"Huh? Eh!"
Ichinose blinked her big, dewy eyes, looking completely bewildered.
So...
She'd just been imagining things!
Honestly, she wasn't a little girl anymore...
"Thanks, Ayanokoji-kun."
Seeing Ayanokoji-kun's usual expression, Ichinose's eyes flickered. Then she gave him a sweet smile.
Whatever the case, it was someone else's kindness.
Accepting it graciously was only proper.
"You're welcome," Ayanokoji said calmly, his attention focused on the crowd around them.
He looked around, then finally fixed his gaze on someone in the corner: an upperclassman who looked just as friendless as he was.
Click. He took a picture and sent it to Kushida.
Mission issued: target—a miserable upperclassman sitting alone.
A notification whistle sounded in Class D's classroom. Kushida took out her phone and revealed a gentle smile.
In front of her best friend, she always maintained her sweet, obedient image.
That was only proper, too.
Making an excuse to slip away, Kushida sent Ayanokoji a brief reply: Got it.
In the second-year cafeteria, Ayanokoji was enjoying his meal at a leisurely pace.
A few minutes later, a lovely figure appeared at the entrance to the dining hall and headed toward him.
Ayanokoji glanced at her, then at the few dishes remaining on Ichinose's plate, and said calmly:
"Ichinose, let's go."
"Huh? But it'd be a little wasteful to leave it."
Ichinose looked down at the leftovers on her plate.
This was a deluxe meal, after all...
One serving cost as much as three ordinary meals in a day.
"It's fine. I still have plenty of points," Ayanokoji said, his eyes lowered. "As it happens, I've got something else to take care of."
Ichinose looked up, a hint of confusion in her lovely eyes.
Even if he had money, wasting food was still wasteful.
And inviting someone out, only to suddenly say he had something else to do...
Ichinose felt as if she and the boy had gone back to being strangers.
"All right. Anyway, thanks for your kindness today, Ayanokoji-kun."
Though she couldn't figure out what he was thinking, she understood the importance of returning kindness, so thanking him was only right.
Ayanokoji nodded, and the two of them left the dining hall together.
I'll find another chance to repay him.
Ichinose followed behind Ayanokoji, thinking this to herself.
After they left, Kushida Kikyo entered the dining hall.
Following Ayanokoji's directions, she spotted her target at once. She took a breath, skillfully put on her trademark sweet smile, and warmed her expression into a rosy hue.
"Senpai, could you help me with a little favor...?"
Unbeatable!
With the help of her two trump cards, she completed the mission perfectly.
"I got it~ Ayanokoji-kun."
Ayanokoji received Kushida's good news before he'd even made it back to the classroom. Looking at the fresh message, his brow lifted slightly, and a note of approval crossed his face.
Just as expected of you, Kushida the social butterfly.
"Got it," Ayanokoji replied, sending the message without a word.
Behind him, the pink-haired girl wore a troubled look, her thoughts weighed down.
She'd been struggling with something for the past few days.
In the past, she'd rarely turned down her female classmates when they asked to cuddle up to her. She thought it was a way for girls to express their friendship, and she was happy that the people around her liked her so much.
Recently, however, she'd started to feel somewhat resistant.
The reason was that her supposed best friend, her classmate Shiranami Chihiro, had fallen for her and written her a love letter to confess her feelings!
So my best friend wants to take our relationship further because I'm too cute...
Just thinking about it was too much for a normal teenage girl with a normal sexual orientation to accept.
What should I do...
The girl looked distressed.
She didn't want to hurt Shiranami Chihiro's feelings, either, but she genuinely couldn't figure out how to approach the problem.
When Ayanokoji happened to notice the girl looking troubled, he felt inexplicably guilty.
I suppose that excuse I made up really was too clumsy.
He'd invited her to eat without a word and hadn't even given her a chance to refuse. He'd completely failed to respect the proper distance between people. Maybe the girl really hadn't wanted to go.
After mulling it over, the words "I'm sorry" slipped out of his mouth the next second.
Huh? Why?
Who was he apologizing to?
Ichinose stared at him in confusion. She glanced around, then, to avoid an awkward silence, replied to the boy in front of her:
"Oh... yeah."
Men's hearts are as unfathomable as the depths of the sea.
She couldn't help forming another strange impression.
After school, at Keyaki Mall.
Ayanokoji sat beneath an umbrella canopy in the lounge area, looking blankly at the people passing by, as if he were waiting to meet someone.
Before long, an unexpected "Ayanokoji-kun~" came from beside his ear.
Kushida Kikyo suddenly jumped out from behind him, but she'd barely had time to feel pleased before her face fell with disappointment.
"Honestly, Ayanokoji-kun, are you a robot? No matter what happens, you never change your expression."
Kushida complained in her sweet, girlish voice. She'd wanted to startle the somewhat dull boy.
Ayanokoji looked at her impassively.
Hah. How naive.
How could a mere mortal frighten a god?
A prank like that might scare an ordinary person, but you think you can scare Ayanokoji?
Dream on!
So...
Don't do that again...
For the first time, Ayanokoji was glad he had a poker face.
Afterward, Kushida took the test papers out of her bag.
At Ayanokoji's suggestion, she'd bought two copies: one of the midterm exam and the other of an earlier quiz.
Sure enough, the question types were nearly identical. The information Senior Maruko had provided was reliable.
Ayanokoji handed the tests back to Kushida and told her to make copies, then distribute them to everyone in the class two days before the exam.
He'd already explained the reason to Kushida.
Hardship makes people stronger; comfort makes them complacent. Humans are creatures full of flaws.
Without a strong will to control and overcome those flaws, only an imminent crisis could drive them forward.
"Ayanokoji-kun, thank you."
As he was thinking, Kushida suddenly thanked him.
"You're welcome. I'm part of the class, too. It's only right that I do my bit."
"Besides, we still don't know what effect an expulsion would have on everyone else."
Ayanokoji put on a formal tone, sounding a little perfunctory.
Kushida shook her head.
"No, I mean what you did to help me get closer to Horikita."
"Wasn't it you who asked her to bring Sudo and the others to the study group?"
"Things haven't gone very smoothly, but at least we can talk now."
After speaking, Kushida raised her eyebrows and gave a somewhat helpless smile.
Ayanokoji watched her silently, thinking to himself:
Kushida, I don't know what your real goal is.
But that smile isn't the smile of someone who sincerely wants to make friends.
He'd only learned that not long ago from another girl.
It's the same smile, but yours is hiding a hint of danger.
Before you continue