You Only Ever Think About Yourself?

Horikita Manabu enjoyed spending time with his younger sister and nodded with a gentle smile.

"So, Suzune, you can enjoy these three years of school, too. I'm sure you'll be happy here."

"Okay, I understand."

Horikita Suzune responded with a smile.

Strictly speaking,

she had to thank Kijima Tsukur!

After all, it was because of Kijima Tsukur that Horikita Manabu had given up on keeping his distance from her and was willing to talk things over and clear up their misunderstanding.

But!

Kijima Tsukur was stronger than Horikita Manabu!

Horikita Suzune refused to accept such a completely illogical claim!

She had no idea why Horikita Manabu thought so highly of Kijima Tsukur, but she, Horikita Suzune, absolutely didn't believe it.

As for Kijima Tsukur's claim that he'd get all A's, that was even more impossible!

But she would definitely make it to Class A.

Of course,

as a reward for helping the siblings clear up their misunderstanding,

if she had 20 million personal points to spare, she wouldn't mind helping that naive fool, Kijima Tsukur, graduate from Class A.

That naive fool who answered every question was absurdly strong?

Was this a joke?

She would completely defeat Kijima Tsukur!

And prove that her brother, Horikita Manabu, was the most outstanding person of all!

Are You Only Ever Thinking About Yourself?

Time passed.

A week went by in the blink of an eye.

From what Hashimoto Masayoshi had observed,

the other three classes had all been doing a little better than before.

So far, they could only guess what would be on the exam, and they didn't know how things would turn out in the end, but they were definitely doing better than before.

It was swimming class.

Yamamura Miki sat in the spectator stands.

Advanced Nurturing had an extremely relaxed approach to education. The coach didn't insist that they take part in class and had assured them that it wouldn't affect their class.

As a result,

most of Class A had gathered in groups with their friends or found a spot to study on their own. Only a few were competing in swimming for 3,000 personal points.

After all,

most people in Japan had swimming lessons in elementary school and already knew how to swim by then.

So,

Yamamura Miki had found a spot where she could be alone, too.

She gently held her phone in both small, fair hands, a look of disappointment on her pretty face.

Only now did she truly realize:

The number of people in her contacts really didn't equal the number of her friends.

Not a single person had reached out to her all week. She could understand the other classes, but even Kamuro Masumi and the others from her own class hadn't contacted her at all.

Yamamura Miki couldn't help sighing.

"Ugh..."

"If you want friends so badly, why don't you reach out to them yourself?"

"Huh?"

Yamamura Miki jumped in fright.

Her phone flew through the air like a hot potato. She finally caught it and turned around.

A pair of purple eyes behind a magnifying glass was staring at her phone.

It was Morishita Ai.

"Mo... Morishita?"

Yamamura Miki was startled again.

Morishita Ai seemed to listen to Kijima Tsukur, but Yamamura Miki had never seen the two of them interact in class and had no idea what their relationship was.

"Mm."

Morishita Ai answered, then returned to the subject at hand.

"If you want friends, why not take the initiative?"

"I... I don't."

"But it's written all over your face."

"Ugh..."

Yamamura Miki didn't question her at all. Her face turned red, and her voice grew much quieter as she explained,

"I've always been easy to overlook. People tend to forget I'm there, so if I reach out and they ignore me halfway through, it might really hurt..."

"I see..."

Morishita Ai studied Yamamura Miki through her magnifying glass.

Being ignored was bearable, but being ignored by someone you considered a friend would hurt all the more.

If she spent more time talking with Yamamura Miki, she could get what she wanted.

She had no idea why Kijima Tsukur had said that, and Morishita Ai didn't even know what she wanted herself...

But since Kijima Tsukur had said so,

she'd try getting to know Yamamura Miki.

Maybe Kijima Tsukur's unspoken meaning was that she should investigate Yamamura Miki.

"Yamamura Miki, is that why you're always willing to stay by Kijima Tsukur's side?"

"Of course not..."

Yamamura Miki instinctively denied it. "I just feel too bad turning him down. I have no choice but to let him order me around."

"You're not good at refusing people?"

"Mm..."

"Then I'll go tell him for you..."

"Huh?!"

When Morishita Ai turned to leave, Yamamura Miki instinctively grabbed her, even though she hadn't figured out why she'd done it herself.

But the next moment, she understood.

Maybe she knew it herself.

If she turned him down, Kijima Tsukur wouldn't try to talk her out of it. That would be the end of their relationship.

"Hmm?"

Morishita Ai turned back and looked her in the eye.

"Yamamura Miki, I'm trying to help you. Why won't you let me go?"

"B-but... maybe..."

Yamamura Miki's eyes darted away.

If she didn't say anything, Morishita Ai might really go and refuse on her behalf.

But if she admitted Morishita Ai was right, wouldn't that make her utterly pathetic? The thought made Yamamura Miki feel terribly embarrassed.

It was as if she were making a sacrifice and begging someone to be her friend...

But after struggling with it for a while,

Yamamura Miki nodded, her face bright red.

"B-but... maybe you're right."

Kijima Tsukur had no manners to speak of, but he never ignored her, and whenever he asked her to do something, he always asked politely.

That was why she'd always let Kijima Tsukur order her around...

"Just as I thought."

Morishita Ai nodded as if it were obvious.

"You spend time together on weekends, too?"

"Yeah..."

Yamamura Miki sounded a little exasperated.

"He even makes me cook for him on weekends. I don't mind helping him pick out clothes, but he makes me carry his bags when he shops, too. He even bought a camping chair and expects me to carry it around from now on."

At the mention of that,

Yamamura Miki grew annoyed. It was as though she had an endless list of complaints.

Now she had to carry not only her schoolbag but a camping chair to school every day. Kijima Tsukur treated her like a servant. It was absolutely infuriating.

Every day, she wanted to smack him over the head with that chair a few times.

And yet,

she seemed to have forgotten

that someone was watching her.

Morishita Ai noticed that while Yamamura Miki was badmouthing Kijima Tsukur, the corners of her mouth were lifted in a smile.

"He hasn't come to you lately?"

"Other than when he needs my help, he hardly ever looks for me. That guy only ever thinks about himself."

As they spoke,

the two of them glanced around, searching for Kijima Tsukur.

They didn't need to look for long. He was hard to miss. Soon, they spotted him sitting with Sakayanagi Arisu in the spectator stands to their left.

"Hm?"

Yamamura Miki froze, then asked uncertainly,

"That's Classmate Sakayanagi, isn't it?"

"Yeah!"

Once she had confirmation, Yamamura Miki's brows furrowed slightly.

"How come Kijima's with Classmate Sakayanagi? She's been calling him stupid these past few days, saying he shouldn't have sold that information for 800,000 personal points. Is everything okay between them?"

That was right.

Kijima Tsukur had sold the information for 800,000 personal points.

That was what Class A believed now.