"That won't do. You're really too modest."
Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head with a smile, glanced at Kamuro Masumi, who still looked a little stunned, and helpfully introduced her.
"This is Kamuro Masumi, who's in my class."
Then a hint of seriousness entered her beautiful eyes.
"Then, may I ask what you're planning to do, Chihaya?"
Chihaya Rei glanced at the beer in Sakayanagi Arisu's hand.
"Let's start by going over what just happened."
"I have no objections."
Sakayanagi Arisu nodded slightly, looking interested.
She also needed to know how much Chihaya Rei had learned about what had just happened.
"As I understand it, Kamuro stole beer from the convenience store, but unfortunately, Classmate Sakayanagi caught her."
"So you used the evidence you filmed to threaten Kamuro, hoping to make her your little dog."
Chihaya Rei saw no point in wasting time. He said what he had witnessed, then looked at her with an amused smile.
"Is that what happened?"
"That's a good analysis."
Sakayanagi Arisu clapped her hands lightly twice. There was no anger in her voice; instead, it held a hint of praise.
But she didn't confirm or deny it, either.
If Chihaya Rei had started recording on his phone, she'd be digging a hole for herself.
Still, his words made it clear that he knew what had happened, and that he'd noticed them back at the convenience store.
Had he followed her and Kamuro all the way here?
"Let me think..."
Chihaya Rei put on a thoughtful expression and said in a half-serious, half-joking tone:
"If we were assigning punishments, Kamuro would be guilty of theft, while Classmate Sakayanagi would be guilty of aiding and abetting and intimidation."
"That's a rather harsh way to describe me!"
Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes slightly, then put on a wounded expression the next moment.
"I think my description was pretty accurate."
Chihaya Rei smiled indifferently.
"Can you give me any concrete evidence that I threatened Kamuro?"
"True, the video I took isn't concrete enough."
Chihaya Rei looked a little disappointed.
He'd filmed them from some distance away, so there was no way the audio would be clear.
If he showed the video to the school and reported her, Sakayanagi Arisu could simply abandon Kamuro Masumi and claim she'd been about to report her herself, or that she'd only been trying to get Kamuro to admit her mistake and change her ways.
But none of that mattered to Chihaya Rei.
He'd never intended to let the school know about this. He'd only wanted to tease Sakayanagi, the bratty little girl.
At that moment, Kamuro Masumi snapped out of her daze. She watched Chihaya Rei and Sakayanagi Arisu continue chatting and laughing.
She was on the verge of breaking down.
First Sakayanagi Arisu had caught her stealing, and now someone from another class was involved too. Was her luck really that bad today?
Kamuro Masumi felt there was no way to settle things peacefully anymore. Sakayanagi's promise to keep her secret as long as she obeyed was no longer any use.
"I've had enough. If you two aren't going to inform the school, I'll call them myself."
Kamuro Masumi took out her phone and was about to call the Class A homeroom teacher to turn herself in.
But Chihaya Rei suddenly pressed a hand against her wrist, stopping her. Her wrist was slender and smooth, cool to the touch.
"Are you sure you want to do that, Kamuro?" Chihaya Rei asked.
"As far as I know, this school is pretty strict. Do you really want to get expelled on the first day?"
"S-so what? I'd rather be punished by the school than threatened by you and Sakayanagi!"
Kamuro Masumi said, sounding utterly defeated.
Chihaya Rei stepped in front of Kamuro Masumi and spoke sternly:
"Your parents must have been happy when they found out you could attend this school. They must have been proud of you."
"But instead, on the very first day of school, you'd be sent home in disgrace for stealing."
"What kind of expression do you think your parents would have when they saw you?"
"I..."
Kamuro Masumi's mind went briefly blank. She bit her lip, visibly shaken.
"So, Kamuro, you'd better give up on that idea."
Chihaya Rei pressed on.
"What do you want me to do?" Kamuro Masumi couldn't help asking.
After Chihaya Rei had said so much to her, she'd instinctively assumed he wanted to threaten her into working for him, just like Sakayanagi.
Chihaya Rei let go of her hand and relaxed his tone. "Don't worry, Kamuro. I'm actually here to help you."
"Help me?"
Kamuro Masumi blinked in surprise.
"That's right. I'm not planning to report you to the school. And I'm not planning to threaten you, either. I won't let Classmate Sakayanagi threaten you, either."
Chihaya Rei spoke slowly and glanced at Sakayanagi Arisu, but unfortunately, he didn't get to see an interesting expression.
So she was his target, then?
Even after hearing Chihaya Rei state so plainly that he intended to thwart her, Sakayanagi Arisu kept her elegant, composed smile. She even felt a rare surge of delight.
She might have lost one little dog for now, but she'd found an even more interesting toy.
"Then how are you planning to help poor Kamuro, Chihaya?"
Sakayanagi Arisu spoke softly.
She felt that if she didn't say something soon, someone else would win over the pawn she'd set her sights on.
Chihaya Rei looked at Sakayanagi with an easy smile and said with certainty:
"It's simple. The video you have is useless now."
Sakayanagi Arisu's fair cheeks showed a trace of surprise. Her gaze sharpened as she fell into thought.
Had Chihaya Rei done something?
"Your theft of the beer doesn't count as theft anymore, either," Chihaya Rei added, turning to Kamuro Masumi.
"Doesn't count? How could that be?"
Kamuro Masumi's eyes widened in disbelief.
She'd really stuffed the beer into her bag and stolen it from the convenience store.
"Did you buy this bottle of beer?"
Confusion showed in Kamuro Masumi's eyes as she tried to guess.
She asked, but Japanese law forbade minors from purchasing alcoholic drinks.
Was this school different?
Was the school so brazen that it would sell alcohol to students?
Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes slightly and spoke with a smile:
"I'm guessing you bought the right to take the beer out temporarily, right?"
She stared intently at Chihaya Rei, waiting for him to confirm her guess. It was the only answer she could come up with in such a short time.
"You guessed right, Sakayanagi."
Chihaya Rei glanced sideways at Sakayanagi Arisu.
She might have been the Phantom God of Civil War, but he had to admit that Sakayanagi Cat was clever.
"Before Kamuro Masumi took the beer out of the supermarket, I'd already made a deal with the cashier. What I bought was the right to take this bottle of beer out for an hour."
"After all, you can buy anything with points, can't you?"
Chihaya Rei explained calmly.
He couldn't buy the beer outright, but there was no problem with borrowing it temporarily and returning it in perfect condition.
It had only cost him 5,000 points.
That was even just the lowest price he'd been willing to pay.
He hadn't expected the cashier to agree so readily when he offered 5,000 points to borrow the beer for just an hour.
Thinking about it now, the school claimed that anything could be bought with points.
So the various people at this school who weren't students could make their own deals with students, as long as they didn't break any rules.
And they were happy to trade with students for points, since they could exchange those points for money too.
"That's quite an interesting approach," Sakayanagi Arisu said with a smile.
She figured Chihaya Rei was probably the first of the new students to learn how to use the school's rules.
"Wait, you can do that?!"
Kamuro Masumi finally understood.
Her gaze shifted to Chihaya Rei, filled with complicated feelings.
This guy...
Why was he going this far to help her?
"How much have you learned about the school's rules?" Sakayanagi Arisu asked Chihaya Rei, curious.
"Sorry, Sakayanagi, but I'm not planning to talk about the school's rules with you right now."
Chihaya Rei shook his head, looking uninterested. Then he spoke sharply to Sakayanagi:
"What I'm saying is, you're despicable for using a trick like that to threaten your own classmate."
"You must be a nasty little brat."
"Huh?"
Sakayanagi Arisu looked bewildered. The cane in her right hand nearly slipped and fell to the ground.
Why was he suddenly lecturing her?
And... he'd actually called her a brat?
Sakayanagi Arisu bit down in irritation, and her polite smile nearly faltered.
"And you didn't even notice I was following you. Your vigilance is pretty poor, too."
After saying that, Chihaya Rei gave her no chance to retort. He turned to Kamuro Masumi and continued scolding her in a righteous tone:
"And you, Kamuro Masumi, you're such an idiot!"
"You stole something because you wanted a thrill, right?"
"There are plenty of ways to seek thrills, but you chose the stupidest one."
"And you got caught by two people on the same day. You're hopeless. Remember the lesson you learned today. This sort of thing isn't for you, so don't do it again."
"..."
Kamuro Masumi opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.
She'd wanted to argue after being chewed out like that, but she was so clearly in the wrong that she couldn't bring herself to talk back.
And despite his blunt words, she felt strangely affected. She couldn't even bring herself to get angry.
Finally, Chihaya Rei let out a long breath, as if he'd just completed some important task.
"Okay, I've said everything I needed to. This matter is over. You can both go do whatever you want. I'll take care of this, too."
As he spoke, Chihaya Rei stepped forward and took the beer from Sakayanagi Arisu.
In a good mood, he tossed it back and forth between his hands a few times.
Just like that?
Kamuro Masumi blinked, dumbfounded.
Sakayanagi Arisu also looked surprised.
Chihaya Rei had done all that just to stop her from threatening Kamuro?
And he'd given them both a thorough scolding, too.
What did he get out of it?
"Chihaya, you really are an interesting person."
Sakayanagi Arisu's lips curved slightly upward, and her deep purple eyes gleamed with an unusual light.
"I agree that we should let this matter end here."
Sakayanagi took out her phone and deleted the video in front of them to prove her sincerity.
Of course, after Chihaya Rei saw that, he deleted his own video too.
Sakayanagi Arisu waved her phone and asked Chihaya Rei:
"Before we go, I'd like to ask one small thing: I hope you won't refuse to exchange contact information with me."
"I don't mind."
Chihaya Rei felt much the same way.
After all, they'd have to deal with each other again.
Besides, Sakayanagi Arisu, the Phantom God of Civil War, was already on his Must-Be-Interrogated List of Real School.
Seeing them, Kamuro Masumi added him as a friend too.
Then the three of them went their separate ways.
Chihaya Rei still had to go to the supermarket to return the beer.
He checked the system at the same time.
[Tortured Kamuro Masumi, gained 1800 Torture Points] [Tortured Kamuro Masumi, gained 2545 Torture Points] [Tortured Sakayanagi Arisu, gained 2630 Torture Points] [Tortured Sakayanagi Arisu, gained 2780 Torture Points]... [Current torture progress: 30%. Reach 60% to unlock the next reward] [Torture progress requirement met. First reward unlocked.] [Randomly drawing a skill...] [Obtained skill: Stealthy Aura.] [Description: When activated, it reduces your presence to a minimum. You can freely control the sounds your body makes, such as your footsteps, breathing, and heartbeat. Even if you stand behind someone, they might not notice you.]
Chihaya Rei blinked and couldn't help letting out a soft hum.
So... he could become a Grand Assassin too?!
Before you continue