Talking to Her

Since the matter with Sudo had basically been settled, Chabashira-sensei announced at the class meeting the next day that points would be distributed as usual. The classroom immediately grew noisy.

It made sense. Aside from the 100,000 points they'd received in their first month, Class D had basically been left with only the roughly 8,000 personal points they got each month. For them, this was certainly something worth getting excited about.

"Ahh..." Going along with the crowd, Hoshino pulled out his phone and started looking through it.

To be honest, Hoshino couldn't have cared less about the barely 8,000 personal points. What did surprise him, though, was that Ryuen's 800,000 points had come through so quickly!

On top of that, he'd received the 100,000 personal points distributed by the Student Council, bringing his total to a full 900,000! The balance displayed on his phone had reached a new high of 1.7 million. That was certainly something to celebrate!

But had Ryuen's side really been that efficient? Hoshino stared off into space.

The announcement had only been made that morning! The points had only been distributed today! Was their execution really that fast?

What interested Hoshino more was how Ryuen had explained the contract to his classmates. Surely it couldn't have gone that smoothly!

"Hoshino, what are you thinking about?" A strange voice suddenly spoke up beside him, apparently from the neighboring seat.

Hoshino's thoughts were abruptly interrupted. He turned his head, and a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar came into view.

She had reddish-brown hair, slightly curled at the ends, and regular features. As she gently brushed her hair aside with her right hand, a warm smile played on her face, and a glimmer of wisdom shone in her eyes. Her every gesture carried the mature air of a well-bred young lady.

"Uh... may I ask who you are?" After a moment's hesitation, Hoshino awkwardly pulled himself out of his thoughts.

After sitting beside her for so long, Hoshino remembered her, at least. He just didn't know her name.

"Ah! Sorry! My name's Matsushita Chiaki! Did I interrupt you?" Matsushita asked cautiously, seeming afraid she'd offended him.

"No... Sorry, I don't talk to people much. I'm Hoshino Hoshiya. Just call me Hoshino!"

Hoshino awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, his mind racing. He didn't think he'd ever had much to do with Matsushita. Could they have met somewhere outside school?

"It's fine, it was me who came over to talk to you!" Seeing that Hoshino didn't seem bothered, Matsushita finally relaxed. A playful smile appeared on her face. "Hoshino, what were you thinking about?"

"...Nothing much. Just some work stuff."

As he spoke, Hoshino recalled what he knew about Matsushita. Wasn't she part of Class D's top "gal" group? She was fairly close to Hirata's group. She didn't seem especially outstanding in either physical ability or academics. In fact, her group didn't seem to have anyone who particularly excelled academically.

But that was a little strange. Hoshino could tell Matsushita was probably a very capable person. At the very least, that air about her couldn't be faked!

"Is that so? Student Council work must be pretty busy. I see you leave early every day after school!"

"It's not too bad. We have the Student Council President, after all." Hoshino's words hinted at something.

"True! The Student Council President seems super strict! I still remember the opening ceremony. At first, I thought he was nothing special, but then he suddenly let out this incredible aura. He really scared me!" Matsushita seemed to recall it vividly as she sat up straight.

"Haha... He's not so bad. After working with him for a while, you can tell he's a kind senpai," Hoshino replied casually.

"And a while ago..."

"Huh? Really?..."

"..."

How had they suddenly gotten so familiar with each other? Hoshino could hardly understand it.

Though Hoshino only gave simple replies, the conversation kept going without getting awkward at all. Was this what being popular was like? Her social skills were maxed out! He was a little impressed.

"Ahh... I don't want to work! I don't want to work..."

After school, Hoshino didn't head straight to the Student Council Room as he usually did. Instead, he planned to sit on the stairs in the club building for a while, muttering to himself as he went.

He really had been running around nonstop these past few days. Hadn't it only been a month since he joined the Student Council? Hoshino sighed and sat quietly on a nearby step.

Soft sunlight streamed through the tall windows. The place was deserted and quiet, and in the distance he could just make out the students in the sports clubs.

He'd discovered this nice spot with Ryuen and even managed to swindle quite a few points along the way. Hoshino suddenly wondered if this place was some kind of lucky haven.

If only there were a small table! A sofa would be nice too! And a cup of warm coffee would make it even better!...

"Hey, Hoshino! What are you doing here?" Just as Hoshino was lost in his daydream, Ichinose's voice rang out.

"Hm?... Nothing much. What about you, Ichinose?" Hoshino was a little dazed. After gathering himself, he stammered out a reply.

"...I came to find Chihiro. She's in the Tea Ceremony Club." Ichinose still wore her usual gentle smile, but her voice sounded a little odd when she said "Chihiro."

As someone who'd been involved in that incident and understood what had happened, Hoshino didn't ask anything further.

"...Thanks for that."

"...No, I didn't really do anything." Hoshino reflexively denied it.

"...And thanks for what you did about Ryuen and the others, too!" Ichinose didn't seem to want to dwell on that incident either, and quickly changed the subject.

"Hm? What?" Hoshino couldn't follow what she meant for a moment.

Ryuen? What had he done now?

"Didn't you take Ryuen and the others down? A lot of students in our class have been harassed lately. But over the past few days, Ryuen and his group seem to have settled down..."

Ichinose's words made things a little clearer to Hoshino. But "take them down"? Wasn't that a bit exaggerated? Was Ryuen really the type to give up so easily?

He was making that silent complaint to himself when Hoshino suddenly snapped back to attention, startled. "Huh? How did you know?"

"...Of course, Hoshinomiya-sensei told me! Apparently, you put Class C in their place!..." Ichinose seemed a little discouraged, and her voice gradually grew quieter. But then she patted her cheeks as if to encourage herself, pulled herself together, and said, "I'll be going now. Thank you, Hoshino!"

"...Yeah... Sure." Not knowing how to respond, Hoshino could only nod stiffly as he watched her leave.

Hoshinomiya-sensei knew about this?

Hoshino's mind raced. He didn't remember seeing Hoshinomiya-sensei anywhere during the whole affair! So how had she found out?

He suddenly had the feeling that Hoshinomiya-sensei had probably already dug up everything there was to know about him!

And Hoshinomiya-sensei really did dote on Ichinose. Hoshino suddenly pictured her stern and "unreasonable" face, and gave a helpless, wry smile.

The difference was pretty huge!