Kushida's Malice

The afternoon passed in boredom, and by evening, he went downstairs early to wait for that icy figure to arrive.

Not long after, he saw Horikita walking out of the elevator area. Upon seeing him, she gave a slight nod and walked out of the dormitory building.

Following behind and to the left of Horikita, the two of them walked in silence.

Seeing that it was impossible for Horikita to take the initiative to speak, he said helplessly:

"Horikita, why did you come to this school?"

Hearing his words, Horikita's footsteps faltered for a moment before she continued walking: "You go first."

"Me? I came to this school to improve my own abilities."

Saying this wasn't exactly a lie, as it was indeed his goal, provided one didn't discuss the methods involved.

"Oh," Horikita said indifferently, "then it's the same for me."

"Really? Not for the sake of someone?"

"For the sake of whom?"

Horikita suddenly glanced at him, a cold glint piercing straight into his bones.

He wasn't intimidated, and as if completely oblivious, he said: "For example... someone you like? Or a secret crush?"

Horikita let out a sigh of relief, her tone returning to its usual flatness:

"You're overthinking it. I don't have thoughts like that. I just..."

She bit her lip, a look of unwillingness appearing on her face.

Seeing this, even without her saying it, Bai Ye understood her thoughts clearly.

It was likely about wanting to prove herself to her brother. Perhaps there was a fair amount of childhood admiration mixed in, but more than that, it was the entanglement of being neglected for years without even knowing the reason, along with a trace of anger.

"Horikita, although I don't know who that person you're thinking of is, I have a way to help you get past this."

"Tell me!"

"The root cause of human suffering lies in obsession. The more you care about something, the harder it is to escape its influence. You can replace it with something else. When you shift your focus to another matter, the impact of the original issue will diminish."

"For example?"

"For example... falling in love?"

"..."

Horikita gazed into his eyes; her pupils, like ice and snow, were as cold as her heart.

After a long while, unable to discern anything, Horikita turned her head away: "You wouldn't be trying to use this to pursue me, would you?"

"Huh? Am I? I didn't say it had to be me."

"Then I'll take your advice and just find someone to date."

"..."

Feeling his silence, Horikita stared into his eyes again and let out a cold snort: "And you say you aren't? You definitely have ulterior motives toward me."

Feeling she had seen through all his intentions, Horikita looked at him teasingly, wanting to see how he would handle it.

But to her disappointment, Bai Ye only said with a hint of dejection:

"To say I have none at all would be impossible. After all, in my eyes, you are the most beautiful girl in the class, so I'm still quite hoping you'll choose me."

"You admit it. You're just after my body?"

"That's not entirely true. I'm different from others; I just think you're beautiful. After all, it's human nature to pursue beautiful things, and that doesn't necessarily mean doing that kind of thing... If you don't believe me, I'll let you in on a secret: I'm actually still... uh, a virgin."

"Cough, cough."

Horikita nearly choked, shooting him a strange look: "Are you joking?"

"It's true." Bai Ye's eyes were clear as jade, without a hint of wavering.

Because it was, in fact, the truth.

Horikita really couldn't tell anything, so she reluctantly believed his words, though she remained somewhat doubtful.

After all, in her view, with Bai Ye's looks, attracting girls should be a piece of cake. To still be a virgin...

Could it be that he isn't interested in girls?

No, if he weren't interested, he wouldn't be approaching her.

Could it be that, in that regard...

"Do you have some kind of physiological defect?" Horikita asked very bluntly.

"..."

Bai Ye looked back at her, speechless:

"Do you want to try it?"

This sentence carried a hint of anger.

He was genuinely annoyed; he believed no man would like to hear that question.

This also changed his initial mindset; the idea of breaking up immediately after dating shifted into a determination to get her into bed, or he wouldn't be satisfied.

If he didn't let her experience it firsthand, even if Horikita didn't say anything on the surface, she would keep mocking him in her heart.

"Forget it, I'm not interested in romance anyway, let's talk about it later." Horikita shook her head and walked into the school cafeteria.

The two of them got their meals separately and sat across from each other, using Horikita's card to pay.

What the two of them didn't notice was that two pairs of beautiful eyes were watching them from not far away.

These two were none other than Kushida Kikyou and Wang Meiyu, who had just become good friends.

Wang Meiyu just stared blankly in that direction, looking restless.

Kushida, however, had a thoughtful expression, and in the shadows where no one could see, there was a trace of icy coldness.

She knew Horikita, but she didn't know if the other party still remembered her.

However, her dark history from middle school was known to almost the entire school, making it too difficult to hide, so it was highly likely that Horikita knew.

As for Bai Ye, she didn't know why he seemed to have such a good relationship with Horikita.

If it were any other girl, she might not have thought much of it, but that person was Horikita.

At the start of the school year, many people had tried to greet her, only to be ignored, regardless of gender. Yet now, she was eating with a boy from her class, making it hard not to be suspicious.

Could they be acquaintances, friends, or even... a couple?

Thinking of this, she felt a bit afraid.

As for Bai Ye, she couldn't say she liked him, but he was much better than the other boys.

Not to mention that his appearance hit all her preferences, just those eyes alone, as pure as crystal, made her heart feel an inexplicable flutter every time she saw them.

At the same time, it was accompanied by a sense of physical nausea.

The nausea wasn't directed at him, but at herself; she knew that she and the other party could never be compatible, and that she and Bai Ye were completely different types of people.

People say that truly ugly people don't think they are ugly; they do ugly things and take them for granted.

Yet she could clearly feel how disgusting the things she did were.

But she didn't care.

Just as she knew that few people around her were any more noble than she was, so why should she care?

She was just going with the flow; other than having better acting skills than them and knowing better how to please others, she was no different from them.

If everyone were to truly speak their inner thoughts, few would be able to escape unscathed.

Because of this, when she saw Bai Ye, she felt that this boy was different.

A person's expression can be changed through acting, but the eyes are hard to change easily.

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and her sixth sense told her that Bai Ye was absolutely the most unique existence she had encountered so far.

She felt a trace of curiosity.

However.

That was all.

If he really knew about those things from her middle school days, she would likewise use her own methods to drive him out of the school.