Chapter 85
Thinking of this, Aragaki Shun turned his gaze to Ishizaki Daichi 'Ryuen follower.
"Listen to me, Ishizaki. Judging from your boss's past record, do you think he has the ability to gain the upper hand over me?"
Ishizaki Daichi was somewhat surprised that Aragaki Shun would ask him this in such a situation, but upon closer reflection, what the other person said did seem to make sense.
Ryuen's leader is indeed powerful in Class C, but he has never actually beaten Aragaki Shun. Every attack he launches results in a crushing defeat, and now he's so badly lost that he has to rely on free items to survive each day.
Of course, he would never say such a blunt truth!
"Listen to me, Sakayanagi Arisu made the first move against me. You all know what happened to her and Class B in the end."
"Now that you also want to target my vassals, is it too much for me to take 70% of your spoils?"
If we can get Aragaki Shun to stand by and do nothing, it doesn't seem unreasonable.
As Aragaki Shun shifted his focus, Ishizaki Daichi's logic also became chaotic.
After all, retaining 30% is better than gaining nothing at all.
"Boss Ryuen, should we...?"
"Shut up!"
With a kick to Ishizaki's right leg, Ryuen Kakeru glared fiercely at the easily fooled guy. "Albert, grab this kid, let's go."
"Is he just leaving like that?" The Leader of Class A deliberately feigned regret. "It seems Ryuen is planning to abandon his plans for the future."
Of course, Aragaki Shun didn't really care whether Class C would attack Class D or not.
What he was more concerned about was Ishizaki Daichi Ryuen Kakeru.
This shows that those who were already wary of him and whose will was not strong enough were more easily influenced by the power emanating from his spiritual attributes.
With a little hypnotic skill, he can easily persuade these people to do what they believe is right through language.
Unfortunately, to achieve this level of success, Aragaki Shun himself would need to be completely focused and convincingly deceive only one person.
For the time being, this ability is relatively useless.
After all, as a well-known figure at Kodo Ikusei Senior High School, there are few things that can stump him, and most of the time he doesn't have the opportunity to use his persuasive abilities.
However, this is only the effect brought about by the 13 Spirit attribute. If this aspect is further strengthened, the Matoba's footsteps may well become a reality in the future.
From this perspective, ordinary people are indeed quite fragile. With the improvement of basic attributes, he doesn't even need to specifically enhance hypnosis skills; he can achieve similar effects simply by relying on his extremely high mental attributes.
"Hmph! I only came here with you to discuss some profit-sharing because I believed your nonsense!"
Unaware of Aragaki Shun's thoughts, Ryuen Kakeru simply thought he'd lost his mind today because he'd gotten his brain caught in a door.
"Don't think I don't know that your relationship with those people in Class D isn't good at all. Wasn't my taking action against them exactly what you wanted?"
"I don't deny that!" Aragaki Shun nodded. "They didn't actively offer tribute, so I certainly have no responsibility to protect them."
Karuizawa Class gives him 600,000 Private Points every month.
However, this was not protection money voluntarily paid by Class D, but rather spoils that Aragaki Shun obtained through his own efforts during the Behavioral Standards Exam and Midterm Exam.
This is a debt that Class D incurred after falling behind in the class competition; it's something they should have paid back anyway.
Apart from that, the only connection between Class D and him was the Aragaki Faction led by Karuizawa.
But to say that those who joined the Aragaki Faction were truly loyal to him... let's just forget about that joke.
Driven by a desire to prove himself, and with sufficient incentive, he could indeed exert influence over Class D through Karuizawa Kei. By spending more Private Points, directly interfering with Class D's decision-making wouldn't be a problem.
However, this relationship of dependence is ultimately a transaction. To Class A, Aragaki Faction of Class D is just a mercenary who gets paid to do things. The two sides have only reached a long-term cooperation agreement.
Apart from that, there were no other responsibilities or obligations between them, so Aragaki Shun's interference in Class D could not even be considered as a form of control.
A legitimate subjugated force, if it is sensible, should take the initiative to pay tribute and actively serve as a military reserve force.
151. Kushida Kikyo angrily came to the door.
After testing the effects of enhancing the mental attribute to level 13, Aragaki Shun let Ryuen leave.
It would be good to let him weaken Class D, since those people are most easily manipulated when they're half-dead.
Having just finished talking with Ryuen about Class D, Aragaki Shun returned to his dormitory, intending to read for a while, when unexpectedly, the little angel from Class D came to his door.
"... Didn't you say you would never come into my dorm room alone?"
Aragaki Shun watched speechlessly as Kushida Kikyo sneaked in like a thief, then leaned against the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
Last night, the girl sent him an email, hoping he would come to the rooftop of the school building to talk to him about the issue of Sakayanagi Arisu spreading rumors about her middle school past.
That's normal. Back in middle school, Kushida Kikyo had a glorious record of single-handedly destroying her entire class.
Her goal in coming to Kodo Ikusei Senior High School was to find a place where no one knew her and start over.
Now that she knows Sakayanagi Arisu might be using her position Board Chairman to spy on students' privacy, the girl is naturally furious.
In this situation, it's understandable that she wanted to consult with Aragaki Shun, since the boy also knew about her dark past, and he was the first student to be attacked and slandered by Sakayanagi.
Unfortunately, Kushida's actions came too late. Because of Shiro-nami, Aragaki Shun no longer needed to cooperate with her, so he simply refused the girl's invitation.
Unexpectedly, she actually came to his dorm room today.
"Stop rambling! What exactly did you mean by those replies you sent last night? What do you mean I'm useless now?"
The brown-haired girl stared at the man in front of her with bloodshot eyes. Instinctively, she reached out to grab his school uniform, but before she could react, the ruthless guy dodged to the side and then casually pressed her against the door, rendering her unable to move.
"You seem to have a short memory, Kushida?"
After subduing the girl, Aragaki Shun freed one hand to lift Kushida's chin, meeting her resentful gaze.
"Or are you actually posing deliberately to get my attention?"
"You bastard, watch your mouth!"
Kushida seemed really irritable today. After hearing Aragaki Shun's teasing, she didn't back down at all. She shook her head vigorously and was about to bite the index finger that the boy had used to lift her chin.
"... You're really going to bite me?"
Aragaki Shun's expression was somewhat subtle, because he hadn't expected that the little angel of Class D would actually do such an indecent thing. The boy instinctively didn't move his index finger, and as a result, he actually felt a stinging sensation at his fingertip.
Given his constitution, this injury was nothing to him. Compared to such trivial matters, he was more puzzled as to whether the girl had taken the wrong medicine today, or if she was really trying to seduce him.
"It's time to stop. If you continue, I'll just think you're deliberately provoking me. Are you planning to stay here tonight?"
With a gentle press of his index finger, Kushida winced slightly, opening her cherry lips and closing them to glare at him angrily.
"Are you some kind of monster? I feel like you knocked my teeth out."
"Who told you to actually use your mouth?" Aragaki Shun shook her head, turned around, and took a tissue from the table to wipe the drool off her index finger. "So, are you on your period today? Why are you so irritable?"
"You dare ask me that?" Kushida's face was full of resentment, completely lacking her usual innocent charm. "Didn't you promise yourself that I could come to you anytime I wanted to vent my negative emotions?"
"And what happened? I called you to the rooftop last night, but you wouldn't come. You even said I was useless. What exactly do you mean by that, you bastard?"
Do you know how much she had to convince herself before finally deciding to send that invitation?
After all, in the girl's eyes, Aragaki Shun was just a lecherous man who did whatever he wanted.
In the dead of night, the two of them, a lone man and a lone woman, invited each other to the secluded rooftop, which was practically like delivering goods to each other's door.
However, the matter she wanted to discuss with Aragaki Shun was something that couldn't be known by others. Under these circumstances, Kushida was also mentally prepared to be taken advantage of.
Unexpectedly, despite having considered so many factors, Aragaki Shun directly replied with a rejection...
She was so angry!
She already had a lot of negative emotions accumulated in her heart because of Sakayanagi Arisu's rumors, and now she was provoked by Aragaki Shun. Last night, she almost lost her temper.
However, she remembered that the rooftop wasn't exactly a safe spot. It was here last time that the girl's true identity was discovered by Aragaki Shun. Therefore, since the other party hadn't accepted her invitation, she didn't dare to stay and kick the door any longer. She could only keep her frustration to herself and run back to her dormitory.
As a result, Kushida's negative emotions accumulated throughout the day, and when he saw Aragaki Shun, he completely lost control and resorted to biting him.
But faced with Kushida Kikyo's accusations, Aragaki Shun, who was being glared at by her, showed no remorse whatsoever and replied confidently:
"Didn't the email last night make it very clear? I already have a girlfriend who's practically throwing herself at me. Kushida, you're useless now, so there's no need for me to accept your invitation to go to the rooftop and listen to you get yelled at."
"You were very firm in refusing to date me back then, and we don't have any intimate relationship at this stage, so I have no obligation to respond to you!"
"Heh~ When it's useful, they shower you with sweet words; when it's not, they discard you like trash. Men are all the same. So what about your promise to help me relieve stress? Was that also a lie?"
Kushida Kikyo laughed in anger, gritting her teeth as she glared at the self-righteous man in front of her.
The last time on the rooftop, when you forcibly kissed me and tried to make me your girlfriend, you weren't like this at all.
"What I said was that you need to vent your negative emotions, and I also need to find someone to meet my needs. Therefore, even if we can't be boyfriend and girlfriend, we can still develop other relationships in private and help each other."
"This was indeed a win-win cooperation suggestion I proposed, but the problem is, didn't you reject it in the first place?"
Aragaki Shun shrugged, stating without any hesitation, "Besides, I now have more suitable people to help me with my needs, so you've lost your necessity and are naturally not worth my continued investment of energy."
Kushida Kikyo: "..."
I just can't stand this!
How could you say something like that with such self-righteousness?
Which blind, infatuated person actually agreed to your outrageous dating ideas!
"Um~ Shiro-nami does have a tiny bit of a romantic side, but it's okay, it's not a big deal."
152. Kushida Kikyo will never regret it.
"It's actually Shiranami Chihiro?"
Upon hearing this name, Kushida Kikyo was truly astonished.
After all, among the many girls in Class A, Shiro-nami's appearance can only be described as slightly above average, and she might not even be able to secure a spot in the top three.
First of all, Ichinose Honami is undoubtedly number one. Second and third place are Shiro-nami by Amikura Mako, Himeno Yuki, Kobashi Yume, Minakata Kozue, and others.
Keep in mind that there are only about twenty girls in the entire Class A.
Compared to the others, although Shiranami Chihiro is calm and composed in her speech and manner, has a gentle attitude towards others, and is good at coordination, these qualities are not particularly outstanding among the many girls in Class A.
Under Ichinose Honami's influence, there were very few girls in Class A who lacked coordination and communication skills.
Therefore, in Kushida Kikyo's eyes, that girl named Shiranami Chihiro seemed quite ordinary. How did such a gentle and weak ordinary person, exuding the charm of a girl next door, manage to win over Aragaki Shun?
"I thought you would choose Ichinose Honami."
If Aragaki Shun rejected her because of Ichinose, Kushida might still feel a little annoyed, but once she calmed down, she could completely understand.
But now it's Shiranami Chihiro...
I'm sorry! She just doesn't understand!
I finally made up my mind and was even prepared to sacrifice my looks, but I was rejected because of Shiranami Chihiro.
Isn't she one of the most popular girls in the entire Advanced Nurturing?
Why did she lose to an ordinary, cute girl from Class 1-A in a contest of attractiveness?
"Unfortunately, in terms of beauty, charm, and popularity, you can't compare to me!"
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Aragaki Shun's narcissistic remarks made Kushida Kikyo's face darken, but after the girl gritted her teeth and looked at his face, she couldn't find any reason to refute him.
"Kushida, you are indeed much cuter than Shiro-nami, but to me, that difference doesn't seem to matter much. Besides..."
Aragaki Shun's lips curled slightly upwards, and he uttered a teasing sound, "Shiro-nami pursued me willingly, and I can have her whenever I want, but Kushida, you don't belong to me!"
Although many people have some bad habits, they often want more than they have.
But anyone with a normal IQ and enough rationality should be able to make a choice between the girl next door throwing herself at them and the unattainable public goddess, right?
Of course, if you are good enough, you don't have to choose; you can have them all.
Aragaki Shun simply found it troublesome and didn't want to spend too much time on it.
Kushida Kikyo: "..."
So, you were the passive type, accepting a girl's confession without any hesitation if she wasn't unpleasant?
The brown-haired girl's face was blank; she felt she really was a bit foolish.
When this guy invited me to date him, I thought I was special to him, but it turns out this bastard is just promiscuous!
As long as someone is pretty, has a decent personality, and can help with their needs, it doesn't matter who their girlfriend is, right?
"Actually, it does matter."
Because the girl's expression was so obvious, Aragaki Shun easily understood Kushida's slander against him, so he casually offered an explanation.