He'd picked up some snacks and two coffees from the café.
Tsukishima strolled along the path leading to the dorms.
As he enjoyed the caress of the evening breeze, his thoughts wandered:
Kushida Kikyo had even messaged him. She must have been getting impatient. It seemed she'd built up quite a bit of resentment;
As for Sakayanagi Arisu, she was probably figuring out how to use him.
Would she set things up so he and Kiyotaka Ayanokouji would clash? Who would she use?
Ichinose Honami? Kushida Kikyo? Or maybe she'd use Long Yuan from Class C to find a way to squeeze him out of room to survive?
She might even use the seniors in the Manga Club.
Forget it. He didn't need to think about it. He'd deal with whatever came, and if he couldn't, then so be it. No need to push himself.
He hummed a little tune, in a pretty good mood.
Suddenly, a figure entered his field of vision: Kiyotaka Ayanokouji.
What a coincidence. They'd just been talking about him, and now here he was. Should he tell him what he'd heard in exchange for some points?
Kiyotaka Ayanokouji had noticed Tsukishima too.
He pointed into the alley, then made a shushing gesture.
Tsukishima nodded, pulled out his phone, opened the camera, and crept over. Then he heard the two of them talking.
"You're still just a sister who can only imitate me. You think growing your hair long and getting good grades will make you into me?"
"I'm not!"
Horikita Suzune and Horikita Manabu.
Were these siblings on bad terms?
Tsukishima lay on the ground and stealthily stretched his phone forward.
"Is that so?" Horikita Manabu suddenly reached out, grabbed Horikita Suzune by the arm, and forced her into a corner. "Then tell me, what have you done since coming to this school? Other than relying on someone like Ayanokouji, what else can you do?"
Tsukishima glanced at Ayanokouji, whose expression hadn't changed at all, and nudged him. "He's talking about you~"
Ayanokouji glanced at him, his gaze unreadable, and lowered his voice. "Aren't you going to do something?"
Tsukishima looked at Ayanokouji in surprise. "What does their deep sibling bond have to do with me? If anyone should go, it's you. President Horikita just said that Horikita's been relying on you all along."
Ayanokouji's face remained expressionless. "I'm not good at handling situations like this."
"Come on~ You'll have to face it sooner or later. You might as well try learning now."
"Horikita might not be able to take it."
"That's a problem for you, the person she relies on, and Horikita Manabu. What does it have to do with me?"
"Horikita might get expelled."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"The class might lose all its Class Points. Tsukishima and Kushida would probably be in a lot of trouble."
"No need to worry about us. We'll be completely fine."
Horikita Manabu looked over, his voice cool. "Come out."
Tsukishima sighed. "This is all your fault. Otherwise, we might've gotten even better footage."
Ayanokouji rebutted expressionlessly, "You're probably partly to blame too, Tsukishima."
Horikita Manabu glanced at Ayanokouji, then turned to Tsukishima. "Name your price."
Tsukishima grinned and rubbed his hands together. "A late-night conversation between the Horikita siblings has to be worth at least 500,000 points."
Before Horikita Manabu could answer, Horikita Suzune protested, "Yuto Tsukishima, you're blackmailing us! This is none of your business!"
Tsukishima laughed. "Horikita's certainly got a playful side..."
Horikita Manabu's eyelid twitched. He sighed and started haggling without changing his expression. "300,000."
Horikita Suzune bit her lip as if to speak, but Horikita Manabu stopped her with a look.
"It's getting late, and I've got things to do back in my dorm. How about this? I'll take a small loss and make it a flat 400,000!"
"Fine."
Horikita Manabu took out his phone and made the transfer. The 400,000 points arrived instantly.
Tsukishima immediately started tapping on his phone. "Would you like to check?"
"No need."
"OK! Pleasure doing business with you. I didn't see a thing tonight. Oh, and the guy beside me is Ayanokouji. We don't know each other. I'm off."
After saying that, Tsukishima turned and left.
His phone vibrated.
[Kushida]: You here yet???
[Kushida]: My milk tea's gone cold!!!
[Kushida]: Are you standing me up???
[Kushida]: You cold-blooded, perverted cheapskate!!!
[Tsukishima]: Hang on, hang on. I'll be there soon. Tonight's been pretty eventful.
He quickened his pace and turned into the dorm building.
As soon as he entered, he saw a girl in a trench coat, wearing a mask and huge glasses, standing in front of the vending machine.
Tsukishima froze.
Were there perverts at this school now?
His brain had already started playing all kinds of pornographic scenarios: a teacher being forced, a female student being forced, being forced...
Wait, why was everyone being forced?!
The girl turned around and saw him, then suddenly rushed over. For a moment, Tsukishima wasn't sure whether he should run.
"What are you standing there for? Get upstairs!"
"Huh? Kushida? Have you gone into the pervert business?"
"Go to hell! Get upstairs, now!"
In Tsukishima's room, Kushida casually tossed her coat onto the bed, then plopped down. She sat with her legs tucked to one side, not even bothering to keep up appearances anymore, and immediately launched into a tirade:
"Those damn bugs! They should take a good look at themselves before they even think about confessing to me!"
"'Kushida, you've worked so hard. Let me treat you to milk tea.' Ugh, it makes me sick! Why don't they just die?!"
"Ike, that clingy idiot! Yamauchi could fart and he'd call it fragrant! Then he tried to teach me how to catch fish. What a bastard! Is he a monkey or something?!"
"Sudo, that violent gorilla! What can he even do besides play basketball? All he knows how to do is yell and act like a gorilla!"
"Karuizawa, that bitch! Every day it's 'Hirata~ Hirata~' If she likes Hirata so much, why doesn't she just go die with him?!"
"I'm exhausted. Smiling all day, dealing with that bunch of idiots, listening to their moronic conversations... Why do I have to work so hard?!"
"And you, you perverted cheapskate! Was your brain soaked in piss or something? How else would you have so much dirty stuff in your head? You pervert, why don't you just die! If it weren't for you, would those bitchy old hens have teased me like that?"
"If it weren't for you, would those disgusting bugs have confessed to me?"
"And I have to swallow my disgust and smile while turning them down. Why? Why do I have to work so hard?!"
She really did seem to have been bottling things up. She grabbed a sheet of Tsukishima's drawings and tore it into shreds. Her face twisted with rage and mania. "Draw, draw, draw! What the hell are you drawing for? You think I don't know what's going through your head? Why don't you just die?!"
"With skills like yours, you think you can become a manga artist? Take a good look at yourself! Look at that face of yours, like you're already dead! You're no manga artist. You're a dead artist!"
Tsukishima looked troubled. As her voice grew louder and louder, he reached over, covered her mouth, and pinned her on her back against the bed. "Calm down. Keep your voice down. Don't shout so loudly. And don't tear up my drawings."
He swung himself onto the bed and used his legs to pin Kushida down, holding both her hands in place.
Before you continue