Chapter 34

A crowd of onlookers had gathered at the cafeteria entrance, with students from every grade and class among them. After I swaggered away, the place immediately erupted into chatter.

"Ms. Karuizawa, you were too impulsive. You shouldn't have made a bet with someone from Class C on your own... especially not one with stakes like that..." Matsushita said worriedly.

"It's fine! Yosuke-kun will definitely figure something out. I refuse to believe he did something bad without leaving a single trace."

Karuizawa's unexpectedly forceful attitude left people at a loss. But as long as she'd taken the bait, the plan to split up Class D could continue.

Volume One: Making My Mark

Only when I could no longer find an opponent did I sheathe my blade. — Shakespeare

"You're finally here, honor student. We've been waiting for you for ages."

Yamada had just opened the door to the huge private room for us when Ryuen's voice rang out.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. A bunch of losers held me up on the way here."

I sat down across from Ryuen and looked around for little Shiina Hiyori.

"Losers? Hahahaha... No way. Have they already set their sights on you?"

I nodded. "That Horikita Suzune girl from Class D has a dog's nose. She even guessed what was going on here. But she has no evidence."

"She came looking for you without any evidence? She's pretty eager, then... I thought she'd be a little more levelheaded."

"It wasn't her. The one who came to cause trouble was Hirata's girlfriend, Karuizawa. I really put Hirata through the wringer this time, but I also thoroughly pissed off Class D."

I spotted Shiina in the corner and beckoned to her. Reluctantly, she came and sat down beside me. Seriously, how could she just slack off and skip the class discussion?

"Is this Horikita really that impressive? Interesting..." Ryuen looked more and more delighted, as if he'd found a new toy.

"She is. She's a very interesting girl. You'll like her. Ms. Shiina, help me analyze this too. What gave away my plan?"

I asked Shiina, who had helped put together the fake exam questions.

"I think any girl would be on her guard around you, Kitazawa-kun."

Shiina shot me a glance and replied coolly.

"So I'm that dangerous a person, huh? (○ °△ °)っ! No wonder Ichinose wouldn't keep quiet for me and even gave Class D information... Ryuen-san, we'd better be careful. I have a feeling an alliance between Classes B and D is gradually taking shape."

"What's there to be afraid of? Everyone in Class D except Horikita is useless. Hirata was completely taken in by you, wasn't he? Horikita can't hold an entire class together on her own... Still, I thought they'd just let the failures drop out. Now they've gone and spent over a million points to settle things. It's irritating. I'll have to step in myself."

Ryuen said he was irritated, but his smile never faded. I suspected he was secretly cheering Horikita on.

"Looks like you've already got a plan, Ryuen-san."

"Just wait and see. I heard you've been gathering information on the whole grade. Share what you've got. I've got plenty of interesting information myself."

As he spoke, Ryuen gestured for the class leaders to come closer.

"Sure. Let's start with Class D. They've been a disorganized mess, but after this exam, they're probably starting to pull together a little. They've also taken on a lot of debt, though, so they won't have many points to live on next month. Someone's bound to crack and come to me for a loan. I'll gradually build up my network of informants in Class D."

"Forget the small fry. Tell me about their leaders," Ryuen said, taking a swig.

"First, Kikyo Kushida. She's a narrow-minded girl who likes making friends and enjoys the process. She and Horikita Suzune don't get along behind the scenes. But for the sake of the class, Horikita still works with Kushida openly, since Kushida has the widest network in Class D."

I glanced up at Ryuen, who seemed deep in thought, then continued. "Hirata Yosuke. He's a handsome guy ranked second on the class's list of good-looking boys, with a large fan club in the class. He's kind and gentle, a member of the soccer club, an honor student, and a real pushover. He's currently dating Karuizawa, one of the leaders of the girls' group. In my view, he's a little short on brains and too quick to trust people. With so many friends, though, he must be pretty good with people."

"You don't spare even someone like that, do you? Kitazawa-kun, you really are a villain!" Shiina teased.

"Thanks for the compliment! Kei Karuizawa is a very assertive girl who doesn't care much for reason. She has the biggest group of girls in Class D. She and her boy toy seem to be equally lacking in brains, though she's not bad at reading people."

No one interrupted, so I continued. "Koenji Rokusuke, the renowned heir to the Koenji family. He's a genius, talented in both academics and athletics. Unlike the two I just mentioned, he has absolutely no idea how to communicate or get along with others. So far, he hasn't shown any signs of getting involved in the class's power struggles."

I brought Koenji into the open without hesitation. That was part of the plan too. With me around, he'd be fine as long as he didn't go out of his way to provoke Ryuen.

"Is he really someone worth keeping an eye on?" Kaneda asked.

"Definitely. If he wanted to, he could use his abilities to organize Class D into a fighting force. But he doesn't seem interested, so we can leave him aside for now."

"Last is Horikita Suzune. She's a beautiful, composed girl, and very capable, so she's somewhat ostracized in class and doesn't have many friends. The only person she's known to talk to is the gloomy pervert sitting next to her, Ayanokoji. You could say she's fighting alone in Class D. She's also our number-one enemy at the moment."

"Poor Horikita-san..."

"Yeah, yeah. Getting put in a class like that..."

Nishino and the other girls expressed their sympathy.

"Next is Class B. The only one worth noting is Honami Ichinose. She managed to unite Class B all on her own and has tremendous charisma. She has a large number of points, which function like a class fund in Class B. Every student hands over roughly half their points for her to manage. They probably contributed some points to help Class D this time, too. We can use that to make things difficult for them again... In a dog-eat-dog world, they've allied themselves with the weakest class. I don't know what they're thinking. It's possible Ichinose intends to use kindness to bring Class D under her control."

"Hahahaha! What fools..." Ryuen laughed delightedly.

"Leave this to me. It'll be the perfect chance to test this Ichinose."

"Sure. But if most people are handing over their points, anyone who refuses will be ostracized by the class." I chimed in. "Ichinose's biggest problem is that she's too perfect. It's simply unbelievable that someone like her ended up in Class B, so she must have a secret no one knows about. Oh, and there's one more thing. You have to keep it to yourselves."

I lowered my voice and continued. "The ruler of the second-years, Student Council Vice President Miyabi Nagumo, seems to have his eye on Ichinose. I looked into Nagumo-senpai. He's a ruthless guy who went from Class B to Class A and then took control of the entire second year. He also seems to have toyed with quite a few girls."

"Do you really have room to say that about someone else?" Shiina whispered.

"I'm a gentleman, all right? I never force myself on anyone (because I might lose if I got into a fight with a girl), and I don't use underhanded tricks to pick up girls. But Nagumo is downright despicable. He's every bit as capable as I am, too. He'll probably be the next Student Council President. Don't let that get around, though. I'm on good terms with him right now, so I shouldn't badmouth him behind his back."

Ibuki looked as if to say, "I knew it. You really are a bunch of wolves..."