After leaving the Class B classroom, they found the hallway much emptier. Most of the classes had probably already started heading to the Gymnasium to prepare for the opening ceremony.
Chabashira Sae walked alongside Akiyama Shin, the sound of her high heels and his leather shoes echoing through the quiet hallway.
Chabashira glanced at the black-haired, red-eyed boy beside her, who had just swindled a fortune of 2.8 million points from Class B. Her feelings were complicated.
Her initial shock and faint sense of offense had subsided, replaced by scrutiny and a glimmer of hope. She broke the silence, her tone tinged with a rare hint of teasing.
"To be honest..."
"When you first asked that question..."
She paused, as though she still found it difficult to say.
"I thought you were just some ignorant brat who'd gotten carried away with a little cleverness and a hundred thousand points, and let his hormones run wild..."
She shook her head slightly and gave a self-deprecating smile.
"But then I saw how absurdly calm you were, and heard your reasoning afterward. That's when I realized you'd been testing me. You really don't play by the rules, do you?"
Akiyama kept his gaze ahead and didn't break stride. He replied in his characteristic flat tone.
"Testing you came first."
He paused, glancing at Chabashira. His dark red eyes looked unfathomable in the hallway light.
"But..."
"If you'd actually been willing, Teacher Chabashira, and offered a price I could accept..."
"I wouldn't have minded going back to your dorm with you tonight."
Chabashira faltered and nearly tripped over her own high heels.
She whipped around to glare at Akiyama. Shock and anger flashed across her face, but more than anything, she looked incredulous.
How could this guy say something like that in such a serious tone?!
"You..."
For a moment, she was at a loss for words.
Under normal circumstances, she would have already snapped at him. But facing his gaze, which held no lecherousness and seemed to be stating a simple fact, she felt as if her anger had struck empty air.
Akiyama acted as if he hadn't noticed her reaction and continued to explain calmly.
"I think it's normal for a healthy, energetic teenage boy to have feelings for a mature, beautiful female teacher, don't you?"
"And besides... Teacher Chabashira, you really are a rare beauty, in terms of your figure, your looks, and your bearing."
His tone was as cool as if he were appraising a work of art, rather than expressing attraction. It left Chabashira feeling strangely helpless.
Strangely enough...
She realized she wasn't as angry as she'd expected to be...
Perhaps it was his ability and his detached attitude that had subconsciously led her to speak to him almost as an equal.
Rather than merely as a teacher speaking to a student.
This shift in her perception...
Had gone unnoticed even by her...
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, then retorted irritably,
"Your definition of 'normal' is far too broad."
Akiyama neither confirmed nor denied it. Instead, he steered the conversation in an even more startling direction.
"Also, Teacher Chabashira, I'd guess..."
"You're still a virgin, aren't you?"
!!!
Chabashira felt her blood pressure shoot up. The veins in her forehead stood out again.
She stopped and turned to face him, fixing him with a murderous stare as she enunciated each word.
"AKIYAMA SHIN!"
"Do you have any idea what you're saying?!"
"Is that any of your business?!"
Akiyama stopped as well. Faced with her fury, he remained unruffled.
"It's just a deduction based on what I've observed. A hunch."
He watched Chabashira's cheeks flush slightly with anger and continued his analysis.
"I get the feeling you might have dated someone, but you probably barely even held hands?"
"Because I really can't picture you being intimate with a man."
"And... at first, I thought your lack of attachment to and enthusiasm for your students might partly be because, well... you were a single woman past your prime...? And starved of affection... which had made you a little cold."
Ignoring Chabashira's increasingly dark expression, he shifted his tone ever so slightly.
"But seeing that trace of resentment deep in your eyes, I need to revise my judgment."
"You care about Class D..."
"Or, more specifically, about making it to Class A..."
"You're fixated on it, aren't you? That fixation... might come from your own past...?"
His gaze seemed to pierce straight through her as he spoke slowly.
"For example... you were once a student at Advanced Nurturing...? And... it's possible that, back then, you were only one step away from graduating as part of Class A, but in the end, something happened... and you failed?"
"That failure might have involved someone who was important to you at the time. Maybe... an ex-boyfriend?"
Chabashira froze completely.
The anger drained from her face like a receding tide, replaced by a pallor close to terror.
Her pupils contracted sharply. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
It felt as if an invisible hand had clamped around her heart. Even breathing became difficult.
How... how did he know?!
This wasn't just a guess!
This was practically... practically the past she'd deliberately buried in the deepest part of her heart, the past she couldn't bear to face!
It was true.
She really had been a student at Advanced Nurturing.
During the final graduation exam, her boyfriend had decided to sacrifice himself so that everyone in their class could graduate as Class A. But because she let her feelings cloud her judgment, their class failed to graduate as Class A.
And the man who had mattered most to her had been deeply disappointed in her. That became an everlasting regret and a sharp thorn in her heart. Aside from a handful of people who had been involved back then, no one knew about it.
Yet this boy before her had nearly exposed her wound in all its rawness, based on little more than a hunch, a few observations, and a handful of words?!
Ordinary insight couldn't explain this!
It was practically... mind-reading?!
Or perhaps it was a terrifyingly precise ability to reason from a vast amount of data and tiny details?!
Anyone who didn't know the truth would probably think Akiyama Shin had been her classmate!
After a long while, Chabashira finally managed to find her voice. It trembled almost imperceptibly.
"You... who exactly...?"
Akiyama calmly cut her off.
"It was just a reasonable deduction."
"Your reaction already gave me the answer."
He didn't look at her again and continued walking.
Chabashira watched his back, her thoughts churning. Shock, humiliation, and the helplessness of being seen through completely all twisted together inside her.
But in the end, those feelings gave way to a clearer, more urgent thought.
She hurried after him and fell into step beside him, her voice low and more earnest than ever before.
"That's right... you're right."
"So, Akiyama Shin, answer me. Can you really lead Class D to Class A?"
"Can you do what I couldn't?"
Akiyama didn't break stride. He just turned his head slightly and glanced at the teacher beside him, who had lost her usual composure and revealed a vulnerable side.
His tone remained flat, but there was an undeniable certainty in it.
"I can."
He paused, then added,
"It's just something I'll do along the way."
He said it so casually, as if rising to Class A were as simple as eating or drinking.
Anyone else would have thought him unbearably arrogant. But now that Chabashira had witnessed his terrifying insight and his ability to earn 2.8 million points in a short time, she couldn't help feeling that he might actually have the right to say it.
Perhaps to dispel the embarrassment of having been seen through by Akiyama, or perhaps to fan the sudden, enormous flame of hope, Chabashira found herself speaking in a tone that was half-joking and half-serious.
"Is that so? Then... if you really can do it, perhaps I wouldn't be opposed to... becoming your woman..."
"Of course, only if you give it everything you've got."
The moment she said it, even Chabashira herself was stunned. She didn't know why she'd said something like that. Was it to motivate him? Or was something deep inside her being stirred?
When Akiyama heard that, he stopped walking for the first time.
He froze.
He couldn't refuse.
Not because he had deep feelings for Chabashira, but because he was honest with himself about what he wanted.
Beneath his extraordinary composure and calculations, he was still a teenage boy.
He had ordinary physical desires and emotional impulses. A mature, coolly beautiful, and exceptionally capable woman like Chabashira was undeniably attractive to him.
More importantly, he never thought too little of himself.
He knew his background was ordinary. He knew he had weaknesses in the humanities and in social situations. But deep down, he had never truly doubted that he was extraordinary.
He understood his shortcomings clearly, yet he had even greater faith in the qualities he possessed, qualities beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Terrifying insight.
A mind of extreme composure.
Meticulous logic.
And the confidence buried deep inside him.
Or rather.
Arrogance.
He had never complained about his parents or his background, but all he wanted was far more than a peaceful life.
He wanted conquest. He wanted to stand at the summit and look down on everyone else. Power, status, wealth, women—all of these should rightfully be spoils for him, the chosen protagonist of fate.
What he needed to consider was how to start from nothing after leaving this school and climb step by step to the top of the world. Until then, he could endure, lie low, and carefully conceal his sharp edges, revealing them only when necessary.
But he remained arrogantly convinced that he was the protagonist of the world, and that every obstacle was merely a trial to temper him.
And that everything and everyone wonderful would eventually be won over by him, drawn to him, and brought under his command.
He had feelings, but he valued usefulness more.
Chabashira was valuable both for her allure as a woman and for the information and connections she possessed as a former Advanced Nurturing student and a current homeroom teacher.
In his eyes, she was valuable in every way.
Become my woman?
That sounded nice.
Those thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.
In the end, all he said was a brief syllable.
"Mm."
He wasn't excited. He made no promises, and he didn't even look at Chabashira.
Chabashira watched his back, far too calm, almost as if he took it for granted, and her feelings grew even more complicated.
She understood.
The offer of encouragement she'd made, half in jest and half in earnest, might have sounded to him more like a tribute he was naturally entitled to receive.
This boy's heart was a kingdom built on absolute reason and extreme arrogance.
He was selfish, conceited, and arrogant.
He was convinced that fate had chosen him.
Everything around him, whether people or things, was a tool and a stepping stone to the summit.
They said nothing more as they made their way to the Gymnasium, now filled with a roar of voices.
Inside, students from all three years had lined up in their class sections.
Class 1-D was near the back.
Akiyama quietly took his place at the end of the Class D line, his expression once again cold and distant.
Chabashira headed for the area assigned to the teachers. On the way, she couldn't help glancing back again at the solitary black-haired figure standing at the end of the Class D line.
That was right.
Akiyama Shin was a selfish, conceited, arrogant chosen one, convinced that nothing around him, no matter how unfavorable, could ever hinder his steps.
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