Chapter 084 ↦ Comes the Big Angel

A refreshing sea breeze blew against his face.

He watched as Dark Kikyō reverted to her regular self and left with an adorable demeanor.

Houtarou checked his phone — 19:29.

Only 14 minutes had passed since he'd seen her kicking the railing.

Had that transfer notification not arrived, he would have stayed hidden, and Kikyō would have eventually left on her own after venting.

Yet.

『1,000,000 Points have been credited to your account!』

『Sender - Unknown』

『Note: Monthly allowance.』

The sugar mommy senior's allowance had arrived at the most inconvenient moment. If she truly wanted to keep him, she just shot herself in the foot.

The timing was almost comical. If she hadn't sent that message, Kikyō wouldn't have discovered him. He wouldn't have experienced his first encounter with a girl's breast — or learned firsthand about the formidable nature of Class D girls.

Though perhaps it wasn't all bad.

His Precognitive Dream had shown him a future with Kei. Besides, even though this sugar mommy senior was trying to keep him, Houtarou Oreki wasn't one to be bought.

Better to seek legitimate opportunities for profit.

He considered how Suzune had earned those 20 Class Points. It was promising — while Class D might be treated like a dumping ground, they weren't entirely worthless in this class competition.

From his position in Class A, he saw no reason to let other classes advance.

And yet, Class D was different.

Take the driven powerhouse Teacher Sae Chabashira. Under her leadership, Class D had risen to Class B — nearly reaching Class A — before their ultimate failure.

Was their downfall due to her mistakes, the class's limitations, or the school's intervention?

The question remained.

Each year, the school transferred graduating students from lower classes to other schools, where they would receive their diplomas. Only third-year Class A served as their flagship product to society.

A subpar Class A would damage their reputation.

In other words, Class D was likely treated as disposable from the start. Placing troubled students there simply added diversity to the competition.

That explained Sae's obsession.

From this perspective, allowing Class D to gain some Points posed little risk. The students had already begun giving away Class Points — they just needed more guidance.

Despite Horikita's actions being worth 50 Class Points, she only received 20. This showed her influence wasn't strong enough to control Class D.

He needed to find someone to help. Among his Class D acquaintances besides Kikyō, only Airi Sakura and Kei Karuizawa remained as options.

Should he continue using Suzune as a tool, or support someone new to take the lead?

As for the stubborn students who only knew how to object, he'd find an opportunity to get them expelled.

Houtarou pondered these crucial matters.

But his thoughts soon wandered. Perhaps because it was his first intimate contact with a girl, he found himself staring at his left palm.

Though Kikyō had left, the sensation lingered.

His fingers remembered the soft impression. And this feeling... he found... wasn't unpleasant.

Was Kikyō right — was he actually a lecherous boy?

Houtarou felt a moment of despair.

Thankfully, he still had a true angel for solace.

At 19:36, Honami arrived at this fraught meeting spot.

A cool sea breeze swept past.

The pink-haired girl came running over, clearly winded and out of breath.

"Sorry I'm late." Honami said, "Did Oreki-kun wait long?"

She bent over, hands on her knees to catch her breath.

"I just got here." Houtarou said.

The railing stood quiet now, with no trace of Kikyō.

Still, he wanted to protect that little demon, so he maintained the pretense of having just arrived.

"I see..." The Class B angel nodded gently, "Actually... um... is something wrong?"

Honami had noticed his lingering gaze.

"Is my hair messy?"

No. In her breathless state, with fine beads of sweat on her white neck, she looked... rather alluring.

But having just experienced one little angel, Houtarou's resistance to angels had grown quite strong.

"So, you called me out here, to this place... could it be..." He paused.

"Mm hmm." She nodded, "It's about Chihiro. I thought becoming friends again would be difficult, but things worked out surprisingly well. I sent her some books from the shopping district about what couples typically do together. After reading them, she realized she didn't have those kinds of feelings for me."

Honami had clearly thought this through carefully. When a friend confesses their feelings, maintaining friendship afterward can be challenging. So she took initiative — finding appropriate materials for Chihiro to study, wanting to help her friend understand if she truly had romantic feelings.

The answer was clear: she didn't.

True love between couples naturally leads to cherishing time together and desiring physical closeness. Without those feelings, it wasn't love.

Chihiro had simply misunderstood her own feelings. Now both of them could release their emotional burden and return to being friends.

It was an elegant solution. When someone's feelings are unclear and causing problems, helping them understand those feelings early on prevents future complications.

Though going to the shopping district specifically for those books... perhaps that wasn't something she needed to share with him directly.

Oh dear. This might be revealing too much about her.

After seeing Kikyō's true nature, Houtarou found himself curious about this other "angel".

What lay beneath Honami's surface?

Yet as he pondered this, he realized he was already seeing her true self. She was exactly who she appeared to be — someone who would go to great lengths for her friends, who cared deeply about others' wellbeing, and who worked tirelessly to preserve relationships. This was what made her truly angelic.

She had shared this story with him because she considered him a trusted friend.

So as her friend, should he ask for her help?

"Ichinose-san, since you have many friends, what do you think about spreading rumors?" Houtarou asked.

"Hmm?" She blinked softly, "Are you worried about that rumor — the one about an upperclassman keeping you for a million points monthly? It has been spreading quite a bit lately. Many people think keeping you is expensive, though my friends actually think you're quite nice."

"But approaching you might mean facing that million-point patron senpai, which seems intimidating. If you dislike these rumors though, I can ask my friends to stop discussing them. They'll naturally fade away with time."

"..."

So he had become that notorious?

Or rather, was he really being rumored to have an upperclassman patron?

A million points monthly — was he some kind of expensive pet? The thought made him uncomfortable.

But Honami's words revealed something else.

If she told her friends to stop discussing it, the rumors would die down. In this closed school system, rumors only spread through students. Control the students, stop the talk, and the rumor naturally disappears.

In other words. Honami, your social network is a bit too strong, this almost directly indicates that most students have become your friends.

Her social skills were on another level — even little Kikyō couldn't compare.

Houtarou suddenly realized that Honami would pose an obstacle to Arisu's Student Council President ambitions. With her vast network of friends, she'd naturally receive many votes in the election without even trying.

But would this truly be difficult to handle?

No. Honami had already begun collecting Points from the 15 Class B students who'd participated in his store scheme, intending to transfer them to Houtarou.

This suggested she would ultimately lose to Kakeru. Given Kakeru's determination to rise through the ranks, he would surely strike Class B hard before making his push toward Class A.

By the time Manabu stepped down as President, Class B would likely be in shambles.

When that happened, simply buying votes would suffice. They could enlist Honami's help in gathering support — she'd comply for the sake of her Class B classmates.

"Hmm—" Honami took a step and a half backward, saying instinctively, "I feel like Oreki-kun's gaze today seems full of aggressive intent."

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