Chapter 75

"Shinomiya-san, I choose to stay in your class."

Yukinoshita Yukino turned her gaze to the girl who had left a deep impression on her.

"Why?"

Shinomiya Kaguya narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Because I think you should be the best student among the first-year students at Shuchiin."

She made no attempt to hide it.

"I'm sorry, Yukinoshita, you guessed wrong... I'm not the 'strongest'."

For some reason, Shinomiya Kaguya's business-like smile seemed somewhat happy.

Under the Yukinoshita 89) Will you become a champion of justice?

This is... a lie, right?

The students at Soubu High School were somewhat incredulous.

In their eyes, the girl in front of Shinomiya, with her aristocratic bearing and elegant demeanor, must be exceptionally outstanding as Student Representative. It would be no problem for her to top the entire school's deviation score ranking, just like Yukinoshita.

But judging from the fact that the others in Shuchiin all seemed to agree, it was clear that this was not a joke.

Someone actually dares to lord it over this Young Lady, Shinomiya!

"Oh, I see. I was wrong."

Yukinoshita Yukino was a little surprised by this, and her expression of shock quickly disappeared.

Humans are not perfect beings, and obviously her judgments cannot be completely accurate, which is not something that is hard to accept.

"So, do you still want to choose my class?"

Shinomiya Kaguya's expression returned to normal, and out of politeness, she asked again.

"I'm sorry, Shinomiya-san, since I've come all this way, I'd still like to choose the person with the best academic performance to talk to."

Yukinoshita Yukino is not putting on an act; she is simply being herself.

First of all, she and Shinomiya-san didn't seem like people who would have common topics. It would be against her nature to try to win her over, even if the other person was the Young Lady of the Shinomiya Family.

Secondly, she was genuinely curious about just how powerful someone could be to defeat their opponent.

After all, to improve oneself, one must challenge limits and continuously learn from those who are more outstanding.

Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes showed some surprise; she had thought that the girl in front of her would take advantage of the situation and choose to go with her.

Because she is the Young Lady of the Shinomiya Family, many powerful local families want to get to know her and make her a familiar face, Yukinoshita family should be among them.

"Since you've put it that way..."

Shinomiya Kaguya's wine-red eyes flickered, gazing at the languid figure with hands in pockets not far away.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Hasegawa-kun, our number one."

Although it was said in a serious tone, there was clearly a hint of mockery in it.

'Is Shinomiya-san more active than before?'

This is the feeling of Hasegawa Izumi.

However, he had no time to care about any of that, because almost everyone's attention was focused on him because of those words.

Gold will always shine.

Even if he wants to slack off, he will occasionally steal the spotlight from others.

"I just happened to get first place."

He straightened his expression and said.

To outsiders, these words sounded like humility, but to Shuchiin and the others, they sounded like mockery, prompting them to roll their eyes at him.

"Huh?"

Only then did Yukinoshita Yukino take a good look at the boy in front of her.

At first glance, his short hair was a bit unkempt, and his appearance was fairly handsome, but otherwise unremarkable. However, upon closer inspection, one was subconsciously drawn to his dazzling eyes.

This is a very special person.

Although it was only their first meeting and she didn't know him very well, her intuition told her so.

"By the way, was there really such a person before?"

She was truly astonished.

The other person suddenly burst into her world as if a passerby had been transformed into a dazzling protagonist.

This is really illogical.

"Hello, Yukinoshita- san, I am Hasegawa Izumi, and I am currently ranked first in Shuchiin."

After introducing himself, he asked, "Besides Yukinoshita, is there anyone else who wants to choose our class?"

Surprisingly, none of the students from Soubu High School had this intention; they shook their heads and chose other classes.

"Oh?"

He raised an eyebrow.

It's clear that it's not that others don't want to improve; the problem likely lies with the snow-white girl beside them.

"Yukinoshita- kun, you seem to have pretty few friends?"

On the way to Class 1-C for the Yukinoshita year, Hasegawa Izumi raised this question.

"This shouldn't be within the scope of the exchange meeting, right Hasegawa-kun?"

The girl's voice was indifferent.

"No, I was just saying."

He didn't take it to heart at all, but the girl continued talking to herself.

"I've always been cute..."

Shall we begin here?

Seeing that the girl had the right to be narcissistic, he didn't interrupt and listened as if it were a story.

"Most of the guys who approach me do so because they like me, but it would be fine if everyone liked me... My indoor shoes have been hidden about sixty times, and fifty of those times it was done by girls, which means I have to bring my indoor shoes and recorder home every day."

Hearing this, he was somewhat moved.

The other person's lengthy explanation was that the reason for their isolation stemmed from their personality formed by life experiences since childhood.

I understand what you mean.

He nodded slightly.

"What do you know?"

Yukinoshita Yukino glanced at him for no apparent reason.

"What you're trying to say is that it's because you're too outstanding that others treat you as an oddball, are afraid to approach you, or even ostracize you, right?"

He spread his hands and said leisurely.

Although it sounds like Versailles, it does depict the girl's current awkward situation.

"In a way, you could say that..."

A hint of helplessness flickered in Yukinoshita Yukino's eyes.

"But I think this is unavoidable, because no one is perfect... Weak, ugly, and prone to ostracizing others out of jealousy, the more outstanding a person is, the harder it is for them to survive, it's simply unbelievable."

That must mean you're not good enough!

He silently muttered a complaint to himself.

So what do you want to do?

Sensing that the girl was still not satisfied, Hasegawa Izumi smiled and asked another question.

"I find this absolutely bizarre! So I want to change it, to change people and the world together!"

Yukinoshita Yukino continued speaking very cooperatively, seemingly because she had always lacked someone willing to listen.

"Haahahaha..."

Hearing the answer she had prompted, Hasegawa Izumi pressed her right hand to her forehead and laughed with great pleasure.

The students passing by were initially surprised, but after seeing his appearance, they naturally withdrew their astonished gazes.

"You're not some weirdo, are you? Looks like I'll have to change my initial impression of you."

Yukinoshita Yukino was startled by this situation.

Suddenly, she felt something was off.

Why did I so easily blurt out those words?

We just met.

Is it because you think that since they are strangers who are far away, it won't cause any problems?

No, that's not right...

This person has a strange trait.

Her gaze sharpened, and she quietly fixed her eyes on the person beside her.

"Izumi-chan, why are you suddenly laughing? Did you hear a really funny joke? Share it with me!"

The cherry-haired girl, who was chatting with her friend in the corridor, noticed the commotion not far away and ran over.

"Huh? This school uniform?"

Fujiwara Chika quickly shifted her attention to the person beside him, someone with a similar aura to Kaguya-chan.

Are you an exchange student from Soubu High School?

She remembered this.

"Um."

Yukinoshita Yukino nodded, seemingly noticing that the girl's doubts hadn't been resolved, and added, "Next, I'll be auditing his class."

"Oh, I see."

Fujiwara Chika said with a sudden realization.

That's exactly what happened.

Hasegawa Izumi's expression returned to normal.

The two of them brought Yukinoshita to Class 1-C.

The arrival of the beautiful girl initially caused a gasp, but after Chika-chan explained, things quickly returned to normal.

"Rikka, what do you think?"

At this moment, Hasegawa Izumi pulled her ally aside to the back door and whispered something to her.

"To be honest, Sage, I don't sense any special potential in her."

With one hand in a V-shape placed on her chin, Takanashi Rikka looked at her with a scrutinizing expression, her head swaying left and right, her brows slightly furrowed.

"But I trust your judgment! Now I'll use the Wicked Eye of the Tyrant King to confirm it!"

As she spoke, the girl removed her blindfold, revealing golden eyes that shone with golden light.

There were some unused tables and chairs at the back of the classroom, Yukinoshita Yukino was taking one down so she could listen to the lesson later.

'Is there anyone who uses the name "Sage" as a substitute?'

What is the Wicked Eye of the Tyrant King?

After noticing the behavior of certain people out of the corner of her eye, her worldview was inevitably shaken, and she felt slightly ashamed.

Could it be that I really made the wrong choice?