Kurashiki Reina left the teaching building in annoyance.
Behind her followed two girls, written as 'henchmen' but read as'sisters'.
"Wow, Mr. Hayashi was a bit too much this time, wow wwww, Reina, aren't you going to explain it clearly to him?"
"Yeah, it was clearly that junior's fault. If you don't want to, Reina, how about we go talk to him? We clearly did a good deed."
"I didn't expect Mr. Hayashi to seem so reasonable, yet he's also unreasonable. Points deducted, points deducted! He's now dropped from full marks to ninety-nine points in my mind!"
"Isn't ninety-nine points a bit too low? I'll keep '99.5' instead..."
"Eh, you're so sneaky, meow wwww!"
"Shut up."
"Eh?" x2.
"I said, shut up." Kurashiki Reina's sharp gaze glanced over from the front.
The two henchmen exchanged glances and immediately fell silent.
"You're chirping like sparrows, it's deafening. Do you want to be sparrows?" Kurashiki Reina asked with low pressure, and the henchmen dared not reply.
Kurashiki Reina's gaze was like two knives held to their necks.
"Besides, why should I explain to Mr. Hayashi? Who is he? Is he worth me specially explaining to him?!" Kurashiki Reina said coldly.
One needs to be understood by others, which is why explanations are needed.
Kurashiki Reina did not need Hayato to understand.
No matter what that brat did, he couldn't affect her mood. Why should she let such an irrelevant person understand her actions?
"...But." The sister who was relatively less frivolous spoke softly: "Reina, you look very angry, don't you?"
"Angry? Ha? That's hilarious, I'm not..." Kurashiki Reina said halfway, probably finding her own stubbornness unconvincing, so she took two breaths: "It has nothing to do with that."
She wasn't angry because Hayato didn't understand... but because doing a good deed and then being scolded for it was inherently an unreasonable thing.
"I won't do good deeds anymore." Kurashiki Reina said sullenly.
She had only done two good deeds recently.
The first was helping Hayato pick up a book.
The second was this corridor incident.
Both times involved Mr. Hayashi, so it was just bad luck...
"Don't be like that, Reina, at least the little girl you saved will still thank you wwww"
"Yeah, what was her name again?"
"It seems to be Asaba... Um, Asaba... Asaba-chan, I guess wwww So cute."
"Her name is Asaba Ibuki, and don't just add 'chan' to her name. She's a third-year senior." Kurashiki Reina said coldly.
"...Eh?"
"S-senior?"
Both of them were completely shocked.
...
Asaba Ibuki is 151cm tall, which is relatively short even among middle school girls in this country.
But her bust measurement reached a considerable 92cm.
These two things have always particularly troubled Asaba Ibuki.
She is a member of the swimming club, and having too large a bust greatly affects her performance. Since entering high school, she hasn't performed very well in swimming, even being at the bottom of the ranks.
Many girls choose to quit the swimming club in high school... For example, her junior, Nanao Akane, who has the same worries as her.
But while their worries were the same, their choices differed.
Asaba Ibuki still chose two days a week to report to the swimming club.
She didn't care about her swimming results; she just needed swimming to maintain her figure. With her height and bust, if she relaxed even a little, she would go from slightly plump to outright obese...
Asaba Ibuki could not accept such a thing happening, because,
She has a dream.
Here, it's worth mentioning another club Asaba Ibuki joined, which could also be called her current biggest passion and interest... far exceeding the swimming club.
The Guitar Club.
...Asaba Ibuki wants to become an idol.
So for the past two and a half years, she has been singing, dancing, playing guitar, and swimming.
...She persevered with her dream, but in the past two days, she has felt a bit overwhelmed. The pressure of club activities and the stagnation of her guitar skills have caused her an unusual sense of anxiety.
She absolutely cannot quit the swimming club, not throughout her entire high school life. Swimming is a relatively active sport for her, and it's one of the few ways to relieve stress in her non-stop life. She can't get free access to a swimming pool anywhere else.
As for the Guitar Club... Honestly, her current skill level is already the top of the entire Guitar Club.
This is also the main reason for the stagnation of her skills; she has reached a bottleneck. This club is no longer beneficial to her, but when she first joined, it was through the earnest guidance of her seniors. To quit now, after being taught, would be somewhat heartless.
So she could only maintain her life by slacking off in class.
As a result, her academic performance declined... A decline in grades in the third year of high school is not something to take lightly. Asaba Ibuki was called to the counselor's office during break, ready to be reprimanded.
Perhaps it was truly due to her distraction and the pressure on her shoulders, but she accidentally stepped on someone's foot while going downstairs...
"I-I'm sorry..." Asaba Ibuki apologized promptly.
But the red-haired girl was relentless: "Is just saying sorry enough?! Wipe it clean for me—"
Asaba Ibuki looked up at the red-haired girl—this was her least favorite moment. The other person was clearly younger than her, but she had to look at them from the perspective of a child looking at an adult... It really felt undignified.
The girl bared her teeth, but Asaba Ibuki wasn't angry. After all, it was her fault to begin with, and besides, the other person's displeased expression clearly showed she had encountered some recent troubles.
Empathy.
She even really squatted down to wipe it.
After gently patting it twice, Asaba Ibuki smiled: "There, it's clean."
As she looked up again, she saw the girl's gaze towards her, which was not 'forgiveness' but 'mockery' and 'contempt'... Asaba Ibuki immediately understood that the girl was truly unhappy recently, but she was also truly taking it out on her.
Asaba Ibuki lowered her eyes. She had originally wanted to argue, but she was too tired to say anything more, so she turned to leave.
"...Hey, you stepped on my shoe, wipe it clean for me."
Then, such a voice sounded behind her.
Asaba Ibuki felt curious and looked at the source of the voice. The junior who spoke now, she knew.
A famous young lady from Shiraki, known for her 'villainess' reputation... named Kurashiki Reina.
She and Kurashiki Reina were not acquainted; it was a situation where she had heard of her, but Kurashiki Reina might not have known her... But from the way she said that back to the red-haired girl, Kurashiki Reina was indeed helping her vent.
Asaba Ibuki opened her mouth to say something, when two henchmen of Kurashiki Reina came over and happily asked her:
"What's your name wwww, oh, you're so cute, meow."
"...Asaba Ibuki." Asaba Ibuki said.
"Don't worry, this has nothing to do with you anymore. Go take care of your business."
"Reina's mood is explosive lately wwww, if you say the wrong thing in front of her, she might even take care of you too, meow wwww, be careful."
Asaba Ibuki nodded.
She glanced at Kurashiki Reina, but the latter didn't even give her a look.
And Asaba Ibuki indeed had things to do. Thinking that Kurashiki Reina wouldn't be at a disadvantage, she went to the counselor's office.
But... Kurashiki Reina was at a disadvantage.
This was something Asaba Ibuki had not expected. After hearing snippets of information, she quickly inquired.
After she left, someone protected the red-haired girl, and then "drove away" Kurashiki Reina… The word might not be entirely accurate, but Kurashiki Reina was indeed at a disadvantage at the time.
And the person who "drove" her away was named… Hayato.
Asaba Ibuki had a lot on her plate, so much so that she wasn't very familiar with this name, but for someone to make the Shiraki heiress suffer, he must have some capability… However, Kurashiki Reina had stood up for her, which led to the conflict with that boy named Hayato.
Asaba Ibuki thought, no matter how fierce Mr. Hayashi was, she had to go and reason with him…
She was truly busy, but what needed to be done still had to be done.
People still need to have a conscience.
Asaba Ibuki thought, an idol should bring positive energy to people; if she herself fell into depravity, how could she be a good role model?
She inquired about Hayato's class, planning to go during lunchtime.
But, not now.
Because at this time, she had an appointment to have lunch with someone.
"…Ibuki Senpai~~"
In the courtyard, a short-haired girl bounced over, her face beaming with joy, and she sat down next to Asaba Ibuki, carrying her lunchbox.
"Akane." Asaba Ibuki sat up straight and smiled at Nanao Akane.
Her junior, also a former member of the swimming club, later joined the Baseball Club, and now had left again. What twists and turns there were… Nanao Akane didn't say, and Asaba Ibuki didn't ask, as long as she seemed happy now.
"Ah, you really brought your guitar!" Nanao Akane exclaimed in surprise, pointing at the guitar behind Asaba Ibuki, which was almost as tall as she was.
Asaba Ibuki's eyes curved into a smile:
"Didn't you want to hear it? So I brought it… Aren't you spending time with your boyfriend today?"
She knew Akane had a boyfriend.
Before she had a boyfriend, they could occasionally come out for lunch together, but after she had a boyfriend…
This might even be the first time she had eaten with her since she got a boyfriend.
Hearing the resentment in her senpai's voice, Nanao Akane quickly let out a laugh and gently rubbed her arm to show her placation.
"He's just a stinky man, ignore him… And he seems to have something to do too."
Kobayashi-chan told her he had something to do…
"Oh, I really thought you had such great determination to abandon him." Asaba Ibuki gave her a sideways glance.
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