CPU Kushida Kikyo

On his way back to the classroom from the rooftop, Chihaya Rei made a point of checking on Classes A, B, and C.

The students in Class A and Class B were resting at their desks, more or less keeping order.

The door to Class C was shut, and the curtains were drawn, so he couldn't see what was happening inside. But every now and then, he heard some rather discordant noises.

Curious, Chihaya Rei leaned against the window and listened.

He caught snippets of Ryuen Kakeru declaring that he was going to be the boss of the class and that everyone had to obey his orders...

The tyrant of Class C, all right.

He sure knew how to get things moving.

But Ryuen wasn't having it all his own way. It seemed quite a few people had stood up to resist him.

After all, nobody wanted some thug with a delinquent's swagger stepping all over them for no reason.

Chihaya Rei silently wished Ryuen luck. The sooner he became the boss, the sooner Chihaya Rei could strike a deal with him and earn points for their class.

"Good afternoon, Chihaya!"

At the back entrance to Class D, Chihaya Rei had barely arrived when he saw Kushida Kikyo standing by the hallway, greeting him with a warm smile.

"Yeah, good afternoon."

He replied casually, then looked Kushida Kikyo up and down with curiosity.

She'd fled in such a panic after he scared her that morning, and now she was already here looking for him?

And judging by the way she was standing there, she'd clearly been waiting for him.

"Chihaya, let me buy you a drink."

The girl held out a slender, fair arm and gently offered him a can of Coke.

"I don't know what you like yet, so I took the liberty of getting Coca-Cola. All the boys like it, right?"

Kushida Kikyo's eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled softly.

Though her face was wreathed in smiles, her feelings were anything but simple.

Naturally, that was all thanks to the culprit standing right in front of her.

It was all this man's fault. He shouldn't have said such a nasty thing!

After adding Chihaya Rei as a friend that morning, she had returned to her seat, but his pointed remark had left her unable to focus on class for the entire morning.

All morning, Kushida Kikyo had racked her brains.

And still, she couldn't make sense of it. Not at all!

Why had Chihaya Rei said something so strange that morning?

Was it just a coincidence?

Did he really have a bandmate who spoke in a cutesy, high-pitched voice?

Or had Chihaya Rei discovered her secret and said it on purpose that morning to hint at it?

But that didn't make sense. Kushida Kikyo had no memory of Chihaya Rei at all.

She was certain he hadn't been a student at her previous middle school.

Only Horikita Suzune had been in the same year as her, though they hadn't been in the same class.

If the worst-case scenario was true, and Chihaya Rei really knew her secret...

Kushida Kikyo reasoned that the only possibility was that Horikita Suzune, that bitch, had told him.

After all, the two of them had looked like they were getting along so well!

So after a whole morning of thinking, Kushida Kikyo couldn't help transferring half her anger at Chihaya Rei to Horikita Suzune.

Regardless, Chihaya Rei had become someone she needed to approach herself.

On one hand, she needed to find out whether he knew her secret. On the other, she could use him to get closer to Horikita Suzune.

"Thanks."

Chihaya Rei reached out and took the Coke. The can felt cool in his hand. He checked to make sure it was unopened.

"So you bought me a drink and waited here for me. What do you need?"

"You really can see right through me, Chihaya..."

At his words, Kushida Kikyo's cheeks flushed slightly as she put on just the right hint of embarrassment.

Could this wicked woman control even her blushing?

Chihaya Rei wondered curiously.

Just then, Kushida Kikyo stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and took his wrist, guiding his hand to within a few centimeters of her chest.

An expectant look appeared on her face as she spoke in her cutesy voice:

"Actually, I still want to be friends with Horikita. I was hoping you could help me, Chihaya."

"Would you?"

They were standing awfully close.

Chihaya Rei could even smell a faint citrus fragrance wafting from her.

It wasn't green-tea-scented, which surprised him.

More importantly, his hand was now very close to Kushida Kikyo's ample chest.

If the hallway hadn't had security cameras...

Chihaya Rei might have wondered if Kushida Kikyo had gotten desperate enough to launch straight into some smooth little combo of hand-holding and getting him to leave his fingerprints behind.

"Then you've got the wrong person, Kushida."

Chihaya Rei pulled his hand free.

If she wasn't going to get his fingerprints, what was the point of the Coke?

"To be honest, I'm not close with Horikita Suzune either."

He told her honestly.

Kushida Kikyo watched helplessly as Chihaya Rei's hand slipped out of hers.

A question popped into her mind.

Was she really that unattractive?!

She'd resorted to using her feminine charms to deal with Chihaya Rei, even deciding she wouldn't mind if he took a little advantage of her. Damn it!

She didn't have to go this far with idiots like Kanji Ike and Yamauchi Haruki.

All she had to do was crook a finger, and they'd come running to call her "Kikyo-chan"!

"Mm... You're joking again, Chihaya."

Kushida Kikyo pouted and gently protested in a coy voice:

"But I saw you two having dinner together last night!"

That surprised Chihaya Rei a little.

He hadn't expected Kushida Kikyo to have seen them.

But the cafeteria was so crowded that there was no way he could keep track of everyone around him.

"That was just a coincidence."

"Then..."

Kushida Kikyo didn't believe a word Chihaya Rei said.

On the first day of school, she'd already seen him chatting happily with Horikita Suzune!

But after hesitating for a moment, Kushida Kikyo changed the question. "Then, Chihaya, could you get me Horikita's contact information?"

"I don't have it."

Chihaya Rei shook his head, and just as Kushida Kikyo thought he was about to refuse her again, he changed tack.

"But I can get Horikita Suzune's contact information for you. In exchange, you can get me a few people's contact information."

"How does that sound?"

Kushida Kikyo's eyes immediately lit up. Without giving it much thought, she agreed. "Sure!"

"Whose contact information do you want, Chihaya?"

"Katsuragi Kohei from Class A, Ichinose Honami from Class B, and Ryuen Kakeru from Class C."

Chihaya Rei quickly listed the three names.

Since this two-faced girl needed his help, he might as well outsource the task to her instead of figuring out a way to do it himself.

"Do you have their contact information now? Or can you get it?"

Chihaya Rei smiled. "If anyone can pull it off, it's you, Kushida."

"Eh? That's sneaky, Chihaya..."

Kushida Kikyo blinked her pink eyes and muttered softly, "You're trading one person's contact information for three people's."

"But that's okay. I agree."

She wore an understanding expression.

She'd even gone out of her way to emphasize it, as if to say, You'd better remember how nice I've been. It was almost like she was trying to earn Chihaya Rei's favor.

"Then I'll leave it to you."

"Leave it to me. Wait here, Chihaya."

Kushida Kikyo smiled and patted her ample chest before taking out her phone.

She was curious about why Chihaya Rei wanted the three students' contact information, but now wasn't the time to ask.

Fortunately, the task wasn't difficult for her. She didn't know Ryuen Kakeru, but the other two were fairly recognizable students in their year.

One was bald, and the other was even more popular than she was.

Remembering that Ichinose Honami was more popular than her made Kushida Kikyo feel a little annoyed.

She gritted her teeth and opened her chat app, presumably reaching out to her wide circle of friends to ask for the three students' contact information.

A little while later, Kushida Kikyo sent Chihaya Rei three screenshots. "Task completed perfectly!"

"Thanks."

Chihaya Rei thanked her politely, deciding that this deal had been quite worthwhile.

He had to admit, Kushida Kikyo probably cursed him out in her head and would think of him when she kicked the railings later, but when he asked her for a favor, she really did get things done.

"Then I'm counting on you to get Horikita's contact information!" Kushida Kikyo reminded him.

She couldn't put in this much effort and get nothing in return.

"Don't worry."

Looking at the screenshots Kushida had sent him with Ichinose and the others' contact information, Chihaya Rei nodded in satisfaction.

Though he suspected that even if he didn't help Kushida Kikyo get Horikita Suzune's contact information...

There wasn't much she could do about it. She probably couldn't even get mad at him to his face, given the persona she was putting on.

Still, he wasn't planning to take advantage of Kushida Kikyo for nothing.

If he didn't give her a little treat, it'd be harder to CPU her next time.

Only after hearing Chihaya Rei's promise did Kushida Kikyo return to the classroom, satisfied, and start chatting with her other friends.