In these recent tests and during the Sports Festival, even those who initially resisted Suzune's ideas had come to acknowledge her.
In Kikyō's view, Suzune's popularity had skyrocketed — much to her displeasure.
But now, Suzune's inability to understand human emotions and relationships had caused her standing among the girls to crumble instantly.
Unlike boys' groups, girls' social dynamics were different — relationships could turn hostile in an instant, even if they were cordial moments before.
After Suzune's words, the girls turned to stare at her with unsettling looks.
Yet the solitary girl, accustomed to cold treatment, remained composed. She firmly believed that as long as her words and actions were correct, there was no need to change. Though she sensed the shift in atmosphere around her, she stood her ground, convinced of her righteousness.
She truly struggled with adaptability. Was she blind to how her logic left everyone bewildered?
Houtarou gently pressed his left hand to his forehead. She was truly impossible to handle.
On the ship, when Suzune had held his hand, she'd shown promise of becoming a future lawyer. But that was a decade's difference.
This was her true self now. Besides, since Houtarou had accepted the responsibility of "looking after Manabu's sister" — and was shamelessly receiving 50,000 Points monthly from her brother for her education — doing nothing wasn't an option.
Of course, that was one reason. Another was that seeing Suzune changing clothes had set his heart racing uncontrollably — a reaction that even seeing Kikyō completely undressed couldn't match.
This probably explained why she'd been treating him so coldly these past few days.
So claiming he had no interest in Suzune was clearly a lie. Their daily hand-holding routine existed precisely to build his resistance to her physical presence.
Therefore, though he couldn't choose or even identify his true love, Houtarou wouldn't stand by while Suzune faced ostracism.
If this situation wasn't handled properly, she'd likely face united opposition from all the girls next time she spoke up. That had to be prevented.
But a male intervention would only inflame tensions — this was better handled by girls themselves. So he immediately switched to his "find a tool for the job" mode.
He had someone in mind who seemed to enjoy being his instrument. Though that might be overstating it, Houtarou sensed this person rather appreciated their dynamic.
So…
"Huh?" Kei Karuizawa, who had just finished three-legged race training with classmate Satsuki Shinohara, noticed her phone vibrate.
While Satsuki was untying the rope, Kei checked the message. Her face briefly flashed with disbelief and displeasure before she sprang into action.
She casually approached the girls' group and grabbed the nearest person to ask a question.
It was a familiar face — Airi, with her pink pigtails, plain clothes, and pink-framed non-prescription glasses.
Airi had made a friend during the Sports Festival training.
Her name was Haruka Hasebe, a girl with blue hair and a beauty mark under her eye.
Both often missed PE class due to their size making exercise difficult. Though they rarely spoke, they got along peacefully.
Finding partners for the mandatory same-sex three-legged race had been challenging due to their poor physical abilities. No one wanted to risk carrying extra weight when everyone needed to focus on their own performance.
Left without other options, they paired up.
As it turned out, their similar speeds and physical capabilities created a good balance. Together, they weren't even the worst-performing pair among the girls.
They had just finished practicing when Kei appeared before them.
"What happened?"
Despite her quiet nature, Airi was quite observant.
She answered instinctively, "Well... it seems Horikita-san and Onodera-san got into an argument. Horikita-san was demanding Onodera-san's cooperation, but Onodera-san thought Horikita should be the one compromising, and then they started arguing... Ahhhhh... Karuizawa!"
Upon realizing it was Kei questioning her, Airi jumped back in fright.
Ugh.
Airi was still terrified of her because of that incident on the ship, where the gyaru girls had mocked her for taking photos of Houtarou. She immediately backed away in fear.
"..." Kei was silent.
She had already explained to Houtarou that she hadn't meant to bully Airi, but she couldn't tell Airi this directly. She needed to maintain her carefully crafted image, so she could only feel remorse in silence.
Now wasn't the time to dwell on Airi, though. Her thoughts were consumed by Houtarou's message.
| Houtarou Oreki |
| Karuizawa, help Horikita. She's being stupid, help resolve her problem and don't let her reputation drop. I'm a guy so I can't handle it well, you go deal with it. |
The message left her bewildered.
The girls in class often discussed Class A's Houtarou, and Kikyō would suggest that his frequent meetings with Suzune meant they were dating.
But Suzune had firmly denied this, and Houtarou himself had claimed high school was for studying, not dating.
Yet here he was, already aware of Suzune's problem before anyone else had noticed it among the girls, and asking her to help resolve it.
Kei couldn't help but doubt Houtarou's stance on not dating during high school. Was it just his way of rejecting her? If so, that seemed terribly unfair.
With these thoughts swirling in her mind, she made her way directly toward Suzune.
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"This really needs to be dealt with." Houtarou muttered as he watched from afar, "At this rate, Horikita-san's relationships with the girls are going to implode."
"Indeed, my foolish sister." A familiar voice came from behind him.
Houtarou turned quickly, only to find that Suzune's social ineptitude had been witnessed by the last person who should have seen it.
"Student Council President, making your rounds?" He asked, aiming for a casual tone.
"Yes, with the Sports Festival approaching, I'm doing inspections. In the mornings, I also run about ten laps around the school — if you get up at 5 AM, you can make it to class on time. You should try it, Oreki." Manabu said.
No thanks. Houtarou had zero interest in such early morning self-torture. Besides, with his cheat abilities now, he didn't need that kind of training.
Moreover, at 5 AM, his bed would never release its hold on him. His mattress pampered him until 7 AM every day.
However, looking at it this way, after getting his cheat abilities, he had lost some of the satisfaction of growing stronger through pure effort.
"By the way." Manabu said, "You seem to have gone looking for Nagumo. How about it — interested in the Student Council?"
"No." Houtarou shook his head, "You have too much work."
Manabu: "..."
So that was the reason after all.
Indeed. Back in the school cafeteria, he had sat at the table behind Houtarou and Arisu's usual dining spot and had overheard their views on the Student Council President position.
Neither of them wanted it. Or if they got it, they would completely reform it.
As for Houtarou's resistance, Manabu had figured out through his own probing that he likely thought the work was too troublesome. Being told this directly now left him with mixed feelings.
"So about Nagumo—" He seemed very interested.
"I need to defeat Nagumo in the all-grade relay race." Houtarou said.
"Oh." Manabu nodded, "So you mean you want to defeat me too? I'm also running the final leg."
Eh? So you're quite unwilling to accept that, are you?
Houtarou remembered seeing him try to make his sister withdraw from school during enrollment. Back then, he had experienced the Student Council President's might-makes-right philosophy firsthand.
At that time, Manabu had mistakenly interpreted his teleportation as extreme speed, even evaluating him as reaching human limits — while Manabu himself definitely hadn't reached those limits.
And now with him saying this... while he judged Houtarou to be at human limits, he still had fighting spirit.
In other words, Manabu and Suzune were actually quite similar — they were both the type who hated to lose.
Just as Houtarou felt he understood him more deeply, his phone vibrated.
A message from Kei.
| Kei Karuizawa |
| Task completed. |
That was fast?
But then…
| Kei Karuizawa |
| Do you like Suzune Horikita that much? |
Hmm. He was quickly questioned about that too.
"..."
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