Ryuen Kakeru Crashes the Party

"Yo, everyone's here, huh?"

Just as the atmosphere was settling down, an unexpected figure suddenly barged into the private room.

"I don't recall inviting you. Please, see yourselves out."

Honami spoke politely, but her stance was firm.

Ryuen Kakeru let out a disdainful snort, his gaze sweeping across the room.

"Class A, Class B, and Class D are all here? We were just missing Class C, so I brought my people over, didn't I?"

Ryuen Kakeru pulled out a chair and sat down with practiced ease, while Yamada Albert, Ishizaki Daichi, and the others stood nearby.

"It seems your intelligence gathering is quite impressive, knowing exactly which classes we all belong to."

Makoto shielded Honami behind him, his eyes fixed on Ryuen Kakeru and his group.

"You must be Miyano from Class B, right? I've heard of your exploits. What's the matter? Not planning to stay hidden behind your Class A girlfriend like a coward anymore?"

Ryuen Kakeru sneered, his expression dripping with contempt. He crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees, looking completely relaxed, as if he truly believed what he was saying.

"Makoto is not a coward!"

Before Makoto could retort, Honami couldn't help but snap back. Her slightly rounded face flushed with a rosy glow, fueled by the anger Ryuen Kakeru's words had provoked.

"Relax, relax. Don't listen to what people say; look at what they do."

Makoto hurriedly comforted Honami, momentarily leaving Ryuen Kakeru and his group standing to the side.

"Sometimes it would be better to learn how to temper your edge, wouldn't it, Ryuen-kun from Class C?"

Arisaka Sakayanagi sat elegantly in her chair, showing no signs of panic despite the sudden intrusion. On the contrary, she straightened her posture, her face filled with anticipation.

"That's just my style. In my eyes, your behavior is the real waste of time. Academics? What use could that possibly have?"

Ryuen Kakeru had always believed that academic ability was irrelevant, and that only the fear brought by pure violence was the truth—and it was through this violence that he ruled Class C as a dictator.

"That is a truly rude thing to say."

Though she lacked physical ability and had been rated E- in sports by the school, Arisaka Sakayanagi's words carried a certain weight.

"Come now, we're all students at the same school; there's no need to make things so tense."

Kushida Kikyo tried to mediate, attempting to soften the atmosphere in the room.

"You really are naive."

Ryuen Kakeru let out a heavy sigh, as if deeply disappointed, and continued, "Naive enough to think this school is like the ones you've experienced before, where you can have friendships like playing house."

"Let me kindly remind you all."

Ryuen Kakeru uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, his expression mocking.

"In this school, there is no such thing as goodwill. There is only mutual competition and the law of the jungle. Remember that!"

"So, are you going to join us for a meal?"

Makoto acted as if he hadn't heard a word and extended an invitation to Ryuen Kakeru.

"You guys are truly hopeless."

Hearing Makoto's response, Ryuen Kakeru seemed to enter a state of detached indifference, turned around, and left with his group without looking back.

For a brief moment at the end, Makoto's gaze met Ibuki Mio's, but neither of them said another word.

The latter had remained silent from start to finish.

"Let's continue eating, then."

Seeing that Ryuen Kakeru had "politely declined" his invitation, Makoto's appetite remained completely unaffected. He looked forward to seeing what kind of dishes Honami had ordered for them.

However, his mind drifted to the far reaches of his thoughts.

Ryuen Kakeru, the dictator of Class C, who even harbored the grand ambition of gathering 800 million points to lead his entire class to Class A.

It's truly impressive that he could come up with such a battle plan.

Yet, all of this was nothing more than a reflection of the moon in the water, a mere fantasy.

3 years to gather 800 million personal points (crossed out)

3 years to rake in 800 million Sakura Coin (correct)

If a normal society allowed a guy who only uses underhanded tactics to achieve something like this...

Makoto felt that society might as well just collapse already.

Did he really think that just because the environment had changed to a school, he could pull this off?

He's overthinking it.

Besides, the classmates following Ryuen Kakeru were truly the unluckiest people in the world.

As a tyrant leading his classmates through exams by brute force, what kind of growth were his subordinates actually experiencing?

Loyalty! Is that it?

Or have you learned how to use underhanded tactics?

This school is meant to cultivate outstanding talent for future society, not to export thugs to the outside world.

Coming back to his senses and seeing that everyone had yet to recover from the influence of Ryuen Kakeru, Makoto had no choice but to take the initiative to start a conversation:

"It looks like he's a very difficult person to get along with~"

"If someone hadn't held me back just now, I would have gone up and punched him already. What exactly is he acting so arrogant for? He's just a guy from Class C, after all!"

Sudo Ken was flushed with anger, the veins on his forehead bulging; it was truly a credit to Kanzaki Ryuji that he managed to hold him back and keep him from acting recklessly.

"Please forgive my presumption, but you might want to consider the reason you were assigned to Class D. Could it have something to do with your current short temper?"

"What did you sa...!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki covered his mouth and tried to console him.

"He's just trying to be helpful, Sudo. You really should rein in your temper."

After all, the others were the hosts here; did they really want to cause trouble and lose out on this rare, sumptuous dinner?

For once, Ike Kanji stood his ground.

This was all for the sake of his stomach's happiness!

"For instance, imagine a scenario like this."

Makoto decided to see things through to the end, his expression serious as he spoke.

"Because of some trivial matter, someone asks to meet you and hints at their intention to start a fight. Would you just throw everything to the wind and choose to throw a punch?"

"So what if I do?"

Sudo Ken broke free from the two of them, though he had gradually calmed down.

After all, Ryuen Kakeru was already gone, and his anger was nothing more than impotent rage. Besides, Makoto was the boyfriend of the person who invited them, so he had to show him at least a little respect.

"That's a huge problem. In the outside world, would the police allow you to just hit people like that? Even in this school, haven't the cameras that are practically everywhere given you even a shred of caution?"

"That would still be the other party's fault first."

At this, Sudo Ken recalled being rejected by a professional basketball university in the past, and his tone inadvertently softened.

"They won't listen to that kind of explanation. The fact that you hit someone is set in stone. Even if it really was the other person's fault, you would still face significant punishment. I imagine you've experienced something like this before, haven't you? Otherwise, I suspect you would be in Class C instead of Class D."

Makoto pointed out the crux of the issue with surgical precision, all relying on his extraordinary wisdom.

Although it was somewhat suspicious to be helping the opposition, he didn't care much.

Makoto himself didn't view his experiences at this school as all that important.

Is it really the case that if you mess up here, your future life will be bleak?

That has never been the case, has it?

Human beings are not such fragile creatures; if they were, they wouldn't have become the masters of the Earth.

Set your mind at ease and keep moving forward.

(I dedicate this sentence to every reader who has made it this far, and to myself as well.)