[Claies]

Originally Posted by noobita

and? and? how about the conversation between Toru and Tokita? I am really curious about that one.

and thanks for your quick summary.

That one I can't figure out.

Oh wait, upon rereading it more closely, there are some details that I misplaced. Let me rephrase what I wrote. This actually puts things in a more sympathetic light.

Spoiler for edited:

This short story is about Houjou, who is revealed as not just some random smoking jerkass, but actually a good friend of Tokita and Kuga.

Basically, he used to be Kuga's friend (though a little crude, he probably wasn't much of a problem child) whose Iris lets him see the bad things people say about you as stickers on your body. He started defending Kuga because he noticed that people say bad things about her. Later, however, he was suspended for punching one of the girls who was harassing Kuga (they look kinda manipulative, I'm willing to believe the girls did it to themselves and blamed it on him). Since then, he acquired the reputation of being a violent delinquent.

Before he left for his suspension, Tokita and Kuga came up with a plan and promise Houjou to get him elected to student council president in order to clear his name. Towards that goal, he came back as a more proper, popular, and sociable person. Life was looking good.

Then, with Tokita heavily supporting him as the election officer, Houjou ran for class president. Just as Tokita tried to undermine Koyuki in order for Houjou to win, Toru came in the picture with what happened in chapter 1, and Koyuki won as a result.

With Houjou plan failed after so much hard work in rehabilitating his name, the girls came back to trash talk him some more, which pissed him off more than anything and he started hanging out with actual delinquents and picking up bad habits (like smoking). Friendship soured.

So yes, Toru unknowingly caused some damage.

From the way I look at it, Koyuki's ability can be misunderstood this way: If she was aware of the talk that Houjou was a delinquent, her Iris would not have allowed her to select him, so Tokita undermining her authority in the elections may actually be necessary.

Also, this probably means Houjou is a sensitive guy. It's probably worth rereading the Iris Hunter arc from here.