Chapter 38

Kobashi asked once more to make sure. "No, I promise." I gazed tenderly into her eyes. For once, I didn't need to lie, leaving my impressive acting skills with nothing to do. "All right... I believe you. How about this, then? Could you help mediate the conflict between the two sides, with Ichinose leading the discussion? As the second-in-command, you're respected by everyone in Class C, right?" Kobashi had already prepared her suggestion. So this little miss had been waiting to spring this on me... Fine. This was a good chance to see what you people were up to. "No problem," I answered as she looked at me expectantly. "But let's handle this by the book. If Sudo really did hit someone from our Class C, an apology and compensation are a must." "Mm, I'll have Ichinose-san get in touch with you, then!" "All right. Let's not talk about these little matters anymore. We don't get out often, so let's chat about anything fun lately. Sakagami-sensei said we might get a chance to go on a seaside vacation this summer. Have you heard about it?" "We have, but we thought Hoshinomiya-sensei was just bragging! I didn't expect you to have heard about it too. I guess it's real." "I didn't expect this school to treat its students so well, either. Though I'm guessing it'll be a supervised trip, something like a training camp, it'll still be a lot more relaxing than staying at school." "Let's go have fun together when it happens! I'll invite Shiranami and the others..." Setting aside the class issue, Kobashi seemed quite interested in me personally. "Sounds good. Oda and the others should be up for it too. Let's all get together."

During a Conversation, Judgment Matters More Than Eloquence

"Now I see what's going on. But Ryuen, are you really comfortable letting them confront Class D on their own?" That night, I went to Ryuen's dorm room to discuss our next move. It turned out that the so-called plan to attack Class D had only been one part of Ryuen's test of the school's point-distribution rules. One of Ryuen's goals had already been achieved: temporarily stopping the school from distributing points. Maybe he'd use this trick to his advantage often from now on. After all, if no new points were distributed, Class C, which had amassed the most private points, would benefit the most. Ryuen could easily cause chaos across the entire year, or even the whole school, and then use the gap in private points he'd built up to turn everything upside down once the distributions stopped. "If you want to go play around, I don't mind. Those Class D guys are no big deal. Even if they teamed up with Ichinose, there'd be nothing to worry about." Ryuen reclined against the headboard with his hands behind his head, lounging as he watched a show on the TV. "Don't be so full of yourself, Ryuen. I think Horikita's pretty capable. You thought the same thing when I made my move last time, and she saw right through it..." I said, feeling a little frustrated. "Hahahaha! True, losing to a woman isn't a good sign... If you can't handle her, leave it to me! A woman's still a woman. I'll deal with her quickly." Ryuen looked utterly confident. "Don't underestimate women. Aside from us, every other class in our year is run by a woman, you know?" I suddenly realized this. What a victory for women's rights! "Hahahaha! Then the two of us can reset the order of our year, can't we? No matter how capable they are, those women will have to listen to us." "That's true." I couldn't be bothered to puncture Ryuen's confidence. I wouldn't underestimate women anyway. After all, my mom was the head of our household! I'd spent half my life living in a woman's shadow. I was used to it. "Speaking of women, that reminds me. Ibuki in our class doesn't seem very obedient. I wanted to get her to help with this plan, but since it wasn't an exam, she just seemed impatient." Ryuen thought for a moment. "That's true. She can't stand that you rose to the top through force, and she can't stand me either, since I'm your accomplice." Even though I sat in front of and behind Ibuki, depending on how you looked at it, I had a hard time getting along with her. It was even harder for everyone else. The only one who might have a chance was Shiina. She seemed to have stirred up some strange protective instinct in Ibuki. I hadn't even planned to do anything to Shiina, but Ibuki was unusually wary that I might make a move on her. "She's a violent girl herself. It's ridiculous... Should we teach her a lesson? I don't want someone suddenly stabbing us in the back from inside Class C." Ryuen and I were thinking along exactly the same lines. Great minds think alike. "It's fine. Ibuki's influence comes from her courage and standing among the girls. In truth, she's a loner and doesn't pose much of a threat. And the current situation might not be a bad thing. We've already offended quite a few classes, so we can deliberately leave them an opening... Especially since Ibuki may be dissatisfied, but she's still loyal to the class." "Hahahaha! You know her better than I do. That puts me at ease. Then we'll use that to our advantage. I'll pretend to have a strained relationship with Ibuki." "Pretend? I didn't know you were so lenient with your own classmates, Ryuen-san. The other classes call you a tyrant and me your treacherous adviser..." "My lenience just shows how composed I am. If people like that don't obey, a king has plenty of ways to punish them." Ryuen glanced at his fingers. "But a tyrant would squeeze points out of the people to build up the strength to transfer classes, wouldn't he? Yet you're thinking about gathering eight hundred million points and all..." I joked with Ryuen. "I've told you, I don't care about the school's so-called rules. Whether I make it to Class A isn't how I measure myself. What I really want is to beat down anyone who gets in my way." That sounded a lot like some young master I knew! Did you have to be this fearless to lead me? Hahahaha! "Fair enough. That's the kind of presence a king should have... I think the only person on campus who can match you is Sakayanagi Arisu. She's a dangerous one who never plays by the rules, either." "Don't worry. I'll beat her, then hand her over to you to do as you please. You can get your revenge however you like." "Haha! I'll look forward to it... Anyway, I'll do my best to smooth things over between us and Class D... After all, Ishizaki Daishi is my deskmate. Hahahaha! I've watched our company's legal department at work every day, so I'm practically a lawyer. I could take the bar exam. They'll have to pay a fortune to get rid of me." "Go have fun however you like! But if you mess up Horikita and Class D, it won't be any fun... I'm looking forward to seeing her surprise me. The more she struggles, the more excited I get." Ryuen licked his lips, probably thinking about something strange. "Now that you mention it, I'm looking forward to it too. Heh heh heh..." With Ryuen's approval, I went the next day at Ichinose's invitation to stir things up... No, to make peace. "Why is this bastard here?!" Karuizawa was the first to object to my arrival. "Getting angry makes you age faster, Karuizawa-san." I grinned and found somewhere to sit. "I'm the one who invited Kitazawa-kun," Ichinose said with a smile. "It'd be great if we could settle this peacefully among ourselves. Kitazawa-kun is Ishizaki-san's deskmate—