The Queen's Defeat and the Birth of a Pet

Class D's area had completely turned into a boiling sea.

"Five hundred points! We got an extra five hundred points just like that!"

"Ayanokoji! You're my god!"

"From today onward, if anyone dares call Class D defective, I'll be the first to beat them up!"

Countless people shouted in excitement, venting the frustration they had endured for so long and the incomparable ecstasy they felt now.

Hirata Yosuke wore a dazzling, almost foolish grin. Surrounded by a group of boys, he laughed and jumped like a child.

Karuizawa Kei and her little group of gyarus hugged one another, crying and laughing until their makeup was ruined, yet they did not care in the slightest.

Their gazes, like those of nearly every Class D student, were fixed on the man slowly walking down from the stage.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

The ordinarily inconspicuous, even somewhat gloomy desk mate.

At this moment, he had become the focus of the entire class—no, the entire school.

A hero who had created a miracle.

The students voluntarily parted to make way for him, seeing him off with worshipful, reverent, feverish eyes.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still wore that same unreadable expression.

The thunderous cheers around him seemed to be nothing more than meaningless noise to him.

He passed through the celebrating crowd, calmly reviewing everything in his mind.

Natsume Yu's script...

Every step, every person's reaction, even every piece of evidence Sakayanagi Arisu might produce had all been within his expectations.

All he had done was act as an actor and recite that perfect script upon the stage.

That man...

His insight into human hearts and control over the situation had reached a level that sent chills down one's spine.

For the first time, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt that the thinking ability he had always been proud of seemed so immature before someone else.

He was not a chess player.

He himself was merely a chess piece.

A... relatively useful chess piece, that was all.

"Ayanokoji."

A cool voice interrupted his thoughts.

At some point, Horikita Suzune had already appeared before him.

Unlike the others, she was not fanatical. Her beautiful eyes were full of scrutiny and inquiry.

She stared fixedly at him and asked, word by word.

"Tell me this wasn't your plan."

She had used a declarative sentence, not a question.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka did not even raise his eyelids.

"I just got lucky and guessed right."

"Lucky?"

Horikita Suzune sneered.

"You turned Sakayanagi's evidence against her, precisely identified the traitor, exposed the schemes of three classes in the process, and even triggered a special reward... and you call that luck?"

Her voice was not loud, but every word carried an aggressive force.

"You can't fool me."

"You're not this kind of person at all."

"Who is behind you?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka finally looked at her. His gaze was so calm that Horikita Suzune felt an inexplicable panic.

"Behind me?"

He repeated the words he had just said to Sakayanagi.

"Behind me are all the students of Class D."

With that, he ignored Horikita Suzune, who stood frozen in place, and walked straight toward the exit.

That answer was flawless.

Yet Horikita Suzune became even more convinced of her suspicion.

Watching Ayanokoji's back, not particularly tall yet now unimaginably mysterious, she clenched her fists.

There was something hidden within this class that she could not comprehend at all.

A... "brain" that had everyone dancing in the palm of its hand.

And she knew nothing about him.

On the other side of the crowd, Kushida Kikyo was trying her best to blend in and reduce her presence.

She wore the same sweet smile as everyone else, "happy" over the class's victory.

But only she knew that her back had long been soaked in cold sweat.

From the moment her eyes met Natsume Yu's, her heart had pounded wildly, nearly leaping out of her throat.

Fear.

Fear from the depths of her soul gripped her tightly.

That man did not even need to appear in person. Through Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, his "agent," he had completely trampled the once-unassailable Class A beneath his feet.

What a terrifying method!

Suddenly.

The phone in her pocket vibrated faintly.

Kushida Kikyo's body stiffened sharply.

With trembling hands, she unlocked the screen.

There was only one message from Natsume Yu.

Its contents were so simple they were suffocating.

[Deck. Now.]

There was no greeting, no unnecessary words.

Only an unquestionable command.

Kushida Kikyo's face instantly turned pale.

Was the final... judgment coming?

She did not dare hesitate in the slightest. She squeezed out of the celebrating crowd and hurried toward the deserted cruise ship deck.

The night sea breeze carried a hint of chill as it brushed against her face.

On the empty deck, there was only a solitary figure standing by the railing.

Natsume Yu wore simple casual clothes, his hands in his pockets as he gazed out at the pitch-black horizon.

The waves struck the ship's hull with a steady rhythm.

Kushida Kikyo softened her footsteps, stopping several meters behind him. She lowered her head deeply, barely daring to breathe.

Time passed, second by second.

Natsume Yu neither turned around nor spoke.

The oppressive silence was more agonizing to Kushida Kikyo than any harsh interrogation.

Fine beads of sweat had already formed on her forehead.

Finally, a calm voice rang out.

"How did it feel?"

Kushida Kikyo's body trembled violently. Almost instinctively, she answered in a low, trembling voice.

"I saw it..."

She paused, seemingly searching for the most appropriate word.

"...true 'domination.'"

Natsume Yu finally turned around slowly.

There was none of the coldness or scrutiny Kushida Kikyo had expected on his face. Instead, he wore an almost gentle smile.

"You did well, Kikyo."

His voice was soft, yet it reached Kushida Kikyo's ears clearly.

Kikyo.

He had called her by her name.

Not the false "angel," Kushida, but the name of her truest self—the self she hated even more than anyone else.

Boom!

Those words, that form of address, were more destructive than any threat or intimidation.

Like a key, they directly opened the darkest room deep inside Kushida Kikyo's heart, the room buried beneath layer after layer of disguise.

All this time, she had desperately used false smiles and kind words and deeds to gain others' approval.

She longed to be noticed. She longed to be needed.

But she knew the people around her only liked the "angel" she played.

If they saw her true heart, full of jealousy, malice, and calculation, they would surely flee from her as if she were the plague.

But now.

Natsume Yu.

This man who had seen through every dark side of her, this man who held everything about her in his grasp.

He acknowledged her.

He acknowledged the truest, most shameful side of her.

And he had told her that she had done well.

"Drip."

Kushida Kikyo felt something deep within her completely shatter.

The string that had been taut all this time snapped.

All her disguises, all her struggles, all her unwillingness turned to dust at that moment.

Her legs gave out, and her body nearly collapsed to its knees on the deck.

She barely managed to support herself with her hands against the ground, preventing herself from completely losing composure.

She raised her head, tears blurring her vision.

The man before her was somewhat blurred in the night, but those deep eyes were terrifyingly clear.

Her gaze no longer held only fear and struggle.

It now contained something she herself could not understand.

Dependence, reverence, and... willing submission.

"Natsume... my lord..."

Her voice was broken and hoarse.

"I..."

Natsume Yu walked over to her, extended a hand, and gently stroked the top of her head.

The gesture was like soothing a newly tamed, restless pet.

"From today onward, you are my sharpest blade."

His voice was not loud, yet it carried a forceful certainty that carved itself into Kushida Kikyo's soul.

Kushida Kikyo closed her eyes and felt the warmth of his hand atop her head.

She stopped trembling and completely abandoned all resistance.

"As a reward,"

Natsume Yu's fingertips slowly slid from her hair to her cheek.

The slightly cool touch made Kushida Kikyo's body tremble softly.

"I'll let you personally 'deal with' Horikita Suzune."

A playful curve lifted at the corner of his mouth.

"But not now."

"We'll do it in a more interesting way."