Scheming in the real world? I can also do a little.

Ugh... what a terrifying woman.

Shaking his head, Hoya Chukai stopped looking at the girl and turned his gaze toward Kushida Kikyo: "But speaking of which, Kushida-san, were you serious when you told me earlier that you wanted to be friends with everyone?"

"I was serious... why do you ask?"

"Do you think it's actually possible?"

"I think as long as I put in the effort, I will..."

"No, no, no. I'm talking about friends—real friends, not just people you nod to in the hallway."

Hoya Chukai crossed his arms and looked at Kushida Kikyo: "You have to understand that friendship is a two-way street. It can only be maintained if both parties are compatible. Once both sides can no longer get along, a falling out is inevitable. Granted, Kushida-san, you have a great personality and you're very kind, but the problem is, does everyone actually want to be real friends with you?"

"What do you mean by..."

"Let's put aside that Horikita from earlier and talk about that Koenji guy we chatted with on the way here. Do you think you can be friends with him? Maintaining a friendly relationship and being friends are two different things, don't you think?"

In Hoya Chukai's view, Kushida Kikyo's approach didn't count as making friends at all. How many true confidants can one have? If you can count them on two hands by the end of your life, that's already quite good. And casual friends? You can have many, but the relationship won't be very close. Drinking buddies? That's even simpler—drinking, eating, and playing games together is enough.

Therefore, Hoya Chukai saw clearly exactly what kind of friends Kushida Kikyo was trying to make.

Perhaps she didn't want to be friends with everyone at all; that was just a facade. What she truly wanted was simply to be a popular girl.

Why does she go against Horikita in fan fiction? It's simple: Horikita is more popular than her.

As for the claim that Horikita holds a grudge because she knows about her dark past? That's just a convenient excuse.

Even a corrupt official knows how to fabricate a pretext, so how could she not? If she had to choose between being jealous because Horikita is simply more popular, or wanting to silence Horikita because she knows her dark past, which one is easier for others to accept? The second one.

Even if the second one seems extreme to outsiders, it still holds more water than the first. Because it lacks universality.

If it were the second reason, Kushida would only be a threat to Horikita; for everyone else, there would be no reason for them to become enemies. But if it were the first... if she were jealous of Horikita, she would be jealous of other girls too, and no one likes a jealous girl. That is a universal trait, not an isolated case.

Therefore, Hoya Chukai had to tell her who the enemy was and who the friend was.

Once you understand your enemies and friends, you can further understand who you should be dealing with.

Who should she deal with? Class A, of course.

"So, Kushida-san, I hope you don't waste your time on unnecessary people. What you want to become is either friends with everyone or a popular girl. If it's the former, then you have no choice but to work hard to become friends with difficult people like Koenji and Horikita. But the latter... popularity is something where if thirty percent support you, it will drive fifty percent of the neutrals to support you as well, and even if there are opponents among the remaining twenty percent, they will vanish into the crowd."

Hoya Chukai's words were not fast; he was guiding her, hinting for Kushida to rethink what she really wanted.

He believed that wanting to be friends with everyone was just a means to be popular. So, if you skip the process and look directly at the result, the path becomes much easier to walk.

Chapter 24: Ayanokoji Kiyohime, Who Doesn't Understand Human Affairs

"But... if I don't befriend them, can I still be considered a popular person?"

"Of course, why wouldn't you be?"

Hoya Chukai took a sip of his coffee. Hmm, the taste was decent enough.

"Do you think either Horikita or Koenji cares whether you are popular or not? Will others think you are unpopular just because you can't be friends with Horikita and Koenji? Impossible. They are exceptions. When dealing with them, as long as you don't make enemies of them, you don't need to be on good terms. They won't affect your actions, so why should you care about them?"

Squinting his eyes slightly, Hoya Chukai continued to guide Kushida Kikyo: "No one is perfect. People aren't banknotes; you can't make everyone like you, you just need to make sure everyone doesn't hate you. And... you aren't limited to just being a popular person, right? You have other goals, don't you? So, will lone wolves like Horikita or Koenji affect your goals? If they do, then consider befriending or eliminating them. If they don't, why do you care about their attitude?"

"If you can truly make the majority of people welcome and accept you, even if Koenji or Horikita speak ill of you, people will think the fault lies not with you, but with them for being unpopular. They will think they are being unreasonable and that they are the ones in the wrong. Do you see? Even if one or two individuals have a mediocre attitude toward you, you won't become unpopular. When dealing with people like that, the more you try to please them, the more they will despise you. They will think you are like a piece of dog-skin plaster, finding you annoying and tiresome."

Pursing her lips, Kushida Kikyo was gradually persuaded by Hoya Chukai.

Because Hoya Chukai really seemed to be standing on her side, considering problems for her. Had she really considered wanting to be friends with everyone?

If it were Ichinose, she would definitely think that way. But Kushida was not; she was a fake angel, not someone who truly felt that way.

That was why she was moved, and why she felt that what Hoya Chukai said was correct.

Be friends with everyone? Forget it. Those pig-headed idiots—just flattering them made her want to vomit. If it weren't for maintaining her persona, she would have dropped the act long ago.

"But... wouldn't the gap between this and how I've acted before be too big?"

"How long have you known each other?"

Hoya Chukai said, looking at Kiyohime beside him: "Ayanokoji-san, how long have you known Kushida-san?"

"Less than two days."

Ayanokoji answered truthfully.

"See? You've only known everyone for less than two days. You can know a person's face but not their heart; in just two days, who can truly understand anyone's inner self? You are just making a tiny change—not being friends with everyone, but being on good terms with everyone. You don't need to please others, nor do you need to rack your brains thinking so much. Isn't that right?"

Watching Kushida fall into deep thought, Hoya Chukai reached out and patted her shoulder: "Alright, go back and think about it carefully. What is it that you really want? Being friends with everyone is easy to say, but it's really hard to do. Instead of a friendship as thin as water, it's better to just be on good terms. There isn't much difference between the two, but the time spent is worlds apart. You don't have to force yourself to do things while feeling miserable, right?"

"Okay, then... I'll go back and rest first. Hoya-kun, Ayanokoji-san, goodbye."

Clearly, Kushida had been completely swayed. She stood up somewhat numbly and left, swaying as she walked.

Watching Kushida leave, Hoya Chukai looked at Ayanokoji Kiyohime again: "Ayanokoji-san, right?"

"Need something?"

"No, just thought we'd chat."

Hoya Chukai looked at the cup of coffee in front of him: "Why aren't you drinking it?"

"I bought this for Horikita."

"But Horikita has already left, so it belongs to you now. Doesn't it? You spent the money, you bought the item; if she doesn't want it, then it still belongs to you."

Hoya Chukai said, looking Ayanokoji up and down: "You... don't have a cognitive impairment, do you?"

"Cognitive impairment? No, I don't have anything like that."

Ayanokoji Kiyohime shook her head in denial. Yet, she actually brought the coffee to her lips and took a sip.

It seemed she had listened to Hoya Chukai's words.

"Is that so? But I feel like Ayanokoji-san is a bit different from ordinary people. You... don't seem like a normal person."

"Is that so?"

Ayanokoji asked in return, her hands slightly clenched into fists under the table.

At this moment, she felt that the man sitting across from her was smiling like a fox—cunning and insidious—as if everything about her had been seen through by him.

"Yeah, I've done a simple investigation into you. Your scores... are very interesting."

"Scores? Is there a problem with them?"

Ayanokoji had not yet realized where the problem lay. She might be very intelligent, but as a perfect creation, she was not actually perfect.

At least in Hoya Chukai's eyes, she was worth utilizing.

She had the IQ, but her EQ was low. This could only be attributed to the life she had led since childhood. Hoya Chukai didn't care about that, nor did he intend to make Ayanokoji a puppet in his hands; as long as she... focused on having a proper showdown with Sakayanagi, everything else was irrelevant.

Yes, irrelevant. He didn't care about that much at all. Ayanokoji had flaws and weaknesses, which was a good thing. If he were a student in Class D, he might have had to find a way to deal with this perfect creation, but he was a student in Class C. He just needed to ensure Class D didn't become too strong.

On the surface, Kushida, Horikita, and Hirata were enough. Her? It was fine to let her be a beauty who admired her own reflection; as long as she wasn't dragged into the turmoil, she wouldn't come to cause trouble.

After all, as long as she didn't drop out, anything she did was manageable.

Was this simple? It wasn't simple, because Hoya Chukai knew that Chabashira Sae would stir up trouble. In a sense, if not for Chabashira Sae's meddling, Ayanokoji would never have been provoked into taking action; she might have remained a silent bystander eating popcorn forever.

Class D rising to Class A? What the hell did that have to do with her?

Therefore, Hoya Chukai felt that he could try to be friends with her.

Yes, friends—even friends who would stab each other in the back would do. Perhaps he could play with this tiger.

"Let me ask you a question. A test paper, 100 points maximum, 0 points minimum. How many points do you think the average student in a class gets after an exam?"

"...50?"

"Do you really think so?"

Hoya Chukai's expression became even more amused: "That's what you think, right? Just be a student with mediocre grades, so you chose 50. That's why I said you have a cognitive impairment. If you had attended school since childhood, you would undoubtedly know that the difficulty of an exam is a curve, not a straight line; the higher the score, the harder it is to achieve. If I were you, I would aim for around 70. Yes, around 70. Getting the exact same score in five subjects isn't a coincidence; it's a man-made result."

Chapter 25: Why Are There People Everywhere?

Hoya Chukai didn't mind telling Ayanokoji these things; on the contrary, he was teaching Ayanokoji how to be an ordinary person.

"You... what do you mean by that? What are you trying to do?"

Ayanokoji could tell that Hoya Chukai wasn't just talking nonsense; he really had an agenda.

"Nothing, I'm just wondering where a little princess like you popped out from, not knowing these common-sense things... Honestly, I'm very interested in you. How about... we become friends?"

"Become friends?"

"Yeah, don't you want to live the life of a normal person? Then let's become friends. I'll lead you into the life of a normal person, how about that?"

Hoya Chukai said, taking out his phone, quickly finding his friend request page, and handing it to Ayanokoji: "You have two choices now: 1. Be friends with me, and perhaps you can understand the secular life of ordinary people. 2. Refuse to be friends with me and continue your clumsy disguise. Choose?"

Ayanokoji had a major issue. She said she wanted to make friends, but that desire could only be described as present, not strong.

Moreover, people always said she was a selfish person, and from Hoya Chukai's perspective... that wasn't a problem.

After all, you couldn't look at her as a teenager. What if you looked at her as a two or three-year-old child?

Hungry? Wet? Crying—just crying—is meant to tell her mom and dad that she is hungry, wet, or thirsty. She wouldn't care what time it was or if her parents were resting.

Hoya Chukai didn't know if human nature was inherently good or evil, but it was definitely selfish and self-interested. Selfless thoughts were something that needed to be cultivated slowly through later education.

People are born knowing how to demand, but it takes a lifetime to learn how to give up.

In Hoya Chukai's eyes, the difficulty of "conquering" Ayanokoji wasn't even as high as Kushida's.

As for whether Ayanokoji would become an ingrate... well, Lu Bu was a "servant of three masters," but did he still have utility?

Hoya Chukai wasn't really trying to be her friend; did it matter if she was selfish or not? Even if she had her own ideas, what could she do? Compared to the "brilliant" schemes of Ryuen Kakeru, you couldn't blame Hoya Chukai for thinking she was a bit of a blockhead.

"..."

Looking at the phone placed in front of her, Ayanokoji didn't make a sound. She was just thinking.

"You're not lying to me?"

"If you're really afraid I'm lying, you can just leave. Either way, you'll just continue your clumsy disguise."

Hoya Chukai truly didn't care; his demeanor showed he wasn't afraid of Ayanokoji leaving at all.

If she left, she left. At worst, he would just find another way to start plotting later.

Since he had already figured out how to deal with her, everything that followed would be easy to handle.

"...I hope you're not lying to me."

Looking at Hoya Chukai, who didn't seem to be lying, Ayanokoji tentatively chose to believe him.

After adding him on her phone, she continued to ask, "What next? What should I do?"

"As for what's next, wait until tonight. We can have a proper chat then. You should head back and rest for now; you probably have some things to take care of, right?"

"Uh... actually, I don't really have anything to do."

"I have things to do, I was just giving you an out... Alright, it seems your cognitive impairment is truly severe. Go on back, and I'll message you tonight... You aren't going to sit there like a silly girl, clutching your phone and waiting for my message, are you?"

"Of course not."

"That's good, otherwise I'd feel guilty."

Soon, Hoya Chukai sent Ayanokoji off. Once he was gone, he couldn't help but let out a sigh.

Why are there so many damn problems, anyway?

Right, Meili Ge?

Why didn't Hoya Chukai leave with Ayanokoji? Because ever since a moment ago, a burly man with a massive frame had been standing with his back turned, clearly eavesdropping.

Am I supposed to be clearing obstacles one by one here? After sending off Horikita, then Kushida, and finally Ayanokoji, why is there still a Meili Ge?

More importantly, Sakayanagi over there, wipe that smile off your face! I told you not to drink coffee, didn't I!

Forget it, I'm exhausted.

Hoya Chukai had no intention of having a pleasant chat with the other party; he had already talked enough for one day, and all he wanted was to go back and slack off in peace.

"Hey, young man, are you planning to leave just because you're done chatting with the beautiful girls?"

Unfortunately, while Hoya Chukai wanted to leave, Koenji had no intention of letting him go.

He stretched his leg out, blocking Hoya Chukai's path forward.

Great, so I can't leave after all.

Hoya Chukai didn't know how well Koenji could fight. But since he could beat Ryuen Kakeru, Hoya Chukai definitely couldn't afford to provoke him.

"What, does Koenji want to have a chat with me too? Please, I'm exhausted. How about we pick another time?"