Cowardice, selfishness, resentment, and so on had always been humanity's
"virtues." When someone's confession failed, they resented the person who rejected them. Too cowardly to risk their confession being exposed and becoming the subject of everyone's ridicule, they selfishly blamed all their faults on others. At times like that, striking first became most people's choice—slandering the other person before they could speak!
Though most people with brains could tell whether something was slander if they thought it through carefully, jealousy was also among humanity's
"virtues." Those blinded by jealousy did not care whether it was slander or not. Dragging someone who had once stood high above them down into the abyss—wasn't that another one of humanity's
"virtues"? Thus, parroting slander and spreading rumors found fertile ground to thrive. The Celestial Empire had a famous saying: "Three men make a tiger." Once the number of rumor-spreaders began to grow, no one cared any longer whether it was truth or slander, because conformity was also one of humanity's
"virtues"... Masuzu Natsukawa's concerns were based precisely on this. Yukino Yukinoshita and the others understood it all too well. Although she had not encountered any such troubling matters since transferring here, that did not mean they would never happen... The second daughter frowned. "I understand. Your request is to avoid being bothered by boys so you can study in peace, correct?"
"Exactly!" Masuzu Natsukawa nodded. "Then can you help me?"
"I can only say I'll do my best..." Perhaps because she had spent too long around Sogo Doma, Yukino Yukinoshita did not dare make promises too readily.
"Do your best?" Masuzu Natsukawa seemed somewhat dissatisfied. Tilting her head, she said, "All right, then may I ask what your plan is?"
"I'll give you an answer after giving it some careful thought..."
"So you don't