Shouldn't a normal person say thank you, wash the handkerchief, and return it? Why was it that with Ryuuen, no matter what Shiina Hiyori chose, she would lose a handkerchief?
"If you want it, you can have it." Although Shiina Hiyori quite liked this handkerchief, she was not so stingy that she could not part with one. At that moment, Hiyori was pondering Ryuuen's purpose. Why did he want her handkerchief so badly?
Without minding that it was filthy with nosebleed, Ryuuen shoved it straight into his pocket.
Unable to figure it out, Shiina Hiyori asked him directly, "What do you want to do with my handkerchief?"
"Maybe I just like this handkerchief." Ryuuen spoke frivolously, his tone entirely teasing. After all, he had built himself up as the leader of a bunch of delinquents. He could hardly act like some refined scoundrel—that would be far too out of character.
"You clearly aren't such a shallow person. Could you stop acting so frivolous?"
The quiet Shiina Hiyori before him was clearly irritated by Ryuuen. Her cherry lips pursed up. It was not because he had teased her a few times, but because of his attitude. It was as though he were toying with prey, making Hiyori feel disrespected.
"I look like a frivolous person, don't I?" As Ryuuen spoke, he reached out and stroked Hiyori's beautiful hair. It was very smooth. Two blue butterfly-ribbon ties were fastened in the girl's hair, and Ryuuen took the chance to remove one and toy with it in his hand.
"I like this too. It would be even better if it were black."
Shiina Hiyori had not expected Ryuuen to touch her. She had instinctively tried to dodge, but she still failed to escape his dark hand. Ryuuen tried to take off the ribbon on the other side as well, but this time Shiina Hiyori grabbed his hand and easily snatched her ribbon back from him.
"I definitely won't give you this. And besides, I'm not someone who judges people by their appearance! My intuition tells me that you're absolutely not as simple and crude as you look."
One of Shiina Hiyori's hands was still holding her book, so even after retrieving the ribbon with her other hand, it was inconvenient for her to put it back on.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Ryuuen looked quite smug as he grasped the hand holding Hiyori's ribbon. Hiyori tried to struggle, but faced with the absolute difference in strength, she could only watch as Ryuuen pried open her fingers one by one, and the ribbon fell into his hand again.
Hiyori's hand was small, tender, and soft. In Ryuuen's large hand, it was like holding a ball of cotton warmed by the sun. He could not even bear to use much force to take the ribbon from her.
"Only shallow people don't judge others by appearances." As he spoke, Ryuuen helped Hiyori tie the ribbon back on. Unfortunately, he had no experience with it, so it did not look very nice.
The wave of masculine scent made Hiyori's whole face burn. Ryuuen might not have been the most handsome boy, but he was definitely the boy with the most sexual charisma. Seeing Shiina Hiyori's flushed cheeks, Ryuuen naturally lifted her chin with a finger.
That action frightened Hiyori badly. After all, she was only a sixteen-year-old girl. No matter how composed she usually appeared, she was especially flustered now.
Then Shiina Hiyori ran away. Yes, ran away—she fled while clutching her book. As Hiyori ran, the crookedly tied ribbon in her hair swayed precariously, vanishing from Ryuuen's sight along with its owner.
After running for who knew how long, Shiina Hiyori stopped. She panted, fine beads of sweat appearing across her forehead. Hiyori had just wanted to wipe the sweat with her handkerchief when she touched her empty pocket and remembered that Ryuuen had snatched it away. She felt angry for a moment, followed by confusion.
As she stood there recalling her conversation with Ryuuen, the evening breeze blew over Hiyori, drying the fine sweat on her forehead, stirring the girl's hair, and sending that ribbon fluttering in the wind.
Hiyori suddenly remembered that Ryuuen's last remark had come from Oscar Wilde. Ryuuen knew she had gone to him because she wanted to shirk the task of collecting class dues. That was why he had teased her and changed the subject. Once Class C's students handed over all their points to her tomorrow, it would become even less possible for her to shirk the task afterward.
After figuring it out, Shiina Hiyori felt helpless. Although she did not want to take part in the struggle between classes, Ryuuen had still forcibly dragged her onto the battlefield.
After returning to the dormitory, Shiina Hiyori took a bath. The wall reflected the girl's graceful figure. Hiyori lay in the bathtub, her dark hair spread over the water, one lotus-white arm reaching into the mist-filled air, as though she had caught something—and as though she had caught nothing at all.
After her bath, Shiina Hiyori put the ribbon away in a drawer. The girl's drawer contained several ribbon ties in different colors, but not a single black one. Lying in bed, Hiyori thought, Tomorrow, I'll find time to buy a handkerchief.
She casually switched off the bedside lamp and fell asleep. Yet her sleep was poor. Hiyori had a nightmare in which Ryuuen stole her black ribbon.
With faint dark circles under her eyes, Shiina Hiyori had barely entered the classroom when a circle of girls gathered around her. They had all come to pay their class dues. Though she was extremely unwilling to take on this task, Hiyori still carefully recorded the names of everyone who had paid. After that, boys came over in twos and threes to pay their dues as well.
Ryuuen was the last student to arrive in the classroom, but he was not late. Since Hiyori's seat was right beside his, she conveniently handed Ryuuen the compiled list of people who had not paid their class dues.
There were only three boys' names on the list. One of them was "Ryuuen Kakeru," and the girl had even marked it with a special symbol.
Ryuuen glanced at the list, then at the girl. Hiyori turned her head away, unwilling to speak to him.
Taking the list with him, Ryuuen approached the two boys who had not paid their class dues. Just as he was about to use some educational methods on them, one of them questioned him, "Ryuuen, why aren't you paying the class dues?"
The other asked, "Can you guarantee you won't embezzle the points for personal use?"
It seemed Class C was not made up entirely of idiots.
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