The Mastermind Behind the Scenes, Starting with *The Fruit of Grisaia*

"Um, I..."

Kamuro Masumi took half a step back, her face written with a desperate desire to survive.

"I was just passing by... really, just passing by. I didn't see anything."

As she spoke, her gaze drifted toward the flower bed nearby, and she made a move to slip away.

"Boring."

Ryuen Kakeru couldn't be bothered to waste his time. With an ambiguous cold snort, he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked straight away, not even having the interest to use this to mock Sakayanagi.

Su Wei looked down at the girl in his arms.

After a moment of thought, as if discarding a hot potato, he cleanly and decisively pulled his arm away, taking the opportunity to put some social distance between them.

"Don't misunderstand, we aren't close."

"We just happened to go through an exam together. Classmate Sakayanagi has trouble walking, so I was just helping out for humanitarian reasons."

Losing her support, Sakayanagi Arisu swayed.

Though she didn't fall, the sudden sensation of weightlessness still caused a flash of astonishment to cross her usually composed face.

...He pushed me away?

Sakayanagi steadied herself, looking at her empty side, feeling a sense of disbelief.

It wasn't narcissism.

As one of the two poles leading Class A, whether it was her appearance or her family background, she was accustomed to being chased, revered, or treated like a fragile object to be carefully protected.

To be used and discarded like this, treated as if she were something to be avoided at all costs...

It was truly a first.

"A special... exam?"

Kamuro Masumi blinked, her gaze shifting quietly between the two.

Is there an exam that requires people to hug each other?

"Hehe..."

At this moment, having steadied herself, Sakayanagi Arisu finally came back to her senses.

She didn't fly into a rage from being pushed away; she simply smoothed out her slightly messy bangs and gave Su Wei a sharp, annoyed look.

"Indeed, an exam that leaves quite an impression."

"Though for Classmate Kamuro, it's probably an exam you'd never want to take in your life."

"Huh?"

Kamuro Masumi looked completely bewildered.

But the tone—spoken with a smile yet chilling enough to make one's spine crawl—still made her instinctively shrink her neck.

"Then, I, I won't disturb you... I'm leaving now!"

"Since we've run into each other, there's no helping it, is there?"

Sakayanagi Arisu had no intention of letting her go. She reached out quite naturally and linked her arm through Kamuro Masumi's free one.

"It just so happens that my third 'leg' isn't around, so I'll have to trouble Classmate Kamuro to serve as a temporary crutch."

"Eh? But..."

"Classmate Su Wei, see you tomorrow~"

"Although you lack any gentlemanly conduct, I am still... grateful for your hospitality tonight."

Giving Kamuro no chance to refuse, Sakayanagi Arisu waved at Su Wei with a smile.

Watching their retreating figures, one could faintly hear Kamuro Masumi's soft complaints and Sakayanagi's gentle, oppressive whispers.

The expression on Su Wei's face gradually faded, returning to indifference.

He pulled the specially made Advanced Nurturing High School phone from his pocket and brought up the friend location interface for Kushida Kikyo and Ichinose Honami on a split screen.

It must be said, this was a part of life after coming to this school that one simply had to experience.

Exchanging friend codes allowed one to see a friend's location without even needing the other party's consent.

Although Su Wei could also directly hack into others' devices via GANTZ...

But was that the same thing?

It completely fostered the growth of unhealthy trends on campus, which was very detrimental to unity!

At this moment, the red dot belonging to Kushida Kikyo was resting steadily in the direction of the dormitories.

The other red dot, representing Ichinose Honami, was still lingering in the school building area.

"Still trying to contact the outside world, are you..."

Unfortunately, in order to create the oppressive atmosphere that one cannot survive without fighting, Su Wei had long ago reached a forced consensus with the higher-ups.

Within this highly isolated school island, not even a fly could carry news out without his permission.

"To be fair, reporting this to the authorities is exactly what a normal person would think, right?"

"But in a horror movie, that kind of naive meddling is usually what gets you killed first..."

Su Wei extinguished his screen.

In truth, Ichinose's fear was entirely unnecessary.

This seemingly cruel Gantz game was, in essence, nothing more than a pastime for his boredom.

He knew his own personality well; although he was a transmigrator, he had no ambition to rule the world, nor was he a psychopathic killer.

On the contrary, he was someone who grew tired of things quite easily.

Perhaps before long, once he rolled a more interesting item, he would simply toss this aside.

When that time came, he could just use a "Dictator Button" or "Liar 800" to resolve the issue once and for all.

This was the confidence brought to him by items that refreshed daily and were never confiscated!

"However..."

Su Wei stopped in his tracks and looked up at the pitch-black night sky.

After gaining administrator privileges for Gantz and linking into the world's information, he had discovered a bug.

The anomalies in this world had not existed since ancient times; they had begun appearing sporadically about a month ago.

Of course, the blame for the appearance of Parasytes and Ghouls could not be pinned on Su Wei.

After all, he had only transmigrated two or three weeks ago, and he had even used a "Devil Passport" to secure his enrollment spot at the Advanced Nurturing High School.

So, this was...

A spiritual energy revival? A high-dimensional invasion? Or a collision of worlds?

Su Wei didn't know, and Gantz hadn't provided an answer.

But the feeling that the world was becoming unsafe still unsettled him.

Who knew what might pop out tomorrow?

Would it be world-ending Angels? Or the Anti-Spiral race looking to purge the universe?

"Therefore..."

"Before the world descends into total chaos, this game still has its necessity."

"Using this group of elites to test the depth of the world's waters, and by the way... cultivating a few useful hero units, that's not too much to ask, is it?"

After all, it wasn't that he wanted to toy with them.

It was this chaotic era that had doomed them.

The next day.

Su Wei returned to the classroom after finishing an all-night session of superpower training.

Before he could even sit down, a faint scent of citrus drifted toward him.

"Um... good morning, Su Wei-kun."

Kushida Kikyo leaned over, asking in a volume only the two of them could hear:

"Have your points arrived yet?"

Hearing this, Su Wei pulled out his phone, swiped the screen casually, and shook his head.

"As I thought..."

Kushida Kikyo bit her lower lip lightly, showing none of the panic displayed by the boys shouting around them.

Her beautiful eyes shifted:

"No one in the class received them, even though it was stated at enrollment that one hundred thousand points would be issued on the first of every month."

"Combined with what was mentioned during last night's exam... it seems that these so-called spending points are essentially tied to that class evaluation, right?"

As she said this, she added half-jokingly:

"Hey, Su Wei-kun. If it really is tied to Class Points, doesn't that mean our future living expenses might depend on the two of us fighting for them?"

"Who knows." Su Wei replied ambiguously.

"Instead of guessing here, we might as well wait for that homeroom teacher who loves to keep secrets to arrive and just ask her. She has no reason to hide something as important as our livelihood."

"That's true~"

Kushida didn't say anything more.

Instead, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was sitting in the next seat and had been staring blankly out the window, subtly turned his head and swept a glance at the two of them from the corner of his eye.

Just yesterday, Su Wei had been, quite literally, a transparent person in the class, and while Kushida Kikyo was enthusiastic toward everyone, she had only been politely courteous to such peripheral figures.

But today, that courtesy had changed.

The angle at which Kushida leaned forward when she took the initiative to speak to Su Wei, and Su Wei's overly casual response...

That atmosphere...

Strange.

S-Points? Is that some kind of code...

Even though he was puzzled, it wasn't enough to make him abandon his own rules of conduct.

Ayanokoji withdrew his gaze and continued to stare blankly at the blackboard.

Suddenly.

"Clack, clack."

The sound of high heels striking the granite tiles approached from afar.

Chabashira Sae walked into the classroom, expressionless, clutching a stack of lesson plans.

"Teacher!"

Ike Kanji, unable to hold back any longer, raised his hand and complained loudly:

"The points haven't arrived! Didn't you say they'd be deposited on the first of every month? Is the system malfunctioning?"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm almost out of money for food!"

Watching the students below descend into chaos, a mocking smirk curled the corner of Chabashira Sae's mouth.

"Don't bother waiting."

"This month's points have already been distributed."

"Huh? Distributed? But my balance is clearly zero!"

"That is exactly what I am about to address," Chabashira Sae continued. "Have you all forgotten what I said when you enrolled? This school is 'merit-based'."