Why Won't the Phone Go Through?!! / Want to Go Out?

Her naturally naive nature seems to be amplified even more during this downtime.

"So, that's why you've been so restless all afternoon?"

I poured a glass of hot milk, placed it in Shiina Hiyori's hand, and asked her a question.

"Well... it's my first time in a boy's room, I'm a little nervous."

Upon receiving the hot milk, Shiina Hiyori felt much more relaxed, like a whale leaping out of the water for air.

But this "relaxation" seemed to only apply when she was speaking; her head remained lowered, her eyes fixed on the cup in her hand, completely daring not to look up at her surroundings.

"There's nothing in my room that's shameful, so don't be so nervous."

I placed my hands on her shoulders and gently massaged them to help relieve her discomfort.

"Besides, if you really can't stand it, you can just refuse. Why do you have to listen to Karuizawa?"

Upon hearing my statement, Shiina Hiyori looked surprised, seemingly taken aback by my suggestion.

"Oh right, it seems like you can refuse."

Could this child have been unaware of this?

"In other words, Shiina never intended to reject En-kun, Yui-kun~"

At this moment, Karuizawa Kei also chimed in from the sidelines, with a "the more chaos the better" smile on her face.

Seeing her mischievous expression, I was about to lecture her, but her immediate request for food stopped me. Zhong

"En-kun, we're all hungry! Hurry up, it's midnight snack~"

She slipped to the other side of Shiina Hiyori, using the still clueless, airheaded girl as a shield against my lecturing.

However, upon hearing the words "late-night snack," Shiina Hiyori, who had just been malfunctioning, immediately looked up at me with expectant eyes.

"En-kun, I also want to eat the midnight snack you made!"

Miss, why are you so quick-witted at times like this?!

Finally, because it was too hot, I made them cold noodles, while Karuizawa Kei took the opportunity to make some coffee.

And then... and then what happened next, I can't remember.

The next day, I woke up at the same time as always.

I sat up, looked at Karuizawa Kei and Shiina Hiyori lying beside me, facing me, with one of their thighs draped over me, and fell into deep thought.

So which link in the chain went wrong, leading to this situation?

Fortunately, apart from some wrinkles from maintaining one position for a long time, our clothes were clean and intact; there were no strange marks on our bodies; the sheets and blankets were also clean and showed no signs of being changed.

So, we just lay together and slept, and that's it, right?

First Semester of First Year:

Why can't I get through on the phone?! (Chapters 142 and 133)

The hectic and chaotic month of June passed quickly, and soon the sweltering month of July arrived.

After three months of adjustment, the first-year students at Kodo Ikusei have pretty much figured out the school's system: the school holds "Special Exam" from time to time, which are different from regular exams, and the content of these Special Exam is usually announced on the 1st of each month.

If there's no specific announcement on the 1st, then this month is a "rest month" without Special Exam, so everyone can take a breather—just like June which just passed. After all, school isn't a prison.

Although for the students in Class 1-C and Class 1-D year, what happened in June was probably worse than what happened in April and May.

Just like in June, on July 1st, the class advisors did not explain the Special Exam for this month during the class meeting.

According to the previously "understood" mechanism, this month should also be a "rest month" without Special Exam. However, Hoshino En, who had gotten the news from her senior in advance, knew very well that there were Special Exam this month.

Furthermore, the lack of explanation on the 1st suggests that this month's Special Exam was likely a "crash course" and most likely took place off-campus.

The same situation occurred during the joint exam for second and third graders in May, when they left school on May 2nd—given this precedent, it's hard not to draw parallels.

Furthermore, the physical education teacher had previously hinted that the test would require swimming skills, and given the summer setting, the test would most likely take place at the beach.

That's all the information we can deduce; as for anything else, we'll have to wait until we get there.

But before the exam could begin, Hoshino En received a call from that woman.

"En-kun, I have some bad news for you."

It was lunch break after lunch, Hoshino En was on the rooftop of the school building, enjoying the breeze and digesting her food, when she received a call from that woman in Class A.

"What's wrong, Sakayanagi?"

["Well... I can't participate in this month's Special Exam. My father said my health is too weak, and there's a risk of something going wrong..."]

Her tone was unusually somber; Hoshino En had never heard such a voice from this proud and flamboyant girl before.

Moreover, she stopped halfway through her sentence; something must have been blocking her, preventing her from speaking.

As for what this thing actually is, Hoshino En could guess with her toes—besides tears, what else could possibly block out a person's voice when it appears?

Are you going to cry?

He suddenly asked.

These words directly provoked Sakayanagi Arisu.

["If you know, don't say it, you idiot--!!!"]

She yelled something loudly, then immediately hung up the phone.

Hoshino En: "..."

He glanced at his phone screen, which displayed "Call Ended," then silently switched the screen to another person in his contacts and made a call.

"Hey, Secretary Senior, I wanted to ask you something..."

Meanwhile, in the classroom of Class 1-A- A—

Seeing Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly collapse onto the table and burst into tears, the rest of Class A fell silent. Even the Katsuragi Faction, who disliked Sakayanagi Arisu, stopped their sarcastic remarks.

Oh, no, there's still one person.

"Ha, the leader of your Sakayanagi Faction is still just a child, crying on the table because he can't go on the trip."

Totsuka Yahiko cast a mocking smile at the rest of the Sakayanagi Faction, but Katsuragi Kohei intervened before he could launch a further attack.

"Yahiko, stop talking."

Unlike Class D, which was left to its own devices, Class A's homeroom teacher, Mashima Tomoya, subtly mentioned the "trip" to the students of Class A during the morning class meeting, and also learned that Sakayanagi Arisu would not be able to participate in the "trip".

She had just filled out that "refusal to participate" agreement, and then couldn't wait to start making phone calls. Others might not understand, but surely Katsuragi Kohei understood?

Sakayanagi must have told Hoshino En about it! But what did that bastard say to make Sakayanagi cry like this?!

"Kamuro, do you know anything?"

The matter concerning Hoshino En had always been handled by Kamuro Masumi, and now seeing Sakayanagi Arisu in this state, Katsuragi Kohei directly questioned her.

Katsuragi Kohei asked this question, the other members of Class A also turned their attention to Kamuro Masumi.

"I don't know, I'm asking that myself."

Kamuro Masumi was almost frantic; she was currently trying to call Hoshino Shigeno.

But the phone call, which usually connects instantly, now plays an electronic voice saying, "Busy, please try again later."

"Damn it, which woman is he Stealing Cat with? Why can't I get through on the phone??"

After trying several times without success, Kamuro Masumi had no choice but to try another approach.

She then called Karuizawa Kei and Kushida Kikyo, who were in the same class as Hoshino En, and even Shiina Hiyori and Ichinose Honami, who were in different classes.

Although the calls went through, the message they received was the same: they didn't know where Hoshino En was.

"Where the hell did that guy go?!"

"Are you looking for me, Kamuro?"

Just as she was about to go crazy with anxiety, a calm, somewhat cold male voice came from the classroom doorway, instantly drawing the attention of all the students in Class A.

The visitor was none other than Hoshino En, and he was in a cold and aloof demeanor.

"You--"

The aura emanating from him, even colder than that of Sakayanagi Arisu, made Kamuro Masumi's words catch in her throat, but Katsuragi Kohei, being a boy, was not so fragile.

He stood directly in front of Hoshino En and demanded, "What did you say to Sakayanagi?! Do you even know her—"

"I know."

Hoshino En glanced at him.

"So here I am, aren't I?"

His gaze swept across the classroom of Class A, past Katsuragi Kohei.

Soon, he found the figure sobbing uncontrollably on the table.

The small figure lay slumped over the large table, her body trembling, and the sound of her sobbing was particularly noticeable in the quiet classroom.

"I never expected her to cry like that, completely disregarding her image."

Hoshino En's voice was particularly clear in the quiet classroom.

Upon hearing his words, the students in Class A, many of whom were members of the Sakayanagi Faction Sakayanagi Arisu, all showed expressions of anger.

But before they could react, they were unable to—because Hoshino En had somehow already moved to Sakayanagi Arisu's seat.

He also saw the "refusal to participate" agreement, which was hidden under Sakayanagi Arisu's arm, with only a small portion visible to the outside.

"Refuse to participate? They actually made you sign something like this?"

Hoshino En Yui pulled out the agreement, glanced at it symbolically a few times, and then--

Sizzle--Sizzle--Sizzle--

He tore the agreement into pieces and carelessly tossed them next to Sakayanagi Arisu's seat.

First Semester of First Year:

Chapter 143 & Chapter 134: Want to go out and play?

"Sakayanagi, I said, aren't you usually able to bare your fangs and intimidate everyone? Why are you not working now?"

"He said you can't go, and you actually obeyed and didn't go? Don't be ridiculous, are you that kind of obedient little darling?"

"You--"

Sakayanagi Arisu raised her head, ignoring her red, tear-filled eyes and wet cheeks, and glared fiercely at Hoshino En.

Such slightly sarcastic remarks shouldn't have caused her to lose her composure like this, but her mental fortitude seemed to have been greatly weakened today, and she was simply unable to withstand such an attack—especially since it came from Hoshino En.

When she finally looked up, Hoshino En didn't, as usual, gentlemanly wipe away her tears. Instead, she took out her phone and snapped a few memorable photos of her tear-streaked face.

"Hoshino, that's incredibly rude of you!"

His actions immediately displeased Katsuragi Kohei, but his warning not only failed to elicit any reaction from Hoshino En, but also failed to gain any goodwill from Sakayanagi Arisu —the young lady instead gave him a subtle glare.

Katsuragi Kohei: Put on your red nose. jpg

Sakayanagi Arisu didn't miss Katsuragi Kohei's Hoshino En wink. Seeing that she was even considering such a thing, he said directly, "Are you calmed down? Then let's go."

He took out a few pieces of paper from his pocket, helped the girl wipe her face clean, and extended his right hand to her as usual.

Where to?

Sakayanagi Arisu asked, but before she could even figure out what Hoshino En was going to do, her body moved before her thoughts could—her right hand picked up the Cane leaning against the table, her left hand naturally slipped into Hoshino En's hand, and she stood up on her own.

"Where else can you go? Of course, Wu should go to his place and persuade Lu to let you go out and play!"

Hoshino En led Sakayanagi Arisu slowly out of the classroom.

"Oh, right, Kamuro."

Before stepping out of the classroom, Hoshino En suddenly turned around and looked at Kamuro- san, who seemed to have almost disappeared from sight.

"Could you please ask for leave for Sakayanagi? She probably won't be back this afternoon."

After giving the instructions, without waiting for her response or caring about the reactions of the others in Class A, he directly led Sakayanagi Arisu away from Class A.

Seeing them leave together, the other students in Class A, unaware of the situation, turned their attention to Kamuro Masumi, who seemed to be quite familiar with the shameless boy who had "swindled their Class A princess."

So, who exactly is that guy? And why is Classmate Sakayanagi so close to him?