"Didn't I scare you?"
Ayanokoji put away his book and asked.
The girl studied Ayanokoji for a moment before timidly replying, "No, thank you."
Her voice was soft and gentle, her demeanor shy. Every movement she made carried the quiet refinement of a bookish girl.
Any other boy in this situation would probably have been unable to suppress the protective instinct rising within him, already imagining a romantic school love story beginning from this moment.
However, Ayanokoji clearly paid no attention to any of that. Seeing that the girl was fine, he did not immediately hand her the book. Instead, he glanced at it in his hand.
"And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie's masterpiece—the pioneering classic of the isolated-mansion-and-nursery-rhyme murder format, an unavoidable milestone in the history of mystery and suspense fiction." Ayanokoji murmured as he looked at the book.
"Have you read it?" the girl asked.
Ayanokoji froze. He had not expected anyone to respond to his muttering, and only then did he realize that the book she wanted was still in his hand.
"Yes. Two of my friends spoke very highly of it. Of course, my opinion is largely the same as theirs." Ayanokoji handed her the book.
"I remember... you seem to be Ayanokoji from Class D?" The girl accepted the book, then lightly covered her lips with it as she smiled and asked.
"How did you know? This should be our first time meeting."
"I saw what happened at your study group just now."
The girl answered with a trace of fear in her voice, as though merely recalling the scene made her uncomfortable.
"If you hadn't been there, that red-haired student probably wouldn't have let it go."
Hearing that, Ayanokoji understood what had happened. When Sudo left earlier, he had made a threat toward