The First Crack in the Myth

The night wind was a little cold.

It blew over her, carrying away the last trace of warmth.

Horikita Suzune did not know how long she had stood outside that building.

Only when her hands and feet began to turn cold and numb did she finally move.

She did not return to the dormitory.

Instead, like a ghost, she returned to the foot of the Student Council office building.

She wanted an answer.

An answer spoken directly to her.

Whether it was true or false, she had to hear it from that man's own mouth.

Otherwise, she would go mad.

Time passed second by second.

The lights in the school building went out one by one.

Finally.

"Click."

The door, both familiar and unfamiliar to her, was pushed open from within.

A figure slowly emerged beneath the cold corridor lights.

Tall and upright, with a stern face.

It was Horikita Manabu.

At that moment, Horikita Suzune felt her heart stop beating.

She clenched her fists, her nails digging deeply into her palms, using the pain to maintain the last of her clarity.

She stepped out of the shadows and blocked Horikita Manabu's path.

When Horikita Manabu saw her, his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

There was no surprise in his eyes, only his usual coldness and indifference.

"What are you doing here?"

His voice, like the night wind, carried no emotion.

"I..."

Horikita Suzune opened her mouth, but her throat was so dry that no sound came out.

The courage she had shown when questioning Ayanokoji during the day vanished completely when she faced her own brother.

She took a deep breath and used nearly all her strength to keep her voice from trembling.

"That rumor..."

"The rumor that you made a classmate drop out for Class A..."

"Is it true?"

She stared fixedly into Horikita Manabu's eyes.

Hoping to see even a trace of denial, disdain, or anger there.

But she was disappointed.

There was nothing.

Those eyes were as deep as a bottomless pool of icy water, calmly reflecting her pale, stubborn face.

Horikita Manabu did not answer immediately.

He merely looked at his sister with that scrutinizing, appraising gaze.

That look made Horikita Suzune feel like an object waiting to be graded.

After a long while, he slowly spoke.

His voice was colder than the night wind.

"To achieve a goal, necessary sacrifices are unavoidable."

Boom!

Horikita Suzune's mind exploded completely.

All her wishful thinking, all her self-deception, was shattered by those words.

He had admitted it.

He had admitted it himself!

The brother in her heart who was always fair, always strong, always the embodiment of rules...

The god she had desperately chased after, the only goal of her life...

Turned out...

Turned out he could do such things for the sake of victory.

"Wh... why?"

Her lips trembled, and every word tasted of blood.

"What about the rules? Aren't you the one who respects rules the most?!"

"Rules?"

A nearly cruel curve appeared at the corner of Horikita Manabu's mouth.

"Rules are tools written by the victors."

He took a step forward and looked down at her. The pressure in his gaze nearly left Horikita Suzune unable to breathe.

"If you cannot even understand that, then never dream of reaching Class A."

"And never dream of catching up to me."

After saying that, he did not spare her another glance.

He walked straight past her.

The wind he stirred up tousled her hair and scattered the last bit of light in her heart.

The statue of a god had collapsed.

Shattered beyond recognition.

Along with it, her entire world fell apart.

Horikita Suzune walked back to the dormitory in a daze.

Horikita Manabu's cold words echoed through her mind again and again.

"Necessary sacrifices."

"Tools written by the victors."

Those words overlapped with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's statement about Class A's "perfection."

So they were talking about the same thing.

A cruel reality she had never understood before, one she had even scorned.

The goal she had always chased, that perfect back, suddenly became blurry, filthy, and unrecognizable.

She did not know where she should go.

It was as if the road beneath her feet had suddenly disappeared.

The dormitory building was right before her.

The vending machine downstairs glowed with a lonely light.

A figure leaned against it, holding a can of something in his hand.

Horikita Suzune stopped and looked up.

It was Natsume Yu.

The boy who had almost no presence in the class.

Natsume Yu saw her too and raised the can in his hand in greeting.

Then, as if noticing something, his gaze paused for a second on Horikita Suzune's pale face.

He took another can of hot coffee from the vending machine.

He walked over and offered it to her.

"Looks like something is bothering you?"

His voice was gentle, carrying a strange power to soothe the heart.

"If you don't mind, you can tell me about it."

"Who are you?"

Horikita Suzune warily took a step back, her eyes full of vigilance.

She did not trust anyone now.

"What do you want?"

Natsume Yu showed no surprise at her sharpness.

He merely withdrew his hand and pulled open the tab on the coffee himself, steam curling upward.

His gaze was clear and frank, without the slightest impurity.

"Don't misunderstand. It's just concern from an ordinary classmate."

"After all, your expression is practically screaming, 'I'm falling apart.'"

"..."

Horikita Suzune was momentarily choked up by his internet slang.

Yet somehow, her taut nerves relaxed a little.

Natsume Yu did not press her.

He leaned against the railing beside them, took a sip of coffee, and began speaking to himself.

His voice was quiet, yet it entered Horikita Suzune's ears clearly.

"People always add too many perfect fantasies to those they admire."

"They place all kinds of halos on them and worship them like gods."

"But if you peel away that halo, even the most perfect person is still just a person, not a god."

Those words were like a precise scalpel, instantly cutting open Horikita Suzune's heart.

She suddenly looked up at Natsume Yu in shock.

He...

How did he know?

How did he know what she was thinking?

Natsume Yu did not look at her. He merely gazed at the distant black night sky.

He continued in that calm tone, yet every word struck heavily against Horikita Suzune's heart.

"True strength has never meant always being right, always shining brilliantly."

"That kind of thing exists only in stories."

He turned around, his gaze falling upon Horikita Suzune's shaken eyes.

"True strength is being able to adjust your direction after making mistakes, after taking detours, and still lead the entire team toward final victory."

After saying that, he pressed the coffee he had barely drunk from into Horikita Suzune's cold hands.

"It's late. Get some rest."

Then he turned, waved, and walked into the dormitory building without looking back.

Horikita Suzune stood frozen in place.

She still held the coffee can, which retained a trace of warmth.

The warmth in her palm stood in stark contrast to the storm raging in her mind.

As she watched Natsume Yu's back disappear into the stairwell, she felt for the first time that—

This "invisible person," whom she and everyone else had always ignored, was shrouded in a deep, unfathomable mist she could not see through at all.

The lighthouse in her heart named "Horikita Manabu" was crumbling apart.

And within her chaotic world, a new and mysterious point of reference was quietly taking shape.