Planning

Just like that, the day quickly gave way to night.

By the time he returned to his single dorm room, it was already evening. He'd been dragged off to eat by Matsushita Chiaki along the way.

Watching the stars flicker faintly in the sky, Rinya stretched. But when he stepped inside, he was surprised to see that his blanket was bulging.

Then a faint, delicate fragrance reached his nose, and he understood who it was.

"Hey, I told you to wait in my room, not crawl into my bed." The boy folded his arms and walked to the bed, mercilessly yanking the blanket off her.

But Rinya had been about to scold her, and when he saw Kushida clutching a pillow, fast asleep, the words caught in his throat.

"Heh, this little girl really makes herself at home."

Rinya shook his head. Seeing the girl sleeping soundly, he checked his phone and saw that it was still early. He tucked the blanket back over her, then casually set an alarm for an hour later and placed it beside her pillow.

Then he murmured, "Since you waited so long for me in the middle of the night, I'll give you a little reward."

When he'd finished, Rinya turned on his computer and logged into the School Forum. For him, gathering information on certain key people was essential.

"Now that Ayanokoji is in Class D, it's not a good time to make a move there. I can only plant my pieces one by one and wait until I've got most of the core players in the palm of my hand before I take them down.

After going over the recent activity in the other three classes, A, B, and C, Rinya had a general idea of the situation.

In Class C, the only male strategist was Ryuen Kakeru. But given the way he operated behind the scenes, it would probably be hard to find an opportunity to put pressure on him. For now, taking control by force was the safest option, though he'd need to wait for the right moment. Otherwise, it could easily backfire.

At a glance, Class B seemed to rely almost entirely on its unity to stay afloat. The simplest way to deal with it would be to bring its leader, Ichinose, under his control. The whole system would collapse on its own. But judging from the everyday rivalries that Class B members had inadvertently revealed on the forum, the class was currently brimming with enthusiasm. If he forced his way in now, he'd inevitably drag Class D into the abyss. He might not care, but he wouldn't be able to escape expulsion either.

Class A had Sakayanagi Arisu pulling the strings from behind the scenes, a strategist every bit as capable as Ayanokoji. The students in her class were also among the best in the year, both in intelligence and physical ability. At this early stage, they were practically invincible.

Even so, Rinya had no intention of letting them off the hook. He'd promised only to ensure Sakayanagi Arisu graduated as a member of Class A. As for everyone else, that would depend on whom he wanted to graduate. But it was still too early to talk about that.

After weighing everything, Rinya had settled on the strategy best suited to the current situation. In a word: "Wait for the right moment, then reap the rewards and take control."

The story's future might change dramatically because of his presence, triggering a chain reaction of butterfly effects. But as long as certain smaller events unfolded more or less as they had before, the initiative would always remain in his hands!

"Just like you, Kushida Kikyo. Heh."

As the boy glanced playfully at the sleeping girl on the bed, the alarm went off at just the right moment.

"Ring, ring, ring!"

"Mm... There shouldn't be an alarm clock in this room." The girl drowsily stopped the ringing.

But in the next instant, it seemed something dawned on her, and her body stiffened. "This is... Oh no, oh no! How did I fall asleep?"

She instinctively started to get up, but as soon as she stood, she bumped straight into the boy, who was watching her with a faintly amused smile. "Hehe... M-Master... I'm s-sorry." Kushida awkwardly lowered her head, but her bright eyes kept flicking upward to see if he was angry.

"Oh, you're awake?"

Rinya slowly raised his hand.

The moment Kushida saw it, she dropped to the floor, clutching her head and begging for mercy through tears. "Master, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Don't hit me, please don't hit me! Waaaah!"

"What are you doing?" Rinya chuckled helplessly, thinking, Did that slap I gave her last time really traumatize her?

When she still hesitated to move, Rinya simply pulled her to her feet. He let her settle down for a moment, then had her sit and carefully began to instruct her.

He went over things like hand signals and the other methods she could use to gather and report information in her daily life.

Once he'd covered everything, Rinya told Kushida to deliberately get in Ayanokoji's way during upcoming class activities whenever she had the chance. She should try to make students from other classes notice that there was something a little unusual about him. Nothing too obvious—just enough to leave an impression.

Kushida nodded repeatedly. Then, as if she'd thought of something, she paused and knelt close to Rinya's knees, her eyes gleaming. "Since Ayanokoji is so important to you, Master, doesn't that mean the fingerprint I left behind back then could—"

Just as Kushida was about to bring it up, Rinya added, as if he'd seen it coming, "Oh, and when you threaten someone in the future, be smarter about it. Don't let people touch your clothes for nothing. Clothes get touched here and there all the time, so fingerprints are useless. Got it?"

"But I..." At that, Kushida felt like she'd swallowed a bitter pill and couldn't complain.

The bitter, aggrieved look on her face even amused Rinya, usually so unflappable. "Heh. As long as you understand. Head back early."

"Yes." Kushida quietly got up. As she left, she couldn't help looking back every few steps. For some reason, she felt she could no longer make sense of where he was headed. Maybe once the gap between them grew wide enough, he'd abandon her...

But what would it matter if he did? As long as he helped her achieve her dream, wouldn't it be even better to regain her freedom afterward?

That was what the innocent-looking Kushida told herself.

Of course, what was going on beneath that other side of her was anyone's guess...