After leaving the classroom, Takahashi began wandering aimlessly around campus. As he walked, he mapped out the school in his mind: where the convenience store was, where the dormitories were, where the security cameras were, and so on. He committed it all to memory.
Oh? What's that?
Several injured students were walking toward Takahashi: a hulking Black man, a girl with short blue hair, and an unremarkable-looking boy. They all seemed to follow the lead of a red-haired boy. (At this point, Ryuen had fought another student in a showdown of strength, establishing himself as Class C's leader.)
As they passed each other, Takahashi and the red-haired boy exchanged glances.
"Hey."
Suddenly, the red-haired boy called out to Takahashi.
"Hmm?"
Takahashi turned around and met the red-haired boy's gaze.
After staring at each other for two and a half seconds, the red-haired boy said, "I don't like the look in your eyes."
"Oh, really?" Takahashi glanced at the security camera nearby, then ignored him and walked straight into the convenience store.
He picked up a few daily necessities at the convenience store, and of course, noticed the free items too.
Not long after he left the convenience store...
Was that Hirata?
"That's pretty much the whole story, so I hope you'll be my boyfriend. Um... just pretend, though."
"Okay. I understand your situation. I'll protect you."
"Thank you, Hirata," Karuizawa Kei said, wrapping both arms around Hirata's.
So Karuizawa Kei had a past like that. It had nothing to do with him, so he'd leave it alone and go back to his dorm.
After collecting his room key and the dormitory rules from the dorm manager, Takahashi went to his room—Room 403.
Once he'd put away his belongings, he made himself a cup of coffee and stood by the window... Bullying, huh? If my theory about this school's rules is right, you'll either keep getting bullied here or be used by someone. And being a parasite isn't exactly a good path to take. You've only just met, so choosing someone to latch onto this early isn't very wise.
Looking out the window, Takahashi's eyes flickered. Suddenly, he chuckled, closed his eyes, and murmured, "For now, Hirata really is the best person to latch onto openly. But that also shows everyone where the two of you are vulnerable."
Hirata seemed like someone who cared a lot about his friends. At the very least, he definitely cared about his classmates. Karuizawa, meanwhile, was afraid of being bullied.
"According to the Nihon Shoki, the first emperor, Emperor Jimmu, founded the nation in 660 BC..."
As he listened to Teacher Chabashira's Japanese history lecture, Takahashi watched his classmates sleeping or playing on their phones. Yamauchi, who had introduced himself as the baseball club's ace pitcher, was even playing a handheld game. Yet Teacher Chabashira turned a blind eye to what was happening below. She was their homeroom teacher, after all. How could she care so little about her students? Or was there something that would make them sit properly through class on their own, something they just hadn't discovered yet?
Takahashi rubbed his temples, then propped his face on one hand and tilted his head slightly toward the classroom camera. He smiled...
Then Takahashi took out his phone and checked that he still had over eighty thousand points. A lot of interesting things will happen next month.
Watching four figures emerge from the karaoke place, Takahashi leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets, smiled, and called out:
"You're Ryuen Kakeru, right? We've met before. Interested in making a deal?"
Ryuen looked at Takahashi and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Oh?"
Before you continue