Scheming in the real world? I can also do a little.

Well, in a way, it is a laissez-faire approach, but it's not exactly letting things run wild, my dear.

"So, is there anything else you'd like to ask? I imagine you'd rather be chatting with a pretty girl than with me, right?"

"Not at all, not at all."

"Really? Alright then."

Watching Kushida force herself to chat with him just to maintain her image, Hoya Chukai actually felt a bit sorry for her.

Still, his own temper should be a bit better than those three idiots, right? At least he wouldn't get overly furious.

"But I'm actually quite interested in the situation in Class D. Who's the class representative over there right now?"

"We haven't actually elected a class representative yet... is it really necessary to pick one?"

Kushida's mouth hung open slightly at Hoya Chukai's words; she truly hadn't considered such a thing.

And to be honest, even if she had, it wouldn't be easy to say. She could only claim that she made most of her classmates listen, but as for the small handful of troublemakers, she was truly at her wit's end.

"It's not that, it's just that having a class rep makes things easier to handle. Class B has Ichinose, my class has Ryuen, and Class A should be Katsuragi, though the situation in Class A is quite complicated... although not as complicated as your class, admittedly."

Hoya Chukai glanced at the current state of Class D, where only a few students remained.

"It's not really appropriate to talk here. How about we find a nice place to grab a drink and chat?"

Hoya Chukai extended the invitation.

After thinking for two seconds, Kushida nodded, agreeing to the suggestion.

She did, in fact, have some matters where she needed to utilize... ah, no, where she needed Hoya Chukai's help.

"How about a cafe?"

"A cafe? That's a decent choice."

Hoya Chukai stopped sitting and began walking while chatting with Kushida.

Kushida wanted to use him, but wasn't he also looking to use Kushida?

It was just that one was a short-term utilization, while the other was looking for long-term leverage.

To be honest, compared to Karuizawa, Kushida was much harder to take down. At the very least, you would need to experience that incident involving the fingerprints.

Although the "Fingerprint Sister" incident appeared in many fanfictions, in Hoya Chukai's view, actively intervening was no small feat.

No, it wasn't just "no small feat"—it was arguably extremely difficult.

First, to ensure her other side remained hidden, Kushida would definitely choose a place that was hard to find. Second, she wouldn't necessarily go there every day, so it would be easy to miss her.

That meant he needed an informant to help keep an eye on her. Hoya Chukai's first instinct was to ask Shiina, but he shook his head.

He should keep his plans away from her. While her personality wasn't exactly that of a blabbermouth or someone who ruins everything, she was too soft-hearted; telling her would only add to her worries.

So, who else in Class C could handle this?

Hmm... Ibuki Mio?

There was no helping it; Hoya Chukai's first reaction was to think of the various lackeys around Ryuen Shoko. As for the others... they were basically background characters in the fanfics. Whether they could actually be utilized was hard to say. For instance, Kinoshita Minori, Yamashita Saki, Morofuji Rika, Yajima Mariko, and the like—if Hoya Chukai hadn't been in Class C this lifetime, he might not have had any impression of them at all.

Forget it, he'd figure it out when the time came. If all else failed, he could just mobilize them—offer a few thousand points to whoever could spot Kushida sneaking out. Heavy rewards make for brave men.

She was definitely not the type to bottle up resentment without acting on it, so catching her in the act of slipping away shouldn't be too hard. The only issue was that Hoya Chukai was a guy; tracking a young girl around? It looked like he'd have to go back and think carefully about how to handle that aspect.

He felt that ruling a class couldn't rely solely on brute force; using a carrot and stick approach was a great option. Him and Ryuen playing the good cop and bad cop routine would be excellent.

Chapter 22: Regardless of anything else, start by venting

While he was pondering these thoughts internally, he continued to laugh and chat with Kushida on the surface.

You have to admit, once you strip away those preconceived notions, Kushida's emotional intelligence is truly high.

She could get along well with many girls, especially those whom Hoya Chukai considered to be complete lunatics; it was impossible for her to have low emotional intelligence.

The two of them chatted quite pleasantly along the way. Although only two days had passed, they had plenty of things to talk about.

Yes, plenty. It might seem like boys and girls wouldn't have much to discuss, but if it was Kushida, she could always find a topic to get a conversation going with Hoya Chukai.

So what could they talk about? Hoya Chukai talked mostly about intelligence and his boss, Ryuen Shoko. The intelligence was nothing more than gossip about Class A and Class B, and the talk about his boss was just blowing smoke and singing her praises, while mentioning how united and loving the students of Class C were.

He didn't even believe it himself as he said it.

Whether Kushida believed it or not, he didn't know, but on the surface, she wore a look of complete trust.

She was also talking about the situation in Class D, sighing involuntarily.

There was no helping it; Class D had many problem children, especially that Koenji Rokusuke, who was truly a headache.

Ah, "Beautiful Brother," it was only natural that he was a headache.

While expressing sympathy to Kushida, he began to think about Koenji, this thorny existence.

How should he put it... a high-level troll?

He came to this school just to enjoy life; as long as he wasn't expelled, he could slack off to his heart's content. If used well, such a person was a brilliant move; if used poorly, he was just a nuisance.

Well, no matter how he looked at it, that was a matter for later. As for this guy... he would have to slowly consider how to utilize him.

Walking into the cafe with Kushida and seeing it packed with students, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Good heavens, you guys really are something. Even with 100,000 points a month, is there any need to come to such a high-end place to enjoy yourselves?

He wouldn't usually come here either, at most just to accompany a girl for a drink.

"Eh? I see a classmate of mine. Hoya, could you help me buy a mocha? I want to chat with my classmate."

"Of course, no problem."

Having reached this point, how could Hoya Chukai not know what Kushida was planning? She wanted to make friends with Horikita.

Get Ayanokoji to help lure Horikita out, then pretend to run into her by chance, and successfully strike up a friendship—a plan with a very idealistic vision.

But the result should have been a failure, after all, Horikita is a problem child; she was the type to keep her nose out of other people's business from the very start.

Unlike the many students sitting around, there were no students playing cards here. Hoya Chukai quickly ordered two coffees, choosing to add extra milk and sugar to one of them.

Hmm, he chose the standard version for the mocha; after all, he didn't know what flavor Kushida liked, so he stuck to the basics.

Anyway, she came to the cafe more to build a relationship with Horikita than to drink coffee.

The coffee was made quickly, perhaps because it was peak hours and hot drinks were already prepared? In any case, within two minutes, Hoya Chukai had the coffee and went to find Kushida.

Finding Kushida wasn't difficult, though it seemed there was some trouble on her end.

Opposite her, a girl with long, straight black hair was currently confronting her, looking almost aggressive.

"Hm? What's going on?"

Hoya Chukai joined the conversation naturally, handing the mocha to Kushida as he did so: "Kushida, your mocha."

"Thanks."

Kushida, who hadn't expected Hoya Chukai to suddenly interject, took the coffee in a daze, while Horikita Suzune, sitting opposite with her arms crossed, couldn't help but sneer at the sight of him.

"What's going on? It seems our victim here doesn't even know he's being used."

"What do you mean by being used?"

"Obviously, using you as an excuse to get to me. You're just a pawn being utilized; it doesn't matter who it is, as long as it's a student from another class. Tell me, Kushida, is it appropriate to go this far? Scheming against your own classmate like this?"

At this moment, Hoya Chukai had to play dumb even if he understood. As he looked at Horikita Suzune in confusion, he also looked at the other guest at the table.

If I'm not mistaken, that should be Ayanokoji... wait, Ayanokoji is a girl?

Sitting next to Kushida was a cold, detached girl with long brown hair who looked sickly and seemed to lack energy.

But the shock of this hit Hoya Chukai for several seconds. He adapted quickly, though; after all, if Ryuen Shoko had become a girl, it was understandable that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had become Ayanokoji Kiyohime, right?

His daze was because of Hoya Chukai, but in Horikita's eyes, it looked like he had been struck by the truth. How would he react now?

Yes, start an argument, demand an explanation—as long as he caused a scene, she could take advantage of the chaos and leave.

Although she could leave right now, she didn't believe Kushida would just watch her walk away; she might try something else, so giving her a bit of trouble was for the best.

"Cough, cough, you say I'm an excuse? Kushida's goal is to be friends with you?"

"Yes, so what?"

"You... who are you?"

But what Horikita didn't expect was that Hoya Chukai didn't feel disappointed or angry; instead, he showed a look of... confusion?

Confusion?

"Who the hell do you think you are, acting like you're so important? Is it really that much of a chore to be your friend, that one has to scheme just to be your friend? Aren't you tired?"

Hoya Chukai didn't care what the truth was; he could feel that the woman in front of him was looking for trouble.

Indeed, there was a high probability that Kushida had used him, but she hadn't made him look like a clown. Horikita's words made him sound like a fool, a sycophant, a loser being used by a bad woman like Kushida.

Could he tolerate that? Who the hell do you think you are?

"No, with that kind of attitude, you don't actually think you're worth being friends with, do you?"

Hoya Chukai tilted his head and asked Kushida, continuing to speak: "Although I know you want to be friends with everyone, some people aren't worth the effort, right?"

After saying that, he looked at Horikita again: "Who schemes back and forth just to make friends? Do you have persecution mania, or are you a masochist who likes being schemed against? We were just having a cup of coffee, she said she ran into a classmate and started chatting with you, and you think you're superior? We're all in Class D, who's more precious than whom? I suggested coming to the cafe, so what, are you saying she could scheme against me to the point of making me tell her where you are?"

Hoya Chukai started lecturing Horikita directly; he had long found this woman unpleasant. Who are you putting on that expression for? Who do you think you are? I'm not in Class D, so why would I be afraid of you? I'm not even afraid of Ryuen Shoko, so who are you?

Chapter 23: Beginning to 'Induce'

Was Kushida embarrassed? She was truly embarrassed.

She never expected Hoya Chukai to actually get into an argument with Horikita Suzune.

But at this moment, she couldn't help anyone and could only watch from the sidelines.

Help Horikita? Impossible. Horikita wouldn't treat her better because of her help; instead, she would think it was a ruse. And Hoya would also treat her poorly because of her betrayal.

Help Hoya? Even more impossible. She couldn't turn against her own class to help a student from another class; otherwise, how would she survive in her class later?

It was torture either way. It was painful.

Kushida was suffering there, and Horikita's expression wasn't looking good either.

Hoya Chukai's words revealed one meaning—ugly people make a lot of trouble.

Who are you? Why do you always think someone is targeting you? Do you really think you're that important?

"Enough, Kushida. You should stop hanging around her so much. Someone like her, who still doesn't understand the rules of this school, will probably be expelled before long. Heh, it's a waste that you share the name Horikita; compared to the student council president, you're truly pathetic."

Hoya Chukai pointedly extended his thumb and jabbed it toward the floor, his face wearing an expression that clearly said, 'you're the bottom of the barrel.'

My fists clenched.

"How did you know..."

"The surname Horikita isn't exactly common. So, it's either your brother, your cousin, or some distant relative. Even if it's none of those, to share the same name yet have such a heaven-and-earth difference... why don't you just change your name?"

"You bastard!"

In the end, Horikita shouted a curse at Hoya Chukai and stormed off, her loud outburst causing everyone in the cafe to turn and look in their direction.

Hoya Chukai merely shrugged and sat back in his chair. "Alright, you sit down too. I wasn't wrong just now; making friends with a woman like that brings no benefits."

Kushida looked back at the fuming Horikita as she walked away, then glanced at Hoya Chukai, who was sitting there sipping his coffee. Her brain couldn't quite process what had happened; she had never encountered a situation like this, leaving her unsure whether she should follow her or not.

"Also, I advise you not to go after her right now. She's in a fit of rage, and whoever approaches her will just get burned... well, except for her parents."

Hoya Chukai continued to talk about Horikita, while Kushida sighed helplessly.

Things having reached this point, what else could she do?

She sat down resignedly and said to the classmate beside her, "I'm really sorry, Ayanokoji-san, I've troubled you for nothing."

"Ah, it's fine. I was bored anyway."

Ayanokoji Kiyohime didn't feel unhappy or anything of the sort; she was just that kind of dull person. She had simply intended to give it a try because she had been asked to.

She had also thought about living a normal life. Logically speaking, normal people... should all be like this, right?

Opposite Ayanokoji, Hoya Chukai watched her movements quietly.

Hmm... truly not an ordinary person.

Ayanokoji Kiyohime's posture was incredibly proper. Although she didn't seem to have much of a presence, she gave off the impression of a refined young lady from a good family.

Yet, this posture was full of explosive potential. If something were to happen, she could easily stand up and knock the other person down with a single punch.