So she thought her intentions had been discovered and had temporarily given up? Sakayanagi didn't like wasting her efforts.
But...
Sakayanagi suddenly turned and looked straight at her little dog.
"This may be a little presumptuous, but ordinary boys probably like me for my looks, don't they?" Sakayanagi said.
Sakayanagi Arisu was quite confident about that.
After all, she knew she was cute and adorable, with a frail air about her. She could attract ordinary boys who didn't know the truth, or kindhearted boys who wanted to help.
However, the students in her class regarded her with awe, and she didn't interact with many people.
Still, she had noticed that although Classmate Shirogane was clever and reliable, there was no way he could identify her movements so quickly unless something was off.
Unless he was watching her closely.
And at this age, paying attention to someone of the opposite sex meant knowing them very well.
There was probably only one reason for that.
"Are you saying Shirogane Miyuki likes you?" Kamuro had a troubling suspicion.
Sakayanagi was cute, so it was only natural that ordinary boys would like her looks.
But Kamuro was worried about something else.
She'd been caught by Sakayanagi, who now had something to hold over her and was getting free labor out of her. She had no choice but to help Sakayanagi with everyday things.
For example, during lunch, she had to get Sakayanagi's food for her.
There was no line if she went straight to the third floor, but carrying back two meals at once was still a lot of work.
And if Sakayanagi suddenly started dating Shirogane, it would be a devastating blow to Kamuro. She'd have to carry back three meals.
The workload she already resented would suddenly double.
"..."
She couldn't accept that.
"Hehe—" Sakayanagi didn't give her a direct answer.
Instead, she soon added, "But his taste seems rather poor."
Kamuro could relate to that.
She also thought anyone who liked Sakayanagi had poor taste, because Sakayanagi was so awful—like a little demon.
"But he also has good taste," Sakayanagi continued.
"..." Kamuro.
Kamuro couldn't understand her anymore.
How could his taste be both poor and good?
But she had already noticed that the two of them seemed to get along quite well. Even though they were in different classes, she had seen them talking alone on the sports field.
"Did you know Shirogane Miyuki before?" Kamuro asked.
"No." Sakayanagi shook her head.
"Then why do you say Shirogane likes you? He probably spends more time with Shiina Hiyori, who's in his class," Kamuro said. "I've seen the two of them shopping together several times."
"When students in your class gathered information, they submitted reports saying the two of them were a couple. So you're probably just imagining things," Kamuro said. "He's much better suited to her than to you."
At the end of that, Kamuro gave Sakayanagi a scrutinizing look.
In front of Sakayanagi, she was a little dog who had been caught by her and tamed. But now the little dog seemed to be mocking its owner.
This sort of thing...
"..." Sakayanagi.
"May I take it that you're deliberately provoking me to make me angry?"
"You seem quite interested in Classmate Shirogane," Sakayanagi said. "Don't worry. He probably knows about your shoplifting habit, so there's no need to keep testing him. And as long as you don't do it again, he won't have anything to hold over you."
"..." Kamuro.
Kamuro didn't want to say anything after that. She had occasionally followed Shirogane because of this matter. At the same time, Sakayanagi had ordered her not to steal anymore. The urge had been like a circuit breaker tripping, and it had only gradually eased after Sakayanagi had kept her so busy running errands.
"If there's nothing else, I'll head back," Kamuro said.
"Then, thanks for your help today. I'll need your assistance again tomorrow," Classmate Sakayanagi said politely.
"Hmph."
Kamuro Masumi left with a sour expression.
Ever since Sakayanagi had started keeping her in line, her free time had been greatly reduced.
But the members of the Sakayanagi Faction in her class thought she was the most loyal to Sakayanagi and treated her like Sakayanagi's right-hand woman.
That displeased her.
Still, after thinking it over, Kamuro forwarded Sakayanagi the photo Hashimoto had taken of Shirogane meeting a student from Class D.
Sakayanagi seemed to be raising poisonous insects and hoping the Lower Classes would make a comeback, but Kamuro didn't want to join her in going crazy.
So, after giving it some thought, she decided she had to warn her.
You may be raising poisonous insects, but they've already started joining forces.
How are you going to handle that?
Classmate Sakayanagi received the photo Classmate Hashimoto had taken from a distance of Classmate Shirogane meeting Class D's Classmate Horikita in a café.
And Classmate Sakayanagi didn't disappoint Kamuro.
After discovering that the insects she was raising had started working together, she finally rescinded her earlier order for Hashimoto to stop following them.
And so...
Classmate Hashimoto, who was good at tailing people, went back to following Shirogane Miyuki.
He kept it up until the end of the month.
It was the day the first Special Exam of the new students' first month ended.
April 30, evening.
With only twenty minutes until closing time, Classmate Shirogane and Classmate Shiina entered the café together. Under the tense gaze of the staff, they sat down but didn't touch the menus on the table. The staff recognized Classmate Shirogane right away, so they felt at ease and went to wait by the counter until it was time to clock out.
"Tomorrow will be a special day."
"For the new students, the real journey is about to begin," Classmate Shiina said.
It was a four-person booth, but Classmate Shiina sat on the same side as Classmate Shirogane. That was clearly unusual, but it wasn't wrong for them to sit that way. They had invited someone to meet them there, so of course the students from their class would sit together.
Cute girls did seem to smell nice, but Classmate Shirogane had always been a gentleman.
And Hiyori meant that the new students' first month was ending. From then on, all the new students would learn the school's rules.
Then the fierce battle between classes would begin.
"Still," Shirogane said, "I've noticed the teachers seem particularly invested in this."
"Particularly invested?" Hiyori looked over and blinked lightly. The gesture was quite adorable.
She was beautiful, and a playful streak made her seem even more lively.
But she was also very studious and had a talent for learning. That made it very easy for Shirogane to resist her.
"That's right," Shirogane said. "A while ago, I found out that Class D's Teacher Chabashira had broken the rules. She went straight to a student in her class and asked her to investigate what the school was really about. Their class must have lost too many points, so she couldn't sit still. That kind of thing has to be against the rules."
"The student Teacher Chabashira asked was Classmate Horikita, right?" Classmate Shiina said.
They were also waiting here to meet Classmate Horikita.
Classmate Shirogane and Classmate Horikita had reached an agreement to exchange information between Class A and Class D.
"Yeah." Shirogane nodded. "But when I asked Teacher Sakagami about it, guess what he said?"
"Teacher Sakagami, huh..."
She had been in Class C for a month. Teacher Sakagami taught mathematics, and it was clear he was the kind of person who cared a lot about personal gain.
And people who cared too much about gain let the scales tip in their favor.
So...
"Did he tell you not to report it?" Classmate Shiina hesitated for a moment before answering.
"More or less," Shirogane said. "Ryuen asked him how many class evaluation points were left in the class, and he told him. But he wasn't allowed to answer that either."
So it wasn't just Class D's teacher who had broken the rules. Their homeroom teacher in Class C had broken them too.
What about Class B? Class A?
Actually, Hiyori hadn't interacted with any students from Class B yet.
But now it seemed the competition between classes didn't just involve the students. The teachers were just as enthusiastic about it.
"But Classmate Shirogane, Classmate Horikita and the others are almost here," Classmate Shiina said. She had been about to say something else, but then she checked her phone and hurriedly spoke up.
She was checking the GPS, and the person being tracked was Kushida Kikyo.
The map showed that Classmate Kushida was almost at the café.
Right.
So they both fell silent and looked toward the entrance.
"Welcome."
There were fifteen minutes left until closing time, and to the staff, who were waiting to clock out, another customer was a painful prospect.
"We're here to meet someone. They're over there," said the short-haired blonde among the two girls at the entrance. "We're not ordering anything."
"Oh."
The staff instantly thought the short-haired blonde in front of them was an angel. Their mood lightened at once.
How wonderfully practical.
The two girls who walked in from the café entrance were both students. One was a girl with short blonde hair and a refined face that usually wore a smile. She was popular with both boys and girls.
She was Kushida Kikyo.
The other was Class D's class beauty, who had made an arrangement with Shirogane: Horikita Suzune, with her straight black hair.
Classmate Horikita and Classmate Kushida had completely different temperaments, but Horikita's looks were widely acknowledged.
Apparently, in a ranking of the girls' looks put together by boys in Class D, Classmate Horikita was in second place. Her looks were about on par with Ichinose from Class B, but Ichinose had taken first place. She was probably just easier to approach than Classmate Horikita.
After all, Horikita Suzune was as cold as ice.
It was a strange comparison, but Classmate Shirogane wasn't unfamiliar with it.
He had run into the two of them on his way to class in the morning more than once.
That's right.
The two of them.
He could often see Classmate Kushida fussing over Classmate Horikita, asking after her and even going to school with her.
It was an extremely rare sight.
Classmate Kushida seemed devoted to making friends, and she had made many, including Classmate Shirogane. But Classmate Horikita often ignored her.
Before you continue