Chapter 45

"You're here to apologize?" "That's right! Then I rejected her outright, and she was so humiliated she'd never dare show her face to me again." Himeno Yuki rolled her eyes and kept cutting into her steak, making no effort to respond. Yuan Yuyuan, on the other hand, was getting anxious. He'd already made up—no, thought up—how he was going to explain the whole thing, but Himeno Yuki had no intention of asking him any more questions. It left him feeling like he'd been played.

After school that afternoon, Yuan Yuyuan received a message from Kushida Kikyo. Rather than heading back to take his usual nap, he used "helping Class D" as an excuse to persuade the kindhearted students to stay. Then Kushida Kikyo brought the second member of the Idiot Trio and Ayanokoji—the newly assembled Idiot Trio—to Class B. After greeting everyone she knew and making a brief inquiry into whether anyone had witnessed the incident, she went over to Yuan Yuyuan and asked, "Yuyuan, have you found any clues? I still haven't found any useful evidence."

"Wait, why is little Kushida so familiar with him? She even calls him by his first name, but she only calls me Yamauchi-kun."

"I already asked around. There are no clues." Yuan Yuyuan ignored the idiot Yamauchi. If he wasn't any good at this, couldn't he just keep his mouth shut? The girls in his class had said Yamauchi seemed to love drawing attention to himself, and now it was clear they were right.

Kushida Kikyo paid Yamauchi no mind either. She'd already decided to give Yuan Yuyuan a good talking-to about the idiot later. "Then what do we do? If this keeps up, Sudo will be suspended."

"It's fine. Ayanokoji's already stepping in, isn't he?" Yuan Yuyuan waved to Ayanokoji, who was standing at the back. "Right, Ayanokoji? What I find strange is that you don't look like you have much influence. Or do you actually prefer to play the fool while hiding your true abilities?"

"Really, Ayanokoji? You've been hiding your abilities all this time? I can't believe Yuyuan thinks so highly of you." Kushida Kikyo had already received instructions from Yuan Yuyuan, so she played along. But given the persona she'd cultivated, she couldn't very well ask why Ayanokoji wasn't doing everything he could to help Sudo.

Yamauchi didn't pick up on any of that. He wasn't very bright, and all he noticed was that Kushida Kikyo seemed interested in Ayanokoji. "Come on, there's no way Ayanokoji could pull off something like that. Little Kushida, you're overthinking it."

Yuan Yuyuan was genuinely dumbfounded by Yamauchi's idiocy. He could've pretended to be magnanimous when Yamauchi interrupted earlier, but who did the guy think he was? He was the big shot of Class B! How dare someone who was a loser even by Class D's standards question him? "Hey, you. Are you questioning me?"

"I just think Ayanokoji isn't capable of that." Intimidated by Yuan Yuyuan's influence in Class D, Yamauchi was a bully who picked on the weak and didn't dare talk back. But his dream girl, Kushida, was right there, so he didn't want to back down either.

Yuan Yuyuan wasn't about to go easy on him. He couldn't stand people who were useless but still yapped like dogs. "Since when do you get to decide what someone else is capable of? Don't think so highly of yourself."

"Could you two please stop arguing? Whether Ayanokoji has been hiding his abilities or not, there's no need to let this ruin our relationship," Kushida said, stepping in to stop them. She knew Yuan Yuyuan didn't want to deal with Yamauchi, and she was trying to steer the conversation back to Ayanokoji.

"Since little Kushida has—"

"I see you still haven't figured out the situation, you idiot." Yuan Yuyuan cut Yamauchi off. Kushida was quick on the uptake, but Yamauchi had just been handed a graceful way out. What, did he think Yuan Yuyuan didn't care about his dignity?

"You don't think this is just over, do you? You've interrupted me again and again while I was talking to someone else. Do you really think I'm made of paper?" Yamauchi had spent all his courage on that last remark. With Yuan Yuyuan's full-fledged rich-kid aura bearing down on him, he naturally didn't dare talk back. He could only stand there with an unhappy look on his face. But Yuan Yuyuan wasn't about to let him off. "What happened? Cat got your tongue? You were so talkative just now. Don't think I was showing you respect."

Once he saw the useless guy truly didn't dare answer back, Yuan Yuyuan decided not to press his advantage. Everyone was watching, after all. He turned his gaze to Ayanokoji again. "The nuisance has shut up. Ayanokoji-kun, aren't you going to answer my question? If you keep hiding your abilities, your friend might get suspended. I'm curious—how do you plan to stand up to Arisu's attack?"

"I've just been lucky. There's no need to think I'm that strong, is there?" Ayanokoji was at a loss. If he still didn't answer, it would look too strange. It was a flimsy excuse, but better than seeming to confirm it.

"That might fool Suzune and the student council president, but don't fool yourself." After saying that, Yuan Yuyuan headed back to the dorm with his little shadow, Himeno Yuki.

He wasn't there to declare war on Sakayanagi Arisu. He only wanted the others to spread the word, driving a wedge between Ayanokoji and Class D. Surely no one would want to work for someone who didn't care whether his friends lived or died? But those two idiots didn't seem to understand any of it, so he'd have to leave the rest to Kushida and the other students in Class B.

Halfway there, Himeno Yuki couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. "What was all that you said back there? Could you stop being so cryptic?"

"What do you mean, cryptic? As long as he understood, that's all that matters."

"But I don't understand! Can you explain it to me in detail? I'm really curious."

Yuan Yuyuan was at a loss. So there was a third idiot. Wasn't this girl supposed to be an ice queen? Why was she so nosy? Still, he didn't mind telling Himeno Yuki. "I'll explain when we get back. It'll take too long to go over it now."

Hearing that, Himeno Yuki hurried her pace and urged Yuan Yuyuan on. "Then what are you standing around for? Hurry up! You're so slow at everything."

Yuan Yuyuan had no choice but to pick up the pace too. When they reached his dorm room, Himeno Yuki sat down at the guest table with incredible speed, waiting for him to tell her the story.

But Yuan Yuyuan went to the fridge and got her a bottle of juice, then brewed himself a pot of tea. Himeno Yuki watched his every move with a twitching temple, but for the sake of the juice, she decided to forgive him.

Yuan Yuyuan deliberately kept her waiting, taking his time with everything before finally asking, "All right. What do you want to know?"

"Huh? Well... I want to know about the hidden abilities you mentioned, who Arisu is, and why you scolded Yamauchi."

"Wait, seriously? I can understand not getting the first two, but you didn't even get the third? I'm starting to think it was a mistake to bring you along."

Could Himeno Yuki stand for that? But she still wanted to hear Yuan Yuyuan's story... so she held her tongue.

"Isn't that why you're the boss? Please, just tell me already!"

"All right, all right. Let's start with that idiot. At first, I really didn't want to bother with him. Talking to him would only lower my standing. But you know I'm in charge of everything Class B does outside the class these days. If everyone sees someone like Yamauchi interrupting my conversation with Kushida over and over, where does that leave my dignity?"

"Oh, so you mean it's embarrassing for someone of Yamauchi's caliber to butt in. Pfft... hahahaha!" Himeno Yuki laughed at Yuan Yuyuan without holding back. "It's only at times like this that you realize you're just an impulsive—"