Kushida Kikyo's True Nature / Chapter 29: Fingerprints? Girl, Are You Serious?

Then there was the matter of Shiina Hiyori. Wu

He couldn't stay rational around her. That was a big problem.

There were probably two reasons. First, she was a beautiful woman, and his energetic, pubescent body craved young, pretty girls. That was an unchangeable flaw; he could only overcome it by getting used to them.

He had tried using Sakayanagi Arisu to get used to it, but her personality was too forceful. She wasn't even in his class, and he wasn't actually that close to her, so it hadn't worked very well.

Besides, to be honest—though he couldn't let her know—at most, he felt protective of the girl. It hadn't developed into anything special between a man and a woman. And her feminine features weren't very pronounced. Even with her, he still couldn't handle someone like Ichinose Honami, whose secondary sexual characteristics were exceptionally well-developed.

So finding a suitable woman to practice with was essential.

And Kushida Kikyo, whom he was about to meet, was even more suitable "material" than Sakayanagi Arisu:

Her secondary sexual characteristics were well-developed. She wasn't quite Ichinose's 95F, but her 85D was already far above average. She would surely be excellent for practice;

She was a classmate in Class D, so they spent plenty of time together;

She wanted to "be friends with everyone," which gave him plenty of excuses to get close to her. And judging by how close she'd been to Ichinose Honami today, her circle of "friends" wasn't limited to their class anymore. Maybe he could eventually get information from other classes, or even upperclassmen;

Most importantly, she was far too obsessed with "making friends." The fact that she could remain unfazed even when those "defective products" in Class D looked at her so aggressively was enough to show how abnormal she was. People fixated on something like that were the easiest to guide and use.

Of course, it would be even better if her true nature didn't make him dislike her.

As for the second reason he "couldn't stay rational"... maybe he'd never met anyone so pure and so naturally innocent before!

He'd always avoided naturally airheaded girls in the past. This time, he'd been forced to deal with one, and his "heart had been moved." That was why he'd encountered someone so naturally innocent for the first time.

A girl who seemed so pure and innocent was exactly the sort of person someone like him, a "rat in the gutter," yearned for most.

But all of that depended on him not seeing through her "innocent" mask. Once he saw through it, he could probably stay calm right away.

The problem was that he couldn't see through it!!!!

...Whatever. At least she hadn't shown any ill will so far, so he'd use the "thoughtful, kind book-loving friend" persona he'd worn that afternoon to deal with her. That way, if she really did have some ulterior motive, he'd still have room to maneuver.

As for cutting ties outright... honestly, judging from her outward personality, she'd probably come straight to his class to ask him about it, then look at him with the pitiful expression of a helpless little kitten that he couldn't resist right now. That would be a huge headache, so that option was out.

Then there was Karuizawa Kei.

Tsk, her problem was even more serious than Shiina Hiyori's. Shiina's was merely tricky because he couldn't read her. With Karuizawa, the problem was that he'd gotten her completely wrong!!!

No, everything had been normal before he entered her room. Why couldn't he understand what she'd done once they were inside?

Suddenly "confessing" to him... It had scared him so badly that he'd thought she was trying to use that incident to blackmail him into being her bodyguard.

Then she'd insisted that he take possession of her, making him think it was some kind of youth-version honeypot trap.

To prevent the worst-case scenario, he'd had to search the room despite the risk of someone using it to threaten him. He couldn't be sure that no one was watching a possible surveillance recording in real time.

But he'd eventually realized he'd simply been overthinking it. Karuizawa Kei seemed to have confessed to him sincerely.

But after he'd misunderstood her so badly, she must have given up on him, right?

Wait a second... Then why had she asked him to take photos and videos afterward? He'd had control of her phone, and he'd searched everywhere. There shouldn't have been any chance of a third-person recording or audio device. So why had she done that???

Surely she hadn't really meant what she'd said about "giving him everything"?

If that were true, and he wasn't the other person involved, he'd only have one thing to say to her: "Girl, your 'Earth One' account is already permanently suspended. I recommend switching to a different account."

But if he were the one she meant, wouldn't that mean he'd gained a useful pawn? He'd gladly accept her and make good use of her.

In return, he'd train her into a "truly strong person" who could survive alone in the "dark forest" of "society" without relying on anyone.

Thinking about it that way, he didn't seem like such a bad person after all!

First Semester of First Year

Chapter 28: Kushida Kikyo's True Nature

At ten o'clock that night, Hoshino En waited for Kushida Kikyo to hurry over.

She seemed very interested in his "compensation." When she arrived, a little sweat still clung to her forehead. She had obviously rushed over.

"Sorry, I was chatting with Xiaomei and the others earlier, and I almost forgot."

She stood in the hallway, leaning forward and pressing her hands together toward Hoshino En, looking extremely apologetic.

But it didn't throw Hoshino En off. The sweat on her forehead might have been deliberate, meant to leave a good impression. Her claim that she'd been "chatting with a group of girls" was also questionable, since her location had remained in the dormitory. She might have been in her room, rehearsing their "date" that evening. And little gestures like leaning forward couldn't distract Hoshino En. He'd been forced to see something much more shocking that afternoon, so his threshold was considerably higher now.

"It's fine, it's fine. I didn't mind."

Hoshino En welcomed her with a smile. After all, what happened next might temporarily break her down, so there was no harm in "winning her over" first.

"Anyway, come on in."

He invited Kushida Kikyo into his room.

"Ah... I think I forgot to get slippers for guests!"

Noticing that there were no extra slippers on the shoe rack by the entrance, Hoshino En smacked his forehead in "dismay."

"Kushida, I'm the one who invited you, but could you put up with a little inconvenience this time?"

Hoshino En bowed his head apologetically to Kushida Kikyo behind him, and, as expected, she forgave him.

"It's fine, it's fine. You don't look like someone who often has classmates over, so it's understandable that you'd forget something the first time. I can understand."

As she spoke, she took off her shoes and stepped onto Hoshino En's floor in black socks.

"Besides, I can tell you cleaned your room properly, so I don't mind this."

"Ah, I'm glad you understand, Kushida."

When she really didn't make a fuss about it, Hoshino En visibly relaxed.

He led the girl to the table, seated her in a chair, and poured her a cup of warm water.

"I'm not used to drinking juice or coffee, so I only have plain water. I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine, it's fine."

She took a sip of water, then quickly looked back at Hoshino En, who was sitting on the bed, and said, "Actually, Hoshino, what happened yesterday didn't affect me that much. You really don't need to worry about it."

That was true. In reality, because of Sakayanagi Arisu's deliberate maneuvering yesterday, all the blame had been concentrated on Hoshino En. Kushida Kikyo and Sakayanagi Arisu had both been portrayed as pitiful victims deceived by a scumbag.

"Emmm... That's part of it, but actually, I mainly wanted to apologize for what happened this morning."

"This morning?"

"Yeah. I'd already figured that everyone in Class D probably wasn't the sort of person who'd be easily persuaded, so I gave up on telling them the truth. Compared to any benefit I might get, there was a much greater chance they'd all gang up on me."

"Besides, I'm an unpopular loner. If everyone targeted me, I might even lose the ground I need to survive."

Seeing that Hoshino En seemed on the verge of getting depressed as he spoke, Kushida Kikyo quickly cut in. "It's fine, it's fine. I was too careless this morning and didn't think about the consequences..."

Thinking about how she'd lose tens of thousands of points next month because of those idiots' idiotic behavior had made her anxious.

She should've waited until her position was more secure before trying to claim the credit. She'd been too eager to get ahead that morning.

"Is that all you wanted to say, Hoshino? You could've just messaged me about it. You didn't need to make it so formal."

At that, Hoshino En changed the subject.

"Actually, there's more. I thought you might be carrying around a lot of stress, so I wanted to offer you a private place where you could let it out."

"You're under a lot of pressure, aren't you? Don't you ever feel like you need someone to talk to?"

Hoshino En's unexpected comment made the smile on Kushida Kikyo's face stiffen.

"You... Hoshino, what do you mean? I don't really understand..."

"The smile on your face looks awful. If you can't smile, don't force yourself. I invited you over today because I wanted us to be honest with each other."

"Keeping up that fake, practiced smile won't do either of us any good."

Kushida Kikyo: "..."

The corners of her mouth drooped, and the sweet smile she'd forced onto her face instantly turned into an expressionless scowl.

"What did that Horikita Suzune girl tell you?"

"Horikita Suzune? I haven't spoken to her yet. But since you brought her up... does she know what you're really like?"

A sly smile appeared on Hoshino En's face. Kushida Kikyo recognized the expression. She'd seen something similar on Sakayanagi Arisu's face yesterday afternoon.

"Let me guess. Just knowing what you're really like wouldn't be enough to threaten you. Anyone with a little guile should be able to see there's something off about you. So you're wary of her for another reason—your personality once led to something extremely bad happening to you, and Horikita Suzune probably knows about it. That's why you're so on guard, right?"

"Were you classmates in middle school?"

Kushida Kikyo couldn't keep her cold expression up anymore.

"You're really something."

She dropped her mask completely. With none of a lady's usual manners, she downed the warm water in one go, then set the cup heavily on the table. She folded her arms, crossed her legs, and stared blankly at Hoshino En.

"So what are you trying to do by telling me all this?"

"Do you think these baseless guesses are enough to threaten me?"

"Actually, there's more."

Seeing that Kushida Kikyo was wavering, Hoshino En immediately felt that he had this in the bag.

Her wavering proved she wasn't as unconcerned as she pretended to be. She cared about any bad thing people said about her; she'd just been putting on a show of defiance.

"Considering how obsessed you are with 'friends' and how you seem to treat everyone sincerely... you must have done something in middle school that blew up your relationships, right?"

The more you lose something, the more you want it back. That was obsession.

Kushida Kikyo's pupils unconsciously contracted.

"But you wouldn't have ruined your own reputation unless something more dangerous had happened to you—something even worse than social death. For instance... someone caught you venting your stress by gossiping about other people's secrets, then confronted you in front of everyone and backed you into a corner. To shift the blame, you revealed everyone's most shameful secrets, blowing up the whole social circle centered around you."

"That incident must have caused a huge uproar, and in the end, it couldn't be contained. You avoided becoming everyone's target, but you were left with the dark history of being the 'instigator.'"

"With that dark history, Kodo Ikusei ignored your abilities and threw you into the trash heap called Class D."

"Otherwise, with your abilities, you'd be Class B at the very least."

Looking at Kushida Kikyo, who was gradually radiating killing intent at him, Hoshino En smiled. "Kushida, was my guess right?"

Kushida Kikyo sat in the chair without saying a word.

First Semester of First Year

Chapter 29: Fingerprints? Girl, Are You Serious?

"You're really something."

"...You say that like you're complimenting me, but isn't your expression a little off?"

Looking at Kushida Kikyo, who had finally pulled herself together after the silence, Hoshino En suddenly had a bad feeling.

Her earlier reactions had made it seem like his guess was right. Shouldn't Kushida Kikyo have flown into a rage after he hit the nail on the head?

But why was the Kushida Kikyo he'd expected to explode now smiling?

Kushida Kikyo rose slowly from her chair with a kind smile, came over to Hoshino En with gentle, light steps, and sat beside him on the bed. Her soft chest pressed lightly against his arm.

"What are you trying to do?!"

Hoshino En put on an utterly helpless expression, but in his mind, he'd already decided that whatever she did next, he'd treat her just as well as he had Karuizawa Kei afterward.

The fact that she hadn't gotten angry right away meant she still had some reason not to "burn her bridges." Combined with her sudden move to get close... Could she be trying to lure him into doing something wrong, then record it on her phone or something as leverage?

Hoshino En thought back. Kushida Kikyo had put her phone in her top pocket earlier. She'd probably started recording already, but that didn't rule out the possibility of a recording pen.

A social expert like her, who made "sincere friends" with everyone and collected their secrets to feel "superior," couldn't possibly fail to have a recording pen ready to switch on at any time.

He also glanced out of the corner of his eye at the places Kushida Kikyo had passed through after entering. He couldn't make anything of them now, but she might have left tiny surveillance cameras behind in those spots. After all, if he'd been going to meet someone, he'd have arrived early and set up cameras to record and monitor things just in case. She couldn't have prepared in advance this time, but the time he'd spent pouring water or looking away should've been enough for her to set everything up.

"Nothing, I just..."

Just as she had when asking the other boys in class for help earlier, Kushida Kikyo grabbed Hoshino En's left hand in both of hers and held it firmly in her palms.

Then she did something she would absolutely never do in the classroom.

—She took Hoshino En's left hand and pressed it firmly against her uniform.

Hoshino En felt his palm touching something warm. The subtle sensation made him unconsciously curl his fingers slightly.

"Why are you suddenly squeezing so hard?!"

His action immediately set off the person involved, but Kushida Kikyo didn't push him away. Instead, she held his left hand in place, so that he couldn't pull away even if he wanted to.

Since he couldn't pull back, he figured he might as well follow the principle that "you might as well take what you can get" and let his left hand go, enjoying himself to the fullest.

"Hey!!"