Probing Deduction and a Secret Nighttime Pact

The fourth meeting of the Dragon Group concluded, and the oppressive, stagnant atmosphere in the seminar room slowly dissipated. Students from various groups rose to leave one after another, some chatting in small clusters about the progress of the exam, others hurrying away alone. Only Kikyo Kushida, in the gaps between the dispersing crowd, maintained her signature gentle and harmless smile, observing her surroundings with practiced composure.

Deep within her eyes lay a tension difficult for others to detect, yet she revealed not a shred of panic. Having endured a day of psychological torment and confirmed that Suzune Horikita held the fatal leverage regarding the collapse of her junior high school, she had long since discarded her initial helplessness. At this moment, she was calm and clear-headed.

Quickly locking onto her target, she saw Yoshikage Kira packing his belongings alone, without exchanging pleasantries with anyone. Kikyo Kushida smoothed her skirt, suppressed all negative emotions, and approached with a calm, steady gait. Her tone was light and natural, showing no sign of being burdened by heavy thoughts: "Kira-kun, do you have a moment? There is something I would like to discuss with you in private."

Yoshikage Kira paused, raising his eyes to look at the girl with the bright, sunny smile. Kikyo Kushida was known for her excellent popularity across all groups and her skill in navigating relationships, yet she rarely approached him for a private chat. A flicker of cautious inquiry crossed his eyes, though his expression remained steady and indifferent. He gave a slight nod: "Fine. Where to?"

"The casual cafe on the second deck of the cruise ship. The meeting just ended, so it should be quiet and empty there," Kikyo suggested with a smile.

The two left the seminar room one after the other, maintaining a polite distance. Throughout the walk, Kikyo's demeanor remained relaxed. Yoshikage Kira stayed silent, and Kikyo did not speak much either, though her small steps tapped rhythmically against the floor.

There was a slight acceleration in her pace, which Yoshikage Kira, trailing slightly behind, noted. Being a man of meticulous detail, he had already sensed that this invitation was no mere idle chat; it certainly held a specific purpose.

Upon arriving at the second-floor cafe, they found it indeed spacious and quiet. The few guests present were scattered in distant corners, leaving no concern about their conversation being overheard. They chose a secluded booth by the window. Sea breeze drifted in through the gaps in the floor-to-ceiling windows, diluting the bitter scent of coffee, yet failing to disperse the subtle, burgeoning tension.

Without unnecessary pleasantries, Kikyo Kushida picked up the glass of water on the table and took a sip. Deliberately avoiding her own secrets and requests for help, she probed indirectly: "Kira-kun, you've had quite a bit of contact with Suzune Horikita during this exam, haven't you? I'm curious, has Horikita-san ever... mentioned me to you? Especially regarding... the past."

As someone who had hoped to befriend everyone since the start of school, Kikyo Kushida had indeed hit a wall with Suzune Horikita. At first, she had assumed it was merely Horikita's prickly personality—she had been dismissive of everyone at the start of the term, as if only her studies interested her.

She had begun to investigate Horikita's former school, a past she could not forget. Kikyo Kushida's brainstorming connected all possibilities; perhaps Horikita's attitude toward her was precisely because she had discovered her past, leading to her rejection. Kikyo could see that even someone as socially detached as Kiyotaka Ayanokoji seemed to develop a sense of camaraderie when sitting next to Horikita.

Suzune Horikita was not someone who rejected social interaction.

This current inquiry was the optimal choice she had settled on after much deliberation. Before fully confessing her dark history and offering the VIP status as a bargaining chip, she had to confirm the most critical information: whether Suzune Horikita had already told others about her past or was secretly spreading rumors about her.

It was common knowledge that disclosing information—acting as if one were baring their heart to a true friend—was an effective way to increase "intimacy" by showing an unknown side of oneself. However, if the information revealed was already known to others, it would fail to achieve the desired effect.

Hearing this, Yoshikage Kira tapped his fingertips against the table, his gaze meeting Kikyo's gentle eyes steadily. After two seconds of silence, he slowly shook his head: "No. Suzune Horikita is not the type to discuss students from other classes casually, especially regarding irrelevant private matters. To this day, she has never mentioned a word about you in my presence."

The moment she received this reply, the taut string in Kikyo Kushida's heart suddenly slackened, and the boulder pressing down on her chest lightened. Horikita had not yet leaked her past; the perfect persona she had meticulously maintained remained intact, and she still had room to maneuver, remedy, and negotiate.

But before she could fully exhale, Yoshikage Kira's next words sent a shockwave through her heart.

Watching the flicker of relief and hidden panic in Kikyo's eyes, the inquiry in Yoshikage Kira's gaze became even clearer. His tone was flat, his logic precise, and his words struck directly at the core: "However, the fact that you specifically came to ask this suggests the issue is significant. Combining all the clues, your behavior is highly abnormal."

"You are skilled at maintaining interpersonal relationships and pleasing everyone around you, but you are not endlessly enthusiastic toward people—that is a trait everyone can see. Yet, from the very beginning, you have deliberately and persistently tried to please and get close to Suzune Horikita. Even after being repeatedly rejected and ignored by her, you never gave up. This does not fit your usual logic."

Yoshikage Kira leaned forward slightly, his steady voice carrying a powerful logical pressure: "A normal person would know when to retreat after being repeatedly rebuffed. Your abnormal persistence can only mean one thing—you have concerns, you have leverage held by Suzune Horikita, or rather, she knows a part of your past that could affect your standing at this school."

"Combined with your class placement—given your social skills and popularity, you should have been in a higher class, yet you ended up in the bottom-tier Class D. This is no coincidence. Synthesizing all these details, it is not hard to deduce that during your junior high years, you likely experienced some sort of severe negative event, and Suzune Horikita is one of the few who knows about it?"

In just a few sentences, progressing layer by layer, without unnecessary speculation, every word precisely pierced Kikyo Kushida's deepest, most hidden secret.

For the first time, a crack appeared in the smile on Kikyo Kushida's face. Her pupils contracted slightly, and a massive storm surged within her heart. She had never imagined that the past she had hidden and covered up with such effort, and the abnormal behavior she had carefully maintained, could be completely deduced by Yoshikage Kira in just a few minutes based on fragmented details.

She had always believed her disguise was seamless; everyone saw the sunny, cheerful, and well-rounded Kikyo Kushida. No one would delve into her past, and no one could see through the fear behind her deliberate friendliness. But at this moment, in the face of Kira's extreme calmness and reasoning, all her disguises felt transparent and impossible to hide.

The shock, panic, and wariness churning in her heart nearly caused her to lose her composure. She instinctively wanted to argue and cover it up, but when the words reached her lips, she realized all excuses were pale and weak, unable to refute his airtight logic.

Just as Kikyo Kushida suppressed her intense emotional fluctuations, preparing to drop her mask entirely, confess her dark history of the junior high school collapse to Kira, and leverage the VIP status to ask for help, a faint sound of footsteps reached Kira's ears.

The sound was extremely light and faint, the breathing deliberately suppressed; an ordinary person would never have noticed it. In fact, Kikyo Kushida, whose mind was in chaos, had no intention of paying attention, and Kira was "focused on speaking," so no one should have reacted. But Yoshikage Kira possessed an almost instinctive, keen perception of disturbances in his surroundings. He looked up sharply, his gaze sweeping quickly toward the corner of the corridor outside the cafe.

The corner was empty, appearing completely normal. Yet, Yoshikage Kira's expression sank completely.

Someone was eavesdropping, following them.

The person's disguise was excellent; their presence was completely suppressed, and they were hidden in a blind spot without leaving a trace. But that fleeting sense of incongruity and the subtle movement could not fool his intuition. Yoshikage Kira instinctively looked at the glass wall of the cafe, and through the decorative film, he caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes—Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

He did not know how long Ayanokoji had been listening or how much he had heard—whether it was just the irrelevant small talk or if he had heard his deduction and realized the truth about Kikyo Kushida's secret.

Kikyo Kushida had just finished building the psychological foundation to "disclose the information." Yoshikage Kira let go of the coffee cup handle and interrupted in time.

"Too many eyes and ears," he said, while secretly signaling that someone was watching.

The fear of the unknown instantly overwhelmed the struggle and hesitation in Kikyo Kushida's mind, causing her to completely abandon the thought of confessing at that moment.

Under such uncertain risks, the consequences of exposing her secret in public would be unimaginable. She absolutely could not reveal her entire past and her VIP trump card while someone else was watching.

In a flash, Kikyo Kushida quickly suppressed all panic, forcibly steadied her mind, and put her gentle smile back on, though a trace of undetectable gravity remained in her eyes. She took the initiative to end the current topic.

"It seems nothing can escape your eyes, Kira-kun. Perhaps you could be a private investigator in the future," she chuckled, feigning ease. She deliberately avoided all sensitive cores and glossed over the previous deduction. "This matter is much more complicated than I imagined and involves very important personal privacy. I feel quite uneasy discussing it in detail here."

Yoshikage Kira's observational skills were keen; he instantly captured the sudden change in her expression and sensed the subtle, strange atmosphere in the surroundings.

Kikyo Kushida took a deep breath and made a new decision. She looked at Yoshikage Kira with a serious and sincere gaze, her tone solemn: "There are too many eyes and ears during the day, and accidents are hard to prevent; it is not convenient for me to say more. If you are willing to give me a chance, let's meet at the open-air observation deck on the third deck of the cruise ship at eight tonight."

"At that time, most students will be resting in their dorms, and the deck will be deserted. I will be waiting for you there."

It sounded like a secret rendezvous where a girl had gathered her courage.

Yoshikage Kira watched Kikyo quietly for a moment, and after a brief silence, he agreed: "Fine. Eight o'clock tonight, third-deck deck. I will be on time."

"Thank you, Kira-kun." Kikyo nodded slightly, her heart settling a little. With this night meeting, all she had to consider now was the preparation before they met.

The two did not continue to discuss sensitive topics. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they rose and parted ways. Yoshikage Kira was the first to excuse himself and leave the cafe. As he passed the corner of the corridor, his pace did not falter, and his expression remained as gentle as ever, as if nothing had happened.

In the shadows of the corner, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji suppressed all his presence, quietly watching Kira and Kushida leave. He had not heard the complete conversation, but he had precisely captured the heavy atmosphere between the two and the tentatively scheduled secret meeting. A trace of faint amusement and understanding flickered in his eyes.

Kushida's secret, Kira's deduction, the private night meeting... The situation within the Dragon Group had already quietly undergone new changes in a corner no one noticed. A night game involving secrets, transactions, and survival had already quietly set its prologue.