Chapter 4: Friend

"Kikyou-chan, do you want to stop by a cafe on the way home?"

"Un, let's go! Ah, but wait a bit. I want to ask one more person."

After inviting one of her female friends, Kushida walked towards Horikita while putting a book in her bag.

"Horikita-san. I'm going to the cafe with my friend—if you'd like, would you like to join?"

"I'm not interested."

Horikita swiftly cut down Kushida's invitation with a few words.

Can't you just lie that you're planning on shopping or that you're meeting with someone else? Horikita bluntly rejected her invitation. However, Kushida was still smiling.

This sight wasn't anything new. Ever since the entrance ceremony, Kushida has periodically tried to invite Horikita. I thought it would be fine for Horikita to accept once in awhile, but that might be the perspective of a bystander. Nevertheless, no one has been able to invite Horikita successfully. .

"Is that so…. Well, I'll invite you some other time."

"Wait a second, Kushida-san."

For some reason, Horikita called out Kushida. By any chance, did she give into Kushida's invitation?

"Please don't invite me again. It's a bother."

She said with a cold tone.

However, Kushida wasn't affected and continued to smile.

"I'll invite you some other time."

Kushida ran back to her friends, and they exited the hallway.

"Kikyou-chan, please stop inviting Horikita-san. I hate her——" (T/N Not sure if this is a mistake on the author's part—pretty sure I didn't mistranslate here. Names are hard to mistranslate.)

As the door was closing, the girl's voices could be faintly heard.

The words should have been heard by the nearby Horikita, but there was no indication that she heard them.

"You don't say unnecessary things like that, do you?"

"Yea. I understand you well enough. It's pointless."

"That's good."

Horikita, who finished packing up, walked out of the classroom at her own pace.

I was lingering around the classroom for a bit, but I got bored and stood up from my seat. Time to go home.

"Ayanokouji-kun, do you have time?"

I ran into Hirata, who was still at school. In a small voice, I replied to Hirata. It's strange to see Hirata speak up to someone first.

"It's about Horikita—I was wondering if something is wrong. The girls were talking about her earlier. She's always alone, after all."

Rejecting Kushida's invitations, she was always alone.

"Can't you tell her to get along with the others more?"

"Isn't that up to the person themselves? Also, she's not troubling anyone else."

"Of course I understand. However, there are also other people that are worried. I don't want any problems about bullying to arise in the class."

Bullying? He did talk to me out of the blue, but with those words, it sounds like a bad omen. So were you warning me? Hirata was looking at me with pure intentions.

"I think it's better for you to say it directly to her, rather than saying it through me."

"… Yea, I guess. Sorry for saying something strange."

Horikita is always alone every day. If that continues, in a month, she'll probably become the tumor of the class.

However, since this is Horikita's own personal problem, it's not something I should involve myself with.