Shiina said, handing the book to Horikita.
Horikita looked at the childish drawing on the cover, flipped through a few pages, and then returned the fairy tale book to Shiina.
"It's truly difficult for Classmate Shiina. Amane-san just likes to trouble others. I could have done this myself. I'm so sorry for taking up your time, Classmate Shiina."
Horikita forced a smile as best she could, then reached out to take Amane-san away.
Just then, Shiina gently blocked her hand.
"Classmate Horikita, you're too polite. It's just a small favor, and Amane-san and I have a very good relationship. Although there might be some misunderstandings and competition between classes, these don't affect my relationship with Amane-san. I'm already very happy that Amane-san has time to come play with me. Just sitting with her and telling stories for a while isn't a waste of time, because I had nothing to do in my room anyway."
Shiina's flawless reply made Horikita's eyebrows subtly twitch.
She could tell that Shiina seemed to be intentionally preventing her from taking Amane-san back.
In her impression, Shiina Hiyori was still that timid little girl in the library who was caught on a date with Amane-san and even dared not make eye contact with her.
But now, Shiina was calmly responding to her every move as an equal.
This dramatic change made Horikita feel somewhat strange. Normally, there shouldn't be much contact between Amane-san and Shiina. The only thing that could have brought them together was probably the recently concluded island special exam, where Amane-san, as an exchange student, lived with the Class C students for a few days on the island.
Horikita thought long and hard and could only come up with this possibility. She never expected that just a few days of interaction would make Amane-san and Shiina's relationship so good.
"Even though Classmate Shiina, you don't mind, Amane-san's behavior did indeed cause you trouble. How about I take her back to her dorm to sleep? Sleeping in the dorm is much more comfortable than being exposed to the sun outside, isn't it?"
Horikita decided to try a bit more. If she couldn't even take Amane-san back, it would be too embarrassing in front of Shiina.
"It's alright, Classmate Horikita, you don't need to bother. Look, Amane-san is sleeping so sweetly. If I wake her up like this, I would feel guilty."
Looking at Amane-san's slightly flushed cheeks, Shiina felt playful and couldn't help but gently poke her with a finger.
Amane-san seemed to sense someone touching her, so she let out a few soft, cooing sounds like she was pouting.
Shiina also covered her mouth and chuckled at Amane-san's cute appearance.
At the same time, Shiina secretly observed Horikita from the corner of her eye.
Horikita's expression turned a little grim, and Shiina's eyes darted around, immediately coming up with an idea.
"Horikita-san, if you have something to discuss, you can tell me. I'll pass it on to Amane after she wakes up. If it's something private, I'll wait until Amane is awake and have her find you. How does that sound, Horikita-san?"
Shiina's suggestion actually had no substantial meaning, as the premise was entirely dependent on Amane waking up later.
The reason Shiina still offered such a practically worthless suggestion was to give Horikita a way out.
Horikita naturally understood Shiina's intention. After a moment of thought, she realized that even if she woke Amane up now, Amane wouldn't say anything, but it would give Shiina a reason to meet Amane again. Besides, she just wanted to chat with Amane, and strictly speaking, it wasn't anything urgent, so there was no need to play the villain in front of Amane.
It must be said that Shiina's little scheme was easy to see through, but even if her little scheme was seen through, there was no way to get angry or criticize her for it.
Horikita looked deeply at Shiina.
"Then I'll trouble Shiina-san to tell Amane when she wakes up that I was looking for her."
After Horikita finished speaking, she didn't give Shiina a chance to reply, turning and walking towards the stairs.
Shiina didn't mind Horikita's unfriendly attitude, merely smiling as she watched Horikita leave.
On certain matters, she also had her own persistence.
When Horikita returned to her dorm room, she heard her roommates engaged in a heated discussion.
"What happened?"
Although she always believed in not prying, from her roommates' indignant expressions, it seemed something had happened. As their temporary leader, she had an obligation to offer reasonable help to her classmates in their daily lives.
"Oh, it's Horikita-san! You've come at a good time. Those people from Class B are acting like rabid dogs, constantly looking for trouble with us!"
The first to complain was Sato Maya. Incidentally, Horikita's other two roommates were Hasebe Haruka and Matsushita Chiaki.
"Your description is a bit exaggerated. So, what exactly happened?"
Sato's 'rabid dogs' description seemed overly dramatic to Horikita. In her impression, Class B students were generally gentle and low-key in their conduct, appearing to be quite easy to get along with.
She couldn't associate such words with them.
However... Kanzaki was an exception.
If Kanzaki were still there, Horikita would almost believe Sato was describing Kanzaki.
"Just now, I was queuing at the shop to buy snacks, and a girl from Class B deliberately knocked over my milk tea. Look, it's spilled all over my clothes!"
Sato said, pulling out a white shirt with a brown stain in the middle. It certainly looked like she wasn't lying.
But the incident sounded more like an accident. How did Sato determine that the other person did it on purpose? And she used such a vulgar word to describe it.
"Did she apologize and compensate you?"
"She compensated me, but she didn't apologize. She even said nasty things, like I wasn't watching where I was going. But I was just queuing normally. Who would walk through the middle of a line?"
After listening to Sato's description, Horikita also sensed that something was amiss. People from Class B shouldn't be so volatile.
"Did you have a previous grudge with her?"
"No, I don't know her at all. Even now, I don't know her name. How could I have a grudge with her? I think she did it on purpose."
"If it was on purpose, what was the motive? Just to dirty Sato-san's clothes? And she even paid for the milk tea... I just feel like something isn't quite right."
Seeing Horikita enter a state of contemplation, Sato didn't dare to rush her and could only sit by, hoping that Horikita-san, who led them to victory, could once again teach Class B a good lesson.
"Perhaps they are deliberately trying to provoke conflict."
Just as Horikita was deep in thought, Matsushita Chiaki, who usually preferred to be an observer, suddenly spoke.
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