said embarrassingly, "I am no good with the western ones."

Ruri perked up. "Sayuri san! You know how to make Japanese sweets! You never told us before!"

"Ah, well, it never came up—"

At that moment, Gojima, Okada senior and Isshiki entered the room.

"Wow... it really has a different feeling from my class." Isshiki said.

"Of course it does, Isshiki sensei," Okada said, "Japanese style tea houses—"

"Whoa! Ogre's here! Hey, Ogre!!!" Ruri spotted Gojima and waved at him.

The whole room became silent.

"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Pfft!" The silence was broken by Ishida's stifled laugh. Even Isshiki joined him.

"You sure have a lot of nicknames, Gojima sensei!" he said, much to Gojima's annoyance.

He looked around the room. Sayuri, Miki and Takeshi had wry smiles on her faces. Ruri's uncle looked straight at the sweets in front of him, completely ignoring him. Smart choice.

Satou... had a strained but still refreshing smile. The others were biting their lips. Okada junior... she looked normal at first glance, but if you looked carefully, you could see that her shoulders were shaking.

The girl didn't want to show anything embarrassing to her sister. Though she did not have to worry about that, as her sister's shoulders were shaking even more violently.

"Ruri chan!" Sayuri hushed her and smiled at Gojima. "Sorry, Gojima san, Ruri is kinda experiencing a suger high so she blurted it out without thinking."

Gojima also returned a polite smile. "I am not bothered by it, Hanazono san. So, how are you all liking the hospitality of my students?"

"They could compete on par with the professionals... is what I'd say." She replied.

He smiled again. "I am sure my students will be glad to hear your compliments. Won't you all?"

"Yes!"
"Yes sensei."
"Yes Go-jima sensei."
"Yes, GS."
"YES GODSPEED! WE ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY TO HEAR YOUR FRIEND'S COMPLIMENTS!!!" shouted the hyperactive guy surnamed Ooga.

The whole room became silent the second time. This time, it was broken by Ruri.

"Bwahahahahaha Godspeed!!! What kind of lame name is that!!! Bwahahahahahahahaha..."

Sayuri was supposed to stop her, but even she was dumbfounded and her lips were shaking. Soon there were more stifled laughs—even from the other customers!

Gojima felt a headache coming.