After receiving some very bad news, Kikyō was in a bad mood. Houtarou's warning about targeting Suzune had struck a nerve.
Her dark history was out there, and any student from that school might know about it. What would happen if underclassmen from the same school joined next year? She couldn't possibly silence them all.
This was truly a terrible situation.
After competing in four events, Kikyō accepted the bottle of mineral water Houtarou offered. His attention then shifted to Suzune.
Suzune possessed an undeniable beauty. Her waist-length black hair cascaded down her back and shoulders, adorned with a small white ribbon bow on the right side and a delicate braid. The lily-scented fragrance of her shampoo lingered in her flowing dark hair.
Her long eyelashes, fox-like orange eyes, and delicate features were striking. When composed, she carried an elegant, almost aloof aura.
Now resting, her usual dignified presence had softened slightly. To Houtarou, she increasingly resembled the future wife Suzune he knew so well.
If she stayed on this path — without any dramatic changes — she would naturally become Wife Suzune in ten years.
"Oreki?" Suzune caught him lost in thought.
"It's nothing." Houtarou said.
He turned toward Kikyō, who sat at Suzune's right side. The space had grown cramped with his arrival.
"Kushida-san, could you move aside?" Houtarou asked.
Kikyō: "..."
Well. Fine then.
Still catching her breath from the events, Kikyō moved aside. She watched as Houtarou knelt before Suzune and gently grasped her bandaged left leg.
"You were too reckless this time." Houtarou said, "Usually one wouldn't get injured."
Suzune: "..."
She knew he was referring to the voice recorder he'd given her as a precaution.
Despite her precautions, she still ended up injured and falsely accused by Kakeru. Fortunately, Airi recovered the voice recorder, which helped her turn the situation around.
Looking back, Suzune realized her immaturity. She shouldn't have turned when Minori called her name during the competition — that reaction had led to both their injuries.
Suzune reflected on her actions.
But...
Kikyō: "..."
The dark angel felt increasingly out of place. The dynamic between Houtarou and Suzune was clearly working well without her.
Despite her exceptional social skills and natural ability to connect with others, Kikyō found herself unable to fit into their interaction.
Frustrated, she walked away.
Meanwhile, Houtarou examined Suzune's left leg.
The school nurse had bandaged the sprain. Not that the severity mattered — he had his cheat ability.
〖 Do you want to use Restoration Ability on Suzune Horikita? 〗
〖 Note 1: Can restore objects or organisms to their state from up to one week ago. Can also skip over mandatory damage states. This includes being able to restore menstruation to before it started 〗
Yes!
Houtarou didn't hesitate.
Though Suzune might be slow with emotions, she was quite sensitive to physical changes. He'd previously cured her illnesses on the ship, but those had a natural progression to explain the recovery. This sprain — which had forced her to forfeit the Three-Legged Race — would be harder to explain if it suddenly healed.
Still, he couldn't bear to see his future wife limping around with an injured leg.
So he said: "My classmates have obtained your class's competition entry form. I saw that you signed up for the 1200-meter all-grade relay race as the fourth runner. You want to participate in the same event as your brother, right?"
"Ah—you knew about that." Suzune's tone softened, "Indeed, that's right. Because brother is already in third year, he'll graduate soon. And I want to show him my growth."
Want to show her growth, huh?
Houtarou understood her feelings well. He'd tried something similar with his own sister, only to have her hug him and coo about how cute he was — embarrassing, really. He could relate to Suzune's desire to prove herself to her accomplished sibling.
Regarding her situation, Suzune was initially judged as a weak younger sister upon enrollment. Manabu likely only allowed her to stay because he worried she'd face bullying elsewhere — better to keep her under his watchful eye.
Though Suzune had begun cooperating with him since her enrollment and received help through various situations, here she was, injured once again.
She probably felt fortunate that Airi had appeared, retrieved the voice recorder, and confronted Kakeru. What she didn't know was that he had instructed Airi to do this — all to help Suzune save face.
In truth, Suzune's actions demonstrated no real growth. What she planned to show Manabu would amount to a disappointing progress report.
Houtarou could simply coast along toward that future ten years ahead. After all, he was still in the early stages of collecting points while receiving Manabu's ¥500,000 fee to watch over his sister.
Yet without showing any achievements before becoming family in the future, he would undoubtedly face resistance from Manabu. Houtarou preferred to avoid such complications.
Come on, Suzune — work harder. Show your brother that keeping you around wasn't a mistake.
Therefore...
"My sister taught me massage techniques that might help your injury. It will only provide temporary relief, though, so you'll need to be careful afterward." Houtarou said.
"Can you really do something like that?" Suzune asked, thinking he was merely trying to comfort her.
"Have you forgotten how your brother evaluated me?" Houtarou asked.
Ah. How had he evaluated him?
That night when they first met, her brother had declared that this man had reached the limits of human capability.
She had witnessed this overwhelming power with Rokusuke, seen him fall ill and mysteriously recover on the ship. His healing abilities were simply extraordinary.
She assumed these exceptional individuals must possess special techniques for physical conditioning.
She watched intently as Houtarou unwrapped her bandage and gently held her ankle.
He examined her foot carefully. Her skin was so fair that the blue-green traces of blood vessels were visible beneath. The ankle showed noticeable swelling at the injury site.
From a distance, Kikyō observed Houtarou's actions with growing disgust.
"First he's obsessed with hands, and now he's a foot fetishist?"
How revolting. At least she had normal preferences.
But as Houtarou had warned, her list of enemies was growing, and the underclassmen from her middle school posed an even greater threat. Though she was reluctant to admit it, she knew Suzune wasn't one to spread gossip carelessly.
The other underclassmen, however, might say things like, "Kikyō-senpai, you wouldn't want people knowing about your past, would you?"
This was disastrous!
Instead of fixating on getting Suzune expelled, she needed to focus on handling the situation when the first-years arrived.
Right now, her only option seemed to be seeking Houtarou's help.
The man was incredibly powerful but cold-hearted. Without appealing to him through feminine charm, he wouldn't help — he might even consider her a nuisance.
She contemplated how to protect herself, perhaps by offering additional incentives, though taking those photos had already pushed her shame to its limits.
Now she felt regret creeping in. The last thing she wanted was him playing with her feet too.
Houtarou Oreki, couldn't you just be normal?
⍟⍟⍟
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