That was good.
Ryuen's expression turned cold.
"What are you trying to do?" Ryuen asked.
"Nothing. We just think your violent methods could harm the class if you don't rein them in, so we're warning you. If you refuse to show restraint, I'll send the video we recorded to the school," Shirogane said, his expression unchanged.
"So you deliberately filmed me beating people up, and while you were at it, you eavesdropped on the school's secrets, huh?" Ryuen narrowed his eyes. His whole presence felt menacing.
Uh.
Classmate Shiina's expression seemed to shift.
"What are you talking about?" Shirogane replied calmly, his expression perfectly composed. "How can you assume the worst of people? We were just passing by and saw you beating them up."
"I didn't get involved because, for one thing, I didn't think I could beat you in a fight. For another, I was filming you committing a crime, and I happened to hear those upperclassmen tell you about the school's secrets."
"Hearing that confirmed my suspicions."
"If the school really is evaluating our conduct and things like that, then your lack of restraint will cost the class a lot of points, Ryuen. You'll become a disgrace to the class."
"And now, if you're found guilty of beating them up—and on the very first day of school, no less, when you assaulted upperclassmen—do you think there's no chance you'll be expelled?" Shirogane Miyuki asked.
"..."
Ryuen fixed Shirogane with a look that was hard to read.
But his mind was clear.
Violence was a tool. Look, if not for violence, how else could he have gotten the school's real secrets straight from the upperclassmen? But if his methods were exposed, that would be dangerous too.
Ryuen certainly didn't want to be expelled.
His grades would never have gotten him into a school with benefits like these. And now that he knew how unusual this school was compared to the outside world, he'd started to find it interesting. There was no way he'd leave now.
"After all, all you have is a video of me beating people up. If I delete it, there's nothing you can do," Ryuen said. "You're just first-years, so you don't have any contacts yet. You can't send the video to anyone else in such a short time."
Mm.
Classmate Ryuen was definitely smart enough.
Right now, Shirogane and Shiina had basically just teamed up. They'd only been at the school for a short time, so they'd barely even exchanged contact information with each other.
And since the two of them were right here, their phones were on them. So if Ryuen attacked them and took their phones, he could indeed destroy the evidence.
But—
"That won't work," Shirogane said. "It's true that we don't have many friends yet, but don't forget that we both have our homeroom teacher, Sakagami's, contact information. If you try to take our phones, we'll send the video to him."
"Besides, look, they're already injured, aren't they? If they report you, you'll still be punished," Shirogane said.
"You're going to report me?" Ryuen turned a menacing look on the two upperclassmen.
"No, no, we won't report you," the two upperclassmen hurriedly replied, raising their hands.
They looked pitifully weak and helpless.
But that wasn't how it really was.
The two upperclassmen were thinking that as soon as they were safe, they'd report Ryuen immediately.
They hadn't known his name before, but after hearing these three first-years talk, they now knew that the red-haired kid with the bowl cut who'd beaten them up was called Ryuen.
The girl among the three was really pretty, though. She had the air of a bookish girl. They wondered what her name was. She probably didn't have a boyfriend yet, right?
But that Ryuen had to be expelled!
Normally, a fight wasn't enough to warrant expulsion. But Ryuen was a first-year, and he'd attacked upperclassmen during the first month of school, when their conduct was being evaluated. That would make the punishment more severe.
So even if he wasn't expelled, he'd probably cost his class a hundred or two hundred points.
That was a harsh penalty.
The two upperclassmen had been beaten into submission, but they weren't the least bit willing to give in.
"You sure about that? If you can't get me expelled in one go, I'll keep coming after you."
"Anyway, I'm in Class 1-C. Even if this class found out the truth about the school ahead of everyone else, we'll probably end up with only one or two hundred points."
"So losing a few points now doesn't matter!" Ryuen gave them a sharp look.
Uh.
The idea that had just begun to form in the two upperclassmen's minds immediately withered away.
"Classmate Shirogane," Shiina said, having noticed the problem.
Shirogane nodded.
He'd noticed it too. Ryuen was not only intelligent and willing to use violence, but he also knew how to intimidate people. And it seemed he had a knack for controlling people psychologically as well.
For example, Ryuen was threatening the two upperclassmen, saying that if they didn't get him expelled now, he'd retaliate. That made them afraid. But in reality, if they reported him and he retaliated, they could report him again. Even if the first report didn't get Ryuen expelled, the second—or, at worst, the third—would send him straight to reform school.
So Ryuen was using psychology to frighten the two upperclassmen.
And clearly, he'd already gotten them under his thumb.
"Then get lost," Ryuen said. "But there's one thing you need to remember."
"Normally, you're not allowed to reveal information like that, right? So what you did was against the rules too."
"And those two saw it, right? Since they recorded me beating people up, they must've recorded you telling me the truth about this school, too."
"So think about what'll happen if the video of me beating them up and the recording of you revealing the school's secrets get exposed."
"We're all in the same boat now, so if you report me, you'll be finished too," Ryuen warned them.
Damn it.
The two upperclassmen looked miserable as they prepared to leave. They even left behind the free stuff they'd picked up at the convenience store.
At that point, Ryuen turned to Shirogane and Shiina. "Now it's your turn. What are you after?"
What ulterior motives could we possibly have? Right, Classmate Ryuen?
What were Shirogane and Shiina after, Ryuen wondered.
Shirogane had no ill intentions. He'd only wanted to test Ryuen's capabilities.
And the results showed that Ryuen was indeed quite interesting.
Though Ryuen worshipped violence and readily resorted to it, it was clear that if Shirogane and the others hadn't filmed him, he would've beaten those people and then forced them to keep quiet rather than report him.
He was pretty skilled at fighting, too.
He hadn't hit them in the face, so there were no visible marks, but he'd still made sure they felt the pain.
He was probably a seasoned brawler who knew how to fight and avoid getting reported.
At the same time, his psychological skills and intelligence were well developed.
Just as the Narration System had said.
[Ryuen was proud and arrogant. He used violence to bring Class C together, and many students were too afraid to speak up.] [He kept the class in line through violence and fought against the other classes with underhanded tactics, bringing Class C unprecedented success.]
However—
Shirogane hadn't come here to praise Ryuen. It was a fact that Ryuen had resorted to violence, and if he was punished during the first month's Behavioral Standards Exam, the consequences would be even more severe. He really could drag the class down.
"Normally, I'd send the video of you beating them up to our homeroom teacher right away."
"But I've decided not to," Shirogane said.
"Now that we've heard the truth about this school, we know that only Class A gets the benefits the school promises."
"The four classes start the first month with a base score of 1,000 points," Shirogane said. "After the first month's Behavioral Standards Exam, the scores of all four classes will probably have diverged."
"Now that we know how things work, our class can use that knowledge to lose as few points as possible."
In other words, now that he knew the rules, he was going to start taking advantage of them right away.
It was like leveling up alone in this kind of environment.
"Your idea sounds great, but reality will be harsh," Ryuen said. "You probably haven't paid much attention to your classmates. Most of them are scumbags."
"If you don't bring them under control, there's no way they'll behave. They won't be able to meet the conduct requirements on their own."
"Then bring them under control," Shirogane said.
"Hm?"
Ryuen narrowed his eyes. He was now sure that there was something off about this guy named Shirogane Miyuki.
At first, he'd thought Shirogane was full of righteousness.
But soon he'd seen that Shirogane could compromise as circumstances changed. For example, he'd decided not to send the video of Ryuen beating people up to the teacher.
And now—
He was actually giving Ryuen the green light to use violence to bring the class under control.
Could it be—
"You want to move up a class. You want to graduate from Class A!" Ryuen said.
"That's right." Shirogane nodded. "I want to graduate from Class A."
His family was desperately poor. If he could get a place in Class A, he could attend the university he wanted, and the school would even cover the tuition.
The fact that the school would pay his tuition alone was enough to tempt Shirogane.
He'd already suspected that the school wouldn't give every student those benefits, so he'd set out to find out how to earn them. It turned out the students competed against each other as classes, with the goal of graduating from Class A.
And now that he'd found a path to moving up, he naturally intended to seize it.
"Quite ambitious!" Ryuen praised him. "But you'll probably be disappointed, because didn't you hear what those upperclassmen said? Classes C and D had long been considered trash."
"I have no doubt about it. Most of Class C are trash right now, and Class D is probably the same."
"Overall, we're definitely weaker than Classes A and B," Ryuen said.
"Then we'll go from the weakest to the strongest," Shirogane replied. "The school admitted us, so that means it'll still give us a chance."
"And even if the odds are slim, there have been cases where a lower class overtook the others, haven't there?"
"Six or seven generations before us—Teacher Chabashira's class, when she was in Class D—moved up to Class B. Our homeroom teacher, Sakagami, might know about it too."
"Back then, Teacher Chabashira's Class D probably didn't have conditions as good as ours, and they couldn't have learned the truth about the school this early."
"So, with all these advantages, Classmate Ryuen, are you going to give up?"
Are you going to give up?
Are you going to give up?
Ryuen's eyes suddenly turned sharp.
"I'm not going to lose. Trying to use reverse psychology on me won't work. I've studied psychology on my own, so I understand how to control people."
"And right now, you just want to use my strength," Ryuen said.
"You're right. I want to borrow your strength. But you're a member of Class C too, aren't you? And you thought this school was interesting, which is why you went after information on the very first day, right? Now that you know the truth about the school—and that our class is near the bottom—you must want to climb higher too, Classmate Ryuen," Shirogane said.
"So it's not just us using your strength. You think you need our strength too," Shirogane said.
Heh heh heh.
Heh heh heh.
Ryuen seemed to laugh.
But—
Damn it.
He'd only wanted to take off on his own. Once he had the information, he'd have the advantage, then use violence to bring everyone under his control and wow the school with Class C's results in the first month's exam.
He hadn't wanted to become someone else's hired muscle.
But he couldn't completely deny Shirogane Miyuki's point.
Because, just as Shirogane had said, he'd originally planned to use his own strength to take charge of the class. But that would only put him at the top, while the other students might cower in fear of his violence or refuse to help him. If Shirogane and Shiina were willing to lend a hand, things would be different.
Then the class would be even stronger.
Before you continue