Sakayanagi Arisu's Ambition / You Go Deal With Amizawa Ichika

Meanwhile, Kitagawa Ryo, having regained his mobility after the human wall disappeared, naturally wouldn't give the girls a chance to stay. Moreover, with Asahina Nazuna helping to block him, he vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, leaving them only with a receding figure that they could never catch up to.

With Kitagawa Ryo gone, there was no point in continuing to entangle with Asahina Nazuna and Kiryuin Fuka. After consoling himself with this somewhat self-deprecating explanation, Suzuki gathered the girls back together to prepare for their retreat, but as usual, he left behind a harsh remark:

"From this day forward, you are the traitors of the entire second year."

"To be honest, I was already one during the Sports Festival."

Kiryuin Fuka simply whistled indifferently, while Asahina Nazuna, still trying to dissuade the girls, continued:

"Nagumo is not the same Nagumo as before. He no longer cares about the so-called class, grade, or even anything about this school. Naturally, he wouldn't care about you either. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made you do something that definitely violates school rules and could even lead to expulsion."

As it turns out, you can never wake someone who's pretending to be asleep. Even though Asahina Nazuna's tone was quite sincere and her words were reasonable, the other person still showed no intention of turning back. On the contrary, the more she was persuaded, the more her rebellious mentality was aroused, leading to a fantasy that she would not hesitate to offend the whole world for her brother. With several like-minded people around, Kiryuin Fuka felt like she had witnessed how a fandom is formed.

"Forget about them, let's go."

Pulling aside Asahina Nazuna, who hadn't yet grasped the principle of 'giving up the urge to help others and respecting their Fate,' Kiryuin Fuka quickly led her away from the forest, preparing to continue forward to reunite with Kitagawa Ryo.

On the other side, Kitagawa Ryo, who had just dodged the first wave of attacks from the second-year girls, also breathed a sigh of relief. Because he had been delayed for a while, he should now be at the back of the group. Looking around, he could see mostly students from various grades with BMIs that were either too high or too low, walking and stopping intermittently. However, there were also some who wanted to conserve their energy during the uphill section of the first half to speed up in the second half. Then there were couples who wanted to take advantage of this mixed-gender outdoor training exercise to have a good chat with their partners.

What's the situation now?

To Kitagawa Ryo's surprise, Sakayanagi Arisu was also in this formation. After seeing him emerge from the forest from the side, she stroked a strand of hair behind her ear with interest, jogged over to his side, and asked him this question directly.

"We've passed the first hurdle, but I wonder what other tricks they have up their sleeves."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo, somewhat curious, asked Sakayanagi Arisu a question:

"But what 'Arisu doing here?"

"Just gathering information, and also conserving some energy, since I didn't sleep well last night."

As if to prove her point, Sakayanagi Arisu covered her mouth and yawned slightly, her eyes indeed showing a hint of drowsiness.

"Arisu returned to the dorm quite early last night."

"Yes--I was pretty early, but unfortunately my Shiina hasn't come back yet. Do you think I'll be able to sleep?"

Looking at Sakayanagi Arisu, who was frowning and complaining in a drawn-out tone, Kitagawa Ryo really wanted to say something like, "Thank goodness you're not in the same dorm as Ichika, or you wouldn't have been able to sleep all night." But what came out in the end was just a simple word of comfort. Little did he know that Sakayanagi Arisu herself was also telling a little lie. After all, the reason she hadn't been able to sleep all night, besides what she had told him, was actually because of the burning desire in her heart that she had stirred up herself and that Kitagawa Ryo had ignited. It had been burning intensely in her chest and lower abdomen until the middle of the night.

"So, Arisu, have you gathered any valuable information yet?"

Seeing that Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly fell silent, Kitagawa Ryo assumed that she didn't want to delve any deeper into what happened last night, so he took the initiative to change the subject.

"Not yet... Never mind, Liang, you should set off quickly. I'll have someone notify you if anything urgent happens."

Somewhat agitated Sakayanagi Arisu awkwardly turned her head away. Perhaps it was because the bizarre fantasies she had had in the early hours of the morning still lingered in her mind, making her feel uneasy when facing Kitagawa Ryo. It wasn't that she had lost the boldness she had a few hours ago; she simply realized that their relationship had been stuck at this point for a very long time.

"Alright, then I'll leave it to Arisu."

Kitagawa Ryo couldn't stay in the latter half of the group forever. After all, the second-year girls were targeting him to undermine his grades. If he hesitated because he was worried about what they might do to him, he would only be playing into their hands.

And so, after bidding farewell to Sakayanagi Arisu, who was hanging alone at the back of the main group, Kitagawa Ryo continued his journey. Although he wanted to recall his left and right protectors, he had no means of communication at the moment. Kitagawa Ryo could only greet the familiar Class A and Class B classmates he encountered along the way and ask them to inform the others when they saw Asahina Nazuna and Kiryuin Fuka.

Miyabi Nagumo seemed determined to avoid him. Since the start of this Mixed Training Camp Special Exam, Kitagawa Ryo hadn't had a single direct encounter with her. Instead, he kept sending his subordinates to harass him. First, it was Mizowaki and Tonokawa from the boys' side, and now it's the girls. Although their endless tricks haven't really hurt Kitagawa Ryo yet, they've certainly been getting on his nerves. He felt it would be better to have a fair and square competition in front of the entire school, like the final event of the Sports Festival, the inter-grade relay race.

"Beichuan!"

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was running forward, a somewhat familiar voice suddenly came from beside him, calling his name in a very anxious tone.

However, this time it wasn't some unfamiliar upperclassman from the second year, but rather Kamuro Masumi from Class 1-C.

Although Horikita Manabu had warned him on the first night after the Special Exam officially began, "If you plan to aim for first place in the whole school, don't trust any student, even those in the same grade, class, or group," Kitagawa Ryo instinctively stopped and asked, thinking about his old friendship with Kamuro, which had existed since the beginning of the school year (although they hadn't contacted each other since).

"What's wrong?"

"This... this long-distance run."

Because she was running quite fast, Kamuro Masumi's voice was unusually stammering:

"Besides the second and third year students, don't trust any of the students in Class C or even Class D."

"Especially our class, because I heard that Ayanokoji Miyabi Nagumo made a deal. As long as we do what he says, the five or six million Private Points that our class still owes him, including principal and interest, can all be cancelled!"

Chapter 413: Sakayanagi Arisu's Ambition

As the only class among the twelve classes across three grades at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School burdened with a million Private Points debt, Class 1-C successfully advanced to the next grade after the Cultural Festival. However, the scar left from the Sports Festival was undoubtedly still unhealed. Especially after Miyabi Nagumo used this debt contract to threaten and take away all the Criticism Vote during the special Class Vote at Special Exam end of the school year, all the students who still wanted the class to improve realized the importance of solving this problem as soon as possible, otherwise they didn't know how they would be hindered in the future.

That is precisely why, when Ayanokoji Kiyotaka offered to directly solve the problem that had been troubling the class for several months, the entire strength of Class C would inevitably reunite, just like when they were the superior Class A, firmly held in the other's grasp and at his beck and call.

The apparent decline of Class 1-C was that Katsuragi Kohei, as the class Leader, lost the trust of some students, especially the girls. However, this never meant that these students had truly lost faith in the class as a whole, since they were originally the same Class A in terms of both composition and student body.

Therefore, even Kamuro Masumi and Morishita Ai, who harbored resentment towards Ayanokoji Kiyotaka himself, could not voice any objections in the context of resolving the class's growing pains in one fell swoop. After all, the burden of millions of Private Points debt made them feel restricted in every way, severely limiting the class's further development.

The interests of the collective can sometimes easily override individual thoughts, especially in an environment like Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. For example, Katsuragi Kohei and Kitagawa Ryo are good friends, but when it comes to issues related to class competition, neither of them will show any mercy to the other. This is also a necessary responsibility that they must bear as class Leader.

Kamuro Masumi also knew she shouldn't have said these things to Kitagawa Ryo, and from that perspective alone, it wouldn't be surprising if she were labeled a 'class traitor' or a 'hidden spy'.

"... I'm just returning the favor I did for you at the beginning of the semester. I'm leaving now."

Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed by Kitagawa Ryo's gaze, or perhaps simply not wanting others to see her Matoba with him alone, Kamuro Masumi whispered this rather tsundere-esque remark before running away like the wind. As the best athlete in Class C, her physical abilities were comparable to Suzune's.

After Kamuro Masumi came and went like the wind, Kitagawa Ryo began to ponder what she had just said.

If he wasn't mistaken, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's confrontation with the entire Class C students must have taken place this morning, or rather, just now. If it had happened earlier, Hirata Yosuke, who was in the same group as him, would have warned him first. However, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka must have considered the existence of spies within the class, which is why he used this method of issuing a last-minute notice and taking immediate action, trying to catch them off guard.

As for Kamuro Masumi's mention of Class 1-D in addition to Class 1-C, Kitagawa Ryo wasn't surprised at all.

To reiterate, the unique system of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is what it is. Even if his relationship with Ryuen Kakeru is even warmer than that with Katsuragi Kohei, and even if the two of them had a tacit 80/20 split in the public bathhouse just a few days ago, just like how he used greater benefits to make Ryuen Kakeru a double agent between him and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, in this kind of Special Exam involving the interests of each class, personal feelings must give way. After all, even Karuizawa Kei spent almost half a year laying the groundwork and spending a lot of time and energy to transfer him to her class.

"Did they choose to join forces again, just like in the early stages of the Uninhabited Island incident last time?"

After muttering this to himself, Kitagawa Ryo rubbed his temples with a slight headache. In fact, the random group assignment mode of this Special Exam had already ensured harmony between classes as much as possible, since the number of students from each class was equal in each group. However, the problem lay in the individual ranking reward, which was separate from the group ranking and the overall group ranking.

While the 50 Class Points and 1 million Private Points for first place may not seem like much at first glance, the extra rule of Double the card draw bonus, combined with Kitagawa Ryo's ability to reach the daily limit of three card draws, means that after drawing two 0.3 enhancement cards and one protection card on the fourth day, his multiplier has increased to 2.2, Double his total to 160 Class Points and 3.2 million Private Points. Moreover, he still has two days' worth of cards to draw, and the final day guarantees a 0.5 enhancement card. His final Class Points will undoubtedly become even more formidable, especially considering his high ranking in both the Third Group and the Third Large Group, which will also grant him additional basic Class Points.

For First Year students who are not in Class 1-B, the school's top prize can be won by second-year or third-year students, but not by Kitagawa Ryo, who is also First Year. It is no exaggeration to say that even the current Class 1-A would not agree to this, because if Kitagawa Ryo gets the points, Class B might overtake them and dethrone them, who have maintained their leading position for less than a semester.

After all, although Kitagawa Ryo had a good relationship with them on the surface, and even kept the class group chat, Kitagawa Ryo was now a student in Class B. Since they didn't know or were not sure if he would transfer back to Class A, Class A naturally wanted to firmly maintain their position.

Unlike Maezono Chiyo last time, the current students in Class A have a perfectly legitimate reason: to fight for the class.

In that instant, a thought suddenly flashed through Kitagawa Ryo's mind.

He and Suzune might have been Arisu into this by Arisu.

The bet between Sakayanagi Arisu and Horikita Suzune in this Special Exam was essentially a competition for the position of class Leader. The outcome of the group competition was just a pretext. So while Suzune was being misled into organizing the group to try and get points, Arisu went straight to winning people over.

But this is actually a second layer of deception.

Arisu's goal from the beginning was to compete for the class Leader.

Winning over girls is for the sake of prestige, but besides prestige, class Leader need even more important skills.

So.

The quickest way to showcase your talents to your classmates...

"Of course, it's about defeating the previous Leader of this class."

Kitagawa Ryo let out a breath; he finally understood what Arisu meant by 'gathering intelligence'.

The information collected by the other party, or rather, the information they need to confirm.

It's actually about his location and condition.

Chapter 414: Go and deal with Amasawa Ichika

Just as Kitagawa Ryo suddenly realized that Sakayanagi Arisu was setting a trap, using Horikita Suzune as a cover to deceive him as well, Asahina Nazuna and Kiryuin Fuka, having finally escaped the clutches of the second-year girls, emerged from the forest and returned to the main path of their field training exercise. They happened to see a group of First Year girls jogging at a steady pace nearby. Asahina Nazuna's eyes lit up, and she quickly walked over, Asahina Nazuna out one of their names in a cheerful tone:

"Matsushita- kun--"

"Oh, it's Asahina Nazuna- senpai. Is there something you need?"

Matsushita Chiaki, whose name was called, stopped in her tracks, looking somewhat surprised. She was a student in the Third Group, just like Horikita Suzune, and belonged to the same large group as Asahina Nazuna. Therefore, she had interacted with Asahina Nazuna during the Training Camp Exam over the past few days, and could barely be considered a friend.

"Have you seen Liang... no, I mean Beichuan from your old class?"

"Kitagawa-kun? I haven't run into him, but I heard from someone that he was being bothered by a few second-year girls. Apparently, he deliberately bumped into one of them while running, and they're probably arguing about it now. Apparently, they're going to call school staff to settle things."

After hearing Matsushita Chiaki's words, Asahina Nazuna's heart tightened instinctively. After a brief thank you, she hurriedly ran back to Kiryuin Fuka's side, relayed what Fuuka had just said, and then anxiously asked:

"Should we turn back and check the situation? Maybe we can help Liang a little."

"Don't rush."

Compared to the somewhat distraught Asahina Nazuna, Kiryuin Fuka maintained a calm and rational perspective. As one of the very few second-year students who had never integrated into the group since entering school and had never signed a contract with Miyabi Nagumo, the fact that she had been able to stay at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School without Miyabi Nagumo finding an opportunity to expel her was not only due to her outstanding talents, but also inseparable from Kiryuin's seemingly carefree but actually meticulous personality. Especially after experiencing a series of pranks and framing by second-year students after the Sports Festival, her vigilance in this regard had reached an unprecedented level.

"We have no way of knowing whether these words are true or false right now. Are you very familiar with that First Year student?"

"We're in the same group of students. We've seen each other in class these past few days, and she's in Class 1-A. She's also very close to Horikita and Classmate Sakayanagi."

"That's not enough."

Faced with Asahina Nazuna's explanation, Kiryuin Fuka simply shook her head, showing no intention of believing her at all.

"Given the current situation, even the students in Class B, where Kitagawa is currently, might not be able to fully trust him, let alone the students in Class A."

"Have you considered that if she gave us false information, and Liang is actually waiting for us up ahead, it would cause us to go completely in opposite directions and miss each other?"

As she spoke, Kiryuin Fuka turned her head and glanced back into the forest.

"Actually, I sensed someone was watching us when I was inside, and the fact that we ran into First Year student who knew where Kitagawa was right after we came out... it all seems too coincidental. And Asahina Nazuna, didn't you notice that there wasn't a single student from Class 1-B among this group of girls? They were all from Class A, Class C, and Class D."

"Now that you mention it, it's true... Wait, I remember you, Kiryuin, didn't interact with the First Year students at all, so how could you recognize which class they were in?"

Seeing the astonished Asahina Nazuna's face, Kiryuin Fuka simply waved her hand dismissively:

"I have to thank that Student Council, Nagumo, for that; the OAA System is indeed quite useful in some aspects."

"... You didn't memorize all the students' information, names, and appearances, did you?"

"Is it that difficult? Kitagawa should have done that a long time ago."

"That's all."

After being persuaded by Kiryuin Fuka, Asahina Nazuna abandoned her plan to follow Matsushita Chiaki's advice and turn back to find Kitagawa Ryo. Instead, she took the initiative to ask Kiryuin:

What do we do now?

"Just keep moving forward. Actually, compared to First Year and second graders, Class 3-A is a more convenient source of information for us."

"Good."

"Go and stall Amasawa Ichika."

"Huh? Me?"

Meanwhile, in another secluded grove, when faced with the sudden appearance of the new Leader who seemed poised to officially take over the entire class and make this request, Kushida Kikyo was also momentarily stunned, her small mouth slightly agape, revealing an expression of extreme astonishment and even disbelief.

"Is there a problem? She's in the same group as you, so it's easy for you to find any excuse, like she has bad habits and makes a lot of noise at night, keeping everyone in your dorm awake. Then just bring your friends who are willing to stand up for you over there."

As Ayanokoji Kiyotaka continued to add instructions in a calm tone, he was still carefully observing every change in Kushida Kikyo's expression and every detail of her movements. After all, he had never believed that the only traitor in Class 1-C was their Chabashira Sae, and among the remaining suspects, Kushida Kikyo had always been one of the most suspicious.

Especially after recruiting Yamamura Miki, a student with an extremely low profile who, ironically, possessed a unique talent for tracking others, from among the girls in Class A, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka finally realized the other side hidden beneath Kushida Kikyo's glamorous exterior. It was precisely because of this that he wanted to test her further, which led to his words just now.

After all, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka himself knew Amasawa Ichika's background. Not to mention Kushida Kikyo, even if they sent the most capable and best-fighting girl in the class, Kamuro Masumi, and the most physically strong Kito Hayato, together, they might not be able to stop this top student from the Fifth Generation of the White Room.

However, if the goal is to target Kitagawa Ryo, Amasawa Ichika is someone who must be dealt with, since he is a troublesome individual who genuinely doesn't belong to any class or any other faction and is simply on Kitagawa Ryo's side.

"... Perhaps Ayanokoji doesn't know much about Amasawa's personality. This girl is actually a violent maniac. If we confront her like this, it might very well trigger an unnecessary violent incident, especially since we're still in the midst of Special Exam, right?"

Seeing that Kushida Kikyo was hesitant and trying to decline the assignment, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply lowered his eyes and continued to ask in a calm tone:

"Is that so? But how did Kushida know that Amasawa- san is a violent person? Have you ever been beaten up by her?"

"It's just an unpleasant experience from the past, Ayanokoji, there's no need to be so aggressive. Although everyone in the class follows your orders because they believe you can resolve the class debt issue with Student Council Nagumo, it's still too much to act like this towards your classmates. Are you suspecting me of being the spy in the class?"

It must be said that Kushida Kikyo is indeed very strong in terms of mental fortitude. After a brief moment of distraction, she quickly regained her strength and tried to take back control of the conversation. She immediately launched into a familiar set of smooth little moves. "Let's not talk about the matter first, is there something wrong with your attitude?" which caught Ayanokoji Kiyotaka off guard.

After Ichinose Honami's reputation was inevitably affected by her Confessions and class transfer, Kushida Kikyo already considered herself the most popular girl in the entire Class C and even the entire grade. To put it bluntly, if she hadn't been unwilling to be the class Leader, a position that was easy to offend people, this position would never have been given to Katsuragi Kohei or even Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. It was precisely because she realized this that Kushida Kikyo found it somewhat unbearable that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka showed such a normal or indifferent attitude.

"I didn't mean that. If Kushida really finds it difficult, I will naturally arrange for someone else to do it."

Having obtained the information he wanted, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka did not intend to push Kushida Kikyo to her limit at this point, and thus, knowing when to stop, he also took a step back.

"Then, I'll take my leave."

As for the timing, it's not hard to guess. It's most likely during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, because when she was at school, Kushida Kikyo's schedule was always packed, and she had almost no interaction with Amasawa Ichika.

So a new question arises: what were the reasons that led Amasawa Ichika to choose to assault Kushida Kikyo? Was this action her own choice or instigated by Kitagawa Ryo? How much were the catalysts for Kushida Kikyo's betrayal related to this act of violence?

After observing for such a long time, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka believed he had grasped part of Kushida Kikyo's personality. What she was pursuing was the vanity of being the center of attention. Even someone like Totsuka Yahiko could be treated with a gentle smile. In this respect, what she feared most was having that mask ripped off. This was Kushida Kikyo's weakness, and controlling her should start from this point.