I really don't want to be reborn.

Her twin ponytails swayed gently, and her heart was at peace.

The flames of the sunset battled in our eyes.

The fiery red leaves fell one after another onto the water's surface.

The feeling of confessing your feelings for the first time is largely the same as having sex for the first time. You have no idea what you are doing. It is exciting, but it ends quickly.

She savored the moment amidst the heavy snowfall!

In the brief moment that Kousaka Kyosuke was recalling, Sinon loudly snorted, "Shameless!"

When Xuecai heard this, the veins on her forehead bulged.

What's even more infuriating is that that bastard Kousaka actually chimed in, even joking, "Yeah, yeah, Setsuna's so sexy today—"

"Fuck you..."

Ignoring her brother's dumbfounded expression, she took a deep breath and swallowed back the swear words with the same difficulty as a student struggling with Chinese literature, and went straight to the point: "Have you thought of a solution?"

The so-called solution is the topic they've been discussing recently.

How to extricate yourself from the beauty pageant at Fengcheng University Affiliated School without being targeted by your classmates.

Mineo High School is not Chiba Benten High School, nor is it Kousaka Kyosuke's territory, so many methods are not applicable, and he can only slowly find solutions within the rules.

"There are solutions."

He did have a good way to achieve the desired result for both of them without much effort, but this method would hurt another person—although she herself didn't care about the hurt.

After discussing it, he started calling the neighbors next door.

"Touma, there's something I need to tell you..."

He was interrupted before he could finish speaking. Touma Kazusa had wanted to ask this question for a long time, and today she finally couldn't hold back: "How did you take the water bottle off that day?"

On Labor Day, after helping Touma remove the vase, he wanted to test if he would get stuck, so he put his hand into the water bottle that Umaru had lent him... and sure enough, his hand got stuck.

That sight made Touma Kazusa laugh. At first, she chuckled silently, her shoulders shaking, but later she couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.

"How did you take it off?"

Hearing the laughter in her voice, Kyosuke frowned, feeling unhappy that he had been mocked by an idiot: "Of course I used lubricant."

"Huh, isn't this soapy water?"

His tone suddenly became a little awkward: "Uh, no."

"What kind of lubricant is that? By the way, did you go to buy lubricant?"

"No, no, I have that slippery liquid myself."

Touma was even more puzzled: "It's something I have myself? Is it saliva? Ugh, how disgusting."

"It's not saliva."

"What is that...?"

She suddenly realized—what else could a man's lubricant be?! No way? Kyosuke Kousaka couldn't possibly be that disgusting! That's worse than saliva!

Touma, as if possessed, blurted out, "Could it be your ex—"

"..."

The girl stammered, her voice dripping with embarrassment as she tried to salvage the situation: "I was talking about... a cautionary tale! Yes, you've had a similar experience before..., haven't you?"

Kyosuke Kosaka's face fell.

Don't explain...

Wow, Touma Kazusa, you know a lot!

"You don't need to explain, I know what you want to say."

"No! I didn't say anything!"

Kyosuke Kosaka didn't want to get entangled with this awful woman any longer on this issue: "I used dish soap, not some kind of prostate liquid, and certainly not... Okay, let's get down to business."

Take a deep breath.

They both took a deep breath and skipped over that unpleasant topic.

Their conversation was like a vegetable caught in a ramen factory, comically dehydrated and stuffed into a small bag.

"There's something I'd like to ask you for a favor. Consider it payment for helping you retrieve the bottle and feeding you the other day, how about it?"

"Feed?"

Shi Nai stood beside him without him noticing, tilting her little head and repeating, "Feed?"

Kyosuke silently turned off the speakerphone on the landline.

"Okay, what's the matter?"

"Touma, let me ask you first, will the teachers at Minegashiro University Affiliated High School fire you for some minor thing?"

As a problem student with no background, if there is a reason to expel him, neither the homeroom teacher nor the administration will hesitate to do so.

—This experience came from his brief teaching career.

"Expulsion? I don't care."

Well, her fixed idea is: you can leave school, but you can't stop playing the piano.

"If that's the case, then so be it..."

After listening, Touma Kazusa was a little displeased: "If you don't want to participate, then just don't go. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with those people."

"So you've always been all alone."

"Moreover, in beauty pageants, those who are eliminated will definitely be talked about as ugly monsters, and I really dislike such activities."

Ugly women can create beauties.

For example, fools cite wise men, cowards highlight heroes, and all living beings enlighten Buddha. It seems that from the moment you are born, society is constantly comparing you with others.

Even Touma Kazusa, who is the most solitary of the group, participates in the piano competition, harboring a competitive spirit towards Kousaka Kyosuke's piano skills.

On the day of the beauty pageant registration, when she gave up her precious break time to come to Class 3-A and saw the girl named Ogiso Setsuna, her competitive spirit inexplicably rose again.

------

Brother Bao: Well done! Tear it even louder!

Chapter Forty-Three: Those Obsessed with the Music, Those Obsessed with Love

"Is today the registration day?"

"Hmm... The teacher did say last time that registration is today, and the preliminary round will probably be before summer vacation."

"Snow cabbage sauce, are we going now? Do you want us to come with you?"

"Ah... um, just a moment."

Setsuna maintained a gentle crescent-shaped smile with difficulty, but inside she was anxious, waiting for someone to come to her rescue.

To be honest, she was quite in favor of the plan proposed by Kyosuke Kosaka. It was quite simple to implement and, in nature, similar to her fake confession in Nagasaki last year.

The most similar thing is hurting others—but Ogiso Setsuna unhesitatingly chose to hurt others over hurting herself.

The moment she made her decision, Kyosuke Kosaka exclaimed, "This is the Yukina I know. Although she longs for affection and wants to be gentle, she is so cold to strangers that even I am ashamed of myself."

"No! I didn't! Don't talk nonsense!"

Her face looked so pale at that moment that, to quote Genji, "What is the hardest thing to bear? An old woman putting on makeup."

Ogiso Setsuna would never admit that she was an old woman, nor would she admit that she was the kind of person that bastard Kosaka described.

She had no other choice, did she?

"what?"

While she was lost in thought, one of her close classmates suddenly leaned over and stared at the phone in Setsuna's hand, her expression as if Columbus had discovered America or a train commuter had discovered a cross-dressing master: "This is... Setsuna, what's with the photo booth picture on your phone...?"

"Ooh!"

In her extreme panic, the twin-tailed girl made a strange and awkward cry, which caught the attention of the others.

"Ah, that boy in the photo booth looks pretty good."

"That's a friend."

"Isn't he my boyfriend?"

Yukina gripped her phone tightly, waved slightly, and smiled: "Of course not, he has a girlfriend."

These gossipy women wanted to press for more information, but a new situation arose.

"Setsuna Ogiso!"

Such a sound rang out at the door of Class 3A.

Low-pitched, tense, impatient.

Suddenly appearing at the door was Touma Kazusa, standing impatiently, like a bar of soap that had been soaked in water.

Although Touma doesn't remember most of the people at school, most of them remember her very well.

With long, lustrous black hair, a face that rivals that of a model, an elegant appearance, and a pair of slender, delicate eyes, she has been secretly ranked among the top beauties by the boys since she entered the school.

He possesses genius-like talent and ability in musical instruments such as the piano, and has achieved excellent results in many competitions. He was also the top student in the music department.

However, what truly made her memorable to the entire school was not her aloof and beautiful appearance or her powerful and dazzling musical talent, but rather her violent and rebellious personality.

She doesn't care about socializing, doesn't care about friends, and has an extremely bad personality, yet she is often favored by teachers, which makes her disliked by her classmates—so the impression she leaves on them is actually bad.

Aloof, withdrawn, and never interacts with others.

Her drastically different outlook on life made her seem like a piece of leftover meat walking in a Muslim market, so out of place that it bordered on hostility.

But what's with all this commotion in the classroom today? And why is she shouting the name of a school idol?

Touma crossed her arms, cursing Kosaka in her mind and regretting agreeing to the request.

However, since I've already agreed, I should do my best.

Some perfectionist beauties stood at the door of Class A and impatiently called out again, "Ogiso Setsuna!"