Chapter 220: The Library at Dusk

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the glass, dyed into a warm amber hue, flowing soundlessly across the dark brown oak desks and the layered rows of bookshelves.

On the second floor, Fuyuji Mikage leaned with relaxed ease against the railing, his gaze sweeping over the students entering and exiting below. Unsurprisingly, his field of vision captured quite a few familiar figures.

As far as the eye could see, compared to the usual attendance of less than ten percent, the library at this moment had nearly half its seats filled.

It wasn't just Class A and Class B students burying their heads in their studies—even Class C and Class D had quite a few students clustered in groups of three or five, discussing in hushed voices.

It seemed that after a full semester, even a class like Class D, which had started off sluggish and hesitant, had improved in terms of initiative.

Class B's great angel Ichinose Honami, sighing Shiranami Chihiro, deadpan-faced Kanzaki Ryuji;

Class C's Ibuki Mio from that fortune-telling session last time, the sunglasses-loving bro;

Class D's father-figure Hirata Yosuke—

Horikita-girl... hm?

How did she and Cha-Cha end up together?

Could it be that Cha-Cha had finally gained Suzune's trust, cleared the galgame route, and taken that crucial first step toward her goal of befriending the entire school?

But in the very next second—

"Kushida-san, could I leave Karuizawa-san, Sato-san, and Hasebe-san to you? Compared to me, you can handle them with far greater ease." Below, Horikita Suzune folded her arms across her chest, her tone so flat it betrayed not the slightest ripple of emotion.

"Eh? Leave them to me?"

"Yes. They harbor a rather strong resistance toward receiving tutoring from me." Horikita stated in a voice utterly devoid of inflection.

Kushida Kikyo squeezed out a businesslike smile. She didn't respond further, merely glancing back with a somewhat awkward expression.

The desk beside them was already packed with Class D students.

"Then I leave them to you."

As though completely failing to grasp Kushida's hint, Horikita swept her cool gaze across the surrounding Class D students, turned, and left without hesitation.

Leaving behind Kushida, whose chest was now faintly heaving, her eyes growing hollow and dim.

"..."

Having witnessed everything, Fuyuji raised a hand and wiped at a nonexistent bead of sweat on his temple.

Alright... I take back what I just said.

If this keeps up, Cha-Cha's chest is going to swell a full cup size from sheer rage.

Suzune—you might actually be a scumbag woman. Every time you finish using Cha-Cha, you toss your hair and leave her with nothing but your retreating silhouette, never sparing her another thought.

No wonder Cha-Cha hates you so much she's grinding her teeth to dust, scheming to get you expelled by any means necessary.

After roughly scouting the enemy's intelligence and casually exchanging a smile and wave with the energetic Ichinose in the distance, Fuyuji stretched and slowly ambled toward his window-side seat.

Although more than half the seats here were empty, that didn't mean any empty seat was free to take. Apparently, due to Japanese senpai culture, the first-year and upper-year spaces were kept separate.

Upperclassmen had priority use of the window seats with the best views, while lowerclassmen were relegated to the noisier areas near the first-floor entrance.

As for why Fuyuji had come up to the second floor and claimed this prime window seat with its excellent view...

One could only say that in the merit-based Advanced Nurturing High, Class A could disregard such tedious, antiquated customs.

Returning to his seat, Fuyuji set the coffee before the two of them and plopped down beside Kamuro Masumi.

"How's it going?"

"Very well." Shiraishi Asuka's brows and eyes curved like crescent moons, carrying a gentle smile. Holding her test paper, she naturally leaned a little closer toward Fuyuji. "The fundamentals at this stage are solid. Just a bit careless here and there."

"Where?" Fuyuji curiously leaned his head to the right, closing the distance between them.

"Look—the unit conversion here." Shiraishi extended a slender finger. "And here too—often forgetting to add parentheses..."

"Ha ha. As expected of Bro." Fuyuji showed no mercy with his mockery.

"Fuyuji~" Shiraishi gently chided, lightly patting his arm. "You can't speak about Kamuro-san like that, you know~"

Sandwiched in the middle, Kamuro narrowed her eyes dangerously, looking left and right. On her left was Fuyuji, holding her science test paper, their heads huddled together as he commented. On her right was Shiraishi, also holding her test paper, her body likewise leaning slightly toward Fuyuji.

Was she, this cookie filling, just a little superfluous here?!

"I said—can you two not lean in so close? I'm getting goosebumps." Kamuro rubbed her arms and shifted her chair backward with discomfort.

"But isn't this the best way to tutor you?" Fuyuji spoke with shameless conviction.

"That's right." Shiraishi chimed in with a beaming smile.

"..."

Kamuro pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a helpless sigh. "You two really are a match made in heaven."

"Is that so?" Shiraishi, her hands half-tucked into her jacket sleeves, her brows and eyes curved gently, spoke with an especially buoyant voice. "Thank you for the compliment."

That wasn't a compliment at all...

"In any case, Bro—this time, we're going to push your grades up to the upper-middle tier of the class in one breath."

After roughly browsing through, Fuyuji clapped his hands on the desk and declared the objective of this tutoring session with righteous conviction.

"It's not that simple."

Utterly devoid of the confident, spirited posture she'd displayed at the Sports Festival, Kamuro retorted with considerably weakened conviction.

If it were just grades improving, that would be one thing. But if they were talking about climbing to the upper-middle tier of the class—Class A was different from the other classes. While she was improving, others were improving too, and possibly even faster.

"Then how about trying my method?" Fuyuji raised an eyebrow and leaned in mysteriously close to Kamuro's ear. "Back in the day, it was precisely through this method that I wiped clean my dark, shameful history in one fell swoop!"

"What?" Kamuro turned her face, her cheeks flushing faintly.

"For every question you get wrong, I get one kiss."

"Drop dead!" A long, well-proportioned leg planted a kick squarely on Fuyuji's shin.

"Oww!"

After the ruckus settled, Fuyuji and Shiraishi reined in their joking expressions and each pulled out their own test papers, earnestly getting to work. After all, this exam was different from previous ones—the higher the score, the better.

As for Kamuro, the two of them had roughly circled some key problems for her and left her to tackle them on her own.

In the yellowing sky, white clouds drifted leisurely past, veiling the sun. A plane streaked across the heavens, leaving behind two long contrails in its wake.

After an indeterminate stretch of time, Fuyuji lifted his head from the sea of problems.

He glanced at Kamuro—her anger gradually accumulating, her foot, wrapped in black knee-high socks, tapping impatiently against the floor from time to time.

Shaking his head with helplessness, he flipped over his test paper with a rustle and rubbed his throbbing temples.

The test papers the Sadistic Teacher had given—they weren't meant for humans at all!

[Waseda University · School of Fundamental Science and Engineering · Physics & Chemistry Solutions]

According to Mashima Tomonari, there was no harm in giving them a try now.

Advanced Nurturing High's one hundred percent employment guarantee for Class A graduates apparently extended even beyond university graduation. In other words, if one could get into university through their own ability, they could still rely on the school's graduation benefits to secure employment after finishing university.

Though Fuyuji himself didn't particularly care about this, it was still a kind gesture from the Sadistic Teacher.

Just then—

An abrupt sensation, carrying a warm, silky texture, suddenly brushed against his ankle. It grazed past like a feather, yet jolted through him like a faint electric current.

Fuyuji's entire body instantly stiffened. His breath caught for a single moment. His neck turned mechanically toward his left.

The madder-red light of dusk streamed through the enormous glass window, gently enveloping the girl beside him.

Shiraishi Asuka had her head slightly lowered. Her pale golden hair cascaded like a waterfall across her shoulders, haloed in a hazy, sacred luminescence beneath the setting sun. Her long lashes drooped and quivered. Those eyes—as limpid and clear as a tranquil lake—were fixed with focused concentration upon the problems on her test paper.

At this moment, the girl's refined profile appeared soft and serene, radiating an aura that felt almost sacrilegious to disturb.

However—shifting his gaze downward—beneath the desk, where the two of them sat close together.

A small, delicate foot, wrapped in a pure white knee-high sock, had, at some unknown point, slipped free from its black round-toed leather shoe. The pristine, spotless tip of the sock was faintly taut. Five round, adorable toes—like plum blossoms just beginning to bloom—stretched and unfurled with languid, teasing leisure in the air.

Immediately after—this restless little foot soundlessly crept beneath the edge of Fuyuji's trouser leg. Through the thin fabric, using the fine, warm tip of the sock, it scraped and grazed against the skin of his calf—once, then again, like a cat's paw lightly scratching at the tip of the heart—with excruciating, maddening slowness.

"..."

An even fiercer surge of heat rushed straight to his brain. Fuyuji's fingers, gripping his pen, tightened unconsciously.

He stared in disbelief at the girl whose lips were curved in that elegantly faint smile.

I told you—you're a bad woman!

Shiraishi seemed utterly oblivious to his scorching gaze, still maintaining that serene posture. She even elegantly tapped the end of her pen against her own chin.

But beneath the desk—that mischievous foot showed absolutely no sign of stopping. On the contrary—it doubled down, using the side of her foot to brush even more ambiguously against the inner side of his calf.

Crafty bad woman. Pulling this move every single time. Watch as I deliver family discipline!

Fuyuji drew a deep breath. Still steadily gripping his pen, he continued writing earnestly on his test paper. Yet his other hand—like a nimble, cunning snake—silently slipped off the desktop and snaked its way with precision toward the neighboring seat.

His fingers made contact, without the slightest obstruction, with that warm, smooth, delicate skin peeking out from beneath the hem of her white pleated skirt.

Like the softest cloud. Like the smoothest silk. Carrying the unique body warmth and elasticity of a young woman.

Fuyuji's throat bobbed silently. His fingers began—again and again, greedily—lingering and caressing that patch of fair, taut skin along her thigh... savoring that astonishing elasticity and silkiness, tracing the elegant curve of her leg...

"Nn..."

Shiraishi's serene smile instantly froze. The slender fingers gripping her pen tightened abruptly. The smoothly flowing handwriting came to a sudden, jarring halt.

Those eyes—as clear and limpid as a lake—were, almost in an instant, veiled by a hazy layer of watery mist. Amidst the rippling, swirling light of her gaze, a seductive charm bloomed.

She subconsciously pressed her legs together, trying to trap that wicked hand. Yet the friction between her inner thighs brought instead a shuddering, tingling numbness that made her body tremble almost imperceptibly.

Just as the very air itself seemed to grow thick and viscous—

Rustle—!

A page-turning sound—neither too loud nor too soft—exploded beside both their ears simultaneously. In that flash of lightning, all the ambiguous movements above and below the desk came to an instantaneous halt.

Shiraishi swiftly lowered her head, pretending to tidy the strands of hair at her forehead that were not at all disheveled, yet her cheeks flushed as red as ripe cherries. Fuyuji's hand also retracted with lightning speed, returning to the desktop as he sat up straight and proper.

Beneath the desk, Kamuro—snap—broke the pencil in her hand clean in two, grinding her teeth.

Two utterly shameless degenerates!

...

By the time Fuyuji's trio returned to the dormitory, moonlight had spilled across the land, and the entirety of Advanced Nurturing High had sunk into the deep blue of the night sky.

"Well then... see you later, Fuyuji~"

"Mm, mm. See you, Miss Asuka. And see you, Bro."

"Tch... Why is Shiraishi 'Miss Asuka' and I'm just 'Bro'?! Change it to something else already!"

"Ahaha." Fuyuji laughed dryly and averted his gaze from Kamuro's murderous glare with a guilty conscience. "I'm just used to it by now. Hard to change."

With a ding, the elevator doors slid shut, and Kamuro's complaints rose toward the upper floors. The three of them parted ways.

Fuyuji walked toward his room and pulled his phone from his pocket. The moment he lit up the screen, a flood of missed call notifications burst forth.

Good heavens—what kind of gunpowder had Horikita-girl swallowed today? How was she using Cha-Cha so ruthlessly, practically working her to death?

She must really be furious this time!

Casually closing the door behind him, Fuyuji's mouth twitched as he swiftly dialed back.

The phone rang continuously for over a dozen seconds. Still no response.

Didn't pick up? Or busy with something?

Before he could sort through his thoughts, the phone in his palm buzzed once more. Yet another incoming call notification popped up.

[Incoming Call: Horikita Suzune]

After a few seconds of silence, Fuyuji slowly furrowed his brow and answered the call.

Bang—!

A sound—not loud, yet crisp and clear—came from the other end of the line. Immediately after—

"Ah— So annoying!"

"Horikita Suzune, you bitch! Why won't you just drop dead already?! Strutting around in front of me every single day with that dead face of yours! Damn it, just hurry up and die!"

"..."

Fuyuji silently pressed a hand to his face.

You idiot, Cha-Cha. You've fallen right into her trap!

So this was why Horikita-girl had been loaded with gunpowder today. So she was scheming this all along.

"Don't make a sound for a moment. Just listen obediently." A cool, clear voice came through, followed by the sound of something deliberately colliding with something else.

"Who's there!" A wary voice rang out instantly.

"It's me, Kushida-san. I've long known that your attitude toward me isn't as friendly as it appears on the surface—that you even harbor feelings of disgust. But I never expected it to be to this degree."

"Eh? Horikita-san, what are you talking about? I don't understand at all~?" A voice completely different from the spite-laden one just moments ago—sweet and tender—drifted into his ear.

"Drop the act, Kushida-san. I've been wanting to have a talk with you recently, but every time you maintain that false facade of yours. I was forced to resort to this and attempt to provoke you."

A long silence fell over the other end of the line.

"So you knew this kind of behavior would make people dislike you."

"...More or less. I've only vaguely realized it recently myself."

"Heh..." Kushida let out a disdainful laugh. "Then, Horikita-san—what business do you have with me?"

"I'll be direct. I've come to request your assistance in helping me rise to Class A."

"Ha?"

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75 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!