The Archangel and the Little Angel

"Hey."

"Why did it take you so long to answer?" Kushida's somewhat anxious voice came through.

"I was busy just now. Besides, I had my phone on silent."

"Has it been resolved?"

"Yeah."

"That's good." By then, Hoshino could already faintly hear Kushida's voice. "Are you still at the Activity Building? I'll be there soon."

A few seconds later, Kushida appeared from the staircase below and came to Hoshino's side. Her breathing was a little rushed, so she must have hurried here the whole way.

"Why did you come?"

"Shouldn't I have?" Kushida shot back. She leaned over to take a look, and her delicate brows immediately furrowed. "Huh? Why is Ichinose here?"

"If you can come, why can't someone else?" Hoshino teased.

Kushida glared at him. "It'll be a little troublesome if she's here."

Hoshino understood what she meant and merely smiled without saying anything.

Ichinose Honami and Kushida Kikyo seemed very alike: both were friendly and helpful toward others. But Kushida's behavior was only an act, while Ichinose was the real deal. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the two of them had the worst compatibility possible.

"Kikyo, I've just realized that nothing in this world is more frightening than comparison." Hoshino decided to provoke her a little further. "I originally thought you were pretty big, too. Tsk, tsk."

Kushida froze for a moment before immediately catching on. She reached out, pinched the soft flesh at Hoshino's waist, and twisted hard. "You filthy scumbag. When you touched my breasts before, why didn't you think they were small?"

After twisting him, she let out a cold snort and strode toward Ichinose and the other three with her head held high.

"Sakura! Hasebe! Are you two okay?"

Kushida called out as she jogged over, her face filled with concern.

"And Ichinose? You're here too."

"Kikyo? Why did you come here?"

"I heard from a friend that the Student Council had just dealt with a really awful incident, and it actually involved girls from Class D... I asked around everywhere before I finally found this place."

Ichinose gave her a thoughtful glance but chose not to expose her.

She was not particularly familiar with Kushida; they had only exchanged greetings and chatted a few times. Still, she had heard quite a bit about her.

However, Ichinose had been in the Student Council for some time now and knew very well just how rigorous the organization under President Horikita's leadership was. Before the result of this matter had been officially announced, there was no way even the slightest bit of information could have leaked out.

So Kushida...

Ichinose glanced at Hoshino in the distance, temporarily suppressing her thoughts. Nothing changed on the surface as she continued talking with the Class D girls.

Moreover, without drawing attention to it, she let Kushida take the lead in the conversation while assisting from the side. Before long, the girls had become familiar with one another.

"Eh? Sakura used to be an idol?"

Kushida had finally gotten to the root cause of the entire incident. Under normal circumstances, it was truly difficult to connect the plain, inconspicuous Sakura with a bright, youthful idol.

"An idol? That's super amazing!" Ichinose was also astonished when she learned this, but she immediately leaned in excitedly. "Please shake my hand!"

Kushida swiftly searched up Shizuku's blog on her phone.

"Whoa, she's seriously so cute!" Kushida exclaimed dramatically as she showed the screen to Ichinose. Shizuku's blog album contained several photos that looked like selfies. The girl in them was lovely, with a dazzling smile. It was hard to imagine that she and the Sakura standing before them were the same person.

"Right? I was unbelievably surprised when I first found out too." Hasebe had known this secret for a while already, and for some reason, she now looked proud.

Sakura blushed bright red and said softly, "I've always been shy, and I get so nervous around people that I can't speak. My parents encouraged me to become an idol because they wanted me to become more cheerful, but it didn't help much. I even caused a lot of trouble for other people..."

"You weren't any trouble at all." Kushida affectionately wrapped an arm around Sakura's arm, her tone gentle. "We're all Airi's friends. If anything comes up, you can always come talk to us."

Chatter, chatter...

Hoshino leaned against the wall with his eyes half-closed, not joining the girls' conversation. As though they had some unspoken understanding, the girls did not come to bother him either. A few meters separated the two groups, creating a scene that might have seemed strange to outsiders, yet was somehow indescribably harmonious.

Hoshino had caught most of the girls' conversation. He secretly thought to himself that if this counted as a round of confrontation, then Kushida had suffered a complete defeat.

The archangel had more than just "big" going for her over the little angel.

This was probably what they called a genuine article crushing a fake one.

If Kushida took a blow in the area she cared about most, would she come to him tonight to cry about it? How should he comfort her then?

After indulging in all sorts of random fantasies for a while, a thought suddenly came to Hoshino. After considering it briefly, the corner of his lips curled upward.

He took out his phone, aimed it at the four beautiful girls chatting together, and snapped a photo.

Hearing the shutter, all the girls turned to look at him.

"Aki? You were actually taking pictures of us without permission..."

"Such breathtaking scenery is right before me. As a photographer who loves every beautiful thing in this world, I couldn't control myself from recording it."

"You can act so righteous even while taking secret photos. That's so like you, Hoshino." Kushida smoothly spoke up to excuse him. "But no matter what, taking secret photos is bad."

Ichinose, meanwhile, said openly, "Hoshino, please show us the photo you took."

"Mm, if it looks good, then maybe we can let you off this time."

"Then I'll make a group chat!" Kushida put her skills to use at just the right moment. "Hoshino, send the picture to the group~"

Worthy of the little angel devoted to becoming friends with everyone, she had everyone's contact information present, including Sakura's. She quickly created a group chat on the spot, and Hoshino sent the photo he had just taken into it.

The girls all took out their phones to look. Then, an eerie silence descended.

Ichinose and Kushida first looked at Hoshino. Then the two of them quickly exchanged glances before turning their gazes back to him.

Sakura lightly bit her lower lip, her expression hesitant as she did not know whether she should speak.

"Aki." It had to be Haruka, who bluntly voiced what everyone was thinking. "Please give us an explanation."

"Hm? Do you need me to explain the lighting techniques I used?"

"Your so-called lighting techniques!" Haruka cried irritably. "Are what turned my face into a black-and-white yin-yang mess?"