Becoming the Mastermind from Assassination Classroom

"Come, take my hand."

"Eh?" Ichinose Honami looked puzzled.

"A test," Su Wei said concisely.

Although confused, Ichinose obediently reached out both hands and grasped Su Wei's large hand, which was covered in black leather.

Compared to the lingering warmth from last time, she could now more clearly feel the boy's body heat radiating through the material of his Combat Suit.

The subtle sensation caused her heart rate to accelerate slightly.

"Use force."

Su Wei's voice was calm:

"Use all your strength, and squeeze tight."

Ichinose bit her lip, straightened her back, and gradually began to exert force with both hands.

And then.

Su Wei looked at his own palm, which had barely deformed, and then at the girl's arms, which showed little power even as her face flushed red, and couldn't help but sigh:

"It seems you really don't exercise much; is this truly your full strength?"

Ichinose lowered her head in shame, stammering:

"I-I can't help it... if the range of motion is too large, my chest hurts..."

Su Wei glanced at the girl's chest and thought, fair enough.

Carrying such a heavy burden is indeed inconvenient.

Besides, if she were to lose it all through excessive exercise, that would be a waste of a natural gift; that simply wouldn't do.

"Since conventional methods won't work, I'll have to use a stronger remedy."

Su Wei muttered to himself. Afterward, he let go of her hand.

"What strong reme—ah?!"

Ichinose hadn't even reacted yet.

Su Wei had already grabbed her arm with a backhand grip and, with a slight exertion of force, lifted her entire body as if she were a little chick!

Ichinose Honami: "...?"

The sensation of her feet suddenly leaving the ground left her dazed, and she blinked blankly.

What happened? Did I just fly?

Watching Ichinose's adorable, stunned reaction, Su Wei couldn't help but wonder:

"You still haven't realized what happened?"

As he spoke, he slightly bent his arm, pulling the suspended Ichinose Honami closer into his embrace.

The distance between them shortened rapidly!

In the moment before she was about to press against his chest, Ichinose Honami finally realized, belatedly, that she had actually been lifted up by someone with a single hand!

And in such an unguarded, feet-off-the-ground, and incredibly humiliating suspended posture!

This is too shameful... no, this is going way too far!

As her consciousness returned, Ichinose Honami began to struggle instinctively.

Her legs kicked, her captured arm tried desperately to pull back, and her other hand pressed firmly against Su Wei's chest, trying with all her might to push him away.

But Su Wei remained completely unmoved.

However, he made no further moves.

He didn't kiss her, nor did he grope her.

He simply held her with one hand, maintaining this ambiguous distance where they could feel each other's breath.

"Hmm... this isn't bad."

Su Wei felt the force pushing against his chest and evaluated:

"Your strength has increased quite a bit; you're as sturdy as a little calf."

As soon as he finished speaking.

He acted as if nothing had happened, let go of his hand, and took a step back to a safe distance.

"Hah... hah..."

Losing her support, Ichinose stumbled to regain her footing, shielding her chest with both hands, her face as red as if it were about to bleed.

She glared at Su Wei, her eyes filled with both shame, anger, and confusion:

"Su Wei-kun, why would you do such a thing?!"

Facing the girl's accusation, Su Wei looked completely composed:

"Think back to the moment just now when you wanted to push me away..."

"Do you feel it? Your senses, strength, agility—everything has been enhanced, hasn't it?"

Ichinose froze.

She looked down at her own hands.

It seemed...

Was it really true?

The moment shame flooded her heart, the Reinforcement Suit truly gave her the illusion that she could shatter anything.

"That is what I meant by the difference."

Su Wei spouted nonsense with a straight face:

"This Combat Suit seems to only respond when your emotions are extremely volatile, or when you are being incredibly serious."

Ichinose: "..."

She opened her mouth, seemingly trying to grasp Su Wei's train of thought, yet feeling that something was fundamentally wrong.

In the end, she couldn't help but retort:

"Th-that doesn't mean you have to do it this way! Couldn't you have warned me beforehand? Using this kind of method... I, I almost misunderstood!"

I almost thought you were going to force a kiss on me!

And what scared her the most was... in that instant, her brain had completely short-circuited, and she hadn't even made a move to dodge! This, this was just too strange!

Watching Ichinose's frustrated expression—wanting to flare up but finding no justification—Su Wei decided to quit while he was ahead.

"It wouldn't have worked if I'd warned you."

"This was the most intuitive method I could think of. Just tell me, did it have an effect just now?"

"Remember that feeling. In the future, if you encounter such emotionally charged moments during a battle, you need to have an expectation in your heart."

"Don't end up losing control of your own body just because your strength was enhanced too much."

Ichinose Honami looked at his serious, lecturing demeanor, and the reprimand on the tip of her tongue was ultimately swallowed back down.

"...I understand."

She took a deep breath, calming her still-racing heart, and warned him fiercely:

"But! If you do this again, you must tell me in advance!"

"Others won't be as easygoing as I am... Just now, when I thought you were going to... do that, I was genuinely prepared to strike!"

As she spoke, she raised her palm in a show of defiance.

Su Wei complied readily: "I'll definitely do so next time."

But even as he said it, his thoughts had already drifted to the Wolf and Sheep Game involving Ayanokoji and the others.

Clearly, he hadn't taken her words to heart.

It couldn't be helped.

When a girl has too good a temper, this is how it goes; even her anger feels like acting spoiled.

Teasing Ichinose was indeed quite interesting, and the soft, delicate sensation of her skin was as wonderful as ever.

Chapter 36: Do You Want to Truly Live?

Shifting the scene to a multimedia classroom with sealed doors and windows, isolated from all light.

The only source of light in the room came from four sets of specialized glasses on the podium, flickering with alternating red and blue glows.

The four of them each took one and put it on.

Once the synthesized electronic voice finished broadcasting the test rules and declared the game officially started, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka noticed the red icon flashing at the edge of his lens, then briefly locked eyes with Kanzaki Ryuji not far beside him.

"Beep—"

A soft sound rang out.

The blood-red icon representing the 'Wolf' in Ayanokoji's field of vision vanished instantly.

In its place was a white sheep.

Meanwhile, the indicator light beside Kanzaki Ryuji's frame shifted from blue to red.

So that's how it is.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka lowered his eyelids, instantly grasping the underlying logic of this game.

Eye contact triggers a switch.

It appeared to be a desperate battle royale, locking four people in a sealed room and forcing them to kill or hide from one another for the sole spot of survival.

But in reality, the core penalty of this test left a subtle margin for error.

The losers would not be immediately erased; instead, they would be forcibly thrown into tonight's Black Sphere Trial as 'intruders.'

Since it wasn't a guaranteed death sentence, for those accustomed to weighing pros and cons beforehand, wasting massive amounts of physical energy to stage a brawl in a cramped classroom was clearly the most foolish strategy of all.

Just as expected.

Kanzaki Ryuji, having been transformed into the 'Wolf', did not choose to flee or seek cover.

He stood calmly in place, choosing to pierce the veil of silence:

"I believe everyone understands by now that there can only be one final winner in this game, and that is the 'Wolf'."

"In this enclosed classroom, whoever holds the Wolf card becomes the target of everyone else. If we resort to violence, a thirty-minute melee is not only unrealistic, but it would also leave us all battered and bruised."

Kanzaki Ryuji swept his gaze across the crowd, his tone steady:

"Since there is destined to be only one winner, rather than wasting our limited stamina on fighting—or worse, facing the monsters in the Black Sphere exam tonight while injured..."

"I think we should simply make a deal."

"I wonder, how much does everyone here know about the Black Sphere exam?"

"A deal, you say?"

Kaneda Satoru from Class C pushed up his glasses, a look of suspicion on his face: "I'm listening."

On the other side, Machida Koji from Class A stood with his arms crossed.

Although he had been the one Kanzaki Ryuji's gaze swept over to receive the Wolf card, he remained restrained, making no rash moves.

Kanzaki Ryuji deliberately bypassed Ayanokoji, who was standing in the corner, and chuckled:

"It seems everyone already understands the situation, which saves me the trouble of wasting my breath."

"Since this is a deal, let's see what kind of chips everyone is willing to put on the table."

He paused, and seeing that no one spoke, he took the initiative to extend a hand to show his sincerity:

"In that case, I'll go first."