Chapter 017 Suzune: Stop Fighting!!
The moment he sensed Horikita Manabu was about to use force, Hikigaya had already quietly circled around behind him.
Sneaking up from the rear, he used a joint lock to firmly seize Horikita Manabu's wrist!
"Hi-Hikigaya-kun?!"
Horikita Suzune's eyes widened, her face a mask of pure disbelief.
She was shocked first by the fact that he was even here, and second by the fact that he was actually able to stop her brother's attack.
"Hey, that palm strike just now—you were seriously going to hit her, weren't you?"
Hikigaya's dead-fish eyes stared intensely at Manabu.
As an older brother himself, he could not tolerate the psychopathic act of hitting one's own little sister!
No matter the reason!
"Oh?"
With just a single glance, Horikita Manabu read the look in his eyes—it was the gaze of an "older brother."
"Hikigaya, please don't...
Doing something so unnecessary..."
Horikita Suzune lowered her gaze, her voice laced with weakness.
Hikigaya froze for a moment; it was the first time he had ever seen Horikita Suzune look so fragile.
Taking advantage of Hikigaya's lapse in concentration, Horikita Manabu jerked his arm and forcefully broke free from the wrist lock. Immediately following up, he threw a swinging hook aimed straight at Hikigaya's face!
'Wait, seriously, bro?
You're going for real?'
Hikigaya was startled and instinctively leaned back to dodge.
"Good reflexes. Do you practice any martial arts?"
A sharp glint flashed in Manabu's eyes. Intending to test him further, he followed up with a high roundhouse kick.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
While looking completely bewildered, Hikigaya's body instinctively dodged again.
Manabu clenched his fists and launched a series of rapid left-right punches.
Bam, bam, bam—
Hikigaya crossed his arms to block. It looked like a turtle taking a beating, but in reality, his eyes were glued to his opponent's movements.
'Now!'
Hikigaya spotted a gap in Manabu's guard as he threw a punch and landed a front kick squarely on Manabu's chest!
"Good technique, but your strength is a bit lacking."
Manabu was pushed back a few steps. He brushed the footprint off his chest, his expression unchanged.
"Brother! Stop fighting already!!"
Horikita Suzune hurriedly stepped in to hold her brother back, and the latter took the opportunity to lower his fists.
"Perplexing...
You clearly possess decent combat skills, so why is your body so... out of shape?"
Manabu looked at Hikigaya with a puzzled gaze. The boy gave him a strange, contradictory feeling of being "both trained and untrained."
Cough, cough—
"You're the one who's unreasonable!
As the Student Council President, you actually start beating up students over a minor disagreement!"
Hikigaya's blocked arms were aching intensely.
"Hikigaya, are you okay?"
In a rare show of concern, Horikita Suzune leaned in and looked him over seriously.
"I'm fine...
Though, why do you have that 'why weren't you beaten into the ground by my brother' look of shock on your face?"
Hikigaya's expression was deadpan.
"Er..."
Suzune's eyes darted away; she really was thinking exactly that. How could that scrawny body, which looked so weak, actually trade blows with her brother?
In truth, Hikigaya himself felt a bit strange. He had never practiced any martial arts, yet the moment he started, everything felt strangely familiar.
"Suzune, this time, your friend protected you."
The gaze Horikita Manabu directed at Hikigaya held a few degrees more approval.
"He... is not my friend..." Suzune replied weakly.
"It seems you still don't understand the difference between being noble and being lonely."
Manabu shook his head, looking somewhat disappointed.
"Correction: I had no intention of protecting Horikita Suzune," Hikigaya interjected.
"Then why did you step in?" Manabu countered.
"Because I didn't like the look of you."
Hikigaya looked him straight in the eye.
'What kind of reason is that?' Horikita Suzune found it impossible to understand.
"I see."
Manabu understood instantly and nodded in agreement.
"What—what is going on here?"
Suzune was suddenly full of question marks.
'What kind of riddles are you two speaking in?'
"Suzune, let me ask you: what is your opinion of Hikigaya Hachiman?"
Manabu said his name out loud, clearly having some prior knowledge of Hikigaya.
'So I was found out after all...'
Hikigaya remembered what Asahina-senpai had said yesterday—the Student Council has the right to view surveillance. Naturally, his actions in collecting S-System intel were known to them.
"Hikigaya Hachiman..."
Horikita Suzune looked up and stared at him intently.
"Appearance-wise, he's a boy with decent features."
'Eh? So in Horikita's mind, I'm a good-looking guy?'
Hikigaya's heart skipped a beat, but he was immediately choked by the second half of her sentence.
"Unfortunately, he has a pair of dead-fish eyes."
'What's wrong with dead-fish eyes? They're rich in DHA, okay!'
Suzune continued her list: "A withdrawn personality, no friends, and a certain degree of literary cultivation..."
"Are you sure you aren't describing yourself?" Hikigaya couldn't help but retort.
"..."
Horikita Suzune glared at him fiercely but had no way to argue back.
Horikita Manabu gave a fair assessment: "Then you two are quite a match."
'Wow, what is this guy talking about with such a serious face?'
Hikigaya expressed his firm opposition!
"Suzune, your understanding of Hikigaya is basically correct. But it is limited to the surface."
"Brother... why are you so familiar with this guy?"
Suzune pursed her lips, clearly indignant.
"On the first day of school, Hikigaya purchased free daily necessities from the supermarket."
"This..."
Suzune was confused at first, then realization dawned on her. She looked at Hikigaya in disbelief: "The truth about personal points—you discovered it on the very first day?"
"Is that really anything to be surprised about?"
Hikigaya responded nonchalantly. "Did you really think the school would just hand you 100,000 points every month for nothing?"
"..."
Horikita Suzune was stunned.
'Yeah, something that obviously defies common sense—why didn't I think of that?'
"On the afternoon of the first day, Hikigaya sneaked into the upperclassmen's building to gather information."
"!!!"
Suzune's eyes widened. She remembered that after school yesterday, he had indeed headed toward the upperclassmen's building. At the time, she hadn't cared and just went home to read.
"That—that's a misunderstanding...
I went to the upperclassmen area to take landscape photos."
There was no way Hikigaya would admit to gathering intel, otherwise he'd expose his anonymous account. To make it more believable, he even pulled out evidence—showing the photos on his phone sent back from Asahina-senpai.
"You... you're unexpectedly a playboy!"
Suzune believed him instantly, her face shifting to an "expression for looking at trash."
"..."
Horikita Manabu's gaze turned subtle. Recalling Nagumo's dark face from yesterday, a faint trace of amusement tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"An interesting fellow."
"What's so interesting? I got beaten up for no reason..." Hikigaya rolled his eyes irritably.
"My apologies.
I will compensate you."
Manabu readily pulled out his phone and transferred points to him on the spot.
Only 100,000? Who are you looking down on!
To an ordinary student, 100,000 personal points was undoubtedly a fortune. But Hikigaya was a man with a net worth of over three million!
However, the very next second, his anonymous account also received a transfer: 1,500,000...
Hikigaya's face changed instantly: "Onii-chan ~ Would you like to punch me a few more times?"