I'm in a real religion, why are all the people who confess to me girls?

Horikita Suzune stood still, beginning to ponder what might be the most important question in her life.

What kind of recognition does she want?

Horikita Suzune grew up watching Horikita Manabu's back as he walked away, constantly chasing after that outstanding older brother, always shouting that she wanted to gain his approval and eventually become someone even better than him.

So what exactly does she want?

What she really wanted was Horikita Manabu's approval, or something else...?

This topic was flawed from the start; is acceptance just an excuse?

Horikita Suzune felt a headache coming on. Her body and brain instinctively resisted her continuing to think about the problem, but Horikita Suzune knew that if she didn't figure it out now...

She will no longer be able to walk down that road.

Seeing Horikita's pained expression, Amane sat down on the grass without moving.

It was only then that Horikita Suzune noticed that there was a red thread hanging down from the sachet that Amane had wrapped around her wrist.

The other end of the red thread was tied to Tianyin's wrist.

When will Tianyin...

Could it be that Wang Meiyu doesn't actually have any issues with her, but rather wants Tianyin to give her a surprise?

The ever-growing, complex clues made Horikita feel like her head was about to crack. She wanted to handle everything perfectly, but she found that things were not quite as she had imagined.

thump.

Horikita Suzune suddenly sat down on the grass, and then lay down on the grass as if she had fainted.

Just as her head was about to touch the grass, a soft hand gently supported it and slowly placed it on the grass.

Horikita Suzune stared blankly at the already dim sky.

The surrounding students began to walk towards the dormitory building, and as it approached lunchtime, the playground suddenly became much quieter.

Aside from a few young couples, only a few clubs were still competing, shouting and engaging in fierce matches.

But with Horikita Suzune, she couldn't hear anything.

The view seemed to be limited to the sky as far as the eye could see, and the stars in the distance could no longer be seen.

"I don't know what I want. Maybe it's a word of encouragement, or maybe just a glance at me... Who knows? It turns out that what I've been chasing all along is such an elusive thing."

"No, this isn't just wishful thinking. If you want it, I can make it happen."

Horikita Suzune shook her head at Amane's promise.

Horikita Suzune believed that no one understood Horikita Manabu's personality better than she did. He would never easily accept her as his incompetent younger sister, especially since... Horikita Suzune couldn't find anything about him that was worthy of her approval.

"My brother... he's someone I can never surpass."

As the saying goes, those involved are often confused.

Horikita Suzune has been trapped in chasing after Horikita Manabu's shadow, neglecting the path beneath her feet.

In her view, as long as she is on the same track as Horikita Manabu, it is only a matter of time before she catches up with him.

However, the result was that Horikita ran too fast, and he simply didn't have the extra energy to turn back and take care of his younger sister who wanted to surpass him.

All he could do was keep increasing his speed, forcing Horikita Suzune behind him to do everything she could to become stronger in an attempt to catch up.

However, the result was that even though Horikita Suzune chased until she was exhausted, the gap between the two did not shorten at all; on the contrary, it widened even further.

This game of chasing dreams will eventually end, and it will be too late to regret it when you lose.

"Then let me ask you a different question. If Horikita-senpai graduates, or if you surpass Horikita-senpai, what will you do next, Suzune?"

Next...

"To be honest, I can't even imagine how I can surpass my brother. As for what will happen next... I've never thought about it."

"Then think about it now!~"

"Want to think about it now?"

"Hmm~ I want to now."

Urged on by Amane, Horikita had no choice but to start thinking about what she would do if she surpassed Horikita Gakuen.

Things I never dared to think about before, I can now boldly start to fantasize about.

Unfortunately, at this moment, Horikita Suzune couldn't think of anything. She didn't know what she should do after fulfilling her dream that would be of value to her.

Oh, right! There's also the matter of further education!

If her dream comes true, she might make further education her new goal.

"If I really surpass my brother... I might want to get into a good university."

"Oh! That's a good idea. Lingyin, which university do you want to go to? Maybe I can try to get in too."

Hearing Amane say that, Horikita's face showed a rare smile.

"Why does it sound like you can pick any school you want, Tianyin? Some universities are hard to get into even if you have the right score, but without a recommendation letter or something, it's very difficult. This school is popular because it has grasped the students' desire to 'get into their ideal university'."

Horikita's score is high enough to get into any of the well-known schools, but even if the score exceeds the school's cutoff, he might still be rejected during the interview or other unseen processes.

Therefore, without being in Class A, Horikita's options for top universities are actually quite limited if he wants to get into university solely based on his scores.

"Recommendation letters aren't that easy to get..."

Tianyin muttered to herself.

In the past, when the old man was busy, she would write those kinds of things for some newcomers to politics who came to visit.

However, Tianyin never expected that the template-style recommendation letter she had almost vomited about writing would actually play such a big role in education.

"Tianyin, what did you just say?"

"I just said... I want to go to the same university as Suzune~"

"Oh, okay? Then let's look for schools that Tianyin is interested in when we have time. We can apply to those schools together, and if we're lucky, we might even be in the same class..."

Horikita was talking happily, but his mood suddenly dropped.

"But all of this will have to wait until I surpass my brother. Before I get his approval... I..."

What do you want?

Horikita Manabu's voice came from above.

Horikita Suzune was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up from the grass.

Horikita Manabu was dressed in disguise, and his hair was a little messy. He had obviously planned to take a good rest on his day off, but he came here on a whim.

The most likely explanation is...

Horikita Suzune suddenly looked at Amane, who had already hidden behind Horikita Manabu.

"I'm just helping Lingyin fulfill your dream."

"W-What! Amane, what are you talking about fulfilling a dream? The gap between me and my brother... and Horikita-senpai... I..."

For a moment, Horikita Suzune didn't know what to say and started rambling incoherently.

"Didn't you want my approval? Now I approve of you, Rin. From now on, you can just do whatever you want to do."

Horikita was about to leave after speaking when Amane stopped him a step ahead.

"Brother! Please wait a moment."

Accompanying this was Horikita Suzune's almost pleading voice.

"You're such a scoundrel! You agreed on a price and you just dropped it with a single sentence? Even if you're the former president, I'm reporting you for the wrong thing!!"

Looking at Amane, who looked like she wanted to eat him alive, and then glancing back at her own silly little sister, Horikita Manabu couldn't help but sigh that it was really hard to earn points in the first year.

Actually, it wasn't that Horikita Manabu was so short of personal points that he took on the big order from Amane.

Instead, they will graduate on the 24th of this month. Before graduation, they will have one last special exam. The content of the exam is basically known to the third-year students. If they are unlucky, some classes that perform poorly may face expulsion. Since it is the last special exam, it is not hard to imagine that the other third-year classes will try to tear a piece of flesh from Class A like mad dogs.

Even if they had a good relationship before, they would still want to take this last chance to face off against Class A. Anyway, the probability of meeting again in the future is almost negligible, so they don't need to worry about being resented.

This means that Class A is destined to fight alone in this final special exam, so as the class leader, he had to prepare for the worst from the very beginning.

Prepare at least 20 million personal points.

This number seems enormous, but for them, who have been in Class A since the beginning of the year, 20 million points is not a number they can't afford.

But that was before. Originally, it was easy for them to come up with 20 million points, until they met a guy named Miyako Tenon who started buying personal points at high prices.

After the training camp in the forest, out of caution, everyone stopped selling points to others, but by this time, everyone's points had been almost completely depleted by Tianyin.

At most, each person can only contribute 200,000 to 300,000 personal points, which together amount to more than 10 million points. But that's not enough; we're still far from the goal of 20 million points. Fortunately, a few people in the class, including Horikita Manabu and Tachibana Akane, who didn't sell their points to Amane, have accumulated more than 2 million points. But even with all that, there's still a huge shortfall of 3 million points.

Although Horikita Manabu was not afraid of this special exam, he did not want any of his classmates to be expelled at this crucial moment before graduation. He simply could not accept such a thing.

Faced with financial difficulties, Horikita Manabu's first thought was to take advantage of the Amane Academy, which he had plundered during his third year. Therefore, Horikita Manabu had no choice but to seek help from Amane Academy.

As a result, Tianyin immediately gave him a big surprise.

"No matter what method you use, you must help Horikita Suzune resolve her inner conflict."

Actually, compared to this request, Horikita Manabu would rather have someone else borrow the points, but Amane had already spoken to Koenji about it.

In the second year, while being driven crazy by Sakayanagi, he was also thoroughly plundered by Koenji.

Left with no other choice, Horikita reluctantly accepted the request.

"Didn't you say that as long as I approve of you, that's enough? I approve of you now, Suzune, do you have anything else to say?"

Horikita Manabu asked in his usual indifferent tone.

Horikita Suzune shook her head with a wry smile.

"This is not an endorsement at all."

"Then what constitutes recognition?"

Horikita Manabu's rhetorical question left Horikita Suzune stunned.

The question she had just given up thinking about suddenly came back to her.

What is recognition?

Horikita Suzune... at least the current Horikita Suzune, cannot come up with an answer to this question.

"I'm sorry, please give me some more time, I'm sure I can..."

"I'm pretty sure that even if you graduate, you'll just be a pathetic guy who only looks at my back. It's strange, haven't you thought about doing anything for yourself all these years?"

"For myself...?"

"Of course, you should live your life for yourself, not for me. Don't just look ahead; sometimes looking at the road beneath your feet is the right choice."

"I... don't quite understand."

Horikita Manabu looked speechlessly at Horikita Suzune, who had been completely bewildered. She had spent her entire life chasing after his shadow until now, and hadn't realized that she had strayed onto the wrong path in life, the path of Horikita Manabu.

If this continues, she will only become a trapped beast, forever living in his shadow and unable to escape its cage, suffering excruciating mental torment every day.

In order to get points as soon as possible—no, in order to make Horikita Suzune realize the truth as soon as possible—Horikita Manabu put his slippers aside and stood barefoot on the March track.

"Brother, you..."

"Let's have a match. I'll run with all my might. If you can beat me here, isn't that more direct than trying so hard to gain my approval? I'm not going to hold back here."

Horikita Manabu exuded a surging, powerful aura.

Although it's hard to describe, even Tianyin's breathing became somewhat rapid due to the overwhelming aura. However, unlike ordinary people who experience rapid breathing due to fear, Tianyin's heartbeat was constantly accelerating.

The surge of adrenaline from her classmate made every cell in Tianyin's body begin to stir.

The desire to compete with the strong is something that cannot be suppressed no matter what.

"Brother, Tianyin... what's going on here..."

Faced with the combined force of the two, Horikita Suzune chose to back down.

Even with just a brief exchange of glances, the two could sense each other's power in their eyes.

Unfortunately, Tianyin was not the main focus of this competition.

Tianyin straightened her half-bent back with some regret.

"Seriously, this is getting me excited. Horikita-senpai is truly the strongest opponent I've ever faced who went all out."