Good Deeds and Kind Acts

The next day, before the morning bell had even rung in the Class A classroom, the sound of chatter drifted between the desks.

"Kamuro, pull back that gaze of yours. There are too many eyes and ears around here, so don't look at me like that." Uesugi Hara turned his head, lowering his voice to speak to Kamuro Masumi beside him.

Since early this morning, Kamuro Masumi's gaze had been anything but settled, occasionally glancing at him sideways with eyes full of disdain. Hearing this, she let out a scoff, and the contempt in her eyes deepened as she looked at him: "Do you have no idea what you did yourself?"

Uesugi Hara felt a spark of irritation at her haughty attitude and deliberately lifted his chin: "If you insist on saying it like that, then I won't be polite either." As soon as he finished speaking, his gaze swept down toward her legs.

Seeing Uesugi Hara's movement, Kamuro Masumi reacted with lightning speed. She pulled her legs toward the other side of the desk with a "whoosh," nearly hitting her knee on the desk leg, her face filled with even greater disgust: "You really are a pervert." Her voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to draw curious glances from the students nearby.

Uesugi Hara hurriedly waved his hands at the surroundings and retorted in a low voice: "Keep it down! Are you afraid others won't know what you did yesterday..."

"Shut up!"

Perhaps because her sore spot had been poked, Kamuro Masumi didn't look at him with that trash-viewing gaze again afterward. She simply pursed her lips and turned her head away, looking as if she couldn't be bothered to deal with him anymore.

Uesugi Hara knew when to quit while he was ahead; he tactfully withdrew his gaze and turned to look out the window.

The aimless farce between the two temporarily came to an end just like that.

With only a few minutes left before the bell, Uesugi Hara suddenly stood up and headed toward the restroom.

Why go at this specific time? It was an unspoken secret among students, so why ask so many questions?

Just as he turned the corner of the hallway, a soft, faint gasp mixed with a light "thud" echoed out.

Uesugi Hara only felt something soft bump into him. Looking down, the first thing that caught his eye was... panties printed with a round, chubby panda?

Looking up further, Sakayanagi Arisu was sitting on the floor, clutching her forehead, her uniform skirt hiked up to the top of her thighs.

Uesugi Hara was stunned for a moment, then immediately crouched down: he first reached out to gently pull the hiked-up skirt back into place, covering that cute little panda once more; then he put his hands under her armpits and used a bit of strength to hoist her up until she was standing steadily; finally, he picked up the silver cane that had rolled to the side and stuffed it back into her slender hand.

After finishing all this, he stared at Sakayanagi Arisu for two seconds. Remembering how she looked when he saw her yesterday, he reached out and poked both sides of her cheeks with his index fingers—the once blank little face was pushed into a shape that squeezed out a bit of the composed smile she had worn yesterday, though those ice-blue eyes, usually filled with cunning, were still glazed over in a daze.

Like an exquisite doll pulled by strings, Sakayanagi Arisu obediently let him move her, from adjusting her posture to manipulating her expression. Her appearance at this moment was exactly the same as her composed and confident self from yesterday.

Uesugi Hara examined his "masterpiece" and nodded with satisfaction, his tone carrying a hint of admonition: "Classmate Sakayanagi, you really need to watch where you're going next time. Not everyone is as easygoing as I am."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over her skirt, and added: "Also, the little panda is quite cute, but you shouldn't just show it to anyone. It would be bad if some ill-intentioned pervert saw it."

After saying this, he turned and walked toward the men's restroom with a light step, feeling as cheerful as if he had just done a good deed, leaving Sakayanagi Arisu standing there all alone.

Her originally dull eyes gradually regained their clarity. Hearing Uesugi Hara's words and recalling the experience just now, a crimson flush instantly spread from her cheeks to her earlobes, even staining her neck a faint red.

The fingers gripping her cane tightened abruptly, her knuckles turning white, and her body trembled uncontrollably. She stared at the back of Uesugi Hara as he disappeared around the corner, her chest heaving violently (though it wasn't very noticeable), as if a fire were burning inside.

"It was clearly you who bumped into me!" She bit her lower lip, and the first defense she squeezed out carried a hint of grievance, her voice trembling at the end.

Immediately following that, the pent-up shame and anger surged up all at once, and her voice rose a notch: "You're the worst!" She paused, as if that wasn't enough to vent her frustration, and fiercely added two more lines, each word squeezed out from between her teeth: "Disgusting! Pervert! Lolicon!..."

The hallway was empty, and only she could hear these fragmented whispers, filled with a muffled, aggrieved tone.

The more Sakayanagi Arisu thought about it, the angrier she became. She tightened her grip on the cane handle again, a flash of unyielding light appearing in her ice-blue eyes. She clenched her fist in her heart, aimed at the direction where Uesugi Hara had disappeared: "Uesugi Hara... don't you ever let me get a hold of your weakness."

Her tone carried her unique stubbornness, yet hid a bit of ruthless determination: "Otherwise, I will definitely, absolutely make you taste my wrath!"

After saying this, she took a deep breath, trying to suppress the heaving of her chest, straightened her back, and walked slowly toward the classroom with her cane, though her footsteps still carried a lingering trace of unspent anger.

On the other side, Uesugi Hara was completely different.

He whistled an off-key tune, his footsteps carrying a light rhythm, and he was in an incredibly good mood—after all, he had done another good deed today.

Thinking of the episode in the hallway just now, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth: those panties with the little panda print were indeed quite cute, and the soft, chubby pattern actually suited Sakayanagi Arisu's little-loli appearance quite well.

It was just... he raised an eyebrow, a bit of confusion bubbling in his heart: with Sakayanagi's calm, composed, confident, and elegant demeanor, she actually liked such a childish style? Was this considered a contrast?

When he returned to the classroom, Uesugi Hara had just sat down at his desk when he caught a glimpse of Sakayanagi Arisu looking toward him, a faint smile on her face, still maintaining that composed and elegant appearance.

He couldn't help but feel relieved, even feeling a little touched: the world is still quite friendly, after all. At least Sakayanagi Arisu didn't hold onto that collision, didn't extort him for medical expenses, mental damages, or anything else. It seems she is a reasonable person.

Naturally, he didn't know the deep meaning hidden in Sakayanagi Arisu's smile—the corners of her eyes slightly curved, her lips lightly raised; it was clearly a silent declaration of "we have a long road ahead, we'll settle this account slowly."

Kamuro Masumi, sitting nearby, glanced at Uesugi Hara's inexplicable expression, frowned, and said irritably: "What kind of madness are you having again?"

Uesugi Hara immediately glared back after hearing this: "If you can't speak properly, then shut your mouth. I just did a good deed, I'm just feeling a bit sentimental."

"Heh," Kamuro Masumi let out a cold laugh, the disdain in her eyes undisguised, "You, doing a good deed? Just don't let it be more of your perverted antics."

Uesugi Hara was choked into silence. Just as he was about to retort, the teacher had already walked in with the lesson plan, so he could only swallow the words that had reached his lips, slandering Kamuro Masumi eight hundred times in his heart.