What happened in Class 2-A was later relayed to Kaoru by Iijima.
In the end, Mizowaki revealed his true motive.
He had done it for his girlfriend, wanting to gather Personal Points.
Nagumo Miyabi was sharp enough not to press further.
Instead, in front of the entire class, he immediately transferred a million Personal Points to Mizowaki, promising to take care of his girlfriend from then on.
However, he also sternly declared that this was a reward for honesty.
If any traitor continued to hide, they would face the consequences.
Kaoru had Iijima delete the chat history between them.
Even though they used a secondary account to communicate, it was still necessary to clean up the messages and periodically switch accounts to avoid unexpected phone inspections by Nagumo Miyabi.
Back in his dorm, Karuizawa Kei sneaked over again in the evening, carrying her textbooks with a playful grin as she coaxed Kaoru into tutoring her for a few hours.
According to her, Chiaki Matsushita and the others hadn't questioned her absence, though Kushida Kikyo had skeptically probed a couple of times.
Still, Kei managed to brush it off.
However, Kei had heard about the incident in the library from other students and grew a little jealous, throwing a minor tantrum.
Left with no choice, Kaoru had to let her "drain" him again.
Perhaps because the first time had gone smoothly, her body recovered quickly.
After the session, the girl fled back to her room with a flushed face.
Thanks to this, Kaoru once again accumulated enough for a ten-draw—almost entirely from rewards provided by Kei.
But out of the ten, only one worthwhile reward appeared.
[Congratulations! You have obtained the reward—"Fixed Anchor Point"!]
[Fixed Anchor Point: Allows the user to select one target from randomly changing options, guaranteeing that the chosen target will come to the user's side.]
Judging by the effect, it seemed similar to a guaranteed draw—like pulling the exact card you wanted from a shuffled deck.
However, it could apparently be applied to any luck-based draw system.
Kaoru immediately thought of the Wish Machine, but the system promptly clarified: the so-called "target" required complete knowledge of its name and effect.
If the user didn't know the specifics of what they wanted, the effect wouldn't activate—vague descriptions or indirect references wouldn't pass the judgment.
Feeling slightly frustrated, Kaoru quickly shook it off.
.....
The next day, when he arrived in class, the atmosphere seemed oddly tense.
"I heard Ichinose used to be a criminal—she stole from convenience stores."
"Wait, I heard she robbed a bank?"
"No way! Ichinose is so cute—there's no way a cute girl would do something like that!"
"Maybe she's the one who stole your missing pendant before."
"I know, I know! Rumor has it her old dream was to steal all the gold in Japan."
"..."
Hearing these murmurs, Kaoru instantly understood and turned his gaze toward Sakayanagi Arisu.
The silver-haired girl sat quietly at her desk as usual, her cane resting beside her.
Her eyes, unmoving, locked onto Kaoru's the moment their gazes met.
Sakayanagi smiled faintly, while Kaoru took a deep breath.
He had considered this possibility, but he hadn't expected her to actually go through with it.
"Mitoma." Kamuro Masumi whispered to him from the side.
"About Ichinose… did you know?"
"Just found out now." Kaoru opened his phone—similar discussions were flooding student forums and group chats, the topic trending so heavily that even upperclassmen were chiming in.
No wonder she had told him to keep an eye on Class B earlier.
So this was her plan.
"Even though it's just a rumor, the only option now is to clear up the misunderstanding," Masumi mused.
"But for Ichinose, this must be really troubling."
Even if she hadn't interacted much with Ichinose Honami before, given the other girl's personality, it was truly difficult to believe such rumors.
If Ichinose Honami stepped forward to clarify, the situation would likely die down quickly.
Kaoru carefully read through everyone's comments.
Whenever someone derailed the discussion, someone else would promptly steer the conversation back on track.
However, since the school forum only allowed anonymous posting without alternate accounts, it was obvious that many anonymous users were deliberately fanning the flames.
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell something was off.
Yet, he knew all too well how most people were particularly obsessed with so-called "uncovering the truth."
Someone appearing as a pure, angelic figure on the surface while hiding a completely different face in private—nothing stoked emotions more than that kind of contrast.
In the idol industry, failing to handle such situations with proper PR would inevitably lead to backlash.
Kaoru pondered for a moment.
He admitted his own hypocrisy—when he did something questionable, he trusted himself to control the scale of it, so he acted without hesitation.
But if someone else did the same, he seriously doubted whether they could clean up the mess afterward.
More importantly—what exactly was Sakayanagi Arisu trying to do to Ichinose Honami?
By lunchtime, Kaoru decisively sought out Sakayanagi Arisu.
As she left the classroom and passed through the stairwell, he smoothly intercepted her.
"Just as you thought, it was indeed my doing. As for the reason, I doubt you particularly care," Sakayanagi Arisu spoke first, disrupting Kaoru's rhythm.
"You'd actually obey Nagumo-senpai orders?" Kaoru frowned.
"Fufufu, arent you misunderstanding something?" Sakayanagi's tone carried a hint of irritation.
"Did you think Nagumo-senpai was holding leverage over her just to do nothing afterward?"
"I know. But she hasn't overcome her psychological trauma yet." Kaoru suppressed his emotions, having considered Ichinose Honami's perspective.
What she feared most wasn't the act of stealing itself, but the judgmental gazes of those around her.
If she had truly resisted theft, she wouldn't have acted so decisively for her sister's sake back then.
What truly left a deep impression on her, even causing profound pain, was when her mother took her to confess the theft to everyone, forcing her to endure their judgment.
The reason this became Ichinose Honami's dark history was because she was terrified of others' judgment, which subconsciously made her resist letting her Class B classmates learn about her past.
For her, confessing again would be equivalent to returning to the past and facing judgment a second time.
Sakayanagi Arisu raised an eyebrow, smirking as she said.
"Mitoma-kun, you seem to be overly gentle with Ichinose. What will she gain in the end if you protect her like this?"
"I want to know how you plan to resolve this," Kaoru ignored her question.
"I don't know. Perhaps Ichinose will collapse, or perhaps she's stronger than you think." Sakayanagi replied indifferently.
"Rather than letting Nagumo-senpai continue to hold this over her, it's better to settle it once and for all."
Kaoru fell silent for a moment.
"Heh, Mitoma-kun, would you like to grab a meal together now?"
"Sakayanagi."
"Is that a yes?"
"Next week, let's play chess in my room."
Sakayanagi froze for a second, a strange sensation flickering across her small feet again.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, but she would never admit to feeling intimidated.
"Heh, why not?"
Though the consequences of losing might be a little more than she imagined.
...
In the afternoon, Kaoru arrived at the café.
"Whoa, it's so crowded here! I thought everyone would be packed in the library."
Hasebe Haruka was stunned by the unusually bustling café.
"I guess everyone had the same idea as us," Miki Yamamura sighed deeply.
She really wasn't fond of crowded places.
Since it was packed, Kaoru simply took the flustered Airi Sakura by the hand, weaving through the line to snag an empty seat first.
Soon after, Hasebe Haruka and Miki Yamamura squeezed their way over as well.
"Kaoru-chan, ditching your friends for a girl? How lame."
Airi's face burned red.
She knew Kaoru was just looking out for her, but Haruka's teasing somehow felt… nice.
"N-no… It's not like that…"
"Actually, now that I look closely, Airi is really cute. If you pushed your bangs back and wore contacts, I think it'd suit you."
"Huh!?"
"Ah, was that too forward?"
Haruka chuckled awkwardly, assuming Airi was surprised by her sudden familiarity.
"Aren't we a fixed team now? So I thought maybe we should call each other by our first names. Otherwise, it'd be weird if I'm the only one calling him 'Kaoru,' right?"
"You're only realizing that now?" Kaoru glanced at his phone—still no reply from Ichinose Honami.
"It's not weird! Because we're friends, right?" Haruka pondered.
"Sakura-san is Airi, Yamamura-san is… Miki? 'Mii-chan' would clash with another classmate, so sorry, Miki."
Miki Yamamura was completely frozen.
She really wasn't good at handling this type of person.
"C-calling each other by first names so suddenly is weird!" Airi stole a glance at Kaoru.
"B-besides… I haven't even…"
"Do you dislike being called by your first name, Airi?" Haruka asked, puzzled.
"Isn't it normal for close friends to call each other by their given names?"
"So you're saying I should call you Haruka now?" Kaoru suddenly interjected.
"Eh?" Hasebe Haruka seemed momentarily stunned, her eyes flickering with emotion before quickly breaking into a smile.
"Getting even closer is fine too. That's what friends do, after all."
It seemed there was no escaping this.
Kaoru turned to Sakura Airi, who immediately averted her gaze.
"Airi."
"Guh..." Sakura Airi covered her flushed cheeks with both hands.
Why did he say it so straightforwardly?
Kaoru then looked at Yamamura Miki, whose body stiffened as if she'd realized what was coming.
"Miki."
"Eek!"
She seemed to have let out an embarrassing sound.
Yamamura Miki hurriedly covered her mouth, her face turning bright red.
Surprisingly effective.
Kaoru found this unexpectedly satisfying.
Since he'd already given them problems yesterday, today's tutoring session was more targeted.
His methods were similar to how he handled Karuizawa Kei—after all, learning required positive reinforcement.
Whenever they memorized a key point or solved a problem correctly, Kaoru would praise them.
For particularly challenging questions, he'd even buy snacks as rewards.
After an hour or two, the one having the most fun turned out to be Hasebe Haruka.
-----------------------------
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