Conversation

After bidding farewell to Uncle Sakayanagi and Manabu Horikita in the Chairman's Office, Yun Lan and Chie Hoshinomiya left the office.

Chie Hoshinomiya quickened her pace and fell into step beside Yun Lan. She didn't speak right away, only turned her head slightly and narrowed her eyes, her gaze brushing over the boy's calm profile like a feather. The hallway was empty, and the only sounds were their footsteps: her heels made soft thuds against the carpet, while his steps were almost inaudible.

"Oh my—" she finally drawled, her voice carrying its usual honeyed warmth, though with a little more curiosity than usual. "So little Yun Lan was hiding quite a lot."

Here she goes again, Yun Lan thought. Is she testing me? Or does she see me as a tool to use against Sae Chabashira?

"I knew it. I always felt there was something special about you, something an ordinary family couldn't have instilled in you." She blinked, speaking as if sharing an amusing secret. "So little Yun Lan really does come from an influential family. No wonder Chairman Sakayanagi wanted to meet you and introduced you to Manabu Horikita, a powerful figure in the third year. And you actually are..."

She didn't finish, only let out a meaningful "Hmm~," her voice rising at the end as she waited for his reaction.

Yun Lan didn't break stride or even alter his pace. He calmly met Hoshinomiya-sensei's curious gaze, his eyes deep and placid as an undisturbed well. The composure he'd shown in the office before those two influential figures, so unusual for someone his age, hadn't faded. If anything, it seemed even more pronounced now that they were alone in the hallway.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei," he began, his voice quiet but unmistakably firm, "first of all, at this school, I'm Yun Lan of Class 1-B."

He paused briefly, his gaze steady.

"Only after that am I a member of the 'Yun Family' you know about."

He didn't deny it, but deftly reversed the order, emphasizing that his foremost identity, here and now, was that of a student. There was no arrogance in his words, only a quiet certainty that left no room for confusion, as if gently reminding her—and himself—that at least here, certain titles and backgrounds should take a back seat.

Chie Hoshinomiya's backward steps faltered slightly. Her smile remained, but a glimmer of understanding—and an even deeper interest—passed through her eyes. She stopped walking backward and fell into step beside him again, looking toward the bright campus scenery beyond the windows at the end of the hall.

"Honestly, you're just a kid, but you speak more carefully than most adults." She chuckled, her tone returning to its usual light teasing, though her appraising sidelong glance lingered on him. "Still, I suppose that's not a bad thing, 'Yun Lan.' But your teacher isn't very good at keeping her mouth shut, you know. How about you indulge me with a favor, and I'll help you keep your secret?"

"Teacher, I remember you said points could buy anything at this school. So what if I asked the school to let me buy the right to have the Class B homeroom teacher, Chie Hoshinomiya, dismissed?"

The tune Chie Hoshinomiya had been humming came to an abrupt halt.

She stopped in front of a tall arched window in the hallway. Outside, the setting sun blazed, casting her and Yun Lan's shadows across the dark-red carpet. They nearly merged, yet seemed to face off all the same.

She slowly turned around. Her usual smile, as if nothing particularly mattered to her, hadn't disappeared, but the light in her eyes had changed. It was no longer simple teasing or curiosity, but a keen, assessing scrutiny, like she'd spotted a move on the chessboard that had taken her completely by surprise.

"Oh, my..." She clicked her tongue softly. Her voice still had its syrupy lilt, but now carried a chill. "Little Yun Lan's threatening me? That really hurts."

She took a small step closer, near enough to see the unshaken calm in the boy's eyes. "But, you know," she said, tilting her head like a high school girl discussing which dessert to choose, though her words were anything but light, "you don't have enough points to buy the right to have 'Chie Hoshinomiya dismissed,' do you? It isn't a small sum. Even as a Class B student, you don't have nearly enough personal points. The school may offer 'anything,' but everything has a price—and it's often outrageous."

She was testing him, trying to see whether it was an idle threat or whether he had something to back it up.

Yun Lan didn't back away or change his stance. He only raised his eyelashes slightly, letting the evening sunlight streaming through the window tint his calm features a dreamy gold and red.

"My personal points aren't enough," he admitted briskly, as if stating a fact that had nothing to do with him.

Then he shifted the conversation, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather:

"But the rules for first-years apply to upperclassmen too, don't they? Points can be traded and pooled."

He paused, his gaze passing beyond Chie Hoshinomiya, as though he could see the third-year classrooms farther away.

"I believe the students in third-year Class B, Class C, and Class D will be interested in a more practical, more reliable 'promise about the future' once they've confirmed that their chances of 'graduating from Class A' are virtually zero."

At last, he looked back at the teacher, whose eyes had widened slightly, and spoke each word with perfect clarity:

"In exchange for the personal points they hold—points that are no longer useful for 'moving up to Class A'—they could receive a valid promise from the 'Yun Family.' I think that would be a deal a lot of students would seriously consider."

The dying sunlight flickered in his eyes. There was no youthful bravado there, only a certainty founded on cold calculation. He hadn't said "maybe." He'd said "I believe." This wasn't a hypothetical; he was describing a plan about to be put into action.

For the first time, Chie Hoshinomiya's smile completely vanished. She didn't speak at once, only stared deeply at Yun Lan as if seeing her own student anew. The hallway was oppressively quiet. The distant clamor of club activities sounded muffled, as if heard through frosted glass.

Several seconds passed before she let out a soft breath, visible as a faint mist in a shaft of slanting sunlight.

"Using 'outside' forces to stir up the 'inside' rules... even mobilizing the upperclassmen and organizing a large-scale, cross-year point-buying scheme, all just to gain the right to 'dismiss a teacher'?" Her voice was soft. The sweetness was gone, replaced by a complicated note of emotion. "Little Yun Lan, you're even more... ruthless than I imagined. Or is this just how the 'Yun Family' does things?"

"This is simply an effective way to achieve my goal," Yun Lan replied calmly. "At this school, 'points' are the blood, and 'rules' are the skeleton. I respect the rules, and I use them. As for mobilizing them..."

He paused briefly.

"I've merely offered them a new option beyond a defeat that was already certain. A fair trade, that's all."

Chie Hoshinomiya suddenly laughed again. This time her laugh was short, with an oddly appreciative edge, though that appreciation was mixed with cold wariness.

"Impressive, really impressive. You see through the rules, and you've even factored human nature into it. Hope in the depths of despair—even a faint glimmer—is worth staking something on... especially when the one running the game is the 'Yun Family.'"

She folded her arms, tilted her head, and studied Yun Lan anew.

"So, my dear honor student from Class B, Yun Lan, why are you willing to pay such a huge price—even risk your family's reputation—to 'buy' my departure? I can't possibly be that much of a nuisance, can I? That was only a joke."

"Don't use Honami and me as tools for your revenge, Chie Hoshinomiya!"

After saying those words coldly, Yun Lan left, leaving Chie Hoshinomiya standing there alone, stunned.