Xia Mu's paused figure slowly turned around, a strange smile on his face. "Kushida, I'll be honest with you. I was only using you."
"You're no longer useful to me, so stay away from me. Got it?"
Using you, using you...
I was only using you...
Xia Mu's words kept echoing in Kushida's mind.
The sweetness had vanished from her expression, replaced by viciousness and a sinister malice. "Xia Mu, it looks like you want to be my enemy?"
Since Xia Mu already knew, there was no point in pretending anymore.
"Your enemy?"
Xia Mu paused. "Don't you think you're overestimating yourself?"
"You're not even qualified to be my enemy."
With that, Xia Mu knocked on Sakura's door.
Every word and action cut deep into Kushida's heart. This was the first time anyone had looked down on her so much.
Xia Mu irritated her as much as that bitch Horikita Suzune did.
"I'll make you regret this," Kushida threatened. "I swear!"
Xia Mu didn't respond. He simply walked into Sakura's room.
"Wait, wasn't that Kushida? Should we invite her in, too?"
"No, it's fine. She was just passing by."
"Click." Kushida stared at the closed door, clenching her fists like a cat with its fur standing on end.
Elsewhere, Yamada finally woke up and reported what had happened to Long Yuan.
"Smash!"
When Long Yuan heard the news, he knocked the cup from his hand onto the floor. His brows furrowed into a deep crease. "What?"
Kaneda, his underling with golden mushroom-shaped hair, had heard the whole story, too. He said with a grim expression, "Should we lure him to that spot behind the hill where there aren't any cameras?"
After listening to Yamada, Long Yuan folded his hands beneath his chin and thought it over. Then he slowly closed his eyes. "That guy won't be stupid enough to fall for our trap. Besides, if even Albert couldn't beat him, that means he's pretty good at fighting."
"Then, then what do we do?" Yamada, whose buck teeth resembled those of a vole, pressed on.
"Wait." Long Yuan suddenly smiled. "Wait for the perfect opportunity. I'll put him in his place."
"Xia Mu, don't disappoint me."
His voice brimmed with manic excitement. The stronger the opponent, the more they stoked his fighting spirit.
Weak opponents were just boring.
He'd thought everyone in Class D was a herd of cattle, easy pickings. Now it seemed there was more to them than that.
"Ah-choo!"
Back in his dorm, Xia Mu couldn't help sneezing.
He had a feeling someone was watching him again.
Kushida, Long Yuan...
Or someone else?
Whatever. He was used to it by now.
He'd realized that the chances of living a peaceful life at this school were practically zero.
No matter what, every student at this school would have all kinds of trouble come knocking, leaving them no choice but to face it.
It was practically compulsory.
The school had its reasons for doing this, though. They couldn't have students graduating as useless dead weight.
Judging by how things would unfold, the school really did need to test its students' overall abilities. Those who were too useless could only be manipulated like puppets.
Still, life had to go on.
Xia Mu rested his hands behind his head and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, he got up as usual, brushed his teeth, washed his face, changed into his workout clothes, and headed to the track for a run.
Unlike other days, today the chubby guy joined in, along with Suzune, who was still bickering and silently competing with him.
He was soon left far behind by the two of them, though.
Xia Mu wanted Suzune to convert the month-long luxury meal deal into points and give them to him, but she refused.
She insisted that she'd agreed to treat him to luxury meals, not transfer the points directly to him.
Xia Mu understood what she was thinking.
She just wanted to use treating him to a meal as an excuse to ask him for help whenever she needed something.
"Next time, I should just take the points. It feels safer when they go straight into my pocket." Xia Mu couldn't help feeling exasperated.
Still, Suzune had gradually changed quite a bit recently.
She'd gone from acting like she was above everyone else to knowing when to ask others for help.
It was a small step forward, even if she still looked down on other people.
He figured the only person she respected was her beloved big brother.
When he entered the classroom, Xia Mu noticed the girls were in an uproar.
He glanced over and saw them surrounding Sakura, chattering away.
"Hey, Sakura, weren't you nearsighted? Why aren't you wearing glasses?"
"Wow, you're so much cuter without them!"
"Ooh, you're blushing! Look up and let me see!"
The boys were no less captivated. They stared at Sakura, dumbstruck. Who knew she'd look so pretty without her glasses?
Before long, quite a few of them were offering Sakura snacks and all sorts of other things to win her favor.
The attention frightened the naturally withdrawn Sakura, and she hurriedly put her glasses back on, waving her hands as she refused. Just like that, she hid her beauty away again.
Xia Mu was very pleased to see the Correction progress value steadily rising.
This was the order he'd given Sakura last night—no, wait, it was a task.
No, that wasn't right. It was...
Anyway, he'd told her to try changing the way she thought about herself, and she'd actually followed through.
Her Correction progress had now reached 70 percent. It probably wouldn't be long before she was fully corrected.
Unlike Kushida, Sakura didn't revert on her own. Her progress value only went up.
She was extremely obedient, but that actually made Xia Mu like her a little less.
Sigh. After all, he couldn't farm Skill Points from her anymore.
Of course, Sakura had agreed to try taking off her glasses in front of everyone, but Xia Mu had to agree to do something for her in return.
She wanted him to go to the lab building and take some schoolgirl-style photos.
She really did love photography.
Or rather, she just liked losing herself in her own world, enjoying it alone. She took photos simply because it made her happy.
But Xia Mu had pulled her out of that world, where she'd been all alone. He didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.
"What have you been doing lately? Why are so many people watching you?" Beside him, Horikita Suzune read her book, her thin lips barely moving as she effortlessly did two things at once.
She'd noticed that Sakura, the Trio, and Kushida—and, if she counted herself, at least five people—liked to watch Xia Mu whenever they had nothing better to do.
Even Karuizawa Kei, who was dating Hirata, occasionally glanced his way.
Suzune watched him because she wanted to know what he thought about all day. But what about everyone else?
They had to be interested because of Xia Mu himself.
"What's it to you?" Xia Mu's tone was as cool as ever.
Suzune was used to it by now and didn't bother replying.
If she thought about it that way, Xia Mu might be a big help in her climb to Class A.
But he seemed like a ticking time bomb, and he wasn't easy to control.
Was there any way to make him listen to her?
Before you continue