Natsukawa Sosuke stood in front of the vending machine, the cold metal panel reflecting his pensive face. His fingertips danced over the buttons, and a can of soda clunked down. He paused, scanning the dazzling array of drinks before settling on a carton of pink strawberry milk.
"Hmm... I wonder what the drinks here on Sakurajima taste like. Sakura would probably like this, right?"
After thinking it over, he bought another carton of strawberry milk, then turned and headed for the classroom.
The classroom door opened softly, and Natsukawa stepped inside. The afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows, dividing the air into squares of light and shadow. Most of the students were still at the cafeteria or wandering outside, so there weren't many people in the room. His eyes immediately found the seat at the back: Sakura Airi was curled up in her chair like a little animal, head bowed as she pretended to read. But the tips of her ears, faintly flushed, betrayed her unease.
Natsukawa walked over, keeping his steps light, though Sakura's shoulders still gave an almost imperceptible twitch when he approached.
"Here, Sakura. This is for you." He set the pink carton of strawberry milk on the corner of her desk. Its base made a faint sound as it touched the tabletop.
Sakura froze as if someone had pressed pause. Slowly, she raised her head. Behind her thick lenses, her big blue eyes were filled with bewilderment and a hint of delighted disbelief. Her gaze darted between Natsukawa's face and the strawberry milk on her desk before she finally asked, hesitantly:
"Ah... th-this... is it for me?" Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz. Her cheeks turned visibly red, the blush spreading all the way to her ears until she looked like a peach ripening by the second—so tempting that someone might want to take a bite.
"Yeah. You seemed a little choked up while you were eating earlier," Natsukawa said casually, making his voice sound as natural as possible. "Strawberry flavor. You don't hate it, do you?"
"N-no, I don't! Th-thank you very much!" Sakura hurriedly shook her head. With both hands, she carefully cradled the carton as if it were a fragile treasure. The milk had retained a little warmth from the vending machine, a striking contrast against her slightly cool palms.
She lowered her head and fumbled a little as she unwrapped the straw and poked it into the milk. Her long lashes fluttered like butterfly wings. As she drank, she tried to hide most of her face behind the carton, but the way her lips pursed around the straw let the sunlight trace the lovely contours usually concealed beneath her bangs and glasses.
She sipped slowly, the pink liquid disappearing between her moist lips, accompanied now and then by a faint gulp. Her fingers were slender and pale around the carton, making a perfect match with its pink packaging. Sunlight fell on her red hair, filling it with a warm glow. She looked like a still-life painting whose colors had been carefully adjusted, exuding a pure, unwittingly alluring charm.
"D-do you like it?" Natsukawa asked without thinking. As soon as the words left his mouth, he thought they sounded a little stupid. It wasn't like him to say something like that.
"Mm!" Sakura nodded vigorously. She seemed too shy to look at him, but a little excitement crept into her voice. "It's sweet..."
Watching her, Natsukawa felt as if he'd somehow earned an achievement for "feeding a cute little animal," and an inexplicable sense of satisfaction rose in him. He returned to his seat, opened his soda, and took a swig. Once he'd composed himself, he began considering how to persuade Ichinose to pay up willingly. His target was 600,000 personal points; he'd quoted a million because he wanted to start high and negotiate down. Now he needed to figure out how to make Ichinose feel that even if she spent the full million, she wouldn't be losing out.
Meanwhile, two seats away from the boy, a girl was wondering what sort of relationship the girl named Ichinose, who had sat beside Natsukawa at lunch, had with him.
They're probably just ordinary friends, Sakura thought.
At the same time, the atmosphere in Class B's classroom was much livelier. A group of girls had gathered around Ichinose Honami's seat, their faces beaming with knowing smiles.
"Honami-chan~ Who was that boy you were talking to in the cafeteria just now?" A girl with a ponytail nudged Ichinose lightly with her elbow, giving her a mischievous look. "He looks pretty cute. What class is he in? When did you meet him? Come on, spill!"
"Yeah, yeah! We even saw you exchange email addresses!" another girl chimed in. "At first, I thought you were catching him doing something, since you looked so serious when you went over. Then you looked all flustered afterward. Anyone who didn't know better would've thought you'd just been dumped on the spot. We were even going to go over and back you up..."
Their teasing made Ichinose's cheeks turn pink. She quickly waved her hands, nearly knocking over the water glass on her desk. "N-no, it's not what you think! He's just... just a friend I happened to meet at the start of term! His name is Natsukawa Sosuke, and he's in Class D. He wasn't feeling well when we started school, so I helped him out a little!"
She tried to quell their gossip by offering the honest truth, but it was obvious her friends weren't buying it.
"Oh~ 'Just a friend,' huh?" said the high-ponytailed girl named Amikura Mako, drawing out the words and mimicking Ichinose's tone. "Then why were you two so engrossed in your conversation? And we saw how happy you looked when you finished!"
"That's because... we were discussing... some things about studying!" Ichinose blurted out, gesturing in front of her chest to make her explanation more convincing. "Right! Studying! He said he was feeling a little stressed about keeping up with the lessons now that we're in high school, so he wanted to ask me for advice!" (Natsukawa: Achoo! Who's talking about me?)
"Really?" the girls asked in unison, their faces saying, As if we believe that.
Ichinose clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture. "I'm telling the truth! Please don't make things up. It could cause trouble for him!" The blush spreading across her cheeks and her slightly flustered expression only seemed to confirm the girls' suspicions, drawing a chorus of good-natured laughter.
At the edge of the noisy crowd, Shiranami Chihiro sat quietly at her desk, unconsciously twisting the hem of her skirt between her fingers. She lowered her head, her bangs hiding her expression, but the hand clutching her pencil was clenched so tightly that her knuckles had gone faintly white. Listening to everyone tease Ichinose about that unfamiliar boy from Class D, she felt an indescribable pang of bitterness and heaviness, as though someone were coveting a treasure dear to her. She sneaked a glance at Ichinose, blushing in the middle of the group, then quickly lowered her head again and murmured in a barely audible voice, "Honami-chan..."
The faint laughter drifting from Class B's windows reached Class A's classroom at the other end of the corridor. The atmosphere there was completely different. Most of the students in Class A were already busy with their own things. The room was quiet and orderly, with even a hint of severity.
Katsuragi Kohei stood by the window, gazing calmly at the lush zelkova trees below as if pondering something. His bald head stood out in the sunlight.
His loyal supporter, Totsuka Yahiko, glanced toward Class B with open disdain.
"Katsuragi, listen to them. Those people in Class B spend all day laughing and joking around like a bunch of headless chickens," Totsuka said, his tone dripping with superiority. "No wonder they're stuck in Class B. They have no sense of what it means to be elite."
Katsuragi didn't turn around. His voice was as steady as stone. "Yahiko, don't judge a person or a group solely by appearances. Being noisy doesn't mean they're incompetent."
"Hey, I'm not making this up." Totsuka Yahiko folded his arms and leaned back slightly, wearing the look of someone who had already seen through everything. "A couple of days ago, I got some inside information from an upperclassman I happened to meet. Class A is the strongest class! We have the best resources and the highest starting point!" He put particular emphasis on "strongest," as if proclaiming an indisputable truth.
He continued, his tone growing even more contemptuous. "And when I helped Mashima-sensei carry some things a few days ago, I passed by Class D and made a point of observing them. What a sight. It was a complete disaster. People were openly making noise during class, the desks were all over the place, and that red-haired hedgehog—Ken Sudō—even had his feet up on his desk! They're a bunch of hopeless trash, a rabble! They're not even in the same league as us in Class A!"
He walked over to Katsuragi and declared his support. "Don't worry, Katsuragi. When the upcoming class-leader vote takes place, I'll give you my full support! Lots of other people feel the same way. Only someone as steady and capable as you can lead Class A and crush those pathetic classes!"
Katsuragi finally turned around. His firm features remained impassive as he replied evenly, "Gathering information is a good thing, but underestimating your opponents too much will leave you vulnerable. Yahiko, stay alert until the real test arrives."
Totsuka Yahiko said, "Yes, yes," but the dismissive expression on his face made it clear he hadn't taken Katsuragi's warning to heart. In his mind, Class A's superiority was an ironclad fact. The other classes were nothing but stepping stones that would sooner or later be trampled beneath their feet on the way to the top.
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