The Fourth Class Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

"No, no!"

Komachi waved her hand in response to Tomioka-senpai, who had lowered her head in apology. Wow—she was being so polite even to an underclassman. Her sense of how much honorific language to use was amazing.

Still, she was more trustworthy than the sort of person who casually dumped work on others. You couldn't trust people who suddenly softened their attitude just because someone was in the same year or was an upperclassman or underclassman...

Komachi hummed to herself as she wrote down what they had discussed and decided today, while Tomioka-senpai looked at her face.

When Komachi asked what was wrong with her eyes, Tomioka-senpai seemed to hesitate over whether to say it, then slowly opened her mouth.

"Um, Hikigaya-kun..."

Komachi's body trembled at those words. Of course, she was also someone who bore the Hikigaya surname, so it was only natural that she reacted. But more importantly, if this was about her brother, she was going to get scared.

What was it...? What was she going to say...? What had her brother done...? As Komachi braced herself, Tomioka-senpai began to smile.

"He's quite the smooth talker, isn't he?"

A statement even the person in question would have to admit had appeared! Well, he would probably interpret the hidden meaning behind those words on his own and just say, "Huh...?" Thinking that made Komachi feel a little more at ease. "Ah, I can see why you'd think that. He can talk pretty well if he's close to someone. Though he mostly says useless things. That guy's kind of trash, right?"

"Ah, no, not like that. It just feels like he's a little different from the impression he gives on the surface."

Tomioka-senpai hurriedly waved her hands, breaking into a slightly troubled cold sweat, but she did not stop