Chapter 15

"Makeup or something?" I continued to change the subject. There was no helping it; I couldn't let her lead me by the nose, or I'd end up revealing my bank card PIN before we'd even sat together for long. "I just wanted to try it out... Besides, wouldn't it be quite interesting if someone saw you invited me out and I only treated you to a burger?" Sakayanagi said something terrifying with a nonchalant expression. "So that's what you were waiting for! There isn't anyone secretly filming us nearby, is there?" I scanned my surroundings vigilantly. To think this girl would go as far as self-destructing just to ruin my reputation. "Would anyone be filming? Probably not..." Sakayanagi herself didn't seem entirely sure; it appeared she really had run into me by accident today. "Hard to say, those lecherous guys over there seem to have been watching you the whole time..." I glanced into the shop, and sure enough, there were three boys whispering to each other. Needless to say, they were definitely gossiping about me and Sakayanagi. "Hehe, it looks like tomorrow's school headline is secured." "Those guys, they look like they're from Class D next door, right? Is it too late for me to silence them?" I saw Sudo, along with two other boys I didn't recognize, looking quite friendly. It seemed they had come to eat dinner together after attending club recruitment; Ayanokoji wasn't among them, though. "Class D? How boring..." Sakayanagi flicked her hair with a bored expression, leaving the burger she'd only taken a few bites of to the side. "Come to think of it, how are you not the leader of Class A? What's the deal with that Katsuragi? Can someone really be more ruthless than you? Does being bald actually grant a critical hit bonus?" "He's just a boring man, let him perform for a bit first. If you're jealous, Kitazawa, you can go give him a piece of your mind too!" Sakayanagi said, not caring in the least. "Haha, I'll consider it." Consider it my foot. He's definitely your personal toy, isn't he? I wouldn't dare snatch something of yours; I'm still young and don't want to die yet. "Boring. Your flaw is that you bully the weak and fear the strong; you're not manly at all." "Those who adapt to circumstances are the wise; a great man knows when to bend and when to stand tall. How is that not manly?" I took pride in Sakayanagi's evaluation rather than feeling ashamed. "Petty, narrow-minded guy!" Sakayanagi continued her critique. "I call this planning before acting. Being petty isn't necessarily a bad thing; at least I can save money." I continued to give myself a way out. "So, shouldn't 'frugal and house-managing' be used to describe a woman? Fine, here, take this..." A sudden idea struck Sakayanagi. Her willow-leaf brows arched as she extended her fair arm, mischievously handing the half-eaten burger to me. "Cough, cough... I'm not that thrifty, am I?" Looking at the tiny teeth marks on it, I had to concede defeat to Sakayanagi's methods of mockery. "If you can't bear to eat it, you can keep it as a collection. I don't mind; after all, you have good taste." "Since it's an order from Lady Sakayanagi, then I shall eat it!" I took the burger and, like a warrior biting the bullet, took a huge bite, clearing away the eyesore of Sakayanagi's mark. I knew that if I kept retreating without satisfying this girl's twisted sense of humor, Sakayanagi would only push further and further. Keep the green hills, and you won't have to worry about firewood. Cut losses in time and exit; wait for the situation to reverse before starting over to reclaim what belongs to me. This was a life truth I had learned in the stock market. "Wow! Kitazawa-kun, you finally admitted you're a pervert! Disgusting guy, you actually dared to eat it!" Sakayanagi clapped her hands repeatedly, excited by her staged victory as if she had won the lottery. "Hmph! A scholar can be killed but not humiliated. It's just a small burger; did you really think I wouldn't dare?" "Fine, I admit it, Kitazawa-kun still has some manly spirit at critical moments." "As long as you know. I'm usually not impulsive, but when I am, it's quite extraordinary." Sakayanagi's portion was inexplicably appetizing; I finished it in a few bites. "Just like that, right? Boys are quite handsome when their blood rushes to their heads!" "Handsome doesn't put food on the table..." Of course, I didn't agree with that. "I'll let you off easy today... Right! Go buy me a sundae." "You couldn't even finish your burger just now..." "Haven't you heard that girls have two stomachs?" "Right, is that why you grew and shrank in the rabbit hole back then?" "Hahahaha! You caught me!" After finally serving the female devil Sakayanagi and sending her back to her dorm, I finally returned to my beloved bed. Dozens of unread messages... Those kids, they were gossiping quite happily, weren't they? Well, let them be. To think I'd run into Sakayanagi here, what bad luck... It's a good thing she doesn't know about my relationship with Koenji, otherwise, she might use that to tease me. That's right! Tease! I must have been blind to strike up a conversation with this female hooligan in the first place; I never expected a devil's heart to hide beneath her cute exterior! It's all tears when you talk about it, but if I can't afford to offend her, I can at least avoid her. It would be best not to appear in this person's line of sight in the future. However, Sakayanagi's intelligence is still worth paying attention to. I don't believe for a second that Sakayanagi doesn't know the school system managed by her father. So, does the class division have a certain meaning? Why do it this way? If I were the director, there would be no need to do something superfluous that increases the workload. Is the purposeful division for the sake of easier management? There are no international classes or art classes here, so it must be to promote competition, right? Thinking about it this way, if points are distributed as an average per class, everything makes sense. With a unit as large as a class, it's very convenient to evaluate the various abilities of students. For example, if there's a violation, just deduct from the class's total points. This also explains from the side why there are so few couples on campus; because classes are in a hostile competitive relationship, and coupled with the pressure of expulsion, fewer people have the heart to date. Then, it's no coincidence that Classes A and B could choose their leaders so quickly. Are the starting points of the four classes, A, B, C, and D, different? Then how are we supposed to climb up? It's a real headache! If it were Koenji, he definitely wouldn't care about being evaluated as a D or something, but I'm planning to study hard! Not getting an excellent evaluation feels inexplicably frustrating... No choice, one step at a time. Since it's a competition, the school must have set up comeback points for us, right? Before that, I'll just collect some intelligence first. Sigh... wouldn't it be better if everyone got along peacefully? Competition and such, it's so tiring! However, plotting and scheming is indeed something I'm good at. Is this also fate? Volume One: First Glimpse of Talent : 7 Capital is defined as the portion of property provided to obtain more wealth. Capital is defined as the portion of property provided to obtain more wealth. -- Alfred Marshall In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the month, and Class C still hadn't chosen a so-called leader. Of course, there were plenty of people like Ibuki and the mixed-race Yamada Albert who didn't care at all whether there was a leader or not. On Koenji's side, there was no...