#26 Library

Both Yuichi and Horikita arrived at an almost empty enormous library where even a single step could be heard.

Both greeted the librarian with the nod of the head before finding a remote place without anyone around.

They sat down opposite each other as they put down their bags on the chairs next to them.

"So, what especially would you like to focus on?" Horikita asked, opening her bag.

"For now, I guess I will go for a perfect score in math." Yuichi said with a faint smile while taking out his own notes and blank papers he can use to practice.

"Hm? Perfect score? You are really confident, even if you have my help, I doubt you can get perfect score..." Horikita replied with a bit surprised expression before taking out her notes from math classes with a calm expression.

"Of course, there is always a chance of a mistake happening so let's say not under 90 %" Yuichi shrugged his shoulders with a smile before reaching out for Horikita's notes however when he touched her notebook, he looked at her for her permission. She nodded her head so Yuichi took it into his hands to take a quick look at how are her notes.

"You are quite carefree despite having a basketball match in just 2 weeks from now with all of your points at stake. If you lose, your win during the swimming class would be completely pointless." Horikita said while taking a look into Yuichi's notebook.

"Thank you for worrying but I have everything planned out, the plan became foolproof from the moment I signed the contract your brother arranged, although I had to point out a few things on it so I guess he already knows my intentions. He is really perceptive." Yuichi said and at first, Horikita frowned from hearing his first words but when he mentioned the contract and her brother, she had a bit confused expression.

"What do you mean by that? What is your plan?" She asked with narrowed eyes, thinking hard about what could be Yuichi's plan.

"How about I tell you a few hints and while I copy a few of your notes, you can think about it?" Yuichi suggested with a playful smile.

Horikita took it as a challenge so she naturally agreed with a serious expression.

"First of all, don't think too hard about it, it is actually very simple, however, this plan requires something you personally don't have." Yuichi said as he started copying her notes.

"Aren't you supposed to say hints? This is more like a riddle..." Horikita immediately complained to him.

"But isn't this way better? Tell me if you won't be able to come up with an answer and I will give you an additional hint." Yuichi said with a smile.

'What I personally don't have...?' Horikita thought with frowned expression.

After more than 2 minutes passed by...

"You don't have it, yet you don't want it" Yuichi added without breaking off his immersion in copying her notes.

"...?" Horikita's eyes widened before she once again narrowed them with a thoughtful expression.

"It is a "friend", isn't it?" Horikita asked hurriedly, she didn't even realize how much she was into this little riddle game.

"Yes, now that you have this information, you can continue guessing my plan." Yuichi said with a smile.

"Wait, that wasn't what you-" Horikita wanted to argue with him but Yuichi just pressed the back tip of his pencil to his lips to quiet her down.

"You are still waiting for me to copy everything anyway...Plus this is a good practice of using your brain, no?" Yuichi said with a soft tone.

*sigh* Horikita just sighed before she once again started thinking about it.

"At least tell me a little hint what was in that contract that might help me." She asked.

"But if I tell you that, you will immediately guess it but I guess I tormented you enough...The main point written down there is that I can't transfer any of my points from the moment I sign the contract." Yuichi said and Horikita's eyes immediately widened in realization.

"See? That's why I didn't want to give you another hint." Yuichi said with a bit disappointed expression.

"How many points do you currently have?" She asked with a frowned expression.

"I am a little bit broke, hehe" Yuichi showed her his phone with 5.000 points on the display before releasing a silly laugh but for Horikita it sounded more like villain's laugh.

*sigh* "Still, 5.000 points is quite a lot. It would be waste to just lose them" Horikita sighed with a slightly defeated expression before saying with a calm expression.

"Whoever said that I am prepared to lose them? It's more like having a 99.9% chance to win yet still having a back-up plan for that 0.1% chance. Anyway, I am done with copying most of your notes. Can you now explain a few formulas to me? There are a few of them that are interconnected with other formulas so it's a bit hard for me to understand them." Yuichi said with a faint smile before sliding his notes to her while pointing at certain parts with the tip of his pencil.

"Hm? Sure, this one is actually pretty easy..." Horikita said as she started explaining.

Both spent more than an hour in the library before they decided to stop.

"Thanks for today, you are really diligent and have great notes despite having a lot of details that many might view as unimportant." Yuichi thanked with a genuine smile while stuffing all his things into his bag just to be missing one last notebook. He couldn't find it but once he looked at Horikita, he saw her listing through it with an intrigued look.

"No need to thank me, you are quite intelligent so it was quite a nice experience teaching someone capable of thinking by himself. Anyway...are all those drawings yours?" Horikita replied with a faint smile before turning the notebook Yuichi's way, showing him his drawings of nature, one half was beautiful plains with animals peacefully running around while other was a dark forest filled with wolves with red glowing eyes.

"Haha, yeah, they are...a bit strange. I know, however I also have more...normal drawings." Yuichi released a bit embarrassed laugh while scratching back of his head before replying with a forced smile.

"Yeah, I noticed that most of them are less strange however this one gives me feeling as if it had some special meaning...Still, to think that you can study diligently, do sports, and also draw...you are pretty talented." Horikita said and gave him a little compliment with her expressionless face while handing over his notebook.

"It doesn't really have any special meaning, I just felt like drawing something different. I also appreciate that you recognize my hard work...I hope you can help me with a few more subjects." Yuichi said with a faint smile while getting up and grabbing his bag with him.

"..." Hearing his words, Horikita frowned as she began glaring at him with suspicion in her eyes.

"What?"

"What is your plan by approaching me like that? What are you plotting?" She asked with a serious expression.

"? I see..." Yuichi suddenly realized the problem as he smiled and this time it was Horikita's turn to be confused.

"I don't really "aim" to become your friend or anything. If you want me to say it in blunt words, I want to use you for my improvement in studies however it might also be in your interest to help me so I don't see any problem." Yuichi said with a faint smile while walking together with her towards the exit.

"...It indeed sounds bad when you say it like that." Horikita admitted.

"I think you are trying too hard to keep yourself away from others. You focusing on it so much that you forget other things. I will say it bluntly, I think that with your personality, it is hard to make many friends but to me, you are a calm intelligent person who doesn't say nonsense each second. After a long day, having someone like you nearby to talk to for a few minutes can be quite relaxing. However, would that be still considered as being friends? What even is a friend, to begin with?" Yuichi said before asking while shrugging his shoulders.

"..." Horikita seemed a bit surprised by his sudden words however she still appeared to be thinking about them quite hard.

"*sigh* Whatever, if I have time, I might consider it. Anyway, I have been thinking about something for a while." Horikita sighed and replied in quite a strange way which prompted Yuichi to glance at her with a questioning look.

"You have mentioned that my biggest problem is my teamwork...If that is my biggest problem, what is yours?" Horikita suddenly stopped when they exited the library building and asked with a furrowed brow.

Her question made Yuichi also stop a few steps in front of her.

"Aren't you supposed to tell me that? Why do you think people can judge others better? Because they see others from a different perspective than the judged person sees himself. Your judgment of yourself is clouded by your belief that you don't need friends therefore you think that teamwork isn't your problem. Usually, our biggest defects are clouded from our view or maybe we try our best to convince ourselves that we are perfect or without any major defect." Yuichi said with his back facing Horikita.

Horikita was surprised by his words but she definitely couldn't refute them. However, no matter how much she tried to think about a person named Iwamura Yuichi, she couldn't find any major defect. His grades weren't the best but he was improving and also diligent so there was no defect in that area. He was popular, had good communication skills, his athletic abilities were incredible. As of now, to Horikita, a person named Iwamura Yuichi seemed like an embodiment of a perfect human being. Her confusion was only increased when she heard his serious tone that she very rarely heard from him.

"Even I am not perfect, I know that much" Yuichi turned his head to the side to look at her from the corner of his eye, revealing half of his face that was covered in apathy before he once again turned to the front.

Yuichi began to slowly walk towards the dormitory while Horikita remained there staring at the back of his head with wide-open eyes. Seeing that half of his face, she unintentionally recalled the drawing she saw in Yuichi's notebook.

'Iwamura Yuichi...What is your defect?' Horikita thought, having nothing else to do, she followed after Yuichi since they lived in the same dormitory.