New Goal

Back in the dorm, Uesugi Hara leaned against his chair, his fingertips tapping the desk unconsciously as he replayed the transaction from start to finish in his mind.

There were no loopholes.

Although he had deliberately put on the mask of a "greedy man" in front of Horikita Manabu, so what?

Making money is nothing to be ashamed of.

Even if he did take advantage of the other party in certain aspects, transactions are based on mutual willingness. Even if it were truly seen through, the other party wouldn't be able to pick out any flaws on the surface.

As for him targeting Horikita Suzune? Uesugi Hara chuckled softly and lay back on his bed. That woman was full of sharp edges and loved to get stuck in dead ends; she would likely narrow her own path without him needing to waste any effort.

He reached for his phone and sent a message to Kushida Kikyo, telling her to come over—it was indeed time to properly plan how to deal with Horikita Suzune.

"Huh? You're saying you won't help me deal with Horikita Suzune anymore?" Kushida Kikyo's voice rose sharply, the smile in her eyes fading instantly. "Why? Is the price I paid not enough, or did you intend to go back on your word from the start?"

Uesugi Hara took a sip of water, his tone remaining steady. "Don't be so quick to get angry; I will explain, naturally."

He looked up at her. "You know the student council president, right?"

"I know him," Kushida Kikyo frowned, her tone tinged with impatience. "Who in school doesn't? He's respected by everyone and has great prestige. But what does that have to do with me?"

"The student council president's surname is Horikita," Uesugi Hara's gaze rested on her face, his voice low but clear. "The same Horikita as in Horikita Suzune."

The expression on Kushida Kikyo's face froze instantly. A few seconds later, she forced a sneer. "So? Are you afraid?"

"It's not fear." Uesugi Hara shook his head. "I made a deal with him, and one of the conditions is that I no longer target Horikita Suzune."

"So you're just going to give up on helping me like that?" Kushida Kikyo stared at the floor, her tone filled with self-mockery. "Right, in your eyes, I was always someone who could be discarded at will."

"I didn't say I wouldn't help you." Uesugi Hara interrupted her. "I only said I would no longer help you 'deal with Horikita Suzune'."

"Is there a difference?" She looked up, her eyes filled with obvious skepticism.

"Of course there is." Uesugi Hara's tone became more certain. "The reason you want to target her is for two reasons—first, she knows your past, and second, you can't stand that she is more popular and dazzling than you. Am I right?"

"..." Kushida Kikyo clenched the hem of her skirt, her fingertips turning white, but she didn't refute him.

"It seems I was right." Uesugi Hara watched her subtle reaction, his tone devoid of fluctuation.

"So what!" She looked up abruptly, her voice carrying an irrepressible sense of grievance. "In the end, isn't it the same? She knows those things, so she will always be a sword hanging over my head. As long as she is still in school, everyone's eyes will always be drawn to her—even if you don't help me deal with her, these troubles won't just disappear on their own!"

"An interesting expression." Uesugi Hara stood up and walked over, pinching Kushida Kikyo's chin and forcing her to look up at him.

Looking at Kushida Kikyo's eyes, which were usually filled with a gentle smile, they now looked like shattered glass, suddenly revealing a hint of panic.

The shame and anger from being called out hadn't faded, and now, being forced to look up by her chin, a layer of indignation at being offended was added. Her eyelashes fluttered rapidly as if trying to hide the fleeting embarrassment in her eyes, her lips pressed into a tight line, and even her cheeks flushed a faint red.

"Heh." Uesugi Hara chuckled softly. He released her chin but didn't back away, looking down at her from above. "With the personality of that foolish woman Horikita Suzune, she doesn't care about your little secrets at all. Besides, your homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, hid some things from you, didn't she?"

He paused, his tone filled with undisguised sarcasm, as if mocking some clumsy concealment. "She probably told you that only by graduating from Class A can you guarantee a 100% advancement and employment rate, but she didn't mention that... 20 million private points can directly buy a transfer to another class, right?"

Kushida Kikyo pressed against her jaw where she had been pinched and turned her face away, automatically skipping the first sentence. "So what if 20 million points can change classes? I never cared about graduating from Class A."

"You shouldn't think that way." Uesugi Hara's voice dropped lower, as if hooked. "What you should be thinking is, if you had 20 million points, what would those so-called 'friends' of yours do? If you had 40 million, what would they do then?"

He leaned in slightly, the inducement in his words almost overflowing. "With 20 million, they would envy you, and their eyes would be filled with fawning. With 40 million, they would be like ants smelling sugar, crowding around to curry favor with you, fighting to be your closest person, hoping you would pull them up at the very end."

As he spoke, he finally took half a step back, his gaze sweeping over her tense profile. "Even without that much, with the current state of Class D, if you had even one or two million points in your hand, do you think they would dare to offend you to curry favor with Horikita Suzune?"

Kushida Kikyo's eyes went blank for a few seconds, her lashes drooping as if she were sketching a scene in her mind—perhaps the image of her friends fawning over her, or perhaps a scene where she was surrounded by them.

Her fingertips curled unconsciously until, after two and a half minutes, she snapped back to reality, her lips bitten lightly by her teeth, leaving a red mark.

"So what." When she looked up, the dejection in her tone was lighter than before, but it was layered with a realistic sense of helplessness. "No matter how good it sounds, with the points I can get now and the current state of Class D dragging me down, where would I get that much? It's not like I can conjure them out of thin air."

Although she said this, her fingers, which had been clutching her skirt, quietly loosened, and the spark that had been ignited in her eyes hadn't completely extinguished.

Uesugi Hara didn't respond, merely tapping his terminal screen twice with his fingertip.

He picked up the terminal and held it toward Kushida Kikyo, waving it slowly before her eyes. The point balance on his personal homepage shone clearly; that long string of numbers hit like a muffled punch, instantly shattering the hesitation she had just suppressed.

He didn't even bother to enlarge the numbers, keeping them at a natural angle as if he were just casually showing something mundane.

Kushida Kikyo's gaze was as if locked by a magnet, nailed firmly to the screen.

That long string of numbers magnified infinitely in her eyes, every zero seeming to strike at her nerves. The remaining resistance and suspicion were completely washed away by this intuitive impact.

A total of 7 million private points!

She held her breath subconsciously, her lips slightly parted, forgetting the pain of the red mark left by her teeth. In those eyes that were always filled with a gentle smile, there was now only undisguised shock, along with a trace of desire that she herself hadn't even noticed.

Seeing her pupils shrink and her breathing slow down, Uesugi Hara knew the heat was just right. He retracted his fingertips, preparing to take the terminal back.

But just as the terminal was halfway back, his wrist was gripped tightly by two hands. Kushida Kikyo had leaned in at some point, her knuckles white from the force, her shoulders slightly tense as if afraid the string of numbers would disappear the next second.

Her gaze remained glued to the screen, her voice trembling imperceptibly, yet filled with an unyielding stubbornness. "Wait..."

"Want it?" Uesugi Hara paused deliberately, his fingertips tapping lightly on the edge of the terminal, the numbers on the screen swaying with the movement.

He watched the force with which Kushida Kikyo gripped his wrist, the playfulness in his tone almost overflowing, like he was teasing a small beast staring at bait. "If you want it, you have to come up with a decent exchange condition, don't you?"

Kushida Kikyo's fingers stiffened, and her gaze finally moved away from the screen. When she looked up at him, the desire for those numbers still lingered in her eyes.

She bit her lower lip, her voice lower than before, but carrying a sense of desperation. "What do you want? As long as I can do it..."

Before she could finish, she stopped—Uesugi Hara's look of holding all the cards clearly meant he had already decided on the conditions.

Uesugi Hara watched her expression and let out a low chuckle, gently tugging at his wrist. This time, Kushida Kikyo did not hold on with a death grip; her fingertips slid away loosely, though she did not pull her hand back entirely, as if afraid of being too far from the terminal.

"It's simple." He tucked the terminal back into his pocket, and the moment the screen went dark, Kushida Kikyo's eyes visibly dimmed. "Stop fixating on Horikita Suzune, and stop trying to use those twisted, roundabout methods. Just do as I say: first, win over those people in Class D, and continue expanding your network—once you've accumulated enough capital, why worry about not having the chance to climb higher?"

He paused, then added, "As for points... as long as you're obedient, 'lending' you a bit for your turnover isn't out of the question."

Kushida Kikyo stared at the pocket where he had stashed the terminal, her throat bobbing slightly. Uesugi Hara's mention of "lending you a bit" felt like a feather tickling her heart—she knew all too well that when "a bit" came out of this man's mouth, it would never be a small sum.

"Win over Class D?" She quickly regained her composure, her fingertips unconsciously twisting her sleeve. "But they all have their own agendas right now; some of them can't even be bothered to care about class affairs..."

"That's your business." Uesugi Hara interrupted her, his tone nonchalant. "Aren't you best at making people like you? Whether you're just putting on an act or being sincere, the point is to make them feel that 'following Kushida Kikyo has its perks'." He tilted his chin toward her. "Those talents you keep hidden beneath your gentle facade shouldn't just be used to deal with Horikita Suzune, should they?"

This remark struck a nerve, yet it also made her eyes brighten.

She remained silent for a few seconds before curling the corners of her lips—the smile lacked the usual deliberate sweetness, replaced by a sharpness ignited by self-interest. "Fine. I know what to do."

Uesugi Hara watched her, a flicker of satisfaction crossing his eyes. He knew it: compared to the hollow pursuit of "dealing with rivals," tangible benefits were far more effective at helping this woman find her direction.