A Meeting with Sakayanagi

At dusk after school,

"Ichinose? Ayanokoji?" Ichinose looked at the two standing in her way with some surprise. "What is it?"

Horikita took a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound less stiff.

"Ichinose, we... need your help."

Ichinose blinked, revealing a gentle smile.

"Of course. As long as it's something I can do."

"This isn't a good place to talk. How about the Palette Café over there?"

As Ichinose Honami pushed the hot cocoa across the table, her sleeve brushed against the draft of the Class Mutual Aid Agreement. Horikita Suzune stared at the cream pattern along the rim of her cup as though it were a contract selling her life away.

"Ayanokoji, Horikita, don't tell me you've run into some kind of scam." The leader of Class B, Ichinose Honami, curled a finger around the end of her chestnut hair, mischief filling her amber eyes.

"But seeing someone as proud as Horikita lower her head..."

She suddenly leaned closer, the scent of lily-of-the-valley shampoo mixing with the steam from the coffee machine.

"I can't help feeling that you're hiding an even more interesting secret."

Horikita's back stiffened ramrod straight.

"We need to borrow some points," Horikita said bluntly. "Sixty thousand points."

Ichinose's smile froze slightly, but she quickly regained her composure.

"Sixty thousand points... That isn't a small amount. Can you tell me why?"

Horikita hesitated for a moment before briefly explaining Sudo's risk of expulsion.

After hearing her out, Ichinose let out a soft sigh. "I understand. Class B doesn't have many points either, but I can personally lend you thirty thousand."

"Thirty thousand?" Horikita was somewhat surprised. "That's already a lot. Thank you."

Ichinose shook her head, her smile carrying a trace of helplessness.

"You don't need to thank me. I just think helping others is what we should do. But what are you planning to do about the remaining thirty thousand points?"

Ayanokoji looked into the distance and replied blandly, "We have another way."

In the school dormitory, Horikita Suzune stood outside the boys' dorm room of Class D. Sudo Ken's door was slightly ajar, and noisy game sound effects came from within. When she pushed it open, she saw instant noodle containers and crushed beer cans all over the floor—there were still several days until next month, but Sudo had already squandered all of this month's living expenses.

"Lend me thirty thousand points." Horikita stood at the doorway and got straight to the point.

Looking dejected, Sudo pressed pause. The flashing KO on Street Fighter still filled the screen. "Huh? Do you think I'm an ATM?"

"If you're expelled, you'll never get to compete in the National Tournament again." Horikita slapped the expulsion notice she had printed on the way onto the table. Sudo's pupils contracted sharply when he saw the words "removed from the basketball club," and he instinctively gripped the corner of the table.

His expression shifted from shock to anger, then finally helplessness. In the end, he deflated. He knew they were working hard to prevent his expulsion, while he had merely been hiding in his room playing games.

"I've already spent all my points for this month."

"Can you scrape together thirty thousand points?"

Sudo fell silent for a moment before finally shaking his head, his voice hoarse.

"I... I can't."

Horikita furrowed her delicate brows and swept her gaze around the messy room.

"At least..." As she turned, the hem of her skirt knocked an empty beer can to the floor. "Don't disgrace the person you used to be."

Horikita closed the door behind her, leaving only the flickering sounds of Sudo's game console inside.

The school dormitory corridor was bathed in white light that night.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's shadow stretched long across the corridor wall as he measured the patterns of the floor tiles with the tip of his shoe. When Horikita's footsteps came from the seventeenth tile, he looked up precisely. "Failed?"

"He can't even come up with five thousand points." Horikita loosened her tie, fine beads of sweat glimmering like pearls on the back of her neck in the dusk.

"Even adding what Hirata can gather, we can only get twenty thousand at most."

Because of their extravagant spending, many people in Class D had no points left. Hirata had already lent points to several people, and he himself did not have a balance of thirty thousand to lend Ayanokoji and Horikita.

Ayanokoji showed no unusual reaction to Horikita's failure to obtain the points. He had already taken it into account. The way Class D had squandered their points was still fresh in his mind, especially Sudo and the others. How could someone who dared spend eighty thousand points on a game console possibly have any left over?

Horikita glanced at her phone. It read 20:41. It was already night, and they had to gather one hundred thousand points before six tomorrow afternoon.

But she no longer had any way to raise them. Horikita kept frowning, her eyes fixed on the screen.

Ayanokoji's gaze swept over Horikita before he finally spoke, interrupting her troubled thoughts.

"Leave the last of the points to me."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood before the spiral staircase leading to the Special Teaching Building. Morning light streamed through the glass dome, casting mottled shadows and dyeing the stairs gold. He lowered his head and looked at his phone, where several unread messages were displayed.

Hirata Yosuke: [Sorry, Karuizawa and I could only gather ten thousand points.]

Ichinose Honami: [The thirty thousand points have been transferred. I hope they can help you! (◍•ᴗ•◍)]

He took a deep breath, slipped his phone back into his pocket, and looked toward the top of the stairs. There, Sakayanagi Arisu's wheelchair rested quietly at the boundary between shadow and light, as though waiting for his arrival.

"What a rare visitor." Sakayanagi Arisu's voice was soft with a trace of cheerfulness. The silver spoon in her hand gently stirred her black tea, and the sugar cube in the cup gleamed faintly beneath the sunset.

Ayanokoji stepped onto the final stair and looked at her calmly. "I need twenty thousand points."

Sakayanagi raised an eyebrow slightly, a meaningful smile curling at her lips. "I never expected Ayanokoji to come to me of his own accord to borrow points. How surprising."

"You were my last choice." Ayanokoji's tone remained flat, as though he were merely stating an ordinary fact.

Sakayanagi chuckled and set her teacup on the armrest of her wheelchair. "Your last choice? That sounds rather hurtful. Still, since it's Ayanokoji's request, I can consider it."

She paused, her gaze meeting Ayanokoji's directly through her lenses. "So, what do you intend to exchange for those twenty thousand points?"

Ayanokoji fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking. "What do you want?"

Sakayanagi's smile deepened. "How straightforward. Still, I like that decisive attitude."

She lightly tapped the armrest of her wheelchair, as though considering it. "How about this? Agree to one condition, and I'll lend you twenty thousand points."

"What condition?" Ayanokoji asked.

Ayanokoji fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking. "What do you want?"

Sakayanagi's smile deepened. "How straightforward. Still, I like that decisive attitude." She lightly tapped the armrest of her wheelchair, as though considering it.

"How about this? Keep me company for a while, and I'll lend you thirty thousand points."

"Keep you company for a while?" A rare trace of confusion entered Ayanokoji's voice.