A very reasonable judgment

The classroom was noisy that afternoon, filled with lively chatter and a relaxed, easygoing atmosphere.

Haruki Yamauchi was surrounded by Kanji Ike and several other boys, looking utterly smug and pleased with himself. His voice was loud enough for everyone in the class to hear him clearly.

"I'm telling you, Sakura definitely has a thing for me! I've caught her sneaking looks at me several times, and there's something different about her eyes. She's totally got a crush on me! But I wouldn't go for a plain girl like that. If Kushida confessed to me, though, I'd say yes."

He puffed out his chest, brimming with confidence as he bragged nonstop, exaggerating his charm as though every girl in the school secretly adored him. The boys around him were skeptical, playing along with halfhearted cheers to give him something of an audience.

Kazami Saku had been quietly enjoying the show, but after hearing that absurdly overblown boasting, he simply couldn't hold back his laughter.

His sudden laugh instantly interrupted Yamauchi's self-admiration.

Haruki Yamauchi's expression stiffened. He immediately turned to glare at Kazami Saku, looking thoroughly annoyed. "What are you laughing at, Big Brain? What's so funny?"

Kazami Saku stopped laughing, his eyes full of resignation and his tone heavy with criticism. "Normally, when you brag and try to act cool, everyone just turns a blind eye. But why are you dragging someone's name through the mud for no reason? Sakura hasn't done anything. What gives you the right to make up stuff about her?"

Exposed as a braggart in front of everyone, Yamauchi immediately lost face and raised his voice in embarrassed anger. "You're jealous! You're just jealous that I'm popular! Nobody likes you, so you're jealous of me, aren't you?"

That left Kazami Saku speechless. After his trial by fire with Horikita, his conversational skills had improved significantly, though not in a positive direction.

"Jealous of you? What am I jealous of, your height? Your average looks? Or the lies you pull out of thin air?"

Kazami Saku leaned forward slightly, every word hitting a sore spot. "Sakura likes you? What would she see in you? That you don't brush your teeth or shower? That you're disgusting? That you've got nothing going for you and can't do anything right?"

That string of piercing questions practically made Haruki Yamauchi shut down.

The classroom fell silent for a second, then erupted with laughter. The classmates who had been watching the show could no longer hold it in, doubling over with laughter as every eye in the room focused on Yamauchi.

"You... you've gone too far! Who says I don't brush my teeth?!" Haruki Yamauchi's face was bright red with shame and anger. He pointed at Kazami Saku, trembling with rage, yet couldn't come up with a single retort.

"Then why does your mouth stink so much?"

Yamauchi couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to hit him.

Kazami Saku grabbed a chair. "You'd better think carefully before you start anything. Are you sure that scrawny body of yours can take it?"

Seeing the weapon in his hands instantly doused most of Yamauchi's anger. He gritted his teeth and struggled for a long while, but in the end, he could only fling his hand aside in frustration and try to save face. "I-I'm not going to stoop to your level! You're just being unreasonable!"

With that, he turned away and pretended to talk to someone else to hide his embarrassment, no longer daring to respond.

When the dismissal bell rang, the students began packing up and leaving one after another. Most of the crowd had dispersed, and Kazami Saku had just put on his schoolbag to leave when a very quiet girl's voice softly stopped him.

"Um... Kazami!"

Sakura Airi stood in the classroom doorway, clutching the hem of her clothes with both hands. Her cheeks were slightly red, and she looked nervous and shy. She had clearly hesitated for a long time before working up the courage to speak.

Kazami Saku had almost missed her voice. He stopped and turned to her. "What is it?"

Sakura Airi kept her head down, her fingertips curling slightly. Only after composing herself for a long while did she whisper, as quietly as a mosquito, "Thank you."

Once she had spoken, she didn't dare look up and meet his eyes. As though afraid of being noticed, she turned and hurried away, her slender figure disappearing around the end of the corridor in an instant.

Kazami Saku watched her flee. She ran way too fast. Am I really that scary?

He shook his head and smiled as he turned to leave the classroom. He had done a good deed today, at least.

On his way back to the dorms, he happened to run into Kiyotaka Ayanokoji and Suzune Horikita. Heading the same way, the three walked slowly side by side and chatted about their future plans, though it was mainly Ayanokoji and Kazami doing the talking.

After learning that Kazami's family owned a shop, Ayanokoji casually asked, "Since your family runs a shop, you'll probably take over the family business someday, right?"

It was a very conventional plan for the future. For students whose families owned a business, following in their fathers' footsteps after graduation was the most common choice. After all, a prime minister's son would still be a prime minister.

To his surprise, Kazami Saku immediately shook his head. "No, my dad said he wasn't planning to let an idiot inherit the family business."

Beside them, Suzune Horikita nodded very seriously at that, not forgetting to twist the knife. "Then there's nothing to be done. That's a very reasonable judgment."

Kazami Saku was instantly at a loss. "Wait, let me make this clear. I never planned to take over in the first place. It has nothing to do with whether I'm an idiot."

But Suzune Horikita clearly had no intention of passing up a chance to take a jab at him. A faint smile lingered in her eyes, and her tone was earnest yet cutting. "Running a shop takes patience, brains, and planning. It certainly isn't suited to an idiot. It seems you do have some self-awareness. Your father really does understand his own child."

"Could you not do that?!" Kazami Saku protested, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "Actually, could you stop basing this entire conversation on the premise that I'm an idiot? That's not what's going on at all!"

He corrected her seriously. "I simply have no intention of taking over the family business. It's not that I'm incapable or unsuited to it!"

It wasn't as though it was that difficult, and he wasn't actually an idiot. His behavior since enrolling had simply made him look like one.

Suzune Horikita tilted her head slightly, her expression calm as she continued delivering cutting remarks. "Don't delude yourself like that. Even idiots can improve with effort. It can be cured, so you don't need to feel inferior."

I don't feel inferior! And thank you for that very blunt and completely useless reassurance, Miss Tsundere.

"I told you, your whole premise is wrong!!"

Kazami Saku no longer had the energy to retort. Suzune Horikita was definitely settling old scores. Ever since he had set that trap at the café, deliberately tricked her into coming, and made things up in front of their teacher, this tsundere girl had held a grudge, and her attitude toward him had grown much worse.

No matter what he said or did, from Suzune Horikita's perspective, every one of his actions could be classified as "idiotic behavior."

Right, Miss Kushida hasn't given up on befriending Horikita either. She's still working at it. Could Kushida actually like Horikita? Otherwise, surely she wouldn't be this persistent.

No, please. Even though I said I had no plans to date either of them, I can't let those two become a couple.