"Hello? Who is this? Ayanokoji? What a rare guest. I didn't expect you to call me. Is it important? I thought so too, otherwise, you wouldn't come looking for me. What time? Hmm? Now? That urgent? It's convenient for me, yes, it is..."
Horikita Suzune glanced at Amane, who was playing on her phone under the covers.
"Amane, are you hungry?"
"Hmm, not too hungry yet, and I'm a bit sleepy, so I plan to take a nap first."
Amane placed her phone next to her pillow, then affectionately rubbed Horikita's pillow beside her.
"Then let's meet now. Amane is just about to rest for a bit."
Horikita Suzune hung up the phone after speaking.
"Ayanokoji said he has something important to tell me. I'm going downstairs to meet him first. If you're hungry, there are instant sandwiches to tide you over. I'll cook for you when I get back."
Horikita Suzune came to Amane's side, moved her phone from beside the pillow to the table, then lifted the covers, tucked the brown bear pillow in, and finally re-tucked the covers. Only then did she feel relieved enough to go downstairs.
"Suzune... never agree to anything beyond your capabilities, okay?"
Amane's voice came from behind her.
Horikita turned back in surprise.
Amane was showing a cute smile, tightly hugging her pillow.
Even her eyes were closed.
She looked as if she was very clumsy and hadn't said anything.
"I know. Amane, you stay in the room and don't run around, okay?"
After giving Amane a light peck on the cheek, Horikita put on her school uniform, opened the door, and walked out.
Hearing the soft click of the door closing, Amane slowly opened her eyes.
"Ayanokoji... you really like to meddle."
Amane murmured, then lightly sighed and closed her eyes. Anyway, Horikita would sooner or later be troubled by this matter. Rather than having Hirata cry and fuss to ask Suzune for help.
It was better to let Ayanokoji ask for help; perhaps Suzune would accept it more easily.
Horikita left the dormitory building and almost effortlessly spotted Ayanokoji Kiyotaka standing in the shadow of the large tree by the entrance.
Ayanokoji's expression seemed to have barely changed since she had known him, and coupled with their usual lack of interaction, Horikita couldn't read any useful information from Ayanokoji's expression at once.
"Is there something you needed to call me down for in the middle of the day?"
Facing Horikita's question, Ayanokoji thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth.
"I'd like to borrow some points from Horikita-san."
Although Ayanokoji's expression hadn't changed, Horikita still detected a hint of embarrassment in his tone.
"Oh, it's just points, no need to be so nervous. I know it's hard for you boys to ask girls for points, but there's no need to be so cautious, is there?"
Horikita saw Ayanokoji constantly glancing left and right.
He seemed to be wary of someone, which made her find it a bit amusing.
Was it because he was afraid of others seeing his awkwardness in borrowing points? Boys really care about their image.
"..."
Ayanokoji scratched his head a little awkwardly.
He didn't try to defend his act of borrowing points.
This kind of thing was actually quite common in D-Class.
D-Class hadn't received points for a month, and due to the Sudo incident, they wouldn't receive points next month either. Even the most frugal student couldn't possibly still have points after three months.
"How much do you plan to borrow?"
"Fifty thousand."
"What?"
This number exceeded Horikita's expectations.
She couldn't understand how, if it were for normal living expenses, it could possibly be fifty thousand points right off the bat. Such a huge sum, not only did Horikita not have it now, even if she did, she couldn't possibly lend it all to Ayanokoji in one go.
After all, everyone knew that the possibility of getting back points lent out was very low. If Ayanokoji only borrowed five thousand or ten thousand points, Horikita might still accept it.
Fifty thousand points was already beyond her tolerance.
Suddenly, Horikita remembered Amane's warning.
Don't agree to things beyond your capabilities.
Did Amane already know that Ayanokoji was going to borrow points from her?
"What's wrong? Is it difficult?"
Ayanokoji saw the expression on Horikita's face constantly changing and roughly guessed the reason.
"Yes, I only have less than thirty thousand personal points in my hand right now."
Horikita said, opening her terminal to show her balance. She only had a little over twenty-seven thousand points, just over half of fifty thousand points.
These personal points were far from enough.
"I miscalculated. I thought a frugal girl like Horikita might still have some points saved up, but I didn't expect your expenses to be quite high too."
Ayanokoji had heard a little about Horikita's frugality.
But even Horikita only had less than thirty thousand points left.
He definitely couldn't borrow everything. In Ayanokoji's opinion, borrowing fifteen thousand points was already the limit, so what should he do about the remaining points?
Chabashira's hint to him was to find Horikita.
But Horikita's points, even combined with his, were not enough to buy a single point.
Could it be that Chabashira-sensei miscalculated?
"No choice. I have to support two people, so my points are naturally spent more. Speaking of which, Ayanokoji, why are you suddenly borrowing such a large sum of money? You're not trying to buy a game console or something, are you?"
Horikita narrowed her eyes.
If it were for daily expenses, she could lend Ayanokoji some, and at worst, gather a little from Amane to meet Ayanokoji's needs.
But if Ayanokoji was borrowing points for entertainment, Horikita would never lend him the points.
"Actually, it's because…"
Ayanokoji roughly described his conversation with Chabashira to Horikita.
Horikita's first reaction after hearing it was to deny the idea of keeping everyone by spending one hundred twenty million points.
This idea was simply unrealistic.
No wonder her brother said that someone would definitely drop out this time.
As for the later mention of being able to save either Ichihashi Ruri or Sakura Airi.
Horikita Suzune thought for a moment.
"Although my points here aren't much, Amane's points are enough to support buying that one point for the grade… As for choosing someone, Ichihashi-san has a good relationship with Amane, so perhaps we can use this method to gain Amane's support."
Horikita's analysis was very reasonable. Ichihashi was originally part of the Kushida faction and had always had a good relationship with Amane. If it were Amane, she should be willing to put out one hundred thousand points to prevent Ichihashi-san from dropping out.
"Then I'll leave it to Horikita."
Seeing that Horikita Suzune already had an idea, Ayanokoji quickly went along with it and left the matter for Horikita to handle.
"Hey! Ayanokoji, that's a bit irresponsible of you. What do you mean, 'I'll leave it to you'? Shouldn't you be the one to discuss it with Amane?"
Although Horikita was absolutely confident she could persuade Amane, she was still dissatisfied with Ayanokoji's hands-off attitude.
"I think a girl would find it easier to move Miyako-san. If I, a boy, were to ask her, I might just mess things up."
Ayanokoji's excuse sounded like a pretense.
But Horikita knew that Ayanokoji was absolutely right. So, now it was up to Horikita Suzune.
Persuading Amane, wasn't that a piece of cake?
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!