Eito closed his eyes, pressed his palms together, and put on a devout expression.
Then he opened his eyes and looked calmly at Kikyo.
"Well, I'll be going now. Take your time eating."
Before Kikyo could ask anything else, he grabbed his tray and ran off.
Kikyo: "..."
Only then did she realize she'd been played.
Heh.
Heh.
Well, isn't that just great?
But she couldn't get angry here. She was everyone's Kikyo, after all.
That's right. She had to hold it in.
She looked up at Ayanokoji, who was still eating slowly, and joked, "Your friend eats so fast. Was he in a hurry?"
"I don't know. This is the first time I've seen him eat that fast, too. It's better to take your time. You could choke."
"Ayanokoji-kun really does know a lot... Well, then, I'll dig in, too."
Meanwhile.
Eito, having escaped the cafeteria, was reading in the library.
The moment he entered the cafeteria, he'd guessed why Kikyo wanted to eat with him.
There were two reasons.
First, she might ask him about Suzune and have him help them get in touch.
But that was unlikely. He wasn't close to Suzune at all. If that were the case, she should've approached Ayanokoji instead.
The second was the real reason.
He'd already guessed that Kikyo wanted to confront him about why he'd made up the story that she liked Yamauchi.
Given Yamauchi's personality, he'd probably look for someone to blame after getting rejected. Eito was the perfect excuse, since he really had said something like that. If Yamauchi blamed him, he wouldn't have much to say in his defense.
If Kikyo confronted him, he'd surely feel guilty and blame himself, apologizing over and over because he couldn't think of an excuse.
Rather than let that happen, he'd decided to turn the question back on Kikyo and let her think it over herself.
That was why he'd come here.
Come to think of it, there were quite a lot of books here.
He read all kinds of books, but he didn't have a favorite genre. If he had to say, he'd read anything that seemed interesting.
What counted as interesting was a matter of personal opinion.
Come to think of it, he'd seen Horikita reading during a break. The book had been called Crime and Punishment, he thought.
Maybe he should bring a book back with him, too. As fellow book lovers, surely they'd have plenty to talk about.
So he picked out the book he thought would be the best fit and prepared to take it back with him.
When Eito returned from the library, he saw that Ayanokoji was back, too.
Curious, he asked, "So, what did Kushida want with you?"
Ayanokoji answered honestly. "She asked me to help her get along with Horikita."
"You agreed?"
"..."
"Who would've thought? I never knew you were a pervert. I was wrong about you."
"No," Ayanokoji said. "I don't think I could refuse her, after all—"
"After all, she's so cute. How could you say no, right?"
"Uh..."
Eito understood how he felt.
Kushida's cuteness didn't seem fake at all. If he hadn't known what she was like beforehand, he wouldn't have suspected her, either.
From personal experience, he thought she was quite cute.
If someone was faking cuteness, it was actually easy to tell. People who tried to act cute generally weren't cute. Cuteness was hard to fake.
They might think they were cute, but anyone else could see right through them. After all, people weren't stupid. Even if one person was, that didn't mean everyone was.
And before long, Kikyo would reach the point where no one in the entire year, male or female, suspected her.
That was more than simple acting. It could even be called a talent.
He'd assumed from the start that Kikyo was faking it, which was why he'd noticed something was off about her.
In reality, if you didn't know anything about her, Kikyo was no different from an ordinary girl next door.
In fact...
Eito felt that, among the people in his class, her talent was second only to Ayanokoji's. If he could really make someone like Kikyo obey him, she'd be an enormous help.
For the sake of a peaceful school life in the future, Kikyo was indispensable.
However...
Thinking about how difficult she was to handle, he felt a headache coming on.
Physical force alone definitely wouldn't work. If he went too easy on her, it'd be useless; if he went too far, she might lose her value and become a living corpse.
Threatening her could easily backfire, too. Who knew when Kikyo might turn against him?
Remembering that he had a system, he checked it.
His current Malice value was 23 points, while activating hypnosis required 100.
That was way too much.
And after taking a closer look, he realized hypnosis had its drawbacks.
He couldn't control someone constantly, and a hypnotized person wouldn't behave as they normally did.
Too many suggestions could make someone mentally fragile break down.
Using it repeatedly might turn someone into an idiot.
In the end, he'd have to find a way himself.
For now, he'd make his goal winning Kikyo over.
A Different Horikita Suzune
There was a club recruitment event that afternoon.
For people who wanted to make the most of school life, joining a club was a good choice.
Although this school didn't have many clubs, so there weren't many options.
He hadn't planned on going, but since Ayanokoji had asked, he decided to go take a look.
But just the two of them would be pretty boring, so he invited Suzune along.
At first, Suzune refused without the slightest hesitation. But when he casually mentioned that the student council president might show up, she fell silent.
And so she followed along behind them.
Eito smiled at Horikita. "You say you're not interested, but you're still coming with us. Don't tell me you're a tsundere, Horikita?"
Suzune's expression remained cold. "No. I'm only coming so I can verify it for myself. If I find out you lied, I'll stab you to death with a compass on the spot."
"..."
How terrifying.
When they arrived at the gymnasium, plenty of first-year students were already waiting. They chatted among themselves, and the place was somewhat noisy.
He also spotted Yamauchi, Ike, and the others. Surprisingly, Sudo had joined Yamauchi's group, too.
The Three Idiots had reunited, huh?
It really was fate.
The trio of him, Ayanokoji, and Suzune stood out, and Yamauchi spotted him right away and charged over.
"Hey, Takeda, you liar!"
"What's wrong? Let's talk this out." Eito remained calm.
"You lied and told me Kikyo liked me, then told me to confess to her!"
"Hey, hey, when did I ever say that?" Eito sighed. "Want me to remind you? I said you had an eighty percent chance. I never said it was one hundred percent. You misunderstood me. How's that my fault?"
Yamauchi froze and scratched his head. "...Uh, I guess you did say that."
But he quickly caught on again. "Wait, then why'd you tell me to confess? You were clearly misleading me! Damn it!"
Eito was a little surprised. The guy seemed smarter after just one day. Had getting rejected driven him insane?
He'd let his guard down. From now on, he'd have to be more careful.
"I'm confused about why you got rejected, too." Eito rested one hand against his forehead and put on a sorrowful expression. "I mean, you're so... handsome, and Kushida's so kind. The fact that she rejected you just goes to show she doesn't have very good taste."
"You think Kikyo's the one with bad taste, too, right?" Yamauchi excitedly shook his arm. "I knew it wasn't my fault! They don't understand me. What a bunch of narrow-minded idiots. You're the only one who gets me. Sob~"
"Heh."
When Yamauchi tried to wipe his nose on Eito, he promptly shoved him away. Then, as Yamauchi stared at him in confusion, he said coldly, "Yamauchi, that's settled. Now it's my turn. I heard you sold me out."
"Huh? Well, about that..."
"I went out of my way to help you, and you threw me under the bus. I'm so disappointed in you."
"Listen, I had no choice. Because at the time... If I didn't do it, then... you... You have to believe me! I promise I won't sell you out next time."
"Fine. But I don't want to see you right now, so get out of my sight."
"Yes, sir!"
Yamauchi gave a terrible salute, then ran off like a monkey.
Only Suzune and Ayanokoji remained.
They'd obviously seen the whole farce.
Ayanokoji said nothing, looking thoughtful, while Suzune frowned and regarded Eito with some distaste.
"You really aren't a good person, are you, Mr. Con Man?"
"Horikita, that's not fair. If you were me, would you have a normal conversation with a creep? Or are you angry because you like Yamauchi and didn't like seeing me bully him?"
"Get lost!" That seemed to have hit one of Suzune's sore spots.
Suzune reached out to grab him, wanting to teach him a lesson.
She'd clearly trained in those moves. Eito didn't want to get cocky or reveal his abilities, so he ducked behind Ayanokoji.
Before you continue