Chapter Thirteen: How Ichinose Feels

So there had to be some factor at play.

Class A might be the strongest, but that didn't mean the other classes were worthless.

"You want to make it to Class A through your own efforts?"

"Not by myself. With everyone."

"Heh. You first-years are certainly interesting." Miyabi Nagumo wore a cheerful smile, but his heart was cold. If it weren't for that Suzuki Toru, nothing unexpected would have happened today.

"About what I said earlier... I hope you'll forget it, Nagumo-senpai. If you need Private Points, I can give you some." Ichinose Honami clenched her fists. She didn't want things to end here. She'd only been at the school for a few days, and she had just started to get along with everyone.

Seeing her like that, Miyabi Nagumo smiled with amusement. "You should be more worried about that Suzuki guy than about me. He never said he'd keep your secret."

Ichinose Honami froze for a moment, then realized how serious the problem was.

Suzuki Toru glanced at the surveillance camera and gave up on installing a listening device in the teachers' office.

He put away the few listening devices he had and was about to leave the Special Building when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him.

He turned around and saw Ichinose Honami jogging toward him.

"Y-you're Suzuki from Class A, right?"

After running so hard, a faint blush had spread across her face. Her lips were moist, and she was slightly out of breath. Her uniform shirt clung to her, outlining her figure. Her skirt showed off her fair legs, and her slender calves stood out.

"Can I help you?" Suzuki Toru asked, watching the wishes flicker before his eyes.

[Feel what Miss Fatties feels like], [Make Ichinose Honami mine], [See her blushing all over], [Corrupt Ichinose Honami], [Take Ichinose in front of everyone], [Drive Ichinose to a breakdown], [Ichinose has to be the main heroine]...

The wishes were getting more and more lewd. How was he supposed to fulfill them?

"C-could I ask you not to tell anyone what you heard just now?" Ichinose Honami tried to steady her breathing and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Sweat glistened faintly on her fair neck; her collar concealed her delicate collarbones, and her skin was flushed.

He was surprised she had thought of that.

"Why should I agree to your request?" Suzuki Toru said, pretending not to understand. "I'm in Class A, and you're in Class B. We'll only be rivals from now on. It'd be smarter to keep something I can use against you."

Ichinose Honami bit her lip. She knew it was unreasonable to ask, but... there had to be another option, right?

"We may be competing, but that doesn't mean we have to hate or oppose the other classes. Over the next three years, we'll face plenty of challenges. If you're willing, we can still be friends, Suzuki."

She seemed to gather her courage to speak from the heart. Suzuki Toru watched her for a moment, then walked toward her.

"Suzuki?"

As he approached, Ichinose Honami instinctively stepped back several times, until she bumped into the wall.

Suzuki Toru braced a hand against the wall beside her. The pose cornered her like prey, forcing them to face each other with nowhere to retreat.

"Ichinose, you're not seriously trying to persuade me with such a flimsy excuse, are you?"

As he spoke, Suzuki Toru leaned close to her. His breath brushed her neck, and a few strands of her hair stirred and fell back into place.

"You don't want everyone to find out you're a thief, do you?" he murmured.

[Ding! Wish fully fulfilled...]

Chapter Thirteen: How Ichinose Feels

Taken aback by his brazen behavior, Ichinose Honami instinctively tried to push him away.

But as soon as she raised her hand, Suzuki Toru caught her wrist and pinned it firmly against the wall.

"Let go..."

"Was this the hand you used to steal?"

Ichinose Honami, who had been about to struggle, suddenly went rigid. Then her whole body began to tremble. All the color drained from her face. She couldn't fight back—or even say a word.

The painful memories came rushing back: her bedridden mother's furious expression, and her little sister's constant sobbing. She would never forget those memories.

Ichinose Honami felt an unbearable pain. Because of her mistake, she had shut herself away at home for half a year.

She had sworn she would put that painful past behind her, face up to what she had done, and stop running away.

But for some reason, hearing Suzuki Toru say those words made all her defenses crumble. He had pierced straight through to her heart.

"I... I already apologized. The people at the store didn't turn me over to the police... I want to start over, to begin again from zero..." Ichinose Honami fought to control her emotions. She resisted the urge to cry out or burst into tears, but her voice still trembled with the hint of a sob.

After learning that she had stolen something, her mother had taken her to the store by force. In front of everyone, they had knelt and bowed their heads, begging the employees to forgive her.

Ichinose Honami could still remember how the stares around her had hurt like needles, and how the tears had felt against her skin, burning her until she had no strength left.

She had repeated her pleas for forgiveness so many times that she'd lost count.

But a crime was still a crime. It wouldn't disappear just because she tried to run from it.

"Ichinose, are you trying to make me feel sorry for you?" Suzuki Toru held her wrist with one hand and lightly touched her leg with the other. "Sorry, but I like making deals. If you can't offer me a price I'm happy with, I can't promise I won't let it slip."

Her skin was astonishingly smooth. He could feel the softness of her leg, and then the texture of her stockings around her slender calf.

At the same time, one of the wishes on her disappeared.

[Ding! Wish fully fulfilled—Feel what Miss Fatties feels like]

[Obtained...]

So it was her leg, not her chest?

At that moment, Suzuki Toru heard Ichinose Honami speak.

"Please don't do that... You want Private Points, right? I still have quite a lot. I can give you eighty thousand points. Please, just forget what you heard."

She should have pushed him away, but for some reason she had no strength to do it. It was as if his words had some strange power over her. Ichinose Honami felt as though an invisible force had pinned her in place, leaving her unable to move.

"Eighty thousand..." Suzuki Toru said. "That doesn't seem like enough for you. I think highly of you. I heard you ranked first on the entrance exam, and the students in Class B all like you. They chose you as their class representative. For such an outstanding rival, I think at least a million Private Points is fair."

Suzuki Toru continued reaching toward her. She pressed her legs together, leaving no opening.

"A million is fine. I'll pay you back over time. But could you please stop touching me?" Ichinose Honami bit her lower lip. She knew what his advances meant. She wasn't a child.

Suzuki Toru smiled. "I didn't expect the Class B representative to be so pleasant to touch. If I don't take this chance to touch you a little longer, I may not get another one. You might even get expelled."

Though he said that, he was surprised she still hadn't reached the point of breaking down.

Ichinose Honami stiffened. She suddenly understood: Suzuki Toru's target was her. That was why he had appeared in front of her and Miyabi Nagumo instead of quietly leaving.

A secret was most useful as leverage when the person it concerned knew their secret was in someone else's hands.

"Do you want my body?" Ichinose Honami looked at him with resolve. "That's absolutely not happening. Please give up on that idea. That's something you can only do with someone you love, Suzuki."

Suzuki Toru's expression turned strange. Even now, Ichinose Honami was still trying to talk him out of it. Did she think she could persuade him?

"What if I say no?"

Noticing that he was touching her again, Ichinose Honami bit her lip. "There are cameras in the hallway. Please don't make me call for help."

It was true: the cameras on the ceiling could see everything they were doing. That was also why Suzuki Toru had given up on installing a listening device.

This was Ichinose Honami's small act of resistance. She was trying to make Suzuki Toru back down.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't work on him.

"Fine. Ichinose, go ahead and shout. I think the whole school should know that there's a thief in Class 1-B, so no one gets their things stolen without realizing it."

Ichinose Honami nearly crumpled. Wasn't he even afraid of being punished by the school?

"Please... I'm begging you..." Her words came out haltingly. The small spark of defiance she had managed to summon was snuffed out by Suzuki Toru.

It was interesting. She had only stolen a hair clip, yet she carried such crushing guilt and remorse. Suzuki Toru studied her pained expression with interest.

"Spread your legs."

At his words, Ichinose Honami began to tremble uncontrollably. Her eyes showed her inner struggle, and she spoke hurriedly. "You can't do any more. I'll agree to anything else you ask."

Suzuki Toru said calmly, "Ichinose, if you don't spread them, I can't pull my hand out."

Perhaps she was too tense. Her body's instinct to protect itself had left him unable to move, and it was starting to hurt.

Her legs felt warm and soft.

Ichinose Honami froze at first. Then, her face turned bright red as she released his hand. She nearly collapsed, breathing unevenly.

[Ding! Wish fully fulfilled—See her blushing all over]

[Obtained...]

Suzuki Toru was surprised. She hadn't blushed earlier, but now she had. He couldn't figure her out.

Still, it didn't matter much to him.

"'Anything else I ask'—that's your offer?" Suzuki Toru asked.

Ichinose Honami said quietly, "You can't do anything bad to me, and you can't do anything bad to everyone else. I'll agree to anything else."

Suzuki Toru looked amused. "Are you worried I'll use you to do something to Class B?"

Ichinose Honami said nothing. She knew what she was worth. Either Suzuki Toru would toy with her, or he would use her to target her class.

"Fine. I accept your conditions." Suzuki Toru pinched her cheek. "In return, from now on, you'll obey my every order, no matter how absurd or ridiculous it is."

Ichinose Honami stared blankly into his eyes. She would have to do whatever he said?

But if she refused, wouldn't expulsion be her only option?

If everyone found out she was a criminal, how would they look at her?

In that moment, those needle-like stares from the past returned. They hurt.

"I... I agree, Suzuki."

Would she regret this later?

She didn't know.

She just didn't want to lose everything she had finally managed to regain.

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