Exploitation

Seeing Toru Hasegawa open his phone again, Masumi Kamuro smiled:

"So, you have so many people concerned about you outside of Class A?"

"Hmm, are you jealous?"

That said, the message that had arrived was certainly not about "concern," but an invitation.

It was from Honami Ichinose.

She was inviting him to meet on the rooftop of the school building during the lunch break today.

"No, whatever you do is none of my business." Masumi Kamuro turned her head slightly as she said this, but quickly turned it back. "You told me before that there was a way to break free from Arisu Sakayanagi, right? Does that still hold?"

"Regretting it now? But actually, wanting to break free from her is very simple."

"How so?"

"You want me to say it here? Better not."

Toru Hasegawa glanced around. They were currently in the Class A classroom, and he didn't know if Arisu Sakayanagi had bribed any other students; in any case, being careful was always the right move.

This feeling of having to be on guard even against his own classmates made Toru Hasegawa feel a mix of amusement and frustration.

But it was mostly for the sake of Masumi Kamuro.

That was not a good method.

Masumi Kamuro probably thought he would provide a perfect solution, but unfortunately, he wouldn't do that, nor was there such a wonderful way to resolve it.

"I'll tell you at noon."

After saying this, Toru Hasegawa didn't wait for Masumi Kamuro's reaction and started studying on his own.

His mind was incredibly sharp right now; he felt like he was experiencing what it was like to be a true top student.

His grades in middle school were thanks to the gifts of his past life; the difficulty of the subjects in elementary and middle school was a breeze, and for the humanities, he only needed to memorize things slightly.

But high school was different; the difficulty level of high school and middle school was simply not in the same league. Even though he had already laid a foundation once, it was still a bit challenging.

Yet now, even this bit of difficulty had turned into a castle in the air before him.

Toru Hasegawa had never imagined that he would one day actually enjoy studying because of this.

According to their agreement, after the morning classes ended, Toru Hasegawa and Masumi Kamuro arrived at the rooftop of the school building.

Looking around, there wasn't a shadow of a student to be seen, only a lonely security camera monitoring them from above the doorway.

Perhaps it was because they had arrived so quickly, but in any case, they were currently in a state where no one else was around.

"What about the method you told me about this morning? Can you tell me now?" Masumi Kamuro feigned great interest.

And Toru Hasegawa had actually known this all along.

If Masumi Kamuro really wanted to break free from Arisu Sakayanagi, she should have agreed with him right after the quiz ended, not now.

So, was this a case of "the drinker's heart is not in the cup"?

Toru Hasegawa smiled: "You should know the answer, shouldn't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean? How could I possibly know? I'm the one who had my weakness grabbed by her because of you, because of you!" Masumi Kamuro emphasized the volume on "because of you."

"Then, wouldn't it be fine if you just eliminated the weakness?"

"..." Masumi Kamuro's expression froze. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. You go to the teacher and admit to the fact that you shoplifted, then wait for the judgment. It's that simple."

"Hey, hey, you're not joking, are you? How could I possibly take the initiative to admit that to the teacher?" Masumi Kamuro clicked her tongue explicitly, her expression one of utter disbelief.

"And then what? How long do you plan to live while hiding this?" Toru Hasegawa countered. "Just pretend nothing ever happened and keep living like that? If you didn't care about the opinions of others, you could do that, but since you can be threatened by Arisu Sakayanagi over this, it means you still care. So, isn't the answer already laid out before you?"

People like him and Arisu Sakayanagi were ultimately rather abnormal; most people would simply despise such behavior.

"Aren't you afraid I'll be expelled because of this?" Masumi Kamuro still found it unacceptable.

Toru Hasegawa said expressionlessly: "Who hasn't made mistakes when they were young? If you don't want the facts of the past to continue putting pressure on your heart, then facing it calmly is the best answer. As for expulsion, I don't think it will lead to that consequence."

"So this is ultimately just your wishful thinking, isn't it?"

"Indeed, I don't deny that." Toru Hasegawa nodded. "However, aren't you interested in the reactions of other students after they find out what you've done?"

Although things might not necessarily develop that way, one couldn't deny that the possibility existed.

Hearing this, Masumi Kamuro widened her eyes: "So this was your real purpose?"

Wanting to see how others would react to this matter—what a twisted hobby.

"No, this can only be considered one of them; it doesn't count as the 'real' purpose. In any case, the choice is in your own hands."

"...Although I had expected it, I didn't expect it to really be like this." Masumi Kamuro sighed and looked at Toru Hasegawa with a complex expression. "Does playing with other people's lives at will make you happy?"

Toru Hasegawa was silent; he couldn't answer this question.

Was he happy?

If one were to talk about emotions like happiness, they certainly existed. After all, in the past, being able to harvest the feelings of a beautiful girl... that was something he wouldn't have even dared to imagine. But what about the rest?

No, why was he starting to think based on the premise that what the other party said was true after Masumi said it like that?

Because subconsciously, he had already admitted to himself that he was truly toying with other people's lives...

Toru Hasegawa opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing at all.

"Alright, alright, I was just joking." It was the first time Masumi Kamuro had seen Toru Hasegawa in such a state, and she felt a bit panicked. "Shall we go get something to eat together?"

"...You go down and wait for me for a moment; I'll be there shortly."

"Oh... okay." Masumi Kamuro took one last look at him as she left, then finally headed toward the stairs.

And then, she ran into Honami Ichinose on the stairs.

"If I recall correctly, you are Ichinose from Class B, right?"

The concern that had just begun to rise in Masumi Kamuro vanished in an instant, because she realized a rather unpleasant fact.

That guy had clearly already made an appointment with someone else on the rooftop, yet he had deliberately asked her to come up at noon to talk.

In other words, he wanted her to consider the risk of their conversation being overheard by someone from Class B like Ichinose.

All that talk about "the choice being in my own hands" was, as expected, nothing more than empty, pleasant-sounding words.

Under these circumstances, how could she possibly have any other choice?

"Yes, I didn't expect to see Kamuro-san here either. Did Hasegawa-kun invite you over?"

Honami Ichinose's reaction was as if to say she hadn't heard a thing, but Masumi Kamuro had grown a lot after being tempered over the past month.

Although, most of that experience came from Arisu Sakayanagi during the early days.

She and Toru Hasegawa had headed straight for the rooftop after class ended; even if Honami Ichinose had wasted a little time greeting her friends, it was impossible that she hadn't heard anything at all.

The only question was how much she had actually heard.

However, she couldn't point this out to her face, because these were all just baseless speculations.

"Yeah, I didn't expect to see Ichinose here either." After saying that, Masumi Kamuro walked down the stairs.

Honami Ichinose watched with a smile as Masumi Kamuro truly disappeared from her field of vision before turning to walk onto the rooftop.

"Hasegawa-kun used me, didn't he."