In fact, after the information is refreshed, they always want to attack me!

"Sakura-san, could you please take a picture of me? I'll give you some points as a thank you gift, how about it?"

"Okay, okay! Leave it to me, no problem!"

Akira Shimizu originally thought that, given Sakura's naturally shy nature, she would probably blush and hesitate for a moment, but to his surprise, she agreed almost without hesitation as soon as he finished speaking.

"Shimizu-kun...excuse me, what are you going to do with the photos? Do you want to take selfies to save them, or is there some other purpose?" Sakura Airi asked, clutching the camera strap.

Akira Shimizu recalled the minister's instructions—it seemed he only said to make the film look energetic, without mentioning any other requirements.

Since it's for printing flyers, there's no need to take photos that look like they've been filtered.

So he replied, "Just take a normal picture, and if possible, please don't include a background, a white background is fine."

"No background needed?" Sakura's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had been inspired. She quickly looked up and added, "Um... I know how to use Photoshop! If Shimizu-kun doesn't mind, I can edit it to have a white background after the photo is taken, which will make the photo look cleaner. I definitely won't mess it up!"

As she said this, her voice was filled with barely concealed joy, as if she had finally seized the opportunity to do more for the other person, and even the shyness she had shown earlier had faded considerably.

These words startled Shimizu Akira slightly, leaving him somewhat puzzled.

More refreshing?

So... does this student feel they're not refreshed enough right now? Or does the other person feel they were refreshed before?

He blinked, suppressing his doubts, and replied, "Then I'll leave it to you."

"Yes, yes! Please come with me, Shimizu-san. I know a few great spots for taking photos!" Sakura nodded vigorously.

As soon as she finished speaking, she picked up her phone and put it in her pocket, then, holding her camera, she walked briskly ahead.

As Shimizu Akira watched her retreating figure, he suddenly realized that Sakura Airi seemed much more lively when discussing cameras and taking pictures.

Perhaps everyone unconsciously becomes more talkative when discussing topics that interest them.

......

Sakura took him to the rooftop.

"Today, the sun is blocked by clouds, so it's not too bright and perfect for taking pictures." She explained as she took out her camera and skillfully fiddled with the buttons.

She had Shimizu Akira stand on the edge of the rooftop, while she stepped back a few paces and slightly bent her knees to adjust the angle.

"Move slightly to the left... Please relax your shoulders..."

Sakura Airi's voice was much steadyer than usual, and her previous shyness seemed to be covered by a sense of professionalism. She took more than a dozen photos in a row.

"Um... Shimizu-san, that's enough!"

"These are the photos, take a look!" She pulled up the photos and handed the camera to Akira Shimizu.

Akira Shimizu looked down at the camera screen, examined it carefully for a moment, and then looked up and said, "It's good, thank you."

Actually, he had never studied photography much, but the photos on the screen were pleasing to the eye at first glance—his body proportions were well-balanced and natural, and the dark clouds in the background were just right, neither overshadowing the subject nor making his whole person stand out.

What surprised him most was the eyes.

In his past life, he was always absent-minded when taking photos, often blinking the instant he pressed the shutter, leaving behind a bunch of unusable photos with his eyes closed.

It's either ridiculous or stiff, it's never usable.

In the photos taken by Sakura, his eyes are bright and his expression seems more energetic than usual.

"It's really well shot." He took a couple more glances and added sincerely.

"Really?! That's great." Sakura seemed to suddenly relax, letting out a soft sigh of relief. She then picked up her phone from the camera. "Um... please wait a moment, I'll send you the edited photos right away!"

Before she finished speaking, she had already turned around and walked quickly towards the stairwell.

Just as Shimizu Akira was about to say something, the other person's figure had already disappeared behind the rooftop door.

He stared at the empty stairwell, realizing he hadn't even had a chance to return the favor or utter a proper thank you.

......

When Shimizu Akira returned to the classroom after finishing his meal, Sakura Airi's seat was still empty.

He probably went back to his dorm to edit photos on his phone.

He stared at the empty chair, tapped his fingertips on his phone screen, and typed a message: "Thank you, Sakura-kun. I've sent you the 5,000 points for the thank-you gift."

After the message was successfully sent, no new notification appeared on the screen.

Akira Shimizu placed his phone on the table.

The other person is probably still focused on arranging the photos.

He glanced around.

I noticed that Kayano Onodera from my class was talking to Suzune Horikita at her desk.

"Horikita-kun, have you watched all the surveillance footage? It feels like you've been secretly doing a lot for Class D!"

Seeing Horikita slightly raise her head, she added enthusiastically, "You did quite well in the last swimming lesson! I remember you haven't joined any clubs, right? Why don't you try joining the swimming club?"

“Onodera-kun.” Horikita Suzune’s voice still carried a hint of aloofness, but it was a little gentler than usual. “I don’t plan to join any clubs right now.”

She paused, then, as if suddenly remembering something, added, "But speaking of swimming results, I'm actually not as good as you. I just happened to perform exceptionally well that day."

"Oh? So modest!" Onodera Kayano laughed heartily. "I only realized after talking to you that although Horikita-san is a bit aloof, she's really nice! It's a bit of a shame I couldn't invite you to join the club, but I respect your decision!"

After saying that, she waved her hand, turned around, and skipped back to her seat.

Now that Shimizu Akira can have relatively normal conversations with his classmates when he visits Horikita Suzune, he's no longer surprised.

Since she admitted her shortcomings to her brother last month, she has visibly changed.

In a sense, Horikita Suzune is probably the fastest evolving person in this school—even Pokémon evolve faster than her.

At that moment, Horikita Suzune turned her head and happened to meet Shimizu Akira, who was already sitting in his seat.

Despite what happened last night, she remains very calm.

They just held hands.

My reaction that night was at most a basic human instinct.

Ultimately, this was the first time she had ever been so close to a boy.

However, with this experience, things will probably be easier in the future.

She thought about it: she was probably the type who could remain calm no matter what happened.

Even if the sky were to fall, they wouldn't necessarily lose their composure—at least from the outside, they would never reveal the slightest flaw.

Holding hands is far from enough to make her panic.

Then, she unconsciously began to think about how to handle Sudo Ken's fight.

Thinking back carefully, Sudo Ken had caused a lot of trouble for the class since he enrolled: he lost a lot of class points in the first month; although he barely passed all subjects in the second month, he was only hovering on the edge of passing. If it weren't for Komaki keeping an eye on him, Horikita Suzune would have even suspected that he didn't study seriously at all; and in the third month, he even caused this fight.

From any perspective, he seemed like someone who was always dragging the class down.

Her goal remained clear: to lead her class to A-class and gain her brother's approval.

From this perspective, Ken Sudo was undoubtedly a harmful and useless burden to the class.

Among the "burdens" of Class D, Haruki Yamauchi is one, Ken Sudo is one, and Kanji Ike is one.

However, Ike Kanji is better than the other two; at least he has the right attitude and will take the initiative to admit his mistakes.

As for Takeru Sudo, although he was constantly in trouble, at least his athletic achievements were respectable.

Haruki Yamauchi, however, showed neither the right attitude nor any real ability, and just now betrayed his friend in front of the whole class—his character is simply untenable.

Since it's a school, it will definitely hold a sports meet.

Given the school's "merit-first" philosophy, it will likely link sports meets with special exams.

In this way, Takeru Sudo's physical abilities might come in handy.

But in reality, Horikita Suzune didn't take his physical abilities too seriously.

The reason is simple: Akira Shimizu is in this class.

That guy who doesn't even get a stomachache from eating a stale bento box would probably crush his opponents in any sporting event.

The tricky part is that if this matter is not handled properly, a portion of the class's points will definitely be deducted.

What's more troublesome is that this matter needs to be handled by the student council.

From a public perspective, this concerns the interests of the entire class; from a private perspective, she has always wanted to prove her growth to her brother, and perhaps this is the right opportunity.

For a moment, she was undecided, and her gaze involuntarily drifted towards Akira Shimizu.

"...What do you think about Sudo's situation?"

“There’s not much to say.” Shimizu Akira looked up at her and replied, “I think he was most likely set up on purpose. But then again, the key to this matter is not whether Sudo-kun is at fault or not—his current attitude is clearly problematic.”

In Shimizu Akira's view, the incident caused by Suji Fujitake was not so important in itself. What was really troublesome was Suji Fujitake's tough attitude of "I did nothing wrong" when facing his classmates after causing such a big problem.

Regardless of the circumstances, he did indeed lay a hand on someone and admitted to hitting them.

Class D will have points deducted because of him, and even the points that are normally credited to their accounts will be delayed—not only did he not apologize, but he stubbornly insisted on it, acting as if he was completely in the right.

It just goes to show that old sayings are always true: how you treat others is how they will likely treat you in return.

Just like this morning, when Haruki Yamauchi criticized him in front of everyone, there might be a reason for this.

Akira Shimizu glanced at Ken Sudo, who was sitting at a table not far away, looking irritated.

However, the other party seemed to finally realize that there was something wrong with what they had done to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka yesterday.

In other words, the other party still has some self-awareness.

"...I think it's highly likely that Sakura Airi saw Sudo fighting." Horikita Suzune pondered for a moment before giving her assessment.

"Huh? How did you know about this?" Shimizu Akira was genuinely surprised—he really hadn't expected her to say that.

“When the teacher was questioning the witnesses, most of the students either stared at her or looked indifferent. Only she kept her head down, and her expression was very suspicious,” Horikita Suzune explained clearly.

"Huh? This..." Shimizu Akira was taken aback. "Why did you suddenly start paying attention to your classmates' reactions?"

He wasn't exaggerating; Horikita Suzune's "evolution" was indeed astonishingly fast.

How long has it been, and you've already learned to analyze suspicious points by observing other people's subtle movements and expressions?

He even suspected the other person was cheating! Maybe they had some kind of intelligence network like him.

"...I just saw it without realizing it." Horikita Suzune said, rolling her eyes at him.

Actually, she herself felt it was sudden—like she suddenly had a flash of insight and, as if possessed, started paying attention to the reactions of other classmates, unexpectedly uncovering some clues.

"So what do you plan to do? Announce this information to the whole class?" Shimizu Akira pressed.

“No rush.” Horikita Suzune thought for a moment, her tone still decisive. “We need to confirm with Sakura Airi whether she is a real witness first, and then see if the evidence she has is sufficient—after all, there is a possibility that she is mistaken. Moreover, I am not sure yet whether keeping Sudo Ken around would be beneficial to Class D.”

"I see." Shimizu Akira nodded, thinking to himself that she had considered everything thoroughly.

"So you're planning to go ask them yourself?"

“…I’m not good at finding out these things.” Horikita Suzune paused.

“However, I just saw you and Sakura go out together.” Horikita Suzune glanced at him and added, “Although I don’t know what you talked about, I can tell you two have a good relationship. Logically speaking, you are the most suitable person to go and gather information.”

"I see. Are you planning to have me ask?" Shimizu Akira asked in return.

“It’s not up to you to ask… I’ll have Hirata-san ask about it.” She thought for a moment, then added.

This time, we've asked Akira Shimizu to do it. I wonder what conditions he'll propose next.

After all, the two of them had just held hands yesterday.

She wanted to wait a few more days.

She really didn't want to experience that feeling of her heart racing again anytime soon.

As a key figure in Class D, Hirata Yosuke should be able to communicate smoothly with everyone, so entrusting tasks to him is indeed a prudent choice.

"Oh, I see." Shimizu Akira nodded thoughtfully.

I roughly guessed what she was thinking—she was simply afraid of troubling me and having to pay some price.

But actually, he was happy to help with this small favor. After all, the brief hand-holding last night felt pretty good.

She didn't realize it herself, and subconsciously excluded Kikyo Kushida from the list.

If he remembered correctly, Kushida had been contacting Horikita quite frequently these past few weeks. If she knew that Horikita would rather tell Hirata about this than contact her, she would probably be furious.

After all, Kushida had lost the class representative election recently and had been holding back his anger for the past few days. Horikita's actions, at best, were distancing themselves, and at worst, were like rubbing salt into his wounds.