The new semester had barely begun, yet Yuzuha Sasagawa was already in top form—which meant she’d been an obnoxious brat since first thing this morning. This stupid woman who liked to pretend she was my girlfriend.
If I had to rank her, she was roughly Number 5.
Being in the same class meant we had a lot of contact, which made her needlessly irritating.
"...And that’s the gist of it, but you have an acquaintance at that school, right, Kazuma-kun? Please, ask them for me!"
Sigh... she really was a brainless woman.
She was becoming an eyesore, but considering she and the cluster of girls parasitizing her would serve a purpose later, I couldn't let go of her just yet.
At least she had a good face.
Still... to think Takanashi would get involved again.
For now, the matter with that Yokogawa guy was likely a dead end.
There was no way Takanashi wouldn't say something to him about her.
To think she actually believed she was in the clear just because she apologized—her brain must have been fried.
I mean, did she really still believe that Takanashi would forgive everything if she just offered an apology at the very end?
Well, I’d ignore the idiot; more importantly, there was Takanashi.
Since it seemed interesting, maybe I’d drag out that match from our middle school days into an overtime session.
That whole ordeal had been a masterpiece.
I’d been a bit flustered when people started asking about my relationships with women, but thanks to this stupid woman playing her part perfectly, I succeeded in crushing him early.
By utilizing the social networks between girls, it was a simple matter to spread rumors and unify the fools in the class under the consensus that Takanashi equaled evil.
Was everyone really that terrified of being the odd one out? (lol)
However, the pattern of using women would be difficult this time... so I’d try putting those two in motion for now.
If it went well, I could enjoy the show; even if it didn't, it would just be more rumors, so there was no risk to me. It was a simple game.
Besides, I was busy aiming for the real prize right now.
I didn't have the time to deal with Number 5, and Takanashi wasn't worth too much of my attention either...
"Hey, what should we do?"
"Yamasaki totally treats us like his lackeys."
"I mean, who knew Yamasaki and Takanashi had a connection?"
"Even if we spread rumors, there's no real profit in it for us."
"Ever since that incident, Yamasaki hasn’t shared any girls with us..."
"I don't want to be pegged as his accomplice, and I don't want any women from him anyway."
"Exactly. In that case, it would be much more profitable to call Takanashi out and use this as leverage to make him set us up with some girls. That guy has a strangely high number of female connections."
"I’ve got my eye on Satsukawa-senpai, though."
"Give it a rest. You’ll end up like those seniors if you try anything with her."
"What about the rumors?"
"Just make Tagami do something that bothersome. He’s in Satsukawa-senpai's Fan Club; he’ll take action on his own."
"Takanashi... Takanashi..."
I’ll be the one to exterminate the vermin parasitizing our Princess.
I heard something good; those guys probably intend to use me, but I'm the one who's going to use them.
If I exterminate Takanashi, there's no doubt the Princess will be grateful to me... and then, the Princess and I... heh heh heh.
Wait. I was pretty sure those lockers over there belonged to Takanashi-kun.
A slightly suspicious-looking boy seemed to have just slipped something inside.
Could it be a love letter? A boy leaving it for another boy?
I wouldn't say it was impossible, but... no, if that were the case, there was a high probability it was an unpleasant letter.
Then again, I wasn't even certain it was Takanashi-kun's shoe locker yet.
For now, if I just looked at the name on the door...
"Hello, Todo-san."
"Ah, hello, Satsukawa-senpai."
It was rare for Satsukawa-senpai to strike up a conversation... or rather, it would have been unthinkable before.
Well, it was because Takanashi-kun was involved. If he wasn't, we probably wouldn't be talking like this.
But Satsukawa-senpai being Takanashi-kun's girlfriend... even now, it was hard to believe.
"Hello. Is something wrong? You seemed to be lost in thought."
Yuzuki-senpai was talking about that love letter(?) from just now, right? She wasn't talking about the part where I couldn't believe she was Takanashi-kun's girlfriend, right?
"Um, just now, there was a boy who put something in a shoe locker... I thought it was Takanashi-kun's."
Once they heard that much of my story, the two of them opened Takanashi-kun's shoe locker without a moment's hesitation.
Wait... is that okay?
Yuzuki-senpai pulled a piece of paper out from the locker.
As expected, it looked like a letter.
Yuzuki-senpai went right ahead and opened the paper, which had been folded in half.
"I'll be waiting on the rooftop after school. If you don't want to be exposed on the spot, come alone, you stalker bastard."
Exposed?
Stalker bastard?
Takanashi-kun?
"Stalker? I don't really get it, but now, what should we do? As an option, we could..."
"I will confiscate this letter now. I shall handle this matter myself."
Apparently, Satsukawa-senpai intended to keep Takanashi-kun in the dark.
But more than that, there was a phrase that bothered me personally.
"Hmm... Hey, Todo-san, what was the person who put this letter in like?"
"Let's see... um, his movements were a bit timid, and he looked like he might like anime... I think."
"Ah, that sounds like Sara's Fan C—"
"No such eyesore exists."
"Ah, right."
Takanashi-kun's name, stalker, exposed...
I had a bad feeling about this.
But...
"Um, you're going to meet that person, right?"
Satsukawa-senpai likely intended to go in Takanashi-kun's place and do something.
"Yes. How I deal with them will depend on what I hear first... I must drag out a confession regarding who is pulling the strings."
Satsukawa-senpai muttered something under her breath.
"Sara, just to be safe, I'm going too."
"No, I will handle this."
"No. Because of what happened before, I won't let you go alone. If you don't take me with you, I'll tell Takanashi-kun."
Did something happen before?
Perhaps pressured by Yuzuki-senpai's intensity—she looked like she had no intention of backing down—Satsukawa-senpai reluctantly nodded.
"Sigh... I understand. I will agree on the condition that you trust me... and trust Kazunari-san, no matter what is said on the spot."
"Heh, that's a silly question. There's no way I wouldn't trust you two. Or rather, the fact that you’d even say something like that means..."
"If you continue this pointless chatter, I won't take you along."
The word 'trust' that Satsukawa-senpai used only increased my anxiety and suspicion.
Perhaps... thinking that, I realized I absolutely had to hear what was going to be said.
"Um, can I go too? I think it's safer if there are more people."
"You too, Todo-san? But you..."
"Please... please take me with you."
I didn't look away from Satsukawa-senpai, wanting her to understand that I was serious.
".........I see. It seems you have your reasons. The same condition applies as it did for Natsumi..."
"It's fine. I just have to trust Takanashi-kun, right?"
I replied immediately, without a second's delay.
I believed I had seen what kind of person Takanashi-kun was for myself.
Even if Takanashi-kun was that 'Kazunari Takanashi' from the stories, I had no intention of taking those rumors at face value.
"I see. Then let's meet after school... we have a promise, do we not?"
You understand what that means, don't you?
A sharp, dangerous aura radiated from Satsukawa-senpai as she spoke.
Her eyes were terrifying... I wondered if this was what Satsukawa-senpai was like back when Takanashi-kun wasn't around.