The message status had shown "Read" for several hours. Just as she was about to give up waiting, her screen suddenly lit up.
Manabu Horikita: Meet me behind the first-year dorms.
This message sent Suzune Horikita scrambling to change into her uniform, but she paused just before opening the door. Her phone had vibrated again.
Kiyomizu Akira: Good evening, Horikita-san.
The message made her fingertips freeze. Kiyomizu was messaging her? It was already late. Receiving a message from a boy at this hour made her unconsciously tense up. Her gaze flickered between the door and the screen several times before her fingers finally typed out a reply:
Suzune Horikita: What is it? I'm busy. Please state your purpose directly.
The moment she pressed send, she let out a soft breath. This was already an exception. For anyone else, she wouldn't have even bothered to mark the message as read.
Kiyomizu Akira: Do you remember our transaction from last time?
Her fingers tapped out a short, restrained reply:
Suzune Horikita: I remember.
The next second, a new message popped up.
Kiyomizu Akira: I'm planning to refund you 16,000 points.
Her breath caught almost imperceptibly.
(A refund?)
Her eyes instinctively glanced at her own balance—9,900. With this 16,000, she would have just enough to pay the 25,000-point class fee...
Suzune Horikita: What do you mean? What are the conditions?
The reply came quickly.
Kiyomizu Akira: Remember the rule I mentioned? I told you I'd give you a 20% discount on the information fee. You paid 80,000 last time, so according to the rule, I should refund you 16,000.
After a slight pause, he added:
Kiyomizu Akira: This is not charity.
Suzune Horikita stared at that last sentence, her fingertip unconsciously resting on the edge of the screen.
(I see...)
He was just following the terms of their deal, nothing more. It was neither pity nor a hidden motive. But a subtle sense of incongruity spread through her.
(He definitely calculated this...)
This feeling of being taken care of so precisely was, surprisingly, not something she disliked. But her pride would never allow her to accept a one-sided favor. She had originally typed a line in the chat box: I can't just accept your points. I'll pay you back double next month—
(But that's an empty promise. I might not even have 50,000 points next month.)
She pressed her lips together and deleted the second half of the sentence, character by character. What she finally sent was the most practical return she could offer at the moment:
Suzune Horikita: I can't just accept your points. I'll help you with your Japanese lessons. Your grades in that subject are unbelievably bad. This will be an equivalent exchange.
The reply from the other side came quickly:
Kiyomizu Akira: Alright! That would be a huge help for me too.
Kiyomizu Akira: Speaking of which, I'm taking a walk near the dorms right now, and I just saw your brother.
It was only after seeing this message that Suzune Horikita suddenly realized she had kept her brother waiting for a long time. And Kiyomizu was taking a walk nearby? She barely had time to reply to him before she shut her door and ran out.
...
Behind the dorms, by the time Suzune Horikita arrived at the designated spot, Manabu Horikita had been waiting for a long time. The speech she had prepared got stuck in her throat. The thought that Kiyomizu could appear at any moment made her unconsciously use a very unfamiliar form of address. "President Horikita, what did you need to see me about?"
"Suzune..." Manabu pushed up his glasses. "You're calling me President?"
"I had thought," he said, walking slowly towards her, "that you would be eager to show me those... insignificant changes, just like before." He stressed the last word heavily. "Completely disregarding the proper distance that should be maintained with the Student Council President."
"It seems..." Manabu stopped in front of her, a look she had never seen before in his condescending gaze, "...you've finally begun to understand what proper decorum in interpersonal relationships is."
This almost praiseworthy tone made Suzune's heart warm. "Brother... I'm not..." she began instinctively, but the moment the address left her lips, she saw the cold glint in her brother's eyes.
Manabu took a step back, looking at her with utter disappointment. "Are you going to spout that nonsense again?... So, it was just my imagination earlier."
Suzune felt a sense of suffocation. Her brother's voice was soft, yet it pierced her eardrums like an ice pick. "I heard you were assigned to Class D," he sneered. "Just like three years ago, you're still only staring at my back, unable to even see your own greatest flaw. Choosing this school seems to have been another one of your failures."
"...I was assigned to Class D, there must be something wrong with the class assignment system..." Suzune began to argue without thinking.
Manabu's voice suddenly rose. "Enough!"
He took a sharp step forward. "You're still making excuses at this point? Still questioning the assignment system? How utterly foolish! Do you only reflect on yourself after you've suffered?"
Suzune's shoulders flinched unconsciously. Her brother's anger was a tangible pressure that enveloped her, making it difficult to even breathe.
...
Kiyomizu put away his phone. As he walked around to the back of the dorm, he heard a heated argument.
"...The assignment system is unreasonable!"
"You're always just making excuses!"
(Are these siblings always this public with their arguments?)
(Don't tell me this is going to turn into a physical fight.)
He raised an eyebrow and decided to just walk over openly. Suzune and her brother were facing each other, less than two meters apart. Fortunately, the tense atmosphere had not yet escalated to physical violence.
"Good evening, you two."
Hearing someone nearby, Manabu finally turned and began to size up the man before him. "You're... that first-year from Satou's boxing club?"
A look of genuine surprise appeared on Kiyomizu's face. "I'm surprised the Student Council President remembers me." He was truly surprised. But on second thought, his own club captain was an elite from Third-Year Class A, and with the high-profile speech at the opening ceremony, it wasn't that strange for the president to remember him.
"Hmph~" Manabu pushed up his glasses. "So, you're Suzune's friend? Also a student from First-Year Class D."
Kiyomizu shrugged casually. "I guess you could say that..."
"He's not!" Suzune suddenly cut in, her voice uncharacteristically urgent. "He's just..."
"Just a random passerby?" Manabu sneered, his gaze locking back onto his sister. "You don't even have the courage to acknowledge a friend? Is that the extent of your character?"
"So, do you have anything to say to us siblings? Or are you just planning to act like a passerby?" Manabu continued, looking at Kiyomizu.
"I'm not a passerby, otherwise I wouldn't have shown myself. Actually, your conversation was quite loud on my way here, and I overheard bits and pieces. Since the Student Council President is asking for my opinion, I'll give it." Kiyomizu sighed, looking directly at the two of them, his tone tinged with a hint of resignation. "Horikita-san, you're the one in the wrong here."
Manabu's gaze turned cold in an instant. "You—"
"Don't misunderstand, Mr. Student Council President. The Horikita I'm referring to is not you." Kiyomizu held up a hand to stop him, then shook his head, his finger turning to point directly at Suzune. "I'm not talking about you, but your sister. This Horikita here is in the wrong."
"It's obvious that her way of thinking and the things she says are the real problem."
Suzune's eyes widened, her expression wavering for a rare moment before turning into a flush of indignation.
(This guy just gave me 16,000 points! Why is he suddenly slandering me!)
-------
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