After taking Sakura back to the dorm, I ate a meal and then returned to my own room.
In his room, Long Aotian was watching the camera feed on his phone.
It was 8:35. Had it not started yet? I'd go crouch in a tree behind them and wait.
Flying Thunder God!
A figure appeared in a tree, maintaining a delicate balance among the branches, like a silent watcher in the night, gazing down below.
"Ptooey, ptooey! It's all leaves!" Long Aotian spat, plucking leaves from his hair as he waited and watched below.
As time passed...
Two hours later...
A short-haired boy and a long-haired girl appeared in Long Aotian's field of view.
They're here! He took out his phone to record a video. (It was a phone he'd bought outside school.)
The girl was Horikita Suzune, whom he'd seen in the library that day.
The boy was Student Council President Horikita Manabu, Horikita Suzune's older brother.
"I'm not the useless person you knew back then anymore. I came here to catch up to you."
A head poked out from the other side. Long Aotian took a look. It was Ayanokoji. Looks like the plot hasn't changed.
Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses and said gravely, "You want to catch up to me? You still haven't realized your own shortcomings. Choosing this school was your first mistake."
"I'll be promoted to Class A soon. Then—"
"You can't do it."
Horikita Manabu grabbed Horikita Suzune's right hand with his left and raised it over her head, pinning her against the wall. "My younger sister was assigned to Class D. In the end, I'm the one who'll be disgraced. Leave this school at once."
"You have neither the ability nor the qualifications to climb higher. Get a grip on yourself."
Here it comes! The fight's about to start! Long Aotian quickly adjusted his phone to get the right angle.
Just as Horikita Manabu was about to hit Horikita Suzune in the stomach with his right hand, Ayanokoji appeared and grabbed his arm.
"You were really about to hit her, weren't you? Let her go."
"Don't, Ayanokoji."
"Hm?" Hearing Horikita Suzune's voice, he hesitated for a moment, then let go.
Horikita Manabu fought dirty, swinging his right hand back at him.
Ayanokoji leaned back to dodge the attack. Seeing him evade, Horikita Manabu followed up with a straight kick.
Ayanokoji watched the kick coming toward him, quickly regained his balance, and dodged to the right.
Horikita Manabu struck with his right hand in a claw shape. Ayanokoji slapped it aside with his left hand and clenched his right fist, as if preparing to land a punch.
That's enough. Long Aotian watched the phone as it clearly captured everything, then shook his head.
If it were me, I definitely wouldn't throw a straight kick. While his body was off balance, I'd sweep his legs low, throwing him further off balance. He'd either get hit and fall, or jump away.
After that came a conversation. The male lead got 50 points on every exam. What an interesting guy.
Even after it was over, Long Aotian didn't leave. Better safe than sorry. He retrieved the camera and used Flying Thunder God to return to his room.
A little over thirty minutes later...
Back in his room, Long Aotian took the video he'd recorded and combined it with the camera footage, editing them into a compilation. He found Horikita Manabu's email through the school system and sent him the video.
[Horikita: What are your terms?]
[a: 2 million points.]
[Points: 11.9 million originally → 14.9 million now (fake account: 50,000 points) (buff bonus: 2 million → 3 million) (won't show the rest; too much hassle to calculate)]
He used the Double Points Card!
[Points: 14.9 million originally → 29.8 million now]
Done! Seeing the points arrive on his phone, he immediately used Flying Thunder God to reach D Intersection, then hid his phone and computer in a secluded spot.
Meanwhile, Horikita Manabu looked at the text message on his phone, frowning as he pushed up his glasses. He said gravely, "Interesting. You think I can't find you? Points can buy anything."
The next morning~
A student in a uniform, with short black hair and glasses, walked toward the teachers' office.
Looking at the teacher in front of him, he asked, "Teacher, how many points would it cost to check the surveillance footage?"
"100,000 points."
"Okay."
At the surveillance room, Horikita Manabu watched the screen displaying the previous night's footage of the road to the vending machines.
Horikita Manabu carefully examined every detail, not missing a single clue. The footage was unusually quiet, and there was nothing particularly suspicious. He frowned, puzzled.
Then he recalled the video from the day before. Part of it had been recorded by someone. Could there have been another person behind them?
But the footage showed only Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji walking to the vending machines. Had those two set it up?
No. He'd run into Horikita Suzune by chance, so she couldn't have arranged it in time. Besides, knowing his sister, she wouldn't have done something like that.
Could it have been Ayanokoji? But the footage showed that he, too, had only noticed them by chance and followed them.
Horikita Manabu picked up the mouse and rewound the footage. The screen returned to a little after noon, and he sped up the playback.
One hour later...
Horikita Manabu was completely stunned. Aside from the three people from the previous night, no one had gone to the vending machines.
Considering when the video had been sent to him, Horikita Manabu had gone to check the spot where the camera had been that morning. But it wasn't there! That meant someone had retrieved it. If so, a figure should have appeared around then.
But no matter how he looked, there was no one downstairs at the dorms. There was no one at the dorm exits either. It was as if the person had vanished into thin air.
A steady voice sounded beside him. "Did you find anything?"
"No." Horikita Manabu shook his head, then thought of another solution. "Teacher, I'm going to see the Chairman."
"Okay."
He arrived at the Chairman's Office~
"Good morning, Chairman." Horikita Manabu bowed to the man before him, then showed him the text message on his phone. "I want the real name of the person who sent this. How many points will it cost?"
The man was of average height and build, with a somewhat square face and defined features that gave him a stern appearance. His eyes were deep and perceptive, as though they could see into people's hearts.
"Horikita Manabu, I can't believe there's someone at this school who can threaten you. One million points."
Horikita Manabu frowned slightly. That was no small amount. The video from the previous day could threaten him, which was why he'd paid two million. But it depended on who had it. If the person was a simpleton, the video alone wouldn't be enough to threaten him.
What he feared was a clever person who would keep the video as leverage and investigate his past conduct through the upperclassmen, then release everything at once. That might cost him his position on the Student Council. At best, he'd lose his presidency; at worst, he'd be expelled.
Realizing how many points it would cost, he shifted his approach and asked, "How many points would it cost to find out which account received the points?"
The man looked at him with admiration and approval. "Five hundred thousand points."
"Okay."
Horikita Manabu took out his phone and paid the 500,000 points.
The man picked up Horikita Manabu's phone and left. Before he went, he said, "Five minutes."
Five minutes later...
The man returned the phone and stood in front of Horikita Manabu. "The payment was received by an account under the name Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Then the points disappeared."
Horikita Manabu was even more baffled. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka? And what did he mean, the points disappeared? Was there someone else behind this?
Horikita Manabu thought for a moment, then asked to satisfy his curiosity, "How many points would it cost to find the name of the person behind the account that sent the message?"
"One million points."
That confirmed it for Horikita Manabu: the person who sent the message had nothing to do with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. And the reason the man said the points had disappeared was that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had been used as a scapegoat.
Note: When the Chairman investigated, the last account to receive the points was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's. But the points were then transferred back to Sakayanagi Arisu and disappeared from there. The Chairman confirmed that Sakayanagi Arisu wasn't behind it, so he could only give Horikita Manabu Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's name. He added a hint for Horikita Manabu to figure out on his own. However, he did discover the account named "a." But Horikita Manabu's question was about a different account name, so the answer was different too.
Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses. If anyone else had been there, they would have seen how terrifyingly cold the Student Council President's expression was.
He made up his mind to find this person and said in a dark voice, "Then I'll pay one million points."
"Certainly. The account is under the name 'a.'"
Horikita Manabu frowned. A? What was that supposed to mean?
As if he'd noticed Horikita Manabu's confusion, the man added, "That's right, the name is 'a.' This account was created half a month ago, which means someone has been infiltrating the school system. The account has already been deleted, but the school will continue investigating."
Horikita Manabu was confused. Half a month ago? That was during the first month of the new students' enrollment. Then it had to be a first-year. Someone that skilled would have made a name for themselves or surfaced in previous years. After all, infiltrating the school system was no ordinary feat.
That left the camera and computer purchase records as his only leads.
"Chairman, I'll be going."
Horikita Manabu bowed, then left.
The Chairman shook his head, as though he could guess what Horikita Manabu was thinking. How could someone capable of this have left any clues behind?
Horikita Manabu's trip was doomed to be a waste of time. By the time of the Airi camera incident, Long Aotian had already deleted the records of his purchase. As for the computer, he'd bought it outside the school, so there was no chance of finding a record.
Before you continue