Keyaki Mall

After Ichinose and the others left, Aoyama went over to Sakura, who was slumped in a chair.

She looked half-dead, but there was still a hint of excitement in her eyes.

"Mm." Sakura nodded lightly, then pursed her lips and looked at Aoyama, silently expressing the resentment she felt at being abandoned.

"How about I make it up to you by treating you to ramen?"

Ruffling the resentful girl's hair, Aoyama chuckled and made an invitation that no girl concerned about her figure could accept.

Extra oil and extra salt were the ultimate enemies of a girl watching her weight.

"Ah... Could I have something else instead?"

Sakura raised her pale index fingers to her chest and tapped them together, lowering her head as she answered nervously.

"Of course. It wouldn't count as compensation if you had to eat something you didn't like."

Though her refusal hadn't been very firm, Aoyama still felt a little relieved.

So he reached out again and gently stroked Sakura's long, fiery-red hair.

July was just as peaceful as June for the first-year students.

The Class D students, who had been frightened by Chabashira's talk of a Special Exam in early May, had long since put it out of their minds.

Before the final exams.

I really just want to live a quiet life.

The Class D classroom was bustling before class, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was deeply troubled by the attention his classmates were giving him.

Standing in front of his desk was Class D's most conspicuous problem student, the wildly eccentric Koenji Rokusuke.

The Student Council Vice President, Aoyama Shiki, had said he was impressive, and Koenji had happened to get curious, so he'd come to test him out.

That was more or less what Koenji had said before extending his hand to Ayanokoji amid the shock of the Class D students, as if he wanted to shake hands.

"I remember Aoyama invited you to join the Student Council too. Could it be that you've really been hiding your abilities, Ayanokoji?" Sudo, whom Ayanokoji had once helped, immediately took the opportunity to pile on.

"Maybe he mistook me for someone else with the same name. As you can see, I'm just an average student, neither especially good nor especially bad."

"I only trust my own judgment."

Meeting Ayanokoji's deep, indifferent gaze, Koenji stretched his hand forward again with interest, never looking away.

The more Ayanokoji tried to hide his abilities, the more interested Koenji became.

"What a shame. I have no intention of shaking hands with a boy."

Ayanokoji had no idea what Koenji was up to, and had no intention of going along with him.

Ignoring the outstretched hand, he stood up and made to leave the classroom.

After that, Koenji would surely have a hard time continuing to pester him.

"What's going on with you, Ayanokoji?"

Just as Ayanokoji had expected, Koenji stopped pestering him.

But Sudo found Ayanokoji's reluctance strange. He left his seat and hurried over, intent on getting to the bottom of it.

In his haste, Sudo tripped over his own chair leg. He pitched forward and hit his desk mate's desk before managing to steady himself.

"Sorry." Sudo gave a half-hearted nod and tossed out the apology, then raised his head again.

He didn't spare a glance at the schoolbag he'd knocked off his desk mate Sakura Airi's desk, let alone bother to pick it up.

Oh no, I hope my camera's okay.

Sudo, the one who'd caused the trouble, didn't care that the bag had hit the floor. But Sakura Airi, its owner, was very worried—there was something fragile inside.

Something worth nearly a hundred thousand Private Points, which she couldn't afford to replace now.

With a cry of dismay in her heart, Sakura hurried to pick up the bag and pull out her camera.

She'd gotten up a little late that morning and rushed out without putting the camera in its protective case.

And the consequence of leaving it unprotected was that half the screen had gone black.

Waaah—

Her heart sank completely. Sakura looked up at Sudo and parted her lips.

She wanted to say something.

But when she saw his irritable face, she couldn't bring herself to say a word.

I'll have to take it in for repairs myself... but that employee is so scary.

She turned the camera off and back on, but when half the screen remained black, Sakura was close to tears.

The look in the older shopkeeper's eyes when she'd bought the camera had been the most terrifying she'd ever encountered at school. It was as if he wanted to devour her whole.

She'd put her hair into unfashionable twin ponytails and worn plain, rimless glasses to disguise herself.

She'd gone to all that trouble, but the shopkeeper's eyes had still been filled with bottomless desire.

[Aoyama, I have some Private Points now.]

Because she was too afraid to go alone, Sakura wrestled with herself before contacting the only student she knew well.

She edited the message over and over, but couldn't think of a greeting she liked.

Then, in the panic of the bell ringing for class, she sent a message that looked utterly inexplicable.

What does this mean? Is she hinting that she wants me to extort a few points from her?

In the Class A classroom, Aoyama noticed Sakura's message after class and was at a loss.

Since it was lunchtime anyway, he headed straight to the Class D classroom.

Most of the students had gone to the cafeteria, so only a handful remained in the classroom, all of them with bento boxes.

"What are you having for lunch, Suzune?"

Walking into the classroom as if he owned the place, Aoyama smiled at the flustered Sakura, then took the seat in front of Horikita Suzune and faced her.

After making Horikita Manabu pay a million points, Aoyama had used that as an excuse to improve Horikita Suzune's lunches.

"Steamed ribs, tomatoes and eggs, and lettuce stems." Horikita Suzune gave Aoyama a cool glance, then took out her bento box and opened it.

The neatly arranged dishes looked delicious. The tomatoes and eggs in particular were one of Aoyama's favorites.

"Looks great. I'm having it."

Without asking, Aoyama picked up Horikita Suzune's chopsticks and began eating heartily under the curious gazes of a few Class D students.

As he ate, he took out his phone and started messaging Sakura, who was sitting a seat away, asking what she'd meant by her text.

"Remember to wash them."

"I'm too lazy to go to the cafeteria. What do you expect from me?" After eating a sweet-and-sour tomato, Aoyama shrugged with his palms up.

"...You'll definitely grow up to be a great kept man."

"I think I already am."

Aoyama smiled as he saw off Horikita Suzune, who looked a little displeased, then kept winking at Sakura when no one was looking.

That kept Sakura's cheeks flushed the whole time. She almost buried her head in the bento box in front of her.

[No problem. I don't need any Private Points.]

After chatting with Sakura over the phone, Aoyama understood what she'd meant by her message.

In short, her camera was broken and she wanted to take it in for repairs, but the shopkeeper's gaze was so frightening that she didn't dare go alone. She wanted to ask Aoyama to accompany her.

That fanatical shopkeeper? Of course his gaze is terrifying.

He'd appeared in the original story, so as soon as Sakura mentioned him, Aoyama knew who the scary shopkeeper was.

A middle-aged man who was obsessed with Sakura, who had been a middle school idol at the time.

And he even had the ridiculous idea that he could win her over.

He's asking for trouble!

Keyaki Mall

Twin braids, a mask covering most of her face, and glasses with fiery-red frames.

The person who appeared before Aoyama on Sunday morning was Sakura, who looked like a stalker and not an idol at all.

"I'm returning it."

Aoyama smiled faintly, promptly sent Sakura back to her dorm, and followed her inside.

Compared to Horikita Suzune's or Yamamura's rooms, Sakura's looked much cuter. It had lots of girlish decorations, and some photos of Sakura from her modeling days were on the walls.

The girl in fashionable clothes, posing for the camera, looked confident and radiant. You could easily believe she was even more cheerful than Ichinose.

This is so embarrassing—don't look, Aoyama!

Watching Aoyama inspect the photos around her room with interest, Sakura felt as if her face were on fire. She could hear her heart pounding, too.

This was the first time she'd brought a boy back to her room, and she hadn't prepared anything at all.

She was embarrassed to have Aoyama looking at photos of her in her shining days, but she was also a little happy.

I can shine just like you, Aoyama.

So please don't think any less of me. I'll work hard to become someone who can always be like that.

"Teach me how to tie my hair like this." Aoyama didn't notice Sakura's complicated feelings at all. He pointed at one of the photos and asked her.

The girl in the photo was dazzling beyond compare, and the hairstyle was right in his wheelhouse.

Once he learned it, he could do Yamamura's hair when they were alone together.

"Ah... All right."

Though Sakura was a little surprised that Aoyama wanted to learn, she agreed right away.

She was happy just to be able to help him.

"Loop it around here, then pull it through."

Sitting at the desk that doubled as a vanity, Sakura faced the mirror and tried to hide her embarrassment as she demonstrated. Every now and then, she glanced at Aoyama's reflection.

Whenever she noticed him looking at her through the mirror, she lowered her head with flushed cheeks, and her movements unconsciously slowed.

"I think I've got it. Let me try."

After a little more than ten minutes, Sakura had finished demonstrating the hairstyle once.

Two thin ponytails hung at her sides, while a braid was tied across her long hair, which flowed down her back like a waterfall. Two red strands hung beside her face, giving her a youthful look.

"Wow, that was quick. I thought you'd need me to demonstrate a couple more times."

"That was enough."

With a smile, Aoyama gently stroked Sakura's hair, carefully putting it back the way it had been.

After combing her fiery-red hair, he gathered up a large handful and breathed in its scent before letting the silky strands slip through his fingers.

"Aoyama..."

"I couldn't help myself, I couldn't help myself."

Sakura chided the boy she saw in the mirror, her cheeks red. Aoyama smiled back as he lingered over her rich fragrance.

Then, guided by each frame of memory in his mind, he slowly recreated the hairstyle Sakura had just taught him.

"Done. We can go now."

He boldly pinched Sakura's cheek while she was still in a state of amazement, then slipped out of the dorm room, which was full of girlish charm.

Only after a while did Sakura emerge from the dorm, radiant and with a hint of allure in her eyes. She gave Aoyama a mildly reproachful glare.

You can't just touch a girl's face like that.

She'd nearly fainted from embarrassment just then.

"Let's go, let's go! GOGOGO!"