38 -38- Wanting to know

"What's wrong? Nanaya-kun?" 

Seeing Hori lost in thought, Kushida Kikyou tilted her head in disbelief.

"...Nothing," 

Hori immediately suppressed his inner questions.

However, the question was only suppressed and not gone.

Hori still noticed what Kushida Kikyou was truly concerned about.

"You seem to care a lot about Horikita," 

Hori hit the opponent's weak point as usual.

In this aspect, there probably isn't anyone better than Hori.

Kushida Kikyou's expression stiffened for a moment, as if saying, "I've been found out," feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Then, Kushida Kikyou made this response.

"Because, in class, only Horikita refuses to have a good relationship with me, which makes me quite hurt."

Kushida Kikyou's response was very much in line with her style.

And when she said this, Kushida Kikyou sighed, appearing genuinely troubled by it.

Hori really wanted to say.

"I don't remember having a good relationship with you either?"

But compared to Horikita Suzune, Hori's attitude towards Kushida Kikyou was already quite good. At least he would communicate with her like this, unlike Horikita Suzune, who would reject and exclude Kushida Kikyou no matter what she did. From this perspective, perhaps Horikita Suzune was the only one in the class who didn't improve her relationship with Kushida Kikyou.

For a girl who declared that she wanted to be friends with everyone, this should be quite uncomfortable, right?

Although, for Hori, this kind of forcing oneself onto others and then getting rebuffed behavior is somewhat incomprehensible, but Kushida Kikyou was the acknowledged angel of Class D, patiently wanting to communicate with those she didn't get along with. It wasn't strange.

In the past month, Kushida Kikyou had treated Hori the same way, right?

So, Hori didn't find this reason far-fetched.

But...

(Somehow, it feels like she's neither lying nor telling the truth.)

Hori's keen intuition made him realize this.

Of course, Hori didn't reveal it.

"If you want to know about Horikita's situation, it's faster to ask Ayanokouji," Hori mentioned casually. "I don't know Horikita as well as Ayanokouji does."

"Is that so?" Kushida Kikyou seemed surprised. "But isn't Nanaya-kun also very close to Horikita?"

"You've got it all wrong," Hori corrected. "You see, in the past month, I haven't exchanged more than ten sentences with her a day, sometimes not even a single word for several days."

That was the truth.

Hori was not the type to actively chat with others.

And Horikita Suzune was even less so. Unless it was something she cared about, she wouldn't even glance at anything happening around her.

So, Hori's relationship with Horikita Suzune was definitely not good. Even if they were classmates, they lacked the necessary communication and interaction.

On the other hand, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, because of his desire to make friends, would occasionally strike up conversations with Horikita Suzune. Even though under normal circumstances, he would only receive indifferent responses from her, he still enjoyed it.

Naturally, this wasn't because Ayanokouji Kiyotaka wanted to develop a sweet relationship with Horikita Suzune. It was just that as fellow isolated individuals in the class, when Hori didn't pay attention to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, he could only go to Horikita Suzune.

"If you want to establish a good relationship with Horikita, it's better to ask Ayanokouji to introduce you. I'm not good at this kind of thing."

Hori rarely offered a kind suggestion.

"I see." Kushida Kikyou seemed to understand only now and said, "Because Horikita doesn't seem to want to have a good relationship with Ayanokouji, but sometimes she actively talks to Nanaya-kun, so I thought she must have some special thoughts about Nanaya-kun."

Is this the reason why Kushida Kikyou didn't go to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka but came to him instead?

It seems that this girl really came to contact him so actively just to get closer to Horikita Suzune.

"Ah, of course, I also want to have a good relationship with Nanaya-kun?" Kushida Kikyou seemed to sense Hori's thoughts and quickly added, "If Nanaya-kun can become good friends with me, I will be very happy."

When she said this, Kushida Kikyou's tone sounded sincere.

Considering Kushida Kikyou's goal is to be friends with everyone, this should be the truth, right?

Then, Kushida Kikyou clapped her hands as if remembering something important and mentioned this.

"By the way, isn't Horikita's surname the same as the Student Council President's?"

This is something that shouldn't need special mention; everyone should have noticed it.

But...

"I remember at the club recruitment meeting, Horikita seemed a bit strange when she saw the Student Council President."

This is also something that doesn't need special mention.

Hori wasn't oblivious to even such obvious things.

And Hori could also perceive what Kushida Kikyou wanted to say.

"Is there a special relationship between Horikita and the Student Council President?" Kushida Kikyou asked with curiosity. "Nanaya-kun, do you know anything?"

Do I know anything?

I know something, to some extent.

However, it's just Hori's speculation, as Ayanokouji Kiyotaka would say, there's no evidence to prove it.

But if it's just speculation, both Kushida Kikyou and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka probably have it too.

The same speculation as Hori's.

"I always feel like Horikita has a lot of secrets, making people unable to resist wanting to know," Kushida Kikyou said, showing the curiosity of a girl, with a smile on her face.

Hori didn't offer any comment on this.

Afterward, the two just engaged in some casual conversation.

Even though most of these conversations were more or less centered around Horikita Suzune, Kushida Kikyou initiated them while Hori listened, occasionally adding a word or two.

From this perspective, it seems that Kushida Kikyou really just wants to establish a good relationship with Horikita and has been trying to find out some things about her to find a breakthrough in winning her over.

Hori couldn't help but think so, driven by Kushida Kikyou's enthusiasm and warmth.

Unfortunately...

(There's a sense of dissonance, no matter how you look at it...)

Watching Kushida Kikyou chatting with him with a sweet smile and her adorable appearance, Hori couldn't help but think silently in his heart.

(What else are you hiding?)

Apart from the truth of the S System at Advanced Nurturing High School, this is currently the thing Hori most wants to know.