A youth story of a passerby at the end of the world

"You're going to die."

Faced with her brother's warning, Horikita Suzune nodded and said, "I'm prepared. This is my decision, and I will never regret it. If I die over there, please don't blame anyone. It's just that I was too weak."

She stared into her brother's eyes and said solemnly, "Rather than being a burden here, I hope to stand up on my own in another place."

"You're not a burden, you're my sister," Horikita Manabu finally said.

However, he was met with Horikita Suzune's silence. Although she lowered her head and tears fell like a waterfall, she still bit her lip tightly and did not let go.

"Ha..." Faced with his stubborn younger sister, Horikita Manabu turned his head to look at Uesugi Genshin, "I'm leaving her in your care."

“I can’t take care of that,” Uesugi Genshin said calmly, shaking his head.

"As long as she's prepared to go to the battlefield, that's enough. Even if she dies, I... won't regret my decision today."

“I can guarantee that,” Uesugi Genshin solemnly promised.

Horikita Suzune looked up, staring blankly at her brother.

“…Rin-ne.” Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses, looking helplessly at his younger sister. “Good luck over there.”

"Yes, yes!" Horikita Suzune smiled through her tears in response to her brother's encouragement. Although her eyes were red from crying and her sleeves were covered in snot, she had gained something important today.

"This is your own decision today. You've always been imitating me before. From now on, you have to walk your own path."

Horikita Manabu, who was planning to leave, finally offered his advice.

Horikita Suzune bowed to bid farewell to her brother.

A tissue was handed to me and came into view.

"Give."

"Thank you." Horikita Suzune took it, wiping her eyes and snot. At the same time, she blushed as she made a fool of herself in front of someone she had just met.

"Horikita-san." I was just about to ask her what she planned to do.

"Just call me Rinne."

"Ok?"

“My brother and I share the same surname, right? And you helped me a lot today.” She awkwardly gripped the hem of her skirt, making the area of ​​her fair thighs, known as the “absolute territory,” even more exposed.

Horikita Suzune lowered her head, and the blush on her face became even more alluring.

"So just call me Suzune."

Chapter 270: The Look of Needing Someone's Help

"Of course, this doesn't have any special meaning; it's just using names. Please don't misunderstand."

Horikita Suzune adopted a coy posture, her beautifully shaped legs spread apart, but her feet in uniform shoes involuntarily turned inwards. As she spoke, she looked into his eyes, but then unconsciously looked away.

"And even if I go to Chiba, it doesn't mean I'll obey you. At most, we're just partners. If you give me any wrong instructions, I won't follow them."

“But I still want to thank you.” Her hands, unsure what to do, gripped her skirt again, and she glanced shyly at Uesugi Genshin. “Thank you.”

This showed exceptional politeness; the aloofness she previously exuded had completely vanished, replaced by an inexplicable charm.

"Thanks to you, my brother said some encouraging words to me. He hasn't been close to me since I grew up, let alone like he was just now."

As she spoke, she lowered her head again, her face looking somewhat gloomy.

“Horikita-kun, he just doesn’t want you to imitate him. He still cares about you,” Uesugi Genshin comforted her.

"......Um."

“Let’s go.” Turning around, Uesugi Genshin pointed ahead and said.

"Where are you going?" Horikita Suzune ran up to him and followed closely behind, but the distance was a little awkward, with their clothes brushing against each other.

"dormitory."

"Um..." She had overheard that her things had been thrown out by the students in Class D.

“Your luggage should be with Ichinose.” As he spoke, Uesugi Genshin looked at Kamuro, who was now much closer to him, just a shoulder’s width away.

After understanding, Masumi Kamuro took out her phone and contacted Ichinose again.

“Rinne, you can stay with Ichinose for the time being.” Turning to look at her, Uesugi Genshin calmly suggested.

"I'm not familiar with her," Horikita Suzune said with a hint of worry.

"...I still prefer your old, unruly self." Isn't this a bit of an overreaction?

"What did you say?" Horikita Suzune glared at him angrily upon hearing this. Of course she was angry, because "unruly" was not a good word.

"Hahaha......"

"Let me make this clear first, I don't think I did anything wrong in the past, at most I was just immature."

The mistakes that everyone makes in their youth are called immaturity.

Growing up means being unable to bear looking at your former self.

“Yes, yes. But Ichinose is a kind-hearted girl. If you stay there, you don’t have to be friendly with her, but at least don’t hurt her feelings, okay?” Uesugi Genshin reminded Suzune.

"I know." Ichinose had been helping out in the student council, so I knew her character well.

And she's not the same person she used to be.

"Well, as for the others, just don't make things difficult for Ichinose, the rest is up to you." The other Class B members are unlikely to cross paths with each other in the future, so there's no need to get too close.

“That makes things simple.” Horikita Suzune nodded in response. She understood what he meant: just get along well with Ichinose. “But isn’t Sakura, the girl from our class, there too?”

"Ah."

"Can I ask you why you chose her?" She had been thinking about this all day but couldn't figure it out. Sakura was an inconspicuous girl in her class, always quietly with her eyes downcast and her back hunched over, as if she were curled up in a corner.

"Yes, we'll have a performance to celebrate, but only one idol group from Tokyo will get to perform. And Sakura, despite her appearance, is actually a print model and internet idol, and she's quite popular."

“I see.” Horikita Suzune nodded knowingly. “That’s why you chose her.”

"Then why didn't you choose me in the first place?" She then brought up her own issues, which were causing her a lot of distress, and now she could finally ask them.

“Because I already knew you were Horikita-kun’s sister.” Faced with her unusually direct question, Uesugi Genshin answered, “That’s why I have to consider your brother’s side.”

"Oh, I see," Horikita Suzune breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "So what do I have to do after I get there? I'll have to fight zombies, right?"

"You can just follow me, which means you'll be directly under me. You're not cut out to be the team leader for now, and there are other more suitable candidates. Just go wherever I tell you to go, it's that simple, right?"

"Yes, it is indeed very simple." Just like before, you only need to focus on your own things.

"Ichinose is still in the dorm. Horikita's luggage has indeed been packed up by her." Kamuro Masumi reported, putting away her phone.

“…There’s something else.” Horikita Suzune peeked at him from beside him, seemingly very concerned. “What did you mean when you said, brother, that someone framed me?”

“Literal meaning,” Uesugi Genshin shrugged and said.

"Who is it?" She couldn't understand who would harbor such deep hatred towards her.

"Kushida Kikyo."

"It's her?! Why?" She didn't remember ever provoking the other person. On the contrary, Kushida had been bothering her for some reason since the start of the school year.

"Because she was a celebrity in your middle school days, the infamous kind." Uesugi Genshin asked her with his eyes, as if she knew.

Horikita Suzune shook her head and said, "So what did she do to make me want to leave like this?"

"Ah... her cuteness is an act. In reality, she's a rebellious person who really enjoys being the center of attention. She also vents her pent-up stress online, which gets discovered. It contains all sorts of class secrets. Then, when she's being criticized by her classmates, she reveals their dirty secrets, causing the whole class to fall into chaos."

"I knew about this. So it was Kushida who did it." After all, it was a big deal that shocked the whole school. She had heard about it, but that was all. She didn't have any friends in middle school, and no one had told her the details. She only just found out the truth.

"Yeah, she's afraid her dark past will be exposed, so she's trying every possible way to get rid of you."

That makes sense now. To be honest, she also found it hard to connect Kushida's gentle image in her previous class with her deeds in middle school. Although she had vaguely sensed that Kushida was approaching her with ulterior motives, she finally understood now.

The culprit who made him so miserable.

"What's wrong? Want revenge?" After a period of silence, sensing her anger, Uesugi Genshin smiled.

"Of course I wanted to." How could I not want to? Just because of this inexplicable reason that I clearly don't understand, they did such a terrible thing to me.

A despicable person who only knows how to use underhanded tricks.

Feeling Horikita Suzune tugging at his clothes, Uesugi Genshin turned his head and found her staring at him, her sweet eyes seeming to say, "Think of a way."

She stubbornly said, "I owe you one."

Well, after all, they are his subordinates.

Chapter 271: Any Cost

Uesugi Genshin rubbed his nose and pondered for a moment. Horikita Suzune and Kamuro Masumi also stopped and waited for him quietly.

Kamuro Masumi was also very curious about what he would do.

Will he do it himself, or will he direct his subordinates to do it?

Now that she's practically Uesugi's subordinate, will he end up ordering her around?

As he took another step, Horikita Suzune knew that he had indeed come up with a solution, and decisively followed with small steps.

"Her goal is to break you up with her. In the past, she might have even made you drop out of school, but now she's just taking advantage of this opportunity to target you. Since she doesn't know you're really leaving, you should meet Kushida alone and confront her, telling her you're not planning to leave. Use her past as leverage to drive her to my doom, and I'll teach her a lesson."

"Won't others believe me?"

"Yes, I've already had Ichinose spread the word about this, but to be honest, Ichinose won't use any underhanded tactics. She'll most likely confront the other party directly. Maybe only Class D will know about this, but you can make good use of the fact that your brother is Horikita Manabu."

If Kikyo Kushida wants to stay here, she should be able to understand the consequences of offending the leader here.

At this point, Horikita Suzune understood; she could handle the rest herself. Then she asked, "What about the others?"

She couldn't pretend she hadn't heard the attitudes of the other students in the class, especially their insults to her character.

Ah, he really is vindictive, but Uesugi Genshin didn't see anything wrong with it.

Always expressing her inner feelings directly, never beating around the bush, that's the true Horikita Suzune.

"The boys are easy to deal with. They might still support Kushida because she's pretending to be cute. I'll have Ryuen from Class C teach them a lesson. The girls are a bit more complicated. Once they find out the truth and realize they've been fooled, they'll immediately turn against Kushida. But it's not my place to punish them."

Because the boys, Yamauchi and Ikehiro, beat him up, and nobody cared.

As for the girls, he couldn't let Longyuan take action; it would lower his image as a leader. Although he could let the girls in Class C do it, the impact of a girl being beaten is different from that of a boy being beaten.

"Girls can be even scarier than boys when they turn on you," Masumi Kamuro remarked from the side.

Two people were around, one a boy and the other a friendless person. Neither of them understood that if girls fell out, it was no different from a blood feud, and the matter would not be easily forgotten; it was a terrifying memory that could last a lifetime.

Nodding, Horikita Suzune said, "Let's leave it at that for now."

"Ah."

-----------------

"Ah, it's coming."

When the doorbell of Ichinose's dormitory was rang, Genki Ichinose's voice came from inside.

As she opened the door, her pink-gold hair peeked out, and she smiled at Horikita Suzune, who was visiting for the first time, saying, "Welcome, Horikita-san. Please come in, everyone."

"No, I..." Uesugi Genshin originally didn't plan to go in. He was just going to leave after mentioning Horikita. But then his clothes were tugged at from behind. Kamuroku wouldn't do that, so it must be someone else.

Turning his head to look at her beautiful profile, which was turned to the other side, Uesugi Genshin wanted to yell at her, "Are you a child?!"

Horikita Suzune, on the other hand, realized that he intended to entrust her directly to Ichinose. Why was he leaving her here so abruptly?!

“…Well then, I’ll have to bother you.” Uesugi Genshin coughed lightly and replied helplessly.

"Hehe." Ichinose Honami, dressed in casual clothes, opened the door and greeted them with her usual smile.

As soon as you walk down the corridor, you can smell a mixed fragrance, a blend of scents from many young girls, soft and warm, like the morning dew in midsummer, both hot and refreshing.

"Yo~"

As soon as I entered the room, I saw Yukinoshita, Sakura, and another girl playing cards around a small table. The empty hand was covered, so Ichinose must have come over to open the door for him halfway through the game.

"H-Hello, Uesugi-kun," Sakura Airi greeted him hurriedly.