Looking at the person sitting in front of her, Akari Akazawa could only coldly glare at her current companion.
"Coffee ain't your thing? There's tea as well," Erika Tachibana said, in response to Akari's powerful stare.
Rewinding time a bit, Akari was still shopping with Ayame until she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.
There was a girl that she vehemently disliked standing outside of the store gazing in, as if she was pretending to shop.
In reality, Akari knew that Erika was trying to get a reaction out of her.
Why is she here? There's no reason why she would be in Takei's hometown the same time we are...
With a sinister grin on Erika's face, she pointed towards a coffee shop in the distance and put up her hand to show five fingers.
It obviously meant she wanted to meet up with Akari in that coffee shop five minutes from now, to which Akari silently nodded.
I noticed that Takei disappeared a while ago, but this situation is too perfect to not be connected to his disappearance. What's going on?
Akari didn't know what to say to Takei's grandparents in order to escape the shopping situation she was in right now, but Akihiko stepped up to the plate to help.
"I'll take care of Ayame. Takei left a while ago to go finish his own tasks, so go do what you need to do," Akihiko affirmed. "Just make sure you're back before dinner."
Akari was grateful for his help, so she bowed vigorously and ran off so as to not make his efforts be in vain.
Returning to the present, Akari was seated face-to-face with Erika in a coffee shop.
"What are you doing here?" Akari questioned. "It's odd that you're here at such a convenient time as us.
Akari dropped all pretenses and leaned forward with a serious expression, which immediately made it clear to Erika that she wasn't playing around.
In response to Akari's question, Erika leaned back in her chair and yawned.
"My little brother told me about how Takei brutally abused him, so I came back in a hurry to help him out just as a big sister should," Erika explained.
Akari looked at Erika with a shocked expression. "Takei didn't beat him up at all! Maybe rough up a little bit... but, Araki deserved it for what he said!"
At this, Erika shook her head to show her disapproval of Takei's actions.
"Even then, I have a bit of a vendetta against Takei. It doesn't matter what my brother said, the result is all that remains. Takei shoved my little brother down onto the ground," Erika angrily said. "For that, I'm going to have my revenge."
Akari became wide-eyed once she heard the real reason behind Erika being here.
"Revenge...?"
This was not something she had expected from a fellow high schooler.
Erika's expression turned smug as a result of seeing Akari's shocked face.
"My brother and I crafted a plan that ensured that both you and Takei were separated from each other," Erika sneered. "Currently, he's probably being beaten up in a dark corner of the mall right now. I can imagine him crying on the floor and begging for you as he gets beaten black and blue."
Akari's fists clenched once she realized how bad the situation was.
She wanted to lunge forward and attack Erika out of pure rage, but Akari knew it was better to control herself and not make a scene.
Adding insult to injury, Erika leaned forward and whispered into Akari's ear.
"Don't even bother trying to contact him or get help, I have some boys waiting outside who wouldn't mind getting rough with you," Erika explained.
Following Erika's gaze, Akari looked outside of the shop and saw two big delinquents who looked like they hadn't skipped chest and arms day in several years.
Is this checkmate? I can't do anything to help Takei in his greatest time of need. I'm a terrible girlfriend...
A negative spiral of thinking began to corrupt Akari's mind, until a certain someone's voice rang loudly in her head.
Don't give up, because I sure won't. I promise not to ever leave you alone ever again. Akari, I love you.
Remembering Takei's promise to her, Akari was not ready to give up without a fight.
While Erika was distracted for a split second, Akari fiddled with her phone under the table and sent off a text to some people.
With this, my job is just about done. I just need to wait for the reinforcements to come in. Please wait for me, Takei.
And so, the goddess was ready to take back her life with her own hands.
—
Serious-san: Too many shonen developments!
Sugar-chan: Author-san, please update the genres~
A/N: I initially only put the main story option in the last chapter poll as a gag choice, but it surprisingly got a lot of votes. I'll probably just continue the main story and sprinkle in a lot of side stories in-between the main story chapters. Kuudere will be the side story after yandere. As always, side story suggestions are welcome in the comment section.