A Double-sided Favour Repayment

"A Double-sided Favour Repayment" (表裏一体の恩返し) is a short story from 's store privilege for volume 4.5 of 2nd Year arc of You-Zitsu light novel series, together with other four short stories.

Summary
Nanase, who was tailing Kurachi, ended up on the sixth floor's deck following after him. She was tailing Kurachi because she discovered his name when she did a GPS search for the person who attempted to attack Ayanokōji during the Uninhabited Island Exam, despite Ayanokōji's advice not to. She felt that even if Kurachi wasn't the mastermind, she could find something by tailing him and believed that even if the mastermind was someone she couldn't compare to, it might work as a hint for Ayanokōji.

She noticed a lot of students eating lunch on the deck, so she decided to eat her lunch there as well while watching Kurachi. She suddenly remembered Ayanokōji's words asking her not to leave the school as she was taking out her sandwich. She imagined herself living a happy school life doing as she was told by Ayanokōji but felt that she couldn't accept it. Just as she bit into her sandwich, she heard someone call out to her.

Recognizing the owner of the voice to be Ayanokōji, Nanase responded quickly by talking clumsily with the sandwich still in her mouth. She hurriedly chewed her sandwich after that and quickly apologized. She then explained that she was eating a sandwich as if she were confessing. Despite the fact that she had lost Kurachi during their conversation, she continued talking to Ayanokōji in a normal way so as not to alert him to the fact that she was tailing Kurachi or about having conducted a GPS search. When Ayanokōji inquired about their previous meeting which was interferred by Ninomiya, she said that it was something she handled on her own. She had considered telling him about Kurachi earlier but decided against it so as not to worry Ayanokōji. Even if it was the right thing to do, she didn't want to bother him by telling about Kurachi.

Nanase apologized to Ayanokōji in her heart for not telling him everything as she watched him leave the deck. She thought that Ayanokōji was a kind senpai for advising her to stay out of the danger and felt compelled to repay his goodwill by providing him with any and all the help he needs, no matter how insignificant.

Trivia

 * The character said to have interrupted conversation between Ayanokōji and Nanase was mentioned as Yui Ninomiya in the SS but was stated to be Yume Kobashi in the Volume 4.5.