The Biggest Beneficiary

"Damn it!" Kato Satsu exclaimed.

"This is a death trap, a lose-lose situation! In a spot like this, even mind-reading is useless. If I pick one, I offend the other; if I pick neither, I offend both!" Kato Satsu thought.

"In times like these, doing nothing is the most terrifying choice. The late-night radio host in the apartment next door ended up in a mess of trouble precisely because he didn't act." Kato Satsu thought.

After a moment of stunned silence, Satsu made his choice. He said bluntly, "Yes, Kokoro. I promised Hasebe I'd accompany her to the mall."

"I can't break my word."

Upon hearing this, a look of joy instantly appeared on Hasebe's face, though in truth, it was more relief than anything else.

She knew perfectly well that she hadn't actually made plans with Satsu to go to the mall, but the fact that he chose her made it clear to Hasebe where she stood in his heart.

"Are you really going?" Inogashira asked, unwilling to give up.

Seeing Satsu nod gently, Hasebe took the opportunity to step forward and link her arm with his. "That's how it is. Even though he's not feeling well, Satsu still chose to accompany me."

"Alright, Inogashira, you should head back to the dorms." With that, Hasebe pulled Satsu away.

They hadn't walked far when she seemed to remember something. She turned back to face Inogashira and said with a meaningful look, "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on Satsu's condition. I won't let him get too tired."

"Wow, what an aggressive provocation!" Satsu muttered to himself, thinking the opposite.

If Satsu couldn't read minds, he wouldn't have guessed in a million years that this was a provocation. Its lethality was on par with someone saying, "Your mother doesn't love you," during a heated argument.

Not until they were outside the school building and noticed Hasebe's mood had softened did Satsu speak up. "Actually, you didn't need to fight with Kokoro over something like this."

Hasebe shot him a cold glance, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Calling her 'Kokoro' every other breath—how intimate."

"What, feeling sorry for her? Regret choosing to go to the mall with me?"

"I certainly can't compare to her. You call her Kokoro, but you just call me Hasebe. I suppose that makes sense, since we never actually had plans to go to the mall in the first place."

"In that case, you should hurry back and find her. Maybe she hasn't left yet." With that, Hasebe walked away quickly without looking back.

A moment later, however, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed behind her. Before she could turn around to check, she was pulled into a hug from behind.

(Xiaoyi's Friendly Tip: Without confirming a girl's feelings, and without having your own character model set up, this behavior is extremely dangerous. Please, do not attempt this!)

(You will get slapped!!!)

"Believe me, there is nothing between her and me."

Hearing Satsu's voice, Hasebe instinctively tried to break free, but after a few failed attempts, she stopped struggling and retorted.

"Nothing? I think there will be something very soon!"

At these words, Satsu walked gently in front of Hasebe, placed his hands on her shoulders, and looked at her.

Hasebe instinctively turned her head away, seemingly feeling Satsu's gaze. After a long silence, she took a deep breath, slowly turned back, and raised her eyes.

"Can you stop being angry, please?" Satsu said softly.

Hasebe didn't answer immediately. Instead, she glanced at Satsu's hands. Seeing they were still resting on her shoulders, she said slowly, "What are we, exactly, acting like this?"

Realizing their actions were indeed overly intimate, Satsu paused and pulled his hands back.

Hasebe let out a sigh of relief and asked, "Is your foot alright? Inogashira said earlier that you were injured."

"It's fine. It won't stop us from going to the mall."

Hasebe nodded slightly and walked slowly ahead, bypassing Satsu.

Seeing this, Satsu chuckled, suppressed the discomfort in his body, and jogged to catch up.

Little did they know, behind a large tree nearby, Suzune was looking at the photo on her phone with a satisfied expression.

She opened her text message interface and quickly typed a message to Ayanokoji.

"The matter is resolved. Kato won't continue to block you from gathering Yamauchi and the others; in fact, he will help."

Ayanokoji replied quickly: "How can you be so certain?"

After waiting a long time without a reply from Suzune, Ayanokoji simply tossed his phone onto the bed and stopped caring.

"No way, Kato was handled by Horikita that easily?" (Ayanokoji Kiyotaka)

"A honey trap? Something like promising to be his girlfriend if he helps?" (Ayanokoji Kiyotaka)

"Come to think of it, Horikita is indeed a beautiful girl, and Satsu..." (Ayanokoji Kiyotaka)

"Whatever. I'll just think about how to talk to Yamauchi and the others later." (Ayanokoji Kiyotaka)

Though he told himself he needed to find a way, Ayanokoji didn't take any action. He flopped onto his bed without a care in the world and drifted off into a sweet sleep.