An Accidental Encounter with the Horikita Siblings

"Hiss~"

Walking back to the dormitory, An Xiao pressed his hand against his temple, which was throbbing intermittently with pain.

"Did I drink too many cold beverages?"

An Xiao muttered to himself, yet the images from earlier remained exceptionally clear in his mind.

Drinking, chatting, cracking jokes...

The students of Class B... they really were a good group of people.

At least... they weren't the "abstract" types An Xiao had imagined beforehand.

Thinking this, An Xiao didn't stop his pace, continuing to walk forward slowly, but at some point, the sound of a man and a woman arguing drifted into his ears.

"Suzune, I didn't expect you to follow me all the way here." A male voice spoke; the words were said as such, but there was little surprise in his tone, replaced instead by a sense of detachment and coldness.

"I only... came here to catch up to your footsteps, Brother." Immediately after, a somewhat timid female voice replied.

This voice... it sounds a bit familiar, doesn't it?

At the corner of the alley, An Xiao crouched down and peeked inside, seeing a slender man wearing glasses looking coldly at a girl with long black hair, who was nervously twisting the hem of her skirt.

This is... Horikita Manabu, the student council president.

What is he doing here so late?

But before An Xiao could think too much, the girl opposite Horikita Manabu slowly raised her head, speaking in a tone that was timid yet incredibly stubborn.

"I am no longer the good-for-nothing you once knew, Brother!"

By the end of the sentence, the girl's cold voice had cracked.

Wow~

Family drama?

I didn't expect to run into something like this just a few steps away.

An Xiao raised an eyebrow. Although his reason told him that he should leave immediately since this involved the family affairs of the student council president, he couldn't suppress his curiosity and couldn't help but lean in a little closer.

"To catch up to... me?"

Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses, his voice turning even colder.

"Do you still not realize your own shortcomings even now? No wonder you were placed in that class."

"Choosing this school was truly your failure."

"Likewise, it is my failure as well."

"You should just drop out, Suzune!"

"You don't even understand the nature of this school, yet you keep saying you want to catch up to me."

"Don't be so naive. Do you even know what kind of rotten class you've been assigned to?"

As Horikita Manabu delivered one cold remark after another, Horikita Suzune couldn't help but tremble.

"No, why? I only wanted to catch up to your footsteps, Brother."

"You lack the strength to climb, and you have no qualifications. Let me make you understand..."

As he spoke, Horikita Manabu slowly raised his right hand, gradually gathering force, while the girl in front of him tightly closed her eyes, yet remained motionless.

Click!

The sudden flash and the sound of a mobile phone taking a picture instantly interrupted their next move, and both of them looked toward the source of the light.

"Ahem, well, good evening! Uh, how should I put this—if I said I was just passing by, would you believe me?"

Seeing that there was no way to hide it, An Xiao forced a smile on his face, awkwardly hiding the culprit behind his back, while his heart was racing.

No one told him that Japanese mobile phones made such a loud noise when taking pictures!

Looking at the boy standing there awkwardly, Horikita Manabu felt a bit helpless; the hand he had raised had long since been lowered.

Originally, he had only intended to scare his sister, hoping to make her realize the difficulty and leave this complicated school early.

After all, with her personality, she certainly wouldn't have an easy time here.

But who would have thought they would be seen by someone, and that someone would take a photo like this—and it just had to be this person...

Horikita Manabu looked at An Xiao, who was still standing not far away, feeling a bit of a headache, but he quickly adjusted his emotions and spoke to An Xiao: "An Xiao, right?"

At this, the forced smile on An Xiao's face couldn't be maintained any longer.

Damn it! I've been identified!

Horikita Manabu's words successfully dispelled An Xiao's last remaining thoughts, and even his feet, which had been quietly inching backward, came to a halt.

Ah? You ask why I didn't just run away?

Don't be ridiculous. Looking at Horikita Manabu's physique and his record as a top-tier student council president, An Xiao didn't think there was any way he could outrun him.

On the contrary, if he had run and then been caught, he would have been at a disadvantage regardless of whether it turned into a conversation or something else.

Besides, since the box has already been opened, there isn't really much point in running away anymore.

Seeing An Xiao's small movements come to a halt, Horikita Manabu spoke directly, "You captured that scene just now, didn't you? Tell me, what do you intend to do?"

Wait, is he really being this direct? Shouldn't you be using your authority as the Student Council President to threaten me a little?

Why are you handing the initiative over to me?

Although he was somewhat puzzled, An Xiao still wanted to resolve this matter as soon as possible. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke up.

"Then... 500,000 points, and I will delete all these photos right in front of you." He paused, then added, "Of course, you have to transfer the points first."

"..." Horikita Manabu.

After casting a deep, lingering look at An Xiao, Horikita Manabu didn't say much else; he took An Xiao's account information and began to operate his device.

Just as An Xiao was still in a daze, his phone chimed. He pulled it out to find a notification for a transfer coming directly from Horikita Manabu.

?????

Wait, you aren't even going to haggle? You're just giving it to me like that?

The words An Xiao had prepared were suddenly stuck in his throat. He glanced at Horikita Suzune, who was still huddled in the corner and hadn't yet recovered from the shock. He seemed to understand something, and while his mouth twitched, he still very nimbly handed over his phone, deleted the photos clean in front of him, and even let him check to be sure.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll be heading off."

Looking at the 500,000 points that had appeared out of thin air in his account, An Xiao couldn't suppress the smile on his lips no matter how hard he tried, and his tone of voice rose a few notches as a result.

But just as An Xiao turned to leave, a large hand suddenly landed on his shoulder, gripping him firmly like a pair of pliers and causing his leg, which had been mid-stride, to freeze in place.

"Um... didn't we settle this fair and square?"

"Also, violence is not encouraged; we should be civilized, polite, and uphold new standards." An Xiao turned his head stiffly and swallowed hard before saying.

"Right... Horikita-senpai?"