Sakayanagi Was a Little Rattled

"How was that match worth two million private points? If that wasn't enough, we can arrange another one next time. We can discuss the venue, the audience, and everything else—as long as the points are right."

In the Activity Room, Ryuen looked at Sakayanagi with delight. Ever since he'd learned that she'd spent two million points to buy this inexplicable showdown, he'd started treating her like a walking treasure chest.

There was something strange about Ryuen: whenever he saw someone feeling unhappy, he felt happy.

"No, a match like that is meaningless."

Normally, Sakayanagi would have fired back at Ryuen with something vicious.

But this time, she had neither the interest nor the energy. She looked like someone whose online romance had ended in disappointment. Even when she ordered Kamuro around, she sounded listless.

"Was it because Ayanokoji had no fighting spirit? Or because you lost so easily when he wasn't even trying?"

I was one of the only two people here who knew about Ayanokoji's past, so I could more or less guess what was on Sakayanagi's mind.

Ayanokoji had been in a very different state when he faced Sakayanagi in the original story. A match like this had given her almost no feedback, so it was no wonder she wasn't satisfied.

"Both, I suppose. But the way he is now, our next real confrontation probably won't happen until after graduation. Who made this tea? They're wasting the leaves."

Sakayanagi took a sip, barely wet her lips, and spat the tea back into her cup.

"Why are you looking at me? Your obedient little dog made it. I even told her the proper steps, but she clearly didn't want to listen. She just poured hot water over the leaves."

I turned the blame toward Kamuro. Since her mistake had kept me from enjoying the good tea Hiyori had made, I was plenty resentful myself.

"And you drank this tea and acted like nothing was wrong?"

Sakayanagi was practically laughing with anger. Kamuro had realized she'd messed up, brought the tea over, then asked for leave and vanished.

At first, Sakayanagi had assumed she'd just needed to use the bathroom. She hadn't expected Kamuro to be fleeing the scene.

"If I hadn't tried the tea first, how could you possibly have drunk it? And if you hadn't, then those few cups would have truly gone to waste. At least now they've given me a little emotional satisfaction instead of becoming a total loss the moment they were poured down the drain."

No tea was as enjoyable as pranking a friend, and that was especially true of tea brewed badly. This was just putting something useless to good use.

"Didn't Hiyori notice either?"

Sakayanagi turned to Ryuen, who had poured himself another cup.

"How would I know whether this stuff is good or bad? It all tastes bitter to me. But it's definitely better than coffee. Coffee's just a stimulant. This stuff at least makes me look a little cultured."

Before trying the tea that Sakayanagi and I had brought, Ryuen had only ever drunk things like oolong tea. Those were just tea-flavored drinks. They couldn't compare to tea that had been carefully brewed!

"Never mind. Hiyori, you can tolerate it?"

"Huh? I thought the tea was brewed really well."

Hiyori put down her book at Sakayanagi's question, then uncertainly picked up her cup and took another sip. Her taste buds seemed to be working just fine.

"I brewed the tea in her cup. The teapot is right here."

I lifted the teapot I'd brewed myself from where it had been hidden outside Sakayanagi's line of sight and showed it to her. There was no way I'd let Hiyori drink the botched tea Kamuro had made. What if it upset her stomach?

"So you're treating us differently. Besides points, is there really no sincerity between us?"

Sakayanagi accepted the tea I poured for her in a fresh cup.

"You're too clever. I know you're too clever. That instinctive wariness of yours isn't going to disappear just because I say a few sincere words."

Until I was sure Sakayanagi's attitude toward Ayanokoji had completely changed, I really couldn't bring myself to trust her. That was probably one of the downsides of knowing what was coming.

When you knew the person in front of you had a few issues, you couldn't just ignore the risks and keep installing them, could you?

"Are you saying Hiyori isn't clever enough?"

Sakayanagi suddenly thought of something amusing, and the corners of her mouth curled up.

"Not at all. There are different kinds of cleverness. Hiyori has the kind I like best. I don't think anyone could dislike that sort of cleverness."

The trust between Hiyori and me was actually a little like that between a married couple from a certain period in history.

Much as I hated to admit the connection, according to the family tree passed down through my family and the stories told by my elders, my branch really did trace back to Sima Guang, the author of Zizhi Tongjian.

Sima Guang had recognized Sima Fu, Prince of Anping in Jin, as his ancestor. Sima Fu was Sima Yi's younger brother.

A relative from the same clan had left behind such a stain on the family, and our ancestors had even taken part in the Gaoping Tombs Incident. Honestly, couldn't we change our surname?

Back in China, whenever people heard that my surname was Sima, they became much more wary of me.

The trust between Hiyori and me reminded me of a story recorded in the Book of Jin about Sima Yi and his wife, Zhang Chunhua.

At the time, Cao Cao had summoned Sima Yi, but Sima Yi pretended to be ill. Then a heavy rain came down while books were drying in the courtyard, and he forgot he was supposed to be sick and went out to collect them himself.

A maid saw him. Worried that Sima Yi's pretense would be exposed, Zhang Chunhua killed the maid with her own hands.

In other words, if I ever got a bad idea and wanted to do something terrible, Hiyori would be the one to hand me a knife and help me dispose of the body.

Sakayanagi and Ichinose couldn't do that—well, maybe Sakayanagi could. But being around her was nowhere near as comfortable as being around Hiyori.

"I thought you'd be more concerned about Ichinose. After all, who could have guessed that our future literary giant would reach out to a junior high school girl he'd never even met?"

Sakayanagi brought up what I'd done to help Ichinose before I enrolled.

Was that how capable this school was? They'd even managed to dig up that?

In the original story, Ichinose had only attracted attention because this incident came to light and caused a bit of a stir, hadn't she?

Or maybe the school hadn't investigated it at all. Maybe—

As I wondered, my gaze drifted toward Hiyori. She responded with a wink, and that solved the mystery.

"If I hadn't enrolled at this school, my reputation here in Japan would probably be pretty good. A charming playboy~"

Saving a girl who'd fallen into trouble was a classic move.

Luring a virtuous woman into sin, or persuading a woman of the night to go straight—somehow, these two contradictory things had a certain magic to them.

Maybe that sort of thing was hereditary, too? The cultured elders in my family all had plenty of experience when it came to romance.

If I fell behind in that department, they'd definitely make fun of me. A talented man should always have a beautiful woman by his side, they'd told me before I set out on my travels.

If I went back alone, I'd really be bringing shame on myself.