Determining the Candidates

"Ryuen-san, he..." A burly student with a buzz cut standing next to the red-haired student wanted to say something.

"Ishizaki, shut your mouth." The red-haired student called Ryuen stopped the boy from speaking, as the more one said, the easier it was to reveal their "hand," and continued to glare fiercely.

"Fine! I came to peek." Hoshino felt a bit uncomfortable under the glare and shrugged, putting on an indifferent expression.

"I knew it, you guy..." The blue-haired girl was "itching for a fight," slightly shifting into a stance.

"Wait, you aren't planning on hitting me, are you!" Hoshino was a bit surprised, watching the girl beside Ryuen with vigilance, pretending to be fearful and lacking confidence.

"What, weren't you being pretty arrogant just now?"

Hoshino felt like he was being treated as a "clown," and many others in the classroom were looking on as if they were watching a show.

"Ahem, let's talk business. Ryuen, you're the leader of your class, right!" Hoshino cleared his throat and straightened his clothes.

"Eh? How did you know..." Ishizaki looked shocked.

"Hm? No, I'm not!" Ryuen ignored Ishizaki's words and denied it flatly.

"..." This blunt denial left Hoshino somewhat stunned.

Based on Hoshino's understanding, "tyrants" usually wouldn't deny what they had done, always maintaining an arrogant "I am the best, and everyone else is beneath me" attitude. Ryuen seemed a bit different.

"Is that so? You're that pathetic? I thought you were the leader of your class! Who is so strong that they could beat you? Cowering and hiding, and the leader won't even come out to say a word? Do you guys actually respect a leader like that?"

"Get lost, kid. I'll find you and we'll have a good chat!" Ryuen ignored Hoshino, only throwing out a fierce threat.

"Alright! See you tomorrow then!"

Hoshino walked out of the Class C classroom, his palms covered in cold sweat.

Confronting a group of "delinquents" while being watched by an entire class was too much pressure. Just now, Hoshino had only been forcing himself to maintain eye contact with Ryuen, and he had almost "broken character"!

Hoshino had a basic grasp of the situation now, which could be considered a certain gain; not only had he gathered some intelligence, but he also had a target for conflict!

The only problem was how to initiate the conflict without going too far and making it impossible to resolve.

Just walk up to someone and start cursing? That felt like acting like a lunatic. Once confirmed, the punishment for that would likely be quite severe.

He would just have to take it one step at a time. Better head back first!

"Yo, Hoshino, where did you go this morning?" After the lunch break ended, Hoshino returned to the classroom at a leisurely pace, and Ayanokoji, who was sitting in the corner, walked over to strike up a conversation.

At this time, there weren't many people in the classroom yet; most hadn't returned, and Hoshino had seized the opportunity to come back early while it was quiet.

"Uh, just went for a stroll... After all, I have to live at this school for three years, so I need to familiarize myself with the environment in advance! Why?" Hoshino was a bit surprised, as Ayanokoji rarely took the initiative to talk to him.

Although they had become slightly familiar later on, they only spoke when they met alone. Under normal circumstances, two "socially anxious" people wouldn't talk in public.

"Nothing, just saw you rush out as soon as class ended and only come back right before the next one started, so I thought you weren't feeling well..." Ayanokoji's voice was devoid of ripples.

"I'm fine!" Although Hoshino said this, he felt a trace of vigilance toward Ayanokoji in his heart.

Based on Hoshino's usual observations, Ayanokoji was not the type of person to care about others, and his intuition warned him of this. Therefore, Hoshino wouldn't easily believe Ayanokoji's explanation, and even if there were deeper reasons, Hoshino didn't think he could easily pry them out of Ayanokoji.

Come to think of it, Hoshino didn't understand what he had been thinking a while ago, wanting to get close to such an existence.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was usually expressionless; it was basically impossible to see any other expressions on him, at least not that Hoshino had seen. He didn't talk much, usually keeping to himself in the corner, doing what everyone else did, but he gave Hoshino the impression of a child who had just entered kindergarten, observing and learning the behaviors of others.

He occasionally spoke to the girl beside him, though it felt like he was mostly being teased. Several times after school, Hoshino had seen Kushida looking for Ayanokoji to discuss something.

Although it had been almost a month since entering this school, Hoshino hadn't felt a shred of desire from Ayanokoji to integrate into this place. From beginning to end, there was nothing in Ayanokoji's eyes, and no one!

People like this were often the most terrifying! If he were just the "maverick" type, Hoshino wouldn't feel such a strong sense of unease.

Hoshino put away his distracting thoughts and began to seriously "slack off."

Yes, "slack off"!

Hoshino pulled a chocolate bar out of his drawer and chewed it brazenly. The "crunch, crunch" sound was particularly conspicuous in the classroom. Many people cast strange looks his way, and even Chabashira-sensei on the podium cast an impatient glance. Hoshino felt his face flush under the stare, but he had no intention of putting it away.

"Kushida, stop looking! I can't keep this up!" Others had glanced at Hoshino and then returned to their own business, but Kushida kept staring without any intention of looking away. Hoshino felt uncomfortable and could only complain silently in his heart.

"Come to think of it, this is really too lenient! Is it possible that we don't even need to do those extra things? Wouldn't it be better to just bring a bed over and sleep?" Chabashira-sensei only frowned impatiently and had no intention of stopping Hoshino, which gave Hoshino more ideas.

However, Hoshino thought about it and decided against it. The results would be out next month, and someone would definitely stop it; it would be too much trouble for just these two days. Still, bringing a pillow over might be nice! Hoshino made up his mind.

After school, Hoshino went to the library to kill some time.

Every time he came to the library, Shiina was there. Hoshino truly admired this silver-haired girl.

"I'd usually go up and talk to her, but I'll skip it today!" Hoshino felt a bit restless and hurried out of the library.

He left the library much earlier than usual.

After all, the results of the bet would be out soon, and with some uncertain factors, Hoshino couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. The books he could usually read well, he had no heart to look at these past few days.

He searched briefly, but since the latest editions of the books he used to read hadn't been released yet, he had no desire to stay any longer.