"W-Wait! Please don't come in yet."
At the sound of her voice, he saw a pink-haired girl with twin tails kneeling against a chair beside the podium. Several buttons on the front of her school uniform shirt had already been undone, revealing the white swimsuit beneath. Her ample chest was on full display, tied with a dark blue ribbon.
It was almost dazzlingly white.
Noticing the boy's gaze, the girl became flustered. Her hands instinctively moved to cover the exposed skin, and her pale little face instantly flushed crimson as she stood there, too embarrassed to say a word.
Perhaps because she moved too abruptly, the chair she had been leaning against lost its balance and tipped to the side.
"Careful!"
An Xiao instinctively tried to catch her, but his body was already aching from Horikita's workout earlier. Not only did he fail to catch her, he was dragged down with her and fell to the floor.
"Hiss... That hurt a little." An Xiao sucked in a breath. Just as he was about to sit up, he felt pressure against his waist and abdomen, followed by a pair of soft, warm hands pressing over his face.
"D-Don't look. Please don't open your eyes yet."
Remembering what he had seen earlier, An Xiao's face grew a little hot as well. He obediently nodded.
When Sakura Airi felt the faint tickling of his hair moving with his nod, she panicked and unconsciously pressed down harder with her hands. But once she realized that was his way of agreeing, she finally let out a breath of relief.
One hand covered An Xiao's eyes while the other hurriedly straightened her clothes.
"O-Okay."
A few minutes later, once the weight pressing down on him disappeared, An Xiao finally opened his eyes. But the girl before him now looked completely different from before.
To put it simply, she had transformed from a gravure star into a dowdy girl in an instant.
Looking at the girl in front of him—wearing glasses, hunched over, and only daring to stare at the floor—An Xiao had no idea what to say.
The contrast was just too great, just like someone else he knew.
Kushida's image flashed through An Xiao's mind, and he immediately shuddered. As he picked up the documents that had fallen earlier, he asked curiously.
"By the way, why didn't you just run away earlier?"
"There were... Student Council words on the documents." Sakura Airi still kept her head lowered, merely pointing at the scattered documents on the floor.
"Heh, so that was it." An Xiao raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected the Student Council to be that intimidating.
"Um, I-I won't take up classrooms again next time. If there's a punishment this time, I still have a little bit..."
Hearing An Xiao suddenly laugh, Sakura Airi became nervous. Thinking she had violated some school rule, she hurriedly tried to explain.
"No, no. These unused classrooms can be borrowed by students in the first place." An Xiao waved his hand. "Just remember to apply through your phone next time."
He checked the classroom's surveillance camera and found that it was another broken one, then made a note in the notebook he carried.
"T-There are cameras here too...?"
"Yep, there are. They aren't working properly anymore, though. But they'll probably be fixed by the next time you come." An Xiao put down his pen, then teasingly added, "So if you want to take pictures like those next time, you'd better do it in your own room."
"Anyway, the inspection here is over. If you still want to use the room, go ahead. But it's getting late, so remember to leave early." With that, An Xiao prepared to leave.
"Mmph..."
After hearing An Xiao's words, Sakura Airi's face turned red again. But seeing that he showed no strange expression and was simply about to leave, she suddenly grabbed his sleeve for some reason and said in a muffled voice.
"Don't you think I'm a really strange girl? Having a hobby like this, taking pictures with so much skin showing..."
"Strange would be going a bit far..."
"To be honest, I've seen people whose hobby was crushing instant noodles and oranges. The more they mashed them up, the better. Compared to that, you're much more normal." An Xiao scratched his head.
Seeing that he genuinely didn't find her strange, and that he hadn't looked at her with the same lecherous gaze as the boys in her class, Sakura felt a little more at ease and finally dared to raise her head.
"Um, what's your name?"
"Me? I'm An Xiao, from Class B, first year. What about you?"
"I'm Sakura Airi, from Class D, first year."
Sakura Airi pressed her lips together and took a deep breath before speaking timidly.
"Okay, got it. Then I'll be going now."
"I-I'll go with you. I'm done taking pictures anyway."
An Xiao nodded. Once Sakura had packed up all her things, they left the classroom together.
"Come to think of it, Sakura, you're from Class D, right? Do you have enough points?" Looking at Sakura walking with her head down, An Xiao suddenly remembered how a senior from the Photography Club had come to the Student Council to apply for funding. She had even clung to Tachibana's leg, crying about how she couldn't find a suitable model, and had tried to drag Tachibana into it before being flatly refused. That was why he asked.
"Huh?" Sakura's body trembled, and her grip on the camera tightened. She stared at it for a long while before finally saying, "I used most of my points to buy this camera."
"I see..."
An Xiao nodded, then told Sakura about that senior's Photography Club, adding one last thing at the end.
"Most of the club members are girls, and the president is close with the Student Council secretary, so you don't need to worry about safety. If you join, you can earn some extra points too."
"I think it could be of some help to you."
"It's just..." An Xiao hesitated before continuing, "That female club president is pretty carefree, but she also really likes pretty girls. If you do decide to join, you should watch out a little."
"I'll think about it." Sakura's face reddened at first, but after pressing her lips together, she looked at the senior's contact information An Xiao had handed her. She wanted to refuse it, but in the end, she didn't.
The two of them continued chatting here and there, and Sakura gradually relaxed. Especially when they talked about photography, she began speaking a little more.
But just then, several rough male voices came from the side of the corridor, followed by a dull thudding impact.
"You bastards!"
"Believe it or not, I'll beat every last one of you down!"
Before you continue