Airi Sakura's Tears

Airi Sakura shook her head hard, tears falling even faster. "No, that's not it... Yuefeng was trying to help me... I, I..."

She seemed to have countless things she wanted to say, yet her nerves and emotions left her unable to put them into words. All she could do was keep crying.

Yuefeng sighed inwardly. He knew Airi Sakura was introverted and sensitive; that fright had affected her deeply.

After thinking for a moment, he took a packet of tissues from his pocket and offered it to her.

"Wipe your face. It's over now, so don't be afraid. Try not to go anywhere too secluded in the future, and get back to the dorm early after school." He softened his voice, as though comforting a frightened little animal. "This cloth bag is important to you, isn't it? Make sure to keep it safe from now on."

Airi Sakura accepted the tissues, clumsily wiped her face, and nodded hard. "It was... left to me by my mother..."

She sniffled quietly. "Inside... there used to be a photo of my mother... That day, I took it out... so, so..."

So what she had desperately protected back then had really been the cloth bag itself, the thing that carried her memories.

Yuefeng understood. He nodded and did not ask about the photograph.

"That's good. Be more careful from now on." Yuefeng looked at the sky outside, now completely dark. "It's late, and it's just the two of us here. It's not very safe. I'll walk you back to the Class D dorms."

Airi Sakura's body trembled again. She seemed to want to refuse, but then she looked around the empty, silent Old Book Section, lit by only a few dim corridor lamps.

Then she looked at Yuefeng's calm, sincere face. In the end, she gave a small nod, her voice barely audible. "...Thank you."

Yuefeng helped her carry several of the heavier books. Keeping an appropriate distance, the two silently walked out of the library one after the other.

The campus was quiet at night, with only the wind rustling through the leaves and the faint clamor from the student activity rooms in the distance.

Airi Sakura kept her head lowered, clutching the cloth bag and her remaining books tightly as she followed half a step behind Yuefeng, like a wary but dependent fledgling.

Neither of them spoke along the way. Yuefeng was not good at making conversation, and Airi Sakura was even more taciturn.

Yet the silence was not awkward. Instead, it carried the calm of having survived a disaster.

As they neared the Class D dormitory building, Airi Sakura suddenly stopped. Summoning her courage, she raised her head, darted a quick glance at Yuefeng, then immediately lowered it again and said in an almost inaudible voice:

"Yuefeng... y-you need to be careful... Ishizaki and the others... seem to be planning something again... I, I heard a little... behind the Equipment Room..."

Having said that, as if she had exhausted every bit of courage she possessed, she hugged her books and cloth bag and ran into the Class D dormitory building without looking back, disappearing into the light.

Yuefeng stood where he was, watching her retreating figure vanish, his brow furrowing tightly.

Behind the Equipment Room? What were Ishizaki and the others plotting now? A new plan against him? Or something else?

Airi Sakura had taken a risk to tell him this. Whether the information was accurate or not, he had to remember her kindness.

The night wind carried a chill. Yuefeng pulled his collar tighter and turned toward the Class C dormitory area.

The streetlights stretched his shadow long as it moved alone across the empty pavement.

His old injury in his left arm began to ache faintly again. But he did not slow his pace, and his gaze was exceptionally calm in the darkness.

Ishizaki's threats, Ryuen's exploitation, Sakayanagi's scrutiny, his "father's" remote control, Kiyotaka's observation... and Airi Sakura's silent tears, as well as Hiyori Shiina's veiled concern.

All those clues, pressures, responsibilities, and tiny fragments of warmth intertwined, weighing heavily on his shoulders.

He knew there was no turning back on the path he had chosen.

He could only move forward.

He clenched his fist, feeling the thin calluses that recent practice had worn into his palm.

Strength, knowledge, observation, endurance.

He needed more. He needed to grow faster.

Only then could he find the move that would break the deadlock in this chess game called Advanced Nurturing High School, even while becoming someone else's pawn.

Even if it was only one move.

The night was deep, and the road ahead remained unclear.

Yet the light in the boy's eyes was firmer and deeper than the distant lamps.

Because of Airi Sakura's warning, he heightened his vigilance over the next few days, deliberately avoiding secluded corners and making his movements harder to predict.

At the same time, he secretly kept watch on the area around the Equipment Room. But for several days in a row, nothing happened there, as if what Sakura had heard had merely been the wind stirring the grass.

The study group still met every week, but its atmosphere had quietly begun to change.

The initial period of testing and adjustment seemed to have passed. Everyone revealed their own styles and intentions more clearly, and their discussions became increasingly in-depth.

Sparks even began to fly.

Katsuragi Kohei and Horikita Suzune remained the two whose views clashed most sharply.

Katsuragi insisted on institutional stability and procedural justice, believing that any reform had to be carried out within the existing framework by refining the rules and improving the group's ability to execute them.

Horikita, on the other hand, made no effort to hide her disdain for inefficiency. She believed that for the sake of the "optimal outcome," it was sometimes necessary to bypass—or even break—unreasonable or rigid rules.

The two often argued endlessly over specific interpretations of data or details of a plan, neither able to convince the other.

Hirata Yosuke, meanwhile, was like an indefatigable mediator, shuttling back and forth between them in an attempt to find the greatest common ground both sides could accept.

His gentleness and patience often served as the cushion that kept the group's discussions from falling apart entirely.

Ichinose Honami continued to inspire everyone with her sunshine and idealism.

Although her proposals sometimes seemed too perfect to be practical, no one could deny the sincerity in her words or her unwavering pursuit of "progressing together."

After growing familiar with the environment, Hiyori Shiina spoke with increasing confidence.

She could always identify the hidden assumptions or fallacies in each side's arguments from logical and cognitive perspectives, providing the discussion with a firmer theoretical foundation.

She seemed to be gradually adapting to these intense clashes of thought. Occasionally, after Yuefeng spoke, she would look at him with approval and a trace of reliance.

It gave him a measure of comfort, but also a faint sense of pressure—he did not want Hiyori Shiina to be drawn deeper into these troubles because of him.

As for Yuefeng himself, he continued playing the roles of "analyst" and "observer."

The models and data he cited became increasingly precise, while his analysis of loopholes in the rules and variables in human nature grew more seasoned.

He cautiously sought a balance between Katsuragi's insistence on doing things properly and Horikita's unconventional methods. The suggestions he offered were often both practical and somewhat strategic.

They were neither overly aggressive nor empty talk. This style seemed to be gradually winning recognition from some members, including Hirata and Ichinose.

But before Sakayanagi Arisu, every balance seemed so fragile.