Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, Class 1-A.
In the Class A classroom, students were gathered in small groups, discussing today's club orientation.
Sakayanagi Arisu walked into the classroom hand in hand with Amasawa Reigetsu. After so long, Amasawa Reigetsu was holding the cane she had made as a child again. It gave her a strange sense of déjà vu, but she didn't mind it.
The mysterious pair attracted most of Class A's attention. Their eyes settled on the hands the two girls were holding.
Sakayanagi Arisu smiled and surveyed the classroom, her confidence almost like a declaration of ownership.
"Everyone, I have some important information to share."
The classroom fell quiet. Everyone turned to look at Sakayanagi Arisu.
"The truth about the first Special Exam."
Sakayanagi Arisu's voice was calm and firm, but her words sent a wave through the room. The class erupted into chatter. Understanding flashed in Katsuragi Kohei's eyes. Sakayanagi had the upper hand in this round.
"The first Special Exam? When? Do we need to prepare for anything?"
Hashimoto Masayoshi, Sakayanagi Arisu's number-one lackey, immediately chimed in.
"It's starting right now, you know?"
After Amasawa Reigetsu walked Sakayanagi Arisu back to her seat, she left the classroom through the front door.
Being stared at by so many people... It was a little uncomfortable.
She would leave Class A's affairs to Alice from here on. Amasawa Reigetsu ignored Sakayanagi Arisu's reproachful gaze.
Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, Class 1-D.
Ayanokoji Kiyoko's point of view:
Ayanokoji Kiyoko looked at her classmates, each with their own distinct personalities. Beneath her poker face, she was wondering how she could make friends.
Speaking of friends, Ayanokoji Kiyoko began counting on her fingers. Hmm... Kushida Kikyo counted, and Horikita Suzune counted... Was that all she could think of?
Ayanokoji Kiyoko felt like a failure. Even though she could solve difficult math problems, she couldn't figure out how to fit in with the remaining cliques in Class D... Karuizawa Kei's gal clique, and Kanji Ike, Yamauchi Haruki, and the others...
She really missed Amasawa Reigetsu today...
Ayanokoji Kiyoko looked out the window. Amasawa Reigetsu was standing outside, looking at her.
Was longing a kind of illness? Could her body hallucinate, too?
Amasawa Reigetsu smiled and waved at her, then came inside.
Amasawa Reigetsu's point of view.
Kiyoko was earnestly practicing her reclusive ways again today... She was so cute.
According to the rules of the first exam, after looking into things yesterday, Amasawa Reigetsu and Sakayanagi Arisu had agreed that Class D would be pitifully short on points in the second month. So—
Now was the perfect time to fleece Class D!
So Amasawa Reigetsu stood outside Class D's window like a capitalist, hands behind her back as she sized up the happy, plump sheep inside.
Given how fragmented Class D's cliques were, getting them to pool their points was impossible, let alone getting them to buy the rules.
Wait, was it actually going to be hard to fleece them? She didn't have anything they wanted right now—
"Yamauchi, look at this!"
"Holy crap, the Thousand-Yen God! You gave Ike another handout, you dog!"
"Yamauchi, what kind of attitude is that? Just tell me if you want your Uncle Ike to lend it to you!"
"Daddy! Please, give it to me! I've only got twenty thousand points left, and I can't afford this! Please, just let me play with it!"
A loan shark, huh... No, forget it. Even if they couldn't pay her back, what was the point of controlling them? If all the loans went bad, wouldn't that just be charity?
Amasawa Reigetsu shook her head. The Black Room Trio was just too overpowered. She couldn't find a way to deal with them at all!
Chabashira: ?
"Kiyoko, are you free tonight?"
Amasawa Reigetsu walked into Class D and headed straight for Ayanokoji Kiyoko's seat.
"Mas—Rei, I'm free. What is it?"
Ayanokoji Kiyoko blushed. Rei was standing too close. //
"I'm going to earn money to support you. You know your points are going to be awful next month, right? Sorry for the trouble."
"What did you say? Our points are going to be awful next month? What do you mean?"
The long-haired girl sitting beside Ayanokoji Kiyoko caught the key phrase and butted into the conversation without reading the room.
"This is Horikita Suzune. I guess you could say... she's my friend?"
Kiyoko introduced them just in time, though she didn't sound very sure when she called Horikita Suzune her friend.
Looking at Horikita Suzune's peculiar air, her tough-but-unsteady gaze, and the way she'd inexplicably butted into the conversation as if the world revolved around her—
That look said it all. She was an interesting toy. She'd be fun to tease, wouldn't she? But she and that Student Council president both had the surname Horikita. Could the president be a siscon?
Tease her in moderation—not avoid teasing her, but make sure it was high-quality teasing!
At the same time, Horikita Suzune's voice had been loud enough to make Class D fall silent for a moment. Everyone turned to look at them.
"What, do you think you'll have no points to spend next month? If you run out of money, come borrow from me at loan-shark rates!"
Amasawa Reigetsu put on a smug, Dio-like expression. She knew that provoking them would only make Class D look down on her, and they'd ignore her.
But the Black Room Trio surprised her again. The red-haired gorilla she'd seen at the Basketball Club sprang up at once.
"Huh? You here to cause trouble? What class are you in? Looking for a beatdown?"
Amasawa Reigetsu paid no attention to the red-haired gorilla. Instead, she looked at Horikita Suzune.
"If you can stop this red-haired gorilla, I'll tell you for free, since you're a good friend of my Kiyoko's."
"This information is worth a million points, you know~"
Amasawa Reigetsu kept provoking them, raising the stakes as she went. Horikita Manabu had just been about to stop Ken Sudō, but a fist as big as a sandbag was already flying toward Amasawa Reigetsu's face.
"I'll knock that smart mouth right off your face!"
BAM!!!
The crash of desks and chairs toppling over.
Ayanokoji Kiyoko moved before Amasawa Reigetsu could. How dare this savage try to hurt her master right in front of her loyal dog!
A murderous glint flashed through Ayanokoji Kiyoko's emotionless eyes, but Amasawa Reigetsu noticed it, too.
"Don't lose your temper, Kiyoko. Didn't you want to enjoy high school?"
It happened! The time-stop explanation!
In the instant time stopped, Amasawa Reigetsu caught Ayanokoji Kiyoko's murderous punch, then blocked Ken Sudō's attack—
She'd underestimated her wife's bloodlust.
That was Amasawa Reigetsu's last thought before she went flying, but it was also what she wanted—
At least she'd been hit by her wife and not Sudō. She hadn't lost any cool points, right?
Time began to flow again.
The other students in Class D hadn't seen what happened at all. Even Sudō himself was baffled.
"Could I really send someone flying with one punch?"
An uproar.
"Horikita Suzune, apologize to me, and I'll forgive you and Sudō."
"You're accusing me of something you made up—"
"You're Horikita Manabu's sister, aren't you?"
Horikita Suzune's eyes widened, and the rest of her protest caught in her throat.
Amasawa Reigetsu wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and cut Horikita Suzune off with a malicious grin.
Even if she was twisting the truth, as long as she had the upper hand and had found her opponent's weak spot, it didn't matter if she'd only been guessing at first. Horikita Suzune's reaction had confirmed it.
"You wouldn't want your beloved brother to find out that Sudō was expelled because his little sister was so useless—"
"Shut up!"
"Horikita—"
Sudō was a little confused. He'd meant to play the hero and score some points with Horikita Suzune, but this was how things had turned out.
"I'll apologize, okay? I'm sorry!"
Horikita Suzune clenched her teeth and ran out.
What a refreshing feeling~
Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, dormitory.
"That idiot Rei! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!!"
After they returned to the dorm that evening, Ayanokoji Kiyoko curled up in Amasawa Reigetsu's arms and cried. She'd explained over and over that she wasn't hurt at all, that she'd bitten her own lip to make it bleed, and that the desks falling over hadn't hurt either. It hadn't hurt one bit.
But the idiot in her arms kept blaming herself, like a puppy that had done something wrong.
There was no helping it.
"Good girl, Kiyoko..."
Amasawa Reigetsu sealed Ayanokoji Kiyoko's lips, forcing her first crying fit to stop.
What followed was her second crying fit...
Ichinose Honami, waiting for a reply from Amasawa Reigetsu: What about me? I was here first...