After school, as soon as Kaoru returned to his dorm, Kushida Kikyo showed up right behind him.
"Perverted foot fetishist, help me quickly!"
Kushida Kikyo was extremely agitated, likely having rushed over immediately after dealing with her friends.
Kaoru could even see fine beads of sweat on her forehead, and a pleasant fragrance wafted from her fair neck.
"Don't rush. Have a drink first."
Kaoru handed her a cup of juice, already aware of what she was so anxious about.
"How can I be in the mood to drink right now? Didn't I message you? Some freshman claiming to be my junior showed up!"
Kushida Kikyo slammed the table. "Saying things like he admires me and that coming here is the luckiest thing that's ever happened to him. Is this guy some kind of obsessive pervert? Super disgusting! And he even went to the same middle school as me. Hurry up and deal with him!"
It was the first time Kaoru had seen her so panicked, completely unlike the little angel she usually appeared to be.
She even slapped the table so hard her hands turned red.
But considering her feelings, it was indeed quite a shock.
Kaoru recalled Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's report: earlier that day, several first-year students had come to the second-year classrooms, two of whom were from Class 1-D.
Hosen Kazuo and Tsubasa Nanase.
The former was an arrogant, burly guy.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka believed he might be a delinquent student like Ryuen Kakeru and seemed to be the one who led the group to the second-year classrooms.
Tsubasa Nanase appeared to be playing a supporting role to Hosen Kazuo.
When Hosen Kazuo provoked Sudo Ken, she remained completely silent throughout, only speaking up to intervene when Sudo Ken was about to lose his temper and resort to violence.
Although the situation nearly escalated into a physical confrontation, Hosen Kazuo's intention was likely to seek partners—specifically, to propose that Horikita Suzune and Class 2-C collaborate with their Class 1-D.
The reasoning was simple: they had heard that Class 2-C had just defeated Ryuen Kakeru's Class 2-D and been promoted to C-Class less than half a month ago.
Thus, they concluded that Class 2-C would be more in need of first-year partners.
If they ended up in last place in this exam, there was a high chance they would be demoted back to D-Class, and someone might even face expulsion.
Horikita Suzune did not agree to their proposal because the attitude was far too aggressive, making it seem as though Class 2-C was begging on their knees.
At that moment, Ryuen Kakeru happened to appear.
He seemed to be acquainted with Hosen Kazuo, who attempted to provoke him.
The tension between the two grew intense until Tsubasa Nanase stepped in to stop Hosen Kazuo.
The commotion was significant enough that even the first-year homeroom teacher came over and gave Hosen Kazuo a stern scolding.
Originally, Kushida Kikyo shouldn't have been involved in any of this.
Unfortunately, she encountered another first-year student.
Kushida Kikyo had been watching the drama unfold when a boy who introduced himself as her junior suddenly appeared beside her, startling her.
As luck would have it, this junior happened to be in the same class as Komiya Kaho, and his name was Yagami Takuya.
"This is so weird! Why did a creepy stalker suddenly show up?!"
Even now, Kushida Kikyo felt panicked just thinking about it.
She couldn't help but wonder if he knew about her past and whether his appearance today was meant as a warning.
"Did you know him before?"
Kaoru found her description rather strange after listening to her account.
"It's hard to say. I know too many people, and even more people know me. I don't remember him, but he might remember me."
Kushida Kikyo was frantic.
Given her extensive social connections, how could she possibly remember every detail?
Sometimes, complete strangers would call out her name—such occurrences were entirely normal for her.
"Are you sure you don't remember what he looks like at all?"
Kaoru recalled Komiya Kaho's description—Yagami Takuya was supposedly quite handsome.
"If I remembered him, I wouldn't be this panicked right now!"
Kushida Kikyo racked her brains, trying to recall if she had ever met such a person and how much he might know about her.
"Damn it, where did this guy even come from?!"
"Don't panic. Next time you see him, you can try testing him. There must be things only you and your middle school classmates would know, right?"
Kaoru comforted the anxious little angel.
"What if he blackmails me?"
Kushida Kikyo was still worried.
She had worked so hard to rebuild her social network and couldn't bear to lose it now.
"I caused too much trouble back then—the whole school must have known about it!"
She had once exposed the entire class's secrets, resulting in several students refusing to attend school for weeks.
In the end, some transferred schools, while others switched classes.
Kushida Kikyo herself took a leave of absence for a period until she applied for the entrance exam at Koudo Ikusei.
"Calm down. I'm here for you." Kaoru said, "I'll be going out this month and can help check whether Yagami Takuya attended your middle school."
Kushida Kikyo's eyes lit up as she pounced onto Kaoru, completely disregarding her image as she rubbed against him excitedly.
"That's amazing! As expected of my master - you're the most reliable!"
Just moments ago she'd been calling him a perverted foot fetishist, and now she was addressing him as master.
"However, I don't think things are that simple."
Kaoru patted her head, "If he really was your middle school classmate, he would definitely know about what you did."
Kushida Kikyo stiffened.
She understood what Kaoru meant - not everyone in this world was like Horikita Suzune, that fool who could remain oblivious to everything around her and never had any friends since childhood.
Since Yagami Takuya claimed to be her junior, it meant the other party was well aware of her past actions.
"The other possibility is that he wasn't your middle school classmate."
Kaoru continued, "But he claims to be your junior and deliberately approached you, which suggests he has even more malicious intentions toward you."
This was even more frightening - if he wasn't actually her middle school classmate, why would Yagami Takuya claim to be her junior?
"This lie is too obvious and easily exposed. If you just ask him a few questions and he can't answer them, he's finished."
Kaoru said quietly, "Unless he's lost his mind, I think he must be confident - he knows about your past and believes he can persuade you."
Kushida Kikyo felt chills running through her entire body.
She hadn't carefully considered these matters before - the sudden appearance of Yagami Takuya had thrown her off balance.
After Kaoru's analysis, her rationality was gradually returning.
"What should I do?"
Kushida Kikyo looked at Kaoru.
This man always remained so calm, giving people an irreplaceable sense of security.
"Let's first see what he wants to do." Kaoru said.
"He's definitely after my body. This kind of boy, once they get leverage over a girl, their desires just inflate."
Kushida Kikyo said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world - after all, Kaoru had only Conditioned her because he was attracted to her.