The Trap in the Library

Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. The third floor of the library, the Media Room.

Airi Sakura sat in front of the editing console, headphones on, staring intently at the screen. It showed footage from the Sports Festival—the moment Ayanokoji touched the wall at the end of the swimming relay, slowed down, then slowed down again.

A difference of 0.02 seconds.

She zoomed in. The moment his shoulder touched the wall was clearly visible. It was within the rules. Sakayanagi Arisu had lost.

"That's some great footage." Kei Karuizawa's voice suddenly came from behind her.

Sakura jumped, nearly falling out of her chair. "K-Karuizawa? What are you..."

"I came to keep you company." Karuizawa pulled over the chair beside her and sat down, casually picking up a photography magazine from the table and flipping through it. "It's not safe to be here alone at night, is it?"

"I... I'm used to it," Sakura said softly, her gaze drifting involuntarily toward the door.

The Media Room door was shut, but the glass window offered a view of the hallway outside. The lights were bright, and there wasn't a soul in sight.

It was too quiet.

Karuizawa put down the magazine, took two cans of coffee from her bag, and handed one to Sakura. "Ayanokoji asked me to come. He said someone might give you trouble tonight."

Sakura's hand trembled, and she nearly dropped the coffee.

"Don't be scared." Karuizawa opened her own can and took a sip. "We'll wait right here and see who shows up."

Time passed, second by second.

7:45 p.m.

7:50 p.m.

8:00 p.m.

The lights in the Media Room suddenly flickered.

Sakura tensed all over. Karuizawa slowly set down her coffee and slipped a hand into her coat pocket. Her phone was inside, set up for emergency dialing with a single button that would connect straight to Ayanokoji.

The lights flickered again, then went out completely.

The entire Media Room plunged into darkness. Only the editing console's screen gave off a faint glow.

"Don't move." Karuizawa whispered, pulling Sakura down beneath the table.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway.

More than one person.

The Media Room doorknob turned, but the door was locked. Ayanokoji had warned them beforehand: once inside, they had to lock the door.

"Tch." An irritated voice came from outside. It was Daichi Ishizaki. "It's locked."

"Break it down." Another voice answered. It was unfamiliar, and hoarse.

Holding her breath, Karuizawa used the faint light from her phone screen to illuminate the space beneath the table. She saw Sakura trembling and reached for her hand. It was icy cold.

A crash came from outside. Once, twice. The lock began to give way.

"Ready?" Karuizawa whispered in Sakura's ear. "When I count to three, run behind the cabinet on the right. There's an emergency exit there."

Sakura nodded hard.

The third crash.

The door flew open.

Two shadowy figures rushed inside with flashlights, their beams sweeping wildly across the dark room.

"Where are they?"

"They've gotta be in here. They can't have gotten away."

Karuizawa took a deep breath and counted. "One... two..."

"Three!"

She sprang out from under the table, grabbed the metal tripod from its surface, and slammed it into the nearest person's shin!

"Ah!" A scream rang out.

The flashlight dropped to the floor, its beam swinging wildly. In the light, Karuizawa recognized the intruders: Daichi Ishizaki and another Class C boy she didn't know, a burly, thick-faced guy.

Sakura had already followed the plan and run behind the cabinet.

But just as she reached for the emergency exit's doorknob, a hand suddenly shot out of the darkness and grabbed her wrist.

"Where do you think you're going, cutie?"

The voice was icy.

Albert stepped out of the shadows, the bandage around his right knee conspicuous in the dim light. He avoided putting weight on his injured leg, but his left hand clamped around Sakura's wrist like an iron vise. Tears sprang to her eyes from the pain.

"Let her go!" Karuizawa tried to rush over, but Ishizaki had already gotten back to his feet and blocked her.

"Kei Karuizawa." Ishizaki grinned, blood at the corner of his mouth from where the tripod had struck him. "Did you think you were the only ones who came prepared?"

He clapped his hands.

The lights in the Media Room came back on.

It wasn't just Ishizaki, Albert, and the unfamiliar boy.

Someone else was standing in the doorway.

Ryuen Kakeru.

He leaned against the doorframe with his hands in his pockets, wearing that mocking smile of a cat toying with a mouse.

"Good evening, ladies." He sauntered inside and looked around. "Nice place. Perfect for... a chat."

Karuizawa's heart sank.

She'd walked into a trap.

This wasn't an attempt to harass Sakura. It was a trap set for her. Ryuen knew Ayanokoji would send someone to protect Sakura, and she was the most likely person he'd send.

"Kushida's information was spot-on." Ryuen walked up to the editing console and glanced at the screen. "Oh? Still studying that race? What, can't accept losing?"

He turned to Karuizawa. "But tonight, we're not talking about the Sports Festival. We're talking about... something else."

He took out his phone, opened a photo, and held it up for Karuizawa to see.

It showed her in middle school, wearing her uniform and standing in an alley in front of a girl who was kneeling and trembling. Her expression at the time was cold, even tinged with impatience.

"Recognize it?" Ryuen asked.

Karuizawa's face went pale.

"I heard that back in middle school, you were the leader of some little clique." Ryuen turned the phone screen toward Sakura. "You made a habit of bullying shy girls who didn't dare fight back. Girls like... Sakura, for example?"

Sakura stared at Karuizawa, eyes wide.

"N-no... it wasn't like that..." Karuizawa's voice trembled.

"Wasn't it?" Ryuen swiped to the next photo. It was a screenshot of a chat where Karuizawa's account threatened a girl: "Pay up, or I'll humiliate you in front of the whole school."

"Those... they're fake..." Karuizawa gritted her teeth.

"It doesn't matter whether they're real." Ryuen put his phone away, his smile cruel. "What matters is, if these photos and chat logs end up in the Class D group chat and on the school bulletin board... do you think anyone will still believe you've 'changed for the better'? Will a softhearted guy like Yosuke Hirata still stand up for you? Will Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still trust you?"

Psychological warfare.

Precise and vicious.

Karuizawa struggled to breathe. The past she'd fought so hard to bury surged over her like a tide, drowning her.

But suddenly, she remembered what Ayanokoji had said the night before.

—"Because you said you wanted to change. And I believe you meant it."

She took a deep breath, raised her head, and looked Ryuen straight in the eye. "So what? You're going to use this to threaten me? Make me betray Class D? Or make me hurt Ayanokoji?"

Ryuen raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You didn't break down. Interesting."

"Cut the crap." Karuizawa stepped forward. "Go ahead and make it public. But I'll tell you this: Class D won't abandon me over this. And Ayanokoji... he hates being threatened more than anything."

"Is that so?" Ryuen smiled. "Then guess what'll happen if I take Sakura away right now."

Albert tightened his grip, and Sakura cried out in pain.

Karuizawa's pupils contracted.

That was the real target—not her, but Sakura.

"Let her go!" She charged forward, but Ishizaki and the other boy stepped in at the same time, grabbing her from either side.

"Don't rush." Ryuen walked up to Sakura and pinched her chin, forcing her to look up. "What a pretty face. I wonder if a few scars would make it more 'artistic'?"

He pulled a small knife from his pocket. Its blade gleamed coldly in the light.

Sakura trembled all over, tears streaming down her face.

"Ryuen!" Karuizawa struggled desperately. "If you lay a hand on her, I—"

"You what?" Ryuen turned to look at her. "Kill me? Report me to the school? Come on, there are no cameras here. We already broke the ones in the Media Room. Who can prove we did it?"

He turned back, and the tip of the knife inched toward Sakura's face.

"Besides, even if we get caught, so what? At worst, I'll lose some Class Points. Expelled? No chance. But do you think Sakura will be able to keep going to school after this?"

The knife's tip was just a centimeter from Sakura's cheek.

Karuizawa's mind went blank. What should she do? Call for help? There might be more of Ryuen's people outside. Fight back? She couldn't win. Give in? That would only embolden him.

Just as the knife's tip was about to touch Sakura's skin—

The Media Room door suddenly flew open under a kick.

It hadn't been rammed open. It had been kicked clean off its hinges, slammed into the opposite wall with a deafening crash.

Everyone froze.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood in the doorway, his school jacket draped over his shoulders and the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up to his forearms. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were as cold as the frozen wastes of Siberia.

Behind him stood Yosuke Hirata and Ken Sudō. Sudō still had a bandage wrapped around his leg, but he was holding a baseball bat.

"Well, this is lively." Ayanokoji walked in and glanced around the room. "Ryuen, bringing this many people to the library in the middle of the night... are you here for extra lessons?"

Ryuen's expression turned dark in an instant.

He slowly withdrew the knife and released Sakura. "How did you..."

"How did I know?" Ayanokoji finished for him. He took out his phone and played a recording.

Kushida Kikyo's voice said, "Ryuen's plan is for Wednesday at eight p.m. in the library Media Room, targeting Airi Sakura. He's bringing Ishizaki, Albert, and an outside enforcer called 'Kurokawa.' The plan is to grab her, then use her to threaten Karuizawa."

The recording ended.

Ryuen whipped around to glare at Ishizaki, his eyes murderous.

Ishizaki trembled with fright. "N-no, it wasn't me... I didn't tell Kushida about the enforcer..."

"Of course you didn't," Ayanokoji said. "Shiho Manabe told her. And Manabe... I was the one who sent her."

A double bluff.

Ryuen clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white.

"How long have you been setting this up?" he demanded through gritted teeth.

"Since Kushida gave you the information." Ayanokoji walked over to Karuizawa and gestured for Ishizaki and the other boy to let her go. They glanced at Ryuen, and when he gave them his permission, they released her.

Karuizawa immediately ran to Sakura and pulled her away from Albert. Albert tried to stop her, but he froze when Ayanokoji shot him a glance.

"The information Kushida gave you was real," Ayanokoji continued. "But she deliberately left one thing out: I was the one who told her to give it to you. She knew you'd use it, and I knew how you'd use it."

He paused. "So tonight, you thought you were fishing. In reality, I put out the bait and set the hook."

A deathly silence fell over the Media Room.

Ryuen stared at Ayanokoji, then suddenly laughed, his shoulders shaking. "All right, all right! Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, you're one hell of a guy!"

He wiped away tears of laughter. "Fine. You win this round. Take them and go."

"Not just that," Ayanokoji said. "Give me the originals of those photos and chat logs. Every backup, too."

Ryuen's smile vanished.

"Why should I?"

"Because of this." Ayanokoji took out another phone and brought up surveillance footage of Shiho Manabe and Hashimoto Masayoshi making a deal, along with a recording of Manabe admitting Ryuen had ordered her to poison someone.

"If I hand these over to the Student Council, how many Class Points do you think Class C will lose?" Ayanokoji asked. "And you personally—do you think you'll be expelled?"

Ryuen's face twitched.

A few seconds later, he took out his phone, deleted the files, and tossed it to Ayanokoji. "Those are the originals. The backups are in the cloud. The password's Ishizaki's birthday. Delete them yourself."

Ayanokoji caught the phone, confirmed the files were gone, then handed it to Hirata.

"Now get out," he said.

Ryuen gave him one last look, the kind you'd give a dead man.

"This game's not over, Ayanokoji," he said quietly. "Next time, I'll make you get on your knees and beg me."

He left with his people.

Only the students from Class D remained in the Media Room.

Karuizawa held the still-trembling Sakura and finally let out a breath of relief. Her legs gave way, and she nearly sank to the floor.

Ayanokoji walked over to her and held out a hand.

She stared at him blankly.

"Good work," he said.

Karuizawa took his hand and used it to pull herself up. Then she suddenly hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder and crying.

It wasn't the crying of someone falling apart. It was the release of someone who'd just escaped danger.

Ayanokoji stiffened for a moment, but in the end, he gently patted her back.

"It's all right now," he said.

Hirata and Sudō exchanged a glance, then quietly slipped out and closed the door behind them—even though it was already broken.

It was several minutes before Karuizawa finally let go. Her eyes red, she said, "Thank you..."

"You don't have to thank me." Ayanokoji looked at Sakura. "How is she?"

"She was terrified, but she should be all right." Karuizawa wiped away her tears. "What Ryuen said just now... about my middle school days..."

"I know," Ayanokoji interrupted. "Most of it was fabricated, and the rest was exaggerated. You're not the person you were back then."

Karuizawa's nose stung, and she felt like crying again.

But this time, she held it back.

"What do we do now?" she asked. "Ryuen won't let this go."

"I know." Ayanokoji glanced toward the doorway. "So he won't wait long. The next attack could be—"

His phone rang.

It was Honami Ichinose, but when he answered, a man's voice came through instead.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka? I've got Honami Ichinose. If you want her to be all right, come alone to the basement of the Old School Building. Don't bring anyone, and don't call the police, or else..."

The call ended.

For the first time, Ayanokoji's expression turned truly grim.