Gossiping Maiden

Natsukawa Sosuke stood before the vending machine, his slightly thoughtful face reflected in the cold metal panel. His fingertips danced across the buttons, and a can of soda dropped with a "clatter." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the dazzling array of drinks before finally resting on a carton of strawberry milk.

"Hmm... I wonder what the drinks are like in Sakurajima. Sakura should like this, right?"

After a moment of internal deliberation, he bought a carton of strawberry milk, then turned and headed toward the classroom.

The classroom door was pushed open gently, and Natsukawa walked in. The afternoon sun filtered through the windows, slicing the air into squares of light and shadow. Most of the students were still in the cafeteria or wandering outside, so the room was sparsely populated. His gaze locked precisely onto a seat in the back—Sakura Airi was huddled in her spot like a small animal, head bowed as if reading, but the slightly reddened tips of her ears betrayed her agitation.

Natsukawa walked over, his footsteps light, yet his approach still caused Sakura's shoulders to tremble almost imperceptibly.

"Here, Sakura, for you." He placed the pink strawberry milk on the corner of her desk, the bottom of the carton making a soft sound against the surface.

Sakura froze as if someone had pressed a pause button. She slowly raised her head, and behind her thick lenses, those large, azure eyes were filled with bewilderment and a hint of being flattered. Her gaze darted between Natsukawa's face and the strawberry milk on the desk, before she finally asked cautiously:

"Ah... th-this... for me?" Her voice was as thin as a mosquito's hum, and her cheeks flushed a visible shade of red that spread all the way to her earlobes, making her look like a ripening peach that one couldn't help but want to take a bite of.

"Yeah, you seemed like you were choking a bit while eating earlier." Natsukawa made up a reason on the spot, trying to keep his tone as natural as possible. "It's strawberry flavor, you don't dislike it, right?"

"I... I don't dislike it! Th-thank you very much!" Sakura shook her head in a panic, her hands cupping the milk as if it were a fragile treasure. The milk, fresh from the vending machine, still held a hint of warmth, forming a sharp contrast with her slightly cool palms.

She lowered her head, fumbling slightly as she unwrapped the straw and inserted it into the carton, her long lashes fluttering like butterfly wings. As she drank, she tried to hide most of her face behind the carton, and the way her lips pursed slightly while sipping perfectly highlighted the beautiful facial curves she usually hid behind her bangs and glasses.

She sipped in small, delicate mouthfuls, the pink liquid slowly disappearing between her moist lips, with the occasional faint "gulp" sound. Her fingers, holding the carton, were slender and fair, creating a wonderful match with the pink packaging. The sunlight spilled onto her red hair, dancing with warm halos, making her look like a carefully color-graded still-life painting, full of purity and an unconscious, alluring aura.

"Is... is it good?" Natsukawa asked subconsciously, feeling a bit foolish the moment the words left his mouth; it wasn't something he would usually say.

"Mm!" Sakura nodded vigorously, not daring to look at him, but her voice carried a hint of small, bubbling joy. "It's very sweet..."

Watching her, Natsukawa felt as if he had accidentally completed an achievement called "Feeding a Cute Little Animal," and a sense of satisfaction rose within him for no apparent reason. He returned to his seat, opened his soda, and took a drink, composing his expression before beginning to think about how to make Ichinose willingly pay this sum. His target was 600,000 private points; he had quoted 1,000,000 specifically to leave room for negotiation. Now, he had to consider how to make Ichinose feel that even paying 1,000,000 wouldn't be a loss.

Meanwhile, the girl sitting two seats away from the boy was currently wondering what kind of relationship the girl named Ichinose, who had sat next to Natsukawa at noon, actually had with him.

They should just be ordinary friends, Sakura thought to herself.

At the same time, in the Class B classroom, the atmosphere was much more lively. A group of girls was gathered around Ichinose Honami's seat, their faces beaming with "we know what's going on" smiles.

"Honami-chan~ who was that boy talking to you in the cafeteria earlier?" A girl with a ponytail nudged Ichinose with her elbow, winking as she asked, "He looked quite refined. Which class is he from? When did you meet? Tell us everything!"

"Yeah, yeah! We even saw you exchange email addresses with him!" another girl chimed in immediately. "At first, I thought you were catching someone doing something wrong, since your expression was so serious when you went over, and you looked so shaken afterward. If we didn't know better, we would've thought you were dumped on the spot. We were even planning to go over and back you up..."

Ichinose's cheeks flushed pink at their teasing, and she waved her hands so vigorously she almost knocked over the water glass on her desk: "No, it's not what you think! It's just... just a friend I met by chance when school started! His name is Natsukawa Sosuke, he's a student in Class D. He wasn't feeling well when he enrolled, and I just helped him out!"

She tried to use sincerity to dispel their gossip-hungry spirits, but clearly, her friends weren't buying it.

"Oh~ 'just a friend,' huh?" The girl with the high ponytail, named Amikura Mako, drew out her tone, mimicking Ichinose's voice. "Then why were you talking so intently? And we saw you smiling so happily at the end?"

"That's because... we were discussing some... things about our studies!" Ichinose thought quickly, gesturing with her hands in front of her chest to try and increase her persuasiveness. "Yes! Studies! He said he was under some pressure to keep up with the school's pace after entering high school and wanted to ask me for advice!" (Natsukawa: Achoo! Who's talking about me?)

"Really—" the girls expressed their skepticism in unison, their faces clearly saying, "As if we believe that."

Ichinose pressed her palms together in a pleading gesture: "It's true! Please, stop guessing, you're going to cause trouble for him!" The two red clouds on her cheeks and her slightly flustered eyes only served to confirm the girls' suspicions, drawing a round of good-natured laughter.

On the edge of the noisy crowd, Shiranami Chihiro sat quietly in her seat, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her skirt. She kept her head down, her bangs obscuring her expression, but the knuckles of the hand tightly gripping her paintbrush turned slightly white. Listening to everyone tease Ichinose about the strange boy from Class D, an indescribable sourness and tightness welled up in her heart, as if a beloved treasure were being coveted by someone else. She stole a glance at Ichinose, who was surrounded and blushing, then quickly lowered her head again, murmuring in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible: "Honami-chan..."

The faint laughter drifting from the Class B windows floated to the other end of the corridor, to the Class A classroom. The atmosphere here was completely different; most of the students in Class A were already busy with their own affairs, quiet, orderly, and even carrying a hint of coldness.

Katsuragi Kohei stood by the window, his gaze calm as he looked at the lush zelkova trees downstairs, as if pondering some problem. His bald head was particularly striking in the sunlight.

His loyal supporter, Totsuka Yahiko, curled his lip in disdain toward the direction of Class B.

"Katsuragi, listen to that. Those people in Class B spend all day giggling like a bunch of headless flies." Totsuka's tone was filled with superiority. "No wonder they can only stay in Class B; they have no sense of being elites at all."

Katsuragi didn't turn around, his voice as steady as a rock: "Yahiko, don't judge a person or a group solely by appearances. Noise is not synonymous with incompetence."

"Hey, I'm not just making this up." Totsuka Yahiko crossed his arms, leaning back slightly with the air of someone who "had already seen through everything." "I heard some inside information from a senior I met by chance a couple of days ago—our Class A is the strongest class! We have the best resources and the highest starting point!" He emphasized the word "strongest," as if announcing a universally recognized truth.

He continued to ramble on, his tone growing increasingly contemptuous: "Besides, when I was helping Mashima-sensei move some things a few days ago and passed by Class D, I took a look. Tsk tsk, the scene was a total disaster. People were openly shouting during class, the seating was a mess, and that red-headed hedgehog (Sudo Ken) even had his feet up on the desk! They're just a bunch of hopeless trash, a rabble! They aren't even on the same dimension as our Class A!"

He walked over to Katsuragi and said, as if pledging his loyalty: "Katsuragi, don't worry, in the upcoming vote for class leader, I will definitely support you with everything I have! Many others feel the same way; only someone as steady and capable as you can lead our Class A to crush those classes that have no future!"

Katsuragi finally turned around, his resolute face devoid of any ripples, and said calmly: "Gathering intelligence is a good thing, but excessively underestimating an opponent will leave you vulnerable. Yahiko, stay vigilant before the real test arrives."

Totsuka Yahiko replied with "Yes, yes, yes," but the dismissive look on his face clearly showed he hadn't taken Katsuragi's warning to heart. In his mind, the superiority of Class A was an ironclad fact, and the other classes were merely stepping stones that would eventually be trampled underfoot on their way to the top.