Cured, Still Drools

From the start of the semester, Karuizawa—who relied on her decent looks and her boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with Hirata to reign like a queen among the girls—naturally had some pride of her own. Being publicly provoked by Horikita like this, combined with the humiliation of her panties being stolen, made Karuizawa shift her venting target from the boys to Horikita.

"You..."

Before Karuizawa could get out a few words, Hirata stepped between Karuizawa and Horikita to mediate.

"Karuizawa-san, for me, having one more boy would actually make things easier, and what Horikita-san said isn't without reason."

"B-But... besides Hirata-kun, what other boy can we trust?"

"Then let me do it!"

Ike quickly raised his hand. This behavior really made it hard to tell that he'd just been arguing fiercely with Shinohara over dividing living areas by gender...

"Hey, the things girls can't do are definitely heavy physical labor. When it comes to physical work, you should leave it to me."

Sudo also raised his hand quickly.

"You two, if we're talking about helping girls with things, it should be left to someone who pays attention to detail. Coincidentally, I'm someone who pays attention to detail." Yamauchi chimed in, not wanting to be left behind.

Even though they'd just been arguing with the girls, if they could become one of the few boys allowed into the girls' activity area to interact with them, they were more than willing.

"D-Don't make such ridiculous jokes. Letting those three come? Isn't that just inviting wolves into the house? Besides, don't all three of them look like panty thieves? Or does Horikita-san actually think these people are trustworthy?" Shinohara said, looking at Sudo and the others with disdain.

"Those three's usual behavior really is hard to trust, so I never planned to choose from among them."

"Then who? Is there someone besides Hirata-kun?"

"There's also Ayanokouji-kun."

"Hahaha! This is hilarious. I was wondering who it'd be, and it turns out it's your only friend? That borderline pervert with no presence—how could he possibly be trusted? Besides, when we were checking luggage, Ayanokouji was skulking at the back of the line. Who knows what he was doing? How can someone that suspicious be allowed into the girls' activity area?"

Ayanokouji's thoughts: ▼_▼ Suspicious? At that time, Karuizawa's panties were literally in my hands!

"Maybe it's possible... I heard that the class's invisible guy isn't friendly toward popular people, and I remember Ayanokouji-kun stayed by the campfire very late yesterday..."

It seemed the girls had deepened their suspicions of Ayanokouji, and he was thus chosen as the next target for the girls to vent on.

Even among the boys, some began to suspect Ayanokouji, while Ike and Yamauchi pretended to know nothing.

"Ayanokouji-kun must be the panty thief, right? He hasn't even defended himself, has he?" a girl whispered.

Takahashi, watching from the side: This has reached the point where even after treatment, he'd still drool, but calling him a panty thief just because he didn't defend himself is way too far-fetched, isn't it?

"Hey, don't go too far. Ayanokouji just isn't good at interacting with people. He doesn't know how to defend himself, but that doesn't mean you can call him a panty thief for no reason," Takahashi said, looking at the girl with a speechless expression.

"Takahashi-kun was also skulking at the back of the line during the luggage check, wasn't he? Could he be in cahoots with Ayanokouji?" The girl's voice grew even quieter, probably because she'd seen Takahashi's physical prowess before, so her words came out haltingly.

Takahashi: (⊙_⊙) Wait, is this right? I'm a panty thief now?

"I believe Kamiya wouldn't do something like that." Sakura's voice rang out. Usually, she'd stammer when talking to classmates, but now her words were unusually smooth and clear.

Takahashi looked at Sakura and thought: Good Airi, big bro didn't spoil you for nothing. Later, I'll take you into the woods.

"What proof do you have that Takahashi-kun isn't the panty thief?" The girl was a bit afraid of Takahashi but not of the soft and weak Sakura.

"Enough, Morining." Hasebe said forcefully. (The school rated Morining as D- in both academics and intelligence, E+ in teamwork, and she was part of Karuizawa's group. After thinking it over, this role fit best.)

"Alright, that's enough." Takahashi said, glancing at Morining, who felt uncomfortable and hid behind Karuizawa.

"I won't say much else, just one thing: I have no interest in Karuizawa, and I think Ayanokouji feels the same. Alright, continue your discussion. I hope you'll think carefully before you speak, unlike that one who'd still drool even after treatment."

Seeing Takahashi say this, the girls turned their anger back to Horikita. After all, someone had to be their target for venting.

"Huh, Horikita-san. Why are you so indifferent to my situation? Could there be a reason?"

"A reason? What reason could there be?"

"Because Hirata-kun is handsome and smart, and the key point is that he's very gentle—even to someone like you. Any normal girl would have fallen for him by now, right?"

Karuizawa chuckled softly, deliberately pulling Hirata's arm beside her closer, a hint of provocative pride in her eyes.

"This might be a bit inappropriate, but if we compare Takahashi-kun to Hirata-kun... First, I think if your eyes aren't blind, you can see that Takahashi-kun's appearance isn't inferior to Hirata-kun's. In fact, to be precise, Takahashi-kun's facial features are more defined. As for other differences, they're quite big, right? Takahashi-kun is clearly taller, and in sports, everyone knows he's always in the top three in class during physical activities. As for academics... Hah, except for the midterm exam when he deliberately scored 50 in English to lower the class average so no one would get expelled, hasn't he been first in the class every other time? That's enough to prove Takahashi-kun's personality is gentle. And you should know that the toilet you're using with your points now was only purchased after Takahashi-kun analyzed it."

Seeing Karuizawa didn't respond, Horikita spoke again: "Compared to you, who's never even had a conversation with Takahashi-kun, you're not jealous of me, are you?"

The atmosphere between Karuizawa and Horikita was tense, thick with gunpowder. Their eyes locked in confrontation, and the air around them seemed to freeze from the strained situation.

"How about this, you both take a step back," Hasebe stepped forward to mediate. "Karuizawa-san wants Hirata-kun to enter the girls' activity area, and Horikita wants to add Ayanokouji. Then I think we should add Takahashi too. Only those three boys come to our area. If something happens again, the scope of inspection will be very small, right? Karuizawa-san, if only Hirata-kun can enter the girls' activity area, and another panty theft occurs, even if Hirata-kun didn't do it, the classmates would default to blaming him, right? Horikita-san, you shouldn't mind adding Takahashi-kun either, should you?"

At this moment, Takahashi: (⊙_⊙) There's always some traitor trying to harm me. If I go to your girls' activity area with all that heavy physical labor, won't I be treated like a hot-selling product trapped in a 17th-century rice barrel? If I do a bad job, you'll send me off with a free hundred-pull gacha. In the boys' activity area, I can still use the prestige from directing the tent setup to boss the guys around. If I go to your place, won't I be screwed?