The First Meeting of the Silver Fairy and the Silver-Haired Witch

Of course, he didn't practice all afternoon every day. Sometimes Shiina Hiyori dragged him to the library to read.

At night, Kushida Kikyo would come by every few days to vent her stress. Ever since Hoshino En had set off the "flirting" group in class, the pressure she had to deal with had suddenly skyrocketed for some reason. She blamed it all on Hoshino En, and her curses grew longer and more frequent each time. It really wasn't fair.

But since he'd promised to help her, Hoshino En wouldn't turn her away because of that. And he was genuinely grateful when she pointed out the things he did that weren't exactly appropriate toward girls.

After Kushida Kikyo left, he would still drag Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, his neighbor and "Yiweiqin's Good Son," into a chat, then get him to join him for a second dinner.

Thanks to that, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had taken full responsibility for the cost of his late-night snack ingredients.

He still had to cook different things to keep the meals varied, but all in all, he was getting a free ride—and nothing tasted better than free food.

Besides his varied daily routine, Hoshino En never missed his morning exercise. Every day, he ran into Horikita Manabu, who was also out exercising. Sometimes, he even bumped into Karuizawa Kei, who had suddenly started exercising for reasons he couldn't understand.

Actually, it wasn't just sometimes. Ever since the first time he'd run into Karuizawa Kei on the track, he'd seen her in the elevator every single day.

Seriously, how had she found out when he got up?

His schedule was regular and healthy, so it wouldn't have been hard to figure out. But it was personal, and there shouldn't have been many people who knew it besides the ones he met during his morning exercise!

"Yiweiqin's Good Son," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who lived next door: "En, don't mention it. It's only what I should do."

And it wasn't clear whether that incident had rattled Karuizawa Kei, but although she was the one who'd chosen to "happen" to run into him, she never once initiated a conversation with Hoshino En.

Whenever no one she knew was around, she would stare straight at Hoshino En with glittering violet eyes, as if she were observing some cute little animal.

Hoshino En: "..."

Hey, girl, what's that supposed to mean?

"Do you need something?"

Finally, one day in mid-April, he couldn't take it anymore and spoke to her first.

"Hoshino-kun, I love you."

Instead, she confessed to him outright, in an elevator with only the two of them inside.

"I told you already. I don't believe you. Besides, once you get used to hearing something like that, it won't make the person being confessed to feel surprised or excited. It'll lose most of its impact."

"And besides, do you know what love is? It's not the same as 'liking' someone just because you've piled up a bunch of 'good feelings' for them."

"Of course I do. I'm sure of my feelings, and I've already prepared myself to support you for the rest of your life if you fail in the future."

"And thanks for your advice. I'll keep it in mind."

Even after saying that, she didn't change her pose. Her beautiful golden ponytail bobbed behind her, and she gazed at Hoshino En with sparkling eyes.

Hoshino En: "..."

How was that any different from before?

"So what do you want, anyway? Surely you're not coming to intercept me every day over something this trivial?"

Karuizawa Kei looked surprised.

"Oh, so that's what you wanted to ask!"

What else did you think I wanted to ask?

Watching her, Hoshino En couldn't help complaining inwardly.

"Actually, the main reason is that I wanted to see you. You know, we barely interact in class, and I don't even have a legitimate reason to get close to you."

"As for the secondary reason... I want to learn how to fight. Could you teach me?"

Fighting? Was she finally going to become a real delinquent girl?

"I'm not going to bully my classmates! I just realized that some people don't like it when I reason with them. So I have to make them listen to me 'willingly.'"

Hey, hey, did this girl have mind-reading powers?

But since she'd brought it up, that meant—

"You ran into a real gal from Class C?"

"Not me. I'm not the kind of person who'd cause trouble for you."

Karuizawa Kei waved her hand.

"It's Sato—Sato Maya, the girl I'm pretty close with. She's a real gal. A few days ago, she ran into the Gal Group from Class C while waiting in line, and they had a conflict."

"We all took Sato's side at the time, but it seems she cut in front of the girls from Class C without realizing it. So I'm worried they might look for a chance to get back at her later."

Hoshino En had wanted to ask what she meant by "cause trouble for him," but she'd explained herself so clearly that he understood.

"So you want to learn how to fight so you can help your 'friend' and stop them from attacking her behind her back?"

"No, no. I'm not that generous. If Sato and the others don't come to me for help, I'm not going to step in."

"I'm worried they'll come after me instead. I look like the leader of the group, so they might come looking for trouble with me directly."

"So please help me, Hoshino-kun!"

As she spoke, she stepped closer to Hoshino En and clasped his right hand in both of hers, pressing it against her chest. Then she lifted her face to look up at him. Her bright, sparkling eyes fixed on his, and the watery look in them felt strangely familiar to Hoshino En.

Where had she learned to make that move?

"Do you think I'll help you just because you do that?"

"Huh? But whenever I see Shiina from Class C looking at you like this, you happily agree to her requests!"

Hoshino En: "..."

How had she found out about that when she spent every day hanging around her "Empress" group?

"And with Kushida, too. Whenever she holds a boy's arm like this, he always happily agrees to her requests."

"Is it because I'm not big enough, so you're unmoved?"

"But if we're going to do anything more outrageous, we should go somewhere more private. There are cameras here..."

"Stop!"

Before she could say anything even more outrageous, Hoshino En cut her off and pulled his hand back.

"I'm not like those guys who let themselves be led around by beauty. I'm not going to give up what I want just because of something like this."

"If you want me to help you, what else can you offer me besides that?"

That stumped her, and she fell into thought.

Just then, the elevator reached the first floor. Hoshino En stepped out without another glance at Karuizawa Kei.

But she quickly caught up with him.

"You want something from me without giving anything in return. What else do you have to say?"

Before she could answer, Hoshino En asked again.

"I'm not trying to get something for nothing. Especially not from you."

She hurried ahead until she was walking beside Hoshino En.

"I was just thinking: apart from my body and my looks, I don't seem to have anything you don't already have."

"But you don't want my looks, which makes this tricky."

"Or do you want Private Points?"

As she spoke, she pulled out her phone and showed him the screen. It clearly showed that she still had over 70,000 Private Points.

"If you want them, I'll transfer them to you right now."

Then she transferred all the 70,000-plus Private Points she'd just shown him.

Feeling his phone vibrate, Hoshino En was dumbfounded.

He pulled out his phone and looked. The screen showed a transfer notification.

[Your account received 74,682 points on April XX, 20XX.]

Not a single point left!!

Could what she'd said before really have been true?

"Can you teach me now?"

She gazed at Hoshino En with bright violet eyes, her eager expression full of anticipation.

Hoshino En: "..."

He transferred her 70,000-plus Private Points back, then sent her another 360,000 on top of that.

A transfer notification popped up on Karuizawa Kei's phone screen before she'd even put it away.

[Your account received 434,682 points on April XX, 20XX.]

"Three hundred and sixty thousand to buy you out. For the next three years, you'll do what I ask, and you won't refuse no matter how outrageous the request. If you agree, I'll teach you how to fight."

"Huh?"

Karuizawa Kei looked surprised. She'd thought she would have to pay him every month to get his help. After all, that was the only way she might be able to help him. She hadn't expected him to turn around and give her 360,000 points.

"Is that really all? You could ask me to do things without spending any points, and I'd still help you."

"But then I wouldn't be able to trust you. Without anything in it for you, what am I supposed to trust?"

"Who says there's nothing in it for me? Being able to help you—that's what I get out of it."

Hoshino En fell silent.

He sped up, ran to the track, and began warming up, making no move to answer her.

Even now, he couldn't understand what she was thinking.

He didn't believe she could be making sacrifices for him without expecting anything in return out of pure motives.

Seeing him run off, Karuizawa Kei didn't chase after him. She kept up her own pace as she exercised; looking at Hoshino En wasn't the only reason she'd started her "morning exercise."

Still, her gaze followed Hoshino En as he ran.

After they finished exercising, they walked back toward the dorms. Only then did Hoshino En speak. "I still don't understand, but if you agree, come to my room at seven tonight."

"Okay!" Karuizawa Kei replied excitedly.

Then she added something.

"But there's one thing I want to say about your terms: you absolutely can't compromise my chastity. Of course, if it's you, that's different, but you absolutely can't use my chastity as a bargaining chip."

Her pointed emphasis left Hoshino En speechless.

"I might use underhanded tactics, but I'm not that shameless."

He wouldn't use tactics he disliked. They'd disgust him before he even managed to take down his opponent.

"Good!"

Karuizawa Kei skipped along beside him, then parted ways with him in the elevator.

After that, the last bit of free time Hoshino En had was taken up, too. From seven to ten at night, he would be learning how to "fight" systematically with Karuizawa Kei at the gym in the Shopping Mall.

Fortunately, she really did intend to learn some self-defense techniques, rather than use it as an excuse to get close to him. That gave the busy Hoshino En a rare moment of comfort.

First Semester of First Year:

Chapter 36: The First Meeting of the Silver Fairy and the Silver-Haired Witch

The days passed by uneventfully, and soon it was April 30.

It was both the last day of April and the day Hoshino En's bet with Sakayanagi Arisu was set to begin.

But Hoshino En felt that everyone in Class D had already given up struggling. No one cared anymore about the possible Behavioral Norms Exam. The teachers weren't doing anything about it, so aside from a few students, everyone did their own thing in class and between lessons.

Did they really think their rule-breaking was hard to notice?

They wouldn't get even a single point next month.

Thinking this, Hoshino En, who'd received a message from Shiina Hiyori in advance, got through the day's classes. The sudden quiz had felt strange to Wu, but since he was meeting Sakayanagi Arisu today, he could think about it later. Then, after sweating it out for two hours at the Swimming Club, he went to the library to read with the soft, cuddly, fair-skinned girl.

At first, he'd only humored her to avoid trouble. But reading with a completely natural, untainted airhead gave Hoshino En a feeling of being "purified" that he'd never experienced before.

It seemed that even someone like him—a filthy creature from the gutters who saw through human nature and didn't believe in people—still longed to be enveloped in pure white light.

"Hoshino-kun, do you think I'm a troublesome person?"

While they were reading, Shiina Hiyori suddenly asked him a strange question for some reason.