"What deal?" Kushida Kikyo asked, puzzled.
"I can sell Class D the information I've gathered so far for 400,000 Private Points."
Kushida Kikyo was taken aback and couldn't help asking, "Aren't you a Class A student? Why would you sell us this information?"
"Class D isn't much of a threat to Class A, so it doesn't matter if I tell you," Suzuki Toru said. "Besides, I have one condition. You have to agree to do something for me."
"What do you want me to do?" Kushida Kikyo asked curiously.
"After Horikita Suzune asks your homeroom teacher about it, tell her what you learned. But don't tell her it came from me."
He sounded as if he were certain of what Horikita Suzune would do next, which surprised Kushida Kikyo.
"I can agree to that, but I can't guarantee anyone in my class will buy the information," Kushida Kikyo answered honestly.
"That's fine. I'm willing to accept installments. Even if Suzune is the only one who wants to buy it, that's fine. We can draw up a contract." Suzuki Toru smiled. Would Horikita Suzune, pushed to the brink, really take on this debt straight away?
"Do you want me to sign my name?" Kushida Kikyo's heart raced. This guy was clearly targeting Horikita Suzune. What was he after?
"I'll make the arrangements."
With that, Suzuki Toru stood and gave her a slight bow.
"That's all for today. Thank you for being willing to help, Kushida."
His polite manner coaxed a strained smile from Kushida Kikyo, who managed to rein in her emotions.
"N-no problem. See you next time, Suzuki."
Suzuki Toru was about to leave, but then something occurred to him, and he turned back to look at Kushida Kikyo.
"Oh, and next time we talk, you don't need to record me. I'm not going to do anything to you."
Kushida Kikyo's expression stiffened. Her phone was still sitting beside her, but Suzuki Toru had already walked out of the café.
You're Sneaking Looks at Me Again
Suzuki Toru had wanted to get to know more Class D students, but he found that he couldn't.
After observing them for a while, he noticed that most of the Class D students spent their time having fun, going shopping or singing karaoke, for instance.
That class seemed pretty hopeless.
Class A students had fun too, but they still went to class. He often saw a few overachieving Class A students in the library, and plenty of students discussing whether to join a club.
Kamuro Masumi had joined the Art Club, most likely because Sakayanagi Arisu had forced her. With her personality, art was about the last thing she'd be interested in otherwise.
It had been over a week since school started. Suzuki Toru had met quite a few first-years, and his notebook was so full of notes that there were hardly any blank pages left.
He didn't know much about Class C, though. He'd noticed one of the boys in the class had a bruise on his face during the club orientation.
Recently, he'd occasionally seen that boy trailing a big Black man around. Suzuki Toru sighed. Things were far too peaceful. Classes C and D clearly still hadn't heard anything.
Classes A and B, on the other hand, had become blatantly more wary of each other. If both sides hadn't tacitly agreed to keep quiet, the entire first year would probably know by now.
As Suzuki Toru was thinking, someone lightly kicked him in the back.
"Hey, it's almost your turn to swim." Kamuro Masumi looked at him, seemingly bored.
Kamuro Masumi was wearing what they called a school swimsuit. The sky-blue one-piece did little to reveal her skin, yet somehow accentuated her figure and gave her a strangely alluring air.
"It doesn't matter if it's my turn. I can't swim anyway." Suzuki Toru looked toward the pool. The students were competing in a so-called 50-meter freestyle race in groups of five.
That's right, this was part of the curriculum at Advanced Nurturing High School—a swimming lesson in PE.
The school didn't force everyone to participate. Students who weren't interested or didn't feel well could sit out and watch.
Even so, most of the students had joined in. The exception was Sakayanagi Arisu, the frail-looking middle-schooler.
Suzuki Toru glanced at the nearby spectators' seats. Sakayanagi Arisu was watching everything in her neat school uniform, sitting quietly.
Getting her into a little-girl school swimsuit would be quite a challenge. Suzuki Toru felt rather gloomy.
"You can't even swim? Are you useless?" Kamuro Masumi seemed genuinely surprised.
"I was planning to walk along the bottom of the pool to the finish line, but I'm not too happy with you after what you just said." Suzuki Toru paused. "Could you teach me how to swim later?"
Kamuro Masumi had expected him to get defensive. She hadn't expected an answer that sounded like surrender, and couldn't help feeling speechless.
"Isn't there a teacher?"
"He looks like he could punch hard enough to spin a million horsepower of magnetic force. No thanks."
"Have you never been to the beach or anything?"
He had, but only to film idols on the beach. Afterward, Higuchi Madoka would call him a pervert. To be honest, it hadn't been a pleasant experience.
"If you have time, help me keep an eye on Kushida from Class D," Suzuki Toru said suddenly.
"What, you want me to stalk a girl?" Kamuro Masumi nearly kicked him several times. "Have your fetishes gotten perverted enough to include that?"
"She's interesting, but I can't read her. I'm not good at dealing with people who have two faces, so I want to ask you to dig up some information on her."
Sometimes, wishes could reveal a little about someone, though never very much.
Suzuki Toru could read Horikita Suzune because she made no effort to hide what she was thinking. People like that were easy to manipulate. She was self-important, yet showed a little insecurity around Horikita Manabu.
With a little guidance, she'd probably follow his lead.
Even so, to avoid unnecessary trouble, he'd still tell Horikita Manabu afterward that he'd run into Horikita Suzune.
"Why are you ordering me around like it's the most natural thing in the world?" Kamuro Masumi was inexplicably irritated. Ever since Sakayanagi Arisu had gotten leverage over her, she'd been ordering her to do this and that every day.
And now there was another inexplicable guy who knew her secret.
"Please." Suzuki Toru gently corrected her.
Kamuro Masumi glared at him and said flatly, "Don't even think about it. Why would I help you?"
"I've only got you, Kamuro."
Kamuro Masumi was silent for a moment. "Seriously, can I hit you right now?"
"No."
She still kicked him, despite his protest. For the first time, Suzuki Toru felt insecure about his looks.
Before long, it was Suzuki Toru's turn to get in the pool. As luck would have it, he was grouped with Hashimoto Masayoshi.
"Haha, let's do our best, Suzuki!" Hashimoto Masayoshi flashed him a cheerful smile. Then, at the teacher's whistle, he suddenly plunged into the water.
Suzuki Toru sighed inwardly and followed.
As expected, he came second to last.
Back in his spot, Suzuki Toru noticed several girls staring at him without blinking. Maybe they were disappointed.
"Your form is wrong," someone said seriously. "You're too slow getting into the water, and your breathing is still clumsy. You have a great physique, so you could improve with more practice, Suzuki Toru."
For some reason, Morishita Ai had left the main group of girls and was standing beside him.
Oh, right. Like Kamuro Masumi, she didn't have many friends, and she didn't care much about socializing either.
"Are you good at swimming, Morishita?" Suzuki Toru asked.
"I only noticed what you were doing wrong. That's all I could tell from watching," Morishita Ai said, in a way that was hard to understand. Was she good at swimming or not?
Suzuki Toru studied the girl. She was rather tall, with long, straight legs and fair, still-youthful skin. Droplets of water clinging to her slid down her one-piece swimsuit and ran along her thighs. She didn't seem to mind appearing in front of the boys like this at all.
He could tell that people around them kept glancing over. Almost all their attention was focused on him.
"Why did you call on me back then?" Morishita Ai asked, as if it were obvious she'd be curious. "We've never talked before, but I know you often sneak looks at me. The fact that you're curious about me makes me curious about you, too."
This girl really talked in circles.
"It's strange. I don't see any lewdness in your eyes. You don't seem interested in my body, but you're not looking at me the way you would a classmate, either. Your eyes are on me, but it still feels like you're looking at something else."
Morishita Ai began guessing at what he was thinking without being asked. From that, it seemed she had no sense of personal boundaries.
"Why would I be interested in your body?" Suzuki Toru glanced at her. Her chest wasn't particularly large. She was at the age when she was only just beginning to blossom, but there was plenty of promise for the future.
"You're sneaking another look." Morishita Ai noticed his gaze at once. "If you're not interested, why look?"
Because there are several wishes on your chest, and they want me to reach out and touch them. Suzuki Toru thought it over, then decided not to say that aloud.
Step on Me
As for sneaking looks, Suzuki Toru only wanted to clear one thing up: he wasn't singling out Morishita Ai. In truth, he did it with everyone.
It was only a matter of degree.
Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kohei, for instance, or Hashimoto Masayoshi and Matoba Shinji. He sometimes kept an eye on other classmates too.
He'd noticed Morishita Ai because she was an interesting person with plenty of wishes.
She didn't have as many as Sakayanagi Arisu, but she had more than anyone except Kamuro Masumi.
"You came over all alone to talk to me. Aren't you worried about what people will think?" Suzuki Toru tried to change the subject.
"Kamuro Masumi came over to talk to you just now, too," Morishita Ai replied.
"That's different. She's my friend."
"What would I have to do to become your friend?"
"You want to be friends with me?"
"Because you're strange."
"You're strange too."
For some reason, Morishita Ai seemed displeased. He wasn't sure what he'd said to upset her.
But she soon returned to normal and asked, without any context, "What are you planning to do next?"
Suzuki Toru thought it over, then answered uncertainly, "Exchange contact information with you?"
"Sure." Morishita Ai nodded, then shook her head. "But that's not what I meant. Sakayanagi Arisu is very interested in you, and Katsuragi Kohei has been acting a little strange lately, too. I was wondering if it had something to do with you."
Before you continue