Two Even

The whole incident had been a farce for Beihai—or, to put it more plainly, it had simply been one of his ways of protecting himself. And now, the farce was finally over.

The pervert had been punished, the two girls had received Mental Distress Compensation, and the Student Council had earned some credit. A happy ending for everyone.

The only one who didn't look too pleased was Student Council President Manabu Horikita. He hadn't looked happy from the start, all the way through the end of the interrogation.

Honami Ichinose walked alongside Sakura and Beihai, unable to resist complaining. Without thinking, she slipped an arm around Sakura.

"That really scared me this time, but it should be over now. Is everyone all right?"

Honami Ichinose still shuddered whenever she thought about it. The enormous number of points on her Terminal still didn't feel real.

The day before, she'd announced in class that they were going to set up a Class Bank, pool their points, and prepare for any eventuality. They'd united in earnest, their slogan ringing loud and clear. Then the next day, the problem was already solved. It had all happened so fast.

And what had she done? She'd merely helped catch a pervert. In truth, even that step could have been skipped, since the Student Council had already stepped in. Whether she went or not would have made little difference. If anything, she'd only gotten to feel involved.

Having played a part did make some difference. At least she felt a little more at ease accepting the points, rather than feeling as if she'd sold herself for them. Even so, Honami Ichinose still felt she didn't deserve them.

Sakura had been the unlucky one. She hadn't known what was going on the whole time and could only piece together the evidence she had. Her brain had nearly overheated from all the processing.

Even worse, the Student Council had grabbed her and questioned her. The process had been gentle, but an interrogation was still an interrogation. There was no need to dress it up.

Responding to Honami Ichinose's concern, she held on to her arm and said, "I'm fine. Thanks for helping me this time."

Beihai sighed beside them. Maybe this incident could finally be put behind them.

Of course, Beihai hadn't forgotten his main goal. The person who'd suffered the most still hadn't been compensated, and he couldn't be so selfish, no matter how you looked at it.

Just as Beihai had said before, he had to ask what the other person wanted. He couldn't simply decide everything himself and assume he was doing it for someone else's sake.

"Honami, could you give half of the points you received this time to Sakura?"

At those words, Honami Ichinose stopped in her tracks. The three of them came to a halt together instead of continuing on.

Once Honami Ichinose had recovered, she quickly took out her Terminal. After all, this was quite a large sum of points.

She'd felt undeserving of them herself. Now someone was willing to share the burden, and since Beihai had asked, she couldn't refuse.

"Mm, okay, okay. I actually wanted to do that too. Um, don't get the wrong idea."

Honami Ichinose was a little happy, but she realized that what she'd said sounded strange. The words "I wanted to do that too" made her sound as though she hadn't really meant it.

She hurried to clarify, but Beihai raised a hand to stop her, showing that he understood completely.

If it had been Kikyo Kushida, then he might have had reason to be suspicious. But as far as Beihai could tell, Honami Ichinose was an angel through and through.

He could only say that there was no need to overthink things when it came to her, especially since she could be a little absentminded.

Sakura waved both hands beside them, flustered to no end. She even wanted to take a few steps back, but Honami Ichinose held on to her.

The two of them made the situation awkward in an instant. One wore a smile as she tried to press closer with ulterior motives, while the other looked embarrassed and shy.

"Ah, the lilies of spring are blooming. Ahem. Sakura, just accept it for now. I was partly at fault here, too, so let me apologize first."

For the first time in all his years since reincarnating, Beihai finally got to put a little craftsmanship to use. He bent forward in a ninety-degree bow.

Sakura found it even harder to back out now. Her eyes were spinning like a pair of pinwheels.

"No, no, Beihai, you didn't do anything. What's going on?"

Beihai slowly began to explain.

He told her about the man's perverted behavior—stalking, following her around, and acting like a creep.

In the end, Beihai had set the man up to protect himself. He'd said a few inappropriate things along the way, which might have affected her, and that was why things had turned out this way.

When he finished, Beihai bowed again.

"Though it seems that man really was your fan."

"No, that man wasn't—he wasn't my fan! I never admitted that!"

Sakura suddenly perked up. She hadn't expected the whole thing to have happened for this reason.

"I might have felt a little angry and confused at first, but after learning the whole story, I should thank you too. You didn't look down on me, whether as a person or because of my work."

She was bold and uninhibited online, even posting selfies. But in real life, around people her own age, she was naturally timid and afraid that they might find out about her job.

Sometimes, people's gossip could really hurt. Especially in this country of cherry blossoms, where bullying was meted out equally to everyone.

That was why those gentle and kind seniors were so popular. In an environment like this, who wouldn't be won over by someone like that?

If she'd been a singer, she wouldn't have needed to hide it. At her age, she could have been proud of her skills. But she was an underground idol, and she even took photos that showed a little skin.

People her age were quick to label others.

Beihai smiled. "Then it's even better that you accept the points. Think of them as Mental Distress Compensation. Having them should give you a bit more confidence."

Sakura fell silent again. The confidence she'd just built up gave way to shyness. Beihai really had known her job all along.

In the end, after Honami Ichinose urged her to accept them, Sakura took out her Terminal.

Once the points had been transferred, Beihai knew it meant that the two of them were even. After all, they'd said this was compensation.

As for Beihai, he'd always been content with having enough to use. He didn't buy information or bribe people to do things for him; simply keeping to himself was more than enough. Besides, there was Kiyotaka Kiyotaka, who was planning to support him for a month.

And what kind of work did Sakura do? Beihai had his suspicions, but he had no idea what the truth was. He'd made it all up.

He'd never named it or let on that he knew. He'd only spoken in riddles, saying things like "I know everything," but he'd never said what her job was.

Honami Ichinose couldn't quite say whether she felt happy or not. All in all, it was a strange feeling. Beihai's actions had shown that he was a good person.

"Beihai, you're a good person."

"Why are you suddenly giving me a 'good person' card, Honami?"

Honami Ichinose realized she'd let her inner thoughts slip out. She was so embarrassed she wanted to crawl into a hole, and hurriedly came up with an excuse.

"It's nothing. Um, everyone in Class B is waiting for me, so I'll head off first."

Sakura's face was red as she stood beside them. She'd actually wanted to say that just now too, but Honami had beaten her to it.

It was bad enough that a guy in her class was stealing her lines. But now a girl had stolen them too?