Hoshinomiya's Plot

"But how... could I get him to work for me?"

She had made the word "me" sound soft, yet it was unmistakably clear.

By "me," she wasn't referring to her role as a teacher or the school's administration. She meant something deeper: the personal intentions and desires of Chie Hoshinomiya herself. In this school, glamorous on the surface but warped by rules underneath, every teacher had their own position, schemes, and even... goals they needed to achieve in secret. Students—especially unusual ones like Yun Lan—were precious, difficult-to-control "resources" or "pieces on the board."

He clearly wasn't the type to get fired up just because someone "encouraged" or "taught" him. Gentle guidance? He might see through it better than you did. Direct orders or a deal involving points? He'd probably just use his points to make me back off. Then my long-cherished wish would be even less likely to come true.

"He's like water..." Chie Hoshinomiya closed her eyes, picturing the boy's calm profile. "He has no fixed shape, and he's hard to grasp. Put pressure on him, and he might slip through your fingers—or... gather into a deep pool where you can't see him, or even raise a wave that swallows you whole."

She didn't just need an obedient blade. She needed a "partner" who could understand a complicated game and make moves of his own—or, perhaps, an "accomplice." Someone who could help her stop Sae Chabashira's class from rising up against her. But first, she needed a good enough reason for him to willingly direct his "talents" toward the outcome she wanted.

She couldn't go too far, or she'd get fired too.

"Interest? A challenge? Or... some more fundamental human 'need'?" She opened her eyes, her gaze sharpening again as it swept over Yun Lan's scant file on the screen and his staggering record of points. "What does he truly care about? What does he want from this school? Or could I use myself to tie him to my own ship?"

Chie Hoshinomiya's fingertips traced idle, complicated lines across the desktop. The sunlight shifted, leaving half her face in shadow and half illuminated, flickering between light and dark.

"I can't rush... I can't let him notice that I'm deliberately getting close." She finally stilled her fingers and quietly cautioned herself. "The seeds must be sown slowly, and the soil prepared with patience. Let him 'discover' a few clues on his own. Let him 'develop' some kind of need for me... Then, at the right moment, I can offer him an 'olive branch' that seems perfectly natural."

Her usual, somewhat lively and cheerful smile returned to her face, as if her deep thoughts had never happened. But the cool, calculating light in her eyes had not faded.

"Little Yun Lan, let's see..." She picked up the coffee that had gone cold on the desk and took a sip, its bitter taste spreading across her tongue. "Where will you go in this interesting 'school life'? And can you see through the trap I've set for you?"

Silence returned to the office, broken only by the low hum of the central air conditioner. The sunlight kept shifting, stretching her shadow across the bookcase piled with files behind her, blurred and silent. A quiet game of observation and scheming had begun on the teachers' side.

Yun Lan had no idea that in the teachers' office not far from his classroom, someone was staring at the astonishing stream of points on his screen and deep in thought about how to "use" him—and how to tie him down.

But it was only natural. It was only a matter of time before the homeroom teachers found out that Yun Lan had been raking in club points.

And Chie Hoshinomiya's hatred of Sae Chabashira had long since gone beyond professional rivalry. It scorched her nerves day and night, warping her judgment and slowly burning any other possibilities she might once have had to ashes.

She had grown paranoid and distrustful, anchoring almost all meaning in her life to the single, dark goal of "stopping Sae Chabashira."

She was no longer a healthy "teacher," or even a whole "person." She was a monster nurtured by hatred, a gatekeeper circling Sae Chabashira's path to success. To achieve her one and only goal—"stopping" her—she was willing to pay any price.

Including the authority she held as a teacher, the information she couldn't openly disclose, and the room she had to maneuver at the edge of the rules.

Including her professional integrity, and even the moral boundaries that had long been on the verge of collapse.

Including herself.

The thought surfaced clearly in her mind, without the slightest hesitation or shame. Her body, her time, her energy, the remnants of her soul... Everything could become a bargaining chip, everything could be placed on the table. If she could find a blade sharp and clever enough to strike precisely at the heart of Sae Chabashira's system, then she wouldn't mind forging herself into its hilt—or becoming a honey-coated poison bait to lure it forward.

Yun Lan's appearance, his composure beyond his years, and his precise ability to exploit the rules no longer made him merely a "talented student" in her eyes. He was a stone that had suddenly fallen into a stagnant pool—and, more than that, a potentially razor-sharp "weapon" that had yet to choose a master.

And Class D's rich heir, Rokusuke Koenji, had clearly put Chie Hoshinomiya under pressure. She feared that this heir might become Sae Chabashira's trump card and help her rise against her.

"I really am a crazy woman. Getting ready to seduce my own student with my body?" She suddenly let out a low laugh, her shoulders shaking slightly. The sound was especially chilling in the quiet office. "But as long as I achieve my goal, it'll all be worth it."

The sunlight fell on her, but could not warm the body already soaked through with hatred. It was only natural: Yun Lan's actions would attract attention, and Chie Hoshinomiya, a "hunter" twisted by obsession, would naturally smell the possibility of blood—blood that might be drawn from her archenemy. The game slowly unfolded amid the ignorance and scheming of both teachers and students.

Still, even without that earth-shattering deposit of club points, Yun Lan was destined to remain impossible to hide in the crowd. Chie Hoshinomiya had already set her sights on him when she learned he was the Yun Family's heir. Those five words—"heir to the Yun Family"—were enough to put him in an unavoidable spotlight.

More importantly, to Chie Hoshinomiya personally, "becoming the woman of the Yun Family's heir" was an intensely tempting—and extremely dangerous—prospect. If she played her cards right, it might become an unexpected trump card in her fight against Sae Chabashira, and even in her pursuit of greater things in the future. Even a simple "good relationship" might someday yield immeasurable returns in the distant future, when Yun Lan held power.