But She's a Gal~ / Fingerprint Girl, You're Here?

Just like in the morning, the afternoon classes were as leisurely as ever. At least, they seemed leisurely to the real estate agent.

He was a college student. Though the peak of his intellectual ability had been around the time he graduated high school, reviewing high school material again was ridiculously easy for him—especially since Chinese high school material was far more advanced than that of other countries.

So, in his eyes, none of it was difficult at all.

But that only applied to him. For quite a few people, this stuff wasn't exactly incomprehensible, but it might as well have been a Buddhist incantation.

In some ways, an incantation was even more frustrating than an unreadable text. With an unreadable text, you couldn't understand a thing, whether you read it forwards or backwards. You didn't know, and that was that—a peaceful state of mind. But with an incantation, you could understand it, just a little, while the rest remained a mystery. It was incredibly frustrating.

Were they frustrated? At least to the real estate agent, some of his classmates certainly seemed to be.

There was nothing to be done about it. They were Class C. They were better than those slackers in Class D, but their grades weren't much better. Most of them hovered around the passing mark.

So, during the break, the three leaders of Class C gathered to discuss things again.

"So I think we absolutely have to set up a study group this time. While our classmates haven't joined any clubs yet, we should get them to study hard and keep them from failing the exams later."

As the real estate agent spoke, he looked at Shiina Hiyori, and Ryuen Shoko looked at her too.

"Why are both of you looking at me?"

"I think you'd be able to handle this, Shiina."

"Agreed. Hiyori's a great choice."

Ryuen Shoko also thought Shiina Hiyori was a good choice. She was easygoing and knew a lot, so she'd surely have an advantage when it came to tutoring others.

"Huh? You want me to do it? But... can I really?"

Shiina Hiyori hadn't expected to be entrusted with such an important task out of nowhere. It was only the second day of school, and she was already going to be the study group leader?

If she were in China, they'd have made her class study committee member, no matter what.

"Shiina, let me ask you something. You said you don't like fighting, right? Well, tutoring your classmates doesn't count as fighting, does it? And it's not just not fighting—it's a good thing. A very good thing. It'll help bring the class together, too, so I think you're someone we can trust."

The real estate agent patted Shiina's shoulder, his eyes brimming with trust.

Obviously. If they didn't trust her, who would they trust? Ryuen Shoko, with her B in intelligence?

Ryuen Shoko didn't have Sakayanagi Arisu's sharp intuition, so she didn't notice that the real estate agent had just insulted her in his mind. Sitting nearby with her legs crossed, she nodded too. "Agreed. I think you'd be perfect for it."

As the leader of Class C, she knew students were supposed to study. Their homeroom teacher, Sakagami, had mentioned the midterms, for one thing. If they failed, they'd be expelled.

Not only would that student be kicked out, but the entire class would also suffer a penalty of 200 points. She couldn't accept that.

Two hundred points—that was a huge chunk of money, considering the whole class got 800,000 points a month. They couldn't just waste that much!

Oh, right. It was 780,000, since the student who got expelled wouldn't count.

"So, are we settled on this?"

"Yeah, approved."

The real estate agent and Ryuen Shoko saw eye to eye, and the study group was decided on the spot.

"Hey! At least hear what I think first! You two are making me look like I have no say!"

As for the study group, Ryuen Shoko announced it after the last class of the afternoon.

Some people in the class might not have been happy about it, but they didn't dare complain.

After all, Ryuen Shoko treated them completely differently from the way she treated the real estate agent.

When it came to loyalty, the real estate agent had been the first to lead the way and call her "boss."

When it came to ability, he was the one who'd gathered all kinds of clues and information to help everyone get through their difficulties.

So Ryuen Shoko treated him differently from the rest of them. Everyone could understand that, and accept it.

For one thing, all 39 students were there when they discussed the Student Council—except for one person. Guess who was missing?

The real estate agent, of course~

So what was he doing? Slacking off?

Of course not. He was out gathering information.

He already knew the truth about plenty of things, but he still needed an excuse to bring them up, right? He couldn't say he knew how to tell fortunes and read omens.

He'd get arrested for superstition if he did.

Chapter 20: But She's a Gal~

The real estate agent had thought about how to deal with Class A. Before that so-called Trial Island... ahem, Uninhabited Island, he'd already figured out how to trip Class A up twice.

He hadn't shown much reaction to what Sakayanagi Arisu had said to him earlier, but in truth, he'd been unhappy. Very unhappy.

Those damn bastards. So what if they were Class A? Did that make them so great?

To be fair, they had excellent students like Katsuragi, but that didn't mean everyone in Class A was great. Some of those bastards just had good stats, that was all.

Sakayanagi Arisu's words had only strengthened the real estate agent's resolve to give Class A a good hard time. What he planned to do was similar to what Ryuen Kakeru had done back then, but unlike Ryuen Kakeru, who was easy to catch out, his approach would be much more secretive and harder to thwart.

But, as he'd told Ryuen Shoko earlier, he first needed her to have a loyal follower—a devoted subordinate who trusted her completely.

If that worked out... heh heh.

With his ideas gradually taking shape, he looked over at Class D.

Honestly, his plan to lure them into a trap was almost ready, but the more important piece he needed for his plan to make one enemy destroy another was still missing.

He needed a pawn. Where would be the best place to find one?

Class D.

Class D was famous for being a problem class, so of course there were plenty of pigs in that class. For instance, the Three Pig-Headed Musketeers.

Honestly, the real estate agent would be the first to object if those three were expelled. Why? Well, if the opposing side had pig teammates, wouldn't you want to keep them around? You didn't fear a godlike opponent nearly as much as you feared a pigheaded teammate. The enemy's pig teammates were our allies, so how could he let them leave so easily?

Fewer pigs in his own class, more pigs in the other class—the balance shifted in his favor.

Sitting in his chair, the real estate agent considered which students in Class D would be easy to control.

If Class B was about cooperation, then Class D was the opposite. Class D was a loose collection of individuals, so there was no point in cooperating with them; he'd only risk getting dragged into their mess.

Instead of cooperating, it would be better to control them. If he could control one or two pawns, they'd be much easier to use later.

But... which girl should he control?

The real estate agent didn't feel even a little guilty about taking advantage of Class D. If the girls in Class B were all little angels, then eight out of ten girls in Class D were ugly and full of themselves... Oh, right, there were no ugly girls in anime. Then they were just troublesome women.

So at best, you'd get skill without affection. A no-strings-attached fling was the best option.

So, who were his options in Class D? There was Kei Karuizawa, who looked like a gal but actually depended on others; Kushida Kikyo, who seemed helpful but had another side to her; Sakura Airi, who seemed like an ordinary student but was secretly an idol; and Matsushita Chiaki, who seemed like a poor student but was only deliberately keeping her grades low so she could blend in with her classmates.

There was also Onodera Kayano, whose athletic ability was decent; Wang Meiyu, a Chinese exchange student; Shinohara Satsuki, who was always butting heads with Ayanokoji; Hasebe Haruka, who liked giving people nicknames; Sato Maya, who was rather scheming, and so on...

After ruling out the other girls who were useless or more likely to cause trouble than get things done, the real estate agent found himself left with only the four he'd considered at first.

Of those four, the first one he crossed off was Sakura Airi. She was an honest girl, and to be fair, the fact that she was secretly an idol was an easy handle to grab—but she didn't have much standing in Class D, so controlling her wouldn't do him much good.

Why did the real estate agent want to control the girls in Class D? Because Class D had a bunch of simps!

Control a girl, and you'd also control several boys along with her. But if you controlled a boy, you'd only control that one boy. It was obvious which one he should pick, right?

The next one he ruled out was Matsushita Chiaki. She didn't have much influence in the girls' group either. She mostly just went along with what the others said, so controlling her wouldn't give him any say.

So, was Kushida Kikyo the best choice?

Rubbing his chin, the real estate agent began thinking about how to get a handle on her.

Who was the leader of the girls in Class D? Horikita Suzune. And the number two? Kushida Kikyo.

Kei Karuizawa was a little better off than Matsushita Chiaki, but her status depended more on Hirata, the boys' public leader. She didn't have much ability of her own, either, and was far behind Kushida Kikyo. On top of that, she was one of the troublesome women.

So why was the real estate agent now choosing between her and Kushida Kikyo?

Because... she was a gal!

Holy crap, a sexy gal! He was looking for a puppet anyway, so who cared what her personality was like? If anything, a bad personality would make her easier to control. And... a slightly tanned little gal with a tough exterior and a soft interior—honestly, he couldn't help fantasizing about her. Besides, compared to Kushida Kikyo, she'd be much easier to control. All in all, she'd make a very useful puppet.

Ahem. Back to business, back to business.

Putting those silly thoughts aside, in the end, he really could only choose between those two... Wait a second.

Why did he have to choose? Kids were the ones who had to choose.

"Man, it feels like my workload just doubled."

The real estate agent clicked his tongue twice and rubbed his forehead, forcing himself to calm down.

Calm down, calm down. Don't let lust get the better of you. He knew there were plenty of pretty girls at this school, but this was serious business. If he wanted to date, he had to get past the challenge in front of him first.

He'd made it through college single in his previous life. He could stay single here a little longer too. Come on, you've got this.

After repeating all sorts of things to himself, the real estate agent finally calmed down.

There was no helping it. His thoughts had been getting more and more suggestive. In a way, controlling someone meant having them completely at your mercy. And the idea of a frail little girl being completely at your mercy also meant...

So he'd better calm down first and let his little brother take a breather. It wasn't his turn to make an appearance yet.

Once he'd got himself under control, the real estate agent looked back at Class D.

Class D hadn't noticed any danger yet. They were all doing their own thing, while the real estate agent watched them, searching for Kushida Kikyo and Kei Karuizawa.

He hadn't watched the anime or read the original novels, and the fanfiction he'd read only gave him a general idea of what they looked like.

He knew Kei Karuizawa had the look of a gal, but as for Kushida... the fanfiction didn't seem to describe her appearance in much detail.

"Hello?"

As the real estate agent sat thinking, he suddenly heard someone call out to him. He looked over at the person, his eyes lighting up.

He might not know what Kushida looked like, but he was sure you had to be Kushida.

Chapter 21: Fingerprint Girl, You're Here?

Kushida Kikyo was nicknamed Fingerprint Girl. She and Ichinose were similar, yet entirely different.

She kept saying she wanted to be friends with everyone, but she wasn't a little angel deep down. She was a little devil, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

She hated girls who drew more attention than she did, so as Horikita Suzune gradually became popular in Class D, Kushida came to hate her more and more. So before this scheming girl showed her claws, she treated people just like Ichinose did.

So when the real estate agent saw a brown-haired girl with a very similar air to Ichinose gazing at him with wide eyes, he knew she had to be Kushida Kikyo.

After all, there was absolutely no way any of those weirdos in Class D would have an air like that. She could only be Kushida.

"Ahem, can I help you?"

"Um... are you from Class C?"

"I am. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I wanted to learn a little about Class C, but it looks like you're having a class meeting right now... Aren't you supposed to be there?"

Kushida asked gently. Yes, that act looked so convincing that if you hadn't read the script, you'd never guess what kind of person she was.

"Oh, I don't need to go. They're just discussing the study group."

"The study group?"

"Yeah, we want to work hard at our studies, so we're looking for the right honor students to tutor the students who aren't doing well. Maybe we can all raise our grades a little."

The real estate agent rubbed his chin. "It's different for me. My grades are average—not high enough to be an honor student, but not low enough to be a poor student, either—so they left me out. Who did you want to talk to in my class? I can call her out for you."

"Ah, no, no, there's no need to go to all that trouble."

Kushida hurriedly waved her hands, indicating that the real estate agent didn't need to do that. "I just wanted to learn a little about the situation. I think your class leader looks pretty scary."

Scary-looking? Oh, she was pretty scary.

The real estate agent looked at Ryuen Shoko, sitting on the teacher's desk with her legs crossed, and decided that she did have quite an intimidating presence.

Well, she was the queen as long as he wasn't around. When he was there, she seemed to become a bit of a joke.

Probably just his imagination, right?

"That's Ryuen Shoko, the leader of Class C. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Cool...?"

As Kushida listened to the real estate agent, she blinked, struggling to follow his train of thought.

Wait, weren't they students? Not gangsters? What was there to be proud of about saying she was the leader of your class? Didn't your homeroom teacher do anything?

Oh, it seemed like their homeroom teacher really did leave them alone.