Yamauchi Haruki added from beside them.
The internet was a useful thing. You could anonymously expose people on the school forum.
Unless the school got involved, it would be pretty difficult to find out who was behind it.
"Isn't that a bad idea? If you make things up, the school will probably investigate it seriously," Ayanokouji Kiyotaka added.
He hoped they'd know when to stop.
"We're not making things up. We just have to tell the truth."
"Just look at all those injuries he has, how he skipped class right after school started, and how he took leave because he was hurt."
Kanji Ike clearly had no intention of letting this opportunity pass.
After trying to talk them out of it for a while, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka eventually gave up.
He returned to his seat and sighed.
"Same as always."
"If you have something to say, just say it."
From that sigh, Horikita Suzune already knew what he was about to say.
"Did they do something stupid again?"
Every so often, Horikita Suzune heard about some stupid thing Kanji Ike and the others had done.
There was also all the strange news going around the class, and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was naturally the source.
He was practically the only person she could turn to for information about the class.
Aside from him, there were the girls who inexplicably kept watching her: Kushida Kikyo and Karuizawa Kei.
They would come over now and then to chat, borrow her homework, or ask questions.
"They're planning to expose Kageya Shinjitsu. They keep thinking he's a delinquent and that he's approaching Kushida Kikyo for some ulterior motive."
After gathering his thoughts, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka gave her the gist of it.
"How boring. If anything, that woman was the one approaching that man."
Horikita Suzune made a dismissive remark.
"Is that how boys think? I'm sorry to say this about your new friend, but you'd better keep your distance. He's a lost cause."
She kindly warned her deskmate.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was a little at a loss for words.
Then their teacher, An, arrived and began class without much fuss, despite the students' noisy chatter.
In an environment like this, even the good students were bound to have trouble paying attention.
As soon as class ended,
Horikita Suzune sat at her desk and counted for a few seconds.
Sure enough, that woman was here again.
"Horikita, sorry, but could I borrow your notes again?"
"The teacher went through everything so quickly. I couldn't keep up."
"And I have a few questions, too. Could you help me with them?"
Karuizawa Kei pressed her hands together and asked pleadingly.
Feeling Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's gaze from beside her, Horikita Suzune kept her expression cool.
But she agreed anyway.
"Remember to give them back once you're done copying."
She didn't just lend her notes; she even explained the assignments to her.
But before long, Karuizawa Kei looked completely confused.
Horikita Suzune was on the verge of losing her temper.
The atmosphere was extremely strange.
"Sure is weird, isn't it?"
This scene had been entirely within Kageya Shinjitsu's notice since he arrived at school.
He'd also noticed that Kushida Kikyo was watching them. Her gaze didn't look too friendly, but when she noticed Kageya Shinjitsu, she shifted her chair and stood up to approach him.
The girl's sweet scent drifted over. Her cute voice sounded no different from usual.
52: Kei's Will—Is the Student Council President Flawed, Too?
The girl greeted him out of the blue.
"What's weird?"
Kageya Shinjitsu played dumb.
"The atmosphere between them. You were watching Horikita and Karuizawa just now, weren't you? Karuizawa suddenly seems to love studying. She's asked Horikita for help, but she's also asked all the boys and girls who are good at studying in our class. She often copies notes, too, and shares them with her friends."
"And this only started after she came to see you..."
Kushida Kikyo was quite surprised.
Karuizawa Kei had changed after taking leave earlier—or, more accurately, after asking Kushida for Kageya Shinjitsu's number.
So she suspected there was a connection.
But she couldn't get anything out of Karuizawa Kei, so she could only ask the other person involved.
"Studying is a good thing."
Kageya Shinjitsu answered directly.
He knew she'd been working hard lately.
When he skipped class while on leave, Karuizawa Kei brought him her class notes every day.
She used the notes as an excuse to eat with him and study together.
"So there really is something going on. Is it because of you?"
"Karuizawa came to see you, right? What happened?"
"Can you tell me?"
"I was the one who put you two in touch, after all..."
"Come on, tell me~~"
Kushida Kikyo clasped her hands together, looking curious.
Her big, teary eyes made it hard to refuse her.
Kanji Ike and the others in the row behind them were practically itching to pin Kageya Shinjitsu down and switch seats with him.
"Nothing happened."
"You should ask Karuizawa."
Kageya Shinjitsu denied it twice in a row.
"Ah~~ So something did happen after all."
"Just tell me. You can tell me in private. I promise I won't tell anyone."
"Also, you called her by her name just now."
"You're always forgetting my name, or else you don't call me by it at all."
"That's so mean."
Kushida Kikyo complained.
Whether it was meeting, talking, becoming friends, or exchanging numbers—
I was the one who did all of that first.
Why did he remember someone else's name first?
Was this the fate of the blonde loser?
Or was it the will of "Kei"?
Only girls whose names contained Kei could be winners.
"Nothing happened between us."
"Just go ask her."
Kageya Shinjitsu naturally wouldn't say much about Karuizawa Kei.
Kushida Kikyo could only pout and return empty-handed.
Amid the atmosphere in the class,
Kageya Shinjitsu stayed until lunch break.
He didn't give Kushida Kikyo a chance to stop him. He quickly stood up and left the classroom behind the teacher.
"..."
Kushida Kikyo stared blankly after him, her fists clenched. If Kageya Shinjitsu hadn't run off so quickly, she would've wanted to go over and punch him a few times.
She'd just put her textbook away. She'd been planning to invite him to lunch and find out what was going on, and he'd simply run off?
Was she some kind of terrifying monster?
She was starting to question herself and consider checking her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
Someone was treating him to lunch in the cafeteria today.
He'd received an invitation from Horikita Manabu before class that morning.
After eating so much bland, low-calorie food in the hospital,
Kageya Shinjitsu didn't hold back and ordered a high-calorie meal.
Horikita Manabu paid without a second thought.
"I've had plenty of meals from the student council president."
Having accepted his food, Kageya Shinjitsu offered a polite remark.
"Your identity has been officially recorded. Starting today, you're a member of the Student Council. Beginning next month, points will be deposited onto your ID card."
Horikita Manabu was calm. A meal like this was nothing to him, and he went straight to the other matter.
"You had to notify me in person about that?"
Kageya Shinjitsu had thought a message would've been enough.
His Student Council membership had only just been finalized.
As for the compensation points from the second-years, he'd received those the very next day.
Perhaps Miyabi Nagumo hadn't wanted to drag things out and risk complications.
"That's not all. There's something else I'd like to ask you to do."
Horikita Manabu waited until Kageya Shinjitsu had eaten something.
"What is it?"
Kageya Shinjitsu wondered if he should spit the food out.
"My younger sister is also a student in Class 1-D."
Horikita Manabu came right out with it.
"Your younger sister? Oh, you mean Horikita Suzune? So you want me to look after her?"
"No way. I'm not popular in my class, and by next month, I'll probably have the whole class calling for my head."
Before you continue