With some suspicion, he glanced at the girl passing by. As their eyes met, she naturally walked past him, leaving a faint, pleasant fragrance lingering in the air.
Hmm?
She wasn't following him all this time? Just a coincidence that they were headed in the same direction.
Stare—
Yazuki rudely fixed his gaze on the girl's smooth, fair cheeks, which were almost reflective.
Just as she passed him by one step, the girl suddenly stopped. Her blue eyes shifted slightly, catching him in her peripheral vision. Her gaze was icy cold.
"Staring at a woman in the middle of the street with such a wicked and vulgar look, are you some kind of pervert?"
Her cherry-colored lips emitted a voice as pleasant as a flowing stream, yet her words were filled with thorns.
"And what's with those injuries? Don't tell me you finally couldn't resist your perverted urges and got punished by some righteous people?"
Though her voice was pleasant, this JK was way too hostile. Did she know him from somewhere?
Wait, knowing him wouldn't be that strange. Yazuki quickly realized that this girl's uniform was from Sobu High School, the same school he attended.
After all, ever since he accidentally did that at school, his name had spread far and wide. There was probably no one in the entire school who didn't recognize him.
Of course, his reputation was anything but good. Among the female students, they all tried to avoid him.
So who was this girl? As he dug through his memories, he found a match.
Yukinoshita Yukino, a student of Sobu High School. One of the school's most renowned beauties. A perfect girl, excelling in academics and other fields. Her ice-cold poker face made her as unapproachable as snow—a super cool and outstanding student.
"Huaaah!!!"
"Ah—!"
Yazuki suddenly let out a strange yell and lunged toward Yukinoshita as if to attack her. She gasped in surprise, letting out a cute, startled yelp. Her usually indifferent face showed a rare trace of fear as she hurriedly retreated.
However, in her rush to step back, she miscalculated her footing and tripped over herself, landing heavily on the ground with her backside.
Hmm, wearing a skirt, falling in that position… From Yazuki's angle, he could see beyond the absolute territory of her beautiful legs—
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue. Blocked. He even let out a rogue-like whistle.
And then—
"Hahaha—!"
After pulling off his little villainous act, Yazuki burst into hearty laughter.
In response, Yukinoshita shot him a look as if she were staring at some kind of disgusting insect, her icy gaze carrying a burning anger. Her face was slightly flushed with rage.
Faced with her glare, which seemed capable of piercing him full of holes, Yazuki simply put on a nonchalant, punchable smirk, shrugged his shoulders, and continued heading toward his apartment.
As he walked, he didn't need to turn around or listen for footsteps to know—she was following him.
How did he know? Because he could feel that icy, sharp gaze lingering on him the entire time.
What? Planning a sneak attack to get revenge? Gonna hit him with a surprise attack?
She didn't speak to him again along the way, as if even talking to him made her feel disgusted.
Hmm?
His apartment building had already come into view. In the next second, the girl behind him, Yukino, suddenly quickened her pace, walked past him, and—completely ignored him!
Yazuki watched her enter a high-end apartment complex. He was slightly taken aback—because that was the very building where he lived.
She lived there too?
As he entered the apartment complex, passed through the security gate, and stepped into the lobby, he noticed that some of the elevators were under maintenance. Looking around, he saw Yukinoshita standing inside one of the working elevators.
Strangely, she was pressing and holding the button to keep the elevator doors open.
The moment Yazuki stepped inside, Yukinoshita gave him a cold sneer, timed it perfectly, and pressed the button to close the doors, sending the elevator up.
So now Yazuki had to wait for the elevator to go up and come back down?
"Tch, is she a child?"
His eye twitched in irritation.
The elevator continued to ascend, seemingly heading for the top floor.
Did she live on the highest floor? Probably not. More likely, she had already exited but pressed the top floor button before leaving just to mess with him.
So, which floor did she actually get off on?
Hmm? Something was rubbing against his foot. Looking down, he saw a cat, who knows which resident it belonged to?
He gave it a quick rub.
Wait—bad! He immediately turned to check the floor indicator on the elevator. It was still rising without stopping, straight to the top floor.
That meant… she didn't live at the top.
In the brief moment he was distracted by the cat, the elevator must have stopped at the floor she lived on.
Oh well, why overthink it? Was it really worth getting worked up over a woman? He was the Demon King—was his tolerance really that small?
"Ding—"
With a crisp chime, the elevator doors opened. He stepped in and pressed the button for the 15th floor.
The floor numbers flickered past, and in no time, he reached his destination.
Stepping out—
"Which one was it? This one, right?"
Yazuki tried to recall his apartment number but wasn't entirely sure.
He walked up to a door without a nameplate—apartment 1507.
Apologies, he still couldn't remember his exact unit number. However, he did know that his apartment was the third door to the right after stepping out of the elevator.
He reached out and tapped on the electronic lock.
"Beep beep!"
A sound accompanied by an error message flashed.
"Wrong? Then maybe it's..."
"Beep beep!"
"Beep beep!"
"Beep beep!"
All wrong.
Damn it. That meant he'd have to use his key. Since he was carrying a lot of stuff, he awkwardly reached into his pocket, fumbled around, and finally pulled out the key.
He inserted it.
Something felt off.
His brow twitched. He turned the key, but sure enough—it wouldn't unlock.
"Who the hell changed my apartment lock without my permission?!"
Yazuki flared up in anger. This was practically an illegal invasion of his home, his domain. And here he thought high-end apartments had better management.
If anyone had messed with his collection inside, he might just blow this whole damn building up. And no, he wasn't joking.
Suddenly, there was movement from inside. Someone was opening the door?
Good. Good!
A terrifying "Demon King" expression surfaced on Yazuki's face.
Did they seriously rent out his apartment to someone else?
Back when he first chose this unit, someone else had also wanted it. There had been some friction, but in the end, he had won—by outbidding them with a higher rent offer.
Just because he had disappeared for a while, they thought they could rent it out behind his back? His lease hadn't even expired yet! He had prepaid for an entire year!
As the door slowly opened, Yazuki prepared to unleash his most powerful Sky-Rank Explosion Magic—[EXPLOSION!!!]
…Okay, maybe not.
But at the very least, he was about to punch the intruder into a pig-faced mess.