Hachiman: "What a joke-No, I'm a Pro at Stepping on Landmines!" / Kushida, You're Too Innocent-I'm Afraid You'll Get Scammed!

So.

Hachiman was actually a little curious now—between him and Suzune Horikita, which one did Kushida find harder to deal with?

Otherwise,

there was no reason for her to come bother him now.

Hachiman: A Joke? No, Stepping on Landmines Was My Specialty!

At the stairwell.

Just as each year had its own entire dormitory building, each year also had its own entire classroom building.

Hachiman's classroom building had seven floors in total.

Of those,

the first floor housed First Year Class C, while the second floor housed Hachiman's First-year Class D.

But the third and fourth floors were science laboratories.

Only then did the fifth and sixth floors house First Year Class B and Class A.

The layout seemed a little strange. There were four classes in a single year, so why were they separated by science labs in the middle?

However, once one understood the school's incentive system, it seemed normal enough.

The school probably did not want the students of Classes A and B to be disturbed.

In other words, from the very beginning, Class D had been treated as the bottom forty among the 160 incoming freshmen.

So, if they were boarding at this school and competing by class, did they still have a chance?

The answer was obvious.

Unless some godsend powerhouse descended from the heavens, there was no way to make up for it.

But none of that had anything to do with Hachiman.

Because he had other ways of obtaining Private Points.

At the very least, he had already gotten the 200,000 points Kushida was worth, while the 200,000 points Horikita was worth were still beyond his reach.

And Kushida was a little angel with her friendly aura fully activated.

So perhaps he could get some information about Horikita from her.

Thus, the two of them walked together to the stairwell, then went up to the landing one flight above.

Kushida seemed to be gathering her emotions.

Then she said, "It seems Hikigaya-kun likes Horikita-san too, just like the boys in class."

"Huh?"

Hachiman paused.

What kind of claim was that?

"Hikigaya-kun was looking at Horikita-san during class too, wasn't he?" Kushida continued. "I noticed during second period. Over those forty minutes, you looked at Horikita-san five times."

I see.

So she saw that.

Then there was no way to deny it... yeah, right!

Kushida, did you realize that in what you had just said, you were the scary one?

Because if she could notice what he was doing, did that not mean she had been watching Horikita all along, allowing her to notice him looking at Horikita?

Kushida.

Was it because Horikita had driven her away when she tried talking to her that morning?

Had she held a grudge because it was embarrassing?

At that moment, Hachiman neither denied nor admitted that he had looked at Horikita during class.

He felt that was not what Kushida cared about.

Kushida probably had something she wanted to say.

Sure enough.

"Actually, I greeted Horikita-san yesterday," Kushida said as if confiding in him. "I also ran into Horikita-san when I went to the Shopping Street, but she seemed rather indifferent toward me.

"And today, I started wondering whether she disliked me." Kushida said, "And Hikigaya-kun, you sit next to Horikita-san, so compared with me, it should be easier for you to talk to her."

In other words, Kushida wanted him to test how Horikita felt about her?

That matched what she had said in her introduction about wanting to become friends with everyone.

After all, Suzune Horikita was a classmate. Naturally, she was one of the "everyone" Kushida wanted to be friends with.

However.

Kushida, I think you should give up on this idea of wanting to be friends with everyone.

Because some people were terrible and not worth caring about.

But Kushida was a bomb, and Hachiman did not want to interfere and get burned by setting her off.

"What do you want me to do?" Hachiman said. "No need to beat around the bush."

"Mm... right, then I hope... huh..." Kushida lightly nodded, but suddenly stopped herself, then raised her face and looked at him with pitiful eyes.

Then she took his left hand.

She cradled it in both of hers.

A girl's body heat immediately passed into him.

Kushida continued her cute attack. "Hikigaya-kun, you're so mean. You think too maturely. What do you mean, beating around the bush? I wasn't trying to use you."

But what she was saying now clearly meant that even though he had seen through her, she still wanted to use him.

And she did not even bother hiding it anymore. She had directly made a move in practice.

Though that was what he thought, Hachiman found himself unable to deny it.

Kushida really was cute.

And he did not know what kind of shampoo she used, but she smelled nice.

Of course, it might have been perfume.

Girls really were something else.

It made Hachiman recall the last time a girl had held his hand like this... well, the last time had also been Kushida.

The boys in class had become restless because of puberty and because so many beautiful girls had appeared in their class.

And now, Hachiman realized that perhaps he too was just an ordinary guy.

His heart was beating a little faster.

After all, some girls seemed to have been raised on cuteness.

Like that timid silver-haired loli he had seen yesterday at Zelkova Shopping Center.

Her delicate features paired with a timid disposition, yet she also gave off the aura of someone above others.

Girls like that were incredibly cute.

And so,

even while Kikyo Kushida, the class's popular little angel, held his hand, Hachiman found himself rudely thinking about someone else.

"So, what do you know about Suzune Horikita?" Hachiman began gathering information.

He pulled his hand back.

Kushida also took out her phone.

Hachiman honestly said, "My relationship with her is cold too. Rather, we have not even spoken. We are merely seatmates, nothing more."

"So," Hachiman said, "if you have any information, like whether you came from the same middle school or something, that would be helpful..."

"Ah... bang!"

At that instant.

The phone Kushida held in her left hand fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Kushida seemed to freeze for a moment before hurriedly crouching down to pick it up.

"..." Hachiman.

As a man with sharp powers of observation, this was the first time he had seen Kushida so flustered.

Even when she had just openly revealed that she wanted to use him, Kushida had not been this panicked.

Which meant—

Huh!?

It seemed he had accidentally stepped on one of Kushida's landmines.

P.S. The contract is signed, so don't worry, I won't pull a 49.

There will be another update tonight.

P.S. Since you've read this far today, give me some stats.

Kushida, You're Too Naive—I'm Afraid You'll Get Scammed!

Suzune Horikita, female, breathtakingly beautiful.

She excelled in academics and sports.

But she disliked socializing with others and even considered talking to people a waste of time.

Still, she was very dedicated to studying. She spent most of each day on it.

That was the information Kushida had gathered.

But if that was all... wasn't it rather suspicious?

Because the information Kushida gave could be obtained simply by spending a little time observing her.

But when it came to truly important information, such as whether Suzune Horikita and Kushida had attended the same middle school, Kushida kept her mouth shut.

Hachiman pretended not to notice.

Class D was the worst class, and the more outstanding someone appeared on the surface yet still got assigned here, the more likely it was that once they snapped and exploded, they could destroy everything.

She was an extremely dangerous bomb.

Hachiman had not yet earned enough points from Chabashira-sensei, so naturally, he did not want to set Kushida off here.

So he pretended not to have noticed anything.

But Kushida was a little dangerous today.

Her seat was in the center of the second row beneath the teacher's podium.

It was a highly conspicuous position.

Yet during afternoon classes, she seemed very distracted.

From time to time, she would look back in his direction.

And whenever Hachiman noticed and caught her gaze, she would give him an exceptionally sweet smile.

Her smile was truly cute.

But this was a classroom, and many of their classmates were spacing out.

So some boys immediately misunderstood. They looked utterly distracted, wondering whether Kushida had smiled at them.

After all, most of them had not stood out in middle school, and pretty girls had generally ignored them. So the fact that Kushida was willing to talk to them made her seem like an angel.

And so.