Got It All Under Control (4.5k) / Better to Be in Love for a Lifetime Than to Support Someone for a Lifetime (5.5k)

Just when everyone thought that this incident from more than half a year ago would no longer be mentioned, Hashimoto Masayoshi, one of the parties involved, brought it up again and took the initiative to expose it himself.

In truth, he had no choice. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Katsuragi Kohei had completely abandoned him, and Class 1-A and Class B of the first year had no goodwill towards him because of his previous attempts to seduce him. The only class that might have the ability and strength to take him in, Class D, scoffed at his initiative to join them.

In this situation, with the mentality of "I'll make sure you suffer too if I die, "Hashimoto Masayoshi went all out after being temporarily suspended from school. Not only did he expose many emotional secrets within Class C before Valentine's Day, which objectively ruined Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's Valentine's Day date and the mood of many students, but he also added fuel to the fire for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka after Valentine's Day by reporting him to the school and revealing the truth about what happened on the Uninhabited Island last year.

"I guarantee with my personal reputation and everything that the shoving incident that occurred during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam last year was entirely orchestrated by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka himself, with the aim of framing Ryuen Kakeru from Class 1-D. I myself was also a victim."

Undoubtedly, Hashimoto Masayoshi's accusations have once again brought new developments to the case, so the school, together with the Student Council, quickly followed up and began questioning Hashimoto Masayoshi himself.

"If what you just said is true, then how do you explain Chabashira's suspicious behavior?"

"I was unaware of this; the only case I reported was the one related to Ryuen Kakeru at the time."

"So... regarding the aforementioned accusation, Hashimoto -san, do you have any relevant evidence?"

"Ayanokoji only discussed and decided with me verbally at the time, so there is no relevant evidence. But I absolutely did not lie, and I am willing to confront him."

"Hmm, no evidence... Well, even if everything you said, Hashimoto -kun, is true, why didn't you inform the school and seek help immediately after the incident? Or rather, why did you choose to expose it only now?"

"Back then, I still had a strong sense of belonging and identification with the class, and I firmly believed that my actions were for the class's benefit. But now it's different. Since the class has abandoned me, I no longer need to keep its secret."

It must be said that even at this moment, Hashimoto Masayoshi was still deliberately adding drama and making excuses for himself, while Kitagawa Ryo, sitting on the side listening in, leisurely twirled his pen and quietly enjoyed this dramatic scene of mutual accusations.

Although Hashimoto Masayoshi couldn't produce enough evidence, Kitagawa Ryo believed everything he said. After all, Ryuen would never do something so crude as to get caught red-handed after doing something, so it must have been a staged act by Class C from the beginning.

Of course, just as the school official who questioned Hashimoto Masayoshi pointed out, the timing of these revelations was indeed too sensitive, coinciding with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's campaign as Student Council president candidate. It's hard not to suspect that some competitor deliberately bought these smear articles.

However, Hashimoto Masayoshi himself was not stupid. Before exposing it to the school, he had already spread the word about it on the campus forum.

But to be honest... the effect was just so-so. In terms of discussion, it wasn't even as good as the little secrets about his emotional entanglements that he posted before.

First of all, this happened a long time ago, and only First Year students participated in that Uninhabited Island Special Exam. For the older students, it was like watching a raw, unfiltered melon.

Then comes the issue of the victims.

If you replaced Ryuen Kakeru with someone of normal reputation, not to mention the likes of Kushida Kikyo and Ichinose Honami, even if it was Kanzaki Ryuji who was framed, it would be enough to make many students indignant and resentful.

The result, of course, was Ryuen Kakeru.

It's safe to say that many students in Class 1-D are probably quite happy about Ryuen being framed and made a scapegoat.

Even within Class 1-C, few students felt any sense of shared sorrow because of Hashimoto Masayoshi's words. After all, his reputation had been completely shattered, just like Totsuka Yahiko's back then. Anything he said at this point would only be a display of impotent rage, leaving at most a faint impression in their minds.

Therefore, after only listening to the endless back-and-forth between the two sides for a short while, Kitagawa Ryo already felt a bit bored.

Just as he was struggling to find a suitable reason to leave temporarily, he suddenly received another message on his phone.

"There's an urgent matter that I need to handle."

After speaking quietly with the school staff, Kitagawa Ryo finally found a chance to leave the interrogation room. However, even after leaving the room, his expression did not Matsushita with relief. Instead, he carefully read through the text message again.

"Sakayanagi Arisu has been implicated in a theft case."

Sure enough, it's only been two days since Valentine's Day ended.

All sorts of monsters and demons have come together to join the fray.

It seems that his final term as acting Student Council won't be a smooth transition.

Chapter 501: In a Hand's Eyes (4k5)

Within a single day, all three actual Student Council candidates, excluding Katsuragi Kohei, were attacked one after another. Although he had anticipated this situation, the sudden influx of events still left Kitagawa Ryo somewhat exhausted. However, he could only force himself to listen to the reports on the events, after all, he was the current acting Student Council.

When he arrived at the Student Council meeting room, all the people involved in the case had already arrived. Because the central figure in this case was Sakayanagi Arisu, the other three First Year Student Council members who were her direct competitors did not come. Currently, the second-year students Mizowaki and Tonokawa were conducting the initial questioning and handling.

"President."

"You've arrived, Chairman."

As soon as Kitagawa Ryo walked in, Mizowaki and Tonokawa immediately greeted him respectfully. They never put on airs as seniors in front of Kitagawa Ryo; they were basically obedient to him.

"Okay, show me the incident report you've compiled."

Kitagawa Ryo exchanged a brief glance with Sakayanagi Arisu, who was standing in front of him with her arms crossed, and then took the documents from Mizowaki's hands, quickly skimming through the contents.

This happened this afternoon after school.

According to Sakayanagi Arisu herself, while she was communicating with shopkeepers and shopping at the Keyaki Mall, Inoue from Class 2-D tried to secretly slip a bottle of perfume that she hadn't paid for into her bag from behind.

However, this action was discovered by Matsushita Chiaki, who had been secretly Sakayanagi Arisu, and was stopped immediately. The two caught him red-handed. Afterwards, based on their interrogation and the Student Council's initial questioning, Inoue confessed to being the mastermind behind it all.

"The mastermind behind this is Horikita Suzune..."

When Kitagawa Ryo saw the last name, he feigned surprise, his pupils contracting slightly. He subconsciously read the sentence aloud and then looked up at Inoue, the student from Class 2-D who had also been brought into the meeting room.

Inoue himself was a rather ordinary-looking boy, but he didn't show any signs of nervousness or worry. Even when he was caught on the spot and taken to the Student Council's office, he didn't seem to think it was a big deal.

"Inoue -kun, you said that Horikita- kun instructed you to do this, right?"

"Yes."

When Kitagawa Ryo asked him a second time, Inoue nodded affirmatively again.

"Alright, then I'll call Horikita over here now for a face-to-face confrontation."

After saying that, Kitagawa Ryo sent a text message to Horikita Suzune. A short while later, Horikita Suzune, who was already in the Student Council, entered the meeting room. After hearing what had happened, she subconsciously frowned and decisively shook her head in denial:

"I don't know you, and I've never given you any instructions or asked you to do anything."

"Of course, because I didn't receive instructions to do this directly from Horikita this time."

Inoue scratched the back of his head, seemingly finding the presence of many other people somewhat indistinct, hence his slightly mumbled speech:

"Actually, I don't know Horikita either, since I'm originally a student in Class 2-D."

As soon as he finished speaking, Mizowaki and Tonokawa hesitated and looked at Kitagawa Ryo. After all, the Leader of the entire second year was Asahina Nazuna from Class 2-A, and it was Kitagawa Ryo who pushed Asahina Nazuna into this position. Kitagawa Ryo was also supporting Horikita Suzune in this election. This was a logical chain that was easy to connect.

However, to everyone's surprise, Sakayanagi Arisu and Matsushita Chiaki, who should have and had the most reason to directly pin the blame on Horikita Suzune, remained silent, seemingly having no intention of using this seemingly unsolicited dirt to attack her.

"Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, the person who gave you this instruction, Inoue, was probably one of the second-year students, right? And he also told you that it was the will of Asahina Nazuna, Horikita Suzune, and even Horikita Manabu himself. If it succeeds, you're guaranteed a spot in Class 2-A; if it fails, the Student Council has already arranged for me, the acting president, to easily ensure your safety."

After a brief attempt at fishing, Kitagawa Ryo, having failed to catch anything, could only reluctantly pull up the fishing rod. To Inoue's astonishment, he repeated the promise he had heard just yesterday, finally revealing the name of the second-year student he had spoken to:

"That person is Kiriyama Ikuto from Class 2-B, right?"

"By the way, the video and audio recordings of your conversation are on my phone. Would you like to watch or listen to them yourself?"

Immediately after the start of the Student Council election, Kitagawa Ryo set his sights on Kiriyama Ikuto, an uncertain factor. Just as he had recently warned Horikita Suzune, Kiriyama's destructive potential lay in his public persona, which allowed him to perfectly infiltrate and play the role of a member of the Horikita faction, using her and Horikita Manabu's names to stir up hatred everywhere. As a result, Asahina Nazuna kept a close eye on all of Kiriyama's actions and quickly found a weakness.

Because chatting on a mobile phone in this kind of situation would most likely leave behind chat logs or screenshots, even if one party deletes the chat log, the other party would still be able to save it. The possibility of a face-to-face meeting is naturally greater. It is no exaggeration to say that even if Kiriyama Ikuto takes the person back to his dormitory room to talk, Kitagawa Ryo can still send Hotaru to make an attack.

It has to be said that cross-dressing is always a very low-level but effective tactic, but Kitagawa Ryo felt a little disappointed that he couldn't fool Arisu.

"Submit all the evidence and details of the incident, and let the school handle Inoue and Kiriyama according to regulations. That's the end of it."

Kitagawa Ryo casually yawned, a little sleepy, and handed the task over to Mizowaki and Tonokawa. Then, feeling bored, she walked out of the meeting room first, naturally placing her hand on Horikita Suzune's shoulder as she followed her out.

"Suzune has passed the first test, but Kiriyama will probably cause some more trouble, since he's now siding with Nagumo."

"After all, he didn't get the Leader, so it's no surprise his personality turned out this way."

"Well, there's no way around it. If you can get this position, you have to keep it in your own hands. Otherwise, how can you campaign for Suzune? I've already spoken to Asahina Nazuna. She'll take you to the second-year students after school tomorrow to sound them out and do some promotional work."

"Um."

Watching the backs of Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune, who were practically no longer hiding their relationship in the Student Council, whispering intimately with their shoulders close together, Sakayanagi Arisu simply sniffed, put her hands in her coat pockets, and quietly followed Matsushita Chiaki out.

Although she had longed for a fair and square match with him as a true opponent, as their relationship gradually became divided into opposing camps and their communication became less frequent, Sakayanagi Arisu did not feel particularly satisfied or fulfilled when she truly needed to treat him as an opponent from the bottom of her heart.

Although the world is never short of sayings like "the one who knows you best is your opponent" or, to put it more dramatically, "because a nemesis is a nemesis, and you can't let him become your wife's mouthpiece," Sakayanagi Arisu only become more and more aware of one thing.

That is, once the relationship between the two parties changes in this direction, they will subconsciously be more careful in their daily interactions. At first, she would feel happy that she had fooled Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune during the Mixed Training Camp, but now she feels much less of that.

Or perhaps, this was originally part of the opponent's psychological warfare strategy?

Thinking of this, Sakayanagi Arisu smiled somewhat lonely, and as if trying to distract herself, asked Matsushita Chiaki beside her:

"Airi has joined their side now, right?"

"Yeah, Kitagawa went straight to Airi's Airi yesterday, and then today a few of them went to the Drama Club's activity room together."

"That's too unfair, especially with Ryo in there."

Even someone as confident and proud as Sakayanagi Arisu felt a little bitter at this moment. After all, if Sakura Airi had never been involved in this matter, was also persuaded by Kitagawa Ryo, it would mean that her base of support among the girls in Class A would be in jeopardy. Although Airi herself had always kept a low profile and kept a low profile, her influence was really not lacking at all.

Fashion tips, cosmetics recommendations, dessert baking, and interesting stories from the entertainment industry—besides men, Sakura Airi, as a former well-known idol, naturally possesses a huge appeal to women, completely different from someone like Horikita Suzune who needs to be highlighted to gain recognition.

Matsushita Chiaki could only remain silent, seemingly unable to come up with any good ideas to change the situation in the short term.

"It seems we still need to communicate with Class C first, otherwise, Suzune will definitely win this election in the end."

After a little hesitation, Sakayanagi Arisu made this decision.

Before today, she had already had friendly conversations with the boys in Class A and Class D, but the results weren't very good.

The former, mindful of their classmate relationship, maintained a relatively tactful attitude, while the latter was much more straightforward. Ryuen Kakeru seemed determined to support Horikita Suzune, or rather, Kitagawa Ryo. It was clear from the atmosphere during the Valentine's Day celebration that something was amiss; the other side seemed to be making one-sided overtures to Kitagawa Ryo.

Moreover, unlike Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Sakayanagi Arisu had virtually no connections or influence among the upperclassmen, and the resources she could access were extremely limited, whether in her second or third year.

However, facing this situation, Sakayanagi Arisu is not entirely without options, but it would be better to find other methods before playing them.

And it's still the same old saying.

As more and more people favor Horikita Suzune, her odds will naturally decrease, and the attacks against her will no longer be just small-scale skirmishes like those against Kiriyama Ikuto today.

However, because of her promise to Kitagawa Ryo, Sakayanagi Arisu never intended to take action herself. After all, there are limits and intensity to competition, and she didn't really want to fight Horikita Suzune to the death.

Even assuming the worst, didn't the previous leaders, Miyabi Nagumo and Horikita Manabu, already demonstrate this to her?

If handled properly, it's possible for the vice president to effectively sideline the president.

"Although Arisu seems to be the weakest of the three forces right now, she is not without a chance to turn things around."

After restarting the war council, which had been interrupted by Hashimoto Masayoshi, Kitagawa Ryo went straight to the point and named Sakayanagi Arisu.

"First of all, I want to point out that the principle behind accomplishing many things or making a lot of money in this world is sometimes very simple: it's about taking advantage of information asymmetry."

"Just like how Kiriyama Ikuto took advantage of Inoue's lack of knowledge about his true allegiance today, Arisu also possesses an information gap weapon that only she can utilize."

"She is the daughter of Chairman Sakayanagi."

After Kitagawa Ryo finished speaking, Amasawa Ichika chewed his bubble gum and, whether genuinely naive or deliberately playing the straight man, asked:

"Is Arisu going to tell the students that I'm the daughter of the former Chairman, so they should vote for me and that the students will be great again next year?"

"Even if you say that, it doesn't seem to have much effect, since Chairman Sakayanagi has already stepped down..."

As soon as Sakura Airi uttered those words, she immediately frowned and began to guess:

"Does this mean that Chairman Sakayanagi is going to be reinstated?"

"Yes, it should be after the start of the first semester of the next academic year. By the way, there are probably fewer than five students who know about this right now, including you guys."

"But the Student Council election was already over by then."

After saying that, Sakura Airi contradicted herself again:

"No, no, the students don't really care who the school's Chairman is, just like last year they didn't care much that the Chairman changed from Sakayanagi-sensei to Tsukishiro."

Sitting next to her, Horikita Suzune seemed to be deep in thought before expressing her thoughts first:

"Those who are truly concerned about the change in the Chairman are actually the faculty and staff."

"Yes, it's the faculty and staff. I've heard about it for a while now. Acting Chairman Tsukishiro doesn't have a good relationship with the faculty and staff. Our class advisor Mashima, has had several direct conflicts with him."

"After all, he's just the Acting Chairman, so there's no need for him to maintain these relationships on purpose. Besides, this school is ultimately owned by the Sakayanagi Family."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo smiled:

"This is the information gap that Arisu possess."

"This is also a point we previously overlooked."

"At ANHS, the factors that influence students' decisions are never just the class and clubs, but also the faculty and staff, led by the class advisor."

"Especially for third-year students, in the final period before graduation, if the teacher sincerely asks them for a favor that they can easily do, that won't affect their future, but is of great importance to the teacher's future, many students would probably agree, right?"

"Just as we need to use Airi to project an aura of power onto Suzune, implying that only by choosing her can one achieve certain things, Arisu can do the same, except that the target audience isn't students, but faculty and staff."

"If I become the Student Council, the former Chairman the board, Sakayanagi, who was already disheartened, will be willing to take over the ANHS again for my sake, his daughter. Arisu can just make up a rumor like that on the spot."

After Kitagawa Ryo methodically and thoroughly explained the possible plan, Horikita Suzune herself felt a little apologetic and even broke out in a sweat for her rival.

It felt like being completely controlled by the person you know best.

Chapter 502: Better to Love Than to Push Forward (5k5)