Kono Kikyo Da!

"Really?"

Kushida took another step forward, grabbed Makoto by the wrist, and pulled him close. A strange sensation passed between them.

In every way.

"You don't seem interested in me, and you don't want me to betray my class, either. I just can't relax~"

"So...?"

"So?"

"Have you done this sort of thing with Honami?"

Kushida stepped back and crossed her arms, never stopping her flow of words.

"Not yet, right?"

"I'll be your first, not Honami! I'm Kikyo-da!"

Kushida pointed her right thumb at her chin, wearing a villainous expression that made Makoto see things.

Blonde hair, two completely different sides in public and in private...

When did she become a vampire? Asking for a friend. It's urgent.

"...Just so you know."

Makoto, whose brain had briefly shut down, reminded her,

"Fingerprints on clothing don't last forever. Maybe... you should think of another way?"

"Besides, there are cameras all over the hallways. The school will know you came into my dorm room on your own in the middle of the night."

"Then what other way is there? This is so frustrating."

Kushida's expression stiffened. She spoke glumly; this was the best plan her little head could come up with.

The other person wasn't interested in her at all. It wasn't as if she could just do what he'd said—

He really was a good person, wasn't he?

"I may call myself a good person, but let's get one thing straight."

Makoto smiled calmly, as if everything were under control.

"You're the one who needs to come up with a plan. Do you expect me to think of a way to deal with myself?"

That would be ridiculous.

He could have dodged just now, but his body had a mind of its own. It wasn't his fault.

"Can you tell me why you came to this school?"

Kushida gave up and flopped onto Makoto's bed. She wanted to cry.

"To enjoy my three years of school."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Kushida looked incredulous and rolled over on the bed.

"You really are a weirdo."

"I think I'm normal. Students should act like students. Wanting to enjoy school is the normal thing, isn't it?"

"Can't I give you an enjoyable school life?"

Kushida asked, as if she'd discovered a whole new world. A strange feeling welled up inside her.

"You already have."

"Pfft—I think I kind of like you."

Kushida laughed aloud. She hadn't laughed this freely in a long time. The other person was just too funny.

"Don't you want to keep going? To be honest, I was kind of looking forward to it."

"I'll tell Honami every word you just said."

Kushida smiled. A faint sense of danger still lingered in her heart, but she didn't want to worry about it anymore.

"...I'll tell her myself."

Makoto lived up to his name. He'd always been an honest person.

"Do you know? There's someone at this school I really hate."

She didn't continue the previous topic or pay any attention to Makoto's odd expression. Kushida sank her whole body into the bed, her voice muffled as it came through the blanket.

"Hey, you're not drooling all over my bed, are you?"

Makoto looked disgusted, but Kushida clearly had no intention of paying attention to his expression. She kept talking to herself.

"She's in my class—Horikita Suzune. She thinks she's so cute and is always acting all high and mighty. I already agreed to help her organize a study group, but she still doesn't want me to join."

"Tell me, isn't someone like that awful?"

Kushida tossed the question to Makoto, wanting to hear what he thought.

"Can I choose not to answer?"

Makoto asked weakly. He'd already accepted his fate; he just wanted to struggle a little.

"I can't do anything to you, but you just said you were a good person, right?"

Kushida rolled over and sat up straight, staring right at Makoto. His eyelid twitched. If he remembered correctly, this was his bed, wasn't it?

Why did he feel like he was the intruder now?

"Yeah, that's right. That Horikita girl is awful."

Makoto nodded with an expression that said, You're absolutely right.

"Right? Looks like you and I think alike... Though I didn't approach her out of any good intentions, either."

"Why don't you just say what you mean?"

"I want her to drop out. Can you help me?"

Kushida came straight out with it.

"I'm pretty sure I just said I wanted to enjoy my three years of school. How did we suddenly end up talking about something as serious as 'dropping out'?"

"Because she really gets on my nerves."

That was the simple reason Kushida gave in response to Makoto's question.

That was how it was between students. There weren't always complicated schemes behind everything. Kushida just found her annoying, so she wanted her to drop out.

"I don't think it's that simple. I'm guessing she might know what you're really like, so you approached her to find out, but she gave you the cold shoulder. Am I right?"

But Makoto had read the script. He'd revealed the truth in a single sentence.

"So much for you just wanting to 'enjoy a peaceful school life'?"

Kushida's eyes were full of suspicion. If someone like him could enjoy a "peaceful school life," she'd eat this bed.

"Can't be helped. You were trying to drag me out of my peaceful school life, so I had to fight back."

Makoto smiled helplessly. What else could he do? He was helpless too, okay?

"This should be easy for you, right? I've heard about it—you challenged upperclassmen to club activities on the day of the opening ceremony and raked in personal points."

Kushida took Makoto's hand again. She figured that close physical contact might help lower his guard a little.

"I don't think those two things are necessarily connected. Besides, can you really make someone drop out?"

Makoto still tried to bluff his way out of it, wondering why Honami hadn't arrived yet. He'd sent her a message quite a while ago.

He'd already sent it while Kushida had her back to him, lying on the bed.

"Emergency at home. Come quickly."

"If failing the midterms can get you expelled, I refuse to believe there aren't other ways to make it happen at this school."

Kushida's tone gradually steadied.

"Tell me, you're not planning to help me, are you?"

"You figured that out too?"

Makoto was glad Kushida had said it herself. He didn't want anything to do with this.

"Besides, from what you've said, she's the solitary type, right? So you can just ignore her, can't you?"

"Maybe before, but now she's made me angry."

"You'll have an easier time getting by in society if you're a little more open-minded."

Makoto said this, but Kushida lifted her chest as if to say, How much more open-minded do you want me to be?

"Click—"

At last, the sound of the lock turning—the sound Makoto had been waiting for—rang out.