{T/N: Honestly I'm so tired of this confusing mess about who spread the rumors that I decided to blame the cat!}
After discovering Suzune's weakness, instead of correcting and helping her grow, Houtarou chose another direction.
That is, to create a diversion. He transformed her from being influenced by her brother to being influenced by him.
She appears to have her own opinions now, but in reality, she still doesn't.
Is this acceptable?
Yes, it is. In his Precognitive Dream, he will marry Suzune in the future.
As future family members, it's natural to help each other with troubles, so if she encounters problems, he can simply take care of them all.
Thus, Suzune hasn't actually grown at all.
Manabu may have noticed this from the way he looks at her, but she herself doesn't realize that she's now indirectly depending on Houtarou and being influenced by him.
"Um... On the way back, would you like to get something to eat?"
It seems Houtarou spoke his thoughts aloud, but the oblivious Suzune appears to be in a good mood.
As always, being awkward with people, she seems to feel that he has helped her and wants to return the favor. This trait is quite adorable, so he decided not to point it out.
After having dinner together and seeing Suzune back, Houtarou prepared to go to Arisu's room.
However, he encountered Honami who was also heading upstairs.
Today's angel is as beautiful as ever, still wearing knee-high socks. She looks healthy and fair-skinned, but... he still slightly hopes to see her wearing thigh-high stockings.
"Oreki-kun... were you just with Horikita-san?" Honami asked.
She is very perceptive. When Houtarou was sending Suzune back, he hugged her.
Perhaps he picked up her scent at that time, allowing Honami to quickly identify it.
"So, what did you want to ask?" Houtarou said.
He sensed that her concern wasn't about this.
Now they were both alone in the elevator. Honami likely wanted to ask him something.
Houtarou was headed to the 6th floor where Arisu was. Soon, they reached the destination and stood by the elevator.
Honami followed him out. Her dormitory was one more floor up, but she seemed undecided whether to take the elevator or stairs.
However, she had something curious she wanted to ask.
"Well…" Honami gently touched the smooth ends of her orange hair, "The rumor situation is pretty much over now. Our Class B will no longer discuss this matter."
"So I guess I owe you a favor." Houtarou said.
This Suzune acting operation was actually Honami's idea.
She found it strange how classmates were treating Suzune. Despite her limited interaction with Class D students, their attitude seemed incomprehensible.
That's why they initiated the Suzune acting incident. It was about adapting to different people — speaking appropriately depending on who you're dealing with.
"Oh, no, no, I already owe you many favors…" Honami hurriedly waved her hands.
How could she want him to owe her? If anything, she'd prefer to reduce the number of favors she already owed him.
But…
"Hey, Oreki-kun, what do you really think about this matter?" Honami's expression turned serious, "I feel like my approach was too gentle. You shouldn't have approved of it, yet you agreed to implement it anyway. It feels odd."
Is that so…
Indeed, Houtarou had proposed his own solution: spread the rumors until the school had to take notice. Then Suzune's rumor could be suppressed with the school's authority.
A decisive approach, but one that would hurt others in the process.
Honami's approach, however, was much gentler.
"Indeed." Houtarou said, "Your method was too gentle. But your approach has its merits. For instance, it doesn't damage relationships between classmates."
"Not damaging relationships between classmates? Or is it to avoid investigating the mastermind behind this—?" Honami looked at him gently.
Her eyes were beautiful... Some say eyes are the windows to the soul.
She isn't stupid. She understands that using such a gentle method to suppress rumors means not discussing it, so naturally, there won't be further investigation.
It means forcibly letting the matter pass and ignoring whoever was behind it.
After analyzing who benefited from Suzune's rumor incident, Honami already had a guess in mind. She wanted to check her answer.
"There's indeed no need to investigate." Houtarou said, "Because we already know who it is. Rather, if we were to investigate, I wouldn't know whose side to take."
"Eh?" Honami was completely confused.
She had deduced that the mastermind behind this might be the other central figure in the rumors — Manabu Horikita.
But it's not like that?
Analyzing Houtarou's words, he said if they investigate the mastermind, he wouldn't know whose side to take.
This statement clearly doesn't indicate the mastermind is Manabu. It sounds more like choosing between Suzune and someone else.
So who else could be suspected?
Honami was pondering.
"I'm right, aren't I?"
Suddenly Houtarou took a step forward, and Honami only then noticed a cute girl standing at the entrance to the girls' dormitory in front of him.
She was holding a black cane. Petite and slender. Silver hair, skin like white porcelain.
It was Arisu from Class A, one of their representatives.
No one knew how long she had been standing there, but she had clearly heard their entire conversation.
"Sa-Sakayanagi!" Honami gasped.
She suddenly realized that if Arisu's appearance wasn't coincidental, then based on what Houtarou had just said, it meant this rumor incident was actually...
Masterminded by her?
⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟
Feeling as though she had stumbled upon extremely private information, Honami quickly excused herself and left with an embarrassed expression.
But Houtarou stayed. He had come specifically to see Arisu.
When he turned on the light, Haruki the cat immediately ran over. After stretching lazily, the cat settled down, waiting to be petted.
Houtarou entered Arisu's dormitory with ease and spent a moment playing with his own cat. The feline had grown noticeably plumper under the little princess's care.
Now it stood at the window's edge, backing up and meowing as it retreated. The scene reminded one of a vehicle warning: "Please stand back, reversing", clearly indicating the cat had gained considerable weight.
"Would you like some black tea?" Arisu asked with a sweet smile.
The tea was still warm, suggesting Masumi had been there just minutes ago but had likely been sent away on an errand.
"So..." Arisu made no attempt to hide anything, "Does Oreki-kun have something to ask me? Today isn't just to visit Haruki, right?"
"Then, why did you do this?" Houtarou asked directly, "If it was aimed at Horikita, you wouldn't gain any benefit. And if it wasn't aimed at her..."
He was referring to the recent rumor incident, which lacked sophistication and didn't seem like Arisu's usual style.
After noticing this point, Houtarou decided to have Hiyori question Manabu.
During their conversation, Manabu revealed that he sought out Hiyori to arrange the rumors because someone had approached him, questioning whether his sibling relationship with Suzune was genuine.
Given Manabu's character, he wouldn't deny being Suzune's brother. This admission meant Suzune could become vulnerable to attacks.
To address this vulnerability, he enlisted Hiyori's help. The result was this current scenario — one where everyone benefits except Class D.
Houtarou suspected that the person who had approached Manabu was none other than Arisu.
But the question remained: why would she do this?
⍟⍟⍟
T/N: Hey! Liked what you read? Support your friendly neighborhood translator on Patreon! Think of it as buying me a coffee... or ten!
For just $1.50 (that's less than your daily meme budget), get extra chapters! Want more? $2 gets you bonus content, $5 unlocks premium stories, and $10 makes you my hero (and gets you everything I have, including earlier acess to new books)! You can have access to almost 15 books!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/collection/827204