Guild Leader, Your Secret Is Out

"...Brother, I'm not who I used to be. I came here to catch up to you."

Horikita Suzune's burning gaze remained fixed on Horikita Manabu's eyes.

Without changing expression, Kitagawa Kai took a camcorder from his pocket and deftly started recording.

The instant he heard the word "Brother," Kitagawa Kai clearly saw a fleeting softness flash through Horikita Manabu's eyes, only to be swallowed by even deeper disappointment a moment later.

"It seems that compared to three years ago, you haven't improved at all. You're still as naive as ever."

"Catch up to me? You don't understand anything. This is a school where ability reigns supreme."

"You won't gain any growth here."

"Drop out, Suzune."

Horikita Manabu's voice was not loud, yet it was like an ice-tempered blade, stripping the last trace of color from Horikita Suzune's face word by word.

She stared at her indifferent elder brother in disbelief, as if trying to confirm whether those words had truly come from his mouth.

"Brother... you want me to drop out?"

"Why?"

"I heard you were assigned to Class D." Horikita Manabu sneered, pushing up his glasses as he looked at her like an inferior product under inspection.

"Do you know what that means? If people find out that the Student Council President's little sister is in Class D, it'll only disgrace me."

The air seemed to freeze solid.

The last bit of color vanished from Suzune's face, leaving even her lips pale.

"Disgrace...?" she repeated the word, her voice trembling slightly.

Wronged.

Angry.

Unwilling.

She had vaguely sensed that there was something strange about this school.

Although Class D had shown her the diversity of lifeforms—aside from a handful of people, most of them were muddleheaded and uneducated—

she simply could not understand why being in Class D meant bringing shame upon her elder brother.

As Horikita Manabu looked at his sister's pale face, something in his heart tightened for an instant.

He adjusted his glasses, letting the lenses perfectly conceal any emotion that might have leaked through.

He should not have been here today, much less spoken to her in this manner.

That deliberately arranged "Narrator" in the gymnasium made its author obvious to him. In this school, only Nanumo Miyabi would use such a trick.

Nanumo Miyabi: I was looking forward to a fair and proper showdown.

Suzune was too naive, and too stubborn.

Making her drop out was for her own sake. Only by going to a normal environment could she truly grow.

"Why won't you give me time? I can prove that I can do it..."

Horikita Suzune's words were filled with fierce resistance.

Before she could finish, Horikita Manabu's gaze sharpened. He suddenly stepped forward, raised his right arm high, and swung it straight toward her cheek with fierce force.

The slap came incredibly fast!

There was no sign that he intended to hold back.

Horikita Suzune's words cut off abruptly.

Smack!!!

How could this be?

How could Elder Brother really hit her?

Pressing the back of her hand against her stinging, numb left cheek, Horikita Suzune slowly refocused her vision.

Her elder brother's face before her was utterly cold.

"This is reality, Suzune." Horikita Manabu's voice was even flatter than before. "Words are the most useless thing here. Your so-called proof is nothing but a fantasy before an absolute gap in ability."

He leaned slightly closer to her pain-stricken, pale face, his lowered voice carrying complete disappointment and coldness.

"You can't even take a punch like that. What do you have to survive in this school?"

Horikita Suzune curled up beneath the tree, her body trembling faintly without stop. The pain had yet to fade, but what cut even deeper was the naked denial in her elder brother's words.

That's not how it was...

Brother wasn't like this before...

Click!

A crisp shutter sound rang out.

Almost at the same time, a blinding flash lit up from the shadows, instantly illuminating Horikita Manabu's face.

[An obtainable character has been detected near the host: Horikita Suzune]

[Character Strategy Support Pack: Wilderness Survival Expert]

[Affection Level: 20 (Stranger)]

"Sorry about that, I forgot to turn off the flash~"

"But isn't it a little inappropriate for the Student Council president to be privately bullying a girl?"

"Hmm?"

The moment Horikita Manabu realized he had been exposed, he moved.

There was no warning, no words.

He swept past Horikita Suzune and charged at Kitagawa Kai, ready to attack.

Faced with that lightning-fast strike, Kitagawa Kai raised an eyebrow slightly and evaded the Student Council president's assault with a twitch of his legs.

Horikita Manabu's strike missed, and he immediately threw another punch straight at Kitagawa Kai's chest and abdomen.

Kitagawa Kai precisely seized his right hand.

Receive.

Neutralize.

Release.

Secret Technique—Shoulder Throw!

"Bang!"

With a dull, heavy crash, Horikita Manabu's back slammed hard into the ground.

He did not get back up for three seconds.

KO!

[Ding!]

[Horikita Suzune's Affection Level -10. Current Affection Level: 10 (Disgust)]

Damn siscon!!!

As the cold system notification rang out in Kitagawa Kai's mind, Horikita Suzune moved.

"Brother."

Seeing her beloved brother lying on the ground, she practically stumbled as she rushed over, helped him up, and glared fiercely at Kitagawa Kai.

Horikita Manabu was helped to his feet and steadied himself, his movements as smooth as though he had not been the one knocked down moments ago.

He brushed aside his sister's hand, adjusted his glasses, and fixed his gaze on Kitagawa Kai once more.

"Suzune, stand down."

Kitagawa Kai rolled his head from side to side, like a cheetah itching to pounce.

"President, supremacy of ability includes maintaining basic calm and weighing your options when someone has leverage over you, rather than trying to 'destroy' the evidence, doesn't it?"

Kitagawa Kai placed special emphasis on the word "destroy."

Horikita Manabu remained expressionless, as though he had not caught the sarcasm.

"Two million points. Delete the recording, and we'll pretend nothing happened today."

Talking to smart people really was refreshing.

"Bingo, Mr. President. Taking photos is free; deleting them costs money. You catch on quickly."

Horikita Suzune stood frozen to the side, her mind unable to process the sudden turn in the conversation.

What was going on?

Hadn't they just been at each other's throats? How had it turned into such a blatant transaction in the blink of an eye?

She looked at her brother's stern profile, then at Kitagawa Kai's faintly calculating smile, feeling as if her worldview had suffered an unprecedented shock.

What exactly was going on with this school?

Was this what supremacy of ability meant?

Points +2,000,000.

Once the points arrived, Kitagawa Kai deleted the recording in front of the siblings.

Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses as sharp as ever.

"Very well. May I have your name?"

"First Year, Class B. Kitagawa Kai."

"Class B." Horikita Manabu repeated in a low voice, his eyes flickering slightly behind his lenses.

Suzune, sharing the same school with someone like him...

Perhaps you truly have no chance of rising to Class A.

Forget it. I only hope you stop chasing my back and grow on your own.

"Suzune, go back first."

Horikita Suzune's body trembled as she snapped out of her confusion.

She looked at her brother's cold, rigid profile, then at the calm Kitagawa Kai. Her lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing.