Akiyama Shin woke from his brief rest, the first thing he noticed being the weight and warmth on his head that didn't belong to him.
He turned his head slightly and saw Horikita Suzune's little head resting against his.
Her breathing was even, and her long eyelashes cast faint shadows beneath her eyelids. She seemed to be fast asleep.
Akiyama Shin shifted carefully, gently supporting Horikita Suzune with his palm as he slowly moved away.
Then he steadied her by the shoulders and helped her sit back against the bench.
Only after that did he reach out and give Horikita Suzune's shoulder a gentle shake.
"Wake up."
Horikita Suzune's long eyelashes fluttered a few times before she slowly opened her bleary eyes.
As her awareness gradually returned, the first thing she saw was Akiyama Shin's calm face, close by. Then she realized that she seemed to have fallen asleep leaning against him.
A vivid blush instantly spread from her neck to her cheeks, even tinting the tips of her ears.
She abruptly sat up straight and instinctively raised a hand to smooth her slightly disheveled hair. Forcing herself to remain calm, she looked away, her voice hoarse from sleep and tinged with barely concealed panic.
"I... I was just... a little tired."
Akiyama Shin neither agreed nor disagreed with her explanation. He raised his hand and checked the time on his Terminal.
"It's already six. We should get ready to head back."
Horikita Suzune heard him and checked the time as well. Somewhat surprised that she had slept so long, she asked instinctively,
"Aren't you going to get dinner?"
"I just need to buy some ingredients and kitchen utensils at Keyaki Mall. It's cheaper to cook for myself."
As he spoke, Akiyama Shin stood up and stretched his stiff shoulders. As though something had just occurred to him, he glanced sideways at Horikita Suzune and casually asked,
"Want to come along?"
Horikita Suzune froze when she heard him.
Together?
Did he mean shopping together?
Or did he mean having dinner in his dorm room together?
Her heart inexplicably began to race. If he meant going to the boys' dormitory, it would be a first in her sixteen years of life.
However, looking at Akiyama Shin's calm expression, which held no hint of flirtation and showed that he was simply asking if she wanted to come along, she immediately realized that he probably hadn't thought that far ahead. He was just asking whether she wanted to go shopping with him.
Didn't her hesitation and the thoughts she'd just entertained make her seem... a little too presumptuous?
A faint, complicated embarrassment made her press her lips together, but she quickly regained her cool expression and nodded.
"Okay."
The two walked side by side toward Keyaki Mall, the setting sun stretching their shadows long behind them.
On the way, Horikita Suzune still couldn't help asking,
"So you can cook?"
"I got used to it."
Akiyama Shin looked straight ahead, his tone unchanged.
"When I was in middle school, my parents often worked late, so I'd make a lunch box for myself and take it to school."
Horikita Suzune was taken aback. She turned to look at Akiyama Shin's strong, angular profile.
She hadn't expected a boy who seemed so composed and strong, almost to the point of seeming cold, to have such an independent and precocious past.
Considering that he'd taken time off school because his mother was seriously ill, and that his family didn't seem well-off...
An indescribable feeling passed through her heart. It wasn't sympathy, but more like a faint sense of kinship with someone like herself.
She, too, had always lived in her brother's shadow and under the pressure he cast, striving to prove herself.
In a way,
she was lonely, too.
"I see..."
She murmured a reply and didn't ask anything more.
The two bought some basic kitchen supplies at the department store supermarket, such as pots, bowls and chopsticks, and knives, along with plenty of vegetables and meat. When they paid, Horikita Suzune saw how much cheaper the total was than a restaurant meal and gained a deeper appreciation of Akiyama Shin's sensible approach to money and practical nature.
After finishing their shopping, they naturally returned together to Akiyama Shin's Dormitory 501.
When Akiyama Shin opened the door and saw Horikita Suzune follow him inside as if it were perfectly natural, he belatedly realized that she might have taken his offer as an invitation to have dinner together.
He'd genuinely only asked whether she wanted to go shopping with him, but he didn't say anything. Since she was already here, having one more person for dinner didn't matter.
As far as he was concerned, any guest was welcome. It was only one more pair of chopsticks. Carrying the groceries, he went straight to the little kitchen in the corner of the room and silently began preparing the ingredients.
Horikita Suzune stood in the middle of the room, drawn to its immaculate tidiness and the faint, cool freshness in the air.
A little awkwardly, she touched her hair and watched Akiyama Shin's busy figure in the kitchen before stepping forward to ask,
"Do you need any help?"
Without looking back, Akiyama Shin skillfully washed the vegetables.
"No. You're a guest. Just sit and wait."
"No."
Horikita Suzune's tone was firm, with her usual seriousness and stubbornness.
"I'm not used to getting something for nothing."
Akiyama Shin's hands paused. He stopped what he was doing and turned to glance at her. Seeing her stubborn expression, he pointed at the bowls and chopsticks waiting to be washed in the sink.
"If you insist, you can do the dishes after we eat."
Horikita Suzune looked at the pile of dishes, then at Akiyama Shin, and finally accepted the arrangement, albeit reluctantly.
"Fine."
She went over to sit in the chair beside the desk and quietly watched Akiyama Shin work in the kitchen.
His movements were smooth and precise. He chopped the vegetables, prepared the ingredients, heated the oil, and tossed everything into the pan in one fluid sequence. He was clearly very experienced.
Soon, the enticing aroma of food began to fill the room. It was rich and fragrant, with a seared, wok-fried aroma unlike Japanese cuisine.
During a pause in his cooking, Akiyama Shin took out his Terminal to check the time, only to find a whole string of unread-message notifications on the screen.
"Are messages really this delayed on this Terminal?"
"Is it some product made by a certain iPhone company?"
He couldn't help muttering under his breath, but he still opened the message list. Most of the messages were irrelevant chatter in the class group, which he ignored. The important ones were in his chat with Kikyo.
After everything that had happened from last night to this morning, Kushida Kikyo seemed to have completely dropped her act in private. She couldn't even be bothered to pretend to be an angel around Akiyama Shin anymore.
Her messages were full of questions and affectionate concern.
[Kushida Kikyo]: Are you a fucking idiot? You picked a fight with the Student Council President in the Gymnasium?!
Do you know what kind of person Horikita Manabu is?
What if he gives you a hard time later? What if he targets you? Have you lost your mind?!
[Kushida Kikyo]: And another thing... what exactly is going on between you and that woman, Horikita Suzune? Why are you hanging around with her again?! I'm telling you! I don't care how many women you have in the future! But I just hate her!
You're my man now! I won't let you leave me to go see other women! Especially her!
Her messages were full of curses, but the concern she couldn't hide and her intense possessiveness practically spilled off the screen.
Akiyama Shin looked at the messages without changing his expression and simply replied,
[Akiyama Shin]: Are you worried about me?
[Akiyama Shin]: Are you jealous?
At that moment, Kushida Kikyo was having dinner in the cafeteria with Wang Meiyu and a few other girls. When her Terminal vibrated, she sneakily took it out and saw Akiyama Shin's two replies.
!!!
Her cheeks instantly flushed bright red. It felt as if something had slammed into her heart, and even the hand holding her chopsticks trembled.
"Kikyo, what's wrong? Your face is so red!"
Wang Meiyu asked with concern from beside her.
"N-nothing!"
Kushida Kikyo hurriedly put her Terminal away, forcibly suppressing the fluttering in her heart and her embarrassment. She put her sweet smile back on.
"It's probably a little hot in the cafeteria~"
But inside, she was screaming.
That narcissist!
What a bastard!
Who's worried about you?!
Who's jealous?!
Drop dead!
Her fingers flew across the Terminal.
[Kushida Kikyo]: Get lost, you narcissist!
Akiyama Shin saw the reply and thought nothing of it. He casually opened his chat with Kamuro Masumi.
Kamuro hadn't sent many messages. There was mainly a screenshot and a line of text, along with a photo.
The screenshot showed a chat from Class A's group. A student named Katsuragi Kohei, whose profile picture showed a tall, stern-looking bald boy, had sent a message.
He said that he'd applied to join the Student Council but had been rejected by President Horikita. His words carried a hint of confusion and frustration.
After closing the picture, Akiyama Shin read Kamuro Masumi's messages.
[Kamuro Masumi]: Class A hasn't found any of the rules you mentioned yesterday yet. Though I don't really know much about it myself, everyone's guessing that there might be competition at this school, and that our class is split into two factions.
[Kamuro Masumi]: One is the Katsuragi Faction, led by Katsuragi Kohei. The other is the Sakayanagi Faction, led by a little white-haired girl... I think she has trouble walking. [Image]
He opened the image. It showed Sakayanagi Arisu sitting in a chair. She had pure-white hair that fell to her shoulders, and a delicate, doll-like face.
Akiyama Shin replied, "Okay," then put down the Terminal and returned his attention to the food in the pan.
At the same time, his mind raced as he organized and analyzed the information he'd just received.
Class A actually had factional infighting...
Katsuragi Kohei and Sakayanagi Arisu...?
That kind of internal conflict would inevitably divide Class A's unity and attention. Although they might not yet fully understand the school's specific rules, they'd been able to infer the existence of competition. At the very least, they would probably follow the rules openly, making them a powerful rival to watch out for in the short term. They couldn't afford to let their guard down.
Whether Class B could surpass Class A would depend on Honami Ichinose and Ryuji Kanzaki's leadership, as well as their ability to make effective use of this intelligence advantage.
As for the Student Council...
Horikita Manabu had clearly gone to the Gymnasium today to recruit new members, but an elite like Katsuragi Kohei from Class A had been rejected. That didn't make sense. Akiyama Shin felt that something was off.
Besides, even if Horikita Manabu thought Katsuragi still needed more experience, he could have let him join the Student Council first and observed him. There might be two main reasons behind the outright rejection.
One: Horikita Manabu had no intention of letting any first-year students join this year's Student Council.
Two: He might be deliberately limiting—or, rather, balancing—the factions within the Student Council.
After all, the Student Council wasn't ruled by the president alone. There had to be other second-year members as well.
And if competition between classes had already been confirmed, what about competition between year groups? The odds seemed high.
The Student Council was a platform that drew in talent from every year group. Could there be power struggles between year groups within it as well?
Perhaps Horikita Manabu had rejected Katsuragi to keep this year's first-years from getting involved too early and disrupting the Student Council's internal balance—or perhaps he was trying to keep someone in check.
That theory still needed to be observed and confirmed.
"Dinner's ready."
Akiyama Shin's voice interrupted Horikita Suzune's thoughts.
He placed several steaming dishes on the table.
Mapo tofu, stir-fried pork with green peppers, scrambled eggs with tomatoes... They were all classic Chinese home-style dishes, brightly colored and fragrant.
"Is this... Chinese food?"
Horikita Suzune looked at the dishes on the table in surprise.
"Yeah. My mother moved here from China after marrying my father. I'm more used to eating this."
Akiyama Shin handed her a bowl of rice.
Horikita Suzune looked at the beautifully presented dishes and picked up her chopsticks. She cautiously picked up a piece of mapo tofu and put it in her mouth. At once, the spicy, savory flavor burst across her tongue. The tofu was tender, and the minced meat was crisp and fragrant. Her eyes brightened slightly.
"It's really good."
She gave her honest opinion. Though the spice made her breathe in softly, she didn't stop eating.
"Thanks."
Akiyama Shin humbly accepted the compliment. Then the two began eating in silence.
For a while, the only sounds in the room were the faint clinks of bowls and chopsticks and the sounds of them chewing. There was a peculiar harmony to the atmosphere.
"You..."
Horikita Suzune seemed to be searching for something to say to break the silence.
"You were looking at your Terminal earlier. Was something going on?"
"Just some unimportant messages."
Akiyama Shin didn't elaborate.
Horikita Suzune glanced at him but didn't press him further.
She realized that being with Akiyama Shin didn't seem to require a lot of pointless conversation. Instead, this quiet companionship made her feel a rare sense of ease.
Dinner ended in a strangely peaceful atmosphere. True to her promise, Horikita Suzune took the dishes to the kitchen and washed them.
Akiyama Shin sat at the desk and took out his Terminal again. His gaze lingered on the photo of Sakayanagi Arisu that Kamuro Masumi had sent him, his eyes deep in thought.
Sakayanagi Arisu...
Disabled...
Yet she could make someone like Katsuragi Kohei end up on the opposing side of a factional divide...
This woman was probably even harder to deal with than Katsuragi.
What Akiyama Shin didn't know was that Sakayanagi Arisu was, in fact, a true master of internal strife.
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