Houtarou encountered someone.
She wore women's business attire — a white shirt paired with a black suit, short skirt, and black pantyhose with high heels.
She was walking in the opposite direction. Though the hallway was wide enough for three people to walk side by side, Houtarou noticed she was heading directly toward him.
"Do you need something?" He asked, his gaze meeting her dignified, cold, yet strikingly beautiful face.
"No." Sae Chabashira stepped aside.
She had confirmed that this Class A student was the one behind Suzune.
It was unfortunate, though. Having given up on her past wishes, she only wanted to move forward rather than remain stagnant. For now, she had no intentions beyond being the homeroom teacher for Suzune and her class.
So she made way, letting Houtarou pass.
Later, as expected, when meeting Suzune, it was about requesting point allocation. Because of this, Houtarou's Private Points were updated again.
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The Sports Festival ended.
Then the weekend came, giving students time to relax.
Normally, Houtarou avoided staying at school on weekends. Despite the boarding school's complete facilities and convenience, it felt like a cage.
He usually teleported home, leaving his phone in the dorm — effectively turning his boarding school life into that of a day student.
But this weekend was different.
Though they had been doing class-assigned physical training every day this past month, it was brief and merely routine to him, not tiring at all. He didn't feel the need for rest.
However, while preparing to go home the night before yesterday, he received a message from Kikyō requesting to meet privately at 8 AM on Sunday.
Well, alright. Since he'd been having Precognitive Dreams about her lately, she was somewhat special to him.
At 7:55 AM on Sunday, he returned to his dorm.
By the way, his cat had been staying at Arisu's place for over two weeks now, leaving his home feeling a bit empty. Though not a cat person, he still missed petting it on weekends.
Upon returning to his dorm, Houtarou discovered message notifications and a missed call on the phone he'd left on his desk.
The messages and call were from Kikyō. She was asking about his plans for the day and whether there were any stores he wanted to visit.
After receiving no response, she had called him and, getting no answer there either, sent more messages saying she would make the arrangements herself. She even asked if there were any movies he'd like to see.
Houtarou: "..."
This scene felt strange to him.
It reminded him of couple activities from light novels or anime — something he never expected from Kikyō.
After all, as someone who wanted to be friends with everyone, she typically avoided such actions. They would cost her fans. She even cited statistics about how high school relationships had less than a 15% chance of leading to marriage.
While reviewing her messages, his dorm doorbell rang several times in quick succession.
He tilted his head, puzzled. Class A students were usually too disciplined to disturb others like this.
When he checked the peephole, however, he was surprised.
He opened the door.
"Good morning, Oreki-kun!"
A little angel stood there in casual clothes, presenting a different kind of charm from her usual uniform.
She was more than cute — she was heart-racing.
It was Kikyō.
"On Friday night, you agreed to meet up, but you haven't replied to my messages since yesterday. I thought you might have come to hate me—" She paused, then extended an invitation, "How about going on a date, just this once?"
This was quite an unexpected development.
As the first person at Nurturing High School to amass 20 million Private Points and exchange them for cash, Houtarou was well aware of his popularity.
His refined appearance particularly appealed to many girls.
After the Sports Festival ended, the attention he received increased — along with strange photos from upperclassmen.
It started with occasional harassment through private messages on the forums. Then, through Kikyō's social connections, some upperclassmen obtained his contact information and began sending him strange photos.
They were mostly pictures of calves and feet, bizarrely ranging from bare feet to white stockings, black stockings, pantyhose, short socks, and even stocking milk tea — like something perverts would send.
Houtarou had assumed these were compromising photos Kikyō sent unwillingly, trying to make him uncomfortable as usual.
But now she was actively inviting him on a date?
"Are you sure?" Houtarou said, "I can't give back the photos you sent me before. Since you're so unpredictable, I need some leverage to keep you in check."
"Don't be mean..." Kikyō blinked cutely, but her expression turned cold, "Can you please not mention that photo? My sense of shame exploded that day — I finally managed to delete it from my brain. Could you not remind me?"
Oh. She had suddenly entered her dark Kikyō state, probably because no one else was around.
Despite her strange behavior, Houtarou agreed to her invitation.
Thus, the two headed to the shopping district.
But he had underestimated Kikyō's popularity. This little angel was quite dazzling in others' eyes, and people frequently approached her on the street.
"Hey hey, Kushida-chan, since you don't have a boyfriend yet, why don't you go out with me?" A male student asked sweetly.
This scene was reminiscent of what had happened on the ship after the Special Exam.
How would she respond?
"Ahaha, though I don't have a boyfriend yet... someone like me isn't that popular."
She chose modesty and declined.
Though her response was mere social courtesy, in reality, she was quite popular among male students. Her gentle, cheerful attitude toward everyone made her well-liked by girls too. This was her trademark.
"Sorry, Oreki-kun, I get approached like this quite often." After turning down the other person, Kikyō gave a troubled smile.
This was probably true. Houtarou didn't think the boy who'd just approached her had any qualities that would appeal to the girl beside him.
"He's just a third-year Class D student, no potential, and no money either." Houtarou said.
"That's not it." Kikyō corrected him, "I simply am not that popular."
Ah...
Houtarou had seen this before, when the great angel Honami was confessed to by her classmate Chihiro. Her rejection had used similar rhetoric.
Saying she wasn't worthy of being liked, that she'd reject whoever confessed, and so on.
But he didn't think Kikyō was the same type of person as that great angel.
They walked to an outdoor café, where the waiter took their order and left with the tray. Kikyō and Houtarou sat down facing each other.
"So what's the truth?" Houtarou asked.
Through the Precognitive Dreams, he could tell this girl before him was quite a bitch. She still harbored considerable obsession toward Suzune. And her methods were very Eiri-like (the doujinshi artist).
So how could she possibly be a real angel?
"Hehe—" Kikyō laughed.
Since she was facing away from the street, with no one else around, she immediately reverted to her true cold and cruel self.
"That trash should take a good look at himself — it's disgusting. I've already rejected him twice. Can't he take a hint? Doesn't he know that when a girl politely rejects you, it means she absolutely despises you? Besides, that piece of trash is already a third-year and about to graduate. His intentions for wanting to date me now are so obvious."
See? Now that's the truth.
Houtarou calmly sipped his convenience store coffee while contemplating the situation.
"So then, the purpose of calling me out today." He said, getting straight to the point, "Definitely isn't for something like a date, right?"
"Well…" Kikyō maintained her dark expression, "I just wanted to confirm if you're going to pursue anything now that the Sports Festival has ended."
Oh. So that's what she was worried about.
Houtarou put down his latte can.
After the confrontation with Kakeru, she had revealed her plan to make Suzune drop out, even going so far as to betray and reject her.
Though later she was forced to cooperate with Suzune because of certain serious recordings.
During all this, Houtarou had declared his intention to marry Suzune in the future. Now Kikyō felt uneasy about her collaboration with Kakeru's group to harm his future wife, worried that things had ended too quietly.
Neither Houtarou nor Suzune had pursued the matter further. Yet even after two days of calm, her anxiety persisted.
In other words, fear had finally caught up with her, and she needed to know where he stood.
Since when had she become the type to worry afterward? Wasn't she usually the one who recklessly charged ahead and dealt with consequences later?
Then again, she had done things like impulsively collecting his fingerprint, only to later research the connection between fingerprints and clothing at the library.
So perhaps this behavior wasn't so surprising after all. If one were to analyze Kikyō, she was the type who believed herself clever but was actually quite foolish beneath her sweet facade turned dark.
"It's been a day since the Sports Festival, hasn't it?" Houtarou said, "If I was going to pursue anything, you would have been expelled yesterday."
Kikyō: "..."
That was quite a direct statement.
And it clearly showed that Suzune held great importance in his heart.
'Hmph!' Yet this declaration failed to put Kikyō at ease.
"Besides, I've received your photos too." Houtarou continued, "So I won't do anything to you."
Kikyō: "..."
This explanation didn't seem to reassure her either.
Houtarou: "..."
The four girls from Kakeru's class had immediately called begging for mercy after their photos were received.
Yet this one here still didn't think this was enough?
Even the straight-laced Suzune had gone from threatening violence if the photos leaked to begging on her knees.
Watching her expression, Houtarou had no choice but to say, "This incident was particularly malicious. So from now on, it'll be twice a week instead of once a week."
Is that the punishment?
"Then you can't go back on your word." Kikyō replied seriously, "And you can't add more conditions."
In other words, sending one compromising photo wasn't enough — she still needed to be punished.
And with this increased punishment, not only was she not angry, but she actually seemed relieved.
Under Houtarou's observation, Kikyō returned to her kind and gentle angelic facade after the waiter brought her milk tea. She was truly at ease now.
...what the hell is happening...
"By the way, how's your relationship with Kamuro from my class?" Houtarou asked.
"Kamuro-san... We get along quite well." Kikyō said.
Oh. She claims they get along well, yet during the Sports Festival, she directly called Masumi a dog.
So they really do get along well, huh.
However, Houtarou had figured it out.
Could Kikyō's current behavior mean she'd developed masochistic tendencies?
He'd read that girls living in the same dorm often have their periods synchronize, so perhaps she had picked up these submissive traits from spending too much time with Masumi.
Ah, Masumi, you corrupting influence.
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