Selling the Answers

The next day at noon.

Shinjo tiptoed to the door of Class 1-C. He planned to sell the answers in his hands as quickly as possible, before anyone else had a chance to find out about them.

Just as he decided to knock, an irritable voice came from behind him.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

Shinjo instinctively sidestepped. When he turned around, he saw only a short girl with short hair.

The last time Ryuen had brought his underlings to the cafeteria to back someone up, this girl had been with them. She had seemed intent on keeping her distance from everyone else, so Shinjo remembered her well.

"Uh, hello."

"What are you doing here, skulking around like that...? Don't tell me you're planning to steal something!"

"Steal something? What does your class have worth stealing? I'm here to see your leader. He—"

Perhaps she'd heard a word she found disgusting. The girl across from him spat in irritation.

"Hmph. If you're looking for Ryuen, he's not here, and no one knows when he'll be back."

With that, she couldn't be bothered to look at Shinjo again and started back toward her seat.

"Wait!"

Shinjo hurriedly called after her.

"What else do you want? Let me warn you—just because Ryuen let you off last time doesn't mean you can forget your place. If you really want to cause trouble here, having guts won't be enough!"

"I actually..."

"Shinjo? What are you doing here?"

Ibuki had opened the classroom door, and Shiina, who was resting in the front row, spotted Shinjo at once.

"Oh, Shiina. I'm here because I have something to discuss with someone in your class. If Ryuen isn't here, could you come outside for a moment?"

Shiina pointed at herself, looking puzzled, then followed Shinjo toward the rooftop, still wondering what he wanted.

Ibuki hadn't wanted to get involved, but after thinking it over, she decided to follow them and find out what was going on.

"You really don't have to come along, you know..."

Shinjo could tell the short-haired girl didn't like him. That was understandable—he had, after all, cost their leader some face.

As it turned out, Ibuki didn't care about leaders. The reason she looked like that was simply that she looked that way with everyone.

And she really hated smooth-talking men—more than she hated Ryuen!

They always seemed to be hiding a bellyful of schemes. Then, when you least expected it, they'd stab you in the back, hard and without mercy.

"I just don't want you doing anything to Shiina."

Ibuki made up an excuse.

"Shinjo, don't mind her. Ibuki's just like that, but she doesn't mean any harm."

"Ah... heh, that's good..."

After a while, the three of them reached the rooftop.

"Shinjo, can you tell us now?"

Shiina had a surprisingly good impression of Shinjo. After all, people who liked reading couldn't be bad!

"Of course... In fact, I know a lot of people in your class are worried about the midterm exams, right?"

"What's that got to do with you?!"

Shiina hadn't even said anything before Ibuki nearly lost her temper.

Clearly, she thought Shinjo had said that just to mock her.

"Ibuki, you shouldn't do that. I don't think Shinjo is trying to make fun of you."

"Tch. Who knows?"

Just as the saying went, those who were always judging others by stereotypes would one day be judged by stereotypes themselves.

"Heh, I certainly have no reason to do something so pointless. Actually, I'd like to make a deal with you. It doesn't involve many points, so even you should be able to decide on it yourselves."

"A deal?"

Shinjo nodded and waved the folder in his hand.

"These are the answers to the upcoming exam. I came across them by chance."

"What did you say?! The answers?! Hah! Do you think I'm three years old? How could anyone get the exam answers that easily?"

Ibuki didn't believe Shinjo could really have gotten the answers. And even if he had, why would he share them with her?

Class C and Class D were sworn enemies, after all!

No sane person would ever do something that gave their enemy an advantage, would they?

The barrage of questions nearly left Shinjo breathless. In a way, he quite liked dealing with people like Ibuki. Her straightforward nature made her easy to fool.

But it was a double-edged sword. If Ibuki had taken a dislike to Shinjo from the start, then no matter how persuasively he spoke, she'd be as immovable as a fortress under fire.

Fortunately, Shinjo had plenty of experience dealing with situations like this. He could simply ignore her. Shiina was the one he really wanted to make a deal with.

"Um, Shinjo, is that true?"

Shiina wasn't exactly disbelieving him. She was trying to get him to reveal more. If she could find out where the answers came from, they could go get them themselves and avoid paying a middleman.

"Of course! I guarantee they're the real answers. Otherwise, wouldn't that ruin my Yorozuya's reputation?"

"Yorozuya?! Do you mean that Yorozuya from the text message a while back?"

Shiina looked surprised, though she was mostly putting on an act for Shinjo's benefit.

Even though she shut herself away in a sea of books, Shiina wasn't some bookworm who could do nothing but read. She'd long since mastered the use of microexpressions in social situations.

"That's right. If you ever need help with anything, don't hesitate to ask me~"

Ibuki, who had been ignored, sneaked a glance at Shinjo. Her eyes shifted as if she'd just thought of something.

"Heh, I'll be sure to if the opportunity arises. But let's get back to the answers. Since you can guarantee they're real, how much do you plan to sell them for?"

"To be honest, getting these cost me quite a few points... So... I've always liked the lucky number twenty thousand."

Ibuki looked tempted, but she knew haggling wasn't her strong suit—especially not with someone who looked like a born swindler.

So she obediently kept her mouth shut, leaving the decision to Shiina.

Shiina silently thanked Ibuki for not butting in. Otherwise, she might really have ended up paying twenty thousand for the answers.

"Twenty thousand points... Surely you're not planning to charge me that much, Shinjo?"

I actually wanted to charge you fifty thousand!

But there was no way he could set the price that high. Although Class C would receive close to fifty thousand points in living expenses that month, they might not actually have that much on hand.