With Katsuragi and Morishita Ai

The library.

Before Sakayanagi and Hiyori's afternoon chat.

After Kujo left his seat.

During this time, Kujo was questioned by Katsuragi of First-Year Class A.

"Kujo, could you wait a moment?"

He was a first-year student whose manner of speaking was not just mature—his appearance was even more so. He was one of Class A's leaders.

In the original story, Katsuragi later broke with Sakayanagi and became Ryuen's ally.

Now, faced with him, Kujo decided to stop and hear what he wanted to say.

"I'd like information about Ryuen from your class. I can pay you in points."

Kujo was taken aback.

Then he quickly understood.

Was Katsuragi the kind of person who was currently behind on information?

Rather than seeing himself as Class C's leader, like Ichinose did, was he hoping to get information about Ryuen from Kujo?

Perhaps Kujo had met too many oddballs lately, and that was why he'd developed a strange delusion.

The delusion that he was actually pretty impressive.

In response to Katsuragi's request, Kujo went straight for an outrageous price. "One hundred thousand points."

That was enough points for a student to save up only by going without food or drink since the start of the school year.

Faced with that astronomical price, Katsuragi countered, "Ten thousand points."

At that, Kujo raised an eyebrow.

He'd only named a random price, but he hadn't expected Katsuragi to pull out his phone and prepare to transfer the money.

Was Ryuen really worth that much?

"I can pay you. But given Sakayanagi's personality, she probably has a hard time not planting someone near you to eavesdrop. So I suggest we communicate by text."

At that, Katsuragi nodded.

Kujo's willingness to cooperate so easily had taken Katsuragi by surprise, but he was also concerned about Kujo's mention of eavesdroppers.

Katsuragi looked around.

Hiding behind three different bookshelves, Kamuro Masumi, Yamamura Miki, and Morishita Ai were startled.

For a moment, all three thought Kujo and Katsuragi had spotted them.

So it had just been a bluff?

At Sakayanagi's instruction, Kamuro was in charge of keeping a constant watch on Katsuragi's movements.

At Sakayanagi's instruction, Yamamura was in charge of monitoring when Kujo returned to his seat.

Unlike the other two, Morishita was leaning idly against a bookshelf, chewing gum as she waited to carry out the special task Sakayanagi had assigned her.

Meanwhile.

Kujo took out his phone and sent Katsuragi the personal information about Ryuen that he had saved on it.

They were notes he'd made in his spare time to help fill in the gaps in his scattered memories from his previous life.

Kujo hadn't expected his messy notes to be worth any points.

Then he told Katsuragi, the Class A student, everything he knew: how Ryuen had single-handedly unified Class C after enrolling, and that he had two capable assistants, Ishizaki and Albert.

As far as Kujo was concerned, this information was worthless. Anyone who knew how to talk could easily find it out by spending a few points on some Class C student.

He figured Katsuragi's purpose was either to verify the information with him or to get proof that Kujo had sold out his class.

In fact, Kujo's guess was correct.

At that moment, Katsuragi wanted to see whether someone the student council president valued had anything to offer.

The probing had gone surprisingly smoothly. It seemed Katsuragi had worried too much before.

Katsuragi thought that his failure to make the Student Council had probably had nothing to do with the man standing before him, Kujo.

As agreed, he transferred ten thousand points to Kujo.

But when Kujo deliberately showed Katsuragi how many points remained in his account, a possibility occurred to him. During his Student Council interview, he had asked around about Kujo. Ever since then, he'd assumed Kujo was one of the people in Class C who refused to submit to Ryuen. But now that theory seemed wrong.

"Kujo, have you also submitted to Ryuen's rule?"

It was a clever question.

Asking it in public—especially somewhere people might be listening, as Kujo had just pointed out—would normally make anyone deny it immediately to save face.

But if he couldn't deny it at once and had to think before answering, that itself would be an answer.

However, things didn't go the way Katsuragi expected. Kujo openly admitted it, then spun a tale:

"Ryuen's ideas aren't all that bad. Everyone gets promoted, right? He convinced me. To be precise, Ryuen and I are strategic partners."

At that, Katsuragi frowned.

In his eyes, Ryuen of Class C was undoubtedly a dangerous person who ruled his class through violence and threats.

There had recently been rumors spreading throughout the year that Classes B, C, and D would join forces to attack Class A. Katsuragi believed the person who stood to benefit most from this was Ryuen of Class C.

He had met Ichinose, the leader of Class B.

Katsuragi believed she was capable of uniting the first-years, but wasn't sure she would be the one to propose such a thing.

In any case, it seemed that Kujo of Class C was also an enemy of Class A.

But an enemy could still be useful.

At that moment, Katsuragi saw Kujo as a pawn who could keep Ryuen in check.

"You don't seem to agree with Ryuen completely, though. Let's stay in touch. If you can provide any information about Ryuen, I'll pay you an appropriate number of personal points."

With that, Katsuragi left the library.

As one of Class A's current leaders, he was very busy trying to bring the members of the Sakayanagi and Katsuragi factions together.

A little while later.

After watching Katsuragi leave the library, Kujo turned around, only for another Class A student to jog up to him.

"Hello, Kujo Makoto. I'm Morishita Ai from Class A. I'd like to exchange points for five minutes of your time."

Kujo was stunned. Were personal points really this easy to get these days?

He operated his phone and gave her the security code for anonymously receiving points.

Then Morishita asked to exchange contact information, and Kujo agreed.

But after they successfully exchanged details, she actually told him to change her contact name to [Sakayanagi Arisu].

Kujo was baffled, but quickly caught on.

"You're using Sakayanagi's phone?"

Morishita raised her hand over her head, forming an X with her fingers, and muttered:

"That's an NG thing."

Kujo frowned, unable to understand what the girl meant.

What was an NG thing?

"Something you're not allowed to do."

Morishita narrowed her eyes and teased Kujo:

"Kujo Makoto, you have the personality of an old man, but you've never even been to an izakaya?"

Kujo shot back:

"Sounds like you're more of an old man than I am. So what do you plan to do with these five minutes you paid for?"

Morishita still had gum in her mouth. She'd hurriedly popped it in while eavesdropping so she wouldn't make any noise.

Now she couldn't spit it out, so she had to keep chewing.

As a result, her words came out muffled:

"I just took Sakayanagi Arisu's points and did what she asked me to do."

Ignoring her strange habit of calling people by their full names, Kujo teased Morishita:

"Isn't it a problem to say that outright?"

Morishita looked Kujo up and down, then retorted without a care:

"Should I have let you think I was sent by that bald guy? You two seemed to be having a nice chat. Some of us in Class A like watching crickets fight, too, but it was pretty entertaining watching you bully him."

In the original story, Morishita Ai was one of the few girls who could team up with Ayanokoji as an equal later on. If she had to be summed up, she was a capable girl whose next words were impossible to predict.

"So are the two of us just going to stand here and chat?"

At that, Morishita pulled an A4 sheet of paper from her uniform sleeve and held it out to Kujo.

The gesture left Kujo dumbfounded.

Question: just how much stuff could a girl hide on her person?

Reluctantly, Kujo took it and gave it a cursory glance.

The A4 sheet contained a message from Sakayanagi. In short, she wanted to make a deal with Kujo.

Kujo could decide what the deal involved; Sakayanagi would pay with personal points.

However, Sakayanagi's generosity in giving Kujo this opportunity came with an additional condition. After all, not just anyone could make deals with Class A students.

In return, Kujo had to make sure that she got the chance to face Ayanokoji later.

More precisely, he had to create an opportunity for Sakayanagi and Ayanokoji to face each other alone.

Kujo understood.

After all, in the original story, Sakayanagi was a girl who had only one thing on her mind: winning against Ayanokoji once.

After reading the message, Kujo handed the paper back to Morishita.

Morishita folded it again and again, then used it to dispose of her flavorless gum.

"I'll contact Sakayanagi separately about the details. But Morishita, why do you look so happy?"

Morishita really was happy, because everything was getting more and more interesting.

The school had been open for less than a month, yet people from all four classes were already orbiting the person standing before her.

Wasn't he the protagonist of a high school romance?

"Because you really need points, Kujo Makoto. No matter who gives you points, you'll take them. I've got eighty thousand points, too. Do you want them? I can give you a special price."

Morishita gestured as she tried to buy Kujo's cooperation with points, and Kujo didn't hold back:

"Girls have more things to spend points on, don't they? Aren't you going to save some for yourself?"

At that, Morishita put on a surprised expression.

"Are you trying to trick me out of all my points? You're pretty bold, Kujo Makoto. But you're quite handsome, so I wouldn't mind if you forced me to give them up."

Looking at a girl even more eccentric than he was, Kujo didn't know what to say for a moment.

Morishita had been testing him from the start, and now she kept baiting him:

"Don't you want to see Sakayanagi Arisu looking humiliated?"

Even though she was only testing him, Kujo had to admit the idea did sound pretty interesting.

"Your five minutes are up, right?"

At that, Morishita estimated that the five minutes had probably just about passed.

In fact, maybe even ten minutes had gone by.

Her task was done, and there was no reason to stick around.

Morishita patted her knees, then leaned a little closer to Kujo, signaling for the six-foot-tall boy to crouch down so she could whisper to him.

Kujo told her she could just say whatever she wanted.

Morishita made an OK sign in front of her right eye, then tilted her head back and announced loudly:

"You want to get promoted to Class A, right? Sakayanagi Arisu has already told us. Let's make a deal. As long as I'm still in Class A, if you ever need only the points I have to transfer in order to move up, tell me, and I'll give them to you."

"Hey, the people following you heard every word."

Looking at Morishita's unconcerned expression, Kujo thought of something. Then he traced the shape of what he wanted in the air with his finger.

She wanted Sakayanagi's chess records?

Morishita was stunned.

Kujo Makoto, were you really planning to challenge that woman?

Whoa!

Oh my god!

You're amazing!

When Kujo returned to his seat, Hiyori happily told him what had just happened.

"I just made a new friend!"

"Was it Sakayanagi? You have similar interests, so I'm sure you'll have lots to talk about in the future."

"Mm-hmm!"