The next day at noon.
Shinjo tiptoed to the door of Class C. He planned to sell the answers in his hands before anyone else found out about them.
Just as he decided to knock, an irritable voice rang out behind him.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
Shinjo instinctively stepped aside. When he turned around, he saw only a short girl with short hair.
She had accompanied Ryuen and his lackeys to the cafeteria last time when they went to back someone up. She had also seemed to deliberately keep her distance from everyone else, so Shinjo remembered her quite well.
"Uh, hello."
"What are you doing here, sneaking around like that...? Don't tell me you're planning to steal something!"
"Steal something? What does your class have that's worth stealing? I'm here to see your leader. He—"
Perhaps she was disgusted by the word, because the girl in front of him spat in annoyance.
"Heh. If you're looking for Ryuen, he's not here, and no one knows when he'll be back."
With that, she lost interest in Shinjo and started heading back to her seat.
"Wait!"
Shinjo hurriedly called after her.
"What do you want now? Let me warn you: just because Ryuen let you off last time doesn't mean you can get carried away. If you really want to cause trouble here, courage alone won't get you anywhere!"
"I actually..."
"Shinjo? What are you doing here?"
Ibuki had opened the classroom door, and Shiina, who was resting in a seat near the front, spotted Shinjo at once.
"Oh, Shiina. I'm here because I have something to discuss with someone in your class. If Ryuen isn't around, could you come out for a moment?"
Shiina pointed to herself in confusion, then followed Shinjo toward the rooftop, still looking puzzled.
Ibuki hadn't wanted to get involved, but after thinking it over, she decided to follow them and find out what was going on.
"You don't have to force yourself to come along, you know..."
Shinjo could tell that the short-haired girl didn't seem to like him. That was only natural, considering he'd more or less made their leader lose face.
But Ibuki didn't care about leaders. The reason she looked that way was simply that she looked that way at everyone.
Besides, she hated slick-talking men—more than she hated Ryuen!
She always felt like they were hiding a pile of dirty tricks, ready to stab you in the back when you least expected it, and they'd hit hard.
"I just don't want you doing anything bad to Shiina," Ibuki said, making an excuse for herself.
"Don't worry about it, Shinjo. Ibuki's just like that, but she doesn't mean any harm."
"Ah... heh. That's good..."
A little while later, the three of them reached the rooftop.
"Shinjo, can you tell us now?"
Shiina had a surprisingly good impression of Shinjo. After all, people who liked reading couldn't be bad!
"Of course... I heard a lot of people in your class are worried about the midterm exams, right?"
"What's that got to do with you?!"
Before Shiina could say anything, Ibuki could barely contain herself.
Clearly, she thought Shinjo had said that just to mock her.
"Ibuki, you shouldn't do that. I don't think Shinjo is trying to make fun of you."
"Tch. Who knows?"
As the saying went, people who judged others by stereotypes would one day be judged by stereotypes themselves.
"Heh. I have no reason to do something so pointless. Actually, I'd like to propose a deal. The number of points involved isn't that high, so even you should be able to decide on your own."
"A deal?"
Shinjo nodded and waved the folder in his hand.
"These are the answers for the upcoming exam. I happened to get hold of them."
"What did you say?! The answers?! Hah! Do you think we're three-year-olds? How could anyone get the exam answers that easily?"
Ibuki didn't believe Shinjo could really get the answers. And even if he had, why would he share them with her?
Class C and Class D were enemies at heart!
No normal person would do something that helped the enemy, would they?
Ibuki's barrage of questions nearly left Shinjo breathless. In a way, he quite liked dealing with people like her. Her straightforward nature made her easier to fool.
But it was a double-edged sword. If Ibuki had taken a dislike to him from the start, no matter how convincing he sounded, she'd be as immovable as a fortress under fire.
Fortunately, Shinjo had plenty of experience handling situations like this. He simply ignored her. After all, Shiina was the one he really wanted to negotiate with.
"Um, Shinjo, is what you said true?"
Shiina wasn't disbelieving him. She was trying to get him to reveal more. If she could find out where the answers came from, they could get them themselves and avoid paying a middleman.
"Of course it's true! I guarantee these are the real answers. Otherwise, wouldn't I be ruining my Odd Jobs Agency's reputation?"
"Odd Jobs Agency?! You mean the one from that text message a while ago?"
Shiina seemed surprised, though she was mostly putting on a show for Shinjo.
Even though she immersed herself in books, Shiina wasn't some bookish nerd who could do nothing but read. She had long since mastered the use of microexpressions in social situations.
"That's right. If you ever need help, feel free to ask me~"
Ibuki, who had been ignored, sneaked a glance at Shinjo. Her eyes rolled as if she'd just thought of something.
"Heh, I'll be sure to if the chance comes up. Anyway, let's talk about the answers. Since you can guarantee they're real, how much are you planning to sell them for?"
"To be honest, getting these answers cost me quite a few points... So... I've always liked the lucky number 20,000."
Ibuki looked tempted, but she knew bargaining wasn't her strong suit—especially not with someone who looked like a profiteer.
So, for once, she wisely kept her mouth shut and left the decision to Shiina.
Shiina silently thanked Ibuki for not butting in. Otherwise, she might really have ended up paying 20,000 points for the answers.
"Shinjo, surely you don't actually plan to sell them to me for 20,000 points, do you?"
I actually wanted to sell them to you for 50,000!
But there was no way he could set the price that high. Class C might receive nearly 50,000 points in living expenses this month, but that didn't mean they actually had that much money on hand.
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