"Confession? Amane, is someone confessing to you?"
Horikita emerged from the dark corner.
Although she wore what she thought was a friendly expression,
Amane still felt a chill down her spine.
"N-no, what confession? I don't know anything."
Amane turned around, her face full of smiles, blocking Horikita's view.
Her hands behind her back quickly gestured to Ichinose.
Although Ichinose didn't know who the other person was, judging by Amane's expression, she seemed to be a close classmate.
Did Amane's gesture mean... she should go up and say hello?
"Hello, I'm Ichinose Honami from First Year Class B. Please take care of me."
Ichinose extended her hand towards Horikita.
Horikita eyed Amane, whose smile was a bit stiff, out of the corner of her eye.
"This is..."
"First Year Class D, Horikita Suzune."
Horikita directly blocked Amane and shook hands with Ichinose.
Also First Year Class D?
It seemed they were good classmates and friends.
Luckily, she didn't guess wrong this time.
Ichinose patted her chest in relief.
Amane, however, had a bitter expression.
Her gesture was for Ichinose to quickly escape, but she didn't expect Ichinose to face the challenge head-on and even greet Suzune.
Their coordination couldn't be said to be non-existent, but there was basically no chemistry.
Horikita watched Ichinose pat her chest, raising an eyebrow.
It seemed the other party was prepared. Horikita thought for a moment and then decided on her next plan of action.
"I didn't interrupt your conversation just now, did I?"
Horikita looked like she felt apologetic for suddenly appearing and interrupting Amane and Ichinose's conversation.
In reality, she intended to observe their reactions.
Amane immediately looked up at the sky.
This was Amane's usual trick to muddle through. Horikita couldn't be bothered with her, and Ichinose originally wanted to say it was fine, but then she remembered that Amane had actually misunderstood her as confessing, and she couldn't help but blush a little.
If this matter got out, it would definitely have a bad negative impact. President Horikita already didn't like her much, and she might use this as an excuse to kick her out of the Student Council.
For a moment, the atmosphere became strange.
Ichinose lowered her head, blushing, and remained silent.
Horikita waited for an answer with an apologetic expression, while Amane looked up at the stars. Finally, Horikita realized there was a problem and, to keep the conversation going,
Horikita turned her gaze to Amane.
"Amane, I just heard you talking about a confession. Can you tell me about it?"
Faced with Horikita's friendly inquiry, Amane could no longer pretend not to see her.
"Suzune, isn't it..."
"I'm quite confident in my hearing."
"How should this be handled?"
Amane-san glanced at Ichinose.
Ichinose seemed to be deep in thought, her head bowed, remaining silent.
It seemed Amane-san had to rely on herself.
What if Amane-san just said it was a misunderstanding?
Anyway, it was just one of those things, and if Amane-san explained it clearly to Suzune, she probably wouldn't think too much of it.
If Amane-san kept being evasive, it would only make Suzune unnecessarily suspicious.
"Actually, this is just a misunderstanding."
Amane-san observed Horikita Suzune's expression as she spoke.
Horikita-san simply crossed her arms, raising her chin slightly, gesturing for Amane-san to continue.
"It was just a small misunderstanding; I mistook Classmate Ichinose wanting to apologize to me as Classmate Ichinose wanting to confess to me, and then some ambiguity arose…"
Amane-san finished, somewhat self-consciously scratching her cheek.
Why did it sound so fake?
However, Horikita Suzune's expression remained neutral.
Was she dissatisfied? Or had she accepted such an outlandish explanation?
Horikita Suzune was analyzing the credibility of Amane-san's words.
Logically speaking, such a low-probability misunderstanding shouldn't just happen randomly.
But if the subject was Amane-san, then it was hard to say. Through a long period of interacting with Amane-san, Horikita-san had long discovered that Amane-san had an inexplicable void in common sense.
This led to Amane-san's thought process being rather erratic, often misunderstanding Horikita-san's intentions.
So Amane-san's explanation seemed quite outlandish.
However, Horikita Suzune still decided to believe Amane-san.
"Since it's a misunderstanding, it should be cleared up by now, right?"
"Yes, yes, Ichinose and I both know it was a misunderstanding, hehe."
Amane-san smiled and leaned closer to Horikita-san, hugging her arm.
"I'm feeling a bit cold. How about we go back?"
Horikita-san looked at Amane-san's fawning manner and sighed inwardly.
This was clearly a little trick to get rid of her, but even though she knew it was Amane-san's little game, she always wanted to indulge Amane-san.
"Since you're feeling a bit cold, let's go back. Oh, by the way, Classmate Ichinose, I heard Amane-san say you wanted to apologize to her. What was that about?"
Horikita Suzune just asked casually, giving Ichinose a topic to ease the situation.
Ichinose only needed to chat about something inconsequential for a couple of sentences, and then everyone could happily return to the dorms.
But what Horikita Suzune and Amane-san completely didn't expect was this:
Ichinose suddenly looked up sharply at Amane-san.
"It's like this: during the meeting this afternoon, Amane-san was about to get into a conflict with Committee Member Kiriyama. I instinctively wanted to go and stop them. As a result… because of my personal reasons, I couldn't resist doing something excessive to Amane-san's body. I came tonight specifically to apologize to Amane-san for this. I am truly very sorry, and I hope Amane-san can forgive my actions."
Ichinose blushed and lowered her head, asking for Amane-san's forgiveness.
Amane-san, on the other hand, was completely stunned.
"Did something excessive to Amane-san's body? Like what?"
Horikita Suzune mistakenly thought Ichinose had committed an act of violence against Amane-san.
Her tone couldn't help but become more stern.
How could Horikita-san suddenly get angry when they were just chatting nicely?
Ichinose looked at the unusually serious Horikita Suzune with some confusion.
When Ichinose's gaze fell upon Amane-san, she seemed to wake up from a dream and waved her hands repeatedly.
"It's not what Horikita-san thinks. Amane-san and I are friends. I didn't use violence against Amane-san."
Hearing Ichinose's flustered explanation, Horikita Suzune observed Ichinose's expression.
Although Ichinose was somewhat flustered, her gaze didn't waver, and Amane-san also didn't react, so it could be judged that Ichinose's words were credible.
"That's good. To be honest, I don't want Amane-san to be involved in violent conflicts. If she gets hurt, it would be even more disadvantageous."
Horikita Suzune said, pinching Amane-san's cheek.
Ichinose's eyes widened.
Was Horikita-san really that close to Amane-san?
"Hmph, if it really came to a fight, I could take down their entire class by myself."
Amane-san puffed out her chest, announcing proudly.
Horikita Suzune and Ichinose both smiled.
"We know you're very strong."
Horikita-san didn't take Amane-san's words seriously. No matter how good Amane-san was at fighting, taking down an entire class was a bit too abstract.
"Honestly, Suzune always coaxes me with that tone, like I'm a child."
Amane-san hugged Horikita-san's arm tightly.
Seeing that it was getting late, Horikita-san decided to end the conversation there, but she still had one curious question.
"If it wasn't an act of violence, then why did Classmate Ichinose need to apologize to Amane-san?"
In Horikita-san's view, anything less serious than violence shouldn't warrant a special apology from Ichinose.
"Um… I couldn't resist secretly touching Classmate Amane's abs."
???
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