A Strategic Retreat

After putting his phone back in his pocket, Mikage Touji—having accepted the task—didn't rush into action. He rested both arms on the back of his chair and watched Horikita Suzune, who stood motionless across from him, with interest.

He'd already figured it out. Just like her brother, she definitely wanted something from him, but her cool, aloof personality made it hard for her to swallow her pride and start a conversation. So she was waiting for him to speak first.

Soravado kana!

I, Mikage Touji, love saying NO to girls who think too highly of themselves!

Let's see how long she can stand there.

On a secluded path at school, a boy and a girl stared at each other. A gust of wind swept fallen leaves between them. Neither said a word, as if they were playing a game where whoever spoke first lost.

After hesitating for a long time, Horikita Suzune finally spoke to Mikage Touji.

"Um... I'm Horikita Suzune from Class 1-D."

Having won the contest, Mikage Touji answered cheerfully, "Hello. I'm Mikage Touji from Class 1-A. Pleased to meet you."

"Class A... So I really do have to get promoted to Class A..."

After muttering to herself for a while, Horikita Suzune looked at Mikage Touji, biting her lip. "Um... My brother didn't do anything here just now..."

"..." Those siblings really were something else. One was a siscon, and the other a brocon. The siscon hit his little sister, while the brocon still defended her brother even after he hit her.

"He treated you like that, and you're still worried about his reputation?"

"It wasn't my brother's fault. It was..." Horikita Suzune's eyes dimmed. "My problem..."

"You two siblings are really interesting. And shouldn't you get that looked at?" Mikage Touji pointed to the scrape on her palm.

"I'll take care of it myself later. Anyway, don't tell anyone about what happened today. Name your price." Horikita Suzune gritted her teeth. "I can give you points, if that's what you want."

Afterward, like a deflating balloon, Horikita Suzune added, "If it's a large amount, though, I'll need a few months."

Actually, your brother and I get along pretty well when it comes to money...

"Anything goes?" Mikage Touji asked teasingly.

"What are you thinking about?" Horikita Suzune's gaze turned icy in an instant.

"Relax." Mikage Touji smiled and waved his hand. "I'm not interested in cold types like you. Besides, I suppose your brother and I are friends."

With that, he stood up, tossed his Coke can into the trash with a thud, and headed straight for the school building.

"If you want me to keep quiet, then follow me."

"You—"

Horikita Suzune started to say something, but Mikage Touji cut her off with, "Or do you not trust your brother's judgment?" She had no choice but to follow him.

As they walked, Horikita Suzune watched the back of the boy who claimed to be her brother's friend, her expression complicated. Of course she knew he was her brother's friend. Otherwise, her brother wouldn't have answered his questions just now.

At last, Horikita Suzune couldn't hold back her question.

"How did you meet my brother? Was it because... you're in Class A?"

"How could it be? If the Student Council President judged people by their status, I'd have to think twice about whether I wanted to be friends with him. As for how we met, I guess an upperclassman introduced us."

"What were you and my brother talking about on your phones just now?"

"You noticed?"

"Your expression changed too much."

"Oh? Did it? Looks like I'm too easy to read."

"Are all Class A students at your level?"

"No. I'm just the most ordinary member of the class—here we are."

Horikita Suzune looked up. The words "Infirmary" were clearly carved into the sign above the door.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, don't leave just yet. There's an injured person here. Could you take a look at her?"

Mikage Touji stepped forward and stopped Hoshinomiya Chie, who was already getting ready to leave for the day.

"Honestly, you strange Class A student. Couldn't you have come five minutes later? It's already quitting time." Hoshinomiya Chie paused while packing up the equipment, looking thoroughly reluctant.

"You're just going somewhere to drink after work anyway. You might as well take a look at her injury."

Mikage Touji stepped aside, revealing Horikita Suzune behind him.

"Oh my," Hoshinomiya Chie said, her attitude instantly changing as she smiled. "Isn't this Horikita from Sae's class? How did you get hurt? Come on in."

Horikita Suzune frowned, her tone immediately turning sharp. "I told you I'd take care of it myself."

"..."

Her personality really was worlds apart from Horikita Manabu's. He cared about the Student Council's rules and was willing to spend points to test Mikage Touji's abilities so he could stop Miyabi Nagumo from acting recklessly. She, on the other hand, resisted letting anyone get close and would rather treat her own injury than come to the infirmary. No wonder Horikita Manabu was so troubled by his little sister.

Still, for the sake of a million points, he'd let it slide for now.

Mikage Touji raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know your family had a habit of going back on their word."

"I—"

Horikita Suzune was left speechless by Mikage Touji again. Her usually unstoppable icy aura seemed to have no effect on him.

Mikage Touji had certainly felt the chill radiating from the girl beside him. But a little cold air was nothing compared to the warmth of a million points.

Hoshinomiya Chie came out with the medical kit, stepping in to smooth things over with a smile. "All right, all right. You can argue later. Let's take care of the injury first."

With that, she led Horikita Suzune to the infirmary bed.

Horikita took off her shoes and placed her slender legs on the bed. At the boundary between black and white, her black thigh-high stockings slid down her legs inch by inch, revealing several long red scrapes that stood out against her pale thighs. Further down, her feet finally slipped free of the stockings, dangling gently in the air as all five dainty toes stretched out.

Although he wasn't interested in cold girls like her, Mikage Touji was determined to become a connoisseur of beautiful legs. Leaning against the doorframe, he quietly admired the lovely sight.

"Judging by the shape of these injuries, did you trip over something and fall?" Hoshinomiya Chie asked casually as she examined the scrapes.

"Well..."

Horikita Suzune was clearly still too flustered to think straight. The words circled in her mouth for a long time, but she couldn't get them out.

"Oh, she was so engrossed in watching a man she likes that she tripped over a rock by the roadside and took a good hard fall right in front of me."

"You—"

Anger and embarrassment showed in her clear eyes. She'd lost her words in front of him yet again—she'd lost track of how many times by now.

Mikage Touji smiled back at her.

What? Was there a problem?

"Horikita?" Hoshinomiya Chie covered her mouth in surprise. "I thought you and Sae weren't interested in romance."

Horikita Suzune clenched her fists, trying to kill the man with her gaze. But when she remembered how pathetic she'd looked earlier, her lips moved a few times before she reluctantly unclenched her fists and lowered her head, accepting the story.

I'll remember this. Just you wait!

Yeah? Then come at me. Let's see if I don't tell your brother on you.

"..."

Horikita Suzune glared at the shameless man before her. An unfamiliar feeling of frustration and helplessness welled up inside her.

"Fortunately, it's not too serious, so it won't leave a scar."

After bandaging the wound, Hoshinomiya Chie put the tools back in the medical kit and gave her instructions. "Don't get the wound wet when you wash up tonight. It should be fine in a few days."

"I know."

Once the injury had been taken care of, Mikage Touji got another eyeful of the lovely sight of a girl putting on her thigh-high stockings.

Her dainty toes, pale ankles, and shapely calves were covered by the black stockings bit by bit, until they were back at the top of her thighs, where the stocking marks had been...

Hoshinomiya Chie seemed eager to get on with her nightlife. The instant the two of them stepped out of the infirmary, she quickly locked the door, gave them a playful wink, then trotted off with her bag.

No wonder Ichinose was so exhausted, stuck with a homeroom teacher like that. The weird, uptight teacher had actually been pretty nice.

"Well then, Horikita," Mikage Touji said, his task complete as he turned to her. "You should be able to get back to your dorm on your own, right?"

"Of course."

"In that case, I'll be going."

Having completed the task, Mikage Touji had no intention of going any further. The girl was like a hedgehog. Unless you were one of the few people she'd let see her soft underbelly, anyone who got close would end up with a palm full of spikes.

"Um... Mikage." Horikita Suzune called out to him as he started to walk away.

"Yeah? Is there something else?"

Horikita Suzune stood still in silence for a while before finally speaking in a low voice. "Tell my brother thanks for me."

"So you knew."

"You didn't seem to be pretending when you acted completely uninterested in me. So the only possibility was that my brother asked you to do this."

"Oh, I see." Mikage Touji folded his arms and nodded, putting on a look of sudden realization. "What brilliant reasoning. I guess I still need to work on my acting. But why don't you just send him a message yourself?"

The corridor fell silent again for a long time.

Mikage Touji's mouth twitched. He couldn't believe it. "You two aren't even contacts, are you?"

Horikita Suzune shook her head. "He never replies to my messages."

This girl was something else. She was so hostile toward strangers, yet with her own brother, she was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Would she be like this after she got married, too? With her beloved husband, the helpless wife hiding in a closet or something, like in those adult videos?

"You seem to be thinking something rude," Horikita Suzune said sharply.

"No, no, of course not." Mikage Touji cleared his throat and laughed awkwardly.

"In that case, tell him yourself. You figured it out on your own, anyway."

Mikage Touji took out his phone, opened his chat with Horikita Manabu, and handed it to Horikita Suzune.

Most of his dealings with Class A happened in person, so there wasn't much information to reveal. The other important things were locked behind a password, and with him watching, there was no harm in handing his phone to Horikita Suzune. Besides, he didn't think she was the type to snoop through someone else's chat history.

"This..."

Horikita Suzune fell into a dilemma again. She instinctively resisted anything coming from outside, but she also wanted to have a proper conversation with Horikita Manabu.

"Do you want it?" Mikage Touji asked again, holding out his hand as if to take back the phone. "If you don't, I'm taking it back."

"I do!"

Strategic Retreat

Advanced Nurturing High School, Patere Cafe.

Mikage Touji propped up his cheek and stirred his coffee absentmindedly. "I don't think this is necessary. I remember your class is out of points. Is it really a good idea to invite me here for a treat?"

"I don't have a habit of spending recklessly, and I don't like owing people—"

Horikita Suzune's voice abruptly stopped. She turned her head and glared fiercely at Mikage Touji with her foxlike eyes.

"My brother gave you points too?!"

"Of course. You think I was bored and brought you here to get your wound bandaged?"

"How many?"

"Two hundred thousand."

Mikage Touji was completely unaffected by Horikita Suzune's murderous glare. He waved over the server and ordered another strawberry cake.

"Give them back to him immediately! I'll figure out a way to pay you back the points."

"You already saw it, didn't you? I suggested returning them, but he wouldn't accept."

"Anyway, figure out a way to return them to him. I'll pay you back later."

"You're being a little unreasonable. I could transfer them back to him, sure, but knowing Horikita-senpai, he'd just transfer them back to me. Also, are you done talking with him?"

"..."

Mikage Touji stopped stirring his coffee and glanced at his phone, his expression gradually becoming more and more complicated.

"Don't tell me you didn't say a single word?"

"..."

Mikage Touji covered his forehead in silence.

Just how awkward were these two siblings? How had Horikita Manabu raised her to turn out like this?

"Is it so hard to send him, 'Onii-chan~! Watashi, Suzune~! Arigatou~'?"