The Final Wager (4.5k) / I Told You the Bunk-Bed Setup Was Trouble

"..."

At the same time, Yamamura Miki silently appeared behind Kushida Kikyo.

"Please calm down. After all, we have absolutely no intention of revealing your secret to anyone, and in my opinion, this is a perfectly normal thing to do. There's no need to worry about it."

As the class Leader of Class C, Katsuragi Kohei's eloquence was not a problem. Seeing that the situation was deadlocked, he immediately began to persuade in a gentle tone.

"Even whether you betrayed the class or not, that can be let bygones be bygones."

Following the script that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had taught him beforehand, Katsuragi Kohei continued speaking.

"Ayanokoji and I both believe Kushida you, Kushida, were just temporarily coerced. As long as you can reveal the real spy you know who is lurking in the class, everything in the past can be put on hold. If a situation like today happens again in the future, Ayanokoji and I are fully willing to vouch for you."

Provoked by Katsuragi Kohei's sincere words, Kushida Kikyo hesitated. After all, if she agreed, not only could he pretend he hadn't seen what happened tonight, but his past espionage activities could also be put on hold.

But--

"The other party also knows my secret. If I expose him, he will expose me. That's the kind of relationship we have."

Kushida Kikyo rejected Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's proposal.

The reason she Hirata Yosuke have remained platonic for so long is that they both know each other's biggest secrets. As for Katsuragi Kohei's promise to let the espionage activities be put on hold, it's no exaggeration to say that compared to having her two-faced personality exposed and her perfect image shattered, Kushida Kikyo has never worried about Katsuragi Kohei and the others finding out about her spy identity.

Even if you found out, would you really dare to expose it to the public?

The tragedy during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam was still fresh in her mind. It was through that small test that Kushida Kikyo realized the power of her strategy, which was also the biggest source of her confidence that she was not afraid of her spy identity being exposed.

"As long as that person doesn't find out, it'll be fine."

"Once you make a move, the other side will definitely know that I leaked the information, because I'm the only one in the class who knows my identity. Unless you can expel them from school without giving them any chance to speak, but that's impossible."

He completed another round of questions and answers at lightning speed.

Seeing that Katsuragi Kohei group were indeed hesitant to do anything to her, Kushida Kikyo's tense mood relaxed a bit, and she took the initiative to move her arm away from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's neck.

But just as Kushida Kikyo calmed down a little, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who had just been 'powerlessly' pinned against the tree, suddenly sprang up and slashed directly at her neck with his palm as if it were a knife.

He was trying to recreate the Matoba from Amasawa Ichika's time, to see if this posture of threatening to beat her up would really make Kushida Kikyo submit.

As it turns out, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, as the Masterpiece of the White Room, didn't even need to imitate it. He only needed to recall the Matoba taking down a dozen burly security guards in his childhood, and his eyes and temperament underwent a complete transformation, perfectly simulating the strange madness and even murderous intent that Amasawa Ichika displayed at that time.

Kushida Kikyo's pupils constricted instantly in terror.

Following Amasawa Ichika, she once again felt the fear of being forcefully etched into her bones by the other party.

"Yes... Hirata Yosuke."

Thank you.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka withdrew his hand, his tone calm, as if nothing had happened.

Chapter 431: The Final Bet (4k5)

Hirata Yosuke.

When the name was uttered by Kushida Kikyo, apart from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who still maintained a poker face, both the usually composed class Leader Katsuragi Kohei and the usually inconspicuous Yamamura Miki could hardly suppress the shock on their faces. Clearly, none of them had expected that the real spy hidden in Class C, exposed by Kushida Kikyo, would be Hirata Yosuke.

To put it bluntly, in the entire Class C, if Katsuragi Kohei, the class Leader, is the de facto number one, then Kushida Kikyo Hirata Yosuke are undoubtedly the number two. In fact, in terms of their reputation among the boys and girls respectively, even Katsuragi Kohei might not be able to match them. Without their help and cooperation, Katsuragi Kohei would not be able to manage the entire Class C.

It was precisely because of this that the news of Kushida Kikyo's betrayal had already caused Katsuragi Kohei to feel a sense of despair towards the class. Little did he know that the worst was yet to come. Thinking back to a certain period in the past when he, as the class Leader, discussed the class's next decisions with the Chabashira Sae, Kushida Kikyo, and Hirata Yosuke, he felt that he should immediately run to the Detective Conan set next door, call Gin down, and go up and act in it himself.

Besides, doesn't Gin have a loyal Vodka who can only drive?

Oh, so Totsuka Yahiko has already been expelled from school.

Katsuragi Kohei couldn't help but recall the crushing defeat they suffered on the Uninhabited Island last year when they were still in Class A. He vaguely remembered that the members of the team that Class A had put together with the goal of winning first place were him, Hirata Yosuke, Kushida Kikyo, and Kamuro Masumi.

Even the seemingly cleanest Kamuro Masumi, seems to have an ambiguous relationship with Kitagawa Ryo. During the ambush targeting Kitagawa Ryo this morning, some other students in Class C noticed that Kamuro Masumi had briefly disappeared, presumably to inform Kitagawa Ryo.

Katsuragi Kohei sighed, feeling utterly exhausted.

How can I possibly manage a class with this bunch of traitors and spies around?

After a brief moment of confusion and disorientation, Katsuragi Kohei began to think about how to handle the aftermath of the incident.

Frankly speaking, even with Hirata Yosuke's spy identity exposed, they still couldn't easily alert him, because he was essentially a male version of Kushida Kikyo. If things weren't handled properly, it could trigger an explosion in the entire class, just like the lesson learned on the Uninhabited Island.

Moreover, Katsuragi Kohei was reluctant to make a decision based solely on Kushida Kikyo's account. After all, Hirata Yosuke's character and abilities were evident to everyone in the class, and without direct evidence of his betrayal or concrete information, such unfounded accusations would not be convincing.

When it comes to accusing someone of being a traitor, the weight of the person's words is equally important. When Totsuka Yahiko accused Chabashira Sae, nobody cared. But if the person who stood up was Katsuragi Kohei, the situation would be different. At least he wouldn't be seen by the whole class as someone making a desperate, reckless accusation.

Of all the Class C, the one who most easily gained Hirata Yosuke's trust was actually Kushida Kikyo, who was standing right in front of him. However, she was unlikely to do such a thing openly. This dilemma of knowing about a spy but being unable to expose it frustrated Katsuragi Kohei greatly, so he could only turn his attention to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in front of him.

Do you know the specific reasons why he betrayed the class?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was still pressing for answers.

"I'm not sure, but I feel that he and Kitagawa probably knew each other before he enrolled in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School last year, just like me."

Temporarily subdued by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's absolute violence, and anticipating that her psychological trauma would be even greater than before, Kushida Kikyo obediently revealed everything she knew:

"I saw him Matoba Kitagawa late one night during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam last year, but I was caught by Amasawa, who was keeping watch for them, so I was forced to become a spy for a short period of time."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka actually quite agreed with this speculation about Kushida Kikyo. After all, he had already deduced last year on the Uninhabited Island that this spy might have had a relationship with Kitagawa Ryo before entering school. However, at that time, he was distracted by Kushida Kikyo, who had also had contact with Kitagawa Ryo during middle school, and was unable to investigate further.

"What to do?"

Seeing that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had almost finished asking his questions, Katsuragi Kohei, whose mind was in turmoil, stepped forward and asked in a low voice.

"Wait first."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply uttered those two words, then released his hold on Kushida Kikyo:

Nothing happened tonight.

"... I'm going back."

Upon hearing this, Kushida Kikyo glanced back at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka with a complicated expression, as if it were the first time tonight that he had exposed the true nature behind her mask. This was also the first time she had truly realized that Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, who had been inconspicuous in the Ayanokoji Kiyotaka for the past year and seemed to be just like Totsuka Yahiko, a follower of Katsuragi, actually had such a true face.

After Kushida Kikyo left first, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded to Yamamura Miki again, who then quietly walked back to her dormitory room under the cover of night, having already completed all her tasks for the night.

Seeing that only he and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained, Katsuragi Kohei, unusually unable to contain himself, anxiously asked several more questions:

"Ayanokoji, what are your thoughts on this? Should we confront Hirata in front of the whole class? Or should we ask him privately?"

I plan to observe him for a while first.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply shook his head slightly at this.

"If you want to accuse us, we have no evidence."

Then, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka added an explanation:

"Katsuragi, you should have noticed as well. Currently, we have three confirmed spies in our class. Kushida and Chabashira betrayed us later. This is actually a double barrier that Kitagawa set up to protect Hirata. If I didn't foresee this, since the end of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam last year, Hirata has not had a single private secret contact or any spying operation with Kitagawa. This is because Kitagawa doesn't need to activate his deepest-buried spy to easily obtain information about our Class C through other channels."

As Ayanokoji Kiyotaka led Katsuragi Kohei away, he continued to whisper some of his thoughts:

"If possible, we still need to devise unplanned raids similar to this morning's. This time, Kamuro was lured out, but it was probably just her first offense, done on a whim. Next time, we can try setting a trap for Hirata, sending him a message that he's indispensable, to lure him out."

"Of course, assuming we can't find a good opportunity, we'll continue with the current situation where I'm in the dark and he's in the light... As long as Hirata doesn't engage in any espionage activities, he'll always remain a student in Class C."

Katsuragi Kohei nodded, understanding Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's meaning. Firstly, Class C couldn't withstand any major upheaval. Secondly, as the saying goes, "A person who has been hypocritical all their life is truly virtuous," if Hirata Yosuke didn't do anything to harm the class's interests, Class C really didn't need to take him too seriously. After all, he was one of the pillars with the highest OAA overall ratings in Class C, and they would continue to use him if he could.

If you were some nobody in the class who nobody cared about, the next day Kushida Kikyo would have taken the initiative to make trouble and dump you on the spot.

After briefly explaining the temporary solution for Hirata Yosuke, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka helped Katsuragi Kohei climb over the wall of the Girls' Dormitory again, but he had no intention of leaving with him.

"I still have some things to take care of here, you should go back first."

After saying that, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka ignored Katsuragi Kohei outside the wall. Although Katsuragi Kohei was quite curious about what he was going to do there, given his physique and agility, he really couldn't climb back over the wall by himself without Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's help. He could only turn around with a wry smile and prepare to go back to the boys' dormitory, secretly praying that the first school announcement he would see when he woke up the next morning would be a public reprimand and punishment for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's trespassing into the Girls' Dormitory.

After bidding farewell to Katsuragi Kohei, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't venture far into the forest. He casually turned a couple of corners into the dense woods before stopping and casting his gaze towards a corner behind him. However, he didn't utter any classic lines like "Come out, I've seen you," because the person behind him had already revealed himself.

"You were following me after all."

"Same here, right? A few nights ago when I went out, Ayanokoji, weren't you hanging on behind me the whole time?"

Kitagawa Ryo, who emerged from behind the woods, simply smiled and shrugged. He could only say that the advantage of the lower bunk was that it made it very convenient to observe the actions of the upper bunk. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka followed right behind.

"I thought you would stop me from doing what I'm doing tonight."

There's no need for that.

Kitagawa Ryo took two steps forward and stood side by side with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka under the same tree, raising the corners of his mouth at him:

"Just like you said to Katsuragi, Hirata hasn't done any espionage since the Uninhabited Island Special Exam last year, and he won't in the next two years either. It's no big deal if you discover such a so-called 'spy'."

"It seems you two have a good relationship."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka turned his head away. Kitagawa Ryo's words just now made the meaning quite clear: he wanted Hirata Yosuke to be able to spend his three years at this school peacefully.

"I just don't want you to keep pushing him to drop out of school because of this."

"If you could add that sentence, we could remove the word 'it seems' from the previous sentence."

After saying this, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained silent for a while:

When did you meet?

"It was probably during junior high school when I saved his best friend."

"Just because of this one thing?"

"Well, what sounds like just a sentence to you now might be a crossroads in Hirata's Fate."

"All right."

Whether he truly understood the sentence or simply thought Kitagawa Ryo was being deliberately mysterious, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded slightly.

"First Year is coming to an end."

"Yes."

"Looking back now, it seems that the outcome of our competition in the First Year was already predetermined when we were choosing each other before entering school. From the homeroom teacher to the students in the class, you planted quite a few landmines for me."

"Perhaps, but it's just a temporary victory or defeat. Aren't there still second and third year students?"

Upon hearing Kitagawa Ryo bring up the second year, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka unconsciously recalled last year's Cultural Festival. Unlike the selection process before enrollment, he was undoubtedly more confident this time. After all, before enrollment, he had only looked at the interview judges' information and ability assessments, but during the Cultural Festival, he had conducted a genuine on-site investigation. If nothing unexpected happened, the final list he submitted should all become the top students in the first First Year.

"Actually, there was no need for us to compete for this Special Exam from the very beginning, since the school's rules were designed from the start to allow all classes to get extra points."

Kitagawa Ryo suddenly blurted out this sentence.

Although this special Mixed Training Camp Special Exam has a penalty mechanism, aside from the almost impossible expulsion, all students can basically obtain a certain number of protection cards from the daily card draw to reduce these penalties. Students who receive rewards can also obtain a considerable number of boost cards to increase the reward multiplier. In this way, the Private Points obtained by each student may be different, but for the class, the final Class Points will definitely be positive.

To have managed to turn this Special Exam, where everyone gets a score and the course content is all related to morality and character, into what it is now, it has to be said that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is indeed a genius at stirring up trouble.

"Given the right timing, location, and people, we'll always want to give it a try. At least now we're on a more level playing field for the final Final Exam."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained noncommittal. The main differences between him and Kitagawa Ryo in their daily classes over the past few days were in the breakfast preparation and presentation sessions. Although the carefully planned challenge this morning failed to completely defeat Kitagawa Ryo, the gap between the first and second-to-last students in the entire school quickly narrowed their original score difference, resulting in the current situation where one of them is first in the entire school and the other is second.

Moreover, he successfully gained control of the class through this Special Exam and identified three hidden 'spies': Hashimoto Masayoshi, Kamuro Masumi, Hirata Yosuke. The Class Points will also increase significantly due to his superior individual ranking, so it can be considered a sure win.

However, what was perhaps more important to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was the story about his name that he had heard from Kitagawa Ryo.

"Alright, let's have another fair competition, just like during the Sports Festival. By the way, I've assigned the two of us the longest Road Relay Race distance, 3.6 kilometers."

Kitagawa Ryo readily agreed, since he and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka were in the same group. The higher their scores were in the Final Exam the day after tomorrow, the higher the group's total score would be, and the more generous the ranking rewards would be.

Regarding Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's actions during this Special Exam, Kitagawa Ryo actually felt that he had kept things within certain boundaries. The worst thing he did was probably to have Motodoi Chikako steal Shiina Hiyori's ring. However, firstly, she did intend to return it intact afterward, and secondly, half the responsibility for this matter lay with Sakayanagi Arisu approval. Moreover, Horikita Suzune eventually got it back.

"But simply competing in the previous match isn't very interesting. Let's add something extra for each other."

Kitagawa Ryo thought for a moment, and then offered this suggestion again.

"On the day of the Final Exam, if my total score across all four subjects is higher, I hope you Ayanokoji, can kick Nagumo out of ANHS."

"You're the one who deliberately threw this at me, I promise you."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded without the slightest hesitation:

"If I win."

He suddenly remembered Hirata Yosuke.

Or rather, it was Hirata Yosuke Kitagawa Ryo had just specifically explained to him, whom he intended to protect.

This incredibly thick, ever-expanding encyclopedia of love shows no signs of being finished. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka feels he should settle for second best and first find and experience another kind of connection that is easier to obtain and establish, but which also won't exist in the White Room.

"Let's be friends."

Chapter 432: I already said bunk beds are toxic

"Friend?"

Upon hearing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's request, Kitagawa Ryo was momentarily stunned, instinctively tilting his head as if he'd stumbled into a movie set filled with overly devoted, "loser" female leads.

What is your specific definition of a friend?