No Peeking

It was another day. As soon as You En walked into the classroom,

he sensed a sleazy vibe. Sure enough, it was the Three Idiots.

Oh, and they'd brought along a geek they called "Doctor." If he remembered right, his name was Sotoyama Hideo.

"This is great!"

"Doctor, you're a genius!"

"Heh heh. Make sure you take plenty of pictures of Kushida."

But how should he put it?

You En thought most geeks were kind and harmless to society. Anyone planning to bring a camera to swimming class to secretly photograph girls was just a creep.

You En went to his seat, turned his chair around, and sat down facing a girl who didn't look too happy.

"Bad mood?"

"I was in a good mood before."

Horikita Suzune was telling the truth. After talking with You En on the phone the night before, she'd spent the whole evening in high spirits for some reason. She'd woken up feeling pretty energetic, too.

But when she'd arrived early that morning, she'd found those idiots eyeing her and the other girls. Honestly, Horikita Suzune thought she'd already been pretty forgiving by only yelling at them a little.

"Want me to talk to them?"

You En asked.

Horikita Suzune sounded a little interested. "What are you going to say?"

You En opened his mouth. "I'll tell them you're my girlfriend. Nobody's allowed to look!"

He put extra emphasis on the last three words, making Horikita Suzune laugh.

She looked at his slightly childish expression and glared. "Nobody's allowed to look? You're really enjoying yourself, huh? Forget it. I'll just ignore them."

You En shamelessly replied, "I'm seriously suggesting it. Think of it as me taking one for the team."

Horikita Suzune snapped, "Say that again and I'll hit you. You're the one taking one for the team?"

You En grinned and raised his hands in surrender.

Horikita Suzune smiled, too. She thought this was nice.

They hadn't known each other long, but she'd already gotten a good idea of what he was like. At least to her, he was the first person worth becoming close friends with.

So Horikita Suzune decided to make an invitation for the first time. Her voice was calm, but inside, she felt a nervousness she couldn't quite explain.

"I'm planning to apply for the Student Council. Could you come with me later?"

"No problem."

You En agreed at once. "My elective is during fourth period this afternoon. I'll come find you when it's over."

"Then let's meet at Palette."

Horikita Suzune knew he was broke, so she offered, "My treat."

You En knew where it was, of course, but felt a little awkward about using her points again. "Isn't that popular café a bit too extravagant?"

Horikita Suzune found that amusing. "Ha! What could possibly be too extravagant for you, great author?"

"What great author? I'm just a commercial hack. Besides, outside is one thing, but we can't use cash here. For someone with not a single point in his pocket, it definitely counts as extravagant."

You En knew exactly where he stood.

"Let's meet at the dining hall on the east side of the school. I've tried the free food at the different dining halls at various times, and that one's the only one that tastes decent."

"Fine."

Horikita Suzune didn't argue. She simply decided that she'd treat You En to a somewhat more decent meal then. He seemed to have it pretty rough, considering how badly the school had screwed him over.

But was signing up for such an expensive course really useful?

"Ding-ding-ding..."

The warning bell rang.

First period began.

The discipline and atmosphere in class were so bad that "terrible" didn't even begin to describe it.

The boys' chatter, noise, and stares made all the girls uncomfortable.

Besides, most of the students in this class were already poorly behaved.

They weren't just failing to pay attention themselves; they were also distracting students who wanted to listen.

Since arriving at the school, You En had frowned for the first time.

Being distracted was a little annoying, of course.

But what he was really thinking was this: if his prediction was right and the school was planning to put them through a genuinely rigorous exam, why had it brought this bunch here in the first place?

You En couldn't be bothered listening to the lesson anymore. He'd already reviewed the material once and more or less had it down. With the foundation from his previous life and his unusually good memory in this one, he picked up the sciences quickly and only needed to read the humanities material twice to remember it. His studies weren't stressful at all.

He took out his terminal and organized the information he'd collected recently. Every evening, he wrote down the important details he'd come across that day.

He found Hirata Yosuke in his contacts.

You En remembered that, if things followed the normal course, Hirata Yosuke would become class representative. In fact, there was no one else in Class D more suited to the role.

He composed a message and sent it.

"You En Tiandai: "A few of the boys in class might be acting immaturely and planning to do something that could make the girls uncomfortable. It could have some negative consequences. Hirata, could you deal with it before it gets out of hand?""

Hirata Yosuke was sitting in the front row when a pop-up appeared on the Student Terminal beside him. Thinking it was Kei Karuizawa, he instinctively started to close it, intending to reply later.

But when he saw that You En had sent it, he immediately picked up the terminal and unlocked it. After reading the message, he thought for a moment, then typed out and sent his reply.

"Hirata: "I'm planning to go stop them directly. Do you have any suggestions?""

You En smiled and gave him a suggestion that was decidedly unfavorable to the boys.

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

He didn't have any particular ideas. Getting to feast his eyes during swimming class would've been nice, but something unpleasant was spreading now, and it would make almost everyone unhappy while benefiting only a handful.

Hirata Yosuke nodded. He understood that those idiots had gone too far.

He thought You En was trying to keep them from making a mistake.

"Hirata: "Then that's what I'll do. I'll talk to the gym teacher during lunch. Thanks, You En. You're really considerate of your classmates.""

You En shook his head. He'd been looking after his relatives' kids since middle school in his previous life, and even took care of his advisor's kids while in graduate school. He'd watched them grow from well-behaved little ones into absolute terrors. He'd seen plenty.

But honestly, for these guys to still be this obnoxious in high school was something else. They had no idea how to deal with people and couldn't even rein themselves in a little.

Still, he wasn't going to indulge them.

After all, You En wasn't related to them, nor did he have any stake in their affairs. On top of that, he had no good impression of them, given their poor behavior.

He'd put up with them this once as a classmate. That was all. There wouldn't be a next time.

He replied:

"You En: "I'm not a good person. You're the only one who's genuinely looking out for them, 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.""

At lunchtime, the classroom was unusually rowdy.

Yamauchi Haruki was chatting away with the others. Seeing them all complain that they had no chance of attracting girls, he scanned the classroom and picked the girl who looked easiest to bully.

"Did you know? Someone confessed to me."

Kanji Ike was incredulous. His goal was to be the first in class to get a girlfriend. Had someone beaten him to it again?

He hurriedly asked, "Really?"

Ken Sudō didn't say anything. He just gave Yamauchi Haruki a sidelong look that said it all.

"You?"

Yamauchi Haruki said smugly, "It's true. Sakura confessed to me, but she's so plain-looking that I turned her down."

Kanji Ike panicked. "What?! Even if she's plain or not that cute, shouldn't you at least try going out with her first?"

Yamauchi Haruki was pleased with himself, and with his friends' reactions.

Anyway, a girl like Sakura didn't have many friends to talk to. Even if she happened to overhear, she probably wouldn't say anything.

"Heh. Unless it's someone like Kushida or Hasebe, I'm not interested."

Airi Sakura was very sensitive to other people's gazes, so she tried to make herself as small as possible.

You En looked up, naturally noticing what was happening. He leaned his chair against the desk behind him and turned around.

"Suzune, how about making another friend?"

"Aren't you already my friend?"

Horikita Suzune looked up, her gaze turning a little cold. It was as if she were daring him to say no so she could come over and bite his head off.

"I meant make another friend."

You En put extra emphasis on the word "another."

Horikita Suzune realized she'd misheard him and resumed her usual cool expression.

"Hmm. I don't particularly need friends, but if you're saying that, you must have a reason."

"There."

You En gestured in Airi Sakura's direction.

Horikita Suzune looked at her timid posture and didn't particularly like it, but she said nothing, trying to work out what You En was getting at.

She didn't have friends passing information to her, and You En was much the same, on casual terms with most people. In that case, the issue must have come up during lunch.

Sakura was the sort of girl who was easy to pick on. Was this the Karuizawa group's doing?

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

She swept her gaze around the class and identified the culprits among the bunch of idiots gathered around the Three Idiots.

Horikita Suzune asked, "Them?"

"More or less."

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

Horikita Suzune shook her head. "I'm not getting involved in other people's business. If you want to go find yourself an obedient girlfriend, I don't mind at all."

Why did she sound so jealous?

You En was a little helpless. After she'd put it that way, there was even less chance he'd go talk to Airi Sakura himself.

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

Horikita Suzune looked at You En, clearly wanting to tease him.

"I can only say that someone knows his limits.

"Talking to someone I don't know would be fine if I had nothing to do and was very bored. But, sorry, I'm really busy right now, especially since a certain someone has already been distracting me all morning."

She simply didn't want to interact with people much. It wasn't as though she actually had anything to do.

You En knew perfectly well that Horikita Suzune set the bar too high for acquaintances and friends, and didn't have much need for socializing in the first place.

Now that she had him as a friend, honestly, she could probably get through all three years like this.

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

Kushida? Hmm, he wasn't particularly keen on approaching her first right now.

You En thought it over.

Forget it. He'd wait and see if a suitable opportunity came up later.

If Airi asked for help, or if someone else went too far,

then he'd decide whether to help her.