COTE: Horikita Is My Childhood Sweetheart

Chapter 156: Completely Different from These Coquettish Bitches

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"Uh, it's all girls over there, so I won't go. Kei, you can go by yourself. I'll just head back to my seat," Rin said, rejecting Kei's suggestion.

He already knew from the narration system that the girls in Class D had banded together against the boys for their crude behavior. What was he, a boy, supposed to do by joining them? It would only invite trouble.

"Alright then." Kei reluctantly released Rin's arm and walked toward Shinohara and the others. Rin, meanwhile, passed the group of boys and returned to his seat.

After joining the girls, Karuizawa asked curiously, "What's going on over there with all the commotion?"

"Kei, let me tell you," Shinohara said angrily, pointing at the group of boys. "Those disgusting guys are betting on the sizes of our breasts!"

As she explained, Kei's expression turned from curiosity to anger.

"They're betting on our breasts?" Karuizawa exclaimed, her tone filled with fury.

Disgusting.

Absolutely abominable.

And for anyone thinking girls were being overly sensitive—imagine if the roles were reversed. If the girls were loudly betting on which boy had the smallest, shortest penis, the boys would be furious too.

Of course, Rin wouldn't be angry in such a scenario. He was confident in himself, after all.

Meanwhile, Yamauchi, who was excitedly debating with the boys about which girl had the largest breasts, noticed Rin returning to his seat. Nudging Ike, he whispered, "Hey, Ike, Matsuoka is back. Let's go talk to him."

"Good idea!" Ike replied enthusiastically.

Rin sat down at his desk, pulled out his phone, and opened the Line app. A new message awaited him—a photo from Sakura Airi.

In the photo, Sakura wasn't wearing her plain glasses. Her bright red hair was neatly styled, revealing her smooth, fair face. Without the glasses, Sakura didn't look like the shy, country girl everyone knew. Instead, she appeared radiant, charming, and almost unrecognizably beautiful.

The photo's background was nondescript, likely chosen because Sakura, being shy, had gone to a remote, isolated spot to take it.

[Rin, what do you think of this photo I took?]

[It looks great. Do you have more?] Rin replied promptly.

His response made Sakura's heart flutter. Smiling, she quickly typed back.

[There are a few others, but I'm not very satisfied with them. I'll send you some better ones later.]

[OK.]

Far away from the classroom, in her secluded spot, Sakura held her phone against her chest, a soft smile on her face. She whispered to herself, "Rin likes the photo I sent. That's wonderful."

Her expression softened further as she murmured, "If only Rin liked me in real instead of just the photo itself... that would be even better."

As the words left her lips, her cheeks turned a deep red, her shyness evident in her every expression. Even after returning to her usual "country girl" look, the charm of her bashfulness couldn't be hidden.

Pressing the back of her hand to her heated cheeks, Sakura tried to calm herself. Slowly, she began making her way back to the Class D classroom.

"Next up is swimming class..." she whispered to herself with a sigh. "Ugh."

There was a hint of sadness in her tone. Sakura felt embarrassed about wearing a swimsuit in front of everyone and didn't want to be seen like that.

Sakura was well aware of her figure. She knew that wearing a tight swimsuit would inevitably draw attention.

As someone naturally shy, Sakura particularly disliked being the center of attention.

At the same time, however, the part of her that had a crush on Rin secretly hoped he would notice her in a swimsuit.

A girl conflicted by her feelings.

"Good afternoon, Matsuoka-san!"

"Good afternoon!"

Rin set down his phone and glanced at Yamauchi and Ike, who had come over. The two of them were grinning warmly, their enthusiasm almost overbearing.

Their expressions and attitude were so exaggerated that anyone unfamiliar with the situation might have thought they were Rin's closest friends.

"Ah, good afternoon," Rin replied indifferently.

"Next is swimming class! You must be excited too, Matsuoka!" Ike teased, his tone filled with anticipation.

Horikita, seated to Rin's left, frowned slightly. Her delicate eyebrows knit together as she silently listened while pretending to focus on her homework.

Most adolescent boys were naturally curious about and drawn to girls, and Rin was no exception. He wasn't hypocritical and didn't bother hiding his mild anticipation for the swimming lesson.

"I'm looking forward to it, but I wouldn't say I'm excited," Rin said evenly.

"We're looking forward to it too!" Ike added enthusiastically.

"Actually," Yamauchi interjected carelessly, "we're betting on the sizes of the girls' breasts. Want to join in?"

He seemed completely oblivious to Horikita sitting nearby, whose expression turned icy at his words.

It's bad enough they're yelling about this nonsense over there, Horikita thought. Now they're trying to corrupt my childhood friend?

"I'm not interested," Rin replied lazily, his disinterest evident.

His response softened Horikita's cold expression slightly.

Humph~ That's more like it. You're worthy of being Rin. You're completely different from these filthy-minded idiots. You didn't disappoint me.

"Matsuoka-san, why aren't you interested?" Ike asked incredulously. "We're guys—our heads are full of boobs and butts!"

Rolling his eyes, Rin replied, "That's your head. I don't have those ridiculous thoughts in mine."

Suddenly remembering something, Rin asked, "Besides betting on the girls' breasts, what else are you planning to do?"

"Of course, there's more!" Ike declared, his face lighting up with enthusiasm.

"We're planning to use our phones to take pictures of all the girls in swimsuits!"

"Yeah, but we'll skip the ones with no figure. Not worth it."

"Exactly!"

"You realize what you're doing, right? You're committing a crime."

Horikita's voice was cold enough to freeze the air around her. It carried a sharpness like the Siberian wind, sending chills down the spines of everyone nearby, Rin included.

Rin turned to see her glaring at the boys, her eyes like daggers of ice.

Meanwhile, Ike and Yamauchi, thoroughly intimidated, quickly muttered excuses and scurried away like frightened animals.

Horikita's fox-like eyes remained fixed on Rin, full of disdain, as if she were looking at something filthy. Rin, feeling unjustly targeted, raised his hands in helpless surrender.

"Horikita, don't look at me like that. It's not like I wanted to take photos..."

"Hmph." Horikita snorted dismissively, clearly unconvinced.

Not wanting to leave things on a sour note, Rin sighed and dragged his stool over, sitting on the right side of Horikita's desk to show he was on her side.