A Bet with Sakayanagi

In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed. After saying goodbye to Shiina, Hoshino arrived at the reading area on the fifth floor of the library.

"Have you given it some thought, Hoshino-kun?" Sakayanagi asked without looking up from the book in her hands.

"You're quite something, Sakayanagi." Hoshino praised her with a "devil-may-care" tone, ignoring her question entirely.

"Is that so? Thank you for the compliment!" Sakayanagi closed her book and looked up with a face full of smiles.

"...You really don't hold back, do you!"

"It is simply the truth; there is no need for me to feign modesty, is there?" After tidying her clothes slightly, Sakayanagi spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"True enough..." Hoshino was "choked" by her response. "Let's get down to business. How shall we set the terms of the bet?"

"The same conditions as before: if you win, I give you 500,000 points. If you lose, you become my friend, the kind where we sign an agreement! You can set the rules!" Watching Sakayanagi look so smug, Hoshino had one question: if he punched her, would she cry?

He thought better of it; if he actually did that, he feared he wouldn't want to stay at this school anymore.

"Fine! Then my rules are: we each guess the amount of points our respective classes will receive based on our class evaluations. No other sources of points count. Whoever's guess is closer wins. How about that?"

"Hmm—no problem! Then who shall go first?" After a moment of thought, Sakayanagi agreed to Hoshino's rules.

"Wait, don't we need to find a teacher to witness this? Doesn't the freshman handbook say that signing an agreement requires a teacher to be present?" Hoshino didn't start the bet immediately.

"Yes! Then..."

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, could I trouble you?" Hoshino interrupted Sakayanagi and spoke toward the bookshelf nearby.

"You certainly can! Little Hoshino, you're quite impressive, managing to get involved with Sakayanagi-san. Not bad, not bad! So, what about you, little Sakayanagi?" The lively Hoshinomiya-sensei wore her usual smile.

"That is fine. Hoshino-kun, have you made all the necessary preparations? I am looking forward to this!" Sakayanagi was only slightly surprised before returning to her "confident" smirk. "Then, I shall begin first!..."

"Wait, there's an additional rule!" Seeing that Sakayanagi was about to speak, Hoshino hurriedly interrupted, looking somewhat nervous.

"Hmm?... Little Hoshino, are you being this cautious? Aren't you afraid of being called a bully for picking on a girl?" Hoshinomiya-sensei was back to her off-the-wall remarks, her face showing no sign of urgency.

"Uh... well, I feel like Sakayanagi is not to be underestimated! It's always better to be cautious. As for bullying? It's not yet decided who is bullying whom!" Hoshino glanced at Sakayanagi.

"Let's hear it."

"Additional rule: the guesses must be sent to Hoshinomiya-sensei via mobile phone, and we only have one chance within this hour. Failure to answer results in an automatic loss. Hoshinomiya-sensei must truthfully answer whether the other party has finished answering, cannot leak the answers early, and cannot give any hints or make suggestive gestures or expressions. The guesses will only be revealed after the points are distributed next month. The range of the submitted answer cannot exceed 1,000 points! If both parties are within that range, the one whose median value is closer to the answer wins. If they are equally close, it's a draw. How about it?"

"Hmm—that is acceptable." Sakayanagi nodded, a hint of confusion in her eyes as she turned to look at Hoshino.

"Shall we begin then?" After Sakayanagi and Hoshinomiya-sensei exchanged contact information, Hoshino asked tentatively.

"Yes!"

"Yes! Then let's begin! It is currently 5:38 PM! The deadline is 6:38 PM! You only have one chance to answer! Little Hoshino, good luck!" Hoshinomiya-sensei checked the watch on her wrist and straightened her expression slightly.

There was no point in pretending anymore. Since he had set the rules himself, Hoshino turned his back to Sakayanagi, feigning a look of deep thought as he typed, deleted, and typed again... After repeating this several times, he sent his answer to Hoshinomiya-sensei.

Turning around, he saw Sakayanagi looking at him with a generous smile.

"You're done? That fast?"

"Yes!" Sakayanagi covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei?" Hoshino still couldn't quite believe it; his eyes remained vigilant as he looked at her with skepticism.

"Yes, both of you have finished answering," Hoshinomiya-sensei said seriously, before returning to her lively and unprofessional self. "Little Hoshino, are you really that afraid of little Sakayanagi?"

"Sigh—I am a bit. After having talked to her, who wouldn't be?" Hoshino let out a sigh of relief, his body finally relaxing.

"Honestly, it's not nice for Hoshino-kun to say that about a girl!... However, I think I understand a little why Hoshino-kun was assigned to Class D!" After expressing her slight dissatisfaction, Sakayanagi stared at Hoshino with interest.

"Since the matter is finished, can I leave now?" Hoshino felt a bit uncomfortable under her gaze.

"Sure, sure, then I'll come along too!" Saying this, Hoshinomiya-sensei took Hoshino's arm and pulled him toward the elevator.

Sakayanagi, still in her seat, watched Hoshino and Hoshinomiya-sensei leave with a smile. She sat back down at the table and opened her book, though there was a different light in her eyes...

"Little Hoshino, I didn't expect you to use this kind of strategy! Don't you think the cost outweighs the gain?" Hoshinomiya-sensei was still a bit puzzled. Having seen both answers, she had her own suspicions, but wasn't the price a bit too high?

"That, only time will tell!" Hoshino replied vaguely, offering no further explanation.

"I still need to do a few things to ensure my guess is correct!" Hoshino had even more secret thoughts in his mind.

"Honestly, little Hoshino won't even tell me. Sob, sob..."

"I still need to sit in the library for a while. What about you, Hoshinomiya-sensei?" Hoshino ignored her "performance."

"I'll pass. I'm heading back first. It's not good for a girl to be out alone at night! Won't little Hoshino come and see Chie off? Come on, come on..."

Since she had put it that way, he had to see her off! Hoshino felt his blood pressure rising; this was truly annoying!