When Honami Ichinose’s voice came from behind him, Hikaru Naruse couldn’t help but give a slight smile.
It seemed she really did care after all.
Naruse slowly turned around, a perfectly measured trace of confusion on his face, as though he hadn’t expected her to call out to him.
“What is it?
Is Ichinose-san interested in what I proposed?”
“Umm…”
The girl’s expression had already fully recovered from her earlier wariness and hesitation, replaced now by a look of earnest seriousness.
“If what Naruse-san proposed really is good for the class as a whole, then I…
I’m willing to talk with you.”
Honami Ichinose wasn’t playing any word games, nor was she setting any preconditions.
This was her sincerity—and her resolve.
“Good.”
Naruse smiled gently and remarked offhandedly.
“Ichinose-san really is sincere.
I believe the students of Class B didn’t choose the wrong person.
As a leader, there are some things that truly require a bit of boldness.”
“Is that so?”
Honami Ichinose blinked slightly, then showed a somewhat bashful smile.
“Naruse-san is giving me too much credit.”
“Modesty is a virtue too.”
Hikaru Naruse smiled faintly, then once again pulled his phone out of his pocket.
This time, his movements were even more composed than before.
He turned the phone’s screen toward Honami Ichinose, displaying his own student account information.
Since everyone’s phones were issued by the school, exchanging contact information required an exchange of data.
“Mm.”
This time, Honami Ichinose didn’t hesitate again.
The two phones let out a soft notification chime almost simultaneously.
Hikaru Naruse glanced down at the newly added contact on his phone screen and nodded in satisfaction.
“Thank you for your trust, Ichinose-san.
I’ll come find you this afternoon.”
“Understood.”
Honami Ichinose also put away her phone, then glanced down at the contact list on her screen.
Her gaze fell on those three characters—[Hikaru Naruse]—and a strange feeling suddenly welled up in her heart.
Even though today was the very first day of the school term, she hadn’t really exchanged contact information even with her own classmates in Class B, and yet now she’d suddenly swapped numbers with a boy from another class whom she’d only just met.
How strange.
Honami Ichinose sighed softly to herself, then lifted her head and looked back at Hikaru Naruse.
“Then I’ll see you after school, Naruse-san.”
“Mm.”
Hikaru Naruse gave a slight nod, and only after watching Honami Ichinose walk into the classroom did he turn and leave.
After leaving Class B, Hikaru Naruse slowed his pace, then looked at his system panel.
[Emotional Comeback Task issued: Reconnect with Honami Ichinose.]
[Task complete!]
[Reward: Emotion Perception +3 has been distributed!]
Naruse closed his eyes slightly, focusing his attention on a certain region deep within his brain.
He felt a subtle warm current surge out from the depths of his mind.
The sensation was peculiar—not like a change in temperature, but more like an expansion on the level of perception itself.
It was as if all of his senses had grown a bit sharper, able to capture subtle fluctuations he hadn’t been able to notice before.
It was at this moment that Naruse heard footsteps coming from behind him.
“Hikaru Naruse-san.”
A cool, flat voice came from behind him.
“What are you doing here?”
The intonation of that voice was very distinctive, snapping him back to attention at once.
“?”
Hikaru Naruse turned around, his gaze landing on the girl standing behind him.
She had a head of deep blue long hair, casually tied into low twin tails, with a simple silver hairpin fastened at her forehead.
The girl’s irises were a pale purple, her eyes calm and cool.
Her skin was very fair, her features delicate and refined, her lip color light, her expression quiet with a touch of aloofness.
Hikaru Naruse quickly searched through his memory for information about this girl, and then her name came to him.
Ai Morishita.
Likewise a student of Class A.
Likewise a prodigy.
In the original work, what made Ai Morishita special wasn’t how strong her abilities were, but rather that her way of thinking and her behavioral patterns were utterly different from ordinary people.
She was in the habit of addressing her peers by their full names.
For instance, the normal, polite way to address him would be “Naruse-san,” yet the very first time she spoke to Naruse, she’d called out his full name.
In this island nation’s society, which placed such heavy emphasis on etiquette and interpersonal relationships, this form of address was almost unheard of.
It was neither an intimate nickname nor a formal honorific, but something in between the two…
an inexplicably strange manner of address.
From this, one could tell she was an extremely peculiar person.
Naruse adjusted his expression slightly, then said calmly.
“I just have a few things to take care of, that’s all.”
His answer was ambiguous—neither denying nor confirming—leaving himself plenty of room to maneuver.
But Ai Morishita was clearly not someone who would be fobbed off by such a vague reply.
Her gaze went past Hikaru Naruse’s shoulder, falling on the far end of the corridor in the distance.
“Hikaru Naruse-san.”
She addressed him once again in that full-name manner, her tone very direct.
“You just proposed that kind of competition plan at the class meeting.
Right now should be exactly the time to keep an eye on Sakayanagi-san’s and Katsuragi-san’s movements, yet you’ve come here all alone.”
Her gaze returned to Hikaru Naruse’s face, a sharp glint flashing through her pale purple pupils.
“Could it be that you have some other plan of action?”
The question was somewhat offensive.
In normal social interaction, someone who’d only spoken to you for the first time today was unlikely to inquire about your whereabouts in such an interrogating tone.
But Ai Morishita wasn’t a “normal person”—she’d simply thought of it, and so she’d asked it outright.
Hikaru Naruse looked at her, a subtle feeling rising in his heart.
A little unexpected, yet not entirely unexpected.
It was at this moment that Hikaru Naruse suddenly realized something.
The Emotion Perception ability he’d just acquired was perfect for a situation like this.
So Naruse gathered his focus a little, extending the feelers of his perception toward the Ai Morishita in front of him.
That peculiar sensation appeared once more…
A few seconds later, a blurry yet clear judgment took shape in Hikaru Naruse’s mind.
There was a trace of curiosity.
And a trace of concern…
as well as probing?
Hikaru Naruse silently analyzed this information in his heart, finding it all rather interesting.
If it had been before he obtained this ability, he probably could only have judged from Ai Morishita’s outward words and actions the conclusion that “she might be curious about me.”
But now, he could grasp the layers of the other person’s emotions far more precisely, so this information was extremely important for his next approach and strategy.
Hikaru Naruse smiled faintly and replied in a light, casual tone.
“I just came over to chat with someone.
I like making friends.”
“Making friends?”
Ai Morishita tilted her head slightly, an unreadable light flickering in her pale purple eyes.
“On the very first day of the term, you deliberately went all the way around this long corridor to Class B—just to make friends?”
“Is that not allowed?” Hikaru Naruse shrugged.
“Could it be…”
Ai Morishita propped her chin with her hand and mused for a while, then spoke as if she’d reached a conclusion.
“Could it be that Hikaru Naruse-san came over to hit on girls?”
“Uh…”
The corner of Hikaru Naruse’s mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Just as expected.
This Ai Morishita really had absolutely no sense of tact when she spoke.
It was the first day of the term, and the two of them could hardly even be called acquaintances, yet she could say something like “Could it be you’re hitting on girls” without so much as a change in expression.
How interesting.
Hikaru Naruse knew how to handle this kind of person.
Since the other party’s attitude was so blunt and straightforward, he could fully afford to act nonchalant and not waste any mental energy over it.
And so, Naruse spoke very easily.
“Even if I were hitting on girls, there’d be nothing wrong with that, would there?
After all, the student handbook doesn’t prohibit normal interactions between male and female students.”
“Is that so?”
Ai Morishita was slightly taken aback, and then she heard Naruse continue to add.
“On the other hand, Morishita-san, you didn’t go to keep watch on Sakayanagi-san and Katsuragi-san either.”
“So you’re in no position to lecture me.”
Ai Morishita’s reaction was beyond his expectations.
She wasn’t angry, wasn’t embarrassed, didn’t show even the slightest hint of awkwardness.
“Then…
does Hikaru Naruse-san want to make up for it?”
Instead, she put forward a new suggestion, which caught Naruse off guard once again.
“Make up for what?”
“Everyone else is keeping watch on Sakayanagi-san and Katsuragi-san.
If we don’t go, we might end up being disliked, won’t we?”
This statement seemed to suggest that Ai Morishita cared a great deal about what others thought of her—but that was impossible.
“Wait, Morishita-san, are you sure you want to act together with me?” Naruse asked in return.
“Why…
is that not allowed?”
Ai Morishita looked calmly at Hikaru Naruse with those pale purple eyes, as though she were saying something utterly self-evident.
“Of course it’s allowed.”
Naruse shrugged, putting on an indifferent attitude.
“But I don’t rule out that if I run into something that interests me more, I might change direction on the spot.”
“That’s fine, y’know.”
Ai Morishita nodded and said with the utmost seriousness.
“On this point, I’m exactly the same as Hikaru Naruse-san.”