When the girls heard that next month might be a nightmare, their expressions grew tense.
They didn't want their wonderful school life to last only a month.
Under the pressure from the girls, the boys had no choice but to be a little more proactive. At the very least, they wouldn't deliberately make mistakes that were obviously avoidable.
There was nothing wrong with saying that Class A wasn't really Class A yet, because all four classes had started with a thousand Class Points.
In theory, any class had a chance to become Class A right away.
Even later on, when every single Class Point was precious, Sakayanagi hadn't wanted to squander that initial thousand. That was why she'd made the bet with Katsuragi: to make the students understand how important Class Points were.
"Hey, Miss Sakayanagi, don't you have anything to say?" Yagami Shizuka turned to ask.
He sat in the second row, in the second seat, while Sakayanagi Arisu sat in the first row, in the third seat.
All Yagami had to do was turn around to meet her eyes. He could always feel Sakayanagi Arisu watching him, too.
But whenever he turned around, he'd think he was imagining things. Sakayanagi Arisu was always focused on her book. How could she possibly be looking at him?
How strange. He'd specifically trained himself to have eyes in the back of his head. How could he be mistaken?
"You should be confident you can beat Katsuragi by now, right? Need any help?" Yagami continued.
"Hmph!" Sakayanagi snorted and ignored him. A little later, she sneaked another glance at him from the corner of her eye, then snorted even louder.
"I'm sorry. I might have startled you this morning," Yagami said apologetically. "How about this? I'll help you take down Katsuragi, and you go on a date with me once?"
Sakayanagi still didn't answer. She believed the best way to deal with a pest was to ignore him. Given enough time, he'd naturally give up.
She'd already decided that Yagami would be one of the first students she'd have expelled.
Then again, did he even have the ability to be worth burying?
She didn't take Yagami's offer to help her very seriously.
As far as she was concerned, it didn't matter whether she won or lost this battle.
Besides, she didn't think Yagami had what it took.
If he really could be useful, what would be so bad about going on a date with him?
Sakayanagi Arisu didn't yet know that Ayanokoji had entered the school. Even if she met him, she wouldn't recognize him right away.
Nor had she liked Ayanokoji from the start. At first, her goal had been to defeat him. Only after failing to do so would she gradually fall for him in her second year.
That meant there was still plenty of time.
He had all the time in the world to tease this girl who thought she could bury every genius.
"Hello, I'm Hashimoto Masayoshi." A man with long blond hair tied in a ponytail, whose manner seemed rather frivolous, greeted Yagami. "You've got some nerve, teasing our princess. No wonder you're the gutsiest guy in our class."
Here he was: the man who'd caused Kamuro and Sakayanagi to be expelled, always changing sides to suit the wind. He was also one of Sakayanagi Arisu's most trusted subordinates from the very beginning.
Hashimoto Masayoshi was handsome and silver-tongued. In Class A, he was someone like Kushida Kikyo.
Like Kushida Kikyo, he had no scruples and was deeply selfish. He would readily betray his classmates and switch masters whenever it suited him.
At first, he thought Sakayanagi was strong, so he'd willingly worked for her. Later, when he realized Ayanokoji was stronger, he'd defected to Ayanokoji's side.
Once he'd learned how strong Ayanokoji was, he'd suggested that Sakayanagi recruit him. Sakayanagi refused, because she wanted to face Ayanokoji herself, and that was why Hashimoto wanted to betray her.
He'd gone ahead and betrayed her first, cutting off his own escape route before asking Ayanokoji for help. That forced Ayanokoji to assist him and led to Sakayanagi's expulsion. In exchange, Ayanokoji was supposed to transfer into his class.
Whatever his reasons, it was hard to like that kind of behavior.
No country liked traitors. Unlike Katsuragi, who'd been left with no choice, Hashimoto had willingly gone over to Ayanokoji.
That should have been the whole story, but things weren't quite that simple.
Hashimoto Masayoshi might have been selfish, but he certainly wasn't stupid. Everything he did was carefully thought out. He wasn't simply trying to survive at any cost.
Though he'd betrayed Sakayanagi, he hadn't betrayed Class A.
At the time, Sakayanagi had been blinded by love. If she'd insisted on going her own way, Class A would have faced only two possibilities:
Sakayanagi would lose to Ayanokoji, or she would deliberately lose to him.
Either way, their class would have no chance of graduating as Class A.
Seeing this clearly was why he'd betrayed Sakayanagi. Later, when Class A called him a traitor, he didn't bother to explain himself.
Compared with Hashimoto Masayoshi, who'd done everything he could to make sure his class graduated as Class A, Sakayanagi Arisu had been the one betraying the class at the time.
Yagami was a pragmatist. He wouldn't treat Hashimoto coldly before he betrayed them, and even if he did betray them, that was fine. There were uses for traitors, too.
With his hints, the last thing he needed to worry about was a traitor.
"Hello, I'm Yagami Shizuka. Nice to meet you." Yagami shook his hand amiably.
"You seem pretty impressive! You're handsome, and you even managed to get Miss Sakayanagi on the back foot." Hashimoto casually draped an arm over Yagami's shoulder. "Do you really like Miss Sakayanagi? I've got a thing for her too... Mind if I have her?"
"No." Yagami waved a hand. "I said she's mine, so she's mine. If you want her, you should've made your move earlier. Otherwise, we'll just have to see who comes out on top."
"Ha! I was only joking," Hashimoto said with a laugh. "Actually, I was hoping you could introduce me. I'd like to get to know Miss Sakayanagi, too."
"Then just go talk to her. She isn't as cold as you think. She's actually gentle, kind, and easy to get along with. She'd be happy to be your friend."
"Are you serious? Is the Sakayanagi you know the same one I know?"
Sakayanagi Arisu, who'd overheard Yagami and Hashimoto talking, was delighted one moment and frowning the next.
She cared about what other people thought of her, too.
Gentle and kind... She admitted Yagami was laying it on a bit thick.
At least she was gentle, right?
Because of her weak heart, she couldn't even get angry, so she had no choice but to be gentle.
Mm, gently burying a genius was gentle, too.
As for kindness... Well, how could she do something as cruel as leaving a genius's body out in the wilderness? Not only would she never do that, she'd bury them herself.
So yes, she was very kind.
He understands me.
Ever since she'd started school, she'd been keeping an eye on her classmates. To make things easier for herself, she'd been searching for capable, loyal subordinates.
Hashimoto Masayoshi was one promising candidate.
She needed someone sociable to run errands for her.
She didn't care whether Hashimoto was trustworthy. In her eyes, as long as someone could do things for her, they had value.
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