Chapter 31

"Power is just a merit that makes you feel satisfied, right?" Kushida Kikyo looked somewhat helpless; she hadn't expected Yuan Yuyuan to see right through her. "Geez, can't you let me finish? But you're right. That's why I started making changes, carving out time from my studies and exercise to specifically focus on getting along with others." "I don't know if it was the result of my hard work or if I was just naturally prone to gaining people's trust, but everyone was willing to talk to me and share their secrets. Some would even curse at friends they appeared to be close with right in front of me. Back then, I couldn't have been happier. I didn't care how I did it; as long as I could be the best at something, as long as everyone mentioned me by saying, 'Kushida is the most popular student in our school,' I was already happy." "This might not be the best path, but it was certainly the one that would take me the furthest. I started spending a massive amount of time managing interpersonal relationships, but those people..." Kushida Kikyo's face gradually twisted into a hideous expression, but thanks to her long-standing life of pretense, her emotional control had reached a level where she could switch it on and off at will. She calmed down again and continued telling her story. "Those people just treated me like a hollow tree trunk without feelings, venting all their unhappiness onto me. The most ridiculous part was that they would even disgust me with things like their crush not smiling back at them when they made eye contact. The growing negative emotions were suffocating me. I had no choice! They could come to me to vent their dissatisfaction, but no one was willing to accept that this 'tree trunk' had feelings of its own!" "But then I discovered a wonderful outlet, which was..." "The internet?" "Are you even human?! How could you possibly know that?" Kushida Kikyo had intended to leave a cliffhanger to make this stalker sweat, but it turned out she was the clown all along. She had no choice but to honestly continue recounting her past. "It was a blog. At the time, I thought that as long as I posted anonymously, it would be fine. There are so many people in the world; how could they know that others hadn't gone through the same thing?" "So, I started spreading their secrets all over the internet. The most common ones were girls being jealous of someone's appearance or boys looking down on others for this or that. Maybe it was because there wasn't much of that kind of content online, or maybe it was because I leaked enough dirt. My posts spread like wildfire, and eventually, the popularity of the posts reached a point I couldn't control. But I still didn't delete them, as if deleting them would cause all that negative energy to return to me and crush me once again." "Regrettably, the goddess of luck was never on my side. My posts were inevitably discovered. She said she had only told me, but pfft, everyone says that. How was I supposed to know if it was true or not? She told others, and as expected, I was ostracized. Yuan-kun, take a guess at how I resolved that situation." "When you are at odds with everyone, there are usually only three ways: defeat them with your own strength, which isn't realistic for you. If you try to play them against each other, no one will help you once they know the reason, and even if you go to elders or the school, you'll only get a dismissive warning. That leaves only inciting internal strife. You must have kept an ace up your sleeve that could make others believe you, the two-faced one." Kushida Kikyo gently clapped for Yuan Yuyuan. Unlike before, she, who was always full of energy, wore a smile that was faint yet genuine for the first time. "Bingo! Because it was so easy for classmates to cross-reference information, I only posted about grudges between different classes or even different grade levels online. And although I was ostracized, they didn't kick me out of the class chat room. So, while everyone was asleep, I used a weapon called 'the truth.' Simply put, I leaked all their dirty little secrets." "The next day, everyone showed their ugly faces, but they couldn't be bothered with me anymore. Compared to me, the leaker, they hated those who spoke ill of them behind their backs even more." "Based on my leaks, everyone successfully found their own enemies, and in the end, they got into a massive brawl. Only I was spared. The outcome was that no one, including me, the instigator, was punished, but the class was ordered to disband by the board of education." Yuan Yuyuan finished listening to the whole story. Aside from Kushida's intelligence exceeding his expectations, her methods were roughly what he had guessed. "I've gained a new respect for you. Whether it's the fact that you still had a shred of reason left while being crushed by negative emotions, or your decision to make them kill each other after being exposed, both are excellent. However, you've only been talking about what Suzune did at that school, and you haven't shown any intention of getting her expelled, which means you aren't in the same class, right?" "That's right, but ever since I blew the whole thing up, it's been common knowledge at our school. There's no reason that Horikita girl wouldn't know." "But isn't she still asking you to do things? You're too close to the situation to see it clearly. Think about it: if she really knew about these things, would she still be asking you to do favors for her?" Kushida thought for a moment—it was true! With Horikita's arrogant attitude, she wouldn't have any psychological burden even if she used this to threaten her. "So she really doesn't know? But where are you planning to transfer her to? Class C?" "Given her personality, she should be quite happy to go to Class A. It just so happens that someone in Class A has annoyed me recently. You'd probably love to see her fall right after arriving in Class A, wouldn't you? I'll get her into Class A, and you help me control Class D. How about it?" Kushida had originally thought Yuan Yuyuan was going to do that Horikita girl a favor, but it turned out he was even more sinister than she was. He called her Suzune to her face, yet she had become a bargaining chip in his deal with her. "Deal. But why are you discussing this with me? Usually, you're the type who would be threatening me." Yuan Yuyuan considered it and felt that telling Kushida not only had no downsides but could also win her trust. "That kind of relationship is too fragile. Unless you're a masochist, you'll definitely try every way to escape my control. I've always believed that a relationship based on mutual interest is the most reliable one between people. Threats and such should only be a last resort." "Besides, you've seen my sincerity. You can get rid of Suzune, and I can use Class D as my base. You need me to eliminate dissenters, and I need your social dexterity. We can both achieve twice the result with half the effort; why wouldn't we do it?" "Boring. I thought Yuan-kun would be the type to cherish the fairer sex, but it turns out you only think about things like this. Still, I'm very grateful to you." A trace of sorrow couldn't help but stain Kushida's face, but she smiled and hugged the Yuan Yuyuan in front of her. "Yuan-kun, do you know? I've thought countless times that if one day I were discovered like this again, or if someone at this school knew about my past, I really couldn't imagine what my life would become. But I never expected that you wouldn't mind at all. Could it be that you actually prefer me like this?" "Because whether you're like that or not makes no difference to me. If anything, you were always meant to be this way. If you were truly as you appeared to be, you wouldn't have been sorted into Class D." "How mean. I thought we were in love." Kushida didn't delve into that topic, but instead looked at Yuan Yuyuan, who still wore an expression of having seen through everything, and asked: "Then what about Honami-chan? Honami isn't any worse than Katsuragi from Class A, so why was she sorted into Class B? And also, also, the fact that you aren't in Class A is the strangest thing of all!"