Ice Snow Smart

The next morning, the sun shone brightly.

Xu Nuo was in a good mood as he walked into the classroom.

After a night of digestion and tempering in his dreams, the knowledge regarding the Phantom Thief had been perfectly mastered, as if it were an innate instinct.

He even had the leisure to wonder if he should go join in the fun at the club recruitment fair this afternoon.

However.

That good mood came to an abrupt end the moment he returned to his seat.

A stream of extreme cold was continuously assaulting him from his right side, almost solidifying into substance.

Xu Nuo didn't even need to turn his head.

He could feel that gaze, brimming with resentment.

He sat down calmly before slowly turning his head to look at the ice-cold beauty who hadn't said a word since he entered the classroom.

"Ahem, mornin'..."

"Scum."

His greeting was interrupted before it could even finish.

The voice was very soft, squeezed out from between her teeth, every syllable drenched in frost.

Xu Nuo was somewhat bewildered.

He saw that Horikita Suzune was sitting upright, her exquisite face filled with coldness, her eyes burning with two clusters of ghostly blue flames as she stared fixedly at him.

If looks could kill, Xu Nuo reckoned he would have already been sliced to pieces by now.

Hiss...

What's with this attitude... I don't think I provoked her yesterday, right? Giving her a flower wasn't enough? Are beautiful girls these days all this hard to please?

"Let me think..."

Xu Nuo blinked, his brain racing as he tried to search for where he might have offended this person.

Did he call her Suzune yesterday? Did that rose wilt?

Or perhaps...

He suddenly remembered.

Yesterday.

At the supermarket, he seemed to have... forgotten her.

Uh oh!

It wasn't out of guilt, but because he saw that Horikita Suzune's knuckles, gripping a compass, were turning slightly white from excessive force.

Xu Nuo was genuinely afraid she might come over and stab him with it.

However.

He couldn't quite figure out how someone with Horikita's tsundere personality could be silly enough to wait there.

Unfortunately.

Xu Nuo had underestimated her.

The unique thought process of a proud, aloof girl.

To Horikita Suzune, if she were left behind at a supermarket by someone, she could have just left quietly on her own.

But the problem was.

The person who left her behind.

Was Xu Nuo, whom she had determined was not simple. After she had posed a question with her eyes, her World-Shocking Wisdom activated, and a bizarre logic was formed—

He disappeared; there must be some profound meaning behind it.

If I just leave like this, wouldn't it make me seem impatient, and as if I failed to grasp his intentions?

Just like that.

Their high-mountain flower stood in the toiletries section of the supermarket, pushing an empty shopping cart, from the afternoon until dusk.

She had imagined ten thousand possibilities and conspiracies.

Until.

The supermarket was about to close.

She finally recognized a cruel fact—

That bastard.

Had simply forgotten about her.

"I waited for you for three hours yesterday afternoon."

Horikita Suzune's voice was extremely low, and the slight tremor in her tone betrayed her inner frustration.

"Three hours?"

Xu Nuo was genuinely surprised.

He looked at the girl's cheeks, which were slightly flushed with shame and anger, and those eyes that seemed ready to spit fire. For some reason, he suddenly felt like laughing.

It was just that he didn't know why she had waited so foolishly.

Otherwise, he would have definitely retorted:

You really have quite the imagination.

As the old saying goes, cleverness may overreach itself.

It truly never deceives me.

Of course.

Xu Nuo didn't actually laugh out loud; that would be pure suicide. He spoke slowly in a slightly innocent tone: "I thought that someone as brilliant as you would have realized I might have already left after waiting for more than ten minutes."

Brilliant?!

"You!"

Horikita Suzune's breath hitched. The destructive power of this sentence was a thousand times greater than a direct apology.

This was simply a humiliating insult!

It made her feel even worse than failing an exam.

After a long while.

Horikita Suzune took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and realized something was wrong with her.

What is wrong with me?

Why...

Why would I lose control of my emotions over such a trivial matter? I should have ignored the existence of this scum and completely cut off all communication with him.

She frowned, feeling a bit confused.

Suzune.

You're unexpectedly stubborn~

Seeing the other party rendered speechless by his words, the corners of Xu Nuo's mouth curled into a smile.

Meanwhile.

In other corners of the classroom, this flirtatious exchange between the two major figures of Class D had already attracted the attention of most people.

"Whoa."

"Is it this exciting so early in the morning?" Ike Kanji poked Yamauchi Haruki beside him with an excited expression.

"Did you see that?"

"Horikita-san is blushing. There's definitely something going on."

"Damn handsome guy." Yamauchi Haruki gritted his teeth in jealousy. "All normies should just explode!"

The girls were also whispering among themselves.

The looks they cast at the two were filled with gossip.

In an inconspicuous corner, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka observed silently, still wearing that deadpan face and fish-like eyes, as if everything before him had nothing to do with him.

"Clap--"

Suddenly.

A crisp sound of a desk being slapped rang out.

Immediately after.

Karuizawa Kei, the blonde gal considered the pinnacle of the class's girls and existing like a queen, stood up abruptly under everyone's gaze.

"Thump, thump..."

Bathed in the eyes of the entire class, Karuizawa Kei pretended to be calm, but her little heart was pounding non-stop.

What do I do?

I stood up on a whim!

Regret erupted within Karuizawa Kei's heart.

Just a moment ago, watching the person she once admired flirting with someone else, coupled with the panic that she might be exposed at any moment, her mood became increasingly complicated.

Inexplicably.

She had actually stood up and slapped the desk on impulse.

At this moment.

Facing the gazes of the entire class, even Horikita and Xu Nuo stopped their bickering to look over. Karuizawa Kei's mind went blank, and her heart began to retreat.

Maybe...

Maybe she should just sit back down.

She could just say she only stood up to stretch.

Everyone would understand, right?

"Um..."

In the end.

Her inner cowardice overwhelmed her outward bravado. Karuizawa Kei forced a stiff smile, intending to say something to laugh it off and gloss over the situation.

But...

Noticing someone's calm gaze, for some reason, a surge of courage suddenly welled up within the girl.

The next moment.

Karuizawa Kei moved with crisp, clean efficiency, without a hint of hesitation. Before anyone could react, she walked straight up to Xu Nuo.

"Whoa--"

And then.

Amidst the collective gasp of astonishment from the entire class, she grabbed Xu Nuo by the wrist.

"Please."

"Come with me for a moment."

Xu Nuo stared at the small, meticulously manicured hand on his wrist. It was gripping him with such force that he could even feel a slight tremor.

It was foreseeable that.

If he chose to refuse right now, Karuizawa Kei's reputation would suffer a devastating blow.

This was enough to show just how much resolve the girl had summoned.

She didn't say a word.

But from an angle hidden from the others, her violet-blue eyes betrayed a flicker of panic and pleading.

"...Fine."

Xu Nuo fell silent for a moment, then gave a slight nod.