A Friend from Class A

Kikyo Kushida was incredibly grateful that her original dinner plans for the day had been canceled because the other party suddenly had something else to attend to.

She had only come to Keyaki Mall to try her luck, never expecting that she would actually run into them.

Opportunities to interact with students from other classes were rare, but once a breakthrough was made, everything would be different.

In the eyes of Kikyo Kushida, Toru Hasegawa and Masayoshi Hashimoto were hardly just ordinary Class A students; they were her bridges to the rest of Class A!

Thinking of this, the smile on her face brightened even further, and her favorability toward the two of them went up, up, and up.

Consequently, Toru Hasegawa witnessed a very strange scene: even though he hadn't done anything at all, Kikyo Kushida's favorability toward him had already reached 63.

"Classmate Hasegawa, Classmate Hashimoto, which places have you two visited so far?"

On the way, Kikyo Kushida tossed a topic toward Toru Hasegawa.

"As for that, I've only been to the dormitory building, the cafeteria, the convenience store, the gymnasium, and the classroom building," Toru Hasegawa said truthfully; this wasn't exactly a secret.

"Ah? Doesn't that mean you haven't been anywhere?"

"I suppose so, so this is actually my first time at Keyaki Mall."

Kikyo Kushida nodded to show she understood, then continued to ask, "What about you, Classmate Hashimoto?"

"Me?" Masayoshi Hashimoto thought for a moment. "I came here once for karaoke with some girls from my class when school first started, but otherwise, it's the same as Classmate Hasegawa."

"I see, I really want to go sing karaoke with my classmates too!"

As they spoke, the three of them arrived at a place called "Sakura Pavilion" and took their seats.

Toru Hasegawa glanced at the menu and casually ordered a bowl of udon noodles.

"You're only eating that much?" Masayoshi Hashimoto cast a skeptical look his way.

Toru Hasegawa was somewhat speechless. "What's wrong with eating a light dinner?"

He bet that the other party wouldn't dare to contradict him.

Even if Masayoshi Hashimoto had received information from Arisu Sakayanagi, he wouldn't just blurt it out so openly; that was the art of social maneuvering.

"Fine, whatever."

Masayoshi Hashimoto followed suit and ordered a bowl of udon, and Kikyo Kushida ordered one as well.

The three of them each had their own motives, yet they were gathered together to eat.

Masayoshi Hashimoto wanted to build a good relationship with Toru Hasegawa, while ideally fishing for some useful intelligence.

As for Kikyo Kushida, she wanted to use the two of them to reach the rest of the Class A students and continue her grand project of making friends.

Only Toru Hasegawa's goal was simple: he was just there to eat.

"Um... what is the atmosphere like during class in Class A?" Kikyo Kushida was the first to lose her patience.

Toru Hasegawa thought for a moment and said, "Hmm... it's alright, about the same as a normal class. Are you asking this because the atmosphere in Class D isn't very good?"

"...Yeah." Kikyo Kushida's smile carried a hint of bitterness. The atmosphere in Class D wasn't just "not very good"—it had reached the point where people couldn't even listen to the lectures.

Yesterday was actually fine, but today, after they discovered that none of the teachers were going to intervene, many people had completely let themselves go; class time was almost no different from free time.

"Perhaps there was a problem at the very beginning. As long as someone puts a stop to it, the situation won't continue to deteriorate. We actually had some issues with noise in Class A at first, but it was quickly shut down by Classmate Sakayanagi, so everyone is very quiet now."

This was a lie. During the morning study session on the first day of class, Arisu Sakayanagi had already seen through part of the school's true nature, so nobody was ever noisy in class to begin with.

"I see, but we don't have anyone like Classmate Sakayanagi in our class." Although Toru Hasegawa's words had already provided a suggestion, Kikyo Kushida seemed to have given up. "Then... may I add your contact information?"

"Of course."

Toru Hasegawa readily agreed, and Masayoshi Hashimoto also agreed without hesitation.

Just like that, Kikyo Kushida gained friends in Class A—two of them, at that.

"Your description just now was quite interesting. The image of Her Highness shouting... I really can't imagine it."

Because Kikyo Kushida had other things to do that evening, Masayoshi Hashimoto and Toru Hasegawa were currently walking back to the dormitory building together.

"Why do you call Sakayanagi 'Her Highness'?"

Toru Hasegawa couldn't help but ask; this question had been weighing on his mind for a while.

"Because she perfectly fits the temperament of a princess in my imagination. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Would a normal person change how they address someone for a reason like that? Besides, don't you care about what others think?"

"The eyes of others? That sort of thing doesn't matter at all." Masayoshi Hashimoto chuckled. He stopped walking, looked at Toru Hasegawa, and said earnestly, "I only hope that Class A can become the winner of this grade. For that, your strength is indispensable."

"...Are you that obsessed with winning?"

Masayoshi Hashimoto observed his surroundings and, finding no one else present, lowered his voice.

"You must have guessed it too, the deeper meaning hidden behind the '100% graduation rate' and '100% employment rate'."

"Those are privileges that only a select few can enjoy, right?"

"Smart. I knew you'd be able to figure that out." Masayoshi Hashimoto wasn't surprised; if Toru Hasegawa couldn't even see that, Her Highness wouldn't be so fixated on him.

Toru Hasegawa sighed. "So, I will do what is necessary when the time comes."

"No, we should remain vigilant at all times starting now." Masayoshi Hashimoto flatly rejected Toru Hasegawa's idea of slacking off. "Your response to Kushida just now was quite good; not only did you avoid exposing any internal information about Class A, but you actually managed to let us learn about the situation in Class D's classes."

As for the information that Toru Hasegawa had spilled in the First Gymnasium yesterday regarding Her Highness being the leader of Class A... since Her Highness herself hadn't said anything about it, how could he dare to overstep his bounds?

"Have you already fully immersed yourself in the role of a secret agent?" Toru Hasegawa retorted, then added, "I just thought someone like her was a bit strange, which is why I said that."

"The fact that she wants to be friends with everyone is indeed strange, but it's not all that bad." Masayoshi Hashimoto easily pointed out the implication behind his words. "On the contrary, we can use this to extract more information about Class D from her, and perhaps in the future, we might even get information on Class B and Class C."

"Stop saying 'information' every other sentence; it's giving me a headache." Toru Hasegawa sighed. "Then let me ask you, what do you think of Sakayanagi?"

"Her Highness's wisdom and beauty are unparalleled in this world!" Masayoshi Hashimoto looked like he was about to drop to one knee.

"Sakayanagi isn't here, you don't have to do that."

"No, I need to remind myself at all times that the direction Her Highness chooses is my direction. If she tells me to go east, I will never go west!"

Seeing this, Toru Hasegawa decided to offer a slight warning:

"The real Sakayanagi might have a few small differences from the one you imagine..."