A Ruthless Extortion

On the way back to the dormitory, Horikita Manabu wore a grave expression; he truly could not fathom why things had turned out this way.

Why had his own innocent, well-behaved, clever, and adorable younger sister turned into this?

And that nonsense about doing it all to catch up to him? It was absolute rubbish!

"Horikita-senpai, I know you might be under a lot of pressure lately, but even so, using violence against your juniors isn't right, is it?"

Suddenly, a familiar, mocking voice drifted from behind Horikita Manabu.

He spun around sharply to find Shintō Katsuya pointing a smartphone directly at his face.

Click! (The sound of a shutter)

"Shintō. When did you get there?"

"Who knows? Maybe just now, or maybe I've been here the whole time..."

After a mere 0.05 seconds of thought, Horikita Manabu reached a conclusion: the other party definitely held evidence that could ruin him.

In other words, he would have to sign an unequal treaty to settle this.

"It seems Class D of your year is full of hidden talents. Speak, what do you want from me?"

Shintō snapped his fingers.

"Talking to a smart person is so simple. Everything I want is pretty much on this list. As long as you agree to my terms and use your status as Student Council President to advertise my Yorozuya, I can pretend I'm just dreaming."

Horikita Manabu took the note paper that Shintō was always adding to. When he saw the dense list of home appliances and household goods, even his perpetually stoic poker face twitched violently.

Although the school allocated an astronomical sum to clubs every year, the Yorozuya was merely an unestablished, bizarre organization that might even disrupt school order.

"These items don't seem to have anything to do with your Yorozuya, do they? Even if I am the Student Council President, I can't possibly..."

"Are you sure they don't? Clients who come to the Yorozuya might suffer from psychological issues like anxiety or tension at any time. The equipment I'm asking for is all for the guests; only when they are relaxed can I properly conduct club activities."

At this point, Shintō Katsuya deliberately altered his tone:

"Well, you are the Student Council President, after all. Although the school strictly forbids violence, you surely have ways to circumvent the punishments that come with it, right?"

Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses calmly. It was true; setting aside his years of accumulated influence, the Student Council possessed the power to interfere with school regulations, so he would never be expelled for hitting someone.

"You might not be afraid... but what about your sister?"

"Heh, if your sister found out that her brother was going to be stripped of his position by the school because he hit her, I'm afraid she would immediately beg me to let her take the fall instead."

"Something like, 'I intentionally walked into your fist, so being hit was entirely my own fault,' and then demanding to drop out to protect you..."

Once Shintō said this, how could Horikita Manabu not understand what the other party was planning!

He was clearly using his foolish sister to threaten him, yet he had no way to counter it!

Horikita Suzune could choose to drop out; that was her freedom. But she could not drop out in this manner; otherwise, what face would he, as her brother, have to see her again?

And yet, he cared for his sister, but he could not let her see that he cared!

This had formed a dead end.

Shintō then poured more oil onto the fire, using a pitiful, whimpering voice:

"Wuu wuu wuu, Brother... Suzune... can only do this much for you... It's all my fault, sister has held you back..."

Before he could finish, Horikita Manabu's iron fist smashed toward Shintō's face, but it stopped dead, hovering just half a centimeter away.

Shintō stared straight at him. If Horikita Manabu were the type to lose his temper so easily, it would mean the Student Council President was nothing special.

However, it was clear that while Horikita Manabu was angry, he remained rational; this move was merely to test Shintō.

"Your conditions... I can accept them, and I can fight for the maximum possible funding for your club activities, but I have one condition... If you don't accept it, then do as you please."

"Let's hear it."

Shintō was here to extort, not to make an enemy of Horikita Manabu.

He knew the value of knowing when to stop.

"I will use my status as Student Council President to promote your Yorozuya. However, you must complete one request for me unconditionally every week."

"As long as it doesn't violate my professional principles, no problem."

Shintō was quite reasonable, now that the other party had promised so much.

"Principles?"

Horikita Manabu didn't think such a despicable person could have any principles. But perhaps it was precisely because he was this kind of person that he could build a Yorozuya that danced on the edge of the rules.

Shintō held up four fingers.

"For requests, there are four things I don't do."

"First, things I can't do, I don't do. Second, requests from people I dislike, I don't do. Third, things that violate the most basic moral bottom line of humanity, I don't do. Fourth... things I don't want to do, I don't do."

"You must do it for me!!"

Horikita Manabu's tone suddenly turned harsh. If the first three could be barely accepted, wasn't that fourth one just playing him for a fool?

Even he, a veteran of countless battles, couldn't help but take several deep breaths to steady himself.

"I can agree to the first three terms, but you must complete the commission. Otherwise, I will consider your club activities to have failed, and your funding will be frozen."

"Well... alright, alright... there's really no helping you. I'll just treat this as me setting a precedent for you."

It's clearly me setting a precedent for you!!! If you hadn't used Suzune to threaten me, how could I possibly have agreed to these ridiculous conditions?

"You glib-tongued fellow, just make sure you don't drop the ball when the time comes."

"Hehe, there's no need for you to worry about that. Huh? That's strange, why did I come out tonight? Oh... it seems I came to buy a drink. My, Horikita-senpai, what a coincidence, meeting you here."

Horikita Manabu looked coldly at the feigning Shinjo before him, and he had to admit, it was fortunate that the Vice President currently giving him a headache wasn't this guy.

A much more formidable opponent than either a blatant villain or a hypocrite... a despicable and cunning fence-sitter!