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On March 19th, a rare holiday, Yukio finished his morning training and then happily slept in until the sun was high in the sky before finally crawling out of bed.
He checked the time. A little past eleven. Yukio nodded in satisfaction.
"As expected of me. My timing is absolutely perfect."
This was a great time to get the rice rinsed and into the cooker, then wash up a bit, and by the time everything was ready it would be the ideal moment for lunch—neither too early nor too late.
After rinsing the rice and finishing his quick wash, Yukio waited for the rice cooker to do its thing, sprawled lazily on the sofa, playing with his phone, enjoying the easy, carefree rhythm of vacation life.
From the messages that had come in on his outside-phone that morning, it looked like the investigation he'd commissioned the night before—tracking down the two previous generations of Class D students—was already underway. It would probably be wrapped up in a few days.
That meant it would be easy to give Chabashira an answer.
But he'd barely had half an hour of peace before a call came in, from someone that surprised him—Horikita Manabu.
Oh, right. March 19th. Today was the very last day for graduating students. The school required all graduates to leave campus by this afternoon.
Which meant Horikita Manabu could only stay at ANHS for a few more hours at most. Calling now… was this about that originally agreed-upon twenty million private points?
With that in mind, Yukio answered in a very good mood.
"Hello, Horikita-senpai."
"Good afternoon, Yukio."
Horikita Manabu's voice was as steady as ever. You couldn't hear even a trace of the excitement that most graduates felt.
As expected of Horikita Manabu. Even on the day of graduation, his self-discipline didn't loosen a bit. Any normal graduate would probably be going wild by now.
Thinking that, Yukio still didn't ignore the obvious.
"Senpai doesn't usually call for no reason. Did something happen?"
People don't walk into the Hall of the Three Treasures without a reason—this principle applies to all kinds of situations.
"Yeah." Horikita Manabu didn't try to dodge or deny it. He got straight to the point. "I'm taking the two o'clock shuttle."
As mentioned before, after the graduation ceremony, the school arranged shuttles from morning till evening, one every thirty minutes, to take graduates into the city.
"I haven't told any underclassmen this. Yukio, as the only junior at ANHS who's left such a deep impression on me… would you come see me off?"
Seeing off Horikita Manabu—the cold, former student council president—wasn't something he wanted to turn into some big event with crowds of junior students. He just wanted to have one last proper talk with the underclassman he recognized before leaving.
On the surface, that sounded like a simple little request but to someone clever, it was pure self-deception.
Yukio clicked his tongue and let out a roguish little laugh.
"You Horikita siblings really are both a pain, you know that?"
At the same time, he grumbled inwardly that even tsunderes like Ibuki weren't as troublesome as these two siblings.
On the surface, Horikita Manabu was only asking Yukio to come to the front gate to see him off. But how could Yukio not hear the subtext?
Who Horikita Manabu really wanted there wasn't just Yukio. He also wanted his little sister, Horikita Suzune.
Otherwise, was there any need to make this call? Any need to emphasize "I didn't tell any other juniors"? Any need to highlight "the only underclassman who left a deep impression"?
What, even his own sister didn't leave an impression?
His words were practically dripping with implication.
If he truly only wanted Yukio alone to see him off, the normal way he'd phrase it would be something direct like: "Yukio, I'm leaving at such-and-such time this afternoon. I'll leave ANHS to you from here on."
That would be much more in character for Horikita Manabu than this slightly lowered posture he was using now.
Especially that final, "Would you come see me off?"
It felt incredibly out of character. Anyone who knew him even a little would be able to hear the hidden meaning right away.
Horikita Manabu wasn't the type to beat around the bush. Normally, if there was something to say, he'd say it directly. For him to circle around like this could only mean one thing:
He wanted Yukio to bring Horikita Suzune along as well, so the siblings could see each other one last time.
As a former student council president, Horikita knew the school inside and out. Once he left this isolated place, for the next two years, he would almost certainly have no way of contacting his sister.
Under those constraints, of course he'd want to see her at the gate, talk to her one more time before leaving.
This call was essentially half a plea to Yukio—asking him to think of a way to drag the stubborn, or rather scared-to-face-her-brother, Horikita Suzune over to the gate.
So they could talk, just once.
And because of that, Horikita slightly lowered himself—when you're asking someone for a favor, a lower posture doesn't look so bad.
Which was exactly why Yukio's verdict on these siblings was what it was: they were both a pain in the neck.
Whether it was Horikita Suzune after the graduation ceremony, or Horikita Manabu now—when those two got awkward, it really made your head hurt.
Still, for Horikita Manabu's sake, he'd help out. After all, among all the guys at ANHS, the only ones Yukio genuinely enjoyed dealing with were Ryuen and Horikita.
"What time are you getting to the gate for that two o'clock bus?"
"Just after one is fine. Or even noon."
From his tone, you could tell Horikita Manabu's mood had brightened a little.
Between the lines, he still never mentioned his sister's name, as if he was perfectly willing to stand at the gate under the blazing midday sun for an extra hour or two just to wait for Yukio.
And had nothing whatsoever to do with Horikita Suzune.
"…Seriously."
Yukio was speechless at this point. These siblings were too much.
Couldn't they just say what they wanted?
Thinking back to the hypothetical Shina had brought up after the graduation ceremony, Yukio suddenly felt it might be really important in the future—if he ever did have kids, he'd need to properly teach them how important communication within a family is.
So they wouldn't turn out like these two, all twisted up and indirect. No wonder the straightforward Ibuki had been so annoyed after seeing Suzune's behavior.
In the end, Yukio checked the time and ruthlessly cut down Manabu's hopeful suggestion.
"Yeah, no way I'm coming at noon. I'm eating first. I'll see you at one."
"…Alright then. I'll be counting on you."
Horikita Manabu had no objections at all, as if everything was up to Yukio.
He knew very well that aside from Yukio, there really wasn't anyone else he could ask.
Even if there were, asking them wouldn't help.
He, of all people, understood what a mule-headed little donkey his sister could be. Only Yukio had the ideas and the pull to drag that little donkey out for a walk.
If it were anyone else, they'd probably just get kicked in the face.
Thankfully, he hadn't said that part out loud.
If Horikita Suzune ever heard that her brother thought of her as a stubborn donkey, there's no way she'd ever show up to see him off.
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