In other words, she was a peerless genius of the age.
Someone who embodied the meaning of "genius" more than she, with all her shortcomings, ever could!
[People can never overcome the talents they were born with. No matter how hard they try, there are gaps between people that can never be bridged.]
That had been the creed she formed as a child, after visiting an institution devoted to creating artificial geniuses.
But at least in this moment, facing the person before her, she was willing to abandon that creed and prove that those supposedly unbridgeable gaps did not exist.
As long as her intellect was deep enough, even with this frail body, she could surely bury this all-around genius in the exams at this school!
"Classmate Aragaki really has no gentlemanly manners at all."
Sakayanagi Arisu sighed in a pitifully sweet voice.
But in the next instant, the girl's lovely face turned chilling, and her tone grew as cold as snow in midwinter.
"Thanks to you, Classmate Aragaki, some of the classmates who used to obey me seem to have started thinking differently?"
"And I still remember yesterday's humiliation. I've been wondering when I'd get the chance to pay you back."
Clearly, with so many people watching at the Chess Club yesterday, the match involving a million points had surely spread around.
Sakayanagi Arisu losing that match wasn't really a problem in itself.
The problem was that halfway through the game, she had run out of stamina and seemed on the verge of collapsing if she continued.
That had dealt a serious blow to the girl's standing in her class.
After all, during that match, Sakayanagi Arisu had spent less than forty minutes actually thinking through her moves.
Most people didn't understand how exhausting a mental sport like chess could be. All they knew was that Sakayanagi Arisu was a sickly girl who could faint if she played for too long.
In a competition against another class, aside from events involving physical stamina, the exams could simply run long enough for her to drop out halfway through—even in an academic contest.
The girl's frail appearance had already left her with less support in Class A than another, more dependable-looking class leader.
After this, many of the undecided neutrals immediately sided with the other faction.
Fortunately, the intelligence Sakayanagi Arisu had shown when pointing out the school's hidden rules the previous day had given people some hope. Or perhaps they were more interested in the fact that she had revealed herself to be the Board Chairman's daughter.
In any case, whatever the people of Class A were thinking, at least those who had already joined the Sakayanagi Faction hadn't left. She was still one of the leaders of Class A.
"So you've come to declare war?"
Aragaki Shun looked utterly baffled. What rotten luck, getting tangled up with someone this troublesome.
"Classmate Sakayanagi, if you think I've made you lose face, I can apologize here. Please don't come bothering me again."
"But if you think that because you're frail, you can use that to make me look like a bully, or that being weak gives you the right to do whatever you want, and you intend to use your condition to tie my hands... then all I can say is that the Sakayanagi Family may be powerful, but the Aragaki Family isn't to be trifled with either!"
After bluntly dropping those words, Aragaki Shun glanced at the few lackeys following Sakayanagi. His sharp, knife-like gaze made them swallow nervously.
Why did this guy's presence suddenly feel so overwhelming? From a distance, he hadn't seemed like much.
Without another glance at Sakayanagi Arisu, who clenched her fists as if insulted, her veins standing out, Aragaki Shun stepped back and returned to the Class B group.
Under normal circumstances, he didn't mind being challenged. Whether it was a contest of strength, intelligence, wealth, or power, competing was a worthwhile experience, win or lose. He could always keep growing in the future.
But Sakayanagi Arisu was obviously the troublesome sort.
They had only met for the first time yesterday, but Aragaki Shun had already sensed the intense aggression in her, as well as her haughty nature—she treated everyone like a pawn or a toy.
In his experience, people like that often stopped at nothing. They thought themselves above everyone else and beyond ordinary conventions, so they didn't care whether ordinary people considered their actions despicable.
If that were all, it would be fine. Aragaki Shun could take things as they came, and if she pushed him too far, he wouldn't mind giving her a thorough beating.
But when it came to someone as sickly as Sakayanagi Arisu, he was afraid that even a casual counterattack might send her straight to the emergency room.
He'd gain nothing and only get himself into trouble. What would be the point?
The air around the white-haired girl grew heavier. She glared at Aragaki Shun's retreating figure. No one had ever humiliated her this badly!
But even though she was grinding her teeth with rage, the girl knew that he wasn't one of those Class A toys she could manipulate at will.
His family was no weaker than the Sakayanagi Family, and after that warning, he wouldn't hold back if she provoked him again.
If she kept chasing after him now, she would only prove his accusation that she was trying to frame him, and bring humiliation upon herself.
"What an entertaining school. Then let's take our time, Aragaki!"
20. Interrupting Manabu Horikita's Move
"Has Sakayanagi Arisu set her sights on you?"
Back among the Class B group, Kanzaki Ryuji looked at Aragaki Shun with a slight frown.
"Ever since we were children, Sakayanagi has always been so aggressive. When something catches her interest, she has to get her hands on it and play with it before casually throwing it away."
"She seems very attached to her identity as a genius, so she's far too competitive. After you made her lose face over the chessboard, she'll probably use other means to prove her abilities."
They hadn't met often, but Kanzaki still recalled the impression the girl had left on him. He couldn't help worrying about Aragaki Shun.
"It is a little troublesome," Aragaki Shun said with a nod. He called it troublesome, but he didn't look particularly concerned. "I've already warned her. If she competes normally in the exams, that's fine. But if she resorts to anything outrageous, I won't hold back."
"...As long as you know what you're doing."
Kanzaki Ryuji hesitated, but in the end, that was all he said.
After all, the other side had issued the challenge. They couldn't expect Aragaki Shun to just take a beating without fighting back, could they?
This school might be a little unusual, but it was still a school for high school students. Even if the two sides came to blows, things shouldn't get too out of hand.
As Kanzaki tried to reassure himself, the other Class B students also wondered why Aragaki Shun had been called over by someone from Class A. He only told them that Class A had also discovered the school's truth and that they had merely declared war on him.
Everyone in Class B widened their eyes. They hadn't expected class competition to grow so intense so quickly.
In an instant, the pride they had felt after discovering the school's hidden rules was replaced by unease.
So this was what it meant to be an upper class, considered a cut above Class B by the school?
While everyone in Class B discussed the impact Class A's declaration of war might have, it was already nearly five in the afternoon.
Without anyone noticing, the stage in the First Gymnasium had been set up. The club orientation officially began, hosted by a cute girl with purple hair tied in a bun.
"First-year students, sorry for the wait."
"Next, representatives from each club will introduce the many clubs at Advanced Nurturing Senior High School."
"I'm Tachibana, the Student Council secretary, and I'll be hosting today's orientation. It's a pleasure to meet you."
After the host finished her opening remarks, representatives from the various clubs lined up on the gymnasium stage. Aragaki Shun spotted a few familiar faces among them: the unlucky students he had taken points from yesterday.
Aragaki Shun watched with interest as the club representatives came up one by one and introduced their respective clubs.
Of course, he wasn't interested in joining any of them.
He was thinking about which clubs would be suitable for a competition, so he could pick up some more Private Points later.
By the time he came back to himself, the gymnasium was already filled with lively chatter.
At ordinary schools, the funds approved by the Student Council for club activities were usually tied to the number of club members.
Advanced Nurturing Senior High School seemed to have a similar rule, so every club representative was eager to showcase their club's strengths and recruit as many members as possible.
The upperclassmen who had finished their speeches left the stage in order and headed to an area filled with tables. That was probably where the new students could apply to join clubs.
Only one person remained onstage: the bespectacled student who had directed the stage setup earlier.
Unexpectedly, the upperclassman stayed onstage without saying a word, simply staring silently at the noisy students below.
"Good luck!"
"Didn't you bring a script?"
"Haha, can't he say anything once he gets up there?"
When the students below saw that the bespectacled boy wasn't speaking, many of them called out teasingly.
But as time passed and that cold gaze swept over them, the hecklers suddenly felt the pressure emanating from him.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... thirty seconds... one minute... two minutes...
An inexplicable mood began to build, and the students who had been chattering noisily gradually fell silent.
"Clap! Clap!"
Just as the atmosphere in the whole gymnasium was about to fall into complete silence, two loud claps rang out near the stage, ruining the display of dominance before it could be completed.
"...Upperclassman, could you please hurry it up? Everyone's time is precious."
Aragaki Shun calmly met the bespectacled boy's gaze in front of the entire crowd. Seeing that the boy still had a stiff expression, he kindly offered his suggestion.
He knew, of course, that the other boy was trying to use silence to intimidate the new students and leave a deep impression on them.
It seemed like a decent approach. After all, because of Sakurajima's unique culture, most students had to learn a skill called "reading the room."
But you weren't the Board Chairman or the principal, or one of the school's senior staff. You were just an upperclassman. Why pull this kind of power play when meeting the new students for the first time?
Was the school going to hold exams that pitted different year groups against each other, so you needed to make an impression on the first-years and gain an advantage in future competition?
Or did your club wield enough authority that you needed to establish your prestige and keep the first-years in line?
Aragaki Shun didn't know enough about that yet, but it didn't stop him from interrupting the other boy's little performance.
As a leader of Class 1-B, he couldn't let his classmates be intimidated by the upperclassmen.
Manabu Horikita gave Aragaki Shun a long look. Realizing his plan had backfired, he stopped putting on an air of mystery and began speaking before any more students could start causing a commotion.
"I'm Manabu Horikita, the president of the Advanced Nurturing Student Council."
"Now that the previous class has graduated, the Student Council needs new members. There are no requirements for candidates, but if you're considering joining the Student Council, please avoid joining other clubs..."
Aragaki Shun listened quietly to the Student Council President's speech. Then, without warning, an inexplicable intuition tugged at his attention.
It was his unique talent, Danger Sense. Whenever someone watched him with malice or he faced an unexpected threat, he felt a similar intuition.
He followed the instinctive warning with his gaze, only to meet a pair of foxlike eyes in the area for Class 1-D.
She was a cool beauty with waist-length black hair, a bow on the right and a long braid. Her whole bearing seemed to say, "Don't talk to me."
Aragaki Shun was a little surprised. He couldn't think of when he had offended this stranger.
So he grabbed Class B's best social butterfly and pointed to the girl with long black hair.
"Ichinose, do you know the name of that girl who looks like she's got a grudge against me?"
21. Meeting Koenji Rokusuke
"Horikita Suzune of Class 1-D, and Manabu Horikita, the Student Council President."
"So she's hostile toward me because I made her brother lose face?"
Manabu Horikita's speech had ended, and everyone was free to find a club that interested them. Aragaki Shun had just learned the black-haired girl's name from Ichinose Honami.
He didn't know Horikita Suzune, and the only thing he had done that might have made her dislike him was interrupting Manabu Horikita's little performance.
Going by their surnames and the years they were in, she was probably Manabu Horikita's younger sister, right?
"So why is the Student Council President's younger sister in Class D?"
Aragaki Shun wondered for a moment, then immediately put the trivial matter out of his mind.
Plenty of people were hostile toward him. If that hostility hadn't come from Class 1-D, a class he had never interacted with, he probably wouldn't even have cared who disliked him now.
He had already familiarized himself with the basics of the many clubs in the gymnasium. When it was time to challenge them, he would have no trouble finding a target.
He checked his phone again. It was almost time for his appointment with someone.
So Aragaki Shun called out to Kanzaki and began saying goodbye to his classmates.
"Ichinose, I'll leave the class to you. Kanzaki and I need to take care of a potential problem."
"Understood. Go ahead if you have something to do, Classmate Aragaki. Everyone in class will be fine."
He and the silent Kanzaki Ryuji left the First Gymnasium and headed straight to an upscale restaurant in Keyaki Mall. After they explained the situation to the waiter, a staff member politely led them to a private room where someone was already waiting.
He was a burly blond man who gave off an air of complete self-indulgence. Even when Aragaki Shun and Kanzaki Ryuji entered, he only glanced up at them before continuing to comb his hair and admire his appearance in the mirror, as if no one else were there.
"First time meeting you. So you're the only son of the Koenji Conglomerate. Is this really what you're like?"
Aragaki Shun studied Koenji Rokusuke with a strange look. He had always been confident in his own looks, but he never took out a mirror in public and fussed over himself like this.
"My beauty is unique in this world. If I don't take care of it and let it gather dust, it would be an irreparable loss to the history of art."
"Wouldn't you agree, my two distinguished gentlemen?"
Koenji Rokusuke briefly revealed a smile befitting a young master. Once Aragaki Shun and Kanzaki Ryuji had sat down, he stopped ignoring them and asked the waiter to bring menus, indicating that they could order first.
Before you continue