Ayanokoji's Reappearance

He wore the standard uniform, his posture straight and tall, his face indistinct in the dim light.

But those deep brown eyes, calm and unruffled even in the darkness, as if capable of absorbing all light—Yuefeng would never mistake them.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

What was he doing here?!

Kiyotaka slowly emerged from the shadows, the halo of the streetlamp outlining the clear contours of his profile.

He seemed to be holding a tablet, its faint glow illuminating his expressionless face.

He walked over calmly like that, his gaze sweeping past the frozen Ishizaki, the lackey with his fist still raised in midair, and Onodera, who sat on the ground, still shaken.

Finally, as if by accident, it brushed past the direction of the bushes where Yuefeng was hiding.

Yuefeng instinctively held his breath, his heart pounding. Did he see? Did he know I was here?

Kiyotaka's gaze didn't linger. It fell back on Ishizaki.

"Do I need to repeat the specific school regulations and the reporting procedure, Ishizaki?" Kiyotaka's tone was the same as when he recited the rules—steady, clear, devoid of any emotion, yet more chilling than any threat.

Ishizaki's face shifted from shock to livid, then from livid to a twisted expression mixing anger, wariness, and disbelief.

He glared at Kiyotaka, his fists clenched until his knuckles cracked, but in the end, he didn't dare throw a punch.

"You... Ayanokoji! Trash from Class D, mind your own damn business!" Ishizaki spat through gritted teeth.

"Correction: it's 'possibly' Class D's Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

And this isn't minding someone else's business. Maintaining campus order and exam fairness is every student's duty.

Or does Ishizaki believe that Class C stands above the school rules?" Kiyotaka said calmly, as if correcting a trivial grammatical error.

With that remark, he directly pinned the label of "class" onto it. Ishizaki might not care about himself, but he couldn't ignore how much Ryuen valued "class interests."

If his reckless actions caused Class C to lose points or even get downgraded, Ryuen would never let him off.

Ishizaki's face darkened like the bottom of a pot.

He shot Kiyotaka a vicious glare, then glanced at the trembling Onodera on the ground. Finally, he let out a heavy snort through his nose.

"Let's go!" he barked at his lackey, and the two of them scurried away, their backs filled with humiliation and defeat.

Onodera scrambled to his feet, bowed deeply in Kiyotaka's direction, stammered a thank-you, and then ran off as fast as he could.

On the empty lot, only Kiyotaka remained. He put away his tablet, as if he had just casually shooed away two annoying flies.

Then he turned his head, his gaze landing precisely on the spot where Yuefeng was hiding.

"Aren't you coming out yet, Yuefeng-ge?"

He used the term "ge," his tone flat, but it made Yuefeng freeze.

Yuefeng knew he couldn't hide any longer. He steeled himself and stepped out from behind the bushes, forcing an awkward smile onto his face.

"Kiyotaka... what a coincidence. You 'passing by' again?"

Kiyotaka didn't answer the question.

He looked Yuefeng up and down, his gaze pausing for a moment on the thick book in Yuefeng's hand, clearly borrowed from the library.

"How's the review going?" he asked, still in that declarative tone.

Yuefeng smiled bitterly to himself. This guy—every time he showed up, it came with a conversation that made your scalp tingle.

"Not bad, just cramming at the last minute," Yuefeng said vaguely, not wanting to elaborate.

Kiyotaka nodded and didn't press further. He looked up at the night sky, then back at Yuefeng, and suddenly said:

"That guy just now, Onodera. He's good at math, especially geometry. But history and politics are his weak points. This exam will have a heavier focus on history."

Yuefeng was stunned. Was Kiyotaka... continuing to feed him information? And this time, it was specific intel on an individual?

"Why are you telling me this?" Yuefeng couldn't help but ask. Once could be a coincidence, but twice was definitely not.

Kiyotaka looked at him. In the night, his eyes seemed even deeper and harder to read.

"Since we happen to be at the same school.

Then understanding each other's environment and 'resources' is necessary," Kiyotaka said slowly, echoing Yuefeng's own earlier words, but his tone betrayed no emotion.

He paused, then added, his voice sounding somewhat ethereal in the night breeze: "And the atmosphere in Class C doesn't seem conducive to 'studying in peace.'"

With that, he stopped looking at Yuefeng, turned around, and walked unhurriedly back the way he came, soon melting into the darkness.

Yuefeng stood there, the night wind blowing, bringing a chill.

He looked down at the book in his hand, then at the direction where Kiyotaka had disappeared, then recalled the scene of Ishizaki coercing Onodera, and Hiyori Shiina's warning...

Countless threads of information and clues intertwined and collided in his mind.

Kiyotaka... what exactly are you trying to do?

Was it just pure "observation" and "data analysis"?

Was it some incomprehensible, subtle interaction between "brothers"? Or... was he laying out a scheme that Yuefeng couldn't even begin to understand?

And himself—what role was he playing in this scheme?

Yuefeng took a deep breath of the cold air, feeling that the difficulty of the exam seemed to extend far beyond the questions on the paper.

This night was destined to keep many people from sleep.