Just Want to Be a Slacker

An hour later, Kamio Tatsuya closed his book, feeling a bit dizzy from absorbing too much knowledge today.

"A fair exchange, that's all."

Today, Horikita Suzune didn't choose to wait any longer; as soon as the time was up, she packed up and left directly.

Kamio Tatsuya also left his seat, planning to find some light reading to relax.

The school library's collection was incredibly rich, not only containing various famous manga and light novels but even past issues of Jump, which Kamio Tatsuya really hadn't expected.

Surely the school wouldn't be encouraging students to indulge in this kind of stuff?

But then he thought again—over so many years of students, maybe some had aspired to become manga artists or light novel authors?

If it was to provide them with material, then it wasn't entirely out of the question.

With that thought, Kamio Tatsuya suddenly felt it made sense.

Chapter 40: Sakayanagi: What a Shame

Although the school had a large number of light novels and manga, Kamio Tatsuya had no intention of reading them.

Regardless, reading that kind of stuff was too relaxing; right now, he was in the exam preparation period, so he planned to find some extracurricular books that required brainpower to unwind a bit.

With that filter applied, Kamio Tatsuya felt that mystery novels might be a good choice.

Since almost all the first-year students were busy preparing for exams, these extracurricular books were mostly free, and Kamio Tatsuya easily found what he was looking for.

Murder on the Orient Express. Looking at the book in his hand, Kamio Tatsuya shook his head, put it down, and picked up the one next to it.

Neither of these was the book he wanted. He was looking for And Then There Were None, but it didn't seem to be here—had someone else borrowed it?

Although there was a backup copy, it was the full English version, and Kamio Tatsuya admitted he couldn't really understand it yet.

In the end, he took The ABC Murders and left the area, returning to his original seat.

Before he knew it, the time reached six o'clock. Kamio Tatsuya put down the book and started packing up. He decided to borrow The ABC Murders so he wouldn't have to look for it again tomorrow.

Back in his dorm, Kamio Tatsuya took out his phone and checked—still, no one had stepped forward to blackmail the classes ahead.

Class D really is boring.

Anyway, they're all future enemies, so why the hell should I be polite?

The next day, as soon as Kamio Tatsuya arrived in the classroom, Horikita approached him.

"Have you heard about what's on the forum?"

"What's on the forum?" Kamio Tatsuya asked with a curious look. "You mean that anonymous post?"

Hearing this, Horikita nodded.

"Someone used our Class D's name to send a plea for aid to the three upper classes ahead, asking them, out of humanitarian spirit, to donate ten thousand Private Points per person as living expenses. If they didn't, then someone might follow Yamauchi's example from yesterday and harass them."

Kamio Tatsuya nodded to show he knew about it—because he was the one who did it.

And he hadn't threatened them; he'd only requested aid for living expenses and explained one possibility—if Class D continued to have no living expenses, then Class D students might do something irrational.

Though it was essentially a threat on the surface, the presentation was thorough enough that even if they took it to the teachers, the teachers couldn't do anything about it.

Because Class D's students hadn't actually done it yet.

On the surface of the text, Kamio Tatsuya was at most describing a future scenario that might be unfavorable to the upper classes.

Also, he wanted to use this incident as an experiment—to see if the school would easily reveal the identity of an anonymous user.

"Do you know who posted it?"

Horikita Suzune shook her head.

"I heard the other classes have already reported it to the school, demanding to know who made that post, but the school hasn't disclosed their identity."

Kamio Tatsuya nodded, then suddenly broke into a smile.

"So who do you think did it?"

The sudden question caught Horikita Suzune off guard. She paused, then looked at Kamio Tatsuya with some suspicion.

"Don't tell me it was you?"

Damn, you see right through people.

Kamio Tatsuya was about to deny it, but Horikita Suzune immediately shook her head again.

"It probably isn't. You're not short on points, and you're not the type to work hard for the class's students."

Hearing this, Kamio Tatsuya spread his hands and pursed his lips in a gesture of speechlessness.

As for the other classes, each had their own reaction to Kamio Tatsuya's anonymous post.

"So soon, and just as I predicted. How interesting."

Ryuen looked at the post on the campus forum, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

Because the semester had just started and he lacked understanding of Class D's students, even if Ryuen wanted to find this anonymous person, he had no starting point.

So after thinking it through, he immediately dragged Class A and Class B into the mess.

And sure enough, it had an effect.

The students of Class A naturally learned of this matter as well.

"What are you going to do?"

Looking at the post on his phone, Katsuragi spoke to Sakayanagi.

"What about you, Katsuragi-kun?"

Sakayanagi didn't answer, instead turning the question back on him.

"Class A is full of excellent students. They won't be so easily provoked by the other side."

"Is that so?" Sakayanagi's smile didn't waver. "But I think it'd be better to just obediently pay up."

"Are you scared?"

"Think what you like." Sakayanagi clearly didn't want to talk to Katsuragi any further. "Kamuro-san, let's go to the cafeteria for lunch."

Watching Sakayanagi's retreating figure, Katsuragi's expression was extremely serious.

"Kamuro-san, who do you think did this?"

"Hah? How would I know who did it?"

Kamuro Masumi looked thoroughly annoyed, as if she were on her period.

In truth, she'd been bossed around by Sakayanagi constantly these past few days, because Sakayanagi had somehow found out about her kleptomania.

Though she hadn't been threatened, she somehow ended up being ordered around anyway.

"It's simple. You should know this person."

"I know them?" Kamuro Masumi was taken aback. "Wait, you don't mean Kamio, do you?"

"From what I can see, it's very likely him. This method of making people uncomfortable yet forcing them to follow along—it suits his style perfectly." Sakayanagi Arisu's face showed a delighted expression, as if she'd found some new toy.

"But that guy shouldn't be short on Points either, right? What's the point of doing this?"

Kamuro Masumi knew that Kamio Tatsuya had over three million Private Points, so she thought he wouldn't care about a mere few tens of thousands.

Sakayanagi couldn't figure it out either, but she had a vague feeling that Kamio Tatsuya had done this almost on a whim.

Even so, his methods were interlocking. To break the situation, you'd have to do as Katsuragi said and completely restrain your own class's students.

But students are human, and humans make mistakes.

So in a sense, Kamio Tatsuya's scheme was unsolvable. You only had two choices: either obediently pay up, or obediently get messed with.

Actually, if Katsuragi had chosen to pay just now, Sakayanagi had another way to solidify Class A's position.

That was, after paying the protection fee, directly use another sum to hire Class D students to cause trouble for Class B and Class C.

Unfortunately, Katsuragi was far too conservative and somewhat failed to recognize his own position... It wasn't worth scheming with such a man.

She hoped no one from Class B or Class C would think of turning this against Class A.

No, although that Ichinose from Class B probably couldn't do something like this, Ryuen from Class C was another story.

Chapter 41: Pay Up Some Protection Fee

Soon, the bell for class rang, and Kamio Tatsuya entered study mode. The other students in the class, whether they wanted to listen or not, at least looked serious for the moment.

Except for one person: Sudo Ken.

That guy might not be late anymore, but as soon as he got to class, he'd lie on his desk and sleep without restraint.

Hirata had tried to persuade him a few times, but it never had much effect.

After school in the afternoon, Kamio Tatsuya packed up his things and prepared to head to the library. But before he could leave, visitors came to Class D.

Ryuen from Class C, except this time he hadn't come alone. With him were Ishizaki and that burly black guy.

From asking around, Kamio Tatsuya learned his name was Yamada Albert, a half-breed.

Tch, a half-breed. Black genes really were something else.

Arriving at Class D, Ryuen barged straight in with his people.

"What do you want, Ryuen-kun?"

The one who stepped forward was naturally Class D's leader, Hirata Yosuke.

Ryuen was clearly up to no good. To prevent another fight like yesterday's, Hirata immediately put himself forward.

"Don't be so tense, Hirata. I just saw something posted on the forum and came by to say hello."

As he spoke, he brazenly scanned the students still in Class D.

Kamio Tatsuya was speechless. He wanted to go to the library, but now didn't seem like the right time.

Being too arrogant would get him noticed by Ryuen and suspected.

Not that he was afraid, but it would be troublesome.

And he hated trouble.

So he just stood by his desk, like everyone else, watching Ryuen and his group.

Ryuen's gaze swept across the faces of Class D's students one by one, and when it passed over Kamio Tatsuya, it didn't pause at all.

Unfortunately, Ryuen Kakeru was not Edogawa Conan, and he didn't have the ability to instantly identify the culprit.

"Please leave our classroom. The person you're looking for isn't in our class."

Afraid that things would escalate into a bigger mess, Hirata immediately issued an order for him to leave.

But Ryuen wasn't about to be driven off that easily.

"Oh? You're saying that? In that case, can you guarantee it?"

"Guarantee what?"

"Guarantee that Class D's students won't cause any trouble for the other classes."

"I..."

Hirata wanted to give a guarantee, but he wasn't an idiot. Though he was willing to protect Class D's students, he knew all too well what kind of people they were.

With the Yamauchi incident happening just yesterday, what could he possibly use to guarantee anything?

Moreover, he couldn't force Class D's students to do anything, so he couldn't bring himself to say that they would stay out of trouble.

Ever since the forum method was made public, even if Class D's students did nothing at all, it still carried a powerful deterrent effect.

If Hirata made such a guarantee and demanded that Class D's students behave, that would be like cutting off one of his own arms. As an honors student, Hirata Yosuke couldn't possibly fail to see that.

Though he rejected this approach, deep down he knew it was the best way to resolve Class D's current predicament.

The classroom of Class D fell into a brief stalemate.

And the one who broke that stalemate was that unconstrained man—Koenji Rokosuke.

While Ryuen and Hirata were talking, he calmly packed his things without being affected, then picked up his bag, walked past the two of them, and left the classroom.

Well done, Koenji!