Tsundere Is Out of Fashion

After Hirata offered to treat everyone, they all headed to the student cafeteria together, leaving only Horikita and Ju Ji behind in the classroom.

Although Hirata had invited them as well, he had already helped Ju Ji immensely with today's events, so how could he have the nerve to let him pay for a meal? As for Horikita, she simply wasn't comfortable in crowded environments.

"Aren't you going with them? Hirata invited you too, didn't he, Shinomiya?"

"No, if I went, it would just make them uncomfortable. After what happened today, there are probably people who want to kill me. But what about you, Horikita? Is it really okay for you not to go? You won't make any friends that way."

To be honest, Ju Ji never expected Horikita to initiate a conversation with him; given her antisocial personality, it was like the sun rising in the west. This should count as progress, right?

She was a completely different person compared to the one who usually radiated an "I don't want to talk to you" aura. Was she acting this way because she judged that Ju Ji had some utility to her?

"I have no need to get on good terms with them. Compared to me, you're the pathetic one, Shinomiya. At this rate, you won't make a single friend in your three years of high school."

Ju Ji was already an outcast in the class due to his self-introduction. Now, because of this latest incident, making friends would only drift further and further away from him. It was understandable that Horikita would look at him with pity.

"As for friends, having one or two confidants is enough."

"What is someone with only four people in their contact list saying? That's something only a person with no friends would say."

"Huh? If that's the case, let's show our contact lists and see who has more! ...Ouch!"

Unfortunately, in their contest of exposing each other's wounds, Ju Ji angered Horikita and suffered the sanction of a compass. In this battle, Ju Ji was soundly defeated.

"Thank you for today. You sacrificed a lot to help us get promoted to Class A."

Horikita turned her head away, seemingly trying to hide her embarrassment. Saying "thank you" seemed to be an incredibly difficult thing for her to do.

"Don't misunderstand. I did this for my own sake. Besides, once everyone learns the truth in a month, my reputation as the one who led this will surely reverse. By then, making friends won't be difficult."

Ju Ji wasn't lying; he really did this for himself. Kikyo, Hirata, and Horikita were all effectively being used by him. He was the one who benefited the most from this briefing. Although many people's favorability toward him had dropped, a portion of them had increased significantly.

Because of this, Ju Ji had gained quite a few friendship points, reaching an unprecedented total of 2500. Presumably, once the students of Class D changed their attitudes, he would earn even more points.

"Heh, the ones who led this were Hirata and Kikyo. You just suggested it and stood up there to explain."

Horikita's affected attitude vanished, and she returned to her usual self. Ju Ji was more accustomed to her this way.

After saying that, Horikita took a sandwich that looked quite delicious out of her bag and began to eat. She didn't seem to have any intention of continuing the conversation with Ju Ji.

Grumble~

Perhaps because it was time, Ju Ji's stomach began to growl. He really didn't know where Horikita had bought that sandwich, and he wanted to buy one to try, too. But it was clearly not the right atmosphere to strike up a conversation.

If he went to the student cafeteria, it would be filled with students eating in groups. Ju Ji didn't think he could handle being in that kind of atmosphere. It looked like he would have to settle for a sweet bun from the convenience store.

"What? You want to eat a sandwich like mine? I bought an extra one anyway and can't finish it. You can take this and deal with it; whether you throw it away or eat it is up to you."

Seemingly noticing Ju Ji's gaze, Horikita took another sandwich out of her bag and tossed it at him.

Horikita was lying. If she couldn't finish it, why would she buy an extra one? It was obvious she had prepared it beforehand and was just waiting for the right moment to give it to him. It was a pity that the "tsundere" trope was already out of style; otherwise, someone like Horikita would surely be very popular.

In reality, because of her extremely high attractiveness, there were quite a few boys in Class D who liked her. It was only because of her usual "keep everyone at a distance" attitude that no one dared to talk to her.

He opened the plastic wrap of the sandwich and was just about to eat when music began to play over the speakers.

[Starting at 5:00 PM today, a club briefing will be held at the First Gymnasium. Students interested in clubs, please gather at the First Gymnasium. I repeat. Today...]

A cute female voice came over the broadcast. A club briefing, huh... Ju Ji had attended one back in his university days in his previous life, but he hadn't actually gone to many, so he was quite interested in the clubs at this school. Although he had no intention of joining a club, he was interested in taking a look.

"Horikita..."

"I have no interest in clubs."

"No, I just wanted to say, this sandwich is really bad, don't buy it next time... Ow."

Yeah, this woman was truly inexplicable. He should keep some distance from her in the future, at least a distance where he could dodge a compass stab. If he didn't stay on guard, he was sure his arms would be covered in compass marks before long.

"Alright... I was joking, the sandwich is actually quite tasty. I'm pretty interested in the club briefing, could you accompany me?"

"Why? I already told you I have no interest in clubs."

"I heard the student council is participating in this club briefing."

"Well, I suppose I can accompany you."

Although Horikita wasn't interested in making friends or clubs, Ju Ji knew she would definitely be interested in the student council, where her brother was. As long as he mentioned the student council was participating, she would definitely go. In a sense, she was quite easy to handle.

Actually, even without Horikita, Ju Ji could have gone to the club briefing alone. But people who attend these briefings would surely go with friends. If he were the only one there, he would surely be unable to resist fleeing the scene.

"Didn't you say you had no interest in clubs?"

"That is true, but you're only going to participate for the sake of making friends, right? Thinking about you running around pointlessly trying to make friends, it's actually quite amusing."

Horikita's excuse was pretty flimsy, but Ju Ji had already achieved his goal of getting someone to go with him. That was enough. Besides, Horikita wasn't actually wrong; he was going to check out the club briefing to see if he could find like-minded friends. And, incidentally, earn some friendship points.