Shizuku

The next day.

Horikita stood before the entrance of the gymnasium, her expression grave, holding a moderately thick notebook in her hands.

She intended to help the class in her own way, or to be more precise, to help herself.

Everything was for the sake of reaching Class A and gaining the recognition of her brother.

Before long, a red-haired boy standing a full 183 centimeters tall walked out of the gymnasium.

He wiped the sweat from his head caused by the intense exercise he had just finished and took a large gulp of his drink before his gaze finally landed on the black-haired girl standing directly in front of him.

Horikita? Was she looking for him?

A hint of confusion flickered in the boy's eyes as he walked toward her.

"Sudo, I have a notebook here. Take it and look through it."

"It contains basic English knowledge and highlights key points; it should be helpful for your upcoming English exam."

The girl knitted her dark brows and said indifferently, her almond-shaped eyes calm and ripple-free.

English was the weakest of Sudo's many weaknesses.

His score on the previous quiz had been truly earth-shattering, completely surpassing Horikita's imagination.

If she left him to his own devices, even if he memorized the answers to the test questions beforehand, he would likely mix them up or copy them down incorrectly.

Out of this consideration, Horikita had specifically compiled some basic question types from the exam to help Sudo familiarize himself with them in advance.

Looking at the girl handing him the notebook, Sudo was momentarily stunned, and his opinion of her shifted slightly.

So, she wasn't deliberately targeting him; she was simply acting consistently according to her own principles.

She hadn't taken their previous conflict to heart at all.

She had even compiled notes for him right before the exam; by comparison, he was the one who had been narrow-minded.

"Oh... thanks."

Sudo reached out and took the notebook from the girl, his expression somewhat awkward.

"Don't mention it. I'm only helping you for the sake of the class."

Horikita's gaze softened slightly. "Do your best on this exam."

With that, she turned and left, leaving the boy with nothing but the sight of her retreating figure.

"..."

"Do your best... on this exam."

Sudo stood rooted to the spot, muttering to himself.

Clearly, he had only remembered the second half of what Horikita said.

He looked at the notebook in his hand, and the image of the girl's worried, grave expression from their meeting flashed through his mind. Suddenly, a sweet sensation welled up from the bottom of his heart.

She cares so much about my affairs—could it be that Horikita...

In front of the gymnasium doors, a 183-centimeter-tall man stood with his mouth half-open, his cheeks flushed, his expression bashful, and an indescribable, foolish grin on his face.

Passersby avoided him as they walked past, fearing they might lose their lunch.

Ayanokoji happened to pass by, and after one glance, he dared not look again.

It turns out that besides the sun and the human heart, there is one more thing that cannot be stared at directly.

Sudo, you really are something else.

Feeling a wave of nausea, he cleared his thoughts. He had an appointment today to return Sakura Airi's camera.

But... where was she?

Ayanokoji arrived at the agreed-upon location and waited for a long time, but there was no sign of Sakura.

By all accounts, she wasn't the type of person to intentionally be late.

It would have been surprising enough if she hadn't arrived early.

Ayanokoji had a certain level of insight when it came to analyzing people's personalities.

After waiting a while longer, Ayanokoji opened his phone, but he hadn't received any messages from Sakura about rescheduling.

He raised an eyebrow, sensing that things were not as simple as they seemed.

His gaze sharpened, and he opened Sakura Airi's personal profile page, tapping on the campus positioning system available only to friends.

?

What was that location?

Sakura's location marker was on a narrow path nearby, and it was constantly moving. It wasn't moving fast, but it was heading in the exact opposite direction from where he was.

Ayanokoji zoomed in on the map with his fingers, and his mind suddenly cleared.

Not far ahead of the marker showing Sakura's position was an old, dilapidated warehouse that the school used to use for storing equipment but had since abandoned. No matter how he looked at it, there was no way Sakura would go to that place alone.

Ayanokoji's thoughts tightened.

By this point, he had already formed his own deduction regarding the matter.

He exited the location interface and tapped on another contact's profile picture:

"An incident involving the molestation of a student is occurring at Storage Warehouse No. 4, southwest of Keyaki Mall."

Watching the message successfully send, he slid his phone into his pocket, shoved his hands into his pockets, and began walking toward the marked location.

Inside Warehouse No. 4, a man unloaded a life-sized burlap sack from his shoulder and laid it flat on the ground.

His movements were light and nimble, his cautious demeanor suggesting that whatever was inside was some kind of priceless treasure.

He untied the rope at the mouth of the sack and greedily inhaled a breath of air from within, a wave of sweetness hitting him, his face twisted in excitement.

After carefully moving the "treasure" inside onto the floor, he prepared to begin his most fanatical confession.

He intended to convey all the love he had pent up and unable to vent to the girl on the ground in one go!

On the ground, the girl felt a chill and slowly opened her eyes, finding herself in an unfamiliar environment...

A moment later, she realized her hands and feet were tightly bound by hemp rope, leaving her unable to move, and her mouth was covered with tape, rendering her completely unable to make a sound!

She widened her eyes in terror, tears instantly wetting her lashes, and she struggled to twist her body, but she couldn't move an inch.

Who had kidnapped her and brought her to a place like this?

A thought flashed through her mind, and she seemed to have an answer.

As a streamer under the name Shizuku, she possessed a bright, lovely appearance and a group of fans obsessed with her, among whom were one or two fanatics who were nearly crazed in their infatuation.

They sent her obscene messages every day, claiming how much they loved her and wanting to express their affection in person...

It was precisely because of this that Sakura Airi always dressed in a dowdy fashion in her daily life, using it to disguise herself and lower her attractiveness, living every day with extreme caution for fear of being ambushed by her fanatic fans in the real world.

And today, the nightmare had arrived...

Sakura Airi lay on the ground, her eyes already blurred with tears.

A man with a receding hairline walked into her hazy field of vision, and her intuition told her that this man was the fanatic who harassed and intimidated her with private messages every day.

The man wore a lecherous grin as he stepped toward the idol on the ground.

To ensure she had a good experience, he had even taken the time to brush his teeth earlier.

"Heh heh heh," the man let out a lascivious laugh.

"Shizuku-chan, do you remember me? Did you receive the gifts I sent you? I've been fantasizing about your expression when you saw them every single day~"

Sakura Airi's eyes went blank, her tears trembling; it turned out to be that middle-aged man from the camera repair shop.

Suddenly, the man seemed to realize something and reached out to rip the tape off the girl's mouth: "Now we can have a proper chat~"

"Don't..."

The girl's voice trembled, "Please, let me go..."

"What are you saying, Shizuku-chan? We're so close, how could I ever hurt you~"

"I just want to get a little closer to you..." As he spoke, one of his hands began to undo the buttons on the girl's jacket.

His other hand landed on the girl's fair, slender calf, moving upward inch by inch along her skin.

Knee... thigh.

The girl closed her eyes, tears falling like pearls from a broken string.

The middle-aged man was ecstatic, his mouth curling upward uncontrollably.

"You really are bold enough to think and act on it."

The moment he was about to succeed, a voice devoid of emotion came from behind him.

The man froze, feeling his hand gripped by an inexplicably massive force. In an instant, his entire body was hoisted upward as if by a crane, until he was even a centimeter or two off the ground.

Half a second later, he was flung a full four or five meters away, landing face-first in the dirt.

He scrambled to sit up, ignoring the pain, and frantically shifted his gaze back toward the girl.

A boy wearing the same uniform, standing over 1.7 meters tall, was standing beside the girl, looking at him expressionlessly, his hollow eyes laced with a chilling aura...