A Startling Surprise

The new day was much more peaceful. Beihai could sit at his desk, listening attentively and working on problems.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka, on the other hand, was struggling. He had nearly stayed up all night, getting less than five hours of rest. After showering and lying down, it felt like he'd barely closed his eyes before he had to force them open and come to class.

If you stayed up all night, it wasn't quite so bad. The hardest part was staying up late, sleeping for a little while, then having to wake up again.

His eyelids felt heavy. Several times, his head nearly came to rest on his arms as he drifted off.

Beihai wasn't feeling that bad. After all, people had their limits. The more he thought about it, the clearer it became: the more people toyed with schemes and trickery, the more likely they were to...

Beihai stopped himself before his thoughts turned dangerous. The system had modified him and kept him hanging on by a thread, but honestly, without that mysterious power, he really would have died from exhaustion.

He just hadn't expected the guy next door to have stayed up all night with him. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought he had a system too. Apparently, Beihai had been overthinking it.

"So, in the end, he's just a person, no matter what."

Beihai stopped paying attention to him and focused all his energy on studying again.

Before long, it was noon.

Beihai and his little group—Airisu Sakura—headed to the cafeteria. That way, they could avoid any strange social encounters. Unless it was Kikyo Kushida from Class D or Kiyotaka Kiyotaka squeezing his way in, there wouldn't be a third person.

As it happened, Kikyo Kushida and Kiyotaka Kiyotaka were together right now, apparently discussing some kind of plan.

Beihai ordered a set meal, deliberately picking out some bitter melon and green peppers.

Airisu Sakura's meal was much more ordinary. She spent most of her money on her camera, and although the points upheaval in April had affected her, she could still manage.

So she ordered a simple, unpretentious Japanese lunch: miso soup, a long piece of salmon, rice, a strip of pickled radish, and salt.

The fanciest meal in this school cafeteria was chicken cutlet with rice.

So neither Beihai's meal nor Airisu Sakura's was particularly lavish. Beihai's, in fact, could only be described as bizarre.

After spending time together, the two of them had grown comfortable sitting together.

Airisu Sakura had just picked up a long strip of pickled radish and put it in her mouth when, in the blink of an eye, some bitter melon and green pepper appeared on her plate.

Her expression immediately changed. After all, most people in Japan didn't like green peppers.

Her childhood instincts kicked in. She'd hated broccoli as a child, and now that she was faced with green peppers, she wanted nothing to do with them. It was as if her genes had awakened.

"Ah, Beihai, you can't do this. I don't really like them."

Beihai looked up, his expression innocent and natural. The corners of his mouth didn't even turn up. He looked as if he'd only done it for her own good.

"Ah, Sakura, don't be so harsh. We're all adults. Let's not talk about adult topics in public."

Airisu Sakura's brain nearly short-circuited. When she finally understood, she felt a little embarrassed and indignant. But she was so timid around other people that she couldn't bring herself to put the bitter melon and green peppers back after they'd been placed in her bowl.

All she could do was silently protest. Faced with her pitiful gaze, Beihai pretended not to see it.

It wasn't until her eyes grew misty that Beihai stopped. He couldn't push it any further. Even a rabbit would bite if cornered, although she didn't seem particularly dangerous.

"Actually, Sakura, you've misunderstood me. I was just teaching you a lesson."

Beihai spoke with complete seriousness, though even he didn't believe himself.

But after a brief pause, Airisu Sakura nodded and believed him.

After all, she felt she knew Beihai fairly well. Their time together had been a process of gradually understanding each other.

Beihai could be a little overbearing sometimes, but he was mostly just teasing her. He also often gave her lots of tasty snacks, even if they all tasted strange. Wait, the more I think about it, the more it seems like Beihai's bullying me.

"The lesson is to eat green vegetables. They're good for your health."

Airisu Sakura: "..."

After all that waiting and anticipation, that was his answer?

"Mm, I'm not talking to you anymore."

Beihai offered a token apology, or perhaps asked more directly,

"For how long?"

"At least a week.

Mm, never mind. Three days. No, two days.

Mm, one day. One day it is, and I won't go any shorter."

Beihai wasn't about to let her have her way. Before, he might have had to be a little cautious, but after spending time with her, he'd already figured her out and knew where the line was.

"No. That's impossible. I couldn't even stand one day. If I couldn't talk to you, Sakura, I'd suffocate.

"And I bought lots of snacks for you to try, and there are some problems we need to study carefully."

Beihai immediately put on a pitiful act, and it worked wonderfully.

Airisu Sakura was caught completely off guard. She'd genuinely considered all sorts of possibilities, like him getting angry or not caring and continuing to pester her shamelessly. But she'd never expected him to play the victim.

Beihai had accomplished his goal for the day. They'd interacted enough, so he got serious. Maintaining a social circle required a certain amount of interaction and goodwill; otherwise, it was easy to throw the balance off.

So now he needed to soothe her, or find some excuse to move past the matter.

In short, he'd talk nonsense. Who cared, as long as it worked?

"Listen, I really do have something to teach you. I'm not joking. If you ever run into someone as overbearing as me, remember to say no, or come straight to me.

"People always like to treat others the way they themselves think is right.

"And get angry when the other person doesn't follow our script.

"Most of the pain in human relationships

"comes from this kind of naive misunderstanding.

"What you give is never what the other person needs.

"Yet you ask, 'Why doesn't sincerity beget sincerity?'"

It was just like when Beihai had given her the green peppers and bitter melon. He'd done it because it was what he wanted, without considering how she felt, and yet he'd thought he was acting out of kindness.

It was the simplest way to demonstrate the point and the easiest explanation to understand.

Airisu Sakura quickly nodded. Seeing how cute she looked, Beihai nearly laughed. It was easy enough to rile this little kitten up, but calming her down was just as easy.

"Mm, Suzune Horikita is like that. She thinks she's doing what's best for me and the class, but she ends up making my life miserable."

A third person had appeared out of nowhere. Beihai didn't need to turn around to know who it was. In this little circle, Kiyotaka Kiyotaka was the only one with no sense of boundaries.

"Beihai, I've got last year's exam papers here. I can't guarantee they'll be exactly the same, but there should be some similar questions. Do you want them?"

Beihai was a little surprised. Well, this was something else. He'd actually managed to get his hands on those. Just how little did he trust those three?

"I don't need them. I'm not that desperate yet."

"Oh. Still, it's good to have an extra safety net. Are you really sure you don't want them?"