Soyo had worries on her mind, but no matter how her thoughts turned a thousand times, she never showed them.
"Speaking of which, this girl beside Kaito-kun is…", The brown-haired girl pretended to be curious and turned her attention toward this unfamiliar pink-haired vixen.
Although in her eyes, the one with the highest threat level was Wakaba Mutsumi sitting beside her, considering the two were friends, Soyo decided to speak frankly with her to avoid accidental harm.
As for this pink-haired intruder in front of her?
A stranger with ulterior motives, no need to show mercy.
"Chihaya Anon, just call me Anon~", Anon waved her hand, her smile energetic and dazzling.
"My name is Nagasaki Soyo," Soyo also returned a gentle smile, "Anon-chan, how did you get to know Kaito-kun?"
Love is war, and war also requires strategy.
In war, the most important thing is gathering information. Only by knowing oneself and the enemy can one fight without peril.
"Hmm…", Anon extended a slender white index finger and lightly tapped her cherry blossom-pink lips, saying thoughtfully, "If I have to say, it's probably… a hero saving a beauty, great kindness hard to repay, so I offered myself in return?"
"Why is it getting more and more exaggerated?"
Kaito tapped her little head, "Chihaya-san is a transfer student who just joined our class and sits behind me, so the teacher asked me to look after her a bit."
"Hehe, just joking~", Even after being exposed, Anon didn't get angry. She stuck out her tongue a little sheepishly, looking even more like a mischievous pink-haired big dog begging for affection from its owner.
'A joke?'
Soyo's blue eyes dimmed for a moment.
'Who knows how many true feelings you speak under the guise of a joke?'
However, she still sharply extracted two key pieces of information.
First, the pink-haired vixen in front of her was just a newly arrived transfer student and not very close to Kaito.
Second, this pink-haired vixen indeed harbored improper thoughts toward Kaito.
As a girl, Soyo understood clearly in her heart.
Phrases like "offering myself", even as a joke, most girls would only say that to someone they like.
"…Anyway, Kaito-kun helped me a lot on the train, but before I could repay him, he left first," Anon briefly explained how the two met, then said with a face full of gratitude, "I thought I had missed the chance… but even I didn't expect to end up in the same class as him."
"Hey hey, Soyo-san, don't you also think we're fated to meet like this?"
'Is this a provocation? Or a declaration of war?'
'Just a mere transfer student who happened to be placed in Kaito-kun's class, and she's already arrogantly claiming my destiny…'
Soyo casually twirled a strand of brown hair near her ear around her fingertip and skillfully skipped over the topic, "I see, no wonder. I hadn't heard of your existence before."
With this simple sentence, she subtly implied "I know most of the people around Kaito-kun, which shows our closeness," while also indirectly pointing out "You're just a newcomer," fully revealing her sense of superiority.
The smile on Anon's delicate face stiffened slightly.
'This Soyo-san… seems a bit hard to deal with.'
But she had no intention of backing down. Acting like she didn't catch on at all, she openly said, "That's fine, hearing now isn't too late~"
"By the way, Soyo-san, the uniform you're wearing… could it be from that famous elite girls' school? That's amazing~"
'So what if I just transferred?'
'Maybe you did know him first, but attending Tsukinomori is your biggest weakness.'
'Do you understand how much value there is in being front-and-back desk mates in the same class? (tactical lean-back)'
'After all, as students, apart from sleeping at home, the most time is spent at school.'
'Lifting my head, I see Kaito-kun's back. I can chat anytime, eat lunch together. What can mere Soyo-san compete with?'
Now Soyo's expression turned grim.
This was indeed her biggest weakness.
Not being in the same school meant she couldn't keep up with Kaito's latest whereabouts or emotional state.
It also prevented her from dealing in time with outside cats trying to steal the fish.
Like this time, if Kaito hadn't brought Chihaya Anon along for coffee, she wouldn't have even known this girl existed, she might have been blindsided one day and never realized it.
But even though she knew this was her weakness, Nagasaki Soyo didn't have a good solution.
'After all, I can't just transfer schools, right?'
Even if she wanted to, her mother wouldn't necessarily approve. Tsukinomori far surpassed Shuka in both teaching quality and prestige.
'Wait a minute, maybe there is another way…'
Soyo thought to herself, 'My mother's company recently seems to be collaborating with a firm that sells miniature recording devices and GPS trackers?'
'If I can have such things, and secretly placed them on Kaito-kun, won't I be able to instantly know everything happening around him?'
'No no no no! That is already a crime, isn't it?', Soyo quickly shook her head, trying to drive out that dangerous thought.
Although she was very tempted by this method, thinking it through revealed that the risk was just too high.
In Japan, there's a complete criminal code, and punishments for invading privacy are extremely strict. Even peeping can be punished with up to five years in prison, not to mention installing bugging devices and mini GPS trackers.
Besides, paper can't wrap fire.
If it remained undiscovered, fine… but if Kaito found out, even if he didn't call the police, all the goodwill she had built up would be reset to zero, right?
She might even be labeled a "voyeur freak" with no chance of recovery.
After seriously thinking it through, Soyo gave up on that idea. She didn't even bother exchanging barbs with the pink-haired vixen in front of her anymore and gave a slightly apologetic smile to Kaito, "Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom."
'Hmph, backing off just like that?'
'Soyo-san, small fry~ small fry~'
Seeing her perfect strike land a critical hit, Anon smiled like a little fox who had just stolen a fish, even baring her sharp canines.
Although Kaito didn't catch the verbal sparring in the air, he still keenly sensed that something seemed off between Anon and Soyo.
He shook his head and looked at the green-haired girl sitting across from him, who remained silent the whole time, just watching quietly, and couldn't help but sigh.
'As expected, Mutsumi-chan is still the most well-behaved.'
[T/N: It is like a chess game between Nakamura Hikaru, Vishwanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen]
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