The moment Horikita saw Yukio at her door, confusion flashed across her face. She had no idea why he'd come looking for her.
Yukio, however, could see things very clearly.
Horikita was holding a copy of Among People in her hand, putting on the air of someone peacefully enjoying her vacation, content to stay in her room and read.
But the haggard look on her face and the dark circles under her eyes basically screamed that she hadn't been resting well these past three days at all.
"What are you here for?"
Horikita really didn't bother with pleasantries. The only reason she'd talked so much that day after they left the auditorium was because seeing her brother, Horikita Manabu, about to graduate had shaken her mood. That was the only reason she'd opened up to Yukio and Ibuki.
Now that she was alone again, she had slipped back into her usual cold demeanor.
Yukio, being the kind of guy he was, liked nothing more than watching that icy expression crack into flustered embarrassment, so he went straight for it:
"I came to check on my knight."
"You…!"
The second he brought up that shameful bet she wanted to bury in the deepest corner of her memory, Horikita's cheeks flushed bright red. Her composure shattered instantly; there was no way she could keep acting cold.
"Alright, alright."
Yukio waved a hand, signaling for her not to blow up.
"I'm not here to bicker with you this time. Let's put the jokes aside for now. Look at this."
He unlocked his phone and tilted the screen so Horikita could clearly see the most recent entry in his call log—the contact name marked "Horikita Manabu" and the incoming call underneath.
Horikita's eyes widened in surprise. Why had her brother contacted Yukio today?
And this was his school phone, which meant her brother hadn't left yet. He was still on campus? But today was the final deadline for all graduates to leave…
As all that clicked into place, her emotions wavered. She temporarily forgot all about the knight stuff.
"W-what exactly are you trying to do?"
When she asked that, Yukio could even see a faint glimmer of hope flicker in her eyes.
"Your brother wants you to see him off."
Yukio couldn't be bothered to preserve Horikita Manabu's pride; he just ripped the fig leaf right off.
"He puts on that cold act, but in reality his pride is paper-thin. He's too embarrassed to call you directly."
"So he had to shove it onto me and make me drag you over."
Really? Was that… really true?
Maybe the news was just too unexpected, but Horikita suddenly felt a rush of joy, a kind of delighted surprise. Her whole expression brightened; the haggard look disappeared, as if someone had injected her with an unscientific dose of energy.
After all, the reason she'd chosen to attend ANHS in the first place was to chase after her brother's footsteps.
The reason she'd chosen to pull Class D upward was to chase after the record her brother had left behind in Class A. That was why she'd worked so hard.
But then she forced herself to stamp those feelings down, refusing to acknowledge them, telling herself this might just be Yukio's one-sided story.
How could that older brother of hers—who demanded so much of himself—possibly want his useless little sister to see him off?
Maybe… maybe this was just Yukio being kind again.
Just like during the sports festival. Back then, he'd said part of the reason he taught her was because of her brother, but there was another reason too, wasn't there?
Thinking that, all her earlier annoyance faded. When she looked at Yukio now, her gaze was as soft as spring water.
"Thank you. But… I'll pass."
"Someone like me has no right to go see my brother off."
"???"
A row of question marks practically popped up over Yukio's head.
Wait, what? Why did she suddenly give him that soft look? And soft usually means someone's about to agree, right?
Soft eyes and a refusal?
"What, in your house…" Yukio thought about it and decided maybe the Horikita family was a little messed up.
"…do you guys put qualifications on everything? Like, if you don't get a perfect score on an exam you're not allowed to eat? And you get beaten half to death instead?"
"Huh?"
Now it was Horikita's turn to be stunned. Where did that come from? What kind of family would even do that?
"No. Absolutely not."
She still didn't really understand why he was asking that, but at least he was doing this out of kindness, so she answered honestly.
Yukio's expression just got weirder.
"Then what qualifications are you talking about, hammer-for-brains?"
"If you want to see him off, just go. This is family we're talking about here; since when do you need 'qualifications' to say goodbye to family? So why exactly can't you go?"
Maybe, deep down, Horikita really did trust Yukio. Or maybe she'd been bottling this up these last few days and just needed someone to pry it open. When he said that, she quietly shook her head.
"I… I do have a lot I want to say to my brother."
"And just hiding like this… I know I can't accept it either. Because of it, an entire year has gone by and I haven't even had a real conversation with him."
"But I still can't."
By the end, Horikita's expression had turned completely gloomy. The girl who was usually a little iceberg now looked like the heroine out of some melodramatic tragedy.
Just looking at her made Yukio feel irrationally annoyed. He finally understood why Ibuki had been so worked up that day.
"If you really want to see him that badly, then why not?"
"Because I'm not qualified."
Horikita shook her head again and again, as if she were denying her own existence.
"This past year…"
"I've barely grown at all. I'm still standing in the same place as before. No wonder… no wonder. I was even dissatisfied at first at being put in Class D, but now… now I can see how accurate the school's assessment was…"
"For someone like me, who hasn't made any progress at all, even if I went to see him off, it wouldn't make my brother happy. He'd just see me as pathetic, and maybe even worry about how incompetent I am."
"I… I can't just act on my own selfish feelings and go trouble him. I can't taint the perfect campus life he's built over these three years."
"Pff—"
Yukio couldn't help it; a laugh slipped out, drawing an indignant, bewildered look from Horikita.
She was pouring her heart out here, and he laughed? Did this man even have a heart?
"Sorry, sorry." Yukio's shoulders still shook a little.
"I just didn't expect that's how you see your brother. I thought that ever since he lost to me during the Workplace Special Exam, his three years of 'perfect campus life' were already out the window."
"…"
Horikita fell silent.
She'd wanted to refute him the moment he mocked her brother, but faced with reality, she suddenly felt like someone who'd drawn their sword only to find nothing to swing at. There was nothing to refute.
After the joke, Yukio finally straightened his expression.
He silently cursed Horikita Manabu for being a walking source of trouble.
"This growth you're talking about… is it really that important? Are you sure you haven't made any progress?"
"Fine."
Before Horikita could respond, he kept going, words sharp and fast.
"Let's say you really are that stupid and haven't grown at all."
"Even then, running away wouldn't be the right choice, would it?"
"Who are you calling stupid?"
That finally sparked some fire in Horikita. She snapped back in anger.
He could say anything else, but calling her stupid? That was crossing the line.
"You."
Yukio looked straight at her, as if his gaze alone said who else could I mean?
"You really that confident there's been no growth?"
"I… I…"
Confronted so directly, Horikita clenched her fists.
The pain of her nails digging into her palms forced her mind into a strange kind of clarity.
Yes, whenever it involved her brother, she slipped into automatic self-abasement. That habit had been with her since kindergarten, grade school, middle school.
But high school had been different—this past year…
Was she really as hopeless as she'd just claimed?
That couldn't be right. At the very least, she had grown a little, hadn't she?
"I have grown… over this year… I… I want my brother to see that growth…"
Yukio's serious expression loosened into a lazy grin. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
"Then hurry up and follow me."
....
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