<Pride and Prejudice> / That's Right, It's a Date

Eito could already feel the boys' murderous glares.

When the whistle sounded, he dived into the water.

Sudo and Koenji beside him shot forward like cannonballs. Not wanting to fall behind, he pushed himself to catch up.

In the end, Koenji came first with a time of 23.22 seconds, and Sudo came second with 25 seconds.

He came third, with 26 seconds.

Ayanokoji hadn't shown his full ability; his time was in the thirties.

As for Yamauchi, he'd taken over forty seconds.

After climbing out, Yamauchi lay on the ground panting like a dog. When he saw Eito already on the shore, he angrily pounded the floor.

"Takeda, dry yourself off." Kikyo walked over to him with a towel in her hand.

"Thanks."

"You're really impressive, Takeda. You even did better than Hirata. Did you work out before?" Kikyo asked curiously, gazing at his body. "Can I feel your muscles?"

"...Go ahead."

Kikyo really did reach out and touch him. Her cool, delicate hand brushed against his body, moving slowly over it.

Sometimes, she even gave him a few firm squeezes.

They were standing close enough that he could feel Kikyo's breath growing hotter.

More and more eyes were turning toward them, so he hurriedly warned her, "Kushida, if you keep this up, someone's going to kill me."

"Ah—sorry."

Chapter 12: Pride and Prejudice

That day.

"Horikita."

"Don't call me by my name."

"Then... Suzune."

"..."

Even without looking, Eito knew that Suzune was on the verge of blowing up.

He tried to explain himself.

"Come on, isn't that how it goes in manga? Friends who are close eventually start calling each other by their first names. You just told me not to call you Horikita. Weren't you hinting that I should use your first name?"

"I was telling you not to talk to me."

"So I can call you Suzune?"

"...Why are you so annoying?"

"I like how persistent I am."

"Who asked you?" Suzune sighed, then stared straight at him. "All right, what do you want to ask me?"

"Actually, I borrowed a book from the library a few days ago. I thought it would suit you, so I wanted to lend it to you."

"You actually read books?" Suzune looked at him skeptically. "Shouldn't someone like you spend all day playing video games at home and browsing porn sites?"

"Huh?"

"Don't look around. I'm talking about you."

"Oh."

Eito replied, at a loss for words.

Then he took out the book he'd finished reading and handed it to Suzune.

"Pride and Prejudice?" Suzune stared at it blankly for two seconds, then demanded, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. Are you trying to hint at something by giving me this book?"

"No, no. I just thought it would be helpful for you. You haven't even looked at the contents, and you're already saying I'm hinting at something. Isn't that a prejudice?"

"...Fine. I'll take it and have a look."

Suzune put the book away.

Then she noticed Eito was still looking at her.

"What are you staring at?"

"So, can I call you Suzune?"

"No."

"Aw..."

"Sighing won't help. Maybe once I approve of you... I'll think about it."

"Then it's a deal."

When he saw Ayanokoji enter the classroom, he got up and returned to his seat.

The morning classes were still boring.

Though it hardly seemed to matter whether he paid attention. He played on his phone in class anyway.

Everyone else was on their phones too.

It felt great to slack off together.

There was one difference, though: he understood all this material, while the others who were playing on their phones like him didn't.

That was the comfort of being top of the class.

It had been over a week since their last swimming lesson.

The past week had brought a few changes, both big and small.

He'd gotten a little closer to Sato, and a little closer to Kikyo—close enough that he could call her Kikyo to her face.

With Kikyo, getting permission to use her first name had been relatively easy.

The others were different.

In Japan, a man and a woman had to be very close to call each other by their first names. In some cases, it was something only couples did.

If you called someone by their first name too casually, people might mistake you for a couple, and then you'd have a whole mess to explain.

Also, through Kikyo, he'd successfully become friends with Wang Meiyu and exchanged contact information with her.

Perhaps because she liked Kikyo, Wang Meiyu had let her guard down around him, and their friendship had progressed smoothly.

They didn't talk much in person, but they chatted a lot on their phones.

At first, she'd been a little reserved, but as they gradually got to know each other, she'd become bolder.

Recently, she'd even started calling him "big brother" in her messages.

Honestly, he hadn't pressured her to do that. Wang Meiyu had wanted to call him that herself.

When he asked why, she said she was scared and wanted a big brother.

Of course, she didn't dare call him that in person.

Then there was Sakura Airi.

She was almost excessively timid. Whenever he tried to say hello, she ran away, to the point that he started wondering if he looked like a pervert.

When he asked Suzune about it, she answered with absolute certainty:

"Do you even have to ask? You are one."

Finally, there was his malice score. It was at 56 points now. Not much had happened lately, so it was accumulating slowly.

Leaving his own affairs aside, the other major development was that Karuizawa had started dating Hirata. But he knew she was only using that as an excuse to protect herself. They weren't really dating.

The rest of the news was that Kikyo was still doggedly trying to get close to Suzune, who remained completely unmoved.

And he thought he'd figured out why Kikyo was so attentive to him: she really was doing it to provoke Suzune.

Clearly, Suzune's attitude had built up a lot of resentment in Kikyo. Whenever he and Suzune talked, Kikyo would always butt in and find some way to upset her.

She'd succeeded. Suzune had nearly hit him several times, which had also slowed the progress of their relationship.

Honestly, Eito admired Kikyo. She could say she wanted to be friends with someone while doing everything she could to upset them.

Of course, wanting to be friends was just one of Kikyo's excuses. Eito knew she didn't actually want to be friends with Suzune. She just wanted to get her expelled.

In reality, making Suzune angry enough to leave school was another way to do it. Kikyo couldn't have failed to consider that.

What Kikyo didn't know was that he actually had a way to make Suzune withdraw voluntarily. But he wasn't about to tell her.

And there was no point in using that method to please Kikyo and win her favor.

If someone like Kikyo could really be won over just by raising her affection for you, he wouldn't have to work so hard.

She might seem so friendly on the surface, but inside, she was already frozen. If he tried to pry her open too forcefully, she might shatter completely. In reality, that would mean she'd become thoroughly twisted.

The result would be a repeat of the disaster in middle school.

Though he was more curious about what Kikyo would be like after she snapped than how she was now, considering the terrible price it would come at, it was better to avoid letting things reach that point.

Chapter 13: That's Right, It's a Date

After school that day.

Kikyo came over to Suzune's desk and invited her sincerely, "Horikita, I won two movie tickets for this afternoon in a raffle. Would you like to come with me?"

"I'm busy."

"Huh? What should I do with them, then? What a shame."

"You have plenty of friends. If you invited them, I'm sure there'd be a line of people eager to go with you."

"But... I thought this movie would suit you, Horikita, so..."

"What movie?" Horikita glanced at the title and frowned slightly. "Sadako 4?"

The long, glossy black hair on the poster caught her eye.

"Ah, I didn't mean that the person on the poster looks like you, Horikita. I just meant that a movie like this shouldn't scare you."

Horikita said, "I've never thought she looked like me. What are you trying to say?"

"I want to be friends with you, Horikita."

"I've heard you say that many times. My answer is still no. It's not that I have anything against you; I simply don't need friends. Only weak people like to huddle together for comfort. I don't need friends, and making them is meaningless."

Kikyo fell silent.

"I've said all I need to say." By now, Suzune was used to Kikyo bothering her, and she handled it with practiced ease. She pointed the tip of her pen at Eito. "You should invite him instead. I'm sure he'd be happy to go with you. Actually, he's the one you really wanted to invite, isn't he?"

"Huh? How could that be?" Kikyo covered her face shyly. "Takeda and I are just friends. How could we do something that only couples do? Don't say things like that, Horikita."

Eito didn't know what to say.

Did Suzune think Kikyo liked him? It was true that he'd been spending more time with Kikyo lately. Not just Suzune, but plenty of other people had asked if he and Kikyo were dating. They'd only seemed satisfied after he said no.

He couldn't pretend he hadn't heard them, so he tidied up his things and walked over to them.

"Want to go?"

Suzune looked surprised. "You're being so direct this time. Are you possessed or something?"