When Kushida heard Shuichi Kanda's words, her hand trembled as she drank her soup, and she spilled some. Luckily, it wasn't much, and none of it splashed onto her clothes.
I was right!
"I'm not like you. I have lots of friends."
Yeah, yeah, you have lots of friends. Good for you.
Then Shuichi Kanda picked up his phone and transferred 30,000 Private Points to Kushida.
"I sent you 30,000 Private Points. After deducting the cost of repairing Sakura's camera, the rest is your payment."
30,000?
"You eat such good food every day, and you still have more than 30,000 points?"
Kushida couldn't believe it. Class D had only received 100,000 points at the beginning of the school year. If Shuichi Kanda ate such good food every day, how could he still have more than 30,000 points left?
"You don't need to worry about that. My points come from completely legitimate sources."
"And unlike you, I don't have many friends."
Of course they were legitimate.
Aside from the nearly 20 million points he'd earned through the Value-Added Bank, he also had the 2 million he'd swindled from Sakayanagi, as well as the 100,000 Chabashira-sensei had given him for his first month's living expenses.
30,000 points was nothing to him.
After spending some time with him, Kushida Kikyo knew that Shuichi Kanda wasn't the kind of person who would sacrifice himself for someone else, so she accepted the points without the slightest guilt.
After all, having lots of friends was its own kind of pressure. Whenever someone invited her out, she had to go, even if she didn't want to.
Thinking about it made Kushida feel pressured all over again.
Chapter 78: What? Someone's Treating Me to Dinner?
Ever since Shuichi Kanda had warned Sudo, the guy had behaved himself over the past couple of days. He'd probably realized how serious things were—or maybe he was just holding his temper in, eager to see the humiliating looks on the faces of those few Class C students.
And just like that, it was Friday lunchtime.
Chabashira-sensei specifically informed them that Class C had withdrawn its complaint against Sudo.
It seemed Sudo had held up under the pressure, while Class C hadn't found any decisive evidence. That was probably why they'd so readily backed down.
Shuichi Kanda had thought they would find a video showing the three Class C students entering the Special Building with Sudo and coming out injured.
Ryuen seemed to know what he was doing. He also understood that the video wouldn't prove anything. Without crucial evidence, Class D would remain in an unassailable position.
As it turned out, Ryuen really had found such footage.
There was video of the four of them—Komiya and Kondo taking Sudo to the Special Building—as well as footage of Sudo leaving the building. There was even a video of Komiya, Ishizaki, and Kondo coming out of the building.
But although Komiya and the others had some injuries in the footage, they were nothing compared to the injuries they had when they later filed their complaint.
If they tried to use that as evidence, Shuichi Kanda of Class D might seize on the discrepancy and turn the tables on them.
So when Ryuen still hadn't found any evidence by Friday noon, he withdrew the complaint without hesitation and cut his losses.
Class 1-C.
"Hiyori, I remember you know Shuichi Kanda from Class D."
During lunch break, Ryuen came over to Hiyori Shiina, who was reading.
At his words, Shiina scrunched up her little nose, then nodded.
"Then do me a favor and arrange to meet him. Tell him to wait for me at the sushi restaurant in the Shopping Street at five this afternoon." Ryuen's tone left no room for refusal.
As a member of Class C, Hiyori Shiina naturally couldn't defy Ryuen, the class's dictator. In fact, when it came to the class competition, she wanted to do her part.
But it was obvious that Ryuen wouldn't be asking to meet Shuichi Kanda for anything good. Since Hiyori Shiina considered Shuichi Kanda a fellow book lover, she couldn't agree so easily.
At the very least, she needed to ask why first.
"Ryuen, what are you planning?"
As one of the few talented students in Class C, Hiyori Shiina was someone Ryuen didn't want to alienate. He might need her help someday, so he smiled casually and told her what he had in mind.
"Don't worry. I'm just treating him to a meal. If you're concerned, you can come along too. I don't mind paying for one more person."
Ryuen felt he'd already made a concession. If Hiyori Shiina still refused to obey, he would treat her as a traitor to Class C.
Hiyori Shiina clearly understood that, so she had no choice but to take out her phone and find Shuichi Kanda's contact information.
As she sent the message, she prayed he wouldn't come.
[Sorry to bother you, Kanda. Are you free to come to the sushi restaurant in the school Shopping Street at five this afternoon? Ryuen wants to treat you to sushi. Of course, if you're busy, you don't have to come!]
After returning to the classroom from lunch, Shuichi Kanda had just taken out his phone to browse the forum when he noticed an unread message.
Ryuen...
Shuichi Kanda rubbed his chin. He'd heard about the guy from Shiina.
A tyrant who ruled all of Class C through violence. For some reason, even Yamada Albert, the Black man whose ancestors had been smuggled to America, had ended up under his command.
Albert was clearly the strongest fighter, yet he obeyed Ryuen without question.
Shuichi Kanda understood why Ryuen wanted to meet him. He probably wanted to confirm whether they were the same kind of person.
And to show that he meant no harm, he'd specifically picked the Shopping Street, where there were cameras everywhere.
So why not go if someone was treating him to dinner?
It would save him points and the trouble of cooking. Why wouldn't he go?
Besides, he'd seen Kushida eating ice cream at lunch. It seemed her period was over.
And free food tasted all the better. He'd be a fool not to go. He even wanted to bring someone along.
But Shiina, you even put an exclamation mark at the end. Are you worried I won't realize that Ryuen might have it in for me?
With that thought, Shuichi Kanda took out his phone and started typing a reply.
[No problem, but I don't like sushi. How about we switch to barbecue?]
Of course, besides not being used to eating raw food, barbecue was more expensive. If someone was paying, he might as well make Ryuen treat him to a good meal.
Hiyori Shiina looked at the message on her phone, then at Ryuen.
Ryuen had naturally seen the message too. He gave a cold laugh, then made up his mind.
"Tell him yes."
[Ryuen agreed. I'll be there too.]
After thinking it over, Shuichi Kanda decided not to ask if he could bring someone along. That would be going a bit too far.
[Okay, see you then.]
Since he didn't have to cook, Shuichi Kanda took part in a club activity for the first time in a while, much to the astonishment of Hashikura-senpai.
That day, Shuichi Kanda was working on a crossbow. Compared with a bow, it required much more particular wood, and making a perfect crossbow depended entirely on experience.
But it didn't seem like he'd ever have any use for one, so Shuichi Kanda was only curious. He had no intention of actually making it.
A little after four, Shuichi Kanda excused himself early. As a support member, he didn't have to stick to the club's practice schedule. He just had to avoid getting in the way of the regular members.
At five, with five minutes to spare, Shuichi Kanda arrived at the school's only barbecue restaurant.
Come to think of it, most of the shops at the school had a monopoly. Only the cafés had several branches.
When he got to the restaurant, Shiina was already waiting outside.
As soon as she saw Shuichi Kanda, Shiina hurried over, an apologetic look on her face.
"Sorry, Kanda."
"You haven't done anything wrong, so there's no need to apologize. Besides, there are cameras everywhere. No matter how reckless Ryuen is, he won't attack me outright."
Seeing her apologetic expression, Shuichi Kanda offered some reassurance.
"And how could I not come when Ryuen is going to such trouble to treat me to a meal?"
"Thank you, Kanda." Hiyori Shiina managed a strained smile. "Let's go in."
Then Shuichi Kanda was led into the barbecue restaurant by the beautiful girl, Hiyori Shiina, under the jealous gazes of many of the boys nearby.
Chapter 79: How About We Work Together?
Once they entered a private room, Shuichi Kanda realized that Ryuen hadn't waited around for them. He was grilling meat on his own, looking less like a tyrant and more like an ordinary diner.
"Please, sit down."
Ryuen casually used the tongs to flip the slices of beef on the grill.
Watching him, Shuichi Kanda's eyebrow twitched.
What the hell are you doing to that meat?
You're not paying any attention to the heat. How could anything you grill possibly be edible?
Huh?
So Shuichi Kanda picked up the other pair of tongs and stopped Ryuen.
"Hm?"
Ryuen froze when Shuichi Kanda moved his tongs aside. Was this a challenge?
"If you don't know how to grill meat, don't waste these precious ingredients."
The first thing the two of them talked about wasn't their classes. It was beef.
Ryuen wanted to see what Shuichi Kanda could do, so he put down the tongs.
"Then I'll look forward to trying your cooking."
Shuichi Kanda glanced at the grill and waited for the meat to cook, flipping it when it was ready. Then he brushed oil onto it, turned it over, let it grill for a few seconds, and sprinkled on the seasoning.
Then he divided up all the meat on the grill.
"Eat it while it's hot. It won't taste as good once it gets cold."
Ryuen smiled, picked up his chopsticks, and put two slices in his mouth.
After thanking Shuichi Kanda quietly, Shiina joined him in eating.
As soon as Ryuen tasted the meat Shuichi Kanda had grilled, his eyes lit up. It really was better than his own.
"Not bad. How about working for me from now on?"
At Ryuen's words, Shuichi Kanda looked at him as if he were an idiot.
"Two thousand points. If I want to, I can gather that much in no time."
Ryuen paid no attention to Shuichi Kanda's expression and immediately made the bold claim.
So you have a Value-Added Bank too?
"No thanks. Tell me, why did you ask me here?"
"You can't guess why I asked you here?"
Shuichi Kanda glanced at Ryuen and started putting more meat on the grill.
"Nope."
Ryuen choked on such a blunt reply, then his face twisted into a sneer.
"Looks like you're not so smart after all. Maybe I picked the wrong person."
"Yeah, yeah. So you're not paying for this meal anymore?"
Shuichi Kanda looked up at Ryuen with a mocking smile.
The moment Ryuen saw his expression, he knew Shuichi Kanda was messing with him.
"Hmph. You've got a pretty nasty personality... Fine, I'll say it straight. I want you to stay away from the students in my class."
As soon as Ryuen said that, Shiina's expression turned troubled.
Shuichi Kanda saw it all, of course.
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