Great Fortune!

Watching the three who usually left the classroom together after school not do so today.

Takahashi thought to himself: It's settled! It's settled!

"Why are you guys here too?" x3

Before they even entered the library, he heard the three of them speak at the same time.

"I called you all here." Horikita stepped forward and said.

"What's this! So it was you, really, I thought it was something else, wasting my basketball practice time." Sudo felt tricked and picked up his bag to leave.

"Sudo, if you fail this exam, it won't just be a matter of skipping basketball practice for a while."

"So what? Instead of burying my head in textbooks, I'd rather aim for a professional basketball career. Even the club teacher says I have a lot of talent."

"Aim for a professional basketball career? Do you think your talent will let you achieve such a childish dream? There are plenty of people more talented than you. Even if you're one in ten thousand, there are at least seven hundred thousand such geniuses in this world. And someone like you, who gives up on academics halfway, can never become a professional player. But even if you did become a pro, I don't think you'd earn the income you imagine. The moment you set your sights on such an unrealistic career, you're already a defective product."

"What the hell are you saying?" Sudo said angrily, reaching out to grab Horikita's collar.

"Calm down, calm down." Takahashi said, holding Sudo's arm with one hand.

Sudo wanted to ignore Takahashi, but found his strength completely suppressed by him, and shouted at him instead: "She's insulting my dream! I train hard every day for professional basketball. I'm about to become a regular on the school basketball team—the fastest first-year to make it."

"I..." Just as he wanted to comfort Sudo a little, at least stop him from throwing a punch, Takahashi hadn't gotten a few words out before Horikita interrupted.

"Heh, become a regular on the school basketball team? What can someone like you, a defective product about to be expelled, do after dropping out? Keep practicing basketball and leech off your parents like a parasite? How ridiculous."

Takahashi: Sudo's fist hasn't hit you yet, so you don't know how strong he is. -_-||

"Bastard!" Although one of Sudo's hands was held by Takahashi, the other wasn't, and he threw a punch straight at Horikita. Fortunately, Takahashi was prepared and pulled Horikita into his arms the moment Sudo raised his hand, so Sudo's fist landed on Takahashi's shoulder instead.

Seeing Takahashi protect Horikita, Sudo snorted coldly and said:

"And I even took time off from club for this. What a waste." With that, he picked up his bag and left, followed by Ike and Yamauchi.

"Are you okay?" Horikita showed a rare expression of concern.

"Tch—Sudo's got some strength. I think I need to go back and rest."

Walking back to the dormitory, Takahashi rotated his arm. It hurt a bit, but it was worth it. This way, he could break free from the study group task. No way was he going to be Horikita's seventeenth-century non-specialty.

Thinking about escaping the study group, Takahashi was in a great mood. You can't dwell on happy things—they only make you happier the more you think about them. Time for a shake. With that in mind, he took out his fortune-telling tube and shook it as he walked. "Sincerity brings results; the gods protect me."

Great Fortune!

See, I told you—can't dwell on happy things. Now look, I'm even happier. :??(?′?`)??:

"Bam!"

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention..." It was a corner, and Takahashi was too happy to notice, so he didn't expect to bump into someone.

He reached out to help the fallen girl up, and that's when he noticed—the girl in front of him was his classmate, Sakura Airi.

"Ah... it's fine, it's fine. I wasn't paying attention either. I... I." Watching the girl with a blushing face and flustered expression, Takahashi felt a little amused and decided to tease her.

"You're Sakura-san, right? I sit next to you. My name is Takahashi Shinma."

"Ah... I, I know."

"Well, meeting like this is fate. How about we be friends?"

"Friends? Me... me?"

"If there were a third person here, I think I'd need to see an eye doctor." As he spoke, Takahashi suddenly stepped forward, their noses almost touching. Looking into Sakura's eyes, he spoke again: "Sakura-san is as cute as I expected."

Girls tend to overanalyze what guys say. If he'd said "unexpectedly cute," even though it's just one word different, she'd interpret it as him thinking she wasn't cute at all before. But "as expected" better conveys that he'd been paying attention to her all along. Of course, this line only works for Takahashi as a classmate and deskmate. If a stranger said this to a girl, it'd be creepy—she'd only think, "Has he been stalking me?"