A week had passed since school started. Horikita Suzune glanced at the noisy classroom, lowered her head, and focused once more on the textbook in her hands.
She had already previewed the material. She was reading it again to engrave it firmly in her mind.
She wasn't an absolute genius. She was smarter than most people, but there was still a considerable gap between her and the kind of genius who could find the answer at a glance.
Her excellent grades were mainly the result of relentless effort and a focused attitude.
Over the past week, she had formed a basic impression of the students in her class: they liked to slack off during lessons, arrive late, and leave early.
Most of them behaved that way, and the teachers did nothing about it. The situation was getting worse and worse.
That made a good student like her, who listened attentively every day, strictly followed the school rules, and was disciplined and polite, feel a little out of place.
She was puzzled. Why had she been put in the same class as these people? Had the school made a mistake, or were the other classes like this too?
But she didn't care all that much. She just had to manage herself. What everyone else did had nothing to do with her.
Fortunately, no one had come looking for trouble with her.
There were two exceptions.
That girl called Kushida Kikyou had been pestering her lately, going to great lengths to befriend her.
No matter how many times Horikita turned her down, the next day Kushida would act as if nothing had happened and keep trying to get closer.
What an annoying person.
The other was Wang Meiyu, who sat in front of her.
Although they had barely spoken, Horikita could always sense the resentful look Wang Meiyu stole at her.
It was as if Horikita had taken away her favorite toy.
Once, Horikita couldn't help asking her why, but Wang Meiyu had fled in a panic, as if Horikita had really bullied her.
What a headache.
There didn't seem to be a single normal person in this class.
Take Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who sat to her left.
Aside from a few rather pointless words at the start of the school year, he hadn't bothered her since, except when necessary.
From what she had observed, Ayanokoji hung around with the three idiots in the class, so he probably felt there was no need to befriend her anymore.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Finally, she glanced up at Bai Ye, who sat near the center of the classroom, then looked away.
To win him over and get him to work for her properly, she had been treating him to meals these past few days.
At first, she had thought he was pursuing her. But after spending these past few days together in peace, she realized that aside from occasionally saying things that made no sense, he was well-behaved the rest of the time.
Only then did she gradually begin to believe that perhaps he really did want to be friends with her.
They both wanted to be friends, but Bai Ye and Kushida were fundamentally different.
Bai Ye had no friends and had come to pester her because of it. Kushida, on the other hand, already had plenty of friends. Friends weren't anything rare to her. Wouldn't Horikita look like an idiot if she humbly went out of her way to befriend her?
Besides, she always felt that Kushida was hostile toward her. She also had a vague impression of Kushida; surely they had met somewhere before.
She stopped thinking about it and returned her attention to the book.
There was something important she had to do after school today.
Jingu Byakuya looked at the thing in his hand that resembled a love letter, his gaze wandering.
A week after school started, he had finally received a love letter.
It was nothing like the flood of letters that had filled his shoe locker on the second day of school in the past.
Unlike those warmhearted boys who kindly wrote back to every girl with a crush on them, he never replied and never read what was inside.
Even so, he would take the letters home, light them on fire, and quietly watch the envelopes burn to ash.
Then he would scatter the ashes over the soil of the Venus flytraps he was growing.
Only what one couldn't have was worth cherishing.
He knew those girls harbored certain fantasies about him. He couldn't bear to destroy them. Reality was always cruel. Only after they actually dated him would they discover that the wonderful things they had once imagined didn't exist.
Everyone had flaws, even the most perfect person. The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment.
Rather than let them be disappointed in him, he would rather let them hold on to hope forever.
Perhaps when they lost hope in life one day, that little glimmer of light could help them stay true to themselves.
He opened the envelope and took out the paper inside.
After reading it, he put it back in the envelope and stuffed it into his desk.
The letter told him to go to the rooftop after school. The sender would be waiting for him there.
In his years of receiving love letters, he had learned to recognize a fake. There was a good chance the letter had been written by a boy.
Never mind the crude envelope; the wording and sleazy handwriting alone made it impossible for a girl with a crush on him to have written it.
The paper also smelled a little foul. He wondered whether the writer had washed his hands after using the bathroom.
Taking all that into account, along with the unusual things that had been happening around him these past few days, he could more or less reach a conclusion:
The letter had been written by the trio of idiots. No wonder those three had been sneaking around and following him lately.
Since it was a trap, there was no way he would go. He would just ignore it.
There was still some time before class, so he took out his phone and opened the class group chat.
Though it was a group chat, not many people liked to keep the conversation going. There were Yamauchi Haruki, Kanji Ike, Shinohara Satsuki, Sato Maya, Kushida Kikyou, Hirata Yousuke, and a few others.
Kushida and Hirata mainly sent notices to the class. Hirata was the class representative, while Kushida had been chosen as the class's social coordinator and was responsible for maintaining good relations between the various groups.
The others liked to post whatever came to mind.
As soon as he opened the chat, he saw Yamauchi posting his thoughts on some philosophical classic he'd supposedly finished reading. A glance was enough to tell Ayanokoji he'd copied them.
Of course, this wasn't the only group chat in the class. There were the girls' group, the boys' group, and private chats for all kinds of cliques.
The girls in a single dorm could make ten group chats. The class probably had dozens.
The one that interested him most was an anonymous chat with around ten members, all from their class.
The group had no owner or administrator. People could join or leave whenever they wanted.
It was less an anonymous chat than a place to vent. Most of the messages were insults, and the things people said were pretty nasty.
One of the latest messages read:
Group member 2: I saw that Jingu guy go into a karaoke place with several upperclassmen last night. What a sleazebag. I knew he was no good!
It was obviously a false accusation. He had been playing Monopoly in a room with Wang Meiyu last night. He hadn't gone to karaoke.
Group member 6: You're lying! He's not that kind of person!
Group member 2: Who are you? How do you know what kind of person he is? That guy had the nerve to hit on my Kushida as soon as school started!
Group member 6: I was with him just last night. I can vouch for him.
Group member 2: ???
Bai Ye: "..."
Everyone else: So who are you, then?
Bai Ye covered his head, wanting to put a stop to this, but unable to think of a good way.
After a long while, group member 6 finally sent a message: I'm Horikita Suzune.
???
At that moment, Horikita happened to be looking for something under her desk with her head bowed. Feeling the sharp gazes suddenly aimed at her from all around, she looked up and glared coldly at them one by one.
If she hadn't done that, it might have been fine. But she had, and it only made them believe the message.
Wang Meiyu realized things were about to go badly and left the group chat immediately.
Bai Ye looked at the messages teasing Horikita and left the chat too.
It wasn't a big deal, really. He had been spending more time with Horikita these past few days, and rumors had started spreading.
He was a focal point to begin with. People paid him strange amounts of attention wherever he went, so keeping a low profile was impossible.
Kushida had also asked him a few times whether he and Horikita were dating. She was very polite about it, but it always seemed as if she was hinting that he shouldn't date Horikita.
Sure enough, the second he left the group chat, a message from Kushida came in: Are you two really dating?
He replied: That person just now was Meiyu.
Kushida: Oh, okay. Actually, I kind of like you. If you get together with Horikita, I won't talk to you anymore.
Yeah, right!
That was so fake, Kushida. You almost let your true feelings slip.
As for why Kushida didn't want to see him and Horikita date, he guessed it was because getting two people expelled would be a lot more troublesome than getting just one expelled.
No wonder Kushida had been getting friendlier toward him these past few days. She wanted to build a closer friendship with him before Horikita could.
Before you continue