"Game, huh..." Kanzaki repeated under his breath. His gaze refocused behind his glasses, growing sharper and clearer. "Fine. Then let's see what the endgame of this game looks like."
He paused, then added, a restrained fighting spirit newly kindled in his voice. "Let's graduate from Class A together with everyone in Class B."
"So you and Honami will be out in the open, while I work behind the scenes. A strong hand should be played slowly. We can't reveal our cards right away," Yun Lan said.
"Enough, enough. You just want me to be your go-between, right? Fine. You're more talented than I am, so you need to stay hidden even more," Kanzaki said casually.
"Enough, enough. I just don't want to take center stage so soon." Yun Lan waved a hand.
The last echoes of the lunch bell still trembled in the hallway when the classroom suddenly relaxed. The rustle of papers being put away, the scrape of chairs, and the eager swell of conversation spread through the room, sweeping away the gloom left by the final class of the morning. The sun was bright, and through the windows, it cut the floor into patches of dazzling light. Dust motes drifted through the air.
Ryuji Kanzaki finished organizing his notes and looked up to see Yun Lan still sitting at his desk, absently tapping the lid of a plain lunch box. He stood, picked up his student handbook, and asked as if it were just a passing thought:
"By the way, aren't you going to the cafeteria for lunch?" His gaze happened to pass over the lunch box. It wasn't an expensive, multi-tiered lacquer box, just an ordinary plastic one, but it was spotless, with not a trace of grease around the edges.
At the sound of his voice, Yun Lan looked up, his gaze focusing from its vacant state. "I brought a lunch." He replied, then asked in turn, "What about you? Aren't you going to fight for the cafeteria's limited-edition set meal?" The cafeteria's limited dishes always sold out first. It was practically common knowledge throughout the school.
"You hinted at it pretty strongly, so I think I'll pass on such a luxurious lunch," Kanzaki replied with a shake of his head.
Kanzaki's gaze lingered on the lunch box for a second longer. It wasn't that he was curious about what was inside; he was probing for something deeper. He suddenly spoke, his voice lower than before, distinct against the hubbub, and tinged with a tentative note somewhere between joking and serious:
"Don't tell me..." He paused, his gaze seeming to drift toward a seat at the front of the classroom that had been empty for some time, Honami Ichinose's seat. "You and Honami Ichinose are dating? Is that why you have a lunch?"
The moment the question was asked, it was as if a layer had been drawn over the noise in the classroom. A few boys horsing around as they passed their desks ran by with laughter, stirring a breeze that ruffled the hair over Yun Lan's forehead.
Yun Lan's movements paused for about half a heartbeat. Then he looked up at Kanzaki, the corner of his mouth pulling into a helpless curve that seemed to say, Here we go again.
"I've told you before," he said, his voice low but clear. He casually waved a hand in the air as if brushing away some nonexistent smoke. "We've just known each other since we were kids. I helped her out."
After saying that, he picked up the lunch box with one hand, slipped the other casually into his pocket, and gave Kanzaki a slight nod before turning toward the classroom's back door. His pace was unhurried, his back straight. As he moved, the plain lunch box caught the bright light filtering through the door window, its edges reflecting a faint sheen.
Ryuji Kanzaki stood where he was, watching Yun Lan's back disappear into the crowd streaming through the doorway. He adjusted his glasses, his expression unchanged, though a faint trace of unresolved speculation flickered in his eyes.
"Just helped her out since they were kids... But from the way she acts around you..."
He murmured to himself. It was impossible to tell whether he believed it or had some other thought. In the end, he picked up his things and headed in the same direction as Yun Lan—the hallway leading to the microwave area.
The classroom gradually emptied, leaving only sunlight occupying the vacant desks and chairs. The question of where the lunch had come from, and the relationship so casually denied, hung like dust motes suspended in a beam of light, slowly turning without settling. And Yun Lan's matter-of-fact denial seemed to have become a deliberately simple—and therefore all the more mysterious—footnote to the lunchtime hubbub.
The afternoon sun slanted through the blinds in the teachers' office, casting alternating bands of light and shadow across the polished floor. Fine dust floated in the air, slowly drifting through the sunbeams, mingling with the smell of old paper, ink, and a faint trace of coffee. Chie Hoshinomiya wasn't sitting in her rather oversized office chair. Instead, she leaned sideways against the windowsill, absently rolling a green leaf between her fingers, plucked from a potted plant.
Outside lay the school courtyard. Students passed by in pairs and threes, their chatter muffled into a vague background hum by the thick glass. Her gaze rested on some distant point, unfocused; she wasn't looking at the view.
"Little Yun Lan, you think threatening me like that will make me behave myself..."
She murmured softly, almost like a sigh, but the corner of her mouth curled into an expression of amusement and calculation at odds with her gentle teacher persona. The curve was faint and vanished in an instant, so quickly it might have been an illusion caused by the light.
The screen of the smart terminal on the desk beside her glowed quietly, displaying a summary of today's unusual point transactions. The first entry was in bold red:
[Class 1-B, Yun Lan, club activity wager—total points deposited: 10,000,000.]
Ten million. For a new student, it was an astronomical sum. Most students were still carefully budgeting their monthly "allowance" of one hundred thousand points, while on his very first day at school, he had used an almost elegant "game" to deftly pry open the rules and seize an enormous amount of resources.
Hoshinomiya released the leaf. It drifted down onto the thin layer of dust on the windowsill. She turned and walked back to her desk, but didn't sit down. Instead, she lightly tapped the cool surface with her knuckles.
"Truly... an amazing 'talent.' I suppose that's to be expected of the Yun Family's heir?" she mused to the empty office, though there was no admiration in her eyes, only deep consideration. "He kept a low profile, didn't draw attention, and didn't even use class resources. He simply exploited the loopholes in the rules for challenging other clubs and placing wagers... Precise, efficient, and entirely 'within the rules.'"
Everything in this school was built on points. Points were blood, power, and the foundation of survival and advancement. A student with such a keen "nose for points" and such skill at manipulating them was worth far more than an ordinary "honor student."
The problem was—
Chie Hoshinomiya slowly sank into her chair and leaned back. The chair creaked softly. She raised a hand and rubbed her temples. The face that was usually alight with cheerful smiles now held nothing but a profound weariness.
Before you continue