Chapter 63: Ichinose, Aren't You Afraid I'll Hit You?
After second period, the class's fat otaku, Sotomura Hideo, and the delinquent Sudo Ken moved their desks over to Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki's side.
Their seats were in the lower-left corner of the classroom.
It was a good spot for avoiding the teacher's gaze, slacking off, and sleeping.
Naturally, the other students were happy to see it and had no objections.
They were more than willing to watch those undisciplined oddballs gather together.
That way, if they slept during class, they would not affect everyone else's studying.
"Something's wrong, Shimizu."
"Huh?"
Yuto, who had been chatting with Sakura Airi on Line, looked in confusion at Horikita Suzune, who had suddenly spoken to him.
"What's wrong?"
"The teachers' attitude during class is too strange," Horikita slowly said.
"Whether it was Chabashira-sensei or Narita-sensei from the last period, their attitude toward us was far too lax."
"Isn't that normal?" Yuto answered casually.
"Eh? Normal? What part of that is normal?"
"We're no longer elementary or middle school students who need teachers to remind us to follow discipline."
"So the teachers won't remind us about discipline either."
"In my opinion, their attitude is pretty normal."
Although Horikita felt that Yuto's answer did make sense, something still felt off.
After all, they were not children anymore.
Teachers would not interfere too much.
If someone wanted to study, they could study.
If they did not want to study, then forget it, as long as they did not affect the other students.
Horikita's fox-like eyes glanced at Ike Kanji's group, who were chatting loudly.
After sleeping through two periods, those guys had completely recovered their energy.
Because Ike was far too energetic now, his voice was a little loud.
Horikita did not even need to listen carefully to hear him talking to Sudo Ken and the others about whether they should simply go back to the dorm and play games.
"Anyway, this school is pretty relaxed. Going back to the dorm should be fine, right?"
"I'll pass. I only have a little over ten thousand points left, so I need to attend class properly and try to get more points next month," the fat otaku Sotomura Hideo said while shaking his head.
"Now that you mention it, I've spent a lot of my points too. But I can't do something like seriously attending class. How about you guys lend me some points to live on, and I'll lend you my game console?"
"Dream on, Yamauchi!"
Fortunately, Chabashira Sae did not hear their conversation.
Otherwise, who knew whether she would fall into complete despair?
Third and fourth period soon passed.
Now it was lunch break.
The students of Class D left their seats one after another and headed off with people they knew, either to the student cafeteria or the convenience store.
Because Sakura Airi was shy around strangers, she had not arranged to eat lunch with Yuto.
Airi had also told Yuto that during lunch break, she would go to the detached apartment to clean.
So after lunch break began, Sakura Airi blinked at Yuto as a farewell.
Then she hurriedly left the classroom and went to the detached apartment.
As for Airi's lunch, she planned to buy some bread from the convenience store and make do with that.
Because Yuto was handsome and had already made his presence known, quite a few girls invited him to eat lunch together.
However, Yuto refused them one by one.
Among the girls he refused was Karuizawa Kei, the very cute beauty.
After being rejected, Karuizawa's resentful gaze made Yuto feel helpless.
Couldn't she find some other boy to pretend to be her boyfriend?
Did it have to be him?
However, Karuizawa Kei was serious now.
She no longer wanted Yuto to pretend to be her boyfriend.
She wanted him to become her real boyfriend.
Yuto headed to the student cafeteria alone.
While he was walking, he received a Line message from Chabashira Sae.
[Shimizu, after you finish lunch, come to the teachers' office. I'll be waiting for you there.]
Yuto looked at Chabashira Sae's message in surprise.
[Chabashira-sensei, do you need something from me?]
[Yes. We'll talk when we meet.]
[All right.]
Although Yuto knew that his homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, was waiting for him at the teachers' office, he did not hurry through lunch.
He continued walking slowly toward the student cafeteria.
At the cafeteria, Yuto ordered a tempura set meal worth two thousand points.
Then he carried his tray and sat down at an empty four-person table.
With a crisp crunch, Yuto bit into a piece of shrimp tempura.
The batter was fragrant and crispy, while the fresh shrimp was clean and sweet.
Even Yuto, who was rather picky about food, felt somewhat satisfied.
While Yuto was enjoying his lunch, a figure arrived beside him.
Immediately after, a somewhat familiar and pleasant voice entered his ears.
"Shimizu-kun, may I sit here?"
Yuto paused in the middle of chewing.
Then he turned his head and looked at Ichinose Honami, who was standing beside him with a tray.
A hint of helplessness appeared on Yuto's handsome face.
"Ichinose-san, there are empty tables everywhere right now. You shouldn't need to share a table with me, right?"
"I have something I want to talk to you about, Shimizu-kun. So will you let me sit?"
Ichinose Honami, with her strawberry-blonde hair, showed Yuto a bright smile.
"Go ahead. Sit wherever you want."
Yuto spoke helplessly.
No matter what, Ichinose Honami was a top-tier beauty.
Having her sit beside him would make lunch taste a little better.
Was this what people called a feast for the eyes?
Shiranami Chihiro, who had come with Ichinose Honami, saw her sit down across from Yuto.
With a timid expression on her face, she sat closely beside Ichinose.
So scary!
I want to get away from this bad person so badly!
Yuto glanced at the trembling Shiranami Chihiro and raised his eyebrows slightly.
Why did this girl look like a rabbit that had just met its natural predator?
She was shaking so obviously...
As if sensing Yuto's gaze, Shiranami Chihiro trembled even more.
It really made one worry whether she could hold her chopsticks properly.
"Thank you, sly but kind Shimizu-kun~"
Yuto moved his gaze away from Shiranami Chihiro.
Then he looked at Ichinose Honami, who was wearing a bright smile, and said in surprise, "I'll reluctantly accept the word sly, but where did the kind part come from?"
"You previously intended to return over seven hundred thousand points to us."
"And this morning, you also reminded everyone in Class D to follow discipline and maintain the class points."
"Those two things prove that you're a good person, Shimizu-kun," Ichinose Honami answered with a bright smile.
After receiving a "good person card" from Ichinose Honami, Yuto frowned slightly.
"Ichinose, you know what happened in our classroom this morning?"
"I didn't see it myself. I only heard about it."
A slightly embarrassed look appeared on Ichinose Honami's face.
"One of our classmates happened to pass by Class D this morning and accidentally overheard your reminder to everyone in Class D."
"I see."
Yuto nodded.
So his reminder this morning had been overheard by a student from Class B.
And Yuto's reaction was—
No reaction at all.
Yuto did not think his reminder from this morning would remain secret.
So he had long since prepared himself for other classes and other students to hear about it.
"Bad person. You promised not to reveal information, but you still took so many points from us," Shiranami Chihiro muttered timidly under her breath.
She thought Yuto would not hear her complaint.
Unfortunately, Yuto's hearing was quite sharp.
Yuto took out his school phone.
He opened the contract he had previously signed with Class B and pushed the phone toward the two beautiful girls sitting across from him.
"I didn't violate the contract. I only reminded everyone in Class D to follow discipline."
"And reminding everyone in Class D to follow discipline was not included in the contract signed with Class B."
"We know. So you don't need to point it out to us on purpose, Shimizu-kun."
Still smiling brightly, Ichinose Honami pushed Yuto's school phone back to him.
"Because we know you didn't violate the contract, our understanding of your slyness has only grown deeper."
"Our class's Hoshinomiya-sensei even said you're a sly fox, Shimizu-kun."
Yuto's mouth twitched.
When it came to foxes, the first thing he thought of was his deskmate.
Horikita Suzune, who was like a snow fox.
"On the contrary, we can understand why you gave that reminder this morning, Shimizu-kun."
"After all, you also want to be promoted to Class A, right? So we completely understand."
Ichinose Honami spoke seriously.
"...Long live understanding."
In truth, Yuto's desire to advance to Class A was not very strong.
But if Yuto told Ichinose Honami that he had no intention of rising to Class A, she would definitely ask questions.
Explaining it to Ichinose Honami would absolutely waste a lot of time and energy.
So...
Big-breasted onee-san, whatever you say goes!
After brushing off Ichinose Honami, Yuto looked at Shiranami Chihiro, who was still muttering something quietly.
He raised his eyebrows and spoke.
"You're Shiranami, right?"
Shiranami Chihiro suddenly flinched.
Then she timidly answered, "Y-Yes."
"Your food looks pretty good. Let me try some."
"Ah... p-please, go ahead..."
With tears welling in her eyes, Shiranami Chihiro shakily pushed the lunch she had bought toward Yuto.
"Pfft, hahahaha. Her courage is way too small."
Yuto could not help laughing.
Ichinose Honami gave the laughing Yuto a reproachful look.
Then she pulled Shiranami Chihiro's tray back.
"Shimizu-kun, stop bullying Shiranami. Shiranami, hurry and take your tray somewhere else."
"Ichinose..."
With tears in her eyes, Shiranami Chihiro looked at Ichinose Honami in deep gratitude.
As expected of Ichinose-san.
She was practically an angel.
She actually had the courage to oppose this hateful demon!
Shiranami Chihiro timidly stole a glance at Yuto.
Yuto, who had stopped smiling, raised his eyebrows.
"What are you looking at me for? If you don't want me to bully you, hurry up and take your lunch somewhere else."
Eek!
Shiranami Chihiro flinched and hurriedly picked up her tray.
Then she left the table where Yuto and Ichinose Honami were sitting in a panic.
Ichinose Honami pulled her gaze back from Shiranami Chihiro.
She looked at the smiling Yuto and said unhappily, "Shiranami is very timid. Shimizu-kun, can you stop scaring her?"
"Who told her to keep muttering that I'm a bad person and that I'm rotten?"
"Since she already thinks I'm a villain, of course I have to do a few things that fit the role."
Yuto answered with a smile.
Ichinose Honami did not think Shimizu Yuto was a villain.
She only felt that he was...
Slightly wicked.
After scaring off the timid Shiranami Chihiro, the atmosphere between Yuto and Ichinose Honami became much more relaxed.
Their conversation also became more casual.
After all, whether it was Yuto or Ichinose Honami, both of them had to be considerate of Shiranami Chihiro while talking.
Ichinose Honami lightly licked her lips with her soft pink tongue, cleaning away the sauce left there.
Then she asked Yuto with some curiosity, "Shimizu-kun, what are your plans from now on?"
"What plans?"
"You should be someone pretty amazing, right? So you should have better plans for your future."
"For example, joining a club or entering the student council to gain experience," Ichinose Honami answered.
"Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about me? I'm just an ordinary person. I have absolutely no intention of joining a club or the student council for experience."
"An ordinary person, huh?"
Ichinose Honami looked at Yuto strangely.
Then she said, "We know that you earned over seven hundred thousand points from our Class B."
"After that, you beat up Ryuen-kun from Class C and wrung...ahem, I mean earned seven hundred and fifty thousand points from him, right?"
Yuto was not very surprised.
After all, the first-year teaching building was only so big.
The windows of Class C's classroom had been smashed, and students had been beaten black and blue.
That was a major incident, so it was only natural that it would spread.
On top of that, Yuto had previously tricked the students of Class B.
They had a deep impression of him, so they would naturally go out of their way to ask about matters related to him.
"Since you know I hit people, Ichinose, why are you still talking to me?"
Yuto raised an eyebrow and looked at the beautiful strawberry-blonde girl sitting across from him.
"Aren't you afraid I'll hit you?"
"I'm not really afraid."
"Ryuen-kun was using violence against everyone in Class C, wasn't he?"
"So what you did was standing up for justice, right, Shimizu-kun?"
"..."
What was going on?
After hearing Ichinose Honami's words, even Yuto felt as if he had really been standing up for justice!
It was not because he hated delinquents.
He had not simply seized the chance to teach Ryuen Kakeru, that delinquent, a lesson and conveniently take more than seven hundred thousand points from him.
Ichinose Honami looked at Yuto, who had fallen into strange contemplation.
Then she smiled brightly and said, "Shimizu-kun, you have both courage and brains. You're definitely not an ordinary person."
"So do you have any plans to join the student council?"
"What?"
"I plan to join the student council. So, Shimizu-kun, do you want to join with me?"
"I'll pass."
Yuto shook his head.
His refusal made Ichinose Honami feel regretful.
If Shimizu-kun joined the student council together with her, the two of them would have a companion.
After all, the student council was full of upperclassmen.
"Ichinose, I wish you success in joining the student council."
"Mm~ I'll take that blessing."
…
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