Horikita's Night Visit to Kushida

She turned back and closed the door, her voice cool and clear:

"Tsukishima-kun was here just now, wasn't he?"

Kushida tilted her head, her smile sweet:

"Huh? Yeah, we were just discussing manga earlier."

Horikita's sharp gaze fixed on her:

"A person holding a large number of points, the de facto controller of the class, enters your dormitory at night and leaves after a long time. What do you think the other students in the class would think?"

She paused, her tone calm but oppressive: "This affects the credibility of the class representative. As the class representative, being this close to someone who holds a massive amount of points and has a deep scheming mind—how can I trust that your decisions won't be influenced?"

"How can I trust that you won't be persuaded by him, someone who doesn't care about the class at all, to sell out the class's interests?"

Kushida puffed out her cheeks, tears glistening in her eyes: "But we were just talking about manga! You're spreading rumors; no one in the class will believe you!"

Horikita didn't answer, instead shifting the topic: "I'm not interested in your relationship. However, I hope you can fulfill your duties as class representative. As a member of the class, I have a responsibility to ensure that the class representative's actions don't harm the class's interests."

Weekends always pass quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it was Monday again.

For Tsukishima, it didn't make much difference, but the other students in the class were a bit panicked.

Mainly because too much had happened recently, and when they came to their senses, they realized there was only one week left until the midterm exams.

Chabashira-sensei had said that anyone who failed the midterms would be expelled!

During the break.

Hirata stood up and clapped his hands: "Regarding this midterm exam, I've discussed it with Ichinose-san from Class B. For the next week, students who aren't confident in their grades can apply to me for one-on-one tutoring from Class B students. It's also to deepen the cooperation between our two classes..."

Tsukishima watched Hirata at the podium, then continued sketching lines in his little notebook, head down on the desk.

Just as he was lost in his drawing, oblivious to the world, his elbow was suddenly hit hard.

The tail of the chibi little demon instantly broke free from the drawing's confines and soared into the sky.

"Ah, s-sorry, I didn't mean it! Sorry!"

Before Tsukishima could figure out what was happening, a figure beside him started bowing frantically, bowing three or four times in quick succession, then straightened up, covered their face, and ran off.

Huh?

Tsukishima stared at the retreating figure, a bit dumbfounded. What was that? What's going on?

The surrounding students started whispering among themselves.

"Hey hey hey, no way, that was Sakura-san, right?"

"Tsukishima, not satisfied with bullying Kushida-san, now he's bullying Sakura-san too?"

"Damn it!"

"That doesn't seem right... It looked like Sakura-san bumped into Tsukishima's desk and then apologized..."

"Tsukishima must have bullied Sakura-san; Kushida-san even..."

Tsukishima turned his puzzled gaze toward those students, and the murmuring stopped.

Come on, keep going, what about Kushida-san? You're no different from those damn cliffhanger authors who drop their stories!

And isn't Sakura-san always like this?

Shy, easily flustered—maybe she was just in a hurry to go to the bathroom and got a bit rushed. What's the problem?

Tsukishima turned his head to look at Kushida, who was chatting with someone. She noticed him too.

Kushida smiled, her eyes lighting up, waved at him, then hopped over to Tsukishima like a little deer in the forest.

"Tsukishima-kun, good morning~"

"Kushida-san... good morning."

Tsukishima had a bad feeling about this.

Kushida returned to her seat, leaned toward Tsukishima, and with a sly, squinty-eyed look, she squeezed out a syrupy voice: "Tsu~ki~shi~ma~kun~~, want to come to my room tonight to discuss the manga plot? I came up with some really good ideas~~"

Tsukishima shuddered, goosebumps rising all over his body, nearly throwing up last night's dinner.

"Damn it! Kushida-san!!!"

"Tsukishima, that bastard, he actually, actually dares to do this to Kushida-san!!!"

"Damn it! I'm so jealous of Tsukishima! Kuso!!!"

Several male students shouted from the corner.

What the hell are you guys even saying?

What exactly did I do to Kushida? I don't even know!

The girls were also grinding their teeth in frustration. One girl suddenly stepped forward: "Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you have some points! Kushida-san, Kushida-san won't give in!"

Tsukishima pointed at Kushida, whose eyes were full of sparkling stars: "How do you see 'not giving in' on that face? She's completely my shape, okay?"

Someone probably asked Kushida why she was so close to him, and she probably said she was modeling for him, and he gave her points, maybe adding a few words like "for everyone's sake."

But judging by Kushida's current state, she'd probably spun some story: at first she didn't want to, full of disgust, but slowly she found it wasn't so bad, and now she couldn't leave it—some kind of degenerate fall plot.

But that didn't quite fit. A central air conditioner shouldn't be blowing on just one person.

"Shut up! You two-timing jerk!"

"Give Kushida back to us!"

"What, you think you're something special? Kushida, we'll definitely earn points and get you back!"

"So exciting—the class's saint has to let that evil Tsukishima do all sorts of things to her for everyone's sake, hehehe..."

Wait, that last guy, you're not right!

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and was about to start picking them off one by one, but a soft little hand pressed down on his shoulder.

"Everyone, please quiet down."

The surrounding noise instantly dropped by half, as if someone had hit the mute button.

Kushida Kikyo had stood up at some point, wearing that trademark, flawless, spring-breeze-like saintly smile.

Her hand rested on Tsukishima's shoulder, her voice gentle yet tinged with a hint of attachment: "Tsukishima hasn't been bullying me..."

Her face was flushed, her eyes darted away, and she clenched her little fist to give herself courage: "Tsukishima... is actually really gentle... Even though he always makes me pose in weird positions and say weird things, but, but he always gently guides and corrects my movements. Tsukishima is amazing..."

After saying that, she covered her face and sat back down in her seat.

"Dammit! What kind of weird positions?!"

"So jealous, you bastard!"

"As expected of that Tsukishima."

"I'm so jealous of Kushida... I want to be a model too!"

The classmates who had been verbally attacking suddenly fell silent, because the last speaker was a guy.