Chapter 79: Reversal

That evening, the three of them, unlike usual, first went to a gift shop together to buy a birthday present for Nijika, and then went to STARRY to practice together.

Then they worked part-time, listened to the band playing on stage, secretly compared themselves to them, then felt down, and the girls practiced even harder.

And although they were extremely reluctant and nervous, time still passed another day.

There were five days left until the audition date.

At the same time, there were also five days left until the date of the appointment.

And on this day, during lunch break, Ishikawa Hayato said nothing as he looked at Hitori's determined expression.

But on the other side.

Kita was eating at a table pushed together with her friends.

While they were eating, Kita's friend, Megumi, had a hesitant expression, contemplating for a while, and finally couldn't hold back, asking Kita,

"Kita-chan, how's your relationship with Ishikawa lately?"

Kita held her chopsticks, a thought crossing her mind. Feeling it was time to come clean, she spoke up, "Ishikawa-kun, I've already broken up with him."

"Eh!"

The other three suddenly shrieked.

"What happened?" Kono Tamaki asked anxiously.

Embarrassed by her friends' reactions, Kita glanced at Ishikawa Hayato's empty seat.

She thought, full of resentment for the guy who was currently eating lunch with Hitori, "It's just that his personality is too bad. He's not gentle at all normally, he doesn't understand girls' feelings, and is rude to strangers... Really, he has more flaws than you can count.”

Kita's words made the three listen with increasing oddness, and by the end, when she mentioned him being rude to strangers.

The three looked at each other and immediately understood that Kita was throwing a tantrum.

They had intended to comfort her, but instead, they were left speechless.

Only Megumi couldn't help but ask, "Kita-chan, is that girl who often goes to practice with you part of your band too?"

Kita was startled, realizing that Megumi must have noticed something, and quickly denied, "This has nothing to do with Gotou-san."

"Is that so?"

Megumi's tone still carried worry as she spoke perfunctorily, and her words also made the other two pay more attention to her.

When the four of them went to wash their lunchboxes together.

A classmate, holding a small gift, smiled and ran over after seeing Kita.

"Kita-chan, thank you so much for helping out with the basketball game last time. This is a gift!"

"Thank you!"

Kita accepted it gracefully.

But while she was chatting with that classmate.

The two girls looked at the cheerful and sunny Kita and quietly leaned towards Megumi.

Megumi knew very well what they were concerned about, and after some hesitation, she spoke softly, avoiding Kita, "It feels like Ishikawa has been getting very close to Gotou recently. Someone noticed they seem to go to the corner next to the first-floor storage room during lunch break."

"Cheating!?"

The two exclaimed in a low voice.

Their voices drew Kita's attention back. Kita's expression stiffened as she watched them huddle together, whispering something.

...

"You undercover agents are really interesting. Why do you always like to meet on the rooftop?"

Ishikawa Hayato stood by the safety net, gripping it, his gaze far-reaching.

It was as if the towering buildings rising in the distance couldn't obscure his vision.

Behind him, Kita hesitated for a moment before walking over and standing beside him.

She sighed and said, "Didn't you, Ishikawa-kun, always bring me to the rooftop whenever you wanted to talk?"

That's good. Even if she doesn't understand the joke, she tries to keep the conversation going.

Ishikawa Hayato lowered his hand and glanced to the side.

Kita stood beside him, less than two palms' distance away.

At this distance, he couldn't see her skirt without looking down.

Kita pressed down on her skirt and called him with a mix of disdain and annoyance, "Ishikawa-kun!"

His sneaking glance was discovered, and Ishikawa Hayato obediently turned his head to look into the distance.

"Alright, what is it that you want from me? It's my first time being invited to the rooftop by Kita."

"I told my friends about our breakup."

Kita said straightforwardly. As she spoke, she blinked, quickly stealing a glance at Ishikawa Hayato's reaction.

And all she saw was Ishikawa Hayato pausing for a split second, then saying, "Isn't that good?"

She sighed almost imperceptibly and looked at the tall buildings in the distance.

"But Ishikawa-kun, your interactions with Gotou-san seem to have caused them to misunderstand."

Kita suddenly realized halfway through her sentence and quickly waved her hands to explain, "Ah, I'm not worried about what my friends will do, it's just that if the news spreads, I'm very worried that other people might go looking for Gotou-san..."

After she finished, she glanced at Ishikawa Hayato again.

And he still looked in a good mood, as if he wasn't worried about Hitori at all.

"It's alright, I've already made preparations. Besides, this is my school, under the jurisdiction of me, Ishikawa Hayato."

He looked at Kita and said jokingly.

Hearing Ishikawa Hayato's words, and thinking of the exaggerated things he had done within the school.

Kita inexplicably felt like her previous worry and nervousness made her look like an idiot. Instantly, a large stone weighing on her heart was thrown away, out of sight.

"I understand." Her lips curved upwards, her voice sounding much lighter.

"I'll also keep an eye on the situation, but, Ishikawa-kun, if you don't protect Gotou-san, I won't forgive you."

"Of course, but speaking of which, how did this situation happen?"

Ishikawa Hayato wasn't fooled by her. Looking at her much more relaxed expression, he asked, "Didn't you say that I was a cheating scumbag flirting around, and you couldn't stand it and broke up with me, something like that?"

“If you had said that, then everyone would think it was my fault, wouldn’t they?”

Kita's expression stiffened, and her eyes widened slightly.

“Well… well, well, well… it's not good to speak ill of someone behind their back, isn't it?"

It was rare sight for him to see Kita looking so flustered, and he couldn’t help but grow curious.

"Do you think I would care about that? By the way, you must have already spoken ill of me, otherwise, what was the reason for the breakup?"

Kita looked at him suddenly getting interested and started to panic.

She lowered her head, her gaze shifting for a long time, feeling that it was better to say it herself than for him to hear it from others later.

She muttered softly, "Bad personality, not gentle, doesn't understand girls, very rude..."

Ishikawa Hayato was dumbfounded after hearing that and couldn't help but exclaim, "Isn't that even worse? It would have been better to say I was cheating!"

"You didn't tell me, Ishikawa-kun, how was I supposed to know!"

Having been verbally suppressed the whole time up until now, Kita couldn't take it anymore and cried out petulantly.

But it was only for a moment, her momentum softened again, and she muttered to herself in a voice no one else could hear, "Because the cheating is true..."

Ishikawa Hayato heard it but pretended not to, smiling inwardly but sighing outwardly, "Oh, it'll be hard to find a girlfriend now."

Kita looked at him with disdain, "Isn't Gotou-san enough?"

"Kita, you haven't forgotten the goal I set at the beginning of the semester, have you? The goal is a harem! A harem!"

"That's terrible!" Kita cried out in an exasperated voice, then paused and asked, "Ishikawa-kun, how many have you found so far?"

"Currently the number is 0. Even those I've broken up with, besides Kita, are 0."

"Liar..."

"It's true."

"What about Gotou-san then?"

"Haven't confessed yet."

"Is that so..."

Just as Kita became completely lost in her thoughts, the school's preparatory bell rang.

She instinctively turned to walk downstairs but immediately startled, turning back to Ishikawa Hayato and saying, "Ishikawa-kun, you go back first."

Ishikawa Hayato was still standing by the safety net. He extended his hand, signaling Kita to go first.

"I'll stay here a little longer to look at this most beautiful scenery of summer."

Kita's gaze shifted, seeing the other side of the school, and her face showed obvious disdain.

"There are no girls in the pool right now, you know."

Ishikawa Hayato clenched his fists in defiance and shouted, "Men can survive on imagination alone!"

Kita smiled helplessly and turned around, but at the same time, a gust of wind blew past them.

The wind on the rooftop was extremely strong, blowing her pleated skirt upwards.

After realizing what happened, she quickly pressed her skirt down, then stiffened, and timidly turned around.

What she saw was Ishikawa Hayato giving a thumbs-up, with a dazzling smile.

"Can't you just pretend you didn't see it!?"

After stamping her foot and yelling, she ran downstairs in a hurry, her face red, her expression vexed, biting her lower lip, not caring what Ishikawa Hayato said behind her.

Next time, I will absolutely not talk to Ishikawa Hayato on the rooftop! Absolutely!

...

Soon, it was time for the much-anticipated (boys-only edition) swimming class in the afternoon.

Class 2 and Class 3 had swimming class together, with boys and girls separated.

Compared to the girls' side, who gathered in front of the changing room with a less natural integration, the boys' side was much more efficient.

They swarmed into the changing room.

Compared to the girls' changing room, which gradually became noisy, with occasional laughs and exchanges.

The boys' side was extremely quick and efficient.

It took 10 seconds to strip completely, and 3 seconds to pull on and adjust their swim trunks.

30 seconds after everyone entered the changing room, a unified "*snap*" sound echoed in the male changing room.

That was the sound of the elastic waistband of the swim trunks hitting the skin after hands were removed.

All preparations were complete.

"Let's go!"

“Oh!!!”

Amidst the earth-shattering cheers, all the boys, as if heading to a battlefield, stepped forward in unison.