Classroom of the Elite: Liar's Edition - Chapter 13 - JES_132 (2024)

Chapter Text

As I arrived at the dormitory building while holding onto Horikita's unconscious body, I opened the door with my available arm and entered the building.

I eventually arrived at the receptionist area, where the current worker at the desk shot me a cold glare right in my direction. Similarly to Ijuin, she doesn't like me in the slightest. I remember our first meeting nearly a month ago when she complained about my mailbox being overfilled with creepy love letters—that was such a joyous occasion for our ever-loving friendship.

However, I couldn't annoy her today as I had other priorities. I arrived at the elevator and pressed the button near the elevator that would take us to the third floor of the building. As I entered, I heaved a sigh of relief as no one else was present.

Still, to ensure I wouldn't get any unexpected visitors like Koenji doing his routine moon bathing session, I ordered the elevator to take us to the third floor, where I knew someone who would gladly allow me to use their room.

The elevator finally stopped on the third floor, and Horikita and I headed toward room 309, otherwise known as Ijuin Wataru's room.

He should have been busy with Yosuke-chan or something else, so I was grateful when he graciously gifted me a copy of his dorm key when we started working together, as I would never let him into my room.

Opening the door with the key, I revealed a relatively dark and clean room filled with anime figurines on the shelves near his desk and a body pillow of a girl in a suggestive outfit on his bed.

I threw Horikita onto the bed, lying on her back beside the body pillow to keep her company. I grabbed a pill from my pocket and slipped it into Horikita's mouth.

I hopped onto Ijuin's chair and let out an enormous sigh of relief as I could finally relax my shoulder.

"G-god, this room is disgusting," I muttered as I soothed my shoulder, which was currently in pain.

Looking around Ijuin's room again, I was reminded of when I first entered the room when it was so much worse. Trash scattered red all over the floor, cum stains covered on that body pillow, and dirty laundry all over the place. I acted like Tojo Kirumi, the Ultimate Maid, and cleaned the room to the state it is in today.

Though at least Ijuin kept his room tidy after I cleaned the room.

I then stared at the clock, which was nearly 10 pm.

I got up from my seat and strolled into his kitchenette area to see what he had in his refrigerator. His selection included various energy drinks, but he managed to stock up on my favorite, purple Fanta.

After grabbing my favorite drink from the fridge, I turned on the lights in this dark room. I turned on the heater to ensure that Horikita didn't get cold due to the lack of a blazer before sitting back down on the seat I was once on.

Several anime figurines were looking at the desk. One that stood out to me was wearing a suggestive bunny suit costume. The girl had lavender hair styled similarly to the unconscious Horikita, violet eyes, and pale skin. If I remember correctly, the character's name is Kirigiri Kyoko, the Ultimate detective from the first season of Danganronpa.

She has the same talent as Saihara-chan.

Ever since I saw the name 'Saihara Saishu' on the Ikemen ranking list, I've thought of the former ultimate detective lot that I—no Kokichi admired his abilities and wanted to put his trust in or someone who could've helped him during the killing game. However, he never understood him back then and justifiably pushed him aside. Kokichi was responsible for the deaths of Iruma, but more specifically, Gonta, by making him kill her.

Despite feeling justified for his actions, the others rightfully pushed me aside, as he wanted them to. To make sure that

So, I wonder if the Saihara at this school and the red-haired girl, who I suspect is Yumeno-chan, are the same people that Kokichi knew. What would they think of me if they were, knowing I was probably some fanatic girl who became their former classmate?

On an unrelated note, I think Saihara-chan would absolutely rock a bunny suit...

I'm getting distracted.

I slapped my face to get myself back on track and turned my chair to face Horikita, who looked just as pathetic as she did earlier as she lay on the bed beside that body pillow.

She was still unconscious, but I did notice her moving slightly, so it's plausible she would wake up in a few minutes.

Thinking back to when I watched her and her older brother's reunion, according to the elder Horikita, she's unaware of her flaws in an attempt to emulate him when that isn't his style.

Suppose I had to assume what Horikita-senpai meant by Horikita's critical flaw. In that case, it's her inability to be fully aware of her surroundings if she deems it unnecessary to her goal; as a consequence of her tunnel vision, she ends up pushing others' way and making those around her despise her.

It also doesn't help that she most likely has little experience meaningfully interacting with others. The way she treated me when she visited my place on the eve of the first was rude, from threatening me with a compass to calling me a pawn for her non-existent plans to reach Class A.

She made no plans to improve the class's standing after the midterms, no plans to learn more about the school's structure, none of that.

She reminds me slightly of Kokichi during the killing game. They push others away to achieve their goals, whether to end the killing game in Kokichi's case or for Horikita to meet her brother's expectations and have him be proud of her.

However, Horikita's time at this school will be limited unless she changes this nature to begin cooperating with others.

Which would be a shame, as I sort of see the potential that she might have.

Horikita was a skilled teacher who could adapt her methods to Sudo's needs and changed her methods plenty of times to get him to understand. If she had recognized his tendency to anger, the study session might not have ended in a complete disaster, and she probably wouldn't have ended up lying down next to an anime body pillow.

This leads to the conclusion that, unlike Kokichi, who had the intelligence to deem isolating himself necessary for his plans to end the killing game, he isn't necessarily a loner himself if put anywhere else besides a killing game. Horikita, meanwhile, was an above-average honors student with tons of potential at best who hated communicating with others when it wasn't necessary, and at worst, she was a massive stuck-up bitch who could be nauseating to be around.

She had a lot of work to improve, and I'll ensure I can help her grow, even if she comes to despise me.

I slipped out of my dress shoes and approached the bed. Making sure I didn't touch Horikita, I got myself on the bed while keeping myself up with all four so that the first thing Horikita saw when she woke up was my beautiful face.

This situation was similar to when Kokichi placed himself on top of Saihara-chan, but the reasoning was slightly different. There aren't any insects in this room; I ensured that a while back.

I pulled a phone from my pocket and snapped a photo of her snoozing face with the flash on, causing her to flinch. Then, after fiddling around with the phone I was holding, I put it away and put it back into my pocket.

"Ngh..." Horikita let out a sweet moan as I noticed her eyes beginning to twitch, revealing two crimson-red eyes.

Well, I guess there is no more bullsh*tting in my head and time to have some for Horikita. So, I started to giggle like a maniac and let out a cheerful and mischievous smile once I confirmed Horikita was awake.

"Morning, sleepyhead! You're finally awake, Horikita-chan."

"Huh? W-what?"

Horikita muttered to herself, ironically saying the exact words Saihara-chan did during the insect meet-and-greet. She was confused, as I could see her pupils bounce back and forth, but the only thing in her vision was my beautiful face greeting her.

"Nishishi, are you going to ask... 'Who am I?' and "'Where am I?' Well, you're definitely Horikita Suzune, my favorite defect. And this place is..." I glanced across the room for a moment to take in her surroundings. "I guess, a hellspawn for women."

"Hellspawn for women?"

I got off of Horikita before she had the chance to push me aside. However, she looked around the room in a daze, trying to make sense of her new environment.

"We're in someone's dormitory room?"

"Ding! Ding! Ding! You're so smart, Horikita-chan! Your guess was one hundred percent correct!" I cheered in my seat.

"Why are we..." Horikita paused her words as she suddenly changed her expression from confused to angry. "I remember now. I was talking with my nii-san, and after that finished, you showed up, and then..."

I took a sip of my drink and scanned the room, trying to determine Horikita's opinion on the interior design of this horrifying room.

"I knocked you out and brought you to this lovely place. So what do you think?"

"You knocked me out?"

"Your onii-chan did a good one on you, and knowing you hated cooperation, I had to force you to join me. My bad. Call it payback for stabbing me with the compass earlier..."

I let out a frown while attempting to be as blunt as possible, as I had no reason to lie to her right now. Then, I quickly flashed a smile,

"Enough about that! Tell me how the place is. I have remodeled it since we last spoke. Nishishi!"

"Is this your room? I don't see the strange whiteboard that you seem to draw on. And the body pillow, I never thought you were into this stuff, not that it matters to me. It seems like a massive waste of points if this is your room, though."

She sounded confident in her reasoning that this wasn't my room.

"Yeah, I lied. This isn't my room. It's your seatmate's room."

"Ayanokoji-kun?" Horikita looked around the room once again after coming to the false belief that we were in his room. "It's a travesty that I ended up here."

She sighed disappointedly while turning the body pillow to the other side.

I would feel the same if Auyanokoji's room looked like this, but I haven't visited his room yet. However, I do find the thought of her thinking this anime-infested room is Ayanokoji's room funny, so I had no reason to tell her the truth.

"Yeah, but he was kind enough to lend me his room as you recovered after your onii-chan beat the living sh*t out of you, Nishishi. You looked so pathetic that I pitied your existence. I can't imagine what it's like having such a sh*tty onii-chan who would—"

"Stop it. I've heard enough." Horikita aggressively cut me off, angered that I would call out her brother's actions. "Did you witness everything between me and him, or was it a coincidence?"

"Who knows?" I shrugged off her question. "As much as I would love to have defend you from him, he looked like someone who knew his martial arts well, and if I decided to fight him, I would surely have gotten my ass beaten."

I never had intentions of stepping into their conflict, but if I did, even if I were Kokichi and had his body, it would've ended horribly for me.

"I guess so, so I'll thank you for watching over me even though you knocked me out to get me here when I could've done it myself."

Horikita got up from the bed and attempted to stand, but as soon as she did, she lost her balance and nearly fell if I didn't jump in and prevent her from hitting the floor.

I then pushed Horikita back onto the bed, preventing her from getting off. Thanks to her weakened strength, she couldn't react instantly.

"Ungh." Horikita grabbed her leg in pain while glaring at me. "What was that for?"

"I never said that you could leave yet. We haven't even had fun yet!" I pouted in disappointment at her. "Besides, with your broken leg, it's better to stay on the bed to rest for a while. Don't worry. Aya-chan allowed me to keep his room as long as needed, but I'll assist you once we're done here."

"You won't allow me to leave, aren't you now?" Horikita seemingly accepted her fate and just stared at me blankly.

"Wow, Horikita-chan, you know me so well!" I got up from my seat and went towards Horikita's bag. Against her well, I dug inside and pulled out the compass she had stabbed me with earlier. "Hey, do you know what this neat tool is?"

I flashed the nifty tool in front of the black-haired girl who was

"My compass... Don't tell me you want to stab me with it."

"What sort of monster do you think I am?! I just wanted to play a game with it come on, I'm not some sad*stic bitch, who enjoys seeing you in pain."

I lied just now.

"A game?" Horikita raised her brow at my suggestion.

"It won't be anything complex. It's just two truths and one lie, and every time we get caught lying, we get stabbed with this compass."

"Why would I want to play such an asinine game like that."

"Why not? It'll be a lot of fun. Maybe we'll understand each other much better through icebreakers like these!"

I pumped my fist back and forth to encourage Horikita, but my cute appearance did not sway her. If I were Kokichi, I definitely would've won her over.

"Why would I want to get stabbed with that compass."

"I don't know. You looked like you enjoyed stabbing me earlier, and besides, I'm giving you the ability to stab me if you catch onto my lie; it's a great opportunity to let out all your anger and frustration onto me." I pointed my index finger toward it and let out a mischievous smirk. "But be warned, I am a good liar and won't hold back, Nishishi!"

Horikita looked up at the ceiling, contemplating her choice.

This fun game would be a marvelous opportunity to interrogate Horikita's personal life and confirm some suspicions.

She looked back down, looking at me directly in the eyes as if she had come up with

"I don't even know, but fine. Since you've already seen me in such a pathetic state, I'll play this nonsensical game with you if it means I can leave sooner."

"Yipee!"

My eyes glistened like diamonds after hearing Horikita agree to my game.

"Though before that, do you want a drink? Aya-chan won't mind if we steal some of his stuff."

"Unlike you, I would prefer to be a courteous guest in the place even if I find their room unpleasant, and since Ayanokoji-kun isn't present, I would prefer to have his permission when requesting a drink. So, I'll pass."

Did she need to attack my and Ijuin's character when refusing my offer?

"I see. Fine, so do you want to go first?"

"Since you came up with the idea, I propose that you start us off. So Sakura-san."

"Fine, I'll go first. Let's move towards the desk to see each other at eye level."

I reached out my arm to Horikita to assist her in getting to the table so she wouldn't break one of Ijuin's precious 'waifus' as he calls those toys.

As we both took our seats, we were facing each other face to face. Horikita placed her hand right on the table as if she was prepared to get stabbed.

Now, for the first round, let's play it simple.

"Alright, let's see... I am the hit online influence and idol Shizuku. I also despise eating pig feet. Then lastly... I am a boy. One of those statements is a lie. I can't tell you which, Nishishi!"

Horikita gave me a skeptical glare as she scanned my body and, more specifically, my breasts.

"You are a boy?"

Horikita gave a dissatisfied expression, clearly unsatisfied with my lackluster lie.

"You don't know for a fact." I giggled, trying to make it look obvious that I was lying.

Was claiming I was a boy a lie, though?

I have the memories of a guy and the body of a chick. I never really put much thought into my gender and just lived as Airi, who was a girl, so I just stuck with that out of convenience. Things could've been different if I had known I was Shizuku beforehand. I most likely would've adjusted my appearance to hide that identity, like dyeing my hair purple or occasionally wearing the male uniform. Still, I'm glad I didn't; otherwise, it would've inhibited my plans for the class.

At the same time, I can't say that I'm too happy with this body of mine, though. Maybe it's the different memories of being used to a male body, but even though I know this body is mine, it feels foreign. However, after over a month of adjusting to my body, I more or less became in touch with it despite my issues with my poor stamina.

If someone were to look in my head, I guess I would be both a boy and a girl depending on how they saw me, but to everyone else I speak to regularly, I'm a girl named Airi, so that's what I am.

"Well, you're doing a poor job convincing me you're a guy. So I'll say that was the lie."

"Aw, you got me. But you're correct. I'm, in fact, a girl." I clapped my hands while letting out a little hum. "It's your turn now, Horikita-chan!"

I placed my hand on the table and handed Horikita the compass as she continued to think of what she was about to tell me.

"All right. First, I practiced karate in the past..."

She did karate in the past. Yeah, I've always felt she could beat me in a fight. I'm pretty sure most people with any fighting experience could easily beat me in a fight. I was lucky that my stalker didn't have any, so I was able to exploit his inability to defend his vital areas.

"Then, I have a desire to be your friend..."

She wants to be my friend. This is the best news I've heard all day

"Horikita-chan, is that true! You want to be my friend." I grasped onto her hands, and with a glisten in my eyes, I cheered on the good news.

"I don't know, you tell me, Sakura-san. I could be lying right now."

I released her hands and placed my left hand back onto the desk, just waiting to be stabbed once again by Horikita.

"Right... I forgot."

Hearing she wanted to be my friend made me conveniently forget that she could be lying to me now.

"I don't understand how you could forget your game, but whatever," Horikita mumbled to herself, disgruntled that I loved to mess with her. "Lastly, I would say that I can cook proper food—"

"Easy!" I cut off Horikita before she could speak, relishing my prideful smirk as I was confident with my answer. "I know you are a terrible cook, so that's your lie!"

She wasn't saying anything. I was wondering what was taking so long for her to speak.

*Poke*

"Ouch! W-what was that for?!"

I started to tear up again, not out of joy but out of pain. A small stream of my blood started to gush out of the new hole that Horikita pierced into my hand. I am ninety percent sure that this stab was harder than the one she did earlier today.

Yet, I chose not to move my hand once and not stop the bleeding.

"You answered incorrectly. Don't tell me you forgot the rule where we stabbed each other if we answered incorrectly."

"I didn't, but you didn't need to thrust so hard. So what was the lie, as I clearly couldn't figure out."

"I have no intentions of being friends with you."

Horikita's words were blunt but truthful. She even said that to her brother during their fruitful reunion, where she rejected the proposal that we weren't friends but just simple classmates.

"That sort of attitude isn't going to get you into Class A, Horikita-chan."

"I don't care."

"I'm not saying you need to be besties with me, but you should try to be more tolerant around others. I'm pretty sure that's what your onii-chan was alluding to as he was trying to knock the sense into you—"

"You too..."

Horikita bobbed her head downwards, facing the table in a sullen mood. Did the memories of her encounter with her brother earlier suddenly pop back up in her head?

I remained silent and continued to listen to Horikita's rambling.

"Right, you watched the unpleasant side of me earlier. Instead of continuing this pointless game, can I ask you something?"

I'm sure that whatever Horikita wanted to ask of me had to do with something her brother had to say, so I guess this scenario happened much sooner than I anticipated, not that I was against it.

"Um, I still want to continue the game, but sure..."

I took a sip of the purple Panta and placed it on the table when I was finished, preparing to answer Horikita's inquiry.

"Nii-san said that my way of thinking was flawed, and he only stated that once I denied the possibility of the two of us being friends." Horikita nodded her head back right in my direction. "Why was he disappointed at the whole scene back at the cafe during the study session? Did I mess up back then?"

I took both hands, ignoring the new injury from the compass, and placed them behind my head while leaning back on the wooden chair, making it seem I was taking her inquiry seriously. However, I wasn't going to answer her question.

"You know, Horikita-chan. I might not be able to answer your question, but the internet can."

"The internet?"

I pulled out my phone from my blazer pocket, began to browse, and noticed I had a bunch of messages and missed phone calls from several of my friends. I'll respond to them later. For now, I went onto the school forum to see if a video had been posted there depicting the whole debacle between Horikita and Sudo, as, according to the elder Horikita, he watched a video of what occurred and informed Horikita.

Lord and behold, I found it! What looks to be an upperclassmen student posted the video "Sister of the SCP Verbally tore down a classmate who created a scene!"

The content was just as I remembered, but I saw Horikita get splashed by hot expresso this time. Besides that, I looked further and found the video's comment section.

{OMFG! This is the sister of Horikita. Pathetic! Truly defective!}

{Pathetic, if this were our Horikita, he would've calmed the brute easily!}

{She's such a massive fraud!}

{Poor Shizuku-chan! She didn't deserve to be around the two of them!}

{Miyake is such a chad for stepping in!}

However, the ones that stood out to me the most were the ones that connected the two Horikita siblings.

{Isn't she a damn defect! I guess the Horikitas are pathetic}

{I bet she needs her onii-chan to help her and her pathetic class! LOL}

{Imagine having a defective sister! It couldn't be me.}

Geez, the comments are brutal, but since the accounts are anonymous, you can be as cruel as you want online without any repercussions on the forum. No moderators, just pure hatred for Horikita and slander for the elder brother.

If Horikita and I swapped places back then, I would be sure the comments would take my side and scold Sudo. However, Sudo was still scolded for pushing me and Hasebe to the ground. Still, when it came to Horikita, he had more defenders just because her attitude was just that sh*tty and apparent that they couldn't help but be disappointed in the younger Horikita.

Thinking back, the elder Horikita spoke like a sh*tty politician back then, caring about his public appearance as he pummeled his sister. However, I find it more likely that this was his attempt to set her straight and push the younger Horikita away so she wouldn't follow in her footsteps, but I haven't had an actual conversation with him to get a good read on him yet.

Then again, sh*tty politicians do freaky stuff sometimes, so you never know what type of person the elder Horikita is.

But, knowing the younger Horikita, who is known for being bluntly honest and her cold attitude, she might've gotten this attitude from her brother or some other relatives, so I doubt that he acts like a sh*tty politician.

"Do you remember the study session we had earlier? I'm pretty sure your onii-chan told you this, but it was posted online. And let's say the comments aren't pretty."

Thanks to the distractions I set up, Horikita hasn't checked her phone once since she woke up and hasn't been able to process her brother's words until now. So, to help her show her the consequences of what occurred earlier, I handed her my phone and let her scroll down the comments.

"So, I really am hurting Nii-san just by being here..."

Despite muttering, her words were loud and clear to my ears.

She started clenching my phone harder as she continued to scroll down, seeing the vile comments attacking her character, defaming her, and connecting her to her older brother.

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious that you suck." I scoffed mockingly while crossing my arms and legs, trying to make myself look serious. "God, if I were you, I totes would've dropped out. However, I'm not you, thank god. But unfortunately, you are you. But Horikita-chan, you have a choice to make. Will you heed your brother's advice and continue being your pathetic self and drop out, or do you want to change?"

Horikita glared a time as she placed my phone on the desk and sat in complete silence.

I realized that Horikita doesn't have a superiority complex. Instead, her tunnel vision pushes others aside if it means she can reach her goal, calling those who were useful to her 'pawns' and not taking the time to see the bigger picture. Perhaps if she had, she could've spotted the clues about the S-system or even tried to make meaningful connections with others, which could've helped her catch up to her brother.

Based on the accounts of Nagumo, the upperclassmen I've spoken to, and the younger Horikita currently contemplating my words, it's easy to see that Horikita Manabu is a highly respected student and role model.

However, Horikita Suzune, as she is now, was nowhere as capable as her brother, and she felt inferior when she was brought up in the same vein as him.

However, I wonder if she has the ability to match her brother's 'greatness.' Or, at the very least, to make it appear they were equals when it came to their abilities, even after her fumble. It would be highly beneficial to me.

"You know, Sakura-san. I've told you this before, but you can be pretty detestable, you know that?"

"So what of it?"

I perked my head in interest at this new determination that I saw from the girl sitting across from me.

"Why would I ever consider dropping out of this school?" Her voice was wavering, but I could sense the determination in her voice. "I'll just have to prove to my nii-san and everyone else that I can surpass him."

Why would I ever consider Horikita voluntarily dropping out?

"Nishishi, You really are stubborn, but I like that about you."

I clapped both of my hands, applauding her words. However, just because she is determined not to give up doesn't mean she's completely hopeless.

"So, what's the game plan? With this determination, you surely have something cooking in that massive brain of yours!"

I pointed toward her head, trying to get to get her thinking.

"Tch." Horikita glared at me. "You know I don't have anything. The study session failed... I guess we'll have to do something about Sudo-kun, at the very least, if we want the class to gain points."

"Wow, I thought you were just going to say that we should let him get expelled."

"No, I understand that even if I find him useless for the class, I would prefer not to have a deduction in class points, so I'll need you to recruit Sudo-kun once again."

I swung my chair a bit back in surprise and collapsed onto the ground after Horikita's nonsensical response. I hope I didn't spill my panta, which I planned to finish eventually.

"Ouch..." I brought myself up while rubbing my forehead slightly, as I brought myself up once again. "There you go again, treating me like a pawn... But fine, I'll oblige with your request on one condition."

I took the chair that I had accidentally fallen off and adjusted it so I could sit on it once again.

"A condition? It better not be anything stupid."

"Why would I ever request anything stupid, Horikita-chan?

Horikita squinted at me with a suspicious glare. "Did you forget the game you asked me to play earlier?"

I stared at her blankly for an uncomfortably long period when I noticed my panta was not spilled, which made me happy.

"Oh, right! I forgot about that game. I just want you to contact the number I plan to give you, spend time with them, and do something with them."

"A number?"

"Yep. Don't worry, it's someone you've talked to before, so it won't be some random stranger. I believe that the two of you will hit it off well!"

"Is this some sort of setup?"

"When have I ever set you up? I would never do such a thing for a beloved friend!" I pouted in anger. "Come on, Horikita-chan, just do this one thing for me, and I'll assist you."

I gave out my signature puppy eyes and clasped my hands as if praying, trying my best to plead with the stubborn girl, knowing she would eventually budge.

"Is there a reason for me to contact this person?"

"So, I take it as a yes?"

"Answer the question."

"Well, there is, but it will make sense once you contact that person."

"I don't like the shallow mysteries. But fine, if I get your cooperation to get Sudo-kun to study, I'll contact this person and spend time with them."

"Yipee! I know you won't regret it, Horikita-chan!"

My eyes were glistening in excitement. I then clasped my hands with Horikita's while blood was still flowing out of my hand.

"Let go of my hands."

"Fine..."

As I released Horikita's hands, I snatched the compass from the desk and decided to try something I'd been trying out for a while now.

*Poke*

I stabbed Horikita's shoulder with the compass in my hands and placed it back on the desk with a satisfied grin as I started giggling, covering my lips with my hands.

"Tch...Was that necessary?"

Horikita grasped her newly stabbed shoulder and gave me her most insidious glare yet. It was scary and reminded me of that twin-tailed girl that I despised.

"Nishishi! I've wanted to try stabbing you. Now you could say we're stabbie twinsies!"

"You are one of the weirdest people I've ever met, and if I didn't find your cooperation useful for securing an advantage for our class, I would never want to talk to you."

"Wow, that was cold, but you'll warm up to me eventually."

I gave a large, mischievous grin while pressing my finger with my lips.

Horikita shivered as she tried to get up from her chair. She stumbled and nearly fell once she got up, but she prevented her fall by pressing her hands onto the table, and I could see blood gushing out of her hand.

She looked cute and pathetic at the same time. She struggled like a toddler learning to walk.

"Need some help, Horikita-chan?"

"Fine."

Begrudgingly, Horikita groaned once she accepted my offer to assist her back to her room, even though nothing significant had changed.

She still hasn't seen the scope of how Sudo could be useful for our class, but one sign of good news is that she realizes she needs to make compromises when trying to achieve her goal of reaching Class A. She could take up the task of tutoring Sudo again or fulfill my request if she wants me to get him.

Now, I could've sped her development and scolded her by lecturing her on why Sudo could be useful and why she should connect with others meaningfully beyond just seeing people as pawns. Still, some things can only be taught with experience, and Horikita lacks said experience.

Hypocritical much, Airi?

Regardless of the hypocrisy in my prior statement. In the same way, I'm currently testing Yosuke-chan to overcome his defect. I intend to give Horikita a test of her own to overcome her defect, and based on how outstanding her brother is, according to accounts, I have high hopes for her.

But if she fails my test, she'll be the next Yamauchi.

"Come on, Sakura-san, hurry up."

Horikita demanded, which made me accidentally let out a cute squeal in response.

"Awawawa! Got it!"

I scurried around the room to get all of my belongings that belonged to the both of us, including the unfinished panta drink I was saving for later.

As I entered the bedroom to get my shoes, I again remembered the anime figurine of Kirigiri, which brought me back to thinking about Saihara-chan.

She won't understand now, but she will be going through a lot soon, which will be an unforgettable moment in her life, and she will need support to help her.

If Saihara-chan knew what I was about to put Horikita through, would he even want to associate with me?

If I am truly an extension of the former Ultimate Supreme Leader, like this is his second chance at living or his reincarnation, am I going about this life in the best way?

Or am I just going to end up like Enoshima Junko?

Only time will tell, and maybe with Horikita connecting to someone I think she'll get along with, maybe I'll find a certain someone that I can open up to.

After slipping into my shoes, I adjusted Ijuin's room to look as if we just entered the first time, grabbed Horikita's bag, and dashed right back to meet her.

"Alright, ready when you are, princess!"

I reached my hand to Horikita as if I were her prince charming, ready to invite her to a dance.

"Never call me that again. "

She gave her signature cold glare, signifying she was not pleased with my playful flirting.

"Aw, are you still mad that I stabbed you? Well, too bad, I found it fun; we should continue our game sometime."

"Just shut up."

It took some time, but Sakura-san and I finally arrived through the stairs on the sixth floor of the dormitory building. If only my leg weren't in pain, I wouldn't have to lean on Sakura-san's shoulder as we climbed up nearly ten sets of stairs just to return to my apartment building.

"Hey, mind if we stop at this floor for a bit?"

Sakura-san peered her head in my direction, asking me a request that didn't make sense.

"What for?"

"I just want to see my beloved right now, and since we're nearby, I might as well say hello to him. Sorry, but I simply want to see him. It'll be quick. He must have been worried after watching that video of us at the cafe earlier."

"Hirata-kun, right?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised you know I'm in a relationship with someone."

Ignoring her rude comment, as much as I would prefer to return to my room as soon as possible to wash myself up and fulfill her request as soon as I can, I have a feeling she will continue to annoy me as she did earlier in Ayanokoji-kun's room if I deny her the opportunity to see her boyfriend.

I heaved a sigh, not excited for what was to come.

"I'm not as clueless as you think, Sakura-san. But, whatever, just make sure you don't drop me."

"Aye aye, Horikita-chan!"

Her face flashed red, and she smiled joyfully, but I did not feel her enthusiasm. We then began trudging our way through the sixth floor until we arrived at room 613.

As the two of us were standing in front of the door, Sakura pressed the doorbell uncontrollably as if she were a little child.

DING DONG! DING DONG! DING DONG!

I just sighed out of secondhand embarrassment for being around this child next to me. Despite her mature figure, she is anything but mature.

After several awkward seconds, someone answered the door. The person who did it was a boy with blond hair wearing a black T-shirt and sweats.

I never thought I would ever see Hirata-kun wearing something so casual, but here I am.

Turning towards his pink-haired girlfriend, she looked as if she had hearts in her eyes, enamored by his appearance. Looking at his appearance, he isn't bad-looking, but I don't understand the appeal. Sure, he's sweet and has a kind personality, but there's always the chance he could be using Sakura-san.

Though right now, he widened his eyes as if he was concerned for the two of us.

"Ah, Airi-san, Horikita-san. I saw what happened earlier. Are the two of you alright?"

I was correct.

"Yep! Don't worry, Yosuke-chan, I'm fine, but Horikita-chan is..."

"I'm completely fine."

I spoke up loudly, cutting out anything that Sakura-san had to say.

Hirata-kun let out a sigh of relief after getting confirmation that the two of us were okay.

"I'm glad you're doing alright, but I wish you wouldn't overexert yourself like this again."

Hirata-kun clasped onto Sakura-san's shoulder as if trying to protect her. I don't see why he is so concerned for her well-being. At least from my perspective, she looks completely fine, but I guess he's just overprotective of his girlfriend after seeing Sudo shoving her along with Hasebe-san earlier.

"Fine..." Sakura-san looked down at the floor, seemingly in a saddened mood. "But I still need to get Sudo-chan to study for the midterms..." However, she suddenly bounced her head back up, fully rejuvenated. "However, me and Horikita-chan won't screw up again, isn't that right!"

I nodded to Sakura-san's words to speed up this pointless conversation.

"It seems I can't change your mind. I just don't want to see you get hurt again, and that video earlier scared me slightly."

Hirata-kun calmly placed one of his hands on Sakura-san's shoulders.

My brows naturally raised. Did something happen to Sakura-san that I wasn't aware of? From the tone of Hirata-kun's voice, it sounded like something bad happened to her.

"I promise that I won't let him hurt me again. Besides, I'm not alone; don't worry, she's learned her lesson."

She sideglanced towards me, getting Hirata-kun to notice my presence.

"Horikita-san..."

An awkward silence followed, causing Hirata-kun and me to stare at each other while Sakura-san fixed her gaze on me.

"I just want to say thank you for assisting Sudo-kun, even after the mess earlier today. I understand that you were probably upset and– "

I didn't want to hear his input on the matter.

"It's whatever. I understand where I messed up back then."

"I see. Then, if it's okay with you, do you mind if we exchange contact information so that we can talk to each other about class information."

I looked downwards and let out a sigh.

As much as I would prefer not to give my contact information to him, I have a feeling that Sakura-san brought me to this room for this reason.

She wanted me to start talking with her boyfriend and cooperate with him.

The first thing I did to get this girl to cooperate with me was to make this mysterious contact, and now, it was Hirata-kun. Is there something that I'm missing?

I am unsure why she is trying to make me socialize with others, but if I get to Class A, as much as I don't care for the guy, having him on my side would be preferable if I want Sakura-san to continue working with me.

"Sakura-san has my phone in the bag. She can give you my number after she takes me back to my room."

"I see. Well, I don't want to hold the two of you up anymore. I'll talk to you sometime, Horikita-san."

"See ya in a bit, Yo~su~ke-chan!"

Sakura gestured towards Hirata-kun's face with a seductive tone as she said her farewells. In response, a blush formed on his face, and to hide his embarrassment, he forced out a smile while waving goodbye. The two of us started to head towards the elevator.

Did she really need to let me know their plans for tonight?

We stepped into the elevator together, and I finally freed myself from holding onto her as I held onto the railway that was on the elevator. Sakura-san then pressed the button to take us to the twelfth floor, where my room was located.

However, I wanted to know if my theory about the meeting with Hirata-kun was correct or not. So I simply glared at the pink-haired idol who was silently humming to herself some song while messing on her phone.

"Did you make me stop at your boyfriend's place so you could have me exchange contact information with him?"

"Aw, was it that obvious?"

Sakura playfully stuck her tongue out and bopped her head with her fist as if she wasn't taking me seriously.

"Yes."

"Well, you're going to need allies if you want to reach Class A, and you're not a better ally than the main class couple of Class D."

"You do realize that your boyfriend just gave me, a girl, his number, and you don't look slightly concerned with his actions."

"Come on, Horikita-chan, I have no reason to believe that you have any interest in taking my beloved away from me. So, I was more than okay if you talk with my boyfriend, but for the others..."

Her tone suddenly darkened once she mentioned the other girls interested in Hirata-kun.

She was correct. I had no interest in being in a relationship with someone else, and even if I had, I highly doubt that the person I would take an interest in is Hirata-kun.

The elevator stopped at the twelfth floor, and with the assistance of Sakura-san once again, she assisted me to the door of my dormitory, room 1201. Fortunately, my room was near the elevator, so the walk wasn't that long, and that meant I could finally be away from this wild girl.

When we arrived at my door, Sakura-san handed me my key card from my bag so I could open the door. Once I opened the door, I could feel her grip preventing me from entering my room.

"Horikita-chan, I have a question for you before we split up."

"What is it?"

I prepared myself for one last stupid question from her.

"You know, on the evening of May 1st, you suddenly showed up at my room for an unknown reason. I recall you saying that you visited Chabs-sensei at the guidance office that day, right?"

"So what of my visit?"

"Did Chabs-sensei show you my recent test scores?"

Sakura-san bit the nail on her thumb from her available hand and had a frustrated expression on her face for some reason. However, she quickly calmed down and gave me a serious gaze.

"So, what do you think of me? Give your honest evaluation of the girl standing right before you."

Her voice was serious; she wasn't even attempting to mess with me or get under my skin. Her face was uncharacteristically stoic, as well.

Now, how should I answer this...

However, at times like now, she can be serious and is someone that is tolerable, at least to my standards.

However, there was something else about her that I simply couldn't wrap my head around.

Why was Chabashira-sensei interested in her?

Why did my nii-san bring up her name? It was as if he knew something about her that I didn't.

I was missing something.

"I don't get you. Even though your goal is the same as mine, I feel like there is something about you that you're not telling me."

"I guess I can assist you in answering that question then." Sakura didn't make any stupid remarks or was trying to goof around. "Have you ever considered looking at the school's bigger picture in what it's trying to achieve? Why were certain individuals like Sudo-chan or me accepted at this school in the first place when we did terribly in our exams?"

She pressed her finger onto my cold lips, preventing me from speaking.

"Answer that question, and you'll get your answer, Nishishi!"

She let go of my wrist, placed my bag on the floor next to my door, and started to walk toward the elevator, not saying another word to me.

"Wait! What do you mean? What do you mean by a bigger picture?"

Since I wasn't going to be able to catch up to Sakura-san with my injury, I shouted from my door, trying to get her to answer.

"I'm going to have fun with Yosuke-chan if you get what I mean! See you tomorrow, Horikita-chan!"

The elevator doors closed slowly as Sakura-san waved her hands swiftly with a bright smile until she was out of sight.

I wish I hadn't understood what she meant by a 'fun time,' but at least she isn't bothering me anymore.

I bent down to the best of my abilities and grabbed my bag before entering my dormitory and closing the door behind me. I then placed my bag onto my bag, grabbed a towel, and prepared myself a bath while dealing with the pain in my leg.

After bathing and wrapping a towel around myself and my hair, I walked into my room and turned on the lights. I then made my way to my bedroom, where I changed into my pajamas for the night.

However, as I was changing, I was suddenly reminded that I realized that besides my leg, I didn't feel much pain elsewhere.

Did Sakura-san give me a painkiller or something of the sort while I was out?

I then grabbed hold of my bag and decided to see if Sakura-san decided to mess with anything inside, and she did. My compass was missing, and in its place was a paper note.

I pulled out the note, and I could only feel disgusted as I read the note to myself.

-Dear Horikita-chan! I need your compass to Stab Aya-chan later! Thx and luv you!!!💗💗- Your Fave Idol, Shizuku-chan!!!

She knows how to irritate me well when she isn't being serious.

I then pulled out my phone and noticed an unread message from Sakura-san. As I unlocked my phone, I was welcomed to an unpleasant photo of my face as I attempted to wake up.

There is something wrong with her.

Moving onwards, I opened the message and noticed that the name I saved as her contact was different.

[Airi-chan ❤] [I knew there was a chance you would throw the note I left you, as it had the number I wanted to contact you, so I sent you the message and put Yosuke-chan's number on your phone!...]

Right below the message were two numbers. One belonged to Hirata-kun, and the other was the individual she requested me to get into contact with.

[Airi-chan ❤] [ Aren't I amazing, thinking about all the possibilities!ヽ(*^ｰ^)人(^ｰ^*)ノ ]

I scorned at my screen in disgust as I read Sakura-san's messages, as I never realized how I could detest someone so much. She somehow figured out my phone password to get in, changed my wallpaper to a bad picture of me, and messed with my contacts to change her name to something cutesy.

Who knows what else she did to my phone?

I chose not to respond to Sakura-san and leave her on read, as I had to contact the mystery number she gave me.

Moving on within the note, I pulled out a plastic bag containing my stained blazer, which Sudo-kun had caused during a study session disaster.

Those 25,000 points were a massive waste, looking in hindsight.

Yet, even still, Sakura-san brought up a point during her parting words that I haven't considered until now. His grades were pathetic, and he was at risk of being expelled in a few weeks from today.

Yet, why was someone terrible at academics like him even accepted into the school in the first place?

I searched the school forum online and found the video where Sudo splashed expresso onto me. Looking at the video from a spectator's point of view, he looked like he could've easily harmed me after I berated him if Miyake-kun hadn't stepped in when he did.

The comments also made that point apparent. I guess I messed up badly back then.

Sudo-kun was physically superior to me. I'll give him that.

However, does the school take into account our physical capabilities?

And does that mean we could also be tested on that matter, similarly to academics?

Even if the school did, that still leaves the question of Sakura-san. Despite potentially holding back on her grades now, she did not perform well during the entrance exam, and her physical abilities are still abysmal.

If anything, Sakura-san should've been rejected from the school if physical capabilities had been taken into account.

Does her acceptance have something to do with the bigger picture of the school that I'm not aware of yet?

For now, I'll wash my blazer later as I climb onto my bed and dial the number on my phone, taking a deep breath as I prepare for whatever Sakura-san has in store for me.

After a couple of seconds, someone picked up.

"Um, hello, who is this?"

The feminine voice coming from my phone speaker was pleasant yet familiar. Although they sounded confused, they were not surprised by the call.

"Hello Shiina-san, it's been a while, hasn't it."

"Oh, I remember the voice. Was it Horitita? Borihika? Yasuhiro Takeo?"

"It's Horikita Suzune."

"I'm sorry. I'm not good at remembering names, so I hope you aren't too mad."

She forced a chuckle on the phone, genuinely sounding guilty about forgetting my name.

Her forgetting my name isn't even the greatest offense that happened to me today that goes to Sakura-san's tactics, yet she sounded so guilty about misremembering my name.

I think I prefer her over Sakura-san already, even if she is from another class.

"It's fine. Anyways, you are probably wondering how I got a hold of you right now."

"Oh, Sakura-san informed me that you might have called a few days ago, but I didn't expect anything. I'm glad you called."

Shiina-san cut me off but confirmed my suspicions that Sakura-san had set this whole arrangement up.

"I see." I bit my lips in frustration.

"But, it's nice talking to you again. I know we didn't meet in the best situation last time we talked with each other.."

You could repeat that again.

I'm still not fully sure, but I had a hunch that the picnic was a setup so that Kushida-san and I would be forced to interact with each other. But, if it were, I wouldn't have expected someone else, especially from another class, to show up.

"However, I noticed we shared a similar hobby, and I thought you might be interested in reading together?"

"Don't you have anyone in your class you could ask this, or even Sakura-san?"

"Well, there is someone, but..." Shiina paused momentarily and sounded hesitant to respond, but she eventually resumed. "They've refused several times, so how about it? I won't ask again if it makes you uncomfortable."

Normally, before today, I would've declined her offer in a heartbeat.

It's not that I have anything against Shiina-san, but I simply prefer being in my own company, and I find reading with others undesirable.

In fact, the only reason I attended the picnic back then was my interest in the book Sakura-san picked out for us to read. It's not like I had to pay for the book, and the food present was tolerable, so it wasn't the worst offer to attend, even if I had to deal with Kushida-san for a while.

However, thinking back to today's events, I realize that if I reach Class A, I will make some compromises, swallow my pride, and get others to cooperate with me, such as Sakura-san.

Or, in this case, a potential enemy like Shiina-san.

"I suppose we can read together. I should have some time tomorrow at the library if that's alright with you."

"Tomorrow, works with me.

"Thanks for agreeing with this, Horikita-san; I'll make sure you don't regret this choice. I'll talk to you tomorrow then."

Her voice was almost angelic, beaming, filled with excitement when she said farewells to me.

"Bye."

I turned off my phone once I bid my farewells to Shiina-san and lay down on my bed as I contemplated the situation I put myself into.

Sakura-san said the reason would make sense once I talked to Shiina-san, but I didn't understand. Is she trying to make me gather intel on Class C's internal workings?

Couldn't she have done that herself if that were the case?

I could try messaging her and get clarification, but I would prefer not to hear her annoying voice.

I tilted my body towards my side and slowly started feeling drowsy.

At least the person Sakura-san was forcing me to meet up with wasn't Kushida-san.

Once the name Kushida-san registered in my head, I suddenly remembered something that jolted me into a sitting position.

I got up from the bed, walked to turn off the lights in my room, and then powered on my phone again before lying down on my bed once again.

As soon as I got comfortable on my bed, I was greeted by that hideous photo of myself sleeping as my wallpaper when I unlocked my phone. I ignored it and went onto the messaging app, where I decided to shoot Sakura-san a message.

[11:23:48 PM] [Be wary of Kushida]

I hadn't bothered to clarify my concerns, and she hadn't read my message by the time I powered off my phone again, but if I was going to work with Sakura-san, I should warn her about her friend and the potential danger she might pose.

I don't know if Sakura-san knows that Kushida-san obviously hates me, but it seemed clear enough to me with her instances of trying to befriend me non-stop over the past month. All the attempts were clearly fake for some reason that I couldn't comprehend.

Perhaps the sudden reminder of the rumors I heard about Kushida-san from my previous school made me feel that way. However, I did not know fully what transpired back then, so I couldn't understand her obsession with befriending me when I clarified my intentions.

Regardless, even though Sakura-san wanted me to work with her, I found her too untrustworthy to cooperate.

Why am I even humoring Sakura-san with her outlandish requests to open up to others like Shiina-san, which something feels off about, or even warning her about the possible dangers of Kushida-san?

Right, nii-san.

Is this what you wanted from me?

To form connections with others? For me to actually cooperate with Sakura-san?

I can't be too sure right now, but I will catch up to you someday, even if you push me aside and, along with everyone else in those comments, say I can't meet your expectations.

I will make you proud of me, and I will assure you, nii-san, that I will not leave this school.

Not until I graduate from Class A.

♚♘◼◻◼◻-LIARS-◼◻◼◻♞♔

My study group session ended with no real issues, and my group has been steadily improving, so everyone should be fine for the upcoming midterms.

Despite Kushida and Nishimura being tutoring different groups, they have been communicating and working together to assist each member of both groups in going over the worksheets,

For example, according to Nishimura, my weakest subject is math, and I need the most improvement, and my worksheet clearly showed that.

As the session ended for the day, as I was about to get up from my seat and meet up with someone who wanted to talk about something urgent with me, I could hear a conversation between the girls in my group and Kushida, who came to join us after the members of her group departed.

"Hey, Kikyo-chan, do you want to join us to get something to eat?"

"Sorry, but I'm sort of tired today, so I'm probably gonna go ahead, sorry everyone."

Kushida yawned as she waved goodbye to her friends before departing the library. As I was about to do the same, the group stopped me and invited Kushida.

"How about you, Ayanokoji-kun? Want to join us?"

Nishimura asked as she was slowly packing up her bag.

"As much as I would like to join you all. After the study session, I already made plans with someone else, so I must decline."

Once I answered, Nishimura and the others squinted their eyes if I said something incorrect.

"Oh, someone else, is it a date? " Muyu perked her head out of interest.

"I don't know what you are thinking, Muyu. But the person I'm meeting with is just a friend."

"A friend, you say?"

I was being pestered by Nishimura and Muyu simultaneously while the other girls also looked invested in the prospects.

"Yeah, just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Fine, since you won't say anything, I'll stop pressing you." Muyu sighed out of disappointment. "But if it does turn out to be something more, make sure to tell us."

"Got it."

Muyu was pushy in these matters, but after I realized I wasn't going to say who I was visiting, she and the others seemed to have gone about their business as we continued to gather our belongings.

After gathering my belongings and placing them in my bag, I said goodbye to my study group for the day and trudged out of the library to meet my friend near the school.

Suddenly as I was minding my business in the night skies, I noticed Class D's angel, Kushida Kikyo, walking in the direction of the school building, coincidentally the same direction I was headed.

That's strange. I recall her saying she was heading to the dormitories because she was tired from tutoring. I guess she lied to us back then.

However, this might be the golden opportunity that I was looking for.

Before tailing the class's angel, I pulled out my phone and messaged the person I planned to meet with to use the GPS location finder to follow me in a few minutes.

They should be able to understand my confusing intentions and prepare accordingly if things go out the way I hope they do.

After finishing my message, I noticed I had lost Kushida momentarily, as she must have entered the building while I was on my phone. So, to play catch up, I did the same thing: I entered the school building and slipped into indoor shoes from the cubicles in the hallway. As I noticed the clank of shoes passing by, I concluded that Kushida must be nearby.

Keeping my distance from her to hide my presence, I ended up on the second floor, then the third floor, and eventually, I stopped once my eyes noticed the door leading to the roof's entrance. Kushida was on the rooftop for some reason.

Before observing Kushida, I took note of my current surroundings. First, there was a noticeable lack of cameras near this rooftop entrance. Second, I noticed the person I intended to meet was nearby as I saw her climbing the stairs. She was holding a relatively large bag with her as well.

Yumeno Himiko, the magician from Class 1-B.

Once she noticed me, I gestured my hands, signifying her to stay still and not move. She naturally was confused as she tilted her head, and as a response, I pointed towards the door, where there was a loud bang that should have told her why she shouldn't come closer.

Yumeno stayed clear once she understood my instructions, hiding her presence well enough not to be spotted by Kushida once she finished. She was surprisingly adept at hiding her presence, but if she had stayed clear, I probably would have struggled to spot her.

Now, Kushida, are you the angel the class says you are?

Or are you a wolf in sheep's clothing like Sakura?

I peered through the door crack to see what Kushida did to create that loud bang, which Yumeno and I both overheard.

"Ahhh, so annoying!?"

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Kushida's foot stomped on the ground repeatedly before moving from the ground to the railing on the roof.

"Why can't that damn bitch just die?!"

BAM!

"That stuck-up, snobby bitch with that cow-tittied whor*! f*ck, I want to curb-stop both of those wretches! That dog-brained moron should've burned their faces!"

Those are some colorful nicknames Kushida has come up with just now.

I'm guessing 'stuck-up snobby bitch' is Horikita, and 'cow-tittied whor*' is Sakura.

Though what leaves me confused is who is the dog-brained moron and why is she wishing that he burned their faces? Am I missing something she knows I don't, most likely?

Turning towards the red-haired magician, I noticed her somewhat in shock, with her eyes widening, as well, due to the absurdity of our current situation.

"Don't even get me started with the damn perverts. I'm stuck tutoring those nasty f*cks who keep ogling me! Disgusting pieces of sh*t! Comparing me with the damn slu*t! They should all rot in hell for all I care!"

She has frustrations with Horikita, Sakura, and the perverts. She likely had other frustrations with other members of the class, perhaps even members of our friend group. Maybe even me.

If I had a heart, it would've been shattered here. If Ike were here, he would cry at seeing his crush being a demon.

However, I was fascinated by the sight. It was interesting to me that two demons in my class were pretending to be angels. Not only that, but their ways of operating were similar yet completely different.

Both could suppress their emotions easily or even manipulate them to get a reaction from others that suited their goals. However, I only know of Sakura's 'true self' from being aware of her involvement with Yamauchi's expulsion and her voluntarily revealing herself to me. And I have only just witnessed Kushida's true side.

However, despite the similarities, I wonder how different Sakura and Kushida were.

After feeling satisfied with my observations, I decided to head back down and finally inform Yumeno of my plan.

THUMP!

Yumeno ducked away at the beginning of the stairs, successfully hiding her presence, while Kushida kicked the rooftop door wide open, revealing my presence to Kushida against my will.

Did I step too loudly, alerting her of my presence?

However, I realized that I still had my phone in my hand, but since I still wasn't facing Kushida yet, I quickly messed on it for a while before tucking it away in my pocket, before turning to see the blazing demoness giving me a cold glare that made me want to tremble in fear.

"If it isn't the slu*t's first boy toy... What the hell are you doing here?"

Her tone was cold. The eyes were not friendly in the slightest, as if she wanted to eat me alive.

She even called me Sakura's boy toy...

I don't know how to feel about such a nickname. On the one hand, I was glad that people saw me and Sakura as good friends, but on the other hand, this nickname had some implications for our relationship that I didn't like the sound of.

Now, how do I come up with a lie to escape this situation?

It was unlucky for me that Kushida suddenly kicked up the door before I had the chance to leave, but I thought I could come up with something.

Maybe I can say something like Sakura, I know she's smart enough to get out of this situation.

"I came up here to vent my frustrations. I apologize. I didn't think someone else would beat me to it. So I'll leave you to your own devices."

I didn't have any frustrations myself, but it was a suitable lie that I felt proud of for making up on the spot.

"You think you're being funny right now? With that stupid face of yours?"

"Being funny? I'm completely serious. I was upset that I didn't get the grape-flavored yogurt I wanted earlier today and wanted to complain about it. Maybe about Horikita as well; she's pretty mean, as she hurt my friend earlier, and I felt upset that I couldn't do anything to prevent it."

As I spoke, I moved through the door and eventually stopped as I bumped into a wall.

I would've loved to walk inside. I couldn't let Yumeno get trapped in the same situation as me, so I had to sacrifice myself if it meant keeping her safe.

"Let me tell you something, f*ckhead..."

Kushida crept slowly towards me. Every step was louder than the last as if she were coming to dominate me. It was oddly hot. Now, if only she were carrying a whip with her...

Damm you, Sakura.

Once she stood right in front of me, she placed her left forearm against my throat and shoved me against the wall.

I was incredibly frightened right now, but she was not that strong, though, to overpower me.

"Since you think you're so funny with your comedy act. I need you to be serious right now and listen to me!"

"Sure, I'm all ears."

"You saw something that no one was allowed to see, and if you tell anyone, I'll end you."

End me?

I wonder if Yamauchi was placed in a position similar to mine during the swimming class incident that ended his time at this school.

As he did sound guilty of something back then, it was true that Sakura used Ijuin to move her belongings, but Yamauchi didn't try to defend himself once and admitted guilt as if he were guilty of committing the crime.

That leaves me wondering if it wasn't Ijuin but Yamauchi that stained Sakura's clothes and, if so, how Sakura managed to accomplish such a feat.

Would Kushida make me do the same?

Make me do something horrendous that would end my school career right now. If I could, I would ask Yamauchi what to do in this situation, as he's experienced at getting his life ruined by a popular girl.

It's too bad I can't ask him to answer that question, so I had no choice but to face the demon threatening me on my own devices.

"Very well, let's say I do tell someone. What would you do then?"

"Oh, are you going to tell your master?"

She let out the most fake laugh that I've ever heard, in disbelief. However, I wonder what she means by master. Does she think that I'm some sex slave to Sakura?

"Maybe..." I nervously answered.

"Guess what? I will tell your Sakura-chan, along with everyone else, that you raped me."

Such a quick response from such a demon.

Now, the threat of rape, it would be improbable for the school to expel me without proof of said rape. So, if she were to spread the word, it would be unlikely that I would be expelled like Yamauchi, who did have physical proof in his case.

However, my social life would end unless Sakura decided to defend me. Even then, predicting Sakura's action, she would most likely defend Kushida over someone like me. No matter how interested she is in me or my abilities, she, too, is trapped by the social pressure of believing the cute, outgoing girl compared to some expressionless boy.

"You should realize that this is a false charge?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that."

Was she considering raping me?

That would be uncomfortable and something that I didn't want. I've seen enough videos to know where this was going.

Kushida grabbed my right wrist and slowly opened my hand, revealing my bare palms, before pushing my palm onto her soft breast.

This was the first time I'd felt a woman's breast with my bare hands. Technically, my first time feeling a woman's breast was with Sakura, who kept pressing her chest onto me, whether it was on my arm or my chest, as she tried to get a read on the person I was.

"I don't know what to say..."

She continued pressing my palm deeper into her breast as if she wanted me to compare her and Sakura's breasts right now.

Comparing how both of their breasts felt. Kushida was massive and soft, but there was some firmness with hers. Meanwhile, back on the first day of school, when Sakura would press her chest onto me without concern, I knew nothing could match the softness I felt that day.

I was disappointed.

I was being framed for rape, and right now, I'm thinking about how different girl's breasts felt.

There is something wrong with me.

"You seem to be enjoying this, you f*cking toy. But I guess I should explain your situation. Your nasty prints are on my clothes, and that is the evidence of my claim. Does that thick skill of yours understand, or should I repeat it for you?"

"No, I understand you loud and clear."

She called me a thick skull as an attack on my intelligence, while not fully understanding how prints worked, was surely something. I could tell her that the texture of the fabric of the blazer would make the retrieval of my fingerprints rather difficult, especially if, in a hypothetical scenario, someone were to splash a liquid onto it.

Instead, something more visible and standout, like sem*n, could do the trick. It's like what Sakura did to Yamauchi, but Kushida would never make me do such a derogatory act in front of her, even if it means I am gone tomorrow.

Not that I would comply if Kushida made me do such an act.

Now, to prove my point about her horrible method of expelling her, I gave a nice squeeze to her breast to ensure my 'prints' were on her blazer well enough. Naturally, she didn't enjoy my action. Her eyes narrowed even more as if she were about to glare deadly lasers in my direction.

"What the f*ck is wrong with you? You degenerate f*ck!"

"Why go through all of this? Maybe Sakura had a point, after all. That there's a chance you were the one who got rid of Yamauchi."

Her eyes narrowed to a degree that I didn't know was possible.

"Oh? That f*cking slu*t said that I did that disgusting sh*t to that pathetic pervert. God, I knew that bitch was fake as hell. She probably got plastic in those fake udders of hers."

"Fake udders?"

"Right, you're her boy toy, so I know you want to run to her for help and suck on her disgusting udders when she's not with her boyfriend, so if you don't want to end up like the sh*t stain that was Yamauchi, you'll do exactly as I say. Is that understood?"

The tramp she was referring to was, no doubt, Sakura.

She also claimed that Sakura's personality and breasts were fake. I don't have any method to prove the latter, but for Sakura's personality, it was true that her personality was fake; she even admitted it to me on the second day of class.

From learning about their personalities being 'fake' as Kushida calls it, even if their masks are similar, their purpose and reason for existing couldn't be any more different.

She really despises Sakura, doesn't she?

"I take it you are jealous of Sakura?"

"What the f*ck did you say?!"

Her free hand landed on the wall right aside from me. It seems I hit the target. Kushida was jealous of Sakura.

"Listen to me, you sh*thead!" She released my hand from her breast, grabbed my collar, and glared right into my eyes. "Don't you even compare me with that slu*t you call your master?" She paused as she came to a sudden realization. "Oh wait, she dumped you to drain out her boyfriend."

"I see."

I nodded after the repeated insults in my character, seemingly causing Kushida to get upset for some reason.

"Don't just 'I see' me! Let me tell you, that damn slu*t ruined everything for me here! And now here I am, forced to see and hear about your gloomy ass whenever I'm with the only people I can tolerate at this sh*tty school who have taken a liking to you just because Shizuku danced with you that one time. God, what I would do to the slu*t you call your master if I could do so!"

"You sound stressed out."

"God, nice observation, dumbass! That cold voice of yours is nauseating to hear."

I felt satisfied.

I was able to answer the mystery of Kushida Kikyo, which had been itching the back of my head since we first talked on the second day of school.

Kushida Kikyo was an angel whose purpose was to be loved and trusted by everyone.

But what if said angel had a rival who was simply better than her in what she excels at?

Sure, Kushida is better in sports or academics, but where she is best, being a trustworthy and loving friend, Sakura is simply better at doing what Kushida is good at.

What makes Sakura more alluring than Kushida to others is Sakura's online persona, Shizuku. Judging who is more attractive is a subjective matter.

You could argue that one is more attractive than the other, but being in the presence of a popular idol is something that you don't come across often. It also helped that Sakura was good at maintaining her image as Shizuku whenever others surrounded her; she is someone people want to be around to get to know better.

Compared to Kushida, who is attractive and has a cute personality in her own right, put her next to someone with a wider appeal, and she never stood a chance against her.

Perhaps if Sakura had been the timid girl the school had said she was and had hidden her identity as Shizuku, Kushida wouldn't have been outclassed and would've been a suitable queen.

That also explains her reason for Kushida's 'expressive' nicknames for me. She must dislike the type of person I am and hates dealing with my presence, as her friends seem to have taken a liking to me because Sakura was interested in me.

It appears that Kushida's plans for Horikita have been halted since Sakura has taken an interest in her, thanks to my actions from the previous week. Furthermore, Sakura's relationship with Hirata has made them the de facto leaders of the class, giving them almost complete control over the majority of the other students in Class D, even if their control isn't official.

As a result, any attempts Kushida had to establish herself in the class were thwarted. Now, she's forced to be Sakura's sidekick or the runner-up if she wants to keep her popularity in the class.

However, did she have to call Sakura my master? Just because I was close with her as a friend didn't mean our relationship was that deep to the point she used me as her toy to release her sexual frustration.

Wait, why did that image come up in my head?

"Hold it right there!"

A boisterous voice called out, getting the attention of both of us. As we turned towards the door, footsteps were coming closer and closer.

Eventually, the rooftop door slammed again, revealing a red-haired girl wearing a clown mask, Gi, and a hakama, usually worn for Aikido. She also had a wasabi green bow that resembled a floral pinwheel, and last but not least, black gloves.

It was an odd disguise from Yumeno that lacked style coordination, but it effectively prevented Kushida from learning her identity.

Though I recall that she was wearing her uniform earlier when we first ran into each other, does that mean she changed out of her uniform and into her attire in the stairway?

Do I even want to know the answer?

Maybe she just changed with her magic.

"Who the hell are you!"

Kushida pushed me aside and glared insidiously at the disguised Yumeno slowly approaching her.

Yumeno took a deep breath, and in the flash of an eye, she dashed incredibly quickly toward the angered Kushida.

"Haiyaaaahhh!"

In an instant, Yumeno grabbed Kushida's arm and briefly lifted her into the air before slamming the girl onto the hard ground, causing a large bang to be heard.

"I see..."

Yumeno looked down at Kushida, who was currently groaning in pain while rubbing her back with a calculative gaze.

She then turned towards me and grabbed my wrist. Although I could not see her face, I could tell that she wanted me to follow her.

"Let's go."

Unfazed by the situation, I quickly messed with my pockets before following Yumeno's gesture and approached the rooftop door to depart the current area together.

"I don't know who you are. But I will find you and get rid of you. You hear me, you damn clown!"

Once we began descending the stairs together, Kushida sent Yumeno a clear and ominous message. Despite our inability to see her state, it was evident that she was seething in pain.

"Jealousy, huh? Reminds me of him..."

Yumeno abruptly murmured as she removed the mask, revealing her face as we approached the second floor.

"Him?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just reminiscing on my past." Yumeno's expression shifted from looking gloomy to slightly more serious as she returned her mind to the present. "Though, we surely made an enemy today. Well, we should be fine for the time being."

"That's good to hear."

"However, I wonder... " Yumeno paused and glanced towards the camera, pointing right at us, before shifting her gaze towards me. "Actually, I'll tell you once we meet somewhere more private."

"How about my room? I can prepare some of the tea you helped me buy last week."

Yumeno grasped her bag on her shoulder, and after humming for a while, her eyes widened as if she had made a decision.

"Nyeh, very well. Since you're offering free tea, I'll gladly visit your room."

We stopped by a nearby restroom on the bottom floor so Yumeno could return to her school uniform. I waited idly, ensuring that Kushida didn't pass by to storm in and figure out her identity, and surprisingly, she didn't.

However, as I was lounging near the restroom, I thought it was peculiar that Yumeno did not once question why I used her to bail me out of Kushida in that incident. It's not like I made my intentions discreet either, from the odd way I requested her to meet me, which just happened to be at the place Kushida.

Yet, she followed my odd instructions without once batting an eye.

Is she too trustworthy and careless of her intentions?

However, it's unlikely that if that were the case, she would've bailed me out of the situation much sooner. So it could either have been her nerves acting up, preventing her from acting earlier, or it was an intentional ploy by her to prepare up her disguise, as she wasn't wearing it when I first saw her.

Regardless, I'm curious to see how Yumeno handles Kushida. If anything bad were to hypothetically happen to the demon who disguises herself as an angel, I wouldn't be the one who is at fault.

♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ - Ⓜ Ⓐ Ⓖ Ⓘ Ⓒ - ♦ ♥ ♣ ♠

This was the first time I was bringing someone else into my dormitory room, let alone a girl, and I could feel my heart pounding rapidly. It was uncontrollable, and every step as we got closer, the louder my heart was becoming. Could it be...?

"Nyeh, we're here."

Yumeno was staring at the plate with the label that read 401.

"You're lucky your room is close to the elevator. I live in room 1107, which is a pain to walk to after the long slog up the stairs every day I go out."

"You climb that amount of stairs every day?"

"I need to be pumped at every moment, so I take every opportunity to move my legs and never take the elevator unless I'm with someone else. Even when it becomes a pain."

She is dedicated to climbing up and down eleven flights of stairs daily, and maybe multiple times on some days. I think I would get bored climbing stairs every day, so I sometimes mix it up by taking the elevators to have the ideal experience of exiting the dormitory building each day.

"Anyways, I'll start preparing the tea, and you can take a seat wherever."

I pulled out the keycard to my dorm room and opened the door. Yumeno immediately made her way to make herself at home and hopped right onto my bed. Staring at the clock in my room, I read that it was nearly 9 pm, which could be an issue for Yumeno's sleep schedule if she slept too long.

I placed my bag on my desk and headed towards the kitchen to prepare some of the tea I had bought the day before.

Specifically, I pulled out the necessary tea packet to make citrus tea.

I prepared the kettle I bought a few days ago, turned on the stove, and prepared enough tea for Yumeno and me to enjoy. It took some time, but the beautiful citrus aroma filled my room, and the tea finally finished brewing.

However, Yumeno didn't once utter a word to me. I figured someone as talkative as her would try to converse with me as I prepared our drinks, but it was silent.

This is the first time I brought someone into my room, let alone that person being a girl, yet I still feel lonely.

I went to the kitchen shelves and took two tea cups from a four-cup set I bought, along with the kettle. Then, I poured the tea into the cups, prepared to be served.

With the cups in my hand, I slowly returned to my room, making sure I didn't spill either drink on the floor. When I stumbled back into my bedroom, I finally realized why Yumeno wasn't saying anything to me while I was preparing in the kitchenette area.

The sleeping beauty, Yumeno, was lying on her back on top of my bed as the girl lightly breathed from her slightly curled-up lips.

I took a seat on the nearby desk chair that faced my bed. I took a sip of the citrus tea that I had prepared and took a glance at the magician sleeping on my bed right now.

She looked in complete harmony, and her smile was cute as if she were enjoying her time sleeping, to the point where I found it difficult to gather the courage to wake her up from her peaceful slumber.

"Nyaaa..."

The magician let out a cute groan as they shifted on my bed. She then slowly

Her eyes slowly wavered as she kicked her legs around. Then, she pushed herself so that she was sitting up and averted her gaze to look at me.

Now, what would Sakura say in a situation like this?

She would probably say something perky to liven the mood.

"Morning, sleepyhead."

I crossed my legs on my seat and took another sip of my tea, looking completely serious.

"N-nyeh?" She was confused, and after bouncing her maroon irises across the room, she covered her mouth as her eyes dimmed down and looked at me, completely disinterested, as if she were half awake. "Morning Ayanokoji-kun. Sorry, your room was so boring that I needed to recharge my mana."

"Mana?"

I tilted my head in confusion.

Yumeno's face flashed red, and she panicked. She sweated bullets as if she were caught saying something she shouldn't have.

"Did I say mana? You must've misheard; I said I needed my beauty rest. You need to get your ears checked, Ayanokoji-kun."

Her lie was horrible.

I am pretty sure she said that she needed to recharge her mana.

However, I had no reason to pursue her obsession with denying the existence of magic-related terms.

"Yeah, I must've misheard, my bad. I'm not good at cleaning my ears. I think I should do that later tonight."

"I can give some advice if you need help cleaning your ears. Like there was this one time where I cleaned my ears so good that my ears started to bleed."

I handed Yumeno the cup of tea to get her to stop talking about her bleeding ears. This worked, as the red-haired magician stopped talking and took the time to blow in her drink. She should have been mostly cooled off by now and had taken a large sip from the cup.

"Citrusy. A nice flavor you picked today."

"Thanks, I couldn't have done it without your assistance."

As we continued to enjoy our tea, solely the atmosphere in the room was slowly becoming more tense as Yumeno.

"Right, about the thing I wanted to talk with you about. Give me a sec..." Yumeno handed me her cup of tea so she could dig into her bag and reach for her phone. After being on it for a while, she stared at me seriously. "You see, I got this email from an unknown sender containing information seemingly important about you."

I squinted my eyebrows as I wanted further clarification.

"Important information? Could you elaborate?"

"Your test scores."

Yumeno showed me the screen of her phone, allowing me to view the content for myself. As I explored her phone, I noticed that the sender was anonymous on the email as I couldn't see their address and their allies; they called themselves 11037.

Now, for the content itself, two PDFs were attached: a detailed report of my entrance exam scores, interviewer comments, and my recent mock exam scores. Where for both exams, I scored precisely fifty across the board.

"I see."

Now, this is something that I didn't expect.

The first question that came to me was. Was the email legit?

It doesn't look fake, as the scores were exactly as I remembered getting, but any course of action I intend to take in the future will depend on whether the email is legit.

If they are legitimate, I will find out who the anonymous account belonged to.

Back on May 1st, I threatened my homeroom instructor that I would make her class a living hell if I found out that she was responsible for the situation.

However, even though the possibility of her trying to give Horikita or Sakura my first score to get them to use me was high, would she sabotage herself and send my scores to someone from another class?

"You seem oddly calm at the fact that I learned you are holding back regarding your grades."

Yumeno yawned as she got from the bed to grab the teacup I had placed on my desk. She then took another sip of the citrus tea.

"I don't know what you expected. Did you expect me to panic and grovel to your feet as I begged you not to leak my scores publicly?"

"You have a vivid imagination, Ayanokoji-kun. Maybe Kushida-san, despite her crazy behavior, had a point about the type of woman you are interested in."

Damn you, Sakura.

"I have no idea what you could be talking about."

"No need to lie to yourself. We all have weird interests." Yumeno gave me a reassuring smile that she would support me before taking another sip of her tea. "However, going back to my intentions of showing you the email. I wanted to ask you something that might be a bit personal." Yumeno caressed her cup as she squinted right at me, attempting to loom serious, but with her dipped lips, she looked really cute. "Were your scores coincidental?"

"Who knows? Have you considered the possibility that the email is invalid and possibly a scam?"

Yumeno looked unfazed at my question.

"I did, so I sent the anonymous sender an email of my own trying to see the deal was about the information."

Yumeno then took out her phone again and, after messing with it for a while, handed me the phone, allowing me to read the lengthy email that she received yesterday.

[To Yumeno Himiko of Class 1-B.It appears that you are the recipient of the email I sent. I noticed that you desire to help your class reach Class A. However, I am unfortunately allowed to identify myself, as I could get into severe trouble. Still, the individual file in the prior email is a unique student who, if you manage to win them over, might be able to assist you in bringing your class to Class A within the end of three years. Regarding whether this information is legitimate, it was taken directly from the school's database, and there is a seal of approval on the PDFs that should confirm your suspicions.]

After reading the mysterious individual's email to Yumeno, I am confident that these files are legitimate and that this individual is not trying to fool Yumeno. However, I can also conclude that whoever sent the email to Yumeno has to have prior access to the file.

Like my homeroom instructor or perhaps even someone else in a higher-up position of which I'm not aware.

"Isn't this something? It seems you have someone who wants me to assist your class."

"Nyeh? Um, yeah, really suspicious email I got, isn't it? Hehe."

Her voice was filled with hesitation, and she was sweating heavily once again.

Yumeno can sometimes be incredibly crafty but is too easy to read when attempting to hide her intentions.

"So, that was your primary purpose for the visit today. You intend to follow the sender's word and see if I was the legit deal and who could assist your class."

Yueno let out a defeated smile, confirming that my guess was correct.

"Nyeh, you got me. I'm bad at hiding my intentions, aren't I."

"You can say that again."

"Well, so what about–"

Without even letting Yumeno finish her words, it was obvious that she would try to convince me to align myself with Class B, even though the class competitions had barely started.

"I refuse."

"Nyeh? I figured that was going to be the case. Just forcing you to work for me would be pretty rude of me to do such a thing. But, I thought I would take my shot."

At least she's reasonable and gives up on her attempts in trying to use me instead of attempting to blackmail me like my instructor did.

Did Yumeno believe her class was doomed for failure? Class B is only behind by 90 class points compared to Class A, and it is probable for them to catch up to Class A easily if they play their cards right.

I haven't been able to properly evaluate the other classes yet due to laying low during the prior month, besides a few subtle hints from Shiina about the violent nature of the class. So maybe Yumeno sensed danger from them, something from the class that I'm unaware of.

"Though if I can ask, what compelled you to come to me, even though I would likely reject you."

"This school is shady."

Yumeno squinted as she gazed around the room as if trying to tell me some secret.

"Shady?"

"You know about Ichinose-san?"

Ichinose Honami, the pink-haired beauty from Class B. I've heard the name tossed around by my classmates a couple of times, but besides that one time last week at the guidance office, I've never really interacted with her myself.

From what I've heard from Sakura and Kushida, she is a kind and charitable person, but I can't be sure if she is just like those two demons or if she could be considered an angel.

"I've heard that name a few times. I've heard she was a kind girl. But I don't see why bringing her name was relevant to the school's shadiness."

"It'll make sense once I tell you what happened last week."

Yumeno took the final sip of the teacup, emptying it before crossing her legs and creating a blank expression.

She then explained how Ichinose applied to the student council during the club fair day. On May 1st, the day she was supposed to hear back, President Horikita rejected her for not being an ideal fit for the council. Yumeno, throughout her explanation, is naturally displeased with his choice from the slight frustration in the tone of her voice, as Ichinose was a part of the council during her time at her previous school.

"So, if I understand correctly, after hearing about Ichinose's rejection, you hurried to check up on her in the student council room?"

"Yep, and that's where I met my reason for coming here. As I univitedly entered the student council room that day, I met the vice president, Nagumo Miyabi."

Nagumo, that's a new name that sounds important to remember. But Yumeno's tone showed signs of contempt as if he had done something bad to her or Ichinose.

"I take it you don't like the guy."

"It's hard to explain, but I get bad vibes from him."

Yumeno shot me a serious glare, signifying she wasn't joking around with her accusation of Nagumo.

I have no reason to doubt her intuition, but I will need more information to assess how much of a big deal Nagumo is.

"Could you explain what this bad vibe is? I'm not working with much, so you'll have to explain better than just 'bad vibes.'"

"Nyeh... I know, but he's so perfect that I can't explain it! But, maybe if I remember her name correctly." Yumeno paused and looked up at my ceiling. "Right, the cow udder girl, Sakura-san. She also visited Vice President Nagumo that day as well. However, I only figured that out after noticing President Horikita and Tachibaba leave the room together."

This is new information that seems important. Nagumo has already built a connection with our class, and now I am even more invested in this connection.

"Since you seemed suspicious of Nagumo, did you do anything to confirm these suspicions of yours?"

"I did try to talk to some of the second-year students in each class, but when I asked about the vice president, none spoke up to give me relevant information about my suspicions... Well, except for one individual..."

Yumeno shivered in her seat as she was reminded about that one person.

What caught my attention was that when Yumeno tried gathering information about Nagumo, no one could give her the answers she sought.

Now, this could mean one of two options. One, Yumeno was poor at communicating with others and is possibly lying to me again. Or two, she is telling the truth right now, and something suspicious is happening in the second year.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's just that she was a massive pain to talk to, and she was like, 'you're not interesting enough for someone just to give critical information like that.'" She mocked the said girl in a boisterous voice that reminded me of the female version of Koenji. "Then she shooed me away as if I were not worth her time."

She sounds like a troublesome woman. However, I see what Yumeno's intentions were in trying to get me to work with her.

She's truly crafty...

"So, your game plan was to use me as bait to this prideful girl so she could give you the information she wants."

"Nyeh, you're correct. But that plan failed, so I'll just have to come up with something else... What a pain."

However, there was a fundamental flaw with her craftiness; in her magical work to make complicated plans, there were holes in her method of achieving her goal that could be easily exploited.

From how Yumeno explained her plan, it sounded as if she went and questioned them directly, and this may have caught Nagumo's attention if he had connections with members of the other class. With this, he could hypothetically inform those connections to prevent information from leaking about giving the critical information about him that Yumeno is trying to confirm her suspicions.

My prior speculation assumes that Nagumo has a large hold amongst the classes in his year and controls what is allowed to be spread. Although this is likely, I lack the proof to make my speculation conclusive.

Yumeno heaved a sigh as she pressed her lips and let out this loud hum as if she were thinking of something.

"Mind if I ask why you are going through all this?"

I was curious about her reasoning for her decision just now. It's clear that she has a desire to reach Class A, and she did try to use me, but I wonder if she already lost her faith in her class, even though nothing occurred yet.

I decided to remove the odd atmosphere by asking her a question that caused Yumeno to stare at me momentarily as she let out a forced chuckle and lay back on my bed with her legs hanging off.

Yumeno chuckled as she readjusted herself and hopped back onto my bed.

"I don't want to be useless."

She kicked her legs up into the air as she was frustrated.

"Useless?"

"My last school was even more shady than this one. Yet, no matter how I tried, it wasn't enough..." Tears started to flow from the magician's face, and she slid down her cheek and eventually landed on my bed. "I just wanted to contribute something.

A school is shadier than this one. I wonder how shady the school was to cause Yumeno to have a breakdown.

I wonder how bad of a school it is to cause Yumeno to break down on my bed.

I placed my half-empty tea cup on my desk and grabbed a handkerchief before sitting next to Yumeno and turning my face towards her. As I lay down next to the teary-eyed girl, I created a potential opportunity to form a more open relationship between us.

Her desire is not to be useless after seemingly coming from an even more 'shadier' school, as she puts it. Her desire to be someone important to the class is an admirable quality.

I was curious, no maybe even intrigued at Yumeno's desire not to be useless.

"Nyeh, am I crying?" Yumeno rubbed her eyes as her face flashed red out of embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get suddenly emotional."

"It's completely fine to cry. You shouldn't lie about your feelings and repress them."

Yumeno maroon eyes quivered, and her expression was bewildered as she turned her face in the direction she took in my words.

"You're the third person to ever say those words to me. Though I understand that lesson now, it's still hard to take you seriously with that monotonous voice of yours."

Of course, my voice was.

"Even if my voice is monotonous, my point still stands. And the two who said those words prior probably felt the same as I do now."

"Those two, huh? I can see one of them, yeah, but the other... Sorry for rambling about some memories; I do that quite often."

"No, that's fine. However, we can return to the original topic." I rose from my lying position, sat straight up, and looked down at Yumeno, who was blankly staring at the ceiling. "Tell me a bit about your class and what made you come to me."

Yumeno rose up from my bed as well and sat right next to me as she began to tell me about the internal structure of Class B.

"It's a fun class. Ichinose Honami-san is our leader, even if she doesn't say she is, and everyone looks up to her for guidance. Like she's an older sister figure. Right now, she's been leading study sessions with my classmates, and they have been running smoothly ever since her rejection from the student council."

"That's a good start for your class; my class is doing the same. Ichinose sounds like a nice and capable leader."

Yumeno frowned at me as she let out another sigh.

"Nyeh, of course, you would think that. She would be easily capable and well-liked if this were a regular school. But for this shady school, that's a massive issue; she's too nice for her well-being."

"Now, what makes you think that she is 'too nice' that you deemed it necessary to take your own action."

"Hmm, Class C. Some f*ckers from Class C have been harassing some of the boys from my class, and it's clear that they're already making a move to get us to fight back. It's been a major blow to our class' morale, even though no one has gotten into trouble yet."

"Isn't Harukawa from Class C? Can't she do something about it."

"Well, I can't say much about the internal workings of Class C, as Harumaki is an outsider in her class, but it's a mess. There's no real leader, just a free-for-all with multiple factions. At least, that's what Harumaki told me."

A class with multiple factions?

That sounds like a recipe for disaster. However, if there are multiple factions, one has already made moves by harassing several of the guys from Class B. I'm guessing this individual might have been a potential contender for their leader, but either they were ineffective at convincing their class, or someone prevented them from ruling.

Harukawa had alluded on May 1st, beating someone who was attempting to take control of the class. Whether he was capable or not is unknown, but Harukawa's actions might likely have consequences for the class in its entirety.

However, despite not having full control of the class, a group amongst the multiple factions class still decides to move by harassing different classes.

Since the group's harassment doesn't involve Yumeno being harmed, Harukawa most likely has no reason to step in and stop the group from their plans. Something tells me that even if she did offer assistance, Yumeno wouldn't accept it, based on her talks about not wanting to be useless earlier.

"So, then, did you devise a plan to deal with them, like you did with trying to obtain information on Nagumo?"

"I tried to rally Ichinose-san to fight back against the Class C faction, but she refused and told everyone not to confront the bullies. It works, but it doesn't stop them from trying and deducting our points."

Ichinose and Yumeno have two different approaches based on what Yumeno told me just now. Ichinose uses a pacifist approach, which causes their points to be deducted but prevents any potential schemes the Class C faction is trying to lure out. While Yumeno wants the class to play slightly more aggressively, which does prevent the harassment from continuing if Yumeno's hypothetical plan succeeds, it has a higher likelihood of failing and causing her class to take a massive blow.

Both plays have their benefits and disadvantages, but at the moment, Ichinose's method is better for maintaining unity, which Yumeno seems to miss. However, Yumeno does raise the point that, eventually, the class will need to take action if they want to take on the Class C faction, which is waiting to strike.

However, to determine Class B's best course of action, I need to determine what the faction wants to achieve from harassing them nonstop, and I'll need a little bit more information on the methods first.

"That does sound like an issue for your class, so what have they been doing to the boys of the class?"

I agreed with Yumeno's reasoning, not necessarily because I believed it was best to rally against Class C but rather to pry her for more information.

"They've been mainly targeting the boys, who are part of a club, like Shibata-kun in the soccer club or Yonezu-kun in the basketball club, and lure them out to start physical confrontations..."

Yumeno continued listing several of the guys' names in her class; even if things played slightly differently for each case, the overall strategy for the Class C faction remained the same. They were most likely testing the school's systems for future uses. However, it is also likely that they could be trying to test out how each class operates by instigating them. Lastly, it could be a mixture of the two prior options.

Regardless, it's a shame that the faction leader who is already damaging the morale of Class B isn't the class leader because of Harukawa's actions.

"So, whatever Class C's doing to your class, along with your suspicions on Nagumo potentially being interested in Ichinose. Made you decide to take a shot and come to me, someone who seems to not p

Yumeno nodded her head. Silence then ensued between the two of us for a short while.

"After hearing you talk, I'll lend you a hand as a thank you for assisting me with Kushida earlier today."

I ended the silence by changing my decision to assist Yumeno. Her downcast attitude, which had been present since I initially rejected her, dissipated. Her eyes were gleaming with joy, but she was still confused by her expression.

"Really? You're not lying to me right now?"

"Do I look like a liar?"

Yumeno gave me the coldest glare, which every woman I've had a bad run-in with has given me that frightens me. Sakura, Horikita, Kushida, and now Yumeno, who's next, Shiina?

"Don't say that ever again."

"Why?"

"You remind me of that damn clown when you call yourself a liar!"

"I don't know any clowns, but I assure you I am no clown."

"Nyeh, forget it. He's just some guy I knew from my previous school that would lie constantly and catch on to people's lies easily..." Yumeno's glare disappeared, and all that was left was a blank stare. "You don't look like him, that's for sure. So that's a plus, and you're taller than him, so that's another plus."

A midget guy with purple hair who lies constantly and can easily spot lies, he sounds like a nuisance. I hope I never have to talk to him, as he sounds like he could be the bane of my existence.

However, I can only speculate if Yumeno is being honest about her feelings about the purple-haired clown from her past.

Unrelated, but I think I could totally rock purple hair.

I'm getting distracted.

"Though you did lie back then with Kushida-san as if you were trying to instigate her... Yumeno trailed on for a moment. "You did that to instigate her, didn't you."

"Right, I did. It helped you get your recording of incriminating evidence of her, though."

Yumeno shot up from the bed, and once she stood up, she did a small twirl before turning towards me and pointing her finger at my face.

"Nyeh, how did you figure that out?"

"It was a guess, but it sounds like I was correct."

"I could've been changing into my Aikido uniform, though. Which I threw over my current uniform if you're about to think something weird."

Why do I feel saddened about this revelation?

"Hmm, was there something stopping you from doing both, though? You could have multitasked since you just threw Aikido attire over your uniform."

"Fine, you win. But everything should be fine. I think..." Yumeno didn't sound too confident in her answer. However, she shook off this hesitation by forcing a smile on her face and vigorously shaking her as if trying to change her thoughts. "I know; we should celebrate our newfound friendship with a hug."

"A hug?"

"Well, it's fine if you don't want one, but I figured that

"Is this some sort of magical trap that I'm getting myself into?"

"Huh? Of course not. I don't know what goes in that head of yours, Ayanokoji-kun, but magic isn't real."

Keeping track of all the times Yumeno has pushed away the existence of magic is alarming, which makes me more curious about why she is like that.

More importantly, I've never had a hug from anyone before. However, apparently, a hug stimulates the release of oxytocin, which supposedly calms one's nervous system and helps to improve one's mood.

Naturally, I've been intrigued by how a hug would feel. Would I be able to feel the warmth of someone else? Could I feel a genuine connection? Could this be the first step in falling in love?

There was only one way to find out.

"Very well, I'll give you a hug."

I stood up from the bed and faced the red-haired girl. She raised her arms out, trying to get me to embrace her. After looking down at my magician for a while, I went in for the embrace and wrapped my arms behind her back.

Warmth, I could hear Yumeno's steady heartbeat as her chest pressed onto mine.

She was at ease, almost as if she had decided to put some of her trust in me. She probably feels joyous right now, as she can assist her class and make a new friend in her eyes.

Do I feel at ease right now?

I don't know for sure, but maybe I want something to bloom out of a relationship—a genuine friendship like I have with my cherished one or something greater than her. It's too soon to tell. I already had a few candidates in mind, and there is something else I need to investigate before deciding on who should be my first girlfriend.

"Do you feel anything, Ayanokoji-kun?"

Yumeno muttered those words to me as I was in my thoughts.

I think back to the day when Sakura was nearly assaulted by the store clerk at the end of the day. Hirata looked nervous about what I presume on Sakura's reckless decision to deal with the clerk on her own, but before he came to me on that day, I witnessed Sakura putting him into a hug, and it looked as if he calmed down slightly.

When he talked to me then, he sounded like a concerned boyfriend, and when I decided to assist him back then, I was curious about Hirata's desire to protect her. Even though he failed to reach her in time, it seems that they've only gotten closer ever since.

I wonder if I could be in a position similar to Sakura and Hirata and if their relationship is genuine. I wonder if I could

So, as we released from our embrace, I decided it would be best to open up about my true feelings about the hug.

"Even though you know I struggle to express my emotions, I enjoyed your hug. Who knows, maybe you can make me smile for once with your magic. Isn't that the job of a magician?"

"Nyeh?"

Yumeno's face flashed red as she turned her head in the opposite direction of mine.

"Is something wrong?"

The embarrassed girl nodded her head as her blush slowly faded away.

"Even though magic isn't real." Yumeno coughed as she denied the existence of magic once again. "I would prefer to be called a mage. Just a reminder."

Yumeno glared at me as if she were prideful at being called a mage.

"Right, the lovable mage of Class B. My bad."

"I'm glad you corrected your mistake." Yumeno let out a loud yawn as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Well, I think that's all I wanted to discuss with you. I'm getting a bit sleepy, so I will probably take my leave first."

"Well, I'm glad that we talked today. I'll wash the dishes, so you can just give me your empty cup. I'll message you tomorrow about how I want to handle your information issue first, as I am also interested in this Nagumo individual."

Yumeno turned towards the desk and noticed that she had placed the empty cup some time ago.

"Right, thank you." Yumeno bowed toward me in appreciation. "I'll make sure I won't be a massive pain to you."

"You won't. I don't know why you would think something like that. I've forgiven you already for your attempt at trying to use me. So don't say that you are useless. You have me and your classmates who seem to care for you.

I grabbed the girl's shoulder, reassuring her that she didn't beat herself up.

Her being a massive pain to me should be the least of her concerns. Whether she is aware or not, she is a fundamental part of my goal at this school, whether she likes it or not. And it's too soon for me to let my pieces go in disarray just because of their mental state.

In response, Yumeno stared at me in a daze for several seconds, causing silence to encapsulate the room again.

Eventually, Yumeno spoke first, her voice slightly hesitant, but she stared at me with a newfound resolution. Her expression grew firm as she placed her left smooth hand onto my right hand.

"Yeah... I won't say that anymore."

Still, her voice was shaky, signifying that she wasn't fully onboard yet, not calling herself useless, but it was a solid start.

"Good."

While attempting to brighten the mood, I pat the magician's shoulders softly to create the feeling that I would always be on her side.

Though the scenery could look better with my dullish room, I can eventually get her to assist me once our relationship grows closer. I remember her calling my room boring when she first entered and even fell asleep due to the lack of decorations present.

The two of us exchanged farewells, and Yumeno departed my room with a dazzling smile as she flicked her hands as if she were about to cast some magical spell.

After she departed, I noticed something sticking to my blazer. As I looked down, I saw that it was a flower, a gold-painted rose, to be precise.

She must've done it with her magic, is what I would say if I were deluded. But it's more likely that she must've put it on me while we were embraced in our hug, and I never bothered to notice it until she left the room.

Magic truly was a fascinating mystery that I have come to appreciate during my few encounters with Class B's mage. Even if I understood how Yumeno performed the trick, to the eyes, through psychological illusions, the feat looks completely illogical and could only be described as magic.

So, Yumeno, even if you can be magical with your tricks on the stage, I wonder if you can give me a magical performance during your time at this school. Will she be capable of performing feats that could only be described as magic?

♚♕◼◻◼◻-LIARS-◼◻◼◻♛♔

It was nearly midnight when I checked my phone to see if I had missed anything today. I was particularly curious to see what was happening with my classmates, as I noticed that some group chats were lively earlier when I was talking with Yumeno.

In the group chat itself, they were talking about this video that recorded a scene earlier today that consisted of Horikita, Sakura, Hasebe, and Sudo.

Curious about my classmate's discussion, I clicked on the link to the video and saw what the commotion was about.

It was a surprising, but not unexpected, sight to behold. Sakura's study session ended in a disaster. Sakura and Hasebe pushed onto the ground, Sudo and Horikita clashed their ideology on whether studying was useful, and nothing went well for the group.

Despite being a victim, Horikita was barraged with tons of hate comments for her poor handling of the situation, which I found particularly odd. Sudo should've been the one receiving the most hate for harassing Hasebe, especially Sakura. However, that didn't appear to be the case; Horikita was on the hot seat for the comments instigating the disaster scene at the cafe earlier today.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that she is the younger sister of President Horikita, and her not handling the situation paints her brother in a bad light, but even then, there should at least be some trying to be on younger Horikita's side, but those comments are far few between.

That made me curious about the study group's future, so I decided to call Sakura. Even though there was a likely chance that she might be asleep at the moment, I figured that I might give it a shot and try calling her. If not, I can just ask tomorrow.

"Nyaa..." Sakura let out a cute pur as if she were a kitten on the speaker before resuming. "Aya-chan? You never take the initiative to call me; what's going on with you?"

"I wanted to see if you're okay from earlier. I didn't mean to interrupt anything that you were doing."

"Oh... I'm fine. I was free right now. I finished having some fun with Yosuke-chan."

"Fun?"

"Yeah, we had so much fun that I wore him out, and I thought I had the stamina issue, but I was mistaken. But he's sleeping like a baby. He looks so adorable right now, I want to pinch his..."

Sakura suddenly stopped talking at the worst possible moment. I wanted to know what she was about to pinch. However, there was this odd silence from her for at least half a minute, causing me to speculate what she meant by 'fun.'

Was it a code that the two of them had sex or something that involved physical contact with each other?

Or maybe I'm too deranged, and she could be talking about something else that doesn't involve sex.

"Hello?"

I called out to Sakura to see if she was still there, and I got a response after seven seconds.

"Um, where was I? Right, sorry for getting distracted. I'm currently at Yosuke-chan's place and am too busy admiring his beautiful face, but I moved out of his room to let him sleep. So what's up, Aya-chan?"

She sounds as if she were truly in love with him.

I wonder if I could fall in love with someone like Sakura did with Hirata.

But based on my prior suspicions, their relationship may be fake. But if it is, would Sakura go all the way with him and have sex with him despite their lack of emotional connection with each other?

Would that make her a slu*t, as Kushida called accused her of being earlier today, as well as doing the deed with me?

Damn you, Sakura.

"I was wondering if you had plans to resume the study session. I remember you hyping up the session earlier today, and I saw the video and how things turned out, so I wanted to see if you've given up on Sudo."

"Aren't you a concerned friend, Nishishi? Well, as much as I would love to teach Sudo-chan, I don't think I could do it..."

She's lying to me right now.

"But I gave Horikita-chan a little pep-talk after the session, and hopefully, she'll be back in action next week."

How would a pep talk between Sakura and Horikita even go out?

Does Sakura reveal her devilish side to Horikita, or does she continue her angelic act?

"I'm glad Horikita hasn't given up after all of the comments she got."

"From how you're talking, it sounds like you wanted to join our group. Do you?"

Even though she wasn't in the room, it was almost as if I could feel her overpowering gaze trying to get me to join her group. However, I wanted to remain in my current group to stay within proximity to Kushida over the coming weeks and watch over her and Yumeno.

"No, I'm fine with my current one."

"Aw, I wanted to talk with you some more." I could hear her voice whimper from my speaker. "Ever since May 1st rolled around, I haven't had the time to spend with my first friend here. Should we fix that?"

She truly was a friend I could cherish.

Even if she acts like a demon and messes with me a good amount of times.

"I don't mind, but won't Hirata be upset? You're talking with another guy."

"Come on, he's chilling with you, Aya-chan. After what happened l-last month... Say, what time do you usually wake up?"

Her voice suddenly became hesitant as she referenced the prior month. At that time, she was nearly assaulted by the store clerk who was in charge of repairing her phone.

Though I do feel bad that my cherished friend has to go through such a vile act, I can't help but ponder who was the person who physically assaulted the guy. The officers I talked to that day didn't seem to have an answer.

Whoever they were, they did a particularly good job removing traces of any evidence I could see, except for the odd love letter directed towards Sakura, which the culprit might've written.

I wonder who the culprit set up to take the fall in his place?

"I wake up a little before six."

I turned towards my clock, noticing it had passed midnight, signifying a new day had begun.

"Alright, you're going to work out with me tomorrow morning, Nishishi!"

"What?"

"You see, there was this moron that I knew who gathered his buddies and did a training session. I want to try doing something similar, so it's just you and me. What do you say?"

"What would you do if I were to say no?"

"You live in room 401, right?"

I could feel her grin and creepy stare piercing through me, even though we were just on a phone call, and I couldn't see her face.

"How did you get that information?"

"Nishishi. Why would I tell you that."

A large chill ran up my spine at the thought of Sakura barging into my room early in the morning uninvited. I had no choice but to join her for her workout session, did I know? I sighed in defeat as I prepared for my unwelcoming fate with the unknown.

"I guess I'm in your care tomorrow then."

She really was a demon.

"Yipee! Well, I'll talk to you at exactly six tomorrow. Bye bye!"

*Beep*

Without even saying goodbye to her back, she hung up on me, leaving me to my own devices once again.

Truly a troublesome friend that I chose to cherish.

Regardless, before I went to sleep, I played a recording on my phone that I had made earlier today of a beautiful scene.

"Ahhh, so annoying!?"

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

"Why can't that damn bitch just die?!"

BAM!

"That stuck-up, snobby bitch with that cow-tittied whor*! f*ck, I want to curb-stop both of those wretches! That dog-brained moron should've burned their faces!"

Smartphones are nifty tools, and I'm surprised I went fifteen years without properly using one. You could browse the internet, chat with others from long distances, take videos and photos, and even play games from a computer that isn't that's only slightly bigger than the palm of my hand.

Like in the recording from my phone, even though the quality wasn't the same as in person, I could hear Kushida's beautiful voice with her smoky tone that I came to admire earlier tonight, as she threatened to frame me with rape. Even if I could replay the memory of her voice in my head, having a recording of her is always nice, and I can repeat it anytime I want to hear her lovely voice.

That reminds me, Horikita is the 'snobby bitch' according to Kushida, right. Perhaps I should've asked her if she knew Horikita from her junior high and why she was trying to befriend her when it was obvious that the two didn't like each other. Perhaps I can get some insight about Kushida from Class D's other demon tomorrow.

Moreover, there will be plenty of opportunities to confirm my suspicions once Yumeno makes Kushida her pawn or fails in her attempt. Learning about her envy for Sakura's position in the class was enough for my earlier encounter.

This recording also had the added benefit of reassurance in case Yumeno screwed up in her plan to subdue Kushida. However, if she does manage to succeed, it'll save me the time and effort to prevent Sakura from sniffing out my plans. But it's never too bad to have backup plans.

This recording might be useful later, as I did make a promise with Chabashira-sensei a week ago.

However, before I act on that matter, I have to figure out who sent Yumeno my test scores to determine how I should handle my class going forward.

For my cherished friend, well, she'll have to brace for impact if I ever make her class an udder hell.