Before the Second Class, the School Swimming Pool (Continued)

"H-Hiyori, Hiyori-san, y-you're really beautiful too!"

"By the way, Airi-san, are you a model online?"

"Huh?"

Airi Sakura froze, completely unprepared for Shiina Hiyori to say something like that.

W-Why did Hiyori-san know?

Did Keima-kun tell her!?

Did Keima-kun tell Hiyori-san about... all this?

Were they already that close?

Seeing the shock on Airi Sakura's face, Keima Katsuragi sensed trouble.

Airi Sakura would definitely think he was the one who told Shiina Hiyori!

And then she'd definitely imagine all sorts of strange things.

He couldn't let things go that far!

"Hiyori, why do you say that?"

Keima Katsuragi immediately asked, making it clear that he had nothing to do with this.

So Keima-kun hadn't told her?

"Because I recently started using social media too, didn't I? I've been looking forward to your walkthrough updates, Keima-kun."

As Shiina Hiyori spoke, she took out her device.

Hearing Shiina Hiyori call him Keima-kun, Airi Sakura pressed her lips together.

Hiyori-san had been following Keima-kun too.

"Then I noticed that your account was following someone, Keima-kun, so I got curious and clicked on it. It belonged to a blogger called Shizuku, who had an amazing number of followers. Since I'd only started using this kind of site recently, I didn't know much about the various bloggers, but I often saw Shizuku's account on the homepage. It was always one of the most popular."

Shiina Hiyori explained at an unhurried pace.

"Airi-san's distinctive red hair is unmistakable. I also noticed that Shizuku's account had started posting less often after school began, and that some of the more recent photos had backgrounds that looked exactly like the dorm rooms at our school. So I put two and two together."

"Wow, that's amazing..."

Elsie exclaimed. Shiina Hiyori was like a detective, piecing together everything about Airi Sakura.

Keima Katsuragi didn't say anything. He merely turned his head slightly to watch Airi Sakura's reaction.

Airi Sakura lowered her head, gripping the hem of her skirt with both hands.

But soon, she lifted her head, a smile appearing on her face, and nodded.

In the past, Airi Sakura would have done everything she could to deny any connection between herself and Shizuku.

But now, Airi Sakura felt she had grown.

If she considered the people around her friends, then she shouldn't hide things like this from them.

So Airi Sakura decided to admit it openly.

"Yes, Hiyori-san, you're right. I'm sorry I kept it from you before."

"You don't have to apologize, Airi-san. It wasn't until after I'd said all that... that I realized I might have upset you. I'm the one who should apologize."

Shiina Hiyori hurriedly waved her hands, apologizing.

She wasn't very good at dealing with relationships either, so she hadn't thought it through at first. She'd only been curious.

"No, no, it's okay! I'd actually been looking for a chance to tell you all."

Airi Sakura replied.

Compared to before, there was a glimmer of confidence in her eyes.

At the same time, in the student counseling room.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka knocked on the door.

"Come in."

At Teacher Chabashira's voice, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka opened the door and walked in.

"Teacher, what is it? I'm carefully planning my weekend right now."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka spoke lazily, though his face showed no expression.

"As far as I know, you don't have any friends in your class."

Teacher Chabashira said mockingly.

"Teacher, you don't sound much like a homeroom teacher."

"Never mind. I called you here today to talk about something important."

Teacher Chabashira told Ayanokoji Kiyotaka about her past.

But the latter's expression didn't change at all.

"Teacher, I don't understand why you're telling me this. If there's nothing else, I'm leaving."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka turned around and started to leave.

But Teacher Chabashira called out to him.

"I think you're indispensable if we're going to rise to Class A."

"I was wondering what you were going to say. You must be joking."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied expressionlessly.

"I'd be happy to be praised so unnaturally and made out to be special by you—I could never say something like that."

"A few days ago, a man contacted the school and demanded that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka be expelled."

Teacher Chabashira narrowed her eyes slightly, seeming to search Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's face for any change in his expression.

But she found nothing.

"Expel me? That doesn't make much sense. I don't know who that person is, but the school can't expel a student against their will, can it?"

Though Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said that, he knew perfectly well who Teacher Chabashira meant.

The man who shared his surname, the man related to him by blood—

The man who had created him.

"Of course, no matter what a third party says, we can't expel you. As long as you're a student at this school, the rules protect you. But... if you misbehave, that's another matter. Smoking, bullying, theft, cheating—if you cause a scandal, expulsion will be unavoidable."

"Unfortunately, I have no intention of doing any of those things."

"That has nothing to do with your intentions. If I decide you've done something, then it'll become the truth."

"Are you threatening me?"

"This is a deal, Ayanokoji. You make Class A your goal for my sake, and I give you my full support to protect you. Don't you think that's a good deal?"

"You don't need me for that deal."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied.

"Someone in the class has already taken action."

"You mean Katsuragi."

"Katsuragi and Horikita. I haven't interacted with them much, but it seems they're working to improve the class, so I believe they can lead it forward."

"Katsuragi really is a special student. He's as special as you, Ayanokoji."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't deny it.

"He was the first in Class D to discover the secret of the S-System, wasn't he?"

"I'm not sure. I only know that Hirata asked Katsuragi about it, and he answered."

"He changed the class situation with ease, didn't he? If not for Katsuragi, our points might have been wiped out within half a month."

"That would have been unfortunate."

There wasn't a trace of concern in Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's voice.

"At the entrance exams, the two of you attracted the most attention. One got perfect scores in every subject, and the other got fifty in every subject."

"That really was an unfortunate coincidence."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied, though he had already begun thinking about what Teacher Chabashira had said.

Come to think of it, Katsuragi and I took completely opposite approaches.

Since I didn't know how capable the other students were, I chose to score fifty in every subject, putting myself right in the middle.

But Katsuragi showed some of his ability.

After thinking it over, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka spoke again.

"If that's the case, wouldn't Katsuragi-kun be more than enough? I've also heard that you and Katsuragi-kun had some kind of agreement—"

"My agreement with him fell apart."

Teacher Chabashira said with a frown.

Volume One: Chapter Sixty-Five: Walkthrough Progress, One Hundred Percent!

"Oh? Why?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked.

"The details have nothing to do with you. In any case, the agreement between Katsuragi and me is over, and I can't guarantee he'll keep working to get the class promoted."

Teacher Chabashira sighed.

Everything that had happened yesterday had been completely beyond her expectations.

"I heard something happened at school yesterday. Is it true that the security staff were called in?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked, taking out his device and opening the school forum. He showed Teacher Chabashira several posts.

"That has nothing to do with you. As a student, don't interfere too much in matters that don't concern you."

"Rising to Class A has nothing to do with me either, does it?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied.

Judging by Teacher Chabashira's reaction, though, he could be fairly sure that yesterday's incident had something to do with Keima Katsuragi.

He had used the incident to end his agreement with Teacher Chabashira.

In that case...

Could Keima Katsuragi have planned this from the very beginning?

Had he never intended to honor their agreement?

But why had Keima Katsuragi done that?

Was it really just because he wanted to play games?

No, impossible.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka immediately dismissed the idea.

After testing him last time, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had more or less concluded that Keima Katsuragi wasn't targeting him.

That only made Ayanokoji Kiyotaka more puzzled about his motives.

In the White Room's education, he had never encountered anyone like Keima Katsuragi.

Rokusuke Koenji was just as self-willed as Keima Katsuragi, impossible to predict, but just as he himself had said, he had formed no connections with the others in the class.

But Keima Katsuragi had quietly built a network of relationships with many of his classmates. He was drawing closer to them at an astonishing pace, even changing them.

The White Room had techniques for manipulating people's hearts, but Keima Katsuragi acted in a completely different way.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was becoming more and more curious about Keima Katsuragi.

If it was him...