#41 "Peaceful Night"

"Then let me ask you this...If you were to see a person you know in front of you attempting suicide, would you just watch because they "don't want your help"?" Yuichi asked with a serious expression.

"What kind of question is that?" Horikita asked with narrowed eyes.

"Just answer..."

"But comparing someone you know trying to kill themself with studying doesn't make any sense." She said with crossed arms.

"I am still waiting for your answer." Yuichi said back with closed eyes and calm expression.

"...I would have helped as much as I could." Horikita replied after a little pause.

"Forcing something onto someone isn't exactly a nice thing to do but sometimes it can be good, sometimes that person can thank you for forcing them into something. It sounds a bit similar to Stockholm syndrome. For example, you are angry at me for forcing all the credit onto you which caused a few "inconvenient situations" when people started slowly approaching you even if it's just greeting you every morning. I don't hold it against you that you are feeling angry but you might even thank me later." Yuichi said with a faint smile.

"I don't think I will." Horikita replied with a calm expression.

Yuichi suddenly pulled out his phone and clicked something on the display before the sound recording started, ending with "I don't think I will".

Horikita's expression darkened when she discovered that Yuichi was recording the entire conversation.

"Calm down, there is nothing harmful to you in that recording. I just want to keep this recording in case you will thank me one day." Yuichi said with a bright smile.

"Still, I don't appreciate you recording our conversation without my permissi-" Horikita suddenly stopped as she looked at her own phone before her eyes widened. She quickly recovered from her shock.

"Anyway, I have already finished my drink so I would appreciate it if you could return my bag to me." Horikita demanded with a serious expression.

"Sure! Here you go!" Yuichi said with a bright smile while handing her bag over.

"Th- Mm." She wanted to say something but she quickly stopped and nodded her head before getting up however when she took a few steps towards the exit, she stopped and glanced back at Yuichi.

"Are you not going back to the dorms?" Horikita asked with a confused expression.

"Sure I am, I just didn't think you would have wanted to go back with me, after all, it's already pretty dark." Yuichi said with a smile.

"What does dark have anything to do with this? Are you going or not?" Horikita asked with an obvious expression before asking in an impatient tone.

Yuichi drank his tea to the last drop before he got up and followed Horikita with a bright smile.

'What is she planning?' Yuichi thought behind that bright smile, he knew that she would have never asked him to go with her back to the dorms unless there was a reason to do so.

Even when they arrived at the reception, that reason never showed up.

"Good night" Yuichi said with a faint smile before exiting the elevator on the 4th floor.

"...Good night" Horikita replied right before the doors were about to close and the elevator continued up to the 7th floor.

Yuichi remained standing in front of the elevator's doors while looking at the display with slightly narrowed eyes. Yuichi's cheerful smile completely disappeared by now and he decided to go back to the reception by stairs. He never met anyone on the way down since it was already quite late and most people were using elevators if they were still returning from their club activities or whatever.

*bzz* His phone suddenly vibrated as he got to the reception.

[Yo, can I invite Ike and Yamauchi to our study group?] It was a message from Sudo. Yuichi couldn't help but smirk when he saw "our study group"

[So it is OUR study group now, is it?] (Y)

[Shut up and reply to my original question!] (S)

'I mean, I could do that but...' Yuichi thought before looking towards the elevator that was still on the 7th floor.

'I want to see what she will do.'

[I don't think I will be able to tutor more than 1 idiot] (Y)

[Fuck you. Still, I appreciate your fast answer, I guess they will have to join Hirata's group or study alone. See you tomorrow.] (S)

[Sure, sorry I couldn't be of more help. Cya!] Yuichi sent the last message while walking out of the dorms before closing the chat with Sudo and focusing on another function on the phone.

'You can track someone's position who is in your contacts. Very interesting but isn't that illegal? I mean, they have absolutely zero privacy. It's obvious for school to monitor us but why would the students be allowed to monitor other students?' Yuichi thought while checking if Horikita is still within the dorms while walking around, near the dorms.

'That sudden pause and surprised expression, her impatient tone when she wanted to leave...Who contacted you, Horikita? Is it Chabashira-sensei? Maybe it could be Ayanokoji...Hmm' Yuichi thought while walking around in the park with an amused smirk.

Yuichi found a bench in the park and sat down on it with spread legs and arms, in a completely relaxed way. After a few minutes, he noticed that Horikita really exited the area of dorms so he quickly went back and it didn't take him too long to find her together with another person.

'Is that Manabu-senpai? So they indeed are siblings but it looks like Manabu isn't exactly happy to see his little sister.' Yuichi thought as he watched and eavesdropped on their conversation.

Their conversation was getting more dangerous until Manabu pinned his sister to the wall, telling her to leave this school.

Yuichi narrowed his eyes and began recording the entire thing, he knew that he had nothing to say since it was between 2 siblings but if it got out of hand, he would immediately stop them.

'Still, Horikita is showing her weaker side right now...' Yuichi thought.

The situation only got worse as Manabu probably planned to throw Horikita down on the hard concrete. At that moment, Yuichi was about to turn on the flashlight on his phone however before he could do that, he saw another person rushing towards them, stopping Manabu from what he was planning to do.

'Ayanokoji...? That speed definitely wasn't the average speed of high school student.' Yuichi thought with narrowed eyes.

After that, when Ayanokoji finally let go of Manabu, he was immediately attacked by him but Ayanokoji managed to dodge a few of his attacks before slapping his hand away that was most likely supposed to perform some kind of grappling technique. After that, both gained some distance from each other.

Witnessing all of this, Yuichi's face was now covered in shadows of the night together with a wide grin across his face.

'Ayanokoji, Ayanokoji...I knew you were lying back then in the swimming class, still, to be able to lie with a straight face...' Yuichi thought while gripping his heart as if he was hurt by Ayanokoji's lies.

'Well, I wanted to interfere but looks like there is no need to join in, still, this recording might be useful in blackmailing both Ayanokoji and Manabu...but I am not that type of guy.' Yuichi thought while shaking his head with a helpless smile. He looked towards the leaving figure of Manabu before he decided to do something just out of fun, to test out how perceptive and intelligent this student council president is.

.

.

"Oh? Good evening, Student council president!" Yuichi joined him after a few minutes of walking away from the dorms.

"...Iwamura. Good evening, why aren't you in the dorms yet?" He immediately questioned with a sharp glare, visibly still a bit irritated by the previous situation.

"I thought that I might go for a walk and then I noticed you so I thought of greeting you at least." Yuichi replied with a bright smile.

"...And was that a few minutes ago or did you just happen to notice me a few seconds ago?" He asked while glancing next to him at Yuichi's bright smile.

"Umm, I have no idea...The night is pretty peaceful so it's easy to forget such details, wouldn't you say so, senpai?" Yuichi asked with an innocent smile while emphasizing the word "peaceful".

"Is your entire class full of eavesdroppers?" Manabu asked with expressionless face.

"We aren't Class D for nothing. D stands for degenerate" Yuichi said cheerfully while winking at him.

Manabu glanced towards Yuichi's hand and noticed him holding his phone instead of keeping it in his pocket which prompted him to narrow his eyes.

Manabu stopped walking and turned to Yuichi, grabbing him by his collar and pulling him closer, however instead of getting a confused or surprised reaction from Yuichi...All he got was a wide smile.

"Peaceful night indeed" Yuichi muttered with closed eyes and a wide grin while being pulled by his collar.