Better to Start with the Sweet Than the Bitter

Ichinose pouted and sat down on the massage chair next to her. After paying the points on her phone, the massage chair started vibrating.

Then Shuichi Kanda witnessed a truly breathtaking scene.

After Ichinose lay down, she immediately felt comfortable, and the soreness in her shoulders seemed to have disappeared.

However, Shuichi Kanda saw it differently.

Ichinose had just taken a shower, appeared to be wearing no underwear because she was wearing a yukata, and it seemed she had also turned the massage chair to its maximum power.

As the massage chair vibrated, Ichinose's chest began to bounce violently, creating a beautiful sight that Shuichi Kanda couldn't take his eyes off.

Ichinose seemed to sense it too, and when she opened her eyes, she saw her own bouncing chest and Shuichi Kanda staring at it.

However, Shuichi Kanda had no choice but to pull Ichinose up.

"Hey? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just didn't want other boys to see."

Seeing Shuichi Kanda's displeased expression, he chuckled.

What are you laughing at?

"No, I just think it's cute when Shuichi gets jealous because of me."

This left Shuichi Kanda completely bewildered.

Hey, are you kidding me?!

I'm 183cm tall, and you're only 159cm. That's a 24cm difference, so it's not your place to call me cute.

"You've got it backwards; you're the one who's adorable."

"Hehehe." Ichinose chuckled awkwardly, then rubbed her shoulders. "But my shoulders are still so sore. Shuichi, could you massage them for me?"

"Of course, no problem, but let's go somewhere else."

In the backyard of the hotel, there is a raised platform. After going up the steps, there is a small wooden terrace where you can enjoy the view.

Today is a free day, so most students are quite tired from the day and generally won't come here.

Furthermore, people aren't allowed in the backyard after 9 PM, so there's definitely no one there. But Shuichi Kanda doesn't care. Although Ichinose is a little worried, she obviously can't persuade Shuichi Kanda.

After Shuichi Kanda and Ichinose arrived, no one else came over; it seems everyone is a good student.

However, Ichinose was a little nervous, afraid of being discovered.

Are you cold?

Ichinose shook her head. "It's not cold."

However, Shuichi Kanda still grabbed Ichinose's hand and then shoved it into his pocket.

Feeling the warmth of Shuichi Kanda's hand, Ichinose rested her head on Shuichi Kanda's shoulder, and the two of them walked up the steps to the viewing area on the high platform.

"Wow, the view here is amazing, the night view of Hokkaido..."

"It's just so-so."

Hearing Shuichi Kanda's discouraging words, Ichinose pouted with a look of dissatisfaction.

"It's not as beautiful Honami."

Then he pulled Ichinose into his arms and successfully found her soft lips.

After lingering for about ten minutes, the two prepared to return to their room. After all, they were all operating in groups, and it wouldn't be good to disappear for too long.

However, just as the two were about to leave the backyard and return to their dormitory, a voice came from inside.

I like you! Please go out with me!

Then Shuichi Kanda grabbed Ichinose and hid around the corner.

That's Sudo's voice. Did he really confess to Horikita?

Meanwhile, Ichinose in her arms showed an excited expression. Sure enough, even Ichinose couldn't resist the temptation to gossip.

So, Shuichi Kanda and Ichinose peeked out and looked over.

From their perspective, they could see Horikita's back, while Sudo was bending over and extending his right hand.

"Uh—"

Horikita, who never expected to be confessed to, was frozen in place, completely at a loss for what to do.

"If you're willing to date me, I hope you'll shake my right hand in return!"

"Wait... are you serious...?"

This was serious. Horikita sensed it, as did Shuichi Kanda and Ichinose, who were hiding in the shadows. This was no joke, so Horikita couldn't brush it off as if it were a joke.

A silence fell over the room, and Sudo's heart pounded faster and faster, making time seem to drag on endlessly.

"Sudo, thank you for liking someone like me," Horikita said, expressing her gratitude. However, she didn't take Sudo's hand. "But, I'm sorry... I... can't reciprocate your feelings."

"Oh, I see... If it's convenient, could you at least... tell me why?"

Sudo seemed to have anticipated this outcome, but even so, he couldn't help feeling somewhat disappointed.

At that moment, Shuichi Kanda looked at Ichinose. The reason he and Ichinose had just started to get closer was because someone was going to confess to Ichinose.

At that time, Shuichi Kanda even invited Ichinose to his room.

Thinking of this, Shuichi Kanda hugged Ichinose a little tighter, which puzzled her.

"The reason... is true. Let me make this clear first, it's not that I dislike you, but unfortunately, I... seem to have someone I like."

Sudo then looked up, because the answer was obvious.

Horikita | She has someone she likes, but she rejected her confession, so the person she likes is definitely not herself.

"Is that person Kanda?"

In the shadows, upon hearing Sudo's words, Ichinose turned to look at Shuichi Kanda, who gave her a helpless expression, as if to say, "I can't help it, I didn't want to be this outstanding either."

Horikita considered for a moment, then nodded. "I don't know if what I feel for him is love, but whenever I see him speaking eloquently on the podium during Special Exam, I feel very calm. At those times, I wish time could just go on forever."

Sudo lowered his right hand, trembling. This was love.

Moreover, the expression on Horikita's face when she talked about Shuichi Kanda was one she had never seen before.

However, Sudo also understood Shuichi Kanda's excellence, and he understood that excellent people always attract the opposite sex.

Not to brag, but Sudo felt that he had become somewhat outstanding, and that he had also attracted Onodera's affections.

Sudo then took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"I see... Thank you for telling me."

Faced with Horikita's rejection, Sudo didn't persist; instead, he calmly accepted it. However, he seemed even less able to accept Onodera immediately.

Chapter 378 It's Better to Suffer First Than to Enjoy First Sweetness

This matter seemed to be coming to an end, and then Ichinose immediately took Shuichi Kanda's hand and returned to the previous platform.

What are you planning to do?

Shuichi Kanda looked puzzled when he heard Ichinose's question.

"What do you mean, what should we do?"

"Horikita, what are you planning to do?" Ichinose, not jealous at all, but instead encouraging him.

"Um, it depends on the situation?"

"What do you mean 'depends on the situation'? Horikita is so outstanding, don't you want to win him over?" Ichinose urged.

Shuichi Kanda looked helpless. Other girls' girlfriends would keep an eye on their boyfriends to prevent them from cheating, but why was it the other way around in his case?

It seems everyone wants to take in as many as possible.

Well, that's not bad either.

No, it's really good!

"Okay, I think this should be fine," Shuichi Kanda said helplessly.

"What do you mean 'this is always okay'? You need to give me a proper answer."

Ichinose looked at Shuichi Kanda with a serious expression.

"That depends on when Horikita realizes her own feelings. At least during our time at school, I don't plan to be too proactive," Shuichi Kanda shrugged.

There's really no other way. Kamuro, Ichinose, Chabashira, and Kiryuin —that's five already. Even with his good physical abilities, Shuichi Kanda can't handle five people.

Not to mention others such as Hasebe, Sakura, and Shiina.

Although Ichinose wasn't entirely satisfied with Shuichi Kanda's answer, she wasn't the type to pry, and since it was almost time, Ichinose didn't press the matter further.

After Horikita and the others left, the two of them came out of the backyard and then returned to their respective rooms.

Tonight, no one continued yesterday's pillow fight. After all, everyone had played all day, and nobody had the motivation to cause any more trouble.

Kanzaki didn't mention anything about the day's events in his room, and after a night's rest, the students began their third day of school trip.

Despite what happened yesterday, the school trip hasn't been cancelled. After all, if they just stopped it abruptly, wouldn't they have to explain to the students what happened?

Whether telling the truth or lying, this is no small matter, so the school has decided to continue the school trip. However, if the three people involved are still not in a good mood, they can choose to take leave and rest.

At 9:00 a. m. on the third day, the students boarded a bus together and departed from the hotel. The starting point for the third day was near Sapporo Station.

Shuichi Kanda and the others spent more than fifty minutes in the car, and it was almost ten o'clock when they arrived at their destination.

It's worth mentioning that after two days of rest, Chabashira-sensei has recovered well and no longer needs Shuichi Kanda's help with chores.

The Sapporo Station area also features the Sapporo Clock Tower and numerous tourist attractions. Although today's group will again operate separately, there is one difference from yesterday.

The school arranged a short quiz for each group.

The goal is to visit six of the fifteen pre-selected destinations before 5 PM, in any combination.

Six out of fifteen attractions were selected, resulting in a total of 5005 groups. However, Shuichi Kanda and his group only had 20 groups. Given the diversity of human beings, the groups would be easily broken up.

If you visit fewer than six attractions within the time limit, your free time on the fourth day will be reduced to a mandatory book club at the hotel.

Furthermore, the group members were required to travel together to the six attractions.

Because the school requires all group members to take a commemorative photo at designated photo locations at each attraction, the school will only acknowledge that they have visited a particular attraction after all group members have taken the photo together.

Therefore, the strategy of going to a tourist attraction alone and taking photos is no longer feasible.

In addition, you can earn points for reaching each attraction. If you can get more than 20 points at six attractions, each member of the group will receive a reward of 30,000 Private Points.

While it's better than nothing, there should be some students eyeing this.

For example, students in Class D would probably really want those 30,000 points, while students in Class A would probably prefer to visit the attractions they want to see.

Then the first point of contention arose: should priority be given to choosing attractions with higher scores to gain points, or should priority be given to visiting the attractions one actually wants to see? This became the subject of the debate.

The students in Class A thought that the students in Class D were a bunch of poor bastards who were definitely just trying to get high scores.

In the eyes of the students in Class D, the group of guys in Class A were just lucky; they simply didn't like each other.

Despite their dislike for each other, the students in Class D still wanted to go to Class A, and the students in Class A wouldn't try to trip up the students in Class D because of this.

Moreover, the group has a peacemaker from Class C, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

As for the members of Class B, most of them endured humiliation and hardship, hoping that one day they could rebuild the glory of the original Class A!

So, right from the start, the first point of contention among the groups immediately arose: which six attractions to visit that day.

Of course, Shuichi Kanda's group didn't have these problems; their group consisted of four students from Class A and two from Class C.

Although Class C doesn't have as many Class Points as Class A, it's definitely enough for them.

Therefore, everyone began to express their opinions and say where they wanted to go.

"I haven't been to any of these places, and I haven't done any travel planning, so I'm open to going anywhere; you can choose." Shuichi Kanda stated his position immediately. "However, if we can't reach a conclusion within half an hour, I'll just randomly select six from your proposals, is that alright?"

Shuichi Kanda's suggestion was very reasonable, and none of the group members had any objections.

However, despite saying that, Shuichi Kanda was still looking at the homemade tourist guidebook he had picked up on the bus, which listed the scores for each attraction.

The Sapporo Clock Tower, Sapporo TV Tower, and Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art are in one section.

Nakajima Park and Hokkaido Shrine are two separate locations.