At home one sits, and Nanako comes to visit.
Aozawa had thought he could avoid the pitfall of superpowers, but to his surprise, Phoenix Academy Maggie actually came to him on her own initiative.
He sighed. Seeing that there was no one else around, he used Telekinesis to pick up the soup and scattered rice from the floor.
Because Telekinesis is invisible, the soup and rice seemed to float up from the ground.
They moved forward as if they were a mountain stream.
The ground by the door became clean; not even a trace of soup was left behind.
Psychic Sweeper—worth buying for everyone.
Aozawa mockingly criticized his own use of Telekinesis, retreated into his home, and closed the door.
The range of his Telekinesis was at most three meters, so he had to walk a few steps to drop the soup and rice into the trash can.
Back in his bedroom, he began to study, making up for the classes he had missed.
After a while, the smartphone screen on the bedside table lit up.
Aozawa picked up the phone, unlocked it to see the messages, and discovered they were pictures sent by Phoenix Academy Maggie.
Several in a row, all notes she had taken during class, with clear and tidy handwriting—the kind anyone could understand.
Following the pictures was a message: "You must forget what just happened, or else!"
What would be the consequence? Aozawa wondered. She hadn't said. Instead, she followed up with a sticker.
A Shiba Inu wearing a straw hat and wielding a katana slashed it through the air a few times—SWISH! SWISH!—and large text appeared: "Rampage!"
Aozawa was amused by this sticker and felt the young lady still had a sense of humor.
He quickly replied with a panda sticker, nodding over and over, with the message "Got it," flashing beside the panda.
The message showed as read. "Do you need me to recommend a doctor for your illness?"
"It's alright. It'll be better in a week."
"Alright then, I'll get busy with other things."
"Chat next time."
Aozawa sent that reply and tossed his phone back on the bed. Friendship salvaged.
He leaned back, his thoughts drifting to when he had opened the door. He raised his right hand, flexing his fingers a few times.
The young lady was quite soft.
「Several days passed.」
Aozawa stayed at home in peace. Every day, Phoenix Academy Maggie would send over her class notes on time, helping him with his studies.
"Finally done. Time for a break."
Aozawa gave a long stretch, dropped the pen in his hand, and got up to grab a cola from the fridge.
He popped the tab, took a swig, an expression of satisfaction on his face.
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
Learning from the last time, Aozawa didn't rush to open the door. Holding the cola, he asked, "Male or female?"
"It's me!"
A rough voice came from outside. Aozawa opened the door to find a tall high school boy with sunglasses and a beard standing there.
With a look of surprise on his face, Aozawa said, "Hojo, what brings you here?"
Hojo Tetsuji lifted the bag of fruit in his hand. "Shouko said her friend had been sick for several days and insisted I pay a visit. She kept nagging me about it, so I had to bring a bag of fruit over.
"I thought you would be weak and feeble, but you look quite well. Guess you were just skipping classes with an excuse."
"I'm about to recover. Come in."
Aozawa stepped aside to let him in.
As Hojo Tetsuji stepped into the Morimoto family's house, he glanced around and commented, "Your family must be rich to live here."
"It's okay. The house belongs to Chitose; I'm just staying temporarily," Aozawa responded with a smile. "I have a fighting game here. Want to play a round?"
"Sure."
Hojo Tetsuji immediately agreed, placing the fruit on the table.
Aozawa dug out the gaming console, quickly connected it to the large LCD TV, and they started playing a fighting game.
"Have you ever played Fist Soul?"
"Are you kidding? I'm a Fist Soul expert!" Hojo Tetsuji replied confidently.
He had spent plenty of time in arcades when he used to skip classes.
"Then let me see your skill."
Aozawa picked up a game controller, chose a character, and started to fight Hojo Tetsuji.
After a few exchanges, he realized that Hojo's skill was indeed formidable.
Unable to win head-on, Aozawa started playing dirty, deliberately asking, "How is your progress with Yoshikawa going?"
"What are you suddenly talking about?"
Hojo Tetsuji's heart instantly became flustered; he wanted to explain that his relationship with Yoshikawa wasn't like that.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Aozawa launched a fierce assault, rapidly reducing Hojo's character to critical health.
"You despicable guy!" Hojo Tetsuji, having realized what happened, tried to salvage the game, but it was too late.
KO.
Big, bold, red English letters appeared on the screen. Hojo Tetsuji turned his head and said, "Damn it."
Aozawa laughed. "I'm just concerned about my good friend's happiness."
Hojo Tetsuji, unwilling to give up, said, "One more time."
This time, Aozawa didn't play dirty; he was genuinely curious. "Don't tell me you've had a crush on Yoshikawa since your first year of high school? And because you weren't in the same class, you skipped school for a whole year?"
Hojo Tetsuji looked shocked. "You really can read minds, can't you?"
"You're just too simple-minded."
Aozawa thought to himself. He preferred playing the role of a love-strategist much more than caring about the outcome of the game.
Men love gossip too!
"Hojo, I'm telling you, harboring a secret crush gets you nowhere. You must write a love letter and put it in Yoshikawa's shoe locker."
"Who still uses love letters these days? Your thinking is outdated."
Aozawa wouldn't stand being looked down upon by an idiot. He argued back, "That's where you're wrong! Retro is in fashion now. Precisely because hardly anyone writes love letters, it will have a greater impact the moment she receives one!"
Hojo Tetsuji opened his mouth to argue back but then thought better of it and swallowed his words.
He thought it made sense.
Doing something everyone else does would naturally make no impression.
It's only by doing the opposite that you can make a lasting impression.
"You're right, but how should I write it?"
"Write from your heart. This kind of thing doesn't need literary talent; it's all about sincerity."
"Sincerity!"
At that word, Hojo Tetsuji suddenly stood up, his fighting spirit ignited. "You're right! I'll confess tomorrow! Aozawa, you really are a good guy!"
"Remember to spruce yourself up. Confessing with that uncle-like face of yours won't work."
"Don't worry, I know what to do. Let's go again! This time I'm leaving you with nothing!"
「The next day.」
Unlike public schools, private high schools had four periods on Saturday mornings.
This was also why parents were keen to send their children to private schools.
Hojo Tetsuji arrived at the student locker area just before class started, stuffing the carefully prepared love letter into Yoshikawa Sayuri's shoe locker. He closed it.
Thinking about what was to come, he became too distracted to focus on studying and instead walked out of the classroom, waiting at the confession spot ahead of time.
Inside the classroom, Phoenix Academy Maggie looked at the two empty seats beside her, suddenly feeling a bit desolate.
Would Aozawa's illness really be better by next week?
The bell signaling the start of class swept away the girl's thoughts. She had to concentrate and take good class notes!