Watching Horikita Manabu shake his head.
Amane fell into deep thought.
Really no padding?
But why did it feel different?
Amane and Horikita had a lot of intimate interactions.
They had also showered together.
It could be said that they knew each other's cup sizes inside and out.
However, Amane quickly discovered a secret.
Horikita's touch felt different in the day and at night.
During the day, the feel was roughly similar to an inflatable volleyball.
Very elastic.
Hmm, this was information Amane obtained through personal suffering of violence.
At night, it was like a water-absorbing sponge.
It was hard to believe that Horikita wasn't padding something.
But even her own brother said so, so perhaps she was just overthinking it.
What a pity.
Horikita didn't give her time to feel carefully.
Otherwise, she would definitely discover the secret within!
"Well, that's enough for now. This is my ID."
Amane pulled out a small slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to Horikita Manabu.
Horikita Manabu took it and looked.
Goodness, it was a student ID.
Through this, one could add friends.
And only this way could transfers be initiated.
Would a normal person carry this around?
According to Horikita Manabu's common sense, probably not.
Unless... this little one had made up her mind to extort him from the moment she left her room.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for her to casually produce a slip of paper with an ID written on it.
This was simply too strange.
Clearly, what Horikita Manabu didn't know was that Amane had developed the habit of casually giving out her ID to add more cute girls.
She had already added almost all the girls in her class as friends, except for a very few.
Even the most difficult Karuizawa had been won over by Amane.
So, casually pulling out this thing was like a salesperson handing out their business card to Amane.
"Then I'll be going now. Remember to make a note of what the money is for. I don't want to receive an unknown black fund."
Amane emphasized the phrase "unknown black fund."
Horikita Manabu showed a helpless expression.
"You are a bit too suspicious. I, Horikita Manabu, always keep my promises."
"I hope so."
Amane was unfazed by Horikita Manabu's dashing statement.
Then, with her hands in her pockets, she turned and gracefully... tripped.
It proved that...
When falling, having your hands in your pockets means you don't have time to maintain balance.
However, Amane demonstrated superb physical technique to Horikita Manabu.
At the moment of falling, she immediately rolled along the ground and then stood up gracefully.
She even proudly shook the cowlick on her head that had popped up to observe the situation.
She maintained her cool, hands-in-pockets posture throughout.
Horikita Manabu no longer knew how to describe this girl.
"An interesting fellow."
This was probably Horikita Manabu's assessment of her.
He hoped to see her even more active in the future.
Currently, Amane's presence felt much more comfortable to him than during their negotiation.
However, in this state, she didn't seem very shrewd.
After Amane turned the corner of the dormitory building...
She immediately rubbed her arm.
She had pressed her arm several times while rolling on the ground.
And had been poked by a small stone.
"I knew I shouldn't have tried to act cool. Hmm, should I buy some pants with pockets? That might be better."
Fortunately, she was wearing tights today.
Otherwise, she would have had an indecent exposure.
Amane patted the dust off her clothes and entered the elevator.
She pressed the button for the 12th floor.
Soon, she arrived at Horikita's door.
Should I go see Suzune?
Today, she had intentionally cooperated with Horikita Manabu to put on a show.
The purpose was for Horikita Manabu to use Amane's words to tell Horikita her shortcomings, and Amane had added her own dramatic flair with a hint of resentment.
It was simply because being treated so coldly made her very unhappy.
It wasn't because she couldn't leave Horikita.
After some thought, Amane-san still felt it would be better not to see Horikita for now.
What if Horikita really wanted to get rid of her?
There was no point in her eagerly going over there.
For this reason,
Amane-san decided to conduct an experiment.
Amane-san deliberately made her footsteps heavier.
Then, she took out a key from a large bunch of keychains.
She swiped it on the door.
Click.
The sound of a door opening.
Then, she immediately closed it forcefully.
At the same time, Amane-san quickly returned to Horikita's door.
Because the door opened outwards to the left,
if Horikita opened her door to check, she might not discover her.
Even if she did... so what if she did?
Horikita wouldn't be so exasperated as to bite her every time she saw her.
Having made up her mind, Amane-san began to conceal her presence.
Then, she leaned her entire body against the wall.
Waiting for what would happen next.
Suddenly,
Amane-san thought of something.
It was that her conversation with Horikita Manabu had been a bit long.
It was already almost ten o'clock.
At this time, Horikita should have been preparing to sleep on schedule.
Could it be that Horikita hadn't heard her little movements at all?
Wouldn't that make her seem like an idiot?
Just as Amane-san was about to go back,
Horikita's door opened.
Horikita, wearing pajamas, emerged from the door.
Her gaze was fixed on the door to her right.
She looked for about five or six seconds.
Then, she walked towards Amane-san's room.
Through the crack in the door connecting the rooms,
Amane-san saw Horikita raise her hand, seemingly intending to knock.
But her expression kept changing, and eventually, she retracted her hand.
"Sigh."
Horikita sighed.
Then, she returned to her own dorm room, closing the door behind her.
Hearing the footsteps inside the room fade away,
Amane-san finally breathed a sigh of relief, taking deep gulps of fresh air.
It seemed Horikita wasn't as heartless as she appeared.
Which meant... there was still a chance for things to turn around, right?
However,
was Horikita not angry to begin with, or did her attitude change because of Horikita Manabu's words, leading her to keep her only friend?
To prove her excellence to Horikita Manabu?
It was probably best to wait and see.
The next morning,
Amane-san, with a sandwich in her mouth and milk in hand, opened her door.
She ran directly into Horikita, who was holding bread and milk.
Both of them glanced at each other, then quickly looked away.
Perhaps because they had woken up a bit late, there were only the two of them in the elevator.
But neither of them spoke.
This continued until the elevator reached the first floor.
Finally, Horikita couldn't stand the awkward atmosphere any longer.
"Good morning, Amane."
"Good morning, Horikita-san."
Upon hearing the title "Horikita-san,"
Horikita was startled for a moment.
Then, she realized that Amane-san was talking to her.
In Horikita's memory, it seemed that Amane-san only used such a distant address when they first started school.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Horikita stop, Amane-san curiously looked back.
"Nothing, it's just that Amane, you suddenly addressing me like that, I'm still not quite used to it."
Horikita's voice seemed a bit... sad?
"Didn't Horikita-san ask me to address her that way?"
The faint smile on Horikita's face instantly froze.
That's right.
She had insisted yesterday that Amane-san change her address.
So,
is being distant easier than being close?