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Horikita glanced at him, her tone growing colder. "Retract my previous statement—you can't compare to my brother at all. My brother would never be so easily tempted like you."
Akira looked at her obviously mistaken expression, his mouth twitching, feeling a mix of amusement and exasperation. "Hold on, hold on. While I don't know what you're imagining, it's definitely not the kind of 'temptation' you're thinking of."
At most, it was just a lap pillow, still far from "temptation," right?
He silently added that in his mind.
"But you're right, I really can't compare to your brother." He changed his tone, speaking much more sincerely. "The Student Council President's abilities, character, and sense of responsibility are all impeccable. I personally respect him very much."
These words were truly from the heart—Horikita Manabu's steady and reliable demeanor was indeed admirable.
Horikita's expression softened, her fingertips pausing on her textbook, and she suddenly remembered something else. "Earlier, Kushida-san mentioned that you reported a store to the Student Council? Did you go to the Student Council to see my brother?"
"I didn't go to the Student Council." Akira shook his head. "Actually, I have your brother's contact information. We're friends, and I just messaged him directly."
As he spoke, he unconsciously raised his phone, as if to prove he wasn't lying.
Horikita's gaze inadvertently swept across his phone screen, and her pupils slightly constricted when she saw the chat history—the screen showed Akira's conversation with her brother, and scrolling up several screens didn't reach the bottom.
"You two... sent so many messages?" Her voice held a hint of unconcealed surprise.
"Huh? Is this a lot?" Akira was momentarily stunned. He picked up his phone and looked at it. "It's just two or three messages a day. Most of the time, it's complaining about some school regulations, and occasionally we talk about some interesting things happening at school."
He spoke casually, as if it were just the most ordinary exchange.
Horikita, however, stared at the number of chat messages, filled with immense envy.
Even she herself rarely got to talk about so many daily things with her brother.
"By the way, after I left last time, did you two siblings have a good chat?" Akira asked curiously, following the conversation.
"...No." Horikita was silent for a long time before squeezing out two words through gritted teeth.
Since their last encounter with her brother downstairs in the dorm, which Akira also witnessed—aside from once asking him about "Tachibana Akane's relationship with her brother"—there'd been no other communication. As for meeting him face-to-face, she didn't even dare to imagine it.
Mainly, she was afraid of being embarrassed.
After all, she was still floundering in Class D, while her brother was the Student Council President, standing at the top of the school.
If others saw them together, gossip would be one thing, but what she cared about most was her brother losing face if it got out.
"You didn't send your brother some delusional lines again, like 'Brother, please look at my performance in Class D,' or 'I'm not the person I used to be,' or 'I will rise to Class A with determination,' did you?" Akira narrowed his eyes, deliberately mimicking the tone she might use.
"No! The current me wouldn't say such things!" Horikita glared at him fiercely, her ears turning red with anger—what kind of person did this guy think she was?
She clenched her fist, almost actually kicking him.
If she wasn't still in the classroom, she probably would've thrown the textbook in her hand at him.
At the beginning of the school year, she might've harbored some thoughts of "making her brother look at her in a new light," but now that over a month had passed, she was no longer the person who only spoke of her resolve!
Uh—
As this thought emerged, her heart skipped a beat.
Wait, that line Akira just said, "I'm not the person I used to be"... she seemed to have, seemed to have secretly said something similar in her heart.
And it was just now!
"Shut up." She squeezed two words through her teeth, her voice as cold as ice.
Now, she really didn't want to talk to this guy anymore.
He always managed to precisely hit her thoughts, making her fingertips tingle with anger, yet she couldn't find suitable words to refute him—it was utterly frustrating.
She turned her face away, pretending to focus on her textbook, not even wanting to spare a glance for the guy next to her with a "I knew it" expression.
"Alright, alright, I won't tease you anymore." Akira, seeing that she was truly about to explode, quickly reined in his smile and suggested, "How about this, tomorrow's Friday. After school, I'll go find the Student Council President. How about I take you to see your brother?"
Horikita's pen paused. She turned her face to look at him, her eyes showing clear confusion. "...?"
"I do have something to discuss with him." Akira's tone became more serious, and he added, "Besides, your brother seems to be having some trouble recently. As his sister, aren't you curious about what's bothering him? And you could help me out too, after all, your brother's quite intimidating."
Horikita's fingertips lightly rubbed the pen. She lowered her gaze, staring at the words in her textbook, and after a long while, she squeezed out a sentence from her throat. "...I understand."
...
Soon it was noon.
Akira had just finished lunch when his phone vibrated in his pocket—it was a message from the class group chat. Kushida suddenly notified everyone to immediately return to the classroom for a meeting.
When he returned to the classroom, more than half of the students were already seated, whispering in groups of two or three, all guessing the reason for the sudden assembly. After waiting a few more minutes, the last few late students also rushed into the classroom, and the classroom was finally almost full.
Just then, the classroom door was gently pushed open.
Two girls stood at the doorway.
"Good afternoon, everyone in Class D!" The girl in the beret spoke first. She raised her hand to adjust her beret and bowed slightly to the people in the classroom, her movements playful yet polite.
The purple-haired girl standing beside her, however, ignored the slightly deliberate greeting, merely casually scanning the crowd in Class D.
Her gaze swept halfway around the classroom, and when it landed on a familiar figure, her eyebrows subtly twitched.
The previous chatter in the classroom quieted a bit, and many people looked curiously towards the doorway—these two were clearly not students from Class D, and they wondered who they were suddenly looking for.
"My introduction might be a bit late! I am Sakayanagi Arisu from first-year Class A, and the person next to me is Kamuro Masumi. I, for now, am serving as the leader of Class A." She let out a light laugh.
"They're from Class A?!"
"Why are they suddenly coming to our Class D?!"
"Excuse me, who are you two looking for?"
A few low murmurs instantly rose in the classroom. Yamauchi craned his neck, scrutinizing the doorway, his gaze sweeping over the two of them, and he couldn't help but sigh softly. "But honestly, they're both so cute—especially the one in the beret, her eyes are like a deer's, but why is she lame?"
Kushida quickly walked to the podium and explained to her classmates. "Sorry to interrupt your break time. It's because yesterday afternoon, Sakayanagi-san said she had something important to announce to Class D."