A Deal with Sakayanagi

"Although the chairman has already suppressed this matter, if the wrong person takes advantage of it, it won't just affect you. The whole of Class B could get dragged into it."

"Yes, I understand. I can assure you that no one knows." Except for Arisu Sakayanagi. Ying bowed deeply in apology, adding the thought silently.

"Actually, you don't have to be so formal. I didn't call you here to talk about that," Hoshinomiya-sensei said slowly.

"Yes, I won't make that mistake again... Hm? Then... what did you want to talk about?" Ying couldn't help feeling nervous and began searching his memory for anything he might have done wrong.

"I want you to keep an eye on Kiyotaka Ayanokoji from Class D~. He might be the Joker Sae was talking about," Hoshinomiya said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

So that was it. Ying breathed a sigh of relief. He'd thought she'd found out he'd secretly bought some advanced products from outside the school.

"Sure, I'll keep an eye on him." After casually agreeing, Ying left the guidance room and happened to run into Ichinose and some of the other Class B girls, who had come to see Hoshinomiya.

"Byakuya? Did you need something from Hoshinomiya-sensei?" Ichinose asked in surprise. She figured that, given Ying's personality, he'd spend the whole day enthusiastically exploring every part of the cruise ship. What would he need to see a teacher for?

"It was about the Special Exam. We just finished talking, so go on in if you need to. Hoshinomiya-sensei has plenty of free time right now," Ying replied.

"Actually, us girls were thinking of inviting Hoshinomiya-sensei to go have some fun. Would you like to come too, Byakuya?" Ichinose asked with a smile.

"I think I'll pass..." Ying started to refuse. He'd be the only man among a group of girls, and he'd feel out of place. But then he reconsidered. He'd be the only guy there. Wasn't that a good thing?

"Since you invited me, I'll—"

"Byakuya, there you are!" Just as Ying was about to accept, a sudden voice interrupted him, and he swallowed the rest of his words.

He turned around and saw someone wearing a mask. It looked a lot like the one Ying had worn on the Uninhabited Island, though it was made of a different material.

"Could you be... Hashimoto?" Ying guessed.

"Ahaha... You got me. The princess wants to talk to you about that matter~." Hashimoto laughed and took off his mask.

"If you have something to do, Byakuya, we can meet up another time." Ichinose glanced at Hashimoto without saying more, then went into the guidance room with Amikura and the others.

"Wait..." Ying tried to stop her, but eventually gave up and sighed. "Oh well."

"Come on, Byakuya," Hashimoto urged, walking ahead. Then, as if remembering something, he added, "Sorry, sorry, I forgot to tell you—it's the Chess Room from before. We should add each other as friends on our terminals, so we can get in touch about anything."

Hashimoto had been following Ying around a lot lately, and he'd realized that this guy, who loved messing around, was actually very strong. The four classes were evenly matched in strength, and Hashimoto still couldn't tell who would come out on top.

So, to make sure he could graduate from Class A, Hashimoto had decided to get on good terms with all the strongest students from every class.

"Good to see you again, Byakuya."

When he entered the Chess Room, Ying immediately spotted Sakayanagi practicing Dragon Country Chess alone. She sat upright in her chair. When she saw Ying, she lifted her hands from the board and took hold of her cane, smiling at him.

"Yeah... It's been a while, Sakayanagi." Ying smiled back and sat down across from her.

"Hmph. You're pretty shameless, you pervert."

Ying followed the voice and saw Kamuro sitting in a chair at the back of the room, glaring at him from the corner of her eye.

"What are you doing here?" Ying asked in surprise. Then he remembered. "Oh, right. You became Sakayanagi's personal servant."

"What!? Say that again!" Kamuro flushed with anger and stood up, ready to rush over and punch Ying, but Hashimoto stopped her.

"No need for us to get involved. Come on, let's go," Hashimoto urged. He left the Chess Room with Kamuro, who looked thoroughly unwilling.

"You really trust me, don't you, Byakuya? You agreed to my condition without worrying that I might leave you penniless. By the way, I saved the call recording from that day."

After the two had left, Sakayanagi got down to business and brought up her agreement with Ying.

"N-no problem. You can have whatever you want." Ying did think he might have been a little too casual the day before, but he still believed that Sakayanagi, being so proud, wouldn't make any particularly unreasonable demands.

"Haha, I'm just teasing you. I actually want to work with you in the next Special Exam. Classes A and B joining forces—what do you think?"

Ying fell silent. He didn't want to get involved in class rivalries. Although he knew how the story would unfold, and understood that now he was part of it, there was no escaping it,

he'd managed to stay out of things whenever he could. His student life in his previous life had been exhausting—practically like serving time in prison. Now that he could enjoy school life at Kouiku, he treasured it.

"I'll only contribute points. Is that all right?"

Ying remembered that he and Sakayanagi had agreed he'd buy something for her, but now she was talking about an alliance between their classes. If he had to connect the two, all he could think was that Sakayanagi had her eye on his wallet.

"Byakuya, you really are a sensible person. Don't worry, Class B won't lose out—not until I've cleared the pests out of Class A." Sakayanagi was straightforward too. She felt there was no need to spell everything out when talking to a clever person. It was more efficient, and left her room to lay a few traps in her words.

"Talk to Ichinose about anything involving the class. I'm getting a little tired and want to rest." As a hedonist who lived in the moment, Ying preferred to have as few hassles as possible. Lately, he didn't know why, but his points had been piling up. Even though he spent lavishly, he'd still saved up 17 million by now.

"I'll only provide the money. I won't handle anything else." After a full day of fishing, he was a little tired too. All he wanted was to relax in the hot spring while watching videos of beautiful girls.

"You said it yourself. Don't go back on your word later." Sakayanagi gave him a meaningful smile.

"I won't..." Ying figured Ichinose could handle Sakayanagi. He just needed to enjoy himself.

Anyway, Ying remembered that the next exam was pretty simple: the VIP Exam. All you had to do was arrange everyone in a certain order to figure out who the VIP was. Wait... what was the order again?

Ying suddenly realized there was a serious problem: he couldn't remember the exam's sorting rules.

Whatever. He'd think about it later...

Back in his cabin on the cruise ship, Ying sprawled lazily across the bed, arms and legs stretched out.

"I'm so tired today..."

He'd gone fishing, and then Sakayanagi had half-forced him to put up money. The Special Exam was coming up soon, and he still hadn't had his fill of the cruise ship's luxurious trip.

"Ying, what were you up to today? We were all looking for you," Hamaguchi asked as he and the others returned to the cabin and saw Ying looking half-dead.

"I... I was just playing Fishing Star." Ying sounded a little guilty. He figured nothing would happen if he told his good buddies the truth, but he'd already promised Hoshinomiya-sensei to keep it secret, so he decided not to tell them.

"But why did I hear you were with Sakayanagi from Class A?" Hamaguchi asked, narrowing his eyes at Ying. He suspected something was going on.

"W-we did hang out together." Even that brief meeting had been spotted? Ying grumbled to himself, but went along with Hamaguchi's assumption.

Just then, Beppu leaned close to Hamaguchi and whispered, "Ying's definitely lying. Watanabe saw him with Sakayanagi in the Chess Room, and there aren't any arcade machines in there."

"Are you doing something you shouldn't be?" Hamaguchi demanded. He'd felt for a while that his friend had been disappearing a lot since the end of the term, and kept hanging around people from Class A. There had to be something going on!

"It's really nothing. We just play cards, chess, read, play games, and stuff."

You spent a whole day doing that alone with a girl? Hamaguchi didn't buy it.

"Just tell us. What's your relationship? We won't tell anyone," Hamaguchi said with a sigh. Beppu and Shibata nodded too.

Hamaguchi suspected Ying had found a girlfriend but was keeping it from everyone. Still, given Ying's personality, he'd always thought Ying would be the type to show off and make everyone jealous.

"It's not what you think." Ying could tell they'd misunderstood. He and Sakayanagi weren't in that kind of relationship, and everyone waited for him to explain.

"We're just business partners."

"Ying, we really did have you all wrong."

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