"Amane, why have you been so listless lately?"
Horikita looked at Amane, who was walking and feeling sleepy, and felt puzzled.
Amane's sleep schedule had been quite stable recently.
Perhaps it was summer now; after spring, Amane had also reined herself in a bit and wasn't clinging to Suzune every night for hugs like before.
Even with this restraint, Amane still looked perpetually half-asleep.
"I don't know either, I just feel so sleepy..."
Amane yawned and then leaned against Horikita's shoulder.
"I can't stand you. Doing that suddenly while walking could make you fall."
Horikita felt her shoulder sink; without looking, she knew it must be Amane using her shoulder as a pillow again.
"I know."
Amane's perfunctory reply made Horikita sigh helplessly.
"What do you think about this matter with Sakura-san?"
Horikita casually asked Amane for her opinion on Airi's confession letter incident.
Hearing it was about Airi, Amane finally opened her eyes and lifted her head from Horikita's shoulder.
"No need to think, someone is definitely meddling behind the scenes, but the timing and that confession letter make me feel a bit strange."
Seeing Amane rarely show such a serious expression,
Horikita Suzune simply sat down on a nearby bench.
Anyway, they were just strolling around now.
If Amane wanted to think about something, she should just let her think.
Otherwise, if she walked while thinking, Amane might bump into a lamppost.
"Hehe."
Seeing Horikita sit on the bench, Amane quickly jogged a couple of steps and lay horizontally across Horikita's lap, rubbing her face against it comfortably.
"Aren't you afraid someone will take a picture of you like this? If people found out that such a cute Amane acts so immodestly in public, it might disappoint many people."
Recently, Horikita Suzune had received several charts from Ayanokoji.
They were all rankings of things boys were interested in, such as which girl was cute, which girl had a good figure, which girl had big breasts, and other gossipy rankings.
In these rankings, Horikita Suzune's name only appeared once on the beauty ranking list.
However, Horikita Suzune clearly had no interest in such gossip lists, but what surprised her was that Amane could rank in the top three on every list.
She even managed to surpass Ichinose Honami to take the top spot on the cute ranking list.
It was only then that Horikita realized that perhaps Amane, who constantly bothered her to the point of annoyance, was unexpectedly a highly popular beautiful girl in the eyes of others.
But Horikita could guarantee that anyone who got to know Amane more deeply would find their perfect image of Amane completely shattered.
Because... Amane was truly too annoying.
She was probably the only one who could tolerate Amane.
Anyone else might have been driven to a nervous breakdown by Amane.
"What do their disappointments have to do with me? I just like resting on your lap, Suzune. It's bouncy and soft, very comfortable."
"idiot! Don't say such things out loud!"
Horikita blushed and poked Amane's cheek.
Amane let out a cute, "Ow!" sound.
Horikita then stopped her actions.
Despite still having a look of disdain, Horikita had long grown accustomed to Amane's behavior.
"Oh, right, we were just discussing Airi's matter."
Amane, who was rubbing against Horikita's abdomen, suddenly remembered something.
"I feel Class C is the most suspicious in this matter."
Horikita first stated her opinion.
Yesterday, she and Amane went to the scene together to investigate the situation.
Hirata stated that he was completely unaware of such things.
He didn't even know the purpose of Shibata asking Airi out when he made the request on Shibata's behalf.
Therefore, Hirata merely played the role of an intermediary.
There was no need for him to get involved in this matter.
And Shibata was even more bewildered.
He didn't even know the letter was fake before he confessed.
However, he couldn't be blamed for this; let alone Shibata not thinking of it, even Amane didn't expect someone to deliver a fake confession letter.
Such a prank was truly a bit boring.
The only thing that was different from those commonplace fake love letter pranks was... the handwriting on that letter was actually Sakura Airi's.
Sakura Airi also admitted that it was indeed her handwriting.
But she said she could guarantee that she absolutely did not write the confession letter.
It was precisely this point that made the incident so perplexing.
The reason it was called perplexing
was because, in Class B, besides Shibata, Kanzaki Ryuji, the second-in-command, also received a confession letter from Airi.
This caused Class B to be extremely displeased with Airi.
They even believed that Airi was deliberately toying with the boys of Class B.
The girls of Class B even spontaneously went to her, further escalating the matter. Now, almost the entire first year knew that Airi had sent confession letters to two boys in Class B simultaneously.
This led to Airi receiving a considerable amount of criticism.
At the same time, although Shibata came forward to explain that it might be someone else's prank,
Compared to the good-natured Shibata, Kanzaki was much stricter. He insisted that no one would mimic the handwriting of an unknown girl from Class D and then deliberately play a prank by confessing to two people in Class B.
Kanzaki firmly believed that Airi was that kind of unchaste girl, attempting to maintain romantic relationships with multiple people, only to be exposed during her attempts.
Otherwise, how could one explain that the handwriting on the confession letters all belonged to Sakura Airi?
Would someone really be bored enough to play such a prank?
Kanzaki's criticism was the root cause of the incident escalating to an unmanageable degree.
Under immense pressure, Airi even took sick leave from Chabashira-sensei, staying alone in her dorm and not daring to go out. Even when Amane went to see Airi, she was turned away.
"I also feel it should be Ryuuen's doing, but the timeline is very strange."
Amane could almost certainly conclude that Ryuuen was behind it.
However, this time she couldn't find any evidence of Ryuuen's involvement.
Firstly, Airi, as one of the witnesses to the Ishizaki Incident, had such an incident occur at the critical juncture when Ishizaki and his group were about to be discharged from the hospital.
Regardless of the final outcome, it would inevitably affect Airi's state. When the Student Council convenes a bilateral meeting, whether Airi can come forward to testify is a problem. And coincidentally, the targets of the confession letter prank were from Class B.
This raises the question of whether Shiraha's stance will waver.
Even if Shiraha firmly stood with Amane,
Class B currently has strong opinions against Class D, making it almost impossible for them to work together as before. Once infiltrated by self-interest, this fragile alliance could immediately fall apart.
So, no matter how you look at it, this confession letter prank is a very clever move.
The problem is... Shibata received the confession letter a week ago, and Ishizaki received his five days ago.
They both received their confession letters before the Ishizaki Incident.
No matter how brilliant Ryuuen is, there's no way he could have known Airi would be there that day, right?
This is the root of Amane's confusion.
Note:
Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!
I wish you all a year filled with blessings, success, good fortune, and happiness!
Important Announcement:
I will be on Lunar New Year holiday starting February 15th, 2026, and will return on February 23rd, 2026. During this time, I will focus on resting and spending time with my family.
During my break, I will prepare some new chapters, which I will post regularly after the holiday ends. Please stay tuned — the following parts are very interesting!
Thank you so much for your incredible support. Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!