Then I'll Take It

Eito sat nearby, watching the two of them.

Sure enough, as soon as Yamauchi walked up to her, she wore an undisguised look of disgust.

Yamauchi chattered away like a stand-up comedian, but Ibuki remained expressionless, not even looking at him.

Nearly an hour passed. Just as Eito was starting to wonder where Yamauchi got all those words, Ibuki stood up and left.

And, of all places, she came over to sit beside him.

As soon as she sat down, Ibuki bluntly said:

"Hey, you've been watching me this whole time, haven't you?"

"No. I was looking at the tree behind you."

"Hmph." Ibuki's face went cold, and she fell silent.

He couldn't be bothered to talk or move, either.

Life was all about staying still. The slower your metabolism, the longer you lived.

Like a tortoise.

He sat without moving. Not a single twitch.

He figured this girl must have felt the same way, or she wouldn't have sat down beside him.

So he shifted his gaze and glanced at her.

No, that wasn't it.

She was like a hyperactive girl, constantly fidgeting, like a lively loach wriggling on a bed.

They didn't seem to have anything in common. They weren't even the same kind of person.

"I'll be going."

He raised a hand and left.

Ibuki glared at his back without saying a word, but her clenched fist showed how angry she was.

"You're dead!"

Eito didn't hear her.

He dragged a chair over and sat beside Chabashira.

Chabashira leaned back in her chair, leisurely sipping tea. He took out his water bottle and took a token sip.

"What do you want?" Chabashira asked coolly.

"I'm bored, teacher. Let's talk about something for adults."

"Are you sexually harassing me?"

"No, I didn't say that. If that's how you want to interpret it, there's nothing I can do."

"...If you mean what happened last night, we've already talked about it."

"Yeah, I don't mean that."

Yesterday, he had claimed that Airi was bleeding internally and sent her onto the ship, telling her to stay there. The school rules said students couldn't board the ship without a special reason, but with one, it was allowed. Even so, the school didn't approve of what he had done. People like him, who enjoyed ignoring the rules, were a headache.

In other words, he couldn't go aboard the ship again.

It was his own fault for forgetting to take off his watch earlier. With his time stop, he could keep the watch from setting off the alarm and put it directly on someone else.

If he went aboard again now, the school would probably be ready for him.

"Tell Airi I'll visit her after the exam."

"All right."

Chabashira nodded indifferently.

"Also, teacher, do you think Ibuki's putting on an act?"

"I don't answer questions about the exam."

"So cold. Was the Class B instructor your classmate? Were you friends back then?"

"No comment."

Chabashira was even more unapproachable than Suzune. Maybe that was why she was still single.

"Teacher, what do you think of my performance so far? Have I earned your approval?"

"You've done fairly well, but I don't see anything in you that gives me reason to look forward to more."

"Oh?"

"More precisely, you do as you please. I don't think someone like that is much help to a group."

He cared more about his own interests than the group's.

Generally speaking, the more a group gained, the more each individual gained. But that didn't apply to him, because he had power beyond what one person should have.

Chabashira had a sharp eye. She'd guessed his way of operating at a glance, though that was also because he hadn't tried to hide it.

He and Ayanokoji were both reclusive, but Ayanokoji deliberately kept himself hidden.

Eito simply didn't reveal himself unless he had to.

Unless something threatened him, he preferred to steer things from the shadows, unnoticed, rather than stand in the spotlight as a clown.

What would he gain by revealing his full strength?

Would he beat up the whole school and make them all drop out, or stand at the top and bask in their flattery?

There was no point to either.

"So, teacher, you're not accepting the proposal I made earlier?"

"We'll talk about it another time."

"All right," Eito said. "But don't worry. Even if I don't help, I won't deliberately harm Class D's interests."

"Then remember what you just said."

"I will."

Chapter 49: Then I'll Take It

That night, Matsushita called him out alone.

Thinking about what had happened a few days earlier, Eito guessed that Matsushita was going to give him a little reward this time.

Hopefully it wasn't anything strange.

So he waited in the same spot where he'd touched Airi's breasts last time.

Matsushita arrived not long after, holding something pink. She placed it in his palm.

He looked at it, then sniffed it, and said with a helpless expression:

"Is this underwear? Why are you giving it to me? Do you really think I'm a pervert?"

Matsushita smiled brightly.

"You're not a pervert, so why did you smell it?"

"How else would I know if it's fresh? Besides, isn't sniffing underwear a normal reaction for a guy?"

"All right," Matsushita said, still smiling. "These are Karuizawa's panties. So, excited?"

"Why would I be excited?"

"Because Karuizawa's boyfriend is Hirata, and her panties are in your hands now. Go ahead and use them. I won't tell her."

Was he excited?

No.

He knew Karuizawa and Hirata were only pretending to date, so there was no point fantasizing about it.

Besides, he wasn't interested in Karuizawa's panties. He wanted Kikyo's more.

So that was it? What a disappointment.

"Matsushita, I'm disappointed in you."

He turned to leave, but Matsushita grabbed his arm.

"Wait. These are actually mine."

"..." Even more disappointing.

"Or..." Matsushita gazed at him with teary eyes. "Should I take off the ones I'm wearing and give them to you?"

Her pretty eyes held a bewitching look, and she pressed her thighs together, rubbing them against each other.

She looked exactly like a girl in heat.

Eito knew she was pretending, but he still couldn't help reacting a little.

"Then fine. I'll help you take them off."

"Eek—"

Matsushita immediately dropped the act.

Trying to fool him with acting like that? Kikyo had trained him well. If he fell for a woman's tricks one more time, he'd castrate himself.

"Tch. Boring." He brushed off his clothes and left with the panties.

"Then I'll take that as you accepting them," Matsushita said with a smile.

"Whatever."

He had no reason to give them back. Besides, he was short one collectible.

Once he got back to his dorm, he'd seal the panties in a frame and put them on display, with the title:

<The Hot Woman's Hot Little Panties That She Gave Me>

That way, whenever he saw them, he could remind himself to be careful around hot women.

He'd only just lain down in the tent when Ike stared straight at him.

The resentful look in his eyes made Eito feel uneasy.

Ike said:

"You went to rendezvous with a woman again. I can smell her on you."

"Are you a dog?"

Ike wasn't particularly capable, but he was unusually sensitive to women. He couldn't hide anything related to them from him.

Sigh. What a poor fool, blinded by women.

He figured there was no point talking about dreams or anything else with someone like that.

He admitted it frankly:

"That's right. A hot woman just gave me a pair of her panties. What do you think? Jealous?"

"...W-what?" Ike shook his arm frantically. "Why do you get to have something like that happen to you? Why are you so lucky... Tell me, which ugly woman was it?"

"Little Kikyo."

"What? No way—that's impossible! Quick, let me smell them!"

"No. I'm going to make you furious. Hahahaha!"

"Damn you, you—"

Smack—