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The vice principal spat out the candy, then began writhing around clutching his throat.
“Gweh! Gweh! Gweh! Gweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!?!?”
The students who had been swarming the candy stand scattered like the tide pulling out.
It was blatant obstruction of business.
Kurumi could only panic.
“W-Wh-What’s wrong, Vice Principal!?”
As Kurumi crouched to help him up, the vice principal grabbed her shoulder hard.
Then he rose, like something crawling up from the edge of hell.
“Y-You fed me garbage…!”
Kurumi, completely terrified, tried to run—but the vice principal wouldn’t let go of her shoulder.
He leaned in close, pushing his dust-covered face toward hers, and whispered softly.
“Change the name of this candy right now…! To ‘Yesman Moonlight Candy’…! If you do, many blessings will come to you…!”
“B-Blessings…?”
Kurumi asked in a trembling voice.
Suddenly, the vice principal switched to a sickly-sweet tone.
“That’s right…! I’ll give you prize money…! And among the sponsors, there is a truly top-class Pastry Chef…! I will recommend you to that person…!”
“A-A recommendation… to a top-class Pastry Chef…!?”
“Yes…! Then someday you can have your own shop, and fame and money will come pouring in…! Your future will turn rosy in an instant…!”
“U-Um… well…”
Kurumi paused as if thinking—but that wasn’t it.
She was simply scared by how abruptly his attitude had changed.
“I-I refuse… Th-This candy is—Leo… kyah!?”
Her words were cut off by pain as his grip tightened around her shoulder.
His voice changed again, turning sharp and threatening.
“If you refuse, many misfortunes will come to you…! Teachers will scold you, you’ll fail tests, your classmates will ignore you, you’ll get no recommendations…! When you finally open a shop, your cakes will mold, ghosts will move in, and you’ll drown in debt…! Your future will turn pitch-black…!”
The vice principal thought Kurumi was a timid girl—someone he could pressure into compliance.
And as proof, Kurumi’s trembling only worsened.
The sky was cloudy, and the girl shrank in on herself as if she’d been tossed onto a winter mountain.
But then sunlight broke through the clouds, and the bottles of RPG Candy lined up on the counter began to shine.
That radiance reminded her of the candy the boy had made.
To the girl, that light was the sun.
Kurumi snapped her head up and declared firmly,
“I-I refuse! This candy is a precious recipe I learned from Chef Leopin! To me, Chef Leopin is far greater than any top-class Pastry Chef! Of course… even more than you, Vice Principal…! And to me, he’s the most important person in the world!”
“K-KYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
The instant she finished saying “Leopin,” the vice principal screamed like a vampire with a stake driven into his heart.
He released her shoulder—so tightly he’d been gripping it—and stumbled back, squirming.
A vampire vice principal who’d failed to get his fill.
Onlookers gathered, wondering what was happening.
“G-Gigigi…! G-Gugigigi…! F-Fine then—last resort…!”
The vice principal thrust a hand into his tuxedo and pulled something out.
…Whip!
What he shoved toward Kurumi were two tickets.
Both had a face value of “1,000.”
They showed a portrait of a girl with her bangs hanging down, looking down with little confidence.
“Th-Those are…!”
Kurumi gasped.
“That’s right! They’re the tickets you paid when you bought sugar at the School Store! I didn’t want to use this… but… I will use these tickets to command you!”
The crowd stirred.
“H-Hey, the vice principal’s about to give an order with a ticket!”
“Wait, teachers can use those too!?”
“What kind of order is he going to give…!?”
The vice principal twisted his face into a grin and grandly proclaimed,
“Everyone, watch carefully! Watch the moment a student deceived by garbage awakens—by the power of my justice!”
He thrust one ticket up to the sky.
“Slave Ticket effect—activate! I command Kurumi of Class 1-16!”
With his other hand, he pointed straight at Kurumi.
“I forbid you, from this moment onward, to ever approach Leopin of the Special Training Class again!”
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?!?”
The onlookers exploded.
“A ‘No-Leopin Decree’!”
“That means she can never get close to Leopin for the rest of her life!? Isn’t that… not even a big deal…!?”
“Doesn’t look like it! Look at that girl’s face— she looks like the whole world just became hell!”
Kurumi stood frozen, her face pale as paper.
As if the vampire vice principal had drained her dry, all color vanished from her.
Seeing Kurumi and the crowd react, the vice principal grew smug.
Carried away, he added an unnecessary extra line.
“If you break this taboo, Kurumi will be ‘expelled’!”
The ticket he held aloft dissolved into bubbles and vanished.
That was the sign the command had become valid.
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?!?”
The crowd boiled again.
“Holy crap—if she goes near Leopin, she gets expelled!”
“Isn’t that insanely bad? If he shows up, she has to run away, right!?”
“Looks like it! Look at that Kurumi girl’s face— she looks like the whole world just became heaven—huh?”
The area fell silent.
The girl at the center was still trembling.
But that trembling wasn’t fear or sorrow.
It was a quiver of gratitude and joy—because she’d realized an unexpected happiness…!
“Th-Thank you very much, Vice Principal!”
Kurumi bowed so deeply it looked like her body folded in half.
“HUH?”
The vice principal blurted dumbly.
Kurumi’s cheeks didn’t just regain color—she was glowing rosy pink.
“I’ve been worried about this for so long! My classmates started needing me again! That made me so happy, but… In my heart, I kept wanting to train more in sweets-making under Chef Leopin! Vice Principal, you pushed me forward, didn’t you!? You told me to spread my wings to make my dream come true!”
Like a fledgling taking flight for the first time, she spread her arms wide and declared boldly,
“I’m going to Chef Leopin right now—and I’ll be expelled! I’ll join the Special Training Class, and stay by Chef Leopin until graduation…! No—forever…!”
“K-KYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!?!?”
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