A Visit

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

The break hadn't ended yet when Ike came charging into the classroom, shouting.

"A few girls from Class B are heading our way!" he said excitedly to Yamauchi and Sudō.

"So what if they are? Why are you so worked up, Ike?" Sudō asked, leaning back in his chair with his feet propped on his desk.

"They're just visiting our class. It's not like they're here to fight. What idiot would send a few girls to start a fight?"

"Hmph!"

Yamauchi smiled confidently, looking as if he'd already figured everything out.

"Sudō really doesn't have anything left in his brain besides basketball and fighting, does he?"

"What did you say?"

Yamauchi's words angered Sudō. He sat up straight and spoke threateningly.

Seeing this, Yamauchi quickly dropped his casual attitude and explained earnestly. "No, no! That's not what I meant, Sudō."

"Based on my years of experience, there's only one reason a few girls would come to another class together."

Yamauchi raised his right index finger, holding it straight up, and declared with certainty, "They're here to find a guy they like and ask for his contact information!"

"I think so too!" Ike eagerly chimed in.

"You two are so desperate for girls you've lost your minds, huh?"

Seeing that his two friends were both beyond help, Sudō even gave them a sympathetic look and patted their shoulders as if to comfort them.

"Couldn't they just be here to see a friend?"

"Hmph!"

Yamauchi put a hand to the bridge of his nose and laughed again.

"If you dare laugh right after I finish speaking one more time, I'll beat you to a pulp."

Before Yamauchi could say anything else, Sudō cut him off in annoyance. He raised a fist to show he wasn't joking.

"Say what you want, but why the hell are you laughing?" (Ken Sudō)

"Thank goodness, it's the Hammer King of Japan! We're saved." (Kato Satsu)

The three of them were chatting away, completely unaware that almost everyone in the class had turned to look at them.

"Sometimes, I really envy just how stupid those three are."

Though Suzune was speaking, her eyes remained on the book in her hands: the classic Don Quixote.

"The classroom is packed, yet they can talk about this kind of thing as if nobody else were here."

"You're one to talk. You're like an NPC who's always reading." (Kato Satsu)

"These are perfectly normal topics for boys in the prime of their youth. Besides, it's break time," Ayanokoji said.

Meanwhile, Yamauchi was still prattling on. "Every student at this school has a phone. You can just text a friend. There's no need to show up in person."

"The chances that they'd come all this way to find a girl they don't know are too low. So they can only be here to ask a guy for his contact information."

"To be honest, I think I'm the lucky guy!"

After saying that, Yamauchi crossed his arms with confidence, apparently waiting for everyone to applaud him. But the only response he got was Satsu's voice.

"Completely illogical. Pure nonsense!"

At the sound of this, Wang Meiyu, who was sitting in front, turned around in disbelief and looked at Satsu.

"Kato Satsu, what are you saying now?" Yamauchi asked angrily.

Satsu had spoken in Chinese, so Yamauchi hadn't understood a word. But his instincts told him that Satsu definitely hadn't said anything nice.

Faced with Yamauchi's questions, Satsu didn't panic. He switched to Japanese and slowly delivered the reply he'd already thought up.

"I said, what a brilliant insight!"

Yamauchi watched Satsu with suspicion and said nothing for a long moment. He knew that Satsu's earlier words couldn't possibly have meant that, but he couldn't think of a way to call him out.

"Um..."

When the girls from Class B finally reached the classroom door, Yamauchi confidently ran a hand through his hair, waiting to be called outside.

One of the girls, who seemed quite composed, asked, "Excuse me, is Kato Satsu here?"

At this, everyone in Class D turned to look at Satsu. Kokoro Inogashira's gaze was especially intense.

"No way. So many rivals?" (Kokoro Inogashira)

Hasebe also looked attentive, but didn't do anything else.

"It's not that surprising. There are only two people in our class with a real chance: Hirata and Kato." (Ayanokoji Kiyotaka)

"Hirata has already announced that he's dating Karuizawa, so it's easy to tell that they're here for Satsu." (Ayanokoji Kiyotaka)

Satsu rose calmly to his feet. He guessed they'd come to see him because he'd visited Class B yesterday.

"Hello. What can I do for you?" Satsu asked.

The girl at the front said, "Did you come to see me yesterday, Kato? Sorry, I wasn't in the classroom."

As Satsu had expected, the girl who'd come was Mako Amikura.

"So you're Amikura?"

As he spoke, Satsu took out his phone. "Well, I'd like to be friends. Would you mind exchanging contact information?"

Amikura readily agreed to the answer she'd expected.

Around the corner in the hallway, Ichinose quietly watched it all. When she saw what was happening, she didn't rush out to stop Amikura. Instead, she hurried away, her expression anxious.

After school, Hasebe walked alongside Satsu as usual. She looked troubled. Although Satsu knew why through his mind-reading ability, he didn't deliberately bring it up.

"Satsu!"

As they left the school building, Hasebe seemed to have finally reached her limit. She stopped and called out.

"What's wrong?" Satsu asked, pretending to be puzzled.

"Kato!"

Before Hasebe could say anything, another voice called out first. Satsu turned around and saw Ichinose Honami.

A smug smile crept across his face.

"Finally, you took the bait!" (Kato Satsu)

"I went to all that trouble just to get you to come talk to me!" (Kato Satsu)