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Akira naturally noticed the strange gaze from his deskmate.
After all, that gaze was too direct. When one person stares at another, the latter can usually sense it.
"You're not thinking something like, 'Why is my brother so nice to Shimizu Akira, but so mean to me?' are you?"
"...Yes." Horikita's body stiffened involuntarily, and she pursed her lips instinctively.
What's going on? He guessed it again!
How much does this person know about her?
"Then let me ask you, Horikita, since you enrolled, have you ever voluntarily gone to the student council?"
"No..."
"Then let me ask you again, do you understand your brother's current situation? Some of the problems the student council president faces, like the troubles he encounters?"
"I'm not very clear..."
"Then let me ask you once more, since you enrolled, have you helped your brother with anything? Do you know who his opponents are?"
"This..."
Faced with this string of questions, Horikita was almost speechless the entire time.
When had she ever voluntarily gone to the student council? The last time was when Akira practically dragged her there.
As for her brother's current situation? She hadn't really understood it much.
As the student council president, the head of the school's student council, could he really have any troubles?
And as for giving her brother gifts or helping him, she'd never even considered it.
"I've been to the student council several times to see the president, and I believe I understand your brother's current situation quite well. For example, he regularly sponsors students who don't have enough points, and he's currently facing a conflict of ideas with Nagumo, leaning toward the conservative side, protecting those weaker classmates. I also helped him with a not-so-small favor once, so we've been friends for a long time. When I ask him if he's free tonight, he naturally replies to me. What's so strange about that? If you could do the same, your sibling relationship would naturally improve as well." Akira replied in a normal tone.
In his opinion, this was simply too normal.
After all, last month he did help the president deal with Nagumo, and now just asking if he's free is not worth making a fuss over.
Horikita's expression was still not very good. She quickly replayed these words in her mind but found no fault in them.
If everything Akira said was true, then it seemed perfectly natural for her brother to have a better attitude toward him.
On the contrary, she, his own sister, cared far less about her brother than the person in front of her.
"Thank you for helping my brother. Although... I don't know what you helped him with this time." Horikita was silent for a long time, so long that Akira thought she didn't want to continue the topic, before he heard this somewhat hesitant thank you from her.
"No need to thank me, your brother has already given me the corresponding reward." Akira responded.
After the first two months of adjustment, although Horikita sometimes still spoke bluntly, her most significant growth was learning to apologize proactively when she realized her own oversight.
For her, this progress was already quite remarkable.
After all, on the first day of school, she'd directly questioned him just because he looked at her.
Compared to Horikita back then, she was practically a different person now, growing at an astonishing speed.
This inexplicably gave him a feeling of "nurturing," and honestly, it was quite a strange feeling.
However, he suddenly remembered that the student council president had asked him to look after his sister more, so he took the opportunity to ask, "By the way... has anyone strange been looking for you recently?"
"? Why are you suddenly asking that?" Horikita was startled and asked back.
"Nothing, I just remembered the student council vice president, Nagumo, the way he looked at you last time, it seemed like he had some ideas about you. Has he come to find you recently?"
"No, I wouldn't even look at that frivolous guy, and even speaking one more word to him makes me feel disgusted."
Horikita clearly looked down on Nagumo from the bottom of her heart. Just the look in his eyes made her feel nauseous.
She really couldn't understand how her brother could've brought someone like that in.
Honestly, she felt that if it were her, she could definitely do better than him. At least she'd wholeheartedly assist her brother, and never be like that person.
However, she only dared to think these words in her heart.
After all, if she said them out loud, Akira would probably mock her again.
Even as she thought these things, she unconsciously turned her head away.
After all, her deskmate could now guess her unspoken thoughts just by looking at her expression.
But for Akira, after learning that Nagumo hadn't come to find Horikita recently, he'd already gotten the answer he most wanted to know.
He'd handled the president's request quite properly.
After all, the president had given him five hundred thousand points as compensation.
Immediately after, his gaze unconsciously fell on his other deskmate—Sakura.
Remembering that she seemed to have the identity of a gravure idol, Akira instinctively glanced at her again.
"Shimizu-kun... is there something you need?" Sakura asked timidly.
See? When one person stares at another, the other person can indeed easily sense it.
Akira secretly felt that this theory had been confirmed once again, and responded, "Is your camera fixed? I remember running into you at the electronics store last month."
"Um... it's fixed..." Sakura replied weakly.
"Is that so? That's great then." Akira's gaze quickly moved away.
Since she deliberately hid her identity as a gravure idol, she probably didn't want others to know.
Speaking of which, how did someone so shy manage to take selfies?
Could it be that she also had a setting where taking off her glasses would switch her to another personality?
"...What reward do you want?" At this moment, Horikita beside him suddenly spoke out of the blue.
"? What do you mean?" Akira was a little confused.
"Last month, you helped me improve my relationship with my brother. Over this past month, my brother has indeed sent me several messages every week." She paused, her tone still carrying a forced calm. "So, what do you want me to do for you?"
"I see." Akira unconsciously stroked his chin.
Horikita had indeed said last month that if he helped her improve her relationship with her brother, she'd give him a corresponding reward.
He had to admit, he also admired this about Horikita. She kept her word, just like her brother.
Horikita glanced at him. "If you still want to shake hands, come to my room tonight. My room number is 1201."
The last time they shook hands in front of the entire class, she always felt that her appearance wasn't like herself.
That kind of behavior inexplicably carried a sense of shame, and she felt uncomfortable recalling it afterward.
She later thought about it carefully and simply decided to set the location in her own room. This way, she wouldn't have to worry about being seen by others.
However, last time, just a one-minute handshake, she always felt a little sorry for everything Akira had done for her this time.
She didn't like to do unfair things.
So, after thinking for a moment, she added, "This time... you can ask me for something more than a handshake."
More than a handshake?!
Akira suddenly felt that Horikita's words were somewhat alluring.
Last time, this person said Kushida was tempting him, but hearing it now, Horikita-san's words were more deserving of being called "temptation," weren't they?
"I understand, I'll come to your room tonight." Akira smiled and nodded, readily agreeing.
Horikita immediately turned her head away and said nothing more.