Ayanokoji, Who Wasn't Good with Words, and His Judgment

After leaving the gymnasium,

Ishizaki, who followed Prince Ganlongdao, was feeling rather pleased with himself.

"Haha."

"Prince Brother, you were seriously amazing."

"I thought that student council president looked so stern and powerful, but he couldn't do a thing to us after all."

Ishizaki said excitedly, his face beaming.

Before,

he'd only ever gone around picking fights with people from the neighboring class, with three or five underlings at his side.

He'd never done anything like today.

The three of them had strutted around in front of the whole school, even with the student council president among them.

He'd originally wanted to turn over a new leaf,

but even now,

Ishizaki had only just realized that his old life had been child's play. Going around fighting with Prince Ganlongdao was way more fun.

"My legs were shaking back there."

As he spoke, Ishizaki's excitement was mixed with a hint of lingering fear:

"With so many people staring at us, I thought we were definitely going to get beaten up. I can't believe you guys still dared to fight back, Prince Brother. That was so cool. How did you even manage that? Weren't you scared?"

At that,

Prince Ganlongdao got a little annoyed and gave him a light kick:

"Most people in this world are useless cowards who just stand by and look out for themselves. Ishizaki, you'd better act a little tougher from now on. Don't be such a damn wimp. I'll cover you if anything happens."

"It doesn't matter if you're a coward. You're the one making me look bad."

When Horikita Manabu had been watching them earlier,

he'd noticed Ishizaki's legs trembling. And this guy had been the boss of his middle school class.

Prince Ganlongdao couldn't take that kind of embarrassment.

Still,

this time hadn't been a total loss.

According to Horikita Manabu,

even seemingly rule-bending tricks like Albert's would be punished.

They'd see what happened in a month.

Prince Ganlongdao guessed it probably had something to do with points.

But,

Ryuuen was already bound to skip class.

No matter what the university tested, there was no way their class could score well.

Prince Ganlongdao didn't care.

After all, his only goal was to rule this university.

The word "arrogant" wasn't enough to describe his personality.

In Prince Ganlongdao's eyes,

ruling the university wasn't a question of whether he would succeed.

Rather,

as long as he wanted to,

ruling this university was only natural.

It was fate,

an iron law that could never be erased!

Meanwhile,

after Prince Ganlongdao and the others left, the club orientation finally came to an end.

The oppressive feeling Horikita Manabu had left behind had completely faded, leaving only contempt for Prince Ganlongdao.

However,

Horikita Suzune noticed

that until Prince Ganlongdao and the others had left the gymnasium, Ayanokoji had kept his attention fixed on them.

"Ayanokoji, that's wonderful. Congratulations on making a friend."

Horikita Suzune spoke with a hint of sarcasm.

She remembered that this friendless, taciturn Ayanokoji had come here hoping to find an opportunity to make friends. Had he actually decided to treat Prince Ganlongdao as a friend?

"Don't make this difficult for me~"

Ayanokoji turned back and said, "He doesn't look like someone I could handle, does he?"

"Good. At least you know that."

Horikita Suzune folded her arms and looked down at him as she warned him:

"Don't think about becoming friends with a useless delinquent like that. Someone like you would just get bullied to death."

"Hm? Horikita, are you worried about me?"

"I'm just giving you fair warning."

Horikita Suzune glanced at him coldly, her tone even more haughty:

"If you can swear you won't come to me for help when you get bullied, I'd be happy to see you become friends with him. Maybe you'll even gain a friendship where you're constantly ordered around."

"Please, spare me~"

With that,

Ayanokoji turned to look outside the gymnasium. Prince Ganlongdao had already disappeared from sight.

Seeing him act like that, Horikita Suzune couldn't help feeling puzzled.

"What are you still looking at?"

"Nothing."

Ayanokoji gazed outside the gymnasium, his expressionless face unchanged:

"I just think he's impressive."

"Huh?"

Horikita Suzune was dumbfounded. With a look of utter disdain, she said:

"You mean that delinquent from before? Just out of curiosity, what exactly do you think is impressive about him?"

"Nothing."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka turned back to Horikita Suzune, his gaze profound.

"I just think it's impressive that he managed to make two friends like that only two days after school started."

Ayanokoji understood.

It obviously wasn't as simple as friendship.

Ishizaki and Albert clearly treated Prince Ganlongdao as their boss.

He'd only needed to say a few words,

and Albert had treated them as a direct order and carried them out.

Moreover,

judging by the respectful way the two treated him,

he was probably more than just their boss. He might already have united an entire class under his leadership.

Otherwise,

between friends,

would they really be that respectful?

The main thing was,

he'd achieved all that in just two days.

It was enough to show Prince Ganlongdao's leadership ability, as well as how terrifying he was to have been able to subdue Albert.

Ayanokoji just wanted to point all that out to Horikita Suzune.

"Hm?"

Horikita Suzune knitted her brows, looking disdainful. "Birds of a feather flock together. They're just delinquents instinctively banding together for warmth. What's so impressive about that? Ayanokoji, you'd be better off getting to know some more outstanding people."

"Fine..."

Ayanokoji didn't argue. He only said, "Don't you think he's a lot like someone?"

"Koenji?"

Horikita Suzune knitted her brows.

They both thought of Koenji Rokusuke from their class.

There was no denying it.

Prince Ganlongdao and Koenji Rokusuke really were alike: both were arrogant, looked down on everyone, did things their own way, and didn't care what anyone around them thought.

The only difference was,

Prince Ganlongdao wasn't as narcissistic as Koenji, and he could still get along with people and make friends.

"Exactly."

Ayanokoji nodded in agreement:

"Maybe he's as impressive as Koenji."

"Heh."

Horikita Suzune shot him a scornful glance.

"Ayanokoji, I'm starting to seriously question your taste. I'll admit that both of them seem to be very good at sports, but that's not the only standard by which people are judged."

"Being good at sports alone doesn't prove someone is capable, let alone impressive~"

Horikita Suzune wasn't stupid.

Prince Ganlongdao and Koenji Rokusuke.

Both were muscular and looked like they could fight, so they were obviously good at sports.

But so what?

Sports weren't the only thing in the world. There were other areas, too.

For example,

academics.

Besides, even if both of them were good students, too,

Horikita Suzune still didn't think there was anything worth admiring. She was at the top in both academics and sports.

She couldn't even hold a candle to her brother, Horikita Manabu!

Ayanokoji was making a big deal out of nothing. He really was ignorant and inexperienced.

"Hmm... That's true."

Ayanokoji stared expressionlessly at the girl before him.

Forget it.

They were only making small talk. There was no need to argue.

He glanced back toward the direction Prince Ganlongdao had disappeared and silently committed it to memory.

He hadn't expected

someone to reach that level on only the second day of school.

Other classes would need at least a week, maybe even a month, to accomplish something like that.

He really was

in a league of his own!

Unfortunately,

Horikita Suzune's outlook was frighteningly narrow.