15.5 Chapter 5.9: The Treasure Hunt Of Troubled Women Part9

Past five in the afternoon. Before the dinner at 6pm, I had arranged to meet with a certain person and was now waiting for them.

When I left my room and headed for the 5th floor, I happened across Sudou who was 2 rooms away.

"Where are you going? It's about to be dinner."

Sudou seemed like he was returning to his room. He asked me.

"I'm taking a little walk before mealtime."

"You kinda sound like an old man. Then let's meet at the restaurant."

I exchanged light words with him and tried to leave, but as if he had remembered something Sudou raised his voice.

"No, sorry sorry. Right, the thing is I'm a bit surprised about something!"

"That Ike and Shinohara are going out?"

"Wha-what the heck you already knew!"

"I just overheard it."

"No, of course I'm surprised about that too since he started before me... anyway, that guy said he wanted to study with me. He told me to let him join Suzune's study group."

That was unexpected. But more than unexpected it was faster than I thought it would be.

"Being bad at academics is fatal in this school after all."

The thing that would put you in danger of being expelled the most was, sure enough, studying; the duty of students.

"That's my precious time where I can be alone with Suzune, but if that guy is determined then I have no choice but to help him do I? So now for our summer studies Kanji will be studying hard with us too."

Summer studies. Somehow it looks like once this trip ends, they intend to start studying right away.

Whether he'll produce results right away is up to how hard Ike works, but he might show very quick growth in the 2nd term. Sudou and Ike could both be transforming because of love.

"Even more members might join."

"Ah? Really?"

"The students who started wanting to study with Horikita aren't limited to Ike."

"It's not a man is it?"

He put on a serious expression, closed his distance with me and grabbed my shoulders.

"No... it's not. It's Satou, Satou."

I hadn't intended to say the name, but since he was pressuring me I confessed.

"A girl huh. Well then that's... I mean, is it Satou? If she knows that not only I but also Ike will be in the study group won't she not participate?"

"I think she's expecting something like that to some extent? It looked like she was strongly determined."

"Hmmm. Well, that's fine. No matter who comes, I won't feel like giving up after all."

He breathed through his nose with a fufufun. He made me feel another strong desire to study from him.

"Won't it be hard with your club activities?"

"It will be hard. But in the first place I've always been confident in my physical strength. My head would spin and I would want to sleep in one minute, but now, I don't... no, I can focus for about an hour."

If he can focus on studying for just that long then there's no problem.

A single hour of studying, rest, and another hour of studying. Repeating this cycle is more than enough.

"But - damn, I can't accept that Kanji got a girlfriend before me-"

Sudou lamented as he laughed with frustration from his heart.

"For that, I'll be blaming him while tempering myself. With the basketball club's spartan training."

It seems like he'll train harshly with the love and hatred for his friend in mind.

"In moderation. It's not easy to start liking studying if you hated it before."

"I know. I really hated studying myself huh."

After he said that, he stuck out his tongue as if he had eaten something bad.

After I separated with Sudou, I arrived at my destination. I saw Kushida on the deck once and hid. It was five minutes after the time we had arranged to meet, so of course she's waiting.

I took out my phone and called her. She picked it up on my second try.

"Hello?"

After I was able to confirm her voice, I started walking towards her on the deck.

Phones by nature prioritize 『calls』.

Hypothetically, even if you're in video recording mode, if a call starts then it automatically exits it.

In other words, the conversation between Kushida and I here will be kept between us.

"Sorry Kushida, I'm late. I was in the middle of buying something. Are you still waiting?"

"Yeah, um - ah, here-!"

Kushida looked left and right, spotted me and waved.

Without cutting my phone, I quickly arrived in front of her.

At about the same time, we cut the call.

"Sorry for making you wait. I got a little lost."

"You're clumsy too. But what happened? You said you had something to talk about."

"I was a bit hesitant on what I should do for some time, but as I thought, I think I should reveal it."

"Hm? Reveal? What?"

"You know that I was participating in the Treasure Hunting Game right?"

"Yeah. You were paired with Satou-san weren't you?"

So what? She was curious because she wasn't able to understand where I was going with this.

"In the Treasure Hunt, the code I scanned was worth 100,000 points. So, apart from the participation fee, that's 90,000 points. If we divide that by two, it's 45000 points. I think it'd be correct to give you that half."

I said that, produced my phone and showed the record of my money.

The fact that I had just received 100,000 points from now was written clearly.

"Eeh? That was a game, you don't need to worry that much you know~"

Kushida was surprised since she hadn't thought of this. She made an arch with her hands and refused.

"Honestly, at first I also thought that. I definitely thought that, but I started to feel that was wicked and unfair. There was also a possibility that you would say you didn't need it, but I wondered if I could live silent without telling you this. I'm ashamed of my way of thinking, so it's only reasonable to give you this."

"But-"

No matter what kind of reasoning I introduced, it would be hard to accept from Kushida's standpoint.

"If I were to say what I really think... I want you to accept this as my sincerity."

"Sincerity...?"

"By giving half of the private points I receive, I'm buying safety from you. As long as I keep my sincerity in this, I think you can also keep your sincerity."

Am I wrong? I appealed with my eyes.

"There's no harm in getting even a little bit more private points. Right?"

"Right, but isn't it really hard for you?"

"It's fine. It's not a big deal compared to fighting with you."

"Like... on the contrary this is kinda scary."

"What do you mean?"

"You're-look, people say a lot of things about you and that you're an amazing student. Are you really giving me half of your points for a truce?"

"From my viewpoint, I've judged that more than Sakayanagi and Ryuuen who fought on the island, making an enemy out of you, who I see everyday, is dangerous."

Even while keeping some of her guard up, Kushida nodded to signify that she had more or less understood.

"I get it. So it's fine right?"

"Of course."

I used my phone and transferred the private points from today as well to Kushida's account.

"I said I'd give you money, but if you ever have a problem related to money then I might help."

"Eeh~? That's kinda uncool Ayanokouji-kun."

As if me being pathetic was funny, Kushida laughed a little.

"But I think this is far, far smarter than what Horikita is doing. I don't hate it."

"Really?"

"I also think that I don't want to make an enemy from you of all people. Please take care of me."

"Yeah. Please, let's have a relationship where we can give-and-take."

After that, having no business left with Kushida, I separated from her.