After saying goodbye to Wu Qiao, Ichinose Honami returned to the dorm alone. Her heart felt as if it were filled with warm cotton, and even her steps had grown light.
She lowered her eyes to the bottle of juice in her hand. Her fingertips seemed to still remember the touch of clinking bottles with Wu Qiao. Recalling their conversation on the bench, she couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from lifting again.
"The cost difference between the optimal solution and the second-best solution..." She turned the words over in her mind, then couldn't help letting out a soft laugh.
That was Wu Qiao. He did the kindest, most considerate things, even spending time and money to protect the feelings of a girl who had no direct connection to his interests. Yet the reasons he gave were always perfectly rational.
He never said sweet things, and he wouldn't admit that he acted because he "couldn't bear to see her hurt." Instead, he wrapped his kindness in a flawless chain of logic.
But after going through that terrifying simulation called Abyss of the Infatuated, that kind of clear-headedness, free of any unhealthy possessiveness, was a hundred times more precious to Ichinose Honami than any vow of eternal love.
In that horrifying simulation, she had been willing to destroy everything she had just to get him, only to end up in a twisted relationship where they tormented each other.
Now, looking at the open and composed boy, she finally felt that they could have a healthy, reassuring relationship after all.
"As long as we don't disturb each other's peaceful lives, we can keep going like this, right?"
Ichinose Honami stopped and raised her head to gaze at the stars scattered across the night sky. The confusion and fear brought on by the simulation's ending, along with her lingering self-doubt, vanished completely in that moment.
She would simply keep standing by his side like this, with her head held high, and face the school's cruel rules together with him.
"I absolutely won't let you down, Wu-kun."
She made the promise softly, her eyes shining with a light brighter than ever before. Then she took a deep breath, hugged the bottle of juice tightly to her chest, and set off with her heart full of joy and anticipation.
As night deepened, the only sound in the library's study room was the scratch of pen tips against paper. Horikita Suzune sat at the long table, patiently explaining math problems to her group like a capable tutor. Her clear reasoning and meticulous attitude had even the students with weaker foundations nodding along.
Yet beneath her calm exterior, a hard-to-describe worry had begun to stir.
Over the past few days, she had been trying to change her isolated position in class and secure a promotion to Class A. She had put aside her former aloofness and started using the prompts from the [Favorability System] to improve her relationships with her classmates.
But the results had been disheartening. Aside from Hirata Yosuke, the good-natured boy who smiled at everyone, whose favorability had barely made it past sixty, she had made very little progress with anyone else.
Kushida Kikyo was especially difficult. No matter how much goodwill she showed, the other girl's favorability remained stubbornly fixed at "0."
But the person who gave Horikita Suzune the biggest headache—and left her the most confused—was Ayanokoji Kiyoha, quietly working on problems nearby.
The sheltered young lady's favorability score was absurd.
At first, after a few chance encounters, the number had fluctuated a little. But ever since it got stuck at "10," it might as well have been welded in place. Nothing she did could make it budge.
Horikita Suzune was paying such close attention to Ayanokoji Kiyoha for a simple reason. Not long ago, their homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, had specifically called her to the office for a talk, and the reward she had received had been very generous.
Yet in Horikita Suzune's eyes, Ayanokoji Kiyoha seemed to have completely given up. She showed no interest in studying, and even her everyday conversations were perfunctory, as though nothing in the world could stir her.
"All right, the auxiliary line for this problem should be drawn like this." Horikita Suzune gathered her thoughts, tapped the workbook with her pen, and brought the last group member back from their confusion.
She raised her head, and her gaze fell involuntarily on Ayanokoji Kiyoha, a short distance away. The other girl seemed to notice and turned her head slightly. Her calm eyes met Horikita Suzune's for a moment before she turned back to her book indifferently.
Horikita Suzune furrowed her brows. She had a vague sense that Ayanokoji Kiyoha was a mystery wrapped in fog, deliberately hiding beneath an ordinary façade.
"Where... should I even start?" she wondered.
If she wanted to lead Class D to Class A, she couldn't keep going it alone as she had in the past.
And Ayanokoji Kiyoha might be the key to breaking the deadlock. But how could she get through to someone who was so unresponsive?
The study room remained brightly lit. Horikita Suzune took a deep breath and pushed her worries aside for the moment.
After assigning two math problems that left Sudo and the others bent over their desks, racking their brains, Horikita Suzune's gaze naturally fell on Wu Qiao, seated in the back row.
Since she couldn't win over Ayanokoji Kiyoha, the inscrutable girl who was impervious to persuasion, she should try approaching Wu Qiao, who was just as unfathomable.
Once the study session officially ended, Horikita Suzune gathered her textbooks and walked steadily over to Wu Qiao, who was still sitting with his eyes closed, taking a brief nap.
She stopped beside his desk and opened the panel with a thought. Wu Qiao's favorability was displayed clearly: [40].
It was an extremely strange number. The two of them rarely interacted. Aside from occasionally seeing each other during study sessions, they had almost no contact outside of class.
Horikita Suzune had no idea where those forty favorability points had come from.
After thinking it over for a long time without finding an answer, Horikita Suzune gave up. To be safe, she decided to use the system's "Conversation Assistance" feature, hoping it would provide a suitable opening line that wouldn't undermine her dignity.
But the moment the text generated by the system appeared before her eyes, Horikita Suzune's mind went completely blank.
What did it mean that she should take his hand and say, "Together, for a brighter future, please entrust me with your strength, Wu-kun. Let me, everyone, all of us, graduate with smiles on our faces"?
Horikita Suzune felt a rush of blood shoot to her head. Her delicate, usually pale face turned visibly red. Her normally calm, sharp eyes widened as if she'd just seen some terrifying monster.
What kind of joke was this?! The system wanted her to use a line this embarrassing, like something from a cheesy shoujo manga, in this situation? And take his hand? S-say it with deep feeling?!
If she actually said that in front of her classmates, by tomorrow the whole Advanced Nurturing High School would be spreading rumors that Horikita Suzune was a hopelessly lovestruck idiot! How could she do something so frivolous?
Phew... No. Absolutely not!
Horikita Suzune shook her head furiously, forcing the words that would have ruined her social life out of her mind.
Just then, Wu Qiao seemed to notice the movement beside him and slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Horikita Suzune standing by his desk, a suspicious flush on her cheeks, and a flicker of confusion passed through his gaze.
"Need something?"
Horikita Suzune took a deep breath and worked to restore her usual cool, unruffled expression. She straightened her back, folded her arms, and spoke in as businesslike a tone as she could manage:
"Wu-kun, I have some thoughts about our class's plans going forward that I'd like to discuss with you. I think your abilities might provide unexpected support for Class D's advancement."
She hadn't followed the system's prompt, but this was the most normal version she could think of that still came close to its original meaning.