Chapter 18: The Change on Suzune’s Body

Horikita Manabu let go of his hand, stepped back a few steps, and at the same time pushed his glasses.

[Did I just, unable to help myself, say out loud the thoughts in my heart?]

At this moment, Horikita Manabu still felt somewhat puzzled inside, but since Suzune already knew his thoughts, there was no choice but to let things take their course.

"I hope you can clearly understand this point, grow a bit, and know why you were assigned to Class D."

Horikita Manabu's tone seemed to become a little calmer, and the atmosphere between him and his sister also eased somewhat.

"I... I will do my best!"

'That usual arrogant appearance of Horikita, is she imitating her older brother? Never mind, I hope that after what happened today, her personality can improve a little, though anyway I usually don't have much interaction with her.'

Saiki lowered his head and looked at the can in his hand; the coffee inside had already been finished.

'It's too late now, I should go back earlier. What a troublesome day this has been.'

He threw the can into the trash bin, then immediately walked in the direction of the dormitory.

———

The next day, Saiki, as usual, came into the classroom. Today, just like every day before, was no different in any way.

Saiki slightly lifted his head, his gaze projecting forward. At this moment, Kushida was happily chatting with several other classmates, as if the person from last night wasn't her at all.

[In this school, it's necessary to find an existence one can rely on; only like this can one stand firm in the class and not be bullied by others... During the previous period, I put all my thoughts on reviewing the test questions, and didn't have much chance to take action... For now, the most suitable target in the class should be Hirata.]

[Among the boys, there aren't many reliable ones. Hirata has the best popularity and grades, and he also doesn't look bad. He is the most suitable target... Ike, Sudo, and Yamauchi can't even be considered within the scope of consideration. Ayanokoji doesn't look bad either, but the whole person looks too gloomy.]

[Takeyanagi is too pretentious. Miyake also doesn't seem very good...]

Saiki turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound, it was just now Karuizawa Kei.

Similar to Kushida, Karuizawa Kei had very good popularity, though it was basically limited to girls. Her little-delinquent-like aura seemed to make her extremely popular among the girls.

However, to Saiki, people who were relatively popular like this were the hardest to get along with, because it was very easy to attract the attention of others. Saiki did not want other people's attention to fall on himself because of this, so he and Karuizawa Kei had almost no interactions at all.

At this moment, Karuizawa Kei's gaze swept across the faces of all the boys in the class, and at the same time, she was thinking in her heart about their advantages and disadvantages, as if evaluating them.

'Hey, hey, hey, are you scanning products in a supermarket?'

Saiki complained inwardly, and Karuizawa Kei's gaze finally fell onto Saiki's body.

[...]

'Hey, hey, hey, hurry up and think something, will you?'

Karuizawa Kei's eyebrows twitched slightly, then she lowered her head and glanced at her phone.

[What is his full name?]

'...'

For a moment, Saiki didn't know what to say, but for him, this could be considered a good thing.

[Saiki... From the current perspective, there still isn't any special point about him.]

Meanwhile, on the other side, Ayanokoji was always calmly observing Saiki. Only he absolutely wouldn't have thought that the latter had always known exactly what he was thinking.

[These two days I haven't discovered any abnormal places about him. Was the information from Chabashira-sensei wrong?]

[No, it's unlikely. Judging from this period of observation, even though she appears indifferent to class matters, in reality Chabashira Sae absolutely wouldn't give up any chance to climb upward. So she definitely knows some information about Saiki.]

[The other party must also have enrolled through some other method, so Chabashira Sae suspected him. But obviously, Chabashira Sae is still only at the level of suspicion toward Saiki. She only wants to use me to obtain more information about him.]

[From the current situation, Chabashira-sensei probably already has some understanding of my situation. It should also be because Matsuo's butler arranged my enrollment through special means. That man probably couldn't arrange other White Room students to come in on short notice.]

[Even if he arranged other people from the White Room, for me it shouldn't be any threat, however, even if there's only a one percent possibility, I can't be careless. After all, up till now, I haven't been able to get any useful information from Saiki. If he really is disguising himself, he definitely isn't an ordinary person.]

In just a few seconds, Ayanokoji's thoughts were surging continuously.

'This White Room, just what is it? It sounds like an illegal training organization, or an unlicensed gym. Although from Ayanokoji's mental activity I can guess about seventy to eighty percent, it seems there might be more White Room students coming to the school in the future. I only hope their target is Ayanokoji and not me.' Saiki sighed inwardly. It seemed that his life in this school wouldn't be so peaceful.

And just at this time, the classroom door opened again, and a slender figure appeared in front of everyone.

A red uniform, a white short skirt, fair thighs wrapped in black over-knee socks, Suzune appeared in front of everyone.

After she entered the classroom, all eyes fell onto her.

The long hair that had been there yesterday had already disappeared, replaced by short hair almost to her shoulders.

[Horikita actually changed her hairstyle?]

[Short-haired Horikita... is actually quite cute, feels even cuter than when she had long hair!]

[So pretty! What made Horikita think to change her hairstyle today?]

Almost all the boys in the class simultaneously moved their gazes onto Suzune, only Saiki quickly moved his eyes away, managing to look aside before he saw Suzune's muscle fibers and bones.

[This b*tch, again attracting everyone's attention? Damn it!]

Kushida's face kept a smiling expression, also projecting her gaze onto Suzune.

'Every day without any change at all.' Saiki complained in his heart.

[Especially last night. Was that appearance last night mocking me? As expected, you know my past. I must find a way to make you drop out of school!]

'Wait, what are you saying?'

[I absolutely won't forget everything that happened yesterday, Horikita!]

Saiki was puzzled for about 0.1 seconds, but very quickly realized what was going on.

Most likely, the piece of deleted memory in Kushida's mind had been filled in by something related to Suzune. Eight or nine out of ten, it was because her hatred toward Suzune was too deep, causing her brain to fabricate a memory of having a conflict with her... That was why she continued to vent her emotions last night, constantly cursing Suzune.

In short, because the memory was deleted, Kushida's hostility toward Suzune seemed to have become even deeper.

Saiki slightly turned his head, casting his gaze out the window, pretending he didn't know anything.

Suzune ignored the gazes of everyone around, then returned to her seat.

"Good morning."

When she passed by Ayanokoji and Saiki, Suzune greeted the two of them, then sat down.

Ayanokoji turned his head, seemingly with some doubt, and looked at Suzune.

"Why are you looking at me?" Suzune noticed Ayanokoji's movement and glared back at him.

"Oh, it's nothing, I just felt that today you are a bit different." Ayanokoji shook his head, replying to her.

Just as he had said, Ayanokoji could keenly feel that Suzune had undergone some change.

[Horikita is not the type to take the initiative to greet others. Today really is strange.]

[Normally, girls with long hair wouldn't so easily cut it short. Something must have happened to make her do so.]

[Last night, Horikita and I left Saiki's room at almost the same time. At that time, it was already very late. If something happened, it should have been after that. So during those several hours, just what happened?]

Ayanokoji was curious about the change that had occurred in Suzune. He thought that with Suzune's personality, it would not be easy for her to undergo such a significant change in a short time. Even he himself had planned to spend time slowly cultivating Suzune, polishing her into a form he could make use of.

For Suzune to have made such a proactive change must mean she had experienced something extremely important.

What could it be?

Ayanokoji's brain spun rapidly, though he probably wouldn't find the answer. Even if he knew that it was because of her older brother that Suzune had changed, he wouldn't know what Saiki had done in the process.

[The true meaning of being aloof and being alone... Elder brother's words, just what do they mean?]

[I had always thought it was because I wasn't capable enough that elder brother distanced himself from me, so I also, like elder brother, wanted to separate myself from those incompetent people...]

[Was this way of thinking, in the end, mistaken?]

'Yare yare, at last she knows how to reflect a bit on her own problems.'

Hearing Suzune's inner voice, Saiki acknowledged it inwardly. Like this, the attention Suzune put on him should also lessen a bit.

Soon it was the time for school to be over, and just as agreed beforehand, several students together went to the school library to have tutoring.

'Really don't want to waste time on these things, but now there is no way to refuse anymore, can only hope they can finish this reading group quickly.'

Saiki thought in his heart, following the others together to find a suitable seat in the library to sit down, while at the same time his gaze swept once over everyone present.

[No matter what, as soon as possible I make their grades improve. Rising to Class A, is something that must be accomplished.]

Suzune thought so, then immediately took out the textbook, and began explaining the course content to everyone present.

[So sad… Kushida-san refused my invitation to watch a movie…]

[Horikita… looking like this is actually quite good, among the faces in the class, she should count as top level, right?]

[What should I eat later…]

'However, the only one seriously studying is just Suzune alone…'

Saiki felt somewhat helpless, it seemed like everyone's thoughts were not on studying.

And at the same time, Saiki could also catch some unfamiliar voices.

[Are these people from Class C? They are the ones who took away our class's place… damn it.]

[Ryuen let us monitor their class, to investigate about their class.]

[That black-haired girl seems to be called Suzune, the other girl is called Kushida, in our class quite a few people know her…]

Saiki shifted his gaze over, and saw on the other side, not far away at another table, there were a few unfamiliar faces, using the corners of their eyes to observe over here.

Just by listening to their inner thoughts, Saiki could know they were students from Class D.

'Looks like that person called Ryuen really has started taking action against our class, huh?'

[There are people secretly monitoring us. Are they students from other classes?]

And Ayanokoji also likewise sensed the gaze projecting onto himself, but his attention very quickly returned to Saiki's body.

[Just now Saiki made a turning-the-head movement, glanced at those few people, did he also notice?]

[If Saiki also likewise noticed we are being monitored, then it proves he indeed possesses extremely sharp observation. He is not an ordinary person.]

'Hey hey hey, just a subconscious slight turning of the head also got noticed?'

Saiki thought so in his heart, but did not turn his head back, only kept his gaze fixed in the distance, pretending as if he was distracted, wanting to lessen Ayanokoji's suspicion toward himself.

[... It look like he's simply spacing out? Or is it just an act? To avoid making me suspicious?]

'You, this guy, isn't it a bit too much? Are you also an psychic?' Saiki felt somewhat helpless, but now could only brace himself and continue to play dumb.

"Saiki, what are you looking at!" At this moment, Suzune also noticed Saiki's gaze was somewhere else.

"Sorry, just now was thinking about the knowledge point you talked about, got a bit distracted." Saiki casually found a reason.

"Then repeat what I just said." Suzune's brows slightly furrowed, seeming not very convinced by Saiki's words.

Saiki very quickly repeated roughly what Suzune had just said, although it wasn't exactly the same, but the general meaning was similar, Suzune's expression also slightly eased a bit, then nodded toward Saiki.

[Was it really just me overthinking?]

Ayanokoji's gaze from the corners of his eyes always fell on Saiki's body, compared to the existence of Saiki himself, Class D's surveillance was not worth mentioning.

"Then let's continue."

Suzune cleared her throat, then once again began to explain knowledge, only Suzune herself did not really count as a good teacher.

Her explanation was somewhat dry and dull, moreover some problems she used rather high-level methods to solve, for Saiki and Ayanokoji this was extremely simple, for Kushida it also was not a problem.

But for Sudo Ken and the others, this simply was like a heavenly book.

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