Kito Hayato, the guy with the curly hair, seemed much like Kamuro Masumi. He was probably a stubborn sort. Tall and upright, he had clear signs of working out. He wore gloves on both hands. Was he a germaphobe, or was he hiding something? Calluses on his palms, maybe...? Tsk, there wasn't enough information to be sure.
"Looks like you two can get along just fine."
Sakayanagi Arisu had noticed all their little gestures.
"But this isn't a get-together for making friends."
"Hashimoto, Kito, take some of the leftover desserts home with you. Hoshino-kun already paid, after all."
"That's all for today. Oh, don't forget to leave some for Kamuro."
At Sakayanagi Arisu's instruction, the two men picked up the desserts that had already been packed and left. But before Hashimoto Masayoshi went, Hoshino En noticed him making faces at him.
He was being so obvious. Was he trying to make sure Sakayanagi Arisu saw?
Still, that only confirmed that Hoshino En's initial read had mostly been right: Hashimoto Masayoshi really was a smooth operator who put his own interests first.
A gesture that blatant was meant to exploit people's instinctive assumptions. Whatever he was hiding must be significant.
No, maybe Hoshino En was overthinking it. The other guy might simply have been trying to show some goodwill.
"What do you think of them?"
The bell rang again as the door closed behind them. Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Hoshino En and asked.
"Don't ask a question when you already know the answer. Besides, I'm hungry. Can we go have dinner now?"
"Ehh...? All right, all right. You're impossible."
Leaning on her cane, Sakayanagi Arisu set off, with Hoshino En following close beside her. Kamuro Masumi trailed behind them, carrying the desserts.
She hadn't gotten a definite answer, but Sakayanagi Arisu didn't mind that they could understand each other without spelling everything out. If anything, she liked it very much.
If only Kamuro could do that too.
She didn't have to be exactly like Hoshino-kun, but she could at least think a little faster.
Dinner passed without much incident. Hoshino En and Sakayanagi Arisu found a stylish Western restaurant, enjoyed their meal, and then went their separate ways.
Of course, Sakayanagi Arisu paid for dinner.
"Kamuro, if you have any questions, you can ask me directly. I never told you that you couldn't speak."
After watching Hoshino En leave, Sakayanagi Arisu spoke to Kamuro Masumi, who had come up behind her at some point.
"Why do you care so much about that guy from Class D?"
Kamuro Masumi was baffled.
At first, only the two of them had planned to go to the Student Council to buy the first-year student directory. But halfway there, Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly changed course and went to the Chess Club—and then never came back.
Worried that Sakayanagi Arisu might tell someone about her own situation, Kamuro had followed her using the GPS on their student ID terminals. As long as students added each other as friends, they could see one another's locations. She hadn't expected to find Sakayanagi Arisu on a date with a boy she didn't know.
Judging by his profile, she had flipped through the directory she'd just gotten and quickly figured out who he was: Hoshino En of Class 1-D.
Wasn't that the worst class?!
Now that she knew the truth about this school, she didn't think much of the guy. After all, what kind of decent person would end up in Class D?
"Just as I thought, Kamuro. You're exactly as Hoshino-kun said—very straightforward."
Looking at Kamuro Masumi, who was fixated on class rankings and still hadn't realized the problem, Sakayanagi Arisu wore a regretful expression and shook her head helplessly.
"...What do you mean?"
"You started following us back at the Chinese Chess Club, didn't you? Hoshino-kun noticed then. But he figured you were one of my people, so he didn't say anything at first and pretended not to know. Not until I brought Ichinose and the others into the conversation."
Kamuro Masumi: "..."
"If the school is going to set up competition between classes, it would never leave the lower-ranked classes with no chance of moving up. The lower classes might generally be less capable than Class A, but they'll certainly have students who are just as capable—and able to lead their classes in the competition."
"Likewise, to give the lower-ranked classes a way to break through, Class A can't be made up entirely of flawless elites. Some students will have weaknesses too, like you, Kamuro."
Kamuro Masumi: ...!!
"You, you..."
"But don't worry. You're one of my people, so I'll protect you."
She turned her face aside, her long, delicate brows and eyes curved with a mischievous smile. She held her cane in her right hand, while her free left hand covered the corner of her mouth, hiding the smile of someone teasing a toy.
Kamuro Masumi: ...!!!!!
This little devil... She was obviously treating me like an idiot!
"Even without my personal opinion, you really are an academic idiot in Class A, Kamuro."
And she was reading people's minds, too! That was going too far!
"That's just Cold Reading... Oh, you probably haven't heard of it, Kamuro. I won't bother explaining, then."
"You—"
Their bickering couldn't reach Hoshino En, who had already left. His stomach full, he was exploring the layout of the school.
First-year students didn't have classes on their first day. It was supposed to be a "perk" that gave them plenty of time to learn about the school. But because the school had deliberately concealed the truth, simply figuring that out had taken Hoshino En all day. He'd have to finish the rest of his exploration tonight.
The buildings for the three grades should be more or less the same. He'd already checked out the Special Building that afternoon, so the only thing left was the residential area.
By evening, Hoshino En was weaving between shops in the Shopping Mall.
Besides restaurants and clothing shops—places that catered to food and clothing—there were plenty of places for entertainment too, including karaoke bars, arcades, cinemas, and bookstores.
There was even a gym on the corner, with a public bathhouse right next door. They made good use of the combination.
There weren't many electronics stores, though. Actually, there seemed to be only one. After wandering around for ages, Hoshino En had found it tucked away in a corner of the Shopping Mall.
It wasn't a large shop, but it carried a decent range of products: computers, tablets, all the popular game consoles, cameras... It seemed to have every kind of digital device.
They even sold small, detachable cameras and portable voice recorders.
The only thing was—
Hoshino En looked at the shop assistant behind the counter, who was freaking out in front of his computer screen, and felt his stomach clench.
The shop assistant was a little odd. Why was he browsing a blog in the middle of work, right out in public?
And it was the blog of a fashionable gravure idol who looked about sixteen or seventeen!
Had the school even checked the shop assistants before approving the stores?
"Heh heh, Shizuku-chan, my Shizuku-chan, heh heh heh..."
Yikes, he was a hardcore fan. Was he a stalker?
Then again, even a stalker probably couldn't do much. This Uninhabited Island was generally off-limits to outsiders. Unless his idol was a student at Advanced Nurturing High School, he couldn't harass her even if he wanted to.
But since Shizuku-chan had debuted as a Gravure Idol, she probably wouldn't attend a school cut off from the outside world for three years. She could do just as well out there.
"We'll be together soon, my Shizuku-chan... Heh heh heh!"
Hoshino En: "..."
What was that supposed to mean?
Standing in the shop assistant's blind spot, Hoshino En pretended to examine the merchandise while taking a good look at his computer screen.
It showed a selfie of a pink-haired girl with twin tails. She was standing in a hallway, with golden evening sunlight streaming in from the side and casting light and shadow across her face. It was a beautiful shot.
That was a great photo. This idol didn't just rely on her youth; she had a good eye for photography, too.
Wait a second. This place looked familiar!
Hoshino En narrowed his eyes and examined it carefully.
The evening light made Shizuku-chan stand out as the subject, but that didn't mean the background was impossible to see.
She must have chosen the background carefully, but Hoshino En had just been there that afternoon. He could still picture it.
Wasn't that the Special Building?
So Shizuku-chan really was a student at Kodo Ikusei.
Hoshino En: "..."
This could be interesting!
He put down the item he'd been using as a prop, then took a small camera and a voice recorder he'd already picked out to the counter. He feigned surprise and asked the shop assistant,
"Huh? Isn't that Shizuku-chan?"
Hardcore fans would never be rude to anyone who was saying nice things about their idol.
"Oh? You like Shizuku-chan too, student?"
"Of course! I'm a fan of hers. I used to have friends I could talk about Shizuku-chan with, but I just got here today and found out that this school has a full boarding system and that we can't leave. I was feeling pretty down... I never expected you to be a Shizuku-chan fan too, sir!"
With this act, which was just like something a hardcore fan would say, Hoshino En quickly won the shop assistant's trust.
Once he got the man talking, the shop assistant shed his earlier coldness. He not only praised Shizuku-chan so enthusiastically that it was like brainwashing, but also kindly upgraded Hoshino En's items to the latest models with better specs. In the end, he even gave him a twenty-percent discount.
But during their conversation, Hoshino En noticed a red light flashing on one side of the display screen of a camera aimed at the entrance, next to the counter.
It was recording.
Given the direction of the lens, the shop assistant was trying to film under girls' skirts?!
Hoshino En: "..."
If he turned this pervert over to the Student Council, would he get a decent reward?
While the shop assistant went to the back to swap out the camera and voice recorder, Hoshino En used his body to block the corner where the camera was. His right hand casually swept over the counter and removed the camera's memory card.
Evidence acquired. He'd done it in a blind spot, and the unnatural part could be explained as him leaning closer to the computer screen to look at Shizuku-chan. Perfect.
He'd turn it in to the Student Council tomorrow as lost property.
Still, just in case someone really was obsessive enough to analyze his actions through the security footage, he'd find somewhere to pretend to "pick something up" after he left.
At that moment, the shop assistant returned with the latest equipment: a small, detachable camera with audio recording added, and a more portable voice recorder.
"These are new models that just came in. They're eight hundred thousand points at full price, but since we're both Shizuku-chan fans, I'll give you twenty percent off. That'll be six hundred and forty thousand points."
"Thank you so much. As expected, Shizuku-chan's fans are all good people!"
Beep—
After paying with points, Hoshino En left the electronics store with a satisfied smile.
Whether he used them to pull a dirty trick or to protect himself from one, he needed this equipment.
First Semester of First Year:
After leaving the electronics store, Hoshino En found a spot nearby and pretended to "pick something up," keeping out of the streetlamp's glow.
In case the security camera had high resolution, he deliberately pretended to drop the memory card before actually picking it up.
Then he headed for the dormitory.
He still wanted to check out the library, but it was already late and he had to tidy up his dorm room, so he'd leave that for another day.
At the dormitory building, he got his Key Card from the manager on the first floor.
Following the dorm number printed on the Key Card, Hoshino En found his room.
404. Not the most auspicious room number.
Beep—
He opened the door, stepped over the entryway, and entered the room.
He sat on the bed and surveyed his surroundings.
The room was a standard studio apartment with a bathroom. The kitchen was built halfway into the wall, right next to the entryway.
"It feels just like a small hotel. You'd never guess this was a student dorm."
It was a single room, and it came with bedding and a mattress. The kitchen had a full set of cookware and tableware, but he'd have to buy his own toiletries for the bathroom and shower.
Ah, and he also needed underwear and socks for everyday wear.
Hoshino En: "..."
He should have asked Kiyotaka in advance... No, Ayanokoji... Forget it. His common sense was so bizarre that asking him probably wouldn't have helped.
After buying the essentials from the convenience store he'd visited at noon and washing up, Hoshino En lay down and fell into a baby's sleep.
Before you continue