After a long while, their lips finally parted, a thin, transparent thread still connecting them.
With her face flushed and feeling as if she were about to suffocate, Masumi Kamuro shyly covered her face with both hands.
Come on, face, cool down already!
Soon, she realized that her agitated heart made it impossible for her body temperature to drop.
And the atmosphere between them felt a little strange. After all, they'd been fighting to the death just moments ago, then spent the next half hour kissing.
It was kind of embarrassing to think about. She hadn't expected to lose her first kiss on the second day of school.
"Ahem." After clearing her throat, Masumi Kamuro calmed herself down. "That just now was an accident. Don't tell anyone about it."
"Kamuro, you're really something. I treated you like a good buddy, and you went and stole my first kiss, and..."
First kiss?
Kamuro's heart leaped with joy. Before Yuki Gyakukai could finish speaking, she hurriedly replied:
"As if it wasn't your first kiss too. You should be glad I was the one you had it with."
"Thank goodness it was only this afternoon's first kiss. If Tomie finds out when we get back, I'm done for."
Wait, wait, wait!
Something wasn't right here!
After another moment of silence, Masumi Kamuro was the first to react. Her face flushed red, then turned pale.
Her face, which had been warm just moments before, instantly went cold.
Her fist was clenched and ready, and now she just needed an excuse to let it fly.
"Explain. What do you mean, 'this afternoon's first kiss'? And who's Tomie?"
With a fist pressed against his waist, Yuki Gyakukai considered for a moment, then chose to answer directly. "The first question means exactly what it sounds like. The second: Tomie is my fiancée. She's in my class, and she sits next to me."
"Bastard!" Her angry fist finally came down. "You already have a fiancée, so why did you kiss me and take my first kiss?"
Yuki Gyakukai looked a little innocent. "Weren't you the one who kissed me?"
"Shut up!" She irritably scratched her head.
Who would have thought that someone at this school would bring his fiancée along to study with him?
Thinking about how this guy, who had just stolen her first kiss, would spend the next three years being lovey-dovey with his fiancée right in front of her made her feel inexplicably miserable.
Wait.
Something was very, very wrong!
Fiancé = taken man. √
So what did that make what she'd just done? Was she the other woman, or a homewrecker?
Her head itched. She was about to grow horns!
For some reason, Masumi Kamuro felt an unprecedented thrill and excitement.
It was even more thrilling than stealing beer from a store!
Once an idea took hold, it quickly became ingrained.
And so,
Little Thief Cat Masumi Kamuro was now dead...
And next up was Homewrecker Masumi Kamuro!
"Kamuro, what are you daydreaming about over there? We don't have much time. I'm leaving."
"Huh~? You did something so awful to me, and now you're just going to leave?"
"Didn't you just say it was an accident?"
As Yuki Gyakukai was about to leave, Masumi Kamuro immediately put her brain to work. In two quick steps, she grabbed his sleeve.
"Hm?"
"Gyakukai, you wouldn't want me to tell your fiancée about what happened between us, would you?"
Where was that thick aura of corruption coming from?
Tomie: There's a homewrecker!
"As Student Council President, having a younger sister in Class D is a stain on my reputation."
Beside a drink vending machine some distance from the dormitory building, Manabu Horikita pinned Suzune Horikita into a corner, his expression icy.
His words were so cold they left no room for rebuttal.
Pressed against the wall with her hand in his grip, Suzune Horikita couldn't move. She didn't resist; she just closed her eyes. Her trembling lashes and body showed how terrified she was inside.
"You haven't improved at all, Suzune. You came to the wrong place."
Manabu Horikita's sharp, icy voice rang in Suzune Horikita's ear.
Manabu Horikita adjusted his glasses, which glinted coldly, and looked at Reine Horikita, who seemed like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. He raised one hand into a palm strike and launched a fierce attack toward her abdomen.
Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, hiding in the bushes a short distance away, saw that his seatmate was about to be attacked. After a brief moment's thought, he started toward Manabu Horikita.
However, someone else was faster.
Yuki Gyakukai emerged from the woods, holding up a phone to record with one hand and an empty soda can in the other.
He looked so relaxed, as if he were merely watching a show.
Whoosh!
The sound of something cutting through the air rang out. The hollow soda can shot toward Manabu Horikita at incredible speed, like an unstoppable sword.
Bang!!
Two sharp sounds rang out, one right after the other.
The glasses that had glinted beneath the streetlamp moments before were now smashed by the hollow can. Their fragments lay scattered across the ground.
The can that had flown through the air was now embedded deep in the wall. Cracks spread out around it, visible to everyone there.
"Senior, was it really necessary to be so rough with your own sister?
She's just going to school. There's no need to go as far as making her drop out."
With one hand free, Yuki Gyakukai unhurriedly walked up to them.
Manabu Horikita didn't answer. He glanced at the can embedded in the wall, then turned his gaze to Yuki Gyakukai.
Perhaps because he wasn't wearing his glasses, and the lighting wasn't very bright, his eyes struggled to make out the person in front of him.
"If I remember correctly, you're Yuki Gyakukai, the leader of Class 1-B."
"That's me."
"Lately, what you've been doing has impressed quite a few upperclassmen. Even several Class 1-A students who want to join the Student Council think highly of you."
Tsk, wasn't that just letting information slip?
A tsundere brother with a sister complex. He knew full well that Suzune Horikita was in Class D, yet he was still dropping seemingly irrelevant remarks that actually revealed information.
"Don't waste my time, Senior. Take a look at this, then name your price."
Yuki Gyakukai refused to engage and refused to give Class D any useful information.
He went straight to showing the two siblings the video he'd recorded from beginning to end.
In an instant, Suzune Horikita, who had been stunned with fright, came to her senses.
"Gyakukai, this has nothing to do with my brother. I did it all on my own..."
Seeing Suzune Horikita panic, Manabu Horikita felt a headache coming on.
This had been something that would have come to nothing. Hadn't this only made it look completely true?
If someone reported it, his position as Student Council President might mean he'd have to spend half a month studying in his dorm.
If this got out, it would have a serious impact on him. And then there was Nagumo...
With a sigh, he watched the entire video Yuki Gyakukai had recorded, and his heart sank.
"One price: 500,000 points. Delete the video."
He couldn't gauge Gyakukai's lowest price.
Yuki Gyakukai merely shrugged helplessly. "Looks like there's nothing to discuss. Remember, I'm the one in control here. You're in no position to bargain. Take your time thinking it over, Senior."
He walked past Manabu Horikita and looked at Suzune Horikita, who was staring at him through clenched teeth.
"Suzune, let's exchange contact information."
She'd wanted to mock him, but considering her and her brother's current situation, she stayed quiet.
With her head lowered, she silently took out her phone and added him.
A new, unfamiliar profile picture appeared on her previously sparse contacts list.
Then a video was sent to her—the one of Manabu Horikita attacking Suzune Horikita just now.
"What do you mean by this?" She gripped her phone tightly, veins bulging at her temples.
"Nothing much. Just letting you know that I've got something on you now."
"Why are you doing this? Can't you just quit while you're ahead?"
"Why else? This afternoon, you really hurt my pride."
Ah, so the real reason was that she'd talked some serious smack earlier that afternoon and wounded his pride.
Suzune Horikita felt a twinge of defeat. Who would have thought that after mocking him in the afternoon, she'd have something held over her by nightfall?
Seeing his younger sister being bullied, Manabu Horikita finally spoke up.
Before you continue