"Yo, everyone's here, huh?"
Just as the mood was settling down, an unexpected guest suddenly barged into the private room.
"I don't believe I invited you. Please leave of your own accord."
Honami spoke politely, but her tone was firm.
Ryuen Kakeru gave a disdainful snort and looked around the room.
"Class A, Class B, and Class D are all here? We were the only ones missing, so I brought some people along."
Ryuen casually pulled out a chair and sat down. Yamada Albert, Ishizaki Daichi, and the others stood nearby.
"Looks like you've done a pretty good job gathering information. You even know what classes we're all in."
Makoto stepped in front of Honami and looked toward Ryuen and his group.
"You're Miyano from Class B, right? I've heard about you. What, are you done hiding behind your girlfriend from Class A?"
Ryuen sneered, his expression full of disdain. He seemed to mean it, too, as he crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees, looking completely at ease.
"Makoto isn't a coward!"
Before Makoto could respond, Honami shot back. Her plump cheeks flushed red with anger at Ryuen's words.
"Easy, easy. Don't listen to what people say; look at what they do."
Makoto hurried to comfort Honami, leaving Ryuen and the others hanging for a moment.
"Sometimes it's better to rein in your sharp tongue, you know? Ryuen from Class C~"
Sakayanagi Arisu sat elegantly in her chair. She showed no sign of panic at Ryuen and his group's sudden arrival. On the contrary, she straightened up, her face full of anticipation.
"This is how I've always done things. As far as I'm concerned, your behavior is the real waste of time. Studying? What good is that?"
Ryuen had always believed academic ability was unimportant. Only the fear brought about by sheer violence mattered, and he ruled Class C as a dictator through violence.
"That's a rather rude thing to say."
Sakayanagi Arisu, who had no athletic ability and had been rated E- in physical education by the school, was speaking from experience.
"All right, everyone goes to the same school. There's no need to make things so tense."
Kushida Kikyo tried to smooth things over and ease the tension in the room.
"You really are naive."
Ryuen let out a heavy sigh, then continued as if he were utterly disappointed.
"You naively think this school is just like all the others you've been through, with friendships like playing house."
"Let me do you all a favor and remind you."
Ryuen uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, his expression mocking.
"There's no such thing as kindness at this school. All you'll find is competition and the law of the jungle. Remember that!"
"So, are you going to join us for dinner?"
Makoto acted as if he hadn't heard a thing and invited Ryuen to join them.
"You people are beyond saving."
Hearing Makoto say that, Ryuen seemed to slip into a state of enlightenment. He left with his companions without looking back.
At the end, Makoto's eyes met Ibuki Mio's for a moment, but neither of them said another word.
She had remained silent from beginning to end.
"Let's get back to eating, then."
After Ryuen had "politely declined" his invitation, Makoto's appetite was completely undisturbed. He was eager to see what Honami had ordered for them.
But his thoughts had wandered far away.
Ryuen Kakeru, the dictator of Class C, had the grand ambition of raising eight hundred million points and leading his entire class into Class A.
It was amazing he had come up with such a plan.
Raise eight hundred million personal points in three years (crossed out)
Make eight hundred million Sakura Coins in three years (correct)
If a normal society allowed a guy who only knew how to use underhanded tactics to pull that off...
Makoto felt that society might as well be destroyed as soon as possible.
Did Ryuen really think he could do it just by changing his surroundings and coming to this school?
He was dreaming~
And the students who had to follow Ryuen into battle were incredibly unlucky.
He was leading his classmates like a tyrant, charging recklessly through every exam. What exactly were his underlings supposed to gain from that?
Loyalty? Maybe?
Or would they just learn to use underhanded tactics?
This school was supposed to cultivate outstanding talents for the future, not churn out street thugs.
When he came back to himself, he saw that no one had yet shaken off Ryuen's influence, so Makoto decided to start a conversation himself.
"Looks like he's not an easy person to get along with~"
"If someone hadn't stopped me just now, I'd have gone up and punched him. What's he so damn proud of? He's only in Class C!"
Ken Sudō's face was red with anger, the veins on his forehead bulging. It was a good thing Kanzaki Ryuji had managed to hold him back.
"Please forgive my bluntness, but maybe you should think about why you were placed in Class D. Could it have something to do with your temper?"
"What did you say...!"
Before he could finish, Kanji Ike and Yamauchi Haruki covered his mouth and tried to calm him down.
"He means well. Sudō, you really should rein in your temper."
They were guests here, and making trouble now would mean missing out on a rare, lavish dinner. Was that what he wanted?
For once, Kanji Ike had stood his ground.
It was all for the happiness of his stomach!
"For example, imagine this situation."
Makoto decided to see his good deed through to the end. He spoke with a serious expression.
"Someone invites you out over some trivial matter, then hints that they want to fight. Would you just throw caution to the wind and start swinging?"
"So what?"
Ken Sudō broke free of the two holding him, but he had started to calm down.
After all, Ryuen Kakeru was already gone, so there was no point in getting angry now. And Makoto was the boyfriend of the person treating them, so he had to show him at least a little respect.
"That's exactly the problem. Out in the real world, would the police let you hit someone just like that? Even at this school, with cameras almost everywhere, haven't they given you even the slightest reason to be cautious?"
"They were the ones who started it."
Ken Sudō thought back to how he had been rejected by the college basketball program. His tone softened without him realizing it.
"They won't listen to you explain it that way. The fact that you hit someone is already established. Even if the other person was at fault, you'd still face serious punishment. I imagine something like that has happened to you before, hasn't it? Otherwise, I think you'd be in Class C, not Class D."
Makoto had hit the nail on the head, and he owed it all to his astounding wisdom.
Though there was some risk of helping the enemy, he didn't really care.
Makoto himself didn't think his experience at this school was all that important.
Would one mistake here really leave the rest of your life bleak?
That had never been the case, had it?
Humans weren't such weak creatures. If they were, they never would have become the rulers of Earth.
Take it easy, and keep moving forward.
(This line goes out to every reader who made it this far, and to myself, too.)
Before you continue