Keyaki Mall, Meeting Horikita Suzune Again

Leaving the office, Ayanokoji's gaze drifted, lost in thought.

His conversation with Chabashira had yielded some extra information, or rather, information he had forcibly extracted from her.

Not that she had noticed, anyway.

If one could enter this prestigious Advanced Nurturing High School even with a score of zero, it meant that written exam results were not the key indicator for admission; perhaps even the subsequent interview was unimportant, and student enrollment was likely decided long in advance.

Ayanokoji's thoughts churned.

Gathering students with vastly different academic abilities but unique characteristics, creating an environment similar to the real world, then forcing these people to compete and sabotage one another, ultimately filtering out the most elite to be sent into advanced fields of society, feeding back into the country to promote social development, with the state then providing heavy funding—a cycle repeating itself...

Insane. Is this some kind of assembly-line factory?

The thought was terrifying!

But since he was already trapped in the middle of it, he couldn't expect to stay out of harm's way.

He would just have to destroy anyone who stood in his way, one by one!

The information regarding the school's admission system was only one of his takeaways...

Ayanokoji walked while deep in thought, accidentally passing by the classroom for Class 1-C.

He curiously glanced inside.

Oppressive. It was filled with a sense of oppression.

The entire class was deathly silent, with everyone's eyes fixed on a purple-haired man standing on the podium.

This purple-haired man sat on the teacher's desk with his legs propped up on the desk in front of him, his gaze sharp, looking down at the people in the class with the air of a ruler.

Standing to his left was a black man who looked like a WWE wrestler; he was burly, tall, and sturdy, not at all like an ordinary high school student.

Standing to his right was a boy who looked none too bright, though his physique was also more robust than the average student.

I remember his name being... Dragon Boy or something...?

Ayanokoji muttered to himself, but he didn't linger, finding it truly uninteresting after one look.

Using violence and intimidation to rule a class had clear pros and cons.

The benefit was that decision-making and execution could be extremely unified, making it difficult for disagreements to arise.

The drawback was that it would limit the growth of others; often, the leader's ability determined the class's ceiling.

As a high school student who had thoroughly read Five Thousand Years of Dragon Country History, he was well-versed in this logic.

How many dynasties had fallen not because of a shortage of talent, but because of the high concentration of autocratic power in the hands of the ruler? A single person's strength was limited, after all.

Of course, this theory only applied to mortals~

Returning to his classroom and packing his things, Ayanokoji planned to head to the mall to buy some supplies.

Opening the navigation on his phone, he searched for Keyaki Mall, a distance of nearly one kilometer...

Once again, he marveled at the sheer extravagance of Advanced Nurturing.

Keyaki Mall, a large shopping plaza located within Advanced Nurturing, was surrounded by almost all the school's leisure and entertainment facilities, making it inevitably popular and well-received by the students.

Every weekend or after school, it was packed with students from all grades, and on holidays, it was even more crowded due to promotional events.

But it was precisely its existence that imbued this land with the same atmosphere of daily life as the outside world.

Deliberately avoiding the peak shopping hours, Horikita let her gaze wander over rows of dazzling merchandise before finally locking onto an area that few people frequented.

The free basic supplies section.

She approached the free goods shelf unhurriedly, intending to take only a few free daily necessities back with her.

As for why this somewhat out-of-place area existed, Horikita had her own theories.

In any case, being wasteful was certainly not a good thing, and points should be saved for a rainy day.

Thinking this, she reached out to grab a bottle of shampoo, only to happen to grab the same bottle as someone else.

Horikita's brow arched, her beautiful eyes narrowed, and when she looked up, she saw a poker face that looked just like her own reflection.

"I grabbed this first!"

The long-haired girl's eyes were sharp, her tone resolute, leaving no room for the other party to negotiate.

Ayanokoji let go helplessly: "Fine, take it."

He thought to himself that this woman really held a grudge.

He noticed that Horikita's shopping basket was filled almost entirely with items bearing free labels, so he couldn't help but ask: "Say, Horikita, even if it's free, the quality is questionable. Aren't you afraid of hair loss if you keep using this stuff to wash your hair?"

As the words fell, the girl slanted a glance at him; even Ayanokoji could tell that look was one of disdain.

However, she soon seemed to sink into thought for a moment, realizing something that puzzled her.

She shifted her gaze to Ayanokoji, her eyes narrowing slightly, and she stared at his face with a suspicious look for quite a while before speaking:

"How do you know my name, and my relationship with my brother... President Horikita?"

"As freshmen, this should be the first time we've met, right?"

Previously, I had been so rattled by the provocation that I hadn't had the presence of mind to pay attention, but looking back on it now, it was truly bizarre!

How did this boy with the center-parted hair and dead fish eyes know my personal information?

The self-introductions had been cut short by our homeroom teacher, Chabashira, before it was even Horikita's turn, yet he knew so much. Could it be...

"Did you investigate me?"

Horikita's gaze turned even colder, staring fixedly into Ayanokoji's unfocused eyes.

Exactly the same... it was exactly the same.

"Because... when I went to the office earlier, I accidentally saw your file on a teacher's computer," Ayanokoji said, pursing his lips slightly. "Uh... if you don't believe me, you can go ask Chabashira-sensei."

Hearing the name Chabashira, the girl finally softened her gaze.

Although Horikita Suzune was inexplicably paranoid, she was much smarter than the average person, and she naturally knew that Ayanokoji wouldn't use a third-party school authority figure to lie to her.

"I see..."

Horikita pondered for two seconds, her tone becoming much calmer.

"Since you saw it by accident, I have no right to blame you. However, I hope you won't spread other people's personal information at will, to the point where it affects their lives and reputation..."

"That goes without saying."

Ayanokoji responded indifferently.

However, he couldn't help but feel that Horikita Suzune's words were pointed. Was she hinting again that he shouldn't associate her with her brother, Horikita Manabu?

She's truly something, I'm about to cry.

After finishing, Horikita picked out a few more free items and packed them into bags, ending up with two full bags.

She carried the two large bags in her hands, then turned her head to give Ayanokoji a cold "Goodbye" before walking straight toward the checkout counter.

Watching Horikita's figure as she carried the items alone, Ayanokoji felt a sudden urge to rush over and help her, but he managed to suppress the impulse with all his might.

Damn it, was I really so severely manipulated in my past life...

The soul of a simp, or whatever it is, I must never let it awaken!