Wasn't this just back to where it all started?
Seriously...
Bai Lan was both the reason for their success and their downfall.
As expected, that guy Bai Lan really was a "chaotic creature"!
He was just playing around!
Huh? Wait, that's not right.
Chabashira turned to her close friend. "Little Chie, tell me, your class didn't buy any information?"
At some point, Hoshinomiya's usual smile had vanished from her face, leaving her looking pitiful.
"That's right, little Sazae. Am I about to end up with the same status you have now? I'm scared!"
"What do you mean, 'the same status I have now'?" Chabashira looked disgusted at that, as if she were holding something back. But soon... the corners of her mouth finally began to rise uncontrollably.
She knew perfectly well that she shouldn't laugh.
But she simply couldn't stop herself.
Over the next few days, Bai Lan continued following Karuizawa after school every day.
Though he still hadn't gotten any results.
To confirm Karuizawa's attitude toward him, Bai Lan took the opportunity to exchange a glance with her whenever he entered the classroom through the front door.
Every time he saw Karuizawa's forceful, piercing gaze, Bai Lan felt reassured and became even more motivated.
Besides that, this extracurricular activity helped Bai Lan properly pass the rather agonizing days at school.
It could even be said that following Karuizawa no longer meant merely "finding a scapegoat" to Bai Lan. It had also become his main source of entertainment and exercise after school these past few days.
Because of his agreement with Hirata, Bai Lan couldn't continue his campaign of provoking Class D.
While following Karuizawa, Bai Lan used the information he obtained through Kushida to learn about the situations in the other classes.
Simply put, things weren't looking good.
At least, not from Bai Lan's perspective.
Although the various classes had all reacted to "Chaos Strike," they were still in the preparation stage. Aside from Class C being rather lively, things were generally quite peaceful.
Class A seemed to be planning to wait for their opponents to attack. They simply did what students were supposed to do every day: study hard and follow the rules. The entire class had a tense and serious atmosphere, doing everything meticulously and giving off the air of social elites.
Class B still looked like they were all getting along happily, without the slightest sense of urgency.
As for Class C...
Class C had made the biggest commotion. From the very day of enrollment, Ryuen had begun trying to use violent means to rule the entire class.
However, because Bai Lan had beaten him up recently and he wasn't in good shape, Ryuen nearly fell flat on his face several times. Yet, relying on his indomitable perseverance, he ultimately pulled through. Time and again, he defeated his opponents at the last possible moment, forcing the people he intended to subjugate into submission.
When Bai Lan first learned that Ryuen intended to use violence against the others, he had planned to beat Ryuen up and pick up a disciplinary penalty or something.
But every time he found Ryuen, he discovered that Ryuen seemed to be more seriously injured than the "victim." That made it difficult for him to strike. He was afraid that he might accidentally inflict serious injuries on Ryuen—or even kill him.
That would make it a criminal case!
Therefore, Bai Lan could only hold back, planning to make up for the beating after Ryuen had recovered.
Bai Lan suspected that the reason Ryuen could defeat his opponents with barely any health left was that, after seeing Ryuen's miserable condition, his opponents feared accidentally finishing off the low-health Ryuen and simply didn't dare use their full strength.
Under those circumstances, by the time they realized what was happening, Ryuen had already killed them in a reversal, leaving them at low health instead.
When both sides were at low health, the others simply couldn't bring themselves to go all out. They couldn't beat the tenacious and ruthless Ryuen, so in the end, they could only surrender.
It was truly ridiculous.
In short, for various reasons, Bai Lan simply couldn't find any opportunity to attack the other classes and pick up a disciplinary penalty.
With nothing else to do, Bai Lan could only spend those agonizing days at school by following Karuizawa after class.
And so, his "peaceful" life continued.
Fortunately, his "peaceful" life didn't last too long. Before Bai Lan became completely fed up with the current situation, that "peace" was finally shattered!
Bai Lan's investigation through following Karuizawa finally yielded results that day!
55. Karuizawa's Anomaly
Bai Lan's investigation through following Karuizawa had finally yielded results!
It happened one day after Bai Lan had followed her for a week.
That day, after school...
Karuizawa was still shopping with the other members of the Gyaru group. After their usual activities of having fun and eating, they returned to the dormitory at around seven or eight in the evening, once it had grown dark.
But then, something different from usual happened.
Today, Karuizawa didn't go upstairs with the other girls. Instead, she parted ways with her companions at the entrance to the dormitory, then turned around and headed somewhere alone.
Naturally, Bai Lan followed without hesitation.
Bai Lan soon discovered that the farther Karuizawa went, the more secluded the place became, with fewer and fewer people around.
Perhaps because she thought there was no one nearby, Karuizawa seemed to reveal an expression Bai Lan had never seen on her face before.
She looked extremely nervous, almost as if she were sneaking around.
In the middle of the night, she had gone alone to such an isolated place.
And she looked as though she had "something to hide."
Bai Lan figured she was probably about to do something she didn't want anyone to know about.
Could Karuizawa have arranged to meet someone here so she could secretly bully them?
Surely Karuizawa wasn't like Kushida, with another side vastly different from her usual self that she didn't want anyone to see, requiring her to find an empty place to vent in secret?
Kushida had told Bai Lan that, in the past, whenever she needed to vent her emotions, she would find an empty place and kick and curse at something sturdy, such as a railing or a large tree.
But Kushida did that to hide her unpleasant side, didn't she?
Karuizawa's outward image was already forceful and fiery, and not exactly likable, was it?
So what would she have left to hide?
As he followed in secret, Bai Lan couldn't help imagining things.
On the surface, Kushida was a gentle, adorable little angel with a sweet way of speaking. But in secret, she was a dark little demon who loved mocking others, verbally attacking people, and even threatening them.
Following that pattern...
Could Karuizawa actually be a forceful, fiery gyaru on the surface, but a weak and timid soft girl underneath?
Ferocious and intimidating during the day, then secretly hiding somewhere alone to cry at night?
Bai Lan recalled the feedback he had received over the past few days whenever he exchanged glances with Karuizawa to test her attitude toward him.
That unflinching, forceful, and piercing gaze.
Karuizawa even seemed to treat Bai Lan's probing as some kind of "challenge," so the gaze she returned grew more forceful and piercing with each passing day.
Two days earlier, Bai Lan had even failed to hold back when his competitive spirit was roused by her gaze. He had reacted instinctively, using the "gaze of an apex predator" that he had once painstakingly learned.
It was a technique used for surviving in the wild.
When confronted by a beast, if you felt you might be unable to escape, you could use this specially trained gaze to meet its eyes and make it sense a threat from an existence on the same level.
Predators generally wouldn't try to hunt something on the same level as themselves.
After all, they only wanted to fill their stomachs and survive. They didn't want to risk their lives, nor did they want to get injured. A minor injury could reduce their combat ability, while a serious one could kill them.
Therefore, fighting a predator of the same level would cost them far more than it was worth.
Unless the beast was so hungry that it had to take the risk, reaching the point where it couldn't survive without eating you and had no choice but to fight to the death, both sides would most likely leave each other alone.
Yet even after seeing Bai Lan's gaze, Karuizawa still didn't back down in the slightest.
This showed that Karuizawa had great confidence. She was very confident in herself and believed that if Bai Lan made trouble for her, she could at least tear a chunk of flesh from him and make him suffer.
At least, that was what she believed.
Her gaze conveyed exactly that.
It was impossible that she, like Bai Lan, had specifically trained this sort of thing, right?
This kind of gaze wasn't something one could develop through casual practice. You had to have truly faced something terrifying, maintained your ability to think amid fear, recognized fear, accepted fear, understood fear, and finally, become fear itself!
It was extremely difficult.
Why would she practice something like that for no reason?
Before Bai Lan could eliminate this possibility from his mind...
He suddenly noticed a dim figure ahead on Karuizawa's route.
The instant Karuizawa saw the figure, her pace quickened. She ran toward it with a clear purpose.
The answer had been revealed.
Karuizawa's secretive behavior today wasn't because she intended to reveal some unspeakable side of herself in private like Kushida. She had arranged to meet someone else.
After seeing this, Bai Lan immediately abandoned his unfinished speculation and focused his attention on the two people meeting up.
Bai Lan saw that the figure was wearing a school uniform, with trousers as the lower half. From that, he could tell the person was a boy.
The boy had a tall, straight build—slender without lacking strength, like a nimble cheetah. He was probably the type who matched most girls' aesthetic preferences.
Because the light here was rather dim, Bai Lan couldn't see the boy's face clearly for the moment.
But judging from his blurry facial outline, he probably looked quite good.
He had arrived earlier than Karuizawa.
Moreover, his posture was very upright. Without any unnecessary movements, he looked proper, conscientious, and well-mannered.
A proper, conscientious, well-mannered person—rounding up, the impression he gave was probably that of an "honest man."
The kind who seemed as though he could be bullied.
Before you continue