Late at night, at the second-year dorms, a knock sounded at the door.
Horikita let out a deep breath, put on a determined expression, and opened it.
She looked exactly like a lone knight about to charge into battle, fully aware of the outcome and charging anyway.
After all, during today's Unanimous Vote special exam, she'd been the one to propose expelling Sakura.
Then Yukio suddenly showed up and transferred Sakura away. Based on what Horikita knew about that man, he was absolutely going to come see her.
If nothing else, Horikita understood one thing very clearly about Yukio: he was fiercely protective of his own.
Wasn't that how they'd first crossed paths in the school library?
She'd only had a verbal clash with Yamauchi from Yukio's class, and Yukio had immediately conned her out of a small sum, sold her fake answers, and later squeezed points out of the entire D-Class during midterms.
Thinking it through even a little, she could tell Sakura had to have some kind of connection to Yukio. More likely than not, Sakura had been one of his inside people in D-Class.
Once the Unanimous Vote ended in overtime failure, Horikita had gradually sorted through her thoughts and noticed the various clues. Looking back, even D-Class's defeat on the first deserted island exam had probably been because Sakura fed Yukio information back then.
If that was the case, then of course Yukio would come looking for payback on Sakura's behalf.
Granted, that wasn't exactly reasonable. Strictly speaking, this had been an internal D-Class matter. If you really dug into it, Sakura had been the mole, which meant D-Class was technically the victim.
But... so what?
When had Yukio ever cared about being reasonable?
So Horikita knew this much for certain: if she didn't give Yukio some kind of answer over the Sakura matter, this wasn't going away.
Sure enough, the one visiting late that night was indeed Yukio.
The moment he stepped in and saw her expression, even he looked a little caught off guard.
Good grief. So Horikita had already prepared herself for him coming over? Otherwise why would she be wearing that look?
"Feels like I don't even need to say much, does it?" Yukio said.
"...Hmph."
Horikita kept her face cool, though a trace of unease still showed. Her eyes flicked toward his hands.
"The outfit?"
Rather than argue with Yukio for half an hour, lose the argument, and end up steaming with frustration, it was better to satisfy him a little, get it over with, and make him leave. That was clearly the smarter choice.
"Huh?" This time Yukio was genuinely confused. "What outfit?"
"The knight cosplay outfit, obviously." Horikita frowned. "Isn't that the one you like me wearing most? You didn't bring it?"
That made Yukio's cheek twitch.
"Should I praise you for being so self-aware, or say you're a little too eager? What, did you get addicted to dressing up as a knight?"
"As if!" Horikita's face instantly flushed. Irritation churned in her chest. Why was it that every time she spoke to Yukio for more than two lines, her heart got all tangled up?
"Too bad," Yukio said, spreading his hands wide so she could see he'd come empty-handed. "I didn't bring it today."
"Then... what do you want?"
Horikita's eyes sharpened in warning. This man hadn't even brought over the knight outfit he liked most? Then whatever "answer" he wanted was probably going to be very, very troublesome.
"Simple."
For Yukio, this whole thing was a bit of a mess. It was meat on both sides of the knife; he couldn't really go too far. The best he could do was give her a light punishment.
Without the slightest bit of politeness, he sat down on Horikita's bed and patted his thigh.
"Come here. Over my lap. No matter what, I have to vent a little for Airi."
The moment she heard that intimate way of calling Sakura by name, something inexplicably sour twisted in Horikita's chest. She immediately turned her head away.
"You tell me to get over your lap and I'm supposed to just—"
She didn't even finish before a hand landed on her shoulder.
Then she was hauled over before she could react, forced down across Yukio's knees and thighs.
"You bastard, what are you—!"
Before Horikita could finish yelping, a solid smack landed.
Her spine jolted, and her expression twisted. Color flooded her cheeks.
This bastard Yukio... was spanking her ass?
Like she was some little kid getting disciplined?
What kind of ridiculous—
"And you're still not behaving?"
Yukio was obviously holding back. If he'd used real force, Horikita would've been in actual danger. This was already him going easy on her.
"Do you know what you did wrong now? Are you going to apologize to Airi later?"
Horikita's face looked like it could outshine spring blossoms, red beyond belief, but her words stayed stubborn.
"You... you bastard! Just you wait. Just wait!"
"You're threatening me too?"
Yukio was honestly impressed. Did Horikita not realize that right now, he was the one holding the knife and she was the fish on the chopping block?
So he gave her two more measured swats.
"Well? Know what you did wrong now?"
"I—!"
Horikita ground her teeth. No matter how hot her face got, she refused to yield.
"What exactly did I do wrong?! How was I supposed to know you'd planted that move in our class?!"
"And besides!"
Clearly she was so worked up now that she didn't care anymore. Everything in her heart just started spilling out.
"I was under that much pressure! Carrying that much guilt!"
"And I still wanted to expel Sakura because—because I wanted to catch up to you, damn it! Because I wanted Yukio to turn around and look at me for once!"
"In that situation, how was I supposed to give up any chance to raise our class points?!"
Horikita's sudden outburst made Yukio stop mid-motion. His hand hung in the air, suspended.
He knew Horikita wanted to chase him down and surpass him.
But what she'd just said... the more he listened, the more wounded and wrong it sounded.
It felt strangely similar to Sakura baring her heart earlier that morning.
At that thought, the hand he'd held in the air came down, but this time it didn't strike.
It just rested there quietly.
Horikita squirmed awkwardly, still flushed from her emotional explosion.
"Move it."
Yukio blinked, then pulled his hand away.
That still didn't satisfy Horikita.
"Not just your hand. Move the other thing too. It's been jabbing me this whole time."
Apparently dissatisfied with how slowly he was reacting, Horikita took matters into her own hands.
And just like that, she grabbed hold of his future.
Yukio's expression changed on the spot.
"Looks like you still need some rod-based discipline after all."
"Eh?"
Horikita froze for a second, not understanding.
Then realization slammed into her, and she nearly sprang right off his lap.
"No, no, no!"
"Well? Do you know what you did wrong now?"
In the end, Horikita couldn't hold out anymore. The anger in her chest finally broke.
"I get it! I get it already! I'll apologize to Sakura!"
That finally satisfied Yukio.
One special exam aftermath after another, the cleanup work from the Unanimous Vote was, at long last, finished.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.