Chapter 3: No Mercy for Melon Pan

"I'm going to give you one last chance," I say, my voice dangerously calm.

"Apologize to her. And pay for her uniform."

Ayaka's face turns red. She's not used to being challenged.

"You can't tell me what to do!" she screeches.

She swings at me.

A sloppy, open-palmed slap.

I see it coming a mile away.

What a drag.

I don't even move my feet.

I simply lean back, letting the "slap" whistle past my nose.

Her momentum carries her forward, and she stumbles.

Her friends gasp.

"You...!"

She comes at me again, this time with both hands, trying to grab my hair.

I sigh.

This is why I hate this. It's so boring.

I pivot on my heel.

As she lunges past me, I stick out my foot.

It's a very simple, very effective foot-sweep.

Ayaka Tanaka, the 'toughest' girl in 2-D, goes flying.

Her shriek is music to no one's ears.

She lands-with a magnificent SPLAT-right in the middle of her own table.

Face-first.

Into the plate of spaghetti carbonara.

The silence in the canteen is absolute.

You could hear a pin drop.

Ayaka slowly, slowly, pushes herself up.

Her face...

Oh, her face is a masterpiece.

She's covered in cream sauce. Bits of bacon are stuck in her over-bleached hair. A single mushroom dangles from her eyelash.

Toujo, from across the room, makes a choking sound. He's trying so hard not to laugh.

Rika just has her face in her hands.

Ayaka's friends are frozen, staring at their leader, who now looks like a failed modern art project.

Ayaka looks at her hands, covered in pasta.

Then she looks at me.

Her eyes are pure murder.

"YOU... B-!"

I don't let her finish.

I walk up to the table.

Ayaka flinches, scrambling back so fast she falls off her chair.

I ignore her.

I reach over the ruined pasta.

I pick up the pristine, untouched, limited-edition melon pan.

I hold it up.

"This," I announce to the silent room, "is payment."

I turn to the crying first-year, who is staring at me with wide, terrified, and slightly confused eyes.

I point at Ayaka, who is now a whimpering, pasta-covered mess on the floor.

"She'll pay for your uniform. And your lunch."

I look at Ayaka's friends. "All of you. Clean this up. And get her a new tray."

They just nod, pale and frantic.

"As for you," I say, looking back at Ayaka.

She squeaks.

I lean down, just like I did with the boy at the lockers.

"My melon pan got cold because of you."

I give her my coldest, darkest, emptiest "Bloody Twilight" stare.

"If you ever bully anyone in this canteen again... I will personally make you eat every scrap of food you waste."

I stand up.

I unwrap my new melon pan.

I take a huge bite.

It's delicious.

"Let's go."

I walk out of the canteen.

Toujo and Rika scramble after me.

The second we're in the hallway, Toujo explodes.

"BAHAHAHAHA! OH MY- DID YOU SEE HER FACE?! 'PAYMENT!' PURE GENIUS, AOI! I'M DYING!"

He's doubled over, slapping his knee, tears streaming down his face.

"Aoi-chan..." Rika sighs, but I can see the corners of her mouth twitching. "You're going to get called to the office."

"I know," I say around a mouthful of melon pan.

"Was it worth it?" she asks.

I think about the first-year's relieved face. I think about Ayaka's pasta-face.

I think about this delicious, well-earned melon pan.

"Yeah. It was."

My peace was ruined.

But revenge? Revenge is pretty sweet.