Along with Fujiwara Chika’s shout, the surrounding gazes that were originally focused on Kaguya shifted in unison toward the direction of her and Ayanokouji.
Ayanokouji felt somewhat helpless at her usual atmosphere-blind antics, and deep down, he hesitated, wanting to move his feet immediately and put some distance between himself and this nonsensical girl.
“Would that Ice Princess Kaguya really come over just because you called her like that?” Ayanokouji asked casually.
“Hehe, I bet you didn’t know that, Mr.
Ayanokouji.” Fujiwara Chika puffed out her chest proudly, “Kaguya-san and I have been very close friends ever since we just entered the Middle School Division two years ago!”
Could this be another relationship like his own, where he was unilaterally and forcibly bound together?
Ayanokouji couldn’t help but make a reasonable guess in his heart.
However, to his surprise, after hearing the shout and turning her head, Kaguya slightly knitted her brows, but still casually grabbed a towel to simply dry her hair.
Then, she actually walked toward the shallow end where they were.
“Is there something you need, Fujiwara-san?”
Kaguya asked, standing at the edge of the pool.
Because Fujiwara Chika never gossiped about her in front of anyone, although it wasn’t very obvious on the surface, Kaguya had actually always been maintaining their relationship.
They actually knew each other.
Ayanokouji observed without changing expression, not feeling surprised at all by Kaguya’s reaction of only talking to Fujiwara Chika after walking over and treating him completely like air.
“Of course it’s because I haven’t seen what Kaguya-san looks like in swimwear for a long time, so I wanted to call you over to appreciate it up close!”
Fujiwara Chika said with a giggle, then suddenly grabbed Ayanokouji’s arm and asked:
“How about it, Mr.
Ayanokouji?
As a boy, don’t you also think Kaguya-san’s swimwear is extremely pleasing to the eye?”
“This is a golden opportunity to appreciate it up close fair and square, don’t be shy.”
The result was that Kaguya took a guarded step back, instinctively crossing her hands in front of her chest.
“Stop saying such easily misunderstood things.”
Ayanokouji raised his hand expressionlessly and gave Fujiwara Chika a light chop on the head, causing Fujiwara Chika to cover her head, exaggerate an “ouch,” and tear up.
“So you’re here too, Ayanokoji-kun.
I didn’t notice you just now.”
Her harsh personality was also an influence of the Shinomiya Family’s education on her.
Being a young lady as well, compared to her, Togawa was simply the exact opposite extreme.
The figure of that blue-haired noble girl flashed briefly through his mind, but Kiyotaka’s expression remained unchanged as he replied in a flat tone:
“Shinomiya-kun seems quite confident.
Are you already prepared to break the record in the upcoming test?”
Kaguya raised her hand to gracefully wipe away the water droplets dripping from the corner of her hair, “Whether I can break the record or not, I don’t know.
But on the result roster, my name will be printed at the very top—that is a pre-determined outcome.”
“See you later, Fujiwara-san.”
Seeing that the free time was almost over and having no desire to continue communicating with Ayanokouji, Kaguya nodded to Chika and then turned around to walk toward the gathering point.
“Mr.
Ayanokouji, Mr.
Ayanokouji.”
Once Kaguya had walked far away, Fujiwara Chika immediately sidled up like a thief, bent her fingers toward Ayanokouji, and motioned for him to come closer.
Ayanokouji leaned over slightly, and Chika leaned directly against his ear, whispering:
“By the way, do you and Kaguya-san have some kind of grudge?
How come it felt like her tone was ice-cold when she was talking to you just now?”
Although he was somewhat bothered by her over-developed curves and the fact that they were pressing against his arm due to the distance and angle, Ayanokouji’s attention was still focused on the part of Chika’s words that begged to be retorted:
“She seems to use this tone with everyone she gets along with; there’s no difference at all, right?”
Even with you, her self-proclaimed “best friend,” she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic when talking to you just now.
Ayanokouji silently swallowed the second half of his retort in his heart.
However, Fujiwara’s words also corroborated the results of his previous probing actions.
Although Kaguya didn’t say anything out loud, she had already begun to develop some emotions toward him internally.
The fact that even Fujiwara Chika could see this meant it was already obvious enough.
Therefore, listening to the gathering whistle blown by the P.E.
teacher, a plan quickly formed in Ayanokouji’s mind.
He called out to Fujiwara Chika, who was just about to get up and head ashore.
“Fujiwara, could you please help me do something in a bit?”
Hearing that Ayanokouji actually needed a favor from her, Fujiwara Chika’s eyes instantly lit up.
As long as it’s—”
Halfway through her chest-pumping guarantee, her arm, which had paused mid-air due to the soft bounce, halted slightly, and then she narrowed her eyes, staring at Ayanokouji with an all-seeing gaze:
“Wait, Mr.
Ayanokouji, you wouldn’t be asking me to take advantage of the teacher’s inattention to steal the scoring notebook and secretly alter your test scores, would you?”
Fujiwara Chika crossed her arms in front of her chest and made a big “X”:
“Chika has principles and is an emissary of justice who will never break the rules!
Therefore, please spare me such cheating requests!”
“…It’s not anything like that.”
Ayanokouji was left somewhat speechless by her wildly imaginative and bizarre thought process.
The trajectory of the words and actions of the girl in front of him was even harder to understand and predict than Takamatsu Tomori.
“What I’m asking you to do is…”
“Hmm, eh…
eh?!”
As Ayanokouji whispered close to her ear, Fujiwara Chika’s mouth slowly opened wider, and her eyes grew rounder and rounder.
After listening, she drew in a sharp breath.
Then she reached out and placed the back of her hand against Ayanokouji’s forehead.
After confirming his temperature was normal and he wasn’t running a fever, she looked at him with a compassionate, benevolent, and pitying gaze.
“Erm…
Mr.
Ayanokouji.”
Chika patted Ayanokouji’s shoulder, “If you encounter any difficulties in life, just talk to me anytime.”
A rare trace of confusion flashed across Ayanokouji’s poker face: “Why are you suddenly saying that?”
“Otherwise…”
Fujiwara Chika’s emotions suddenly spiked, and with a splash, she stood up from the pool and shouted loudly:
“————Otherwise, why would you make such an outrageous request that brings humiliation upon yourself?!”