Horikita Suzune

Bai Ye left the classroom and followed Horikita Suzune from a distance.

Nothing could happen without a start. Even though he hadn't figured out a strategy yet, he had to try approaching her and at least get acquainted.

Then he saw Horikita Suzune enter a convenience store. He waited a while before going in after her.

A few aisles away, he spotted Horikita Suzune browsing the shelves. He didn't hurry over, but wandered around at a leisurely pace.

He slowly drew closer, stopping when he was near enough to talk but still kept a safe distance.

"Hey, classmate, why do you like picking out free products? Are you trying to be frugal?"

Glancing at the many cheap, free household goods in Horikita Suzune's shopping basket, he asked casually.

Though he had done his best to seem ordinary, Horikita Suzune still replied coldly:

"What do you want?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering. This school gives us 100,000 points every month, right? Is that really not enough for you? I think it's plenty."

"Spend yours however you like. Why ask me?"

Horikita Suzune walked around him and continued on.

Seeing that she had lost interest in him, he spoke up again:

"Aren't you curious? Look at the shelves with the free products. A lot of them are almost empty."

"Maybe there are plenty of people like me who enjoy being frugal." Horikita Suzune gave him a cool glance.

"You're right, but take a closer look. Most of the free products are in the same state. What do you think that means?"

"What does it mean?" Horikita finally looked him straight in the eye.

"It means they're really poor." Meeting Horikita's cool, clear gaze, Bai Ye continued, "Forget the boys for now. Unless you're truly broke, you girls probably wouldn't choose cheap products for such personal items that affect your bodies."

"You're right." Horikita Suzune nodded.

Even she had been careful when choosing. Girls had more things to worry about, after all. If she picked something cheap without thinking and ended up with an infection or something, she'd be in tears.

"Some of these products aren't expensive. Everyone gets this many points each month, so in theory, they shouldn't need to be so frugal. But they're still doing it. There are only two possibilities: either they're as poor as I just said, and they might not get 100,000 points every month in the future, or they're saving up because these points have some other use."

"Saving up? You mean..." A glint flashed in Horikita's icy eyes, like a ray of light breaking over a land of eternal frost.

"Didn't Chabashira-sensei say earlier that you could use points to buy anything at this school? Let's put aside whether 'anything' includes illegal things. Either way, they must have a reason for saving up."

"I see. So that means—" Horikita's expression darkened. "Chabashira-sensei was lying to us?"

Earlier, Chabashira had actively encouraged them to spend their money and told them that their points would be reset after graduation.

But based on Bai Ye's reasoning, it seemed things weren't that simple.

That made Chabashira's motives impossible to understand.

"I'm going to ask Chabashira-sensei." Horikita turned to leave, abandoning the products she had just picked out.

"Uh, wait!" In his haste, he grabbed Horikita's hand.

Are you kidding me? If Chabashira found out, it wasn't just a question of whether she'd hold a grudge against him for ruining her plan.

Even if she cheerfully admitted she was wrong, Horikita would expose him along with her.

He had worked backward to reach that conclusion; it wasn't proper deduction. If Chabashira found out and mistook him for a genius, what would happen if she made him lead Class D?

He knew Chabashira would do whatever it took to move up to Class A.

She'd even dared to threaten Ayanokouji. Why would she be afraid of a washed-up mafia boss's son like him?

When Horikita felt him grab her hand, she froze. Then her icy eyes fixed on him, and the air seemed to grow several degrees colder.

There was no time to enjoy the smooth feel of her cool, jade-like hand. Bai Ye instantly let go.

Meeting Horikita's scrutinizing gaze, he calmly explained:

"Since you've already guessed that the teacher did it on purpose, what good would it do to ask her now? How do you know whether she's friend or foe? Asking your enemy would just put them on guard."

"Then what do you suggest?" Horikita fell into thought, seemingly forgetting that he had just touched her.

"Ask some upperclassmen instead. If they won't tell you, ask other teachers. Ask a few of them, and you'll be able to find the answer by comparing what they say."

Horikita finally understood, but then she said, "I think I'll leave it alone. Even if I knew, it wouldn't do me any good. Let's just assume what you said is true."

"You're not going to tell the class?"

Horikita looked up. "Why would I tell them? What does it matter to me if they spend all their money? Am I close to them?"

"Fair enough." Bai Ye agreed with her, because he wouldn't do it either.

Of course, Horikita didn't yet know about the ranking system between Class D and Class A. If she did, she'd rush to tell the class about it.

She was the person in class who most wanted to move up to Class A, after all.

After buying their things without hurrying, they left the convenience store one after the other.

Horikita walked ahead for a while, then heard footsteps behind her and frowned.

"Why are you still following me?"

"My dorm's this way. Which way am I supposed to go?"

"Keep your distance. Otherwise, people will think we're close."

"Do you care what other people think?"

Horikita's snow-pale face remained expressionless. "No, but I don't want the trouble."

"Well, I don't mind the trouble. I don't care."

"You—" Horikita gritted her teeth, ready to fire back, but after thinking it over, she couldn't come up with anything to say.

So she could only walk faster, trying to shake Bai Ye.

Bai Ye sped up too.

Horikita picked up her pace again, even breaking into a jog.

Bai Ye jogged after her.

Since they were both carrying things, they couldn't run too fast. Bai Ye had less to carry, so keeping up with her was easy.

After running for a while, Horikita finally stopped and glared at him. "What do you want?"

"Nothing. It's just that I told you all that, and you still haven't paid me for the information."

To be honest, the information could be important or not, as far as Horikita was concerned. But either way, Bai Ye had helped her, and she knew she owed him a favor. So she asked:

"What do you want? Just so you know, I won't do anything too unreasonable."

"Don't worry. It's just a little thing. Like... can you cook?"

"I'm going grocery shopping this afternoon."

"Great, then buy some extra. I'll come over for dinner."

"No." Horikita answered without a second thought.

"Seriously? You won't even treat me to one meal? You're so stingy."

"This isn't about one meal." Horikita watched him closely, trying to spot anything unusual in his expression. "Do you really just want to have dinner? If you want, I can treat you to a meal in the cafeteria."

"That's not the same. I want to eat something you made."

"And you say you don't have ulterior motives!"

Horikita's face turned cold at once.

Bai Ye explained, "That's not what I meant. I mean I want us to become friends."

"Friends?"

"Yeah." Bai Ye lowered his head, looking at the pebbles on the ground. "You're the only person who's talked to me since this morning. At this rate, I won't have a single friend. What if I get bullied?"

"That's easy. Just go talk to the girls in class. They'd be happy to be your friends, or even your... 'girlfriend'!"

"You want me to sell my body?" Bai Ye huddled up and looked at her strangely.

Unable to stand his gaze, Horikita turned and walked away.

Bai Ye hurried after her. "You still haven't answered me. Are you letting me come to your room for dinner tonight or not?"

"No." Horikita glared at him again.

"Fine, fine. Then let's eat in the cafeteria. You don't have a problem with that, right?"

"Sure."

Horikita agreed at once, which made Bai Ye feel as though he'd lost out on something.

No, he had to get something else out of it.

"Horikita, you have to feed me too."

"Get lost! Eat if you want, or don't!"

Horikita snapped irritably and stormed off.

This time, he didn't follow her.