The Action-Oriented One, Ryuuen's Plan

"Ryuuen."

Prince Ganlongdao sounded a little put off.

"Are you seriously dragging this out on purpose? I thought you were going to say something important. That's it?"

"What?"

"Those two, Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami."

Prince Ganlongdao raised an eyebrow.

"Those are obviously girls' names. Their looks should be the main point, right? What are you even telling me this for?"

At that, Kaneda, Ishizaki, and the others fell silent.

They hadn't expected it.

Hearing about the leaders of other classes, Prince Ganlongdao's first reaction would be that.

"Phew..."

Ryuuen took a deep breath, so angry he felt like hitting someone.

He stared at Prince Ganlongdao across from him and said coldly,

"From the way you act, you're only fooling around with Manabe. You can't be short on women. Are you really that desperate? Shouldn't you focus on business instead?"

"Are you stupid?"

Prince Ganlongdao leaned back in his chair, looking unimpressed.

"A man's life is about three things: power, money, and women. Those don't conflict with each other. Why not be honest about your desires? There aren't many sincere, straightforward guys like me left."

"As for business..."

Prince Ganlongdao looked even more dismissive.

"Let's talk about Class D. From your description, apart from Ichinose being a little interesting, the other two sound pretty boring."

"What?"

Ryuuen narrowed his eyes, wondering if he'd heard wrong.

He hadn't expected that.

That was Prince Ganlongdao's assessment.

He seemed to think nothing of either Sakayanagi Arisu or Katsuragi Kohei, and even Ichinose Honami barely seemed to interest him. She was only slightly amusing?

Originally, Ryuuen had just wanted to hear Prince Ganlongdao's assessment and compare it with his own.

They'd reached the exact same conclusion about Ichinose Honami.

After all, someone who could earn so many people's trust in such a short time...

Ryuuen had never seen anyone like that, and neither had Prince Ganlongdao. They were both somewhat interested.

Someone like her was either genuinely kindhearted or deeply calculating.

Their opinions of Katsuragi Kohei were also more or less the same.

He was too honest.

Ryuuen thought that kind of personality only suited a deputy. He simply wasn't qualified to lead.

But their opinions of Sakayanagi Arisu differed greatly.

In Ryuuen's eyes,

Sakayanagi Arisu, who had trouble getting around, ignored her class's interests, and only cared about her own amusement, was the opponent he needed to be most wary of. Yet Prince Ganlongdao thought nothing of her.

That's right.

Ryuuen suddenly realized something.

"Sakayanagi can't walk properly. She has to rely on a cane."

"So what? Ryuuen, I know what you're getting at. You think someone like Sakayanagi, who ignores the rules, is more dangerous."

Prince Ganlongdao leaned back in his chair and picked at his ear.

"From what you've said, even when she was at a disadvantage, she didn't give up. And she's still capable of going toe to toe with Katsuragi?"

Ryuuen listened attentively, and Prince Ganlongdao continued nonchalantly,

"How does she compare to me? Didn't you want to fight me for the class leader position, too? And in the end, didn't you choose to give up?"

"For now."

"Doesn't matter. I'm just saying it's better to get the pain over with sooner rather than later."

Prince Ganlongdao lifted a hand and began analyzing the situation on his own.

"Sakayanagi still hasn't beaten Katsuragi. That only means one of two things."

"Either she's worried about Class Points, or the people around her—let's call them the Sakayanagi Faction—are limiting her actions and forcing her to consider the Class Points."

"They're just a bunch of people brought together by their own interests."

"Or it means the Sakayanagi Faction isn't strong enough yet, and she needs to build up more power before she can strike back."

"Either way, Sakayanagi has reservations. She doesn't truly ignore the rules."

"So that's all she is. At best, she's interesting. Maybe she'd be worth it if she were prettier."

"..."

Ryuuen's mouth twitched.

After all that, they'd ended up back on the subject of looks.

Still,

thinking about the source of his information, Ryuuen grew a little more serious.

He hadn't expected that,

from just a few scraps of information,

Prince Ganlongdao had figured out the nature of the Sakayanagi Faction: a bunch of people gathered for their own interests. The other part of his assessment was still uncertain.

"That's because you're a lunatic."

Ryuuen scoffed.

Katsuragi and Sakayanagi could fight among themselves all they liked, but they'd still protected their Class Points.

This bastard had driven their Class Points all the way down to zero. Of course, Ryuuen himself had played a part in that.

Still,

the main reason was that

Ryuuen was confident he could turn things around.

Even if their Class Points fell to zero, he was confident he could get them into Class A. But if things dragged on for a few more months, that would be impossible.

That proved Ryuuen still had some sense.

Prince Ganlongdao, on the other hand, seemed ready to fight him indefinitely.

He was a complete lunatic.

Even now,

Ryuuen had no idea where this guy's inexplicable confidence came from.

If Prince Ganlongdao hadn't coordinated the class's Private Points and drawn up class rules, at least doing something useful,

Ryuuen would have loved to punch him.

But even those accomplishments seemed like small consolation to Ryuuen.

After all,

in Ryuuen's view,

he could get into Class A on his own strength. Everyone else just had to listen and do as they were told.

Why bother thinking about the class?

Prince Ganlongdao, on the other hand, wanted to keep both hands on the wheel and do everything at once.

Aside from his fighting ability and insight, Ryuuen had never seen Prince Ganlongdao do anything.

For now, he could only put up with him.

"Fine."

Prince Ganlongdao didn't take offense at Ryuuen's rudeness. He shrugged.

"What about Class D? Any interesting leaders?"

"If I had to name some, Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyo. Class D is still a mess, and they can't even pick a leader. They're acting like children playing house. They're not worth mentioning."

"What about Kushida Kikyo?"

"Get lost. If you're interested, look her up yourself."

Ryuuen laughed in exasperation.

He wondered if this guy only paid attention to girls.

Ryuuen had dated people before, plenty of them, and he'd even juggled several women at once.

In the end, he'd reached one conclusion.

Women were all pretty much the same. Ordinary girls were still the best.

So,

Ryuuen never judged people from a moral standpoint.

The five people present

weren't exactly paragons of virtue.

Only Ishizaki looked envious, wanting to hear more but too embarrassed to ask.

"That's true."

After thinking for a moment,

Prince Ganlongdao nodded.

After hearing Ryuuen's account,

Prince Ganlongdao wasn't particularly interested. He didn't take any of the class leaders seriously.

As long as he wanted to win, he would.

But

there were still two years left. He might as well have some fun with them.

Besides, he had a mission. He didn't know how much longer the Longevity Potion would extend his life, but he might draw some extraordinary powers from the lottery, enough to make Prince Ganlongdao take it seriously.

"Since you don't mind, then listen to me."

As he spoke, Ryuuen pulled a photograph from behind his waistband and said coldly,

"Good timing. I have a plan!"