Bai Lan and Kushida were polar opposites.
Although Bai Lan's words were unpleasant to hear, the things he had done lately had led many classmates to regard him as extremely reliable.
As a result, many people sent Bai Lan "piggyback applications."
At the same time, not a single person said they wanted to "rescue" Bai Lan.
Perhaps, in their eyes, Bai Lan simply did not need anyone to rescue him. Or perhaps they thought saying something like "rescue Bai Lan" might be misunderstood by him as looking down on him.
Because he had to consider his agreement with Hirata, Bai Lan maintained the "sharp-tongued but kind-hearted" persona Hirata had established for him. Besides, he figured he would not be staying for long anyway, so he casually accepted the applications from people he found reasonably pleasant to look at.
Kushida, however, was the opposite.
Not a single person sent her a "piggyback application."
After all, in the eyes of the class, Kushida was merely a little angel in need of protection.
On the contrary, quite a few people hoped to become Kushida's "rescue targets." Most of them were boys, and they were basically trying to use the opportunity to make suggestive confessions.
In the end, Kushida rejected every boy and accepted the application of a close female friend. This friend was not Wang Meiyu, but a girl in the class named Onodera.
Onodera was excellent at sports. She had apparently trained in swimming before, placing first in the class during the swimming test, and she also performed well in other athletic events. Among the girls in the class, she was the only one who could match Horikita—or even surpass her—in athletics.
However, in reality, accepting Onodera's application was merely an act for Kushida's benefit.
In Kushida's view, if she ever truly