"I didn't have friends before, but don't I have you all now?"
As if unwilling to admit defeat, Haruka stared at Kaoru with displeasure, her beautiful eyes unblinking, though the corners of her lips curled into a barely noticeable smile.
He must have given the wrong gift that time.
Kaoru felt some regret.
Fortunately, none of them were present—it was extremely dangerous for a producer to get too close with fans.
"M-me too."
Miki wanted to refute Kaoru's words. "Normally, Masumi-san is with me..."
Airi hesitated to speak, because she truly felt she had no friends.
After a brief silence, Kaoru said, "I understand. Each of you has your own exceptional qualities. Haruka is right—no matter what happened before, we're friends now."
Haruka frowned and corrected him, "Don't you think calling me 'Haruka' every day is strange? Can't you give me a nicer nickname, like how I call you?"
Women really focus on the oddest things. Keeping a straight face, Kaoru suggested.
"How about... Haru-haru?"
"Pfft—HAHAHA!"
In an instant, Haruka burst into laughter, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
She was so overcome that Kaoru could see her face turning bright red.
"Is it really that funny?"
"N-no, haha... It's just seeing you so serious, I couldn't help it... haha..."
"As long as you don't dislike it."
After laughing for a while, Haruka barely managed to control herself, though she kept muttering "Haru-haru" under her breath before giggling again.
This reaction probably meant she liked the name.
Kaoru wasn't entirely sure—he'd simply given her a similar nickname to how she addressed him.
Noticing Airi staring at him intently, Kaoru cleared his throat.
"No, Airi. I can't call you that too, or you'll start laughing uncontrollably with her."
Airi's face turned scarlet—whether because he'd caught her staring or because her secret thoughts made her heart race.
"I... I never expected anything like that! And I wouldn't laugh either!"
After speaking, Airi realized her voice might have been too loud and lowered her head.
"Exactly!"
Haruka said sternly, "You should consider yourself lucky that beautiful girls allow you to call them by name. Don't go complaining about it, Mitoma-san."
"I kind of feel like I accidentally stumbled into a girls' tea party."
Kaoru Mitoma sighed.
"Kaoru-kun" and "Haru-haru"—they did sound nice together.
"Um, you're the one who invited us, right?"
Miki Yamamura deadpanned.
With a smile, Haruka raised her fist to Kaoru's face like a reporter's microphone.
"Mitoma-san, may I ask—did you meet with us today just to mock us for having no friends?"
Kaoru pressed down on her "microphone" and answered, "Actually, that's exactly why I came."
The girls were stunned for a moment as he continued asking, "Since we're all friends, why are you all in different groups for this training camp?"
Haruka looked somewhat awkward. "You should know this—the grouping wasn't really up to us. There's a girl named Horikita in our class, and she and Kikyo were in charge of the groupings. Right, Airi?"
Airi quickly nodded.
Horikita Suzune had insisted on preserving the strongest members to form a core group, effectively abandoning the rest.
Of course, Horikita Suzune had also considered the feelings of the weaker students.
She assigned the less capable ones to groups with Class A and Class B, ensuring they wouldn't fall to the point of expulsion.
That was why Airi ended up in Sakayanagi's group, while Haruka remained in Horikita Suzune's.
"No, there's one issue," Kaoru said. "Quite a few girls were grouped based on personal preferences, weren't they?"
He had also asked Karuizawa Kei, Ichinose Honami, Kushida Kikyo, and Manabe Shiho.
Unlike the boys, who were more rational and composed, the girls had their own cliques, making it a headache for the leaders to sort them out.
"Kaoru, do you want us to be together?" Haruka asked.
Kaoru glanced at Airi, then at Miki, sighing helplessly.
"There are two people here who aren't adjusting well to the new environment."
Miki's heart twitched slightly. She hadn't revealed anything—had she?
"I-It's not that bad, is it?"
She didn't know why she said that.
Perhaps she was just used to masking her feelings, burying them beneath the surface where no one could see, struggling to survive in the shadows.
"Not bad?" Kaoru's expression turned stern. "What if you get expelled?"
Miki froze. She—expelled?!
"Huh? What do you mean by expulsion?" Haruka was shocked. "Is Miki in charge of something?"
"In Class C's group, even if there are students from other classes around you, they'll find ways to drag you into the worst situations."
Kaoru didn't trust the students grouped with Yamamura Miki.
Group bullying was the most common issue in Japanese high schools.
Students from Class B and Class D didn't know Yamamura Miki, so they had no reason to clash with Class C—they'd just turn a blind eye.
As for the one student from Class A, she might report the situation to Sakayanagi, but Kaoru knew better than to rely on others for this.
"That can't be right. Aren't there teachers around?"
Haruka also thought of bullying, but she remembered that ANHS prohibited bullying—anyone caught would be expelled.
"There are no cameras here."
Kaoru's tone was calm.
They only came here for one week a year, so the school had no reason to install surveillance.
Besides, with the forest right outside, it'd be easy to pull off something underhanded.
What was worse, some bullies preyed on victims who were too timid to speak up.
If the victim stayed silent, the teachers would have no choice but to ignore it.
"Isn't that just terrible?" Haruka found it hard to believe. "What's their goal in doing this? Or did you do something to them, Miki?"
"I... I don't know."
Yamamura Miki herself was lost.
She hadn't done anything.
"Kaoru, how did you know about this?" Haruka stared at Kaoru.
Even she, who was in the girls' group, hadn't noticed this issue.
How did Kaoru know about it?
Kaoru remained silent for a moment. "First, I want to apologize to Miki. Because this matter is actually aimed at me."
"Huh?"
Miki froze.
Why was he apologizing to her?
Haruka was puzzled for a moment before realizing, "You mean the second-year seniors?"
"Right. If they attacked me directly, I'd easily notice. So they decided to take a detour and target a blind spot—somewhere I wouldn't see—to ensure success."
"And that blind spot is the girls' side?"
"Miki is in the same class as me and is also my friend. If she were to be expelled, I would definitely use my points to save her."
Kaoru lied.
In truth, Nagumo and Ryuuen might have simply chosen a target who appeared weak.
However, the girls didn't realize this, especially Yamamura Miki.
"But... what's the point? Whether they attack you or Miki, what's the difference?"
"There's no difference. They want to drain Class A's points. That way, the next attack can be directed at me, and Class A won't have enough points left to save me. They'd take me down in one move."
"That's just too much!"
Haruka's eyebrows furrowed in anger.
She didn't care whether Kaoru had taken Nagumo's childhood friend or not.
Even if he had, Nagumo should just suck it up!
Because Kaoru was her friend now!
"So, I'm really sorry, Miki."
Kaoru looked at Yamamura Miki and said softly, "I should have asked Sakayanagi to keep an eye on things from the start."
He was staring at her like this and Miki Yamamura felt goosebumps all over her body—what was this sensation?
In a place where no one else had noticed, he had spotted her first.
And not only that, he had treated her more gently than she had ever treated herself.
For just a fleeting moment, Miki recalled the scenes of her interactions with Kaoru.
Everything roared past like a train, unstoppable in its speed, breaking through the billowing steam.
Images flashed before her eyes at breakneck pace, and her heart trembled lightly in her chest along with the train's vibrations—like a sprout just breaking through the soil, or rippling water with undercurrents swirling beneath.
She couldn't help but feel shy.
Yes, Miki Yamamura felt intensely shy, so much so that she didn't even dare to look at Kaoru Mitoma for long.