"Kamuro, you can go check the results now." Seeing that the matter had been settled, Uesugi Hara remembered his week's worth of meal tickets and turned to Kamuro Masumi.
Kamuro Masumi looked puzzled. Uesugi had only written for a few minutes, yet he'd apparently reached the passing mark. She felt uneasy.
"Uesugi, you're not trying to trick me, are you?" she asked, eyeing him warily.
"Hey, Kamuro, how am I tricking you? Weren't you the one who decided to bet on our grades? Are you backing out now?"
"Me, back out?! Just wait. I'll go check first. There's no way you scored higher than me!" Kamuro Masumi said, then headed toward the results posted on the blackboard.
Morishita Ai: "Uesugi Hara, is Kamuro Masumi kind of dumb?" Her tone was flat.
Uesugi Hara: "Well... to be precise, she's adorably dumb."
"This can't be..." Kamuro Masumi stared at the rankings on the results sheet, muttering to herself in disbelief. Her name was in the lower-middle section, while Uesugi Hara's was clearly listed in the upper-middle, his score far higher than hers.
She rubbed her eyes, then looked again. The rankings hadn't changed.
"This has to be fake..."
With her shoulders slumped, Kamuro Masumi trudged back to her seat and said listlessly, "You win."
"Mm. Just as I expected."
"Why, though?" Kamuro Masumi lay on her desk and pressed him, still unwilling to accept it. "You only wrote for a few minutes. How did you score even higher than me?"
"Well... you know Sakayanagi, right?"
"Sakayanagi?" Kamuro Masumi looked up, puzzled. "What does she have to do with this?"
"She's a nobody compared to me." Uesugi Hara spoke evenly. He raised his hand and pressed his thumb against the first knuckle of his little finger, making a gesture that meant "this much skill."
Kamuro Masumi: "..."
Then what level am I?
So not only had she lost, she'd been insulted in the process?
She glared at Uesugi Hara, cheeks puffed with anger, but couldn't find anything to say in reply.
At lunchtime, the cafeteria was bustling. Kamuro Masumi followed Uesugi Hara, watching him pick and choose at the food counter as her heart sank more and more.
"Uesugi! That's enough!" She grabbed him just as he was about to add another serving of grilled lobster, her voice trembling. The thick-cut steak in his hand alone cost 2,000 Points, and with truffle pasta and caviar salad on top, this wasn't a meal—it was "eating Points"!
"Fine. I guess I can manage on this and only be seven-tenths full." Uesugi Hara glanced at the four or five plates he was holding and reluctantly put down the tongs. "I mainly wanted to try these dishes. For the next few days, I'll order the same set meal as you. No point wasting money."
Kamuro Masumi rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Oh, thank you so much!"
When it was time to pay, the total that popped up on the Terminal made Kamuro Masumi suck in a sharp breath: 5,300 Points.
Her own set meal had cost only 1,000 Points, already on the expensive side for the cafeteria. Yet Uesugi Hara had spent 4,300 Points on his meal!
"Uesugi! You're the worst!" Kamuro Masumi glared at him, fuming, and lowered her voice. "That one meal of yours costs several days' worth of my food budget!"
Uesugi Hara cut off a piece of steak and stuffed it into his mouth. "Can't be helped. I won the bet, didn't I? Besides, this steak's really good. Want to try some?" As he spoke, he cut off another small piece with his knife and fork and reached across the table to put it on Kamuro Masumi's plate.
Kamuro Masumi watched him eat with such satisfaction. She was furious, but all she could do was accept her fate.
She picked up the piece of steak and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing fast and viciously, her brows knitted tightly. She looked as if she weren't chewing a tender, juicy steak but Uesugi Hara himself.
"Kamuro, since I treated you to steak, I'd like to try that big prawn tomorrow."
Kamuro Masumi gave him no friendly look. "Get lost," she said flatly.
He was using the food I paid for to "treat" me, and now he wanted to casually mooch my prawn tomorrow? Uesugi Hara, how could he be so shameless?
Uesugi Hara rubbed his nose, not the least bit embarrassed.
That night, the light in the dorm room was soft. Kushida Kikyo stared at her Terminal screen. The message window for "Uesugi Hara" was lit up in her friends list, but she still hadn't clicked into it.
Her Points balance was below 30,000, and the amount weighed on her like a stone. She still hadn't figured out how to get Uesugi Hara to keep her secret.
Suddenly, her Terminal chimed, and a message from Uesugi Hara appeared: "I assume you don't have 30,000 Points either. I'm not short on Points right now. How about you tell me about Ayanokoji and Horikita from your class, and I'll consider reducing what you owe me?"
Things between Ayanokoji and Horikita?
Kushida Kikyo froze for a moment, then quickly thought it over. Apart from Horikita jabbing Ayanokoji with a compass every day, the two of them didn't seem to interact at all.
Was she supposed to tell him, "Horikita jabbed Ayanokoji with a compass three times today" and "Ayanokoji stayed expressionless afterward"?
"Horikita jabbed Ayanokoji with a compass four times yesterday" and "Ayanokoji stayed expressionless afterward"?
"Horikita the day before..."
Kushida Kikyo couldn't think of anything worth saying about the two of them.
Should she make up something vague?
Two voices began to argue in her head:
Little angel: Making things up isn't right. What if she gets caught? She'll be done for...
Dark angel: If she doesn't make something up, does she expect Uesugi Hara to expose her past?
Kushida Kikyo bit her lip. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long time before she finally typed a line: "Ayanokoji might... like Horikita."
After sending it, she stared at the screen, her heart racing. It wasn't exactly a complete fabrication, and it would answer Uesugi Hara's question. She should be able to get away with it, right?
Uesugi Hara stared at the message on his Terminal screen: "Ayanokoji might... like Horikita." His eyes flew open, and the next second, he shot upright in bed.
???
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka liked that girl who was always scowling, Horikita Suzune, whose eyes were like icicles? That was even more ridiculous than "Class D will rise to Class A next month." It was the coldest joke of the year!
His fingers flew across the screen: "Is that true?!"
Kushida Kikyo replied almost immediately: "I don't know either. It's just the way their interactions look to me."
!!!
Uesugi Hara instantly perked up and pressed her for details: "What exactly happened? Tell me everything!"
On the other end, Kushida Kikyo looked at his urgent message, surprised. Was Uesugi Hara really that interested in this? Did he like Horikita Suzune? She suppressed her suspicions and calmly gathered her thoughts, listing all the "evidence" she could come up with:
"Horikita rarely talks to anyone in class. She usually only interacts with Ayanokoji. During swimming class, Ayanokoji even handed her a towel and some water on his own. Most importantly, Horikita often jabs Ayanokoji with a compass. She's done it so many times, but he doesn't get angry. Instead, he can still talk to her calmly."
After sending that, Kushida Kikyo thought to herself: Everything she'd said was true. How he chose to interpret it as "liking" was his problem. It didn't count as making anything up.
Uesugi Hara stared at Kushida Kikyo's message, his features twisting into a look like he'd swallowed something disgusting.
He hadn't seen the first two things himself, so he couldn't judge them. But he had witnessed the third one, Ayanokoji not getting angry when Horikita jabbed him with a compass.
Could it... actually be true?
Did Ayanokoji really like Horikita?
What did he see in her?
Did he think she was pretty?
Surely not. Ayanokoji wasn't that shallow.
Wait... Uesugi Hara's eyes suddenly lit up as an outrageous thought struck him. Could Ayanokoji be a masochist who liked being jabbed by Horikita? The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He even shuddered.
He absolutely couldn't let Ayanokoji find out about this! Otherwise, he might get silenced.
But... he was so curious!
Suppressing his burning curiosity, he quickly typed his reply: "Keep watching them and report anything new as soon as it happens. If you do well, I'll forgive the 30,000 Points. If you do especially well, I might even give you some Points on top of that."
After sending the message, Uesugi Hara tossed his Terminal aside and tossed and turned in bed. No, next time, he had to find a chance to see for himself whether Ayanokoji was really "willingly" letting Horikita jab him!
Kushida Kikyo stared at Uesugi Hara's reply, her fingers gripping the Terminal. Her expression was complicated.
At first, she felt relieved. The pressure of owing 30,000 Points was gone for now. But then a hard-to-describe resentment welled up inside her.
Seriously, what was so great about that woman, Horikita Suzune?!
She always wore that sour expression, spoke as if trying to hurt people, and treated everyone poorly. Yet Ayanokoji Kiyotaka "might like her," and even Uesugi Hara cared so much about what was going on between them!
Men really were... hopeless!
Frowning at the screen, she thought: I'm so cute. I smile and greet everyone every day, and I'm kind and considerate to everyone. Why don't they like me? Why do they have to flock around that icy Horikita instead?
The more she thought about it, the more indignant she became. She puffed out her cheeks at the Terminal screen and tapped at the keyboard, then deleted what she'd typed. In the end, she suppressed her anger and sent a simple "Okay, I understand."
But she had already made up her mind: since Uesugi Hara cared so much, she'd "keep a close eye on them." Maybe she could use this chance to find something to hold over Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka—and, while she was at it, show everyone what was so special about that ice queen.
Before you continue