Heart's Knot and Tolerance

"..."

Horikita Suzune gripped her arm, looking somewhat troubled, her gaze fixed on a certain spot with a hesitant expression.

You En returned from his zero-yuan shopping spree at the supermarket, gnawed on the dry, hard baguette in his hand, and washed down the sawdust-like crumbs with a drink of water.

He walked up beside Horikita Suzune. "What's on your mind?"

Horikita Suzune flinched like a little girl—well, she was a little girl, after all.

Seeing it was You En, she gave him a half-hearted punch, quickly composing herself. For some reason, she always found herself relaxing around this person.

"I don't want to talk about my own matters with others."

You En looked deeply wounded. "Am I an outsider?"

What else would you be?

Horikita Suzune conveyed her meaning with her eyes.

He glanced over at the man sitting cross-legged in the middle of the club, eyes closed—Horikita Suzune's older brother, Horikita Manabu—and roughly guessed what she was thinking. So he said, "Suzune, if something's bothering you, just say it. I may not look it, but I'm actually pretty good at giving friends advice."

Friends?

The word felt foreign to Horikita Suzune. Maybe she'd once longed for it.

On the path of chasing her brother, what use were "friends" at school? Only herself.

And besides... even going all out, she wasn't enough.

You En watched Horikita Suzune, knowing she was spiraling, but now wasn't the time to force his way in.

In gaming terms, it'd be like the beautiful girl's affection level wasn't high enough to unlock her personal story.

He asked, "Are you going to sign up? For the student council."

Hearing You En's words, Horikita Suzune looked up at Horikita Manabu, who sat there with his eyes closed in meditation, and felt nothing but unease.

All these years, every effort she'd made had cut off almost all her relationships, all to improve herself—yet it hadn't closed the distance between them; instead, it had widened it.

Once, she could vaguely make out his back, but now even her brother sitting there had become blurry.

She couldn't understand it at all, as if they were from different dimensions.

"It seems no one meets the standard to enter the student council," Horikita Manabu said coldly, rising to leave. He spoke to everyone, yet it felt directed at one person. "Freshmen, I don't expect you to reach it now. This school is different from the outside world—it's not a place for enjoyment."

With that, he walked off. Senior Tachibana smiled at the freshmen and followed.

"Didn't you try?" You En asked. "The student council interview. It looks like you really want to see him—the president."

Horikita Suzune shook her head, then suddenly looked at You En. "Don't misunderstand. I don't feel that way about the student council president. The relationship between him and me... it's not what you think."

"What I think? What am I thinking?" You En asked knowingly, wanting to see Horikita Suzune's reaction.

Horikita Suzune felt lost herself after saying it. Why would she say that? Even if others misunderstood, she shouldn't care in principle.

What was wrong with her these past two days?

Suddenly, her mouth went dry, and irritation churned inside her. She closed her eyes and spoke, her tone cold with a hint of anger, "Leave me alone. You're getting annoying."

"Oh, then I'll head back first." You En turned and left.

Horikita Suzune held out for a few seconds, then opened her eyes to watch his retreating figure. A pang of guilt rose in her heart, but something inside her was acting up—she wanted to call out but couldn't.

You En found the spot where his classmates were gathered. It wasn't hard—just look for Kushida Kikyo. There was something about her that drew male gazes involuntarily.

Hirata Yosuke, the good guy surrounded by the girls in the class, spotted You En and immediately broke free from the crowd, walking over. "You En-kun, how's it going? I heard someone in class say you signed up as a formal member of the Kyudo Club. That's really impressive."

You En shook his head slightly, speaking casually. "What's so impressive about it? I've only been nominated."

Hirata Yosuke smiled. "You're too modest. I heard from a senior in the Soccer Club that formal members and regular members are totally different. Apparently, later on, when we leave school and go out for 'practice,' formal members can get a lot of help from the club. Plus, the Kyudo Club is a big club—one of the advanced clubs—so the help they can offer is even greater. Our Soccer Club has a lot of members, but we haven't been rated as an advanced club yet—just intermediate."

You En carefully noted Hirata Yosuke's words, turning them over in his mind.

The club's ranking system wasn't explained in the original either. What exactly does being a full member do? What are the so-called assessments and rewards?

Still not enough information.

You En asked, "Did the senior from your Soccer Club say anything else?"

Hirata Yosuke listened, first lowering his head to think for a moment, then looked up and spoke with some uncertainty, "It seemed like the senior from the Soccer Club wanted to hint at something to me, but he hesitated and ultimately didn't say it. Rather than not wanting to say it, it felt more like he couldn't say it?"

As expected of Class D's true stabilizing pillar—his observational skills were actually not bad, and he had good connections too, able to gather this information.

You En was now certain that this school was absolutely different from the original, And it probably wasn't just about getting injured or suffering—maybe it could even lead to... death.

But he was only speculating. After all, how could a school in an ordinary world be this extreme?

Though he had another even more outlandish guess, that one was truly absurd. He could only think it over for himself.

"Are you planning to become a full member?"

"Yeah," Hirata Yosuke nodded, then smiled a little sheepishly, "The senior said my current conditions aren't good enough yet. If I can improve a bit more, he'll be able to nominate me."

You En understood.

Hirata really liked soccer and was very interested in becoming a full member of the Soccer Club, so he wanted to ask You En, who had already succeeded, how it worked. But he was a bit embarrassed to ask, afraid of prying into You En's privacy.

"I don't have any special tricks. I just muddled through and succeeded. Maybe it's about talent, or maybe it's one's personal core."

"How do you improve talent?"

Hirata Yosuke gave a slightly bitter smile, then muttered, "Personal core, huh?"

He seemed to have found his answer.

"Thanks," Hirata Yosuke thought of something and pulled out his student terminal, "You haven't joined our class group yet."

"Okay."

You En took out his terminal and joined the class group, feeling a bit like he was back in his past life as a student.

"By the way, can you add Horikita to the group?"

Hirata Yosuke asked, "It seems like no one in the class has her contact info. Besides you, only Ayanokoji can exchange a few words with her, but I asked Ayanokoji, and he said he's not familiar with Horikita Suzune and doesn't have her contact info."

You En thought for a moment and nodded, "I'll try."

Although Horikita Suzune had just lost her temper at him, You En actually understood her fairly well. Because he understood, he wasn't angry—instead, he could sympathize a little.

Growing up in a rather rigid family environment, having almost no friends throughout her school life, being both naive and strong-willed as a girl.

The only person she could once rely on, her brother, was ignoring her. In such an unfamiliar environment, with someone appearing who seemed dependable, she would fall into conflict—this was precisely a sign of her thinking about herself.

Of course, this was actually a form of misdirected anger. Unable to vent at her brother, she couldn't bear it anymore and could only lash out at others.

Misdirected anger is admittedly not a great trait, a sign of immaturity, but it does have its benefits—it can prevent current pressure from harming one's own psyche, even if it hurts others.

As a reincarnator, You En had lived alone since childhood and had enough life experience. His mentality was strong enough that he could hardly call it enduring.

Of course, the more crucial reason was perhaps his fondness for Horikita Suzune.

Rather than controlling everything about the other person, You En preferred people with independent personalities like this.

Because, to him, such people were more interesting.

The sky over the campus gradually darkened, and then the streetlights took over, lighting up.

Inside the dormitory.

Horikita Suzune lay on her back on the bed, still in her school uniform, not bothering to wash up. She covered her eyes with her arm to block the glare of the light.

"..."

After returning, she thought for a long time. She wanted to apologize to You En, but she also didn't want to admit she was wrong. Torn, she finally decided to give up on this friendship, just like before—she'd be fine on her own.

It was only two days anyway...

Horikita Suzune tried to convince herself, but just then—

"Beep, beep, beep..."

The phone notification sounded.

"You En Tiandai: 'Hey, Suzune, want to join a group?'"

Horikita Suzune directly called him back, and it was quickly answered, "Hello?"

Hearing the voice on the other end, Horikita Suzune froze for a moment, only then realizing she had no idea why she had made this call.

"Hello there, moshi moshi, you there?"

Listening to the playful voice on the other end, she took a deep breath, wanting to say stop bothering me, but swallowed the words back down in the end.

The call remained connected, yet neither of them spoke.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes...

The girl finally spoke, her voice extremely soft, "I'm sorry."

After waiting ten seconds, The voice on the other end came through, calm and steady, like the vast ocean, nothing like the usual boy.

He spoke, just four words, "I'm very glad."

The two of them, separated by floors, laughed at the same time.

The smile on her lips didn't fade, Horikita Suzune hadn't laughed this happily in a long time. She opened her heart just a little, "The student council president is my brother."

"I know."

Hearing those three words, Horikita Suzune realized that the reason he was willing to tolerate her was because he had already guessed much of the situation. But what if he hadn't? Would he still have taken the initiative to contact her like today?

"Am I being too willful?"

"I don't particularly like willfulness, but I do like people who can grow... I imagine your brother feels the same."

"Is that so?"

Horikita Suzune said that line with a hint of unease, "Then can I grow to that level?"

After a moment of silence, You En spoke only one sentence.

"...The moment you stop asking that question, you'll have grown."

The girl thought for a long time, then said sincerely, "Thank you."

As a classmate she had known for only a few days, There was simply no need for him to tolerate her like this, nor to guide her like this.

This thank you was just her way of expressing her feelings.