Sayu had become accustomed to helping Kato Yusuke prepare lunches and eating with him.
Masaka Yuko's situation in the class is also gradually changing, and it's for the better.
Perhaps as the two said, after understanding the nature of Yuko, no one will reject a person with a good nature.
With Yusuke Kato's secret support and the help of the football club boys in the class who have a good relationship with him, Sayu and Yuko's status is slowly improving.
From rejection at the beginning, to wait-and-see later, to now willingness to accept.
The fact is that when a high-status group wants to actively accept a person, even if that person is originally an unknown and marginalized figure, it can easily trigger a herd effect.
Perhaps after receiving Yuzuki's instructions, Ebina and Kaga, who were followers, did not cause any trouble again.
Taking advantage of his position as class monitor, Kato Yusuke would often make appointments with Sayu outside of school, sometimes to go shopping and sometimes to eat.
Although the girl replied that she was not sure every time, she would still show up at the appointed place on time, and she would always have Yuuko with her, as if she minded being alone with him.
Thanks to this, the relationship between the three of them has become more familiar.
Under Yusuke's arrangement.
They also went to family restaurants for dinner several times with people from the football club in their class, and the atmosphere was pretty good.
It is worth mentioning that.
During this period, Sayu's time for activities outside of school increased, which naturally led to his return home much later than before, which also made the mother suspicious.
It's just that because of someone's precautions, they always use their spare time for personal conveniences. Therefore, even if the mother calls the school, she only gets answers that are true.
As a mother who cares more about her own face than her daughter, although she can accept Sayu coming home late because she is the deputy squad leader, she will never tolerate her doing other unrelated things.
Kato Yusuke naturally knew this, so he was prepared in advance.
Boys and girls walk together every day, and there is always another person beside them.
They live a life that looks like a couple but is not a couple.
The days passed very peacefully.
If it can continue like this until summer vacation, maybe it's time to leave.
Kato Yusuke thought vaguely, his eyes slightly lost in thought.
"……what's on your mind?"
The girl's confused voice reached his ears, interrupting his thoughts.
"Aren't you going to hand out materials? What are you doing over there?" Sayu, who was standing at the door of the classroom, tilted her head slightly and asked Yusuke strangely as he walked a distance away.
"...Sorry, I accidentally went too far."
"If you're not careful...you have to look ahead when walking, it's very dangerous."
"Oh, I see."
Kato Yusuke smiled and nodded, holding the study materials he had just received from Shibata-sensei, and slowly walked to his side.
In the classroom, Masaka Yuko was chatting happily with two girls.
When I saw them entering the classroom, I smiled and waved.
"Ah~ Sayu-chan, Iwanami-san, what are you holding in your hands?"
"It's materials for Chinese language class."
"That's it~ Then I'll help too."
"Huh? But aren't others still waiting for you?"
"It doesn't matter ~ and the three of us can be more efficient together, right?" Yuko waved her hand and said, taking half of the information from Sayu's hand and running to the back of the classroom to distribute it.
"Watanabe-san, this is your information."
"Oh, thank you for your hard work."
"Meijia, this is yours~"
"Well~ thank you, Yuko."
"You're welcome~"
"..."
Masaka Yuko walked lightly with a friendly smile on her face, greeting everyone politely and enthusiastically.
There were even some people among them whom Sayu couldn't even name, but she could talk to them naturally and didn't seem restrained at all.
Seeing such a knot, Sayu couldn't help but feel slightly lost in thought after handing out the information.
I just felt a mixture of emotions in my heart, like relief, relief, and at the same time I felt a little bit like crying.
"It seems like you don't need to worry anymore, right? Yuko."
Kato Yusuke walked up to her and stared there as well. His gentle profile overlapped with the sunshine, giving her an inexplicable flavor.
Sayu immediately put away his expression, not wanting him to notice his weakness, and remained silent.
First, he looked at Yuko Masaka walking in the classroom for a while, and then secretly turned his eyes to the boy next to him.
He saw the other party looking at his friend happily, with a few white teeth exposed between his lips.
She turned her face slightly, tightened her mouth and then loosened it, feeling a little bit unhappy, then withdrew her gaze and looked straight ahead again.
Without anyone noticing, a cold little hand quietly squeezed into someone's hand.
"……Thanks."
A voice as soft as the chirping of mosquitoes floated into my ears.
Kato Yusuke's body paused for a moment, the corners of his mouth raised uncontrollably, and an extremely gentle smile appeared on his face.
"You're welcome."
The two hands, one big and one small, are held together, with their fingers interlocked.
Sayu lowered her gaze, pouting her mouth and muttering something silently.
This was the first time she took the initiative to hold his hand, and it was a very warm feeling.
The front door of the classroom.
Saito, who had just returned from the toilet, happened to see this scene. His eyes were fixed on the hands held by the two of them, and his eyes became sad and deep.
…
It’s almost time to go see that mother...
After lunch, Kato Yusuke made such a plan and returned to the classroom from the rooftop.
As for Sayu and Yuko, they went to clean the lunch boxes.
After the lunch break, the first class in the afternoon is physical education.
However, there were still a few people sleeping in the classroom. Some people even brought their own pillows and slept soundly.
The sleepiness brought about by noon made the students somewhat unable to lift their spirits, not to mention that they would have to go outside in the sweltering heat to exercise under the hot summer sun.
When they think of this, everyone has a look of despair.
But I have to go. After all, the physical education teacher in the school is a well-known straight man. Once he is caught slacking off, he will not be fooled easily.
So the students had to drag their bodies one after another and reluctantly got up from the table.
Since Xugao does not have a special locker room, boys and girls usually change into sportswear in separate classrooms, with girls taking priority.
When Sayu, Yuko, and the girls in the class all returned to the classroom, they began to draw the curtains.
All the boys consciously walked out of the classroom and waited for the girls to finish changing into their sportswear.
Just when everyone was bored and opening windows in the corridor, or chatting a little restlessly with friends...
"--ah!"
It's like breaking the midday boredom.
A frightened exclamation suddenly rang out from the classroom of Grade 2 Class 3.
What followed was a commotion of tables and chairs being dragged around, and the soft chatter of girls.
"What's wrong with the girls?"
"Did you say you saw cockroaches?"
"have no idea."
The boys at the door looked at each other, no one understood what happened.
Kato Yusuke, who was talking to the boys from the football club, frowned, raised his voice slightly, and shouted to the inside: "What happened?"
After waiting for about ten minutes, the closed door was opened with a click.
Sayu, who was wearing uniform with a gloomy face, walked out of the opened door and closed the door behind him.
"Can I take a step to talk? Iwanami-san." She glanced at everyone outside and asked softly, her expression a bit hesitant to speak.
Hearing this, Yusuke's eyes became solemn and he said "Hello".
The two came to the stairs some distance away from the crowd.
"What just happened inside?" Kato Yusuke asked.
Sayu let out a sigh of relief and responded: "There are girls in the class whose sportswear is missing."
"Gone?"
"Um……"
"Have you searched carefully?"
"Yeah, there is……"
"Didn't she forget it herself?"
Sayu shook his head slightly, "According to the person involved, the sports bag used to hold clothes is still there, but the sports clothes inside are missing."
Kato Yusuke frowned deeply and was about to say something.
At this time——
Click, click, click!
"Boys!"
The girl's stern questioning came from the direction of the classroom.
"Hand over the prisoner—!"
The boys' voices followed closely.
"--Aha?"
"Prisoner?"
"what are you guys saying?"
"Stop pretending! It's definitely among you! Who took Meijia's sportswear? If you don't admit it, we will call the teacher over!"
"Sports clothes...?"
"The girls' sportswear is missing?"
"Even if that's the case, why do you think we are the culprits?"
Seeing that everyone was about to quarrel, Yusuke and Sayu didn't bother to talk anymore and walked back immediately.
"We don't know exactly what happened, so please stop arguing."
"Are you trying to protect the prisoner? Monitor," said an impatient girl.
As if being aroused by this incident, the other girls in the class looked at the boys angrily, their faces full of distrust.
"So--"
Kato Yusuke stared at the girl and asked in a calm tone: "Let's not say whether this thing was done by a classmate in our class. Even if it was, would he come out on his own if you made such a fuss?
?”
His voice was not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
"Even so-!" The girl tried to retort, but was interrupted by him.
"Anyway, it's better to calm down first. If this matter is really done by someone in our class, it won't be too late to discuss the outcome then, right?"
Kato Yusuke's eyes swept over all the girls one by one, and stayed for a moment on the girl surrounded by tears on her face.
"Is this acceptable to you? Classmate Meijia."
When he suddenly asked me, the girl named Mika looked very uneasy, but she nodded slightly and whispered: "I believe Iwanami-san."
…
After consultation, the girls unanimously requested that the boys' personal belongings be inspected.
Because Meijia's sports bag has always been placed in the cabinet at the back of the classroom and has never been taken out of the classroom, and there are always people in the classroom, so it is difficult for outsiders to take away this personal belongings without being noticed.
thing.
It is precisely based on this speculation that the boys in Class 3 have become the biggest suspects.
Although the boys were a little unhappy about this, after seeing the crying Meijia, they could not say anything to refuse, and finally nodded in agreement with the plan.
For the sake of fairness, boys and girls each sent a representative.
On the boys' side, it's Kato Yusuke, and on the girls' side, it's Sayu.
All the tables and chairs in the classroom were pushed to both sides of the wall, leaving only an empty table in the center for easy inspection of items waiting for later.
The remaining boys and girls stood in two distinct directions, like armies facing each other.
In order not to affect the physical education class that was waiting for them, the boys were also very cooperative. They took the initiative to take out their sports bags and walked forward in order of their student numbers for inspection.
First up is the first boy.
With a helpless look on his face, Taniguchi faced everyone's gaze, took the lead in placing his sports bag on the table, and then waited quietly.
Kato Yusuke unzipped it, opened his pocket, and looked through the contents.
They are basically basketball-related items, and there is nothing unusual among them.
Kato Yusuke returned the backpack to its original owner.
Sayu shook his head at the girl, indicating that there was no problem.
The boys relaxed slightly, but the girls still had a straight face.
The second, the third, the fourth...
Everything was going on in an orderly manner, and no one took the initiative to speak during this period. Only the sound of opening and closing metal zippers continued to sound.
Soon, it was the boy's turn to be the last one.
The girls' eyes couldn't help but become sharp, and their eyes focused on the sports backpack in his hand, as if trying to break through the obstruction to see the items inside clearly.
It can be seen that the boy is obviously a little nervous.
His eyes were looking around aimlessly, there was a slight cold sweat on his forehead, his throat would make swallowing movements from time to time, and the movements of his hands and feet seemed a little stiff...
Everything seemed to indicate that his behavior was suspicious, and he almost had the words "I have a problem" carved on his forehead.
The boy walked closer, his fingers tightly holding the shoulder strap of his sports backpack, but he refused to hand it over.
Seeing his reaction, the impetuous girl from before couldn't help but urge: "Hurry up! What are you hesitating about?"
The unkind tone made the boy shudder, as if he was frightened. Instead, he took a few steps back holding his sports bag and shaking his head.
At this time, even the other boys who had their personal belongings checked looked over in surprise.
The sweat on the boy's forehead became even worse, the pupils in his eyes shrank uncertainly, and his gaze fell on his feet as if he had nowhere to rest, without saying a word.