No Looking

Another day, just as he stepped into the classroom, You En immediately sensed a sleazy aura. Sure enough, it was the Three Idiots.

Oh, and they'd added that shut-in nicknamed "The Professor"—he remembered his name was Sotoyama Hideo.

"Awesome."

"Professor, you're a total genius!"

"Hehe, make sure you get plenty of shots of Kushida."

But honestly, most of the otaku You En knew were kind and harmless to society. Guys like this, planning to sneak a camera into swim class to film girls—they were just creeps.

You En walked to his seat, spun his chair around, sat down, and looked at a girl whose expression wasn't great.

"In a bad mood?"

"It was fine."

Horikita Suzune was telling the truth. After talking with You En on the phone last night, she'd somehow been happy all evening, and she'd woken up feeling energetic this morning.

But coming to class early, she'd run into those idiots, who kept sizing her up. Honestly, she thought she was being pretty tolerant by not cursing them out.

"Want me to say something to them?"

You En asked.

Horikita Suzune was a little curious. "What are you planning to say?"

You En opened his mouth. "I'll just say you're my girlfriend. No staring allowed!"

He stressed the last three words, making Horikita Suzune laugh out loud.

She looked at his somewhat childish expression and shot him a glare. "No staring allowed! Listen to you, so full of yourself. Forget it, I can't be bothered with them."

You En shamelessly added, "I'm serious about that suggestion. Just think of it as me taking one for the team."

Horikita Suzune snapped, "Say that again and I'll punch you. 'Taking one for the team,' my ass."

You En grinned and put his hands up in surrender.

Horikita Suzune couldn't help but smile. She thought this was nice.

They hadn't known each other long, but she'd already gotten a pretty good sense of who he was. At least for her, he was the first friend truly worth getting close to.

So, Horikita Suzune decided to make her first invitation. Her tone was calm, but inside she was inexplicably nervous.

"I'm planning to apply for the student council. Can you come with me later?"

"No problem,"

You En agreed right away. "My elective is fourth period in the afternoon. I'll come find you after it's over."

"Let's meet at Palette, then,"

Horikita Suzune said, knowing he was broke. "My treat."

You En knew where it was, but he felt a bit awkward using her points again, so he said, "That popular café? Isn't that a bit too extravagant?"

Horikita Suzune found it amusing. "Ha, what makes you think something's extravagant, big-shot writer?"

"Big-shot writer? I'm just a commercial hack. And outside is outside—in here, you can't use cash. For someone like me with zero points in my pocket right now, it's definitely extravagant."

You En had a clear sense of his own situation.

"Let's meet at the cafeteria on the east side of campus. I've tried the free food at all the cafeterias at different times, and that one's the only decent option."

"Fine."

Horikita Suzune didn't push further. She just made up her mind to treat him to something a bit more normal later. She felt he'd had it rough, getting screwed over so badly by this school.

But was signing up for such expensive courses even worth it?

"Ding-ding-ding-ding..."

The pre-class bell rang.

First period of the morning began.

The discipline and atmosphere in the classroom couldn't even be described as bad.

The chatter, noise, and stares from some of the boys made every girl uncomfortable.

And most of the students in this class had poor self-discipline to begin with.

Not only were they not paying attention themselves, but they were also disrupting the students who actually wanted to learn.

For the first time since entering the school, You En frowned slightly.

Being disturbed was a minor annoyance, sure, but his main thought was: if things really were as he predicted—at the very least, a harsh, real-world assessment—then why the hell were these people even brought in?

You En couldn't be bothered to listen to the lesson either. He'd already skimmed through it and was mostly done. With his past life as a foundation and his freakishly good memory in this life, he picked up science subjects quickly, and for humanities, he only needed to read through twice to remember. Academic pressure was hardly a concern for him.

He pulled out his terminal and organized the information he had gathered over this period. Every night, he would jot down the important points from the day's events.

In his contacts, he found Hirata Yosuke.

You En remembered that under normal circumstances, he would become the class representative. In fact, no one else in Class D was more suited for the role.

He composed a message and sent it directly.

"You En Tiandai: 'There might be a few immature male students in the class planning to do something to the girls, which could cause some bad influence. Hirata, do you want to nip it in the bud?'"

Hirata Yosuke, sitting in the first row, saw a pop-up on his student terminal. Thinking it was Kei Karuizawa, he instinctively prepared to close it and reply later.

But when he saw the message was from You En, he immediately picked it up, unlocked it, and read it. After a moment's thought, he typed a reply and sent it.

"Hirata: 'I plan to directly stop them. Do you have any ideas?'"

You En smiled and gave a suggestion that was quite unfriendly to the boys.

"You En: 'Separate the boys and girls.'"

He didn't have much of an opinion. Normally, getting an eyeful during swimming class would be a nice perk, but now something disgusting was spreading that would make the vast majority unhappy, benefiting only a very few.

Hirata Yosuke nodded. He understood in his heart that those few idiots had gone too far.

He felt that You En was trying to prevent them from making mistakes.

"Hirata: 'Then let's do that. I'll go talk to the gym teacher during lunch break. Thank you, You En. You really look out for your classmates.'"

You En shook his head. In his past life, he had looked after relatives' kids from middle school onward, and even his advisor's kids during grad school, from the cute age to the age where even dogs and ghosts steer clear. He'd seen it all.

But honestly, for these guys to be this annoying even in high school was truly something special. They had no sense of how to behave, and didn't know the meaning of restraint.

Still, he had no intention of coddling them.

After all, You En wasn't related to them, had no stake in their affairs, and their behavior was so poor he had no goodwill toward them anyway.

As a classmate, he'd tolerate it once, and that was it. There wouldn't be a next time.

He replied.

"You En: 'I'm not a good person. The only one who truly cares about them is you, Hirata. I'll warn them this once, but I won't say anything next time.'"

A moment later, Hirata replied with a single word.

"Hirata: 'Okay.'"

During lunch break, the classroom was unusually restless.

Yamauchi Haruki was chatting enthusiastically with a few others. Hearing them complain about being unable to attract girls, he scanned the class, spotted the one who looked easiest to bully, and said, "Did you know? I got a confession."

Ike Kanji found it hard to believe. His goal was to be the first in class to get a girlfriend—had someone beaten him to it?

He pressed anxiously, "Really?"

Sudo Ken beside him said nothing, but his sideways glance conveyed two words:

"You?"

Yamauchi Haruki said smugly, "Really. Sakura confessed to me. A girl that plain comes confessing, of course I turned her down."

Ike Kanji panicked, "What?! Even if she's plain or not cute enough, shouldn't you at least try dating first?"

Yamauchi Haruki preened, satisfied with his friends' reactions.

After all, a girl like Sakura had no friends to talk to. Even if she overheard, she probably wouldn't say anything.

"Heh, unless it's someone on Kushida's or Hasebe's level, I wouldn't agree."

Airi Sakura was sensitive to others' gazes and shrank her body as much as possible.

You En looked up and naturally noticed this scene. He tilted his chair back against the desk behind him and turned his head.

"Suzune, how about making another friend?"

"Aren't you and I already friends?"

Horikita Suzune looked up, her gaze a bit cold, as if she'd bite his head off if he said no.

"I said another friend."

You En stressed the word "another."

Horikita Suzune realized she had misheard and put back on her aloof expression.

"Hmph. I don't really need so-called friends, but since you're saying this, there must be some reason."

"Over there."

You En gestured toward Airi Sakura.

Horikita Suzune looked at her cowering demeanor. She personally didn't like it, but said nothing, trying to guess You En's intent.

She didn't have friends to pass information through, but You En was about the same—acquaintances with most people at best. If that was the case, the problem had to be during lunch break.

Sakura was the type of girl easy to bully. Was it Karuizawa's group?

Horikita Suzune didn't see them. They were probably out chasing after Hirata Yosuke again.

Her gaze swept across the classroom, locking onto the culprit huddled among the three idiots' motley crew.

Horikita Suzune spoke. "It's them?"

"Pretty much."

You En asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Horikita Suzune shook her head. "I don't plan to meddle. If you want to go find yourself an obedient girlfriend, I wouldn't mind at all."

Why does the jealousy smell so strong.

You En felt a bit helpless. With things put that way, it actually made it even less likely for him to go talk to Airi Sakura.

"If I go talk to her, I'll probably just scare her more. Why don't you go have a chat with her?"

Horikita Suzune looked at You En, just wanting to take a jab at him.

"Let's just say someone does have some self-awareness.

Striking up a conversation with someone I don't know well—that requires me to have nothing to do, to be very free. But sorry, I'm really busy right now, especially since someone has already been bothering me for half the day."

She just didn't want too much contact with people. It wasn't really that she had things to do.

You En knew this very well. Horikita Suzune's standards for acquaintances and friends were too high, and her need for social interaction was actually very low.

Now that she had him as a friend, honestly, he felt like she could just coast through these three years like this.

He'd asked the wrong person. But if not Horikita Suzune, who should he ask?

Kushida? Hmm, he didn't really feel like seeking her out right now.

You En thought it over.

Forget it, he'd wait. See if there was a suitable opportunity later.

When Airi took the initiative to ask for help, or when others went too far, then he'd decide whether to help her or not.