Meanwhile, Long Aotian was in swimming class~
He sat on the ground, watching the girls' competition up ahead. According to the swimming teacher, first place would earn 5,000 points.
"Long, the boys' competition is about to start. Aren't you going to participate?"
A voice called out~
He looked over and saw Sakayanagi Arisu approaching with her cane.
"I'm not very good at swimming. Sakayanagi Arisu, what brings you over here?"
Sakayanagi Arisu smiled. "You looked a little lonely."
"Lonely?" Long Aotian spread his hands helplessly. "I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but there's Katsuragi Kohei's faction and your faction, Sakayanagi Arisu. Since I'm neutral, neither of you will hang out with me."
A laugh came from nearby, and someone slowly walked up beside Sakayanagi Arisu.
Long Aotian glanced at Kamuro Masumi. "You've got some nerve laughing. At least I'm free. You're not exactly doing any better."
"You!" Kamuro Masumi's smile gradually disappeared as she pointed at Long Aotian.
"Enough. I'm not playing with you kids anymore. I'm going to compete."
Long Aotian slowly stood up, glanced at Sakayanagi Arisu, and headed toward the competition area.
Sakayanagi Arisu wasn't the sort to have that much free time. She probably had something she wanted to tell me.
Long Aotian stood in the competition area, with Katsuragi Kohei on his left and Hashimoto Masayoshi on his right.
"Long, are you really not interested in joining us?" Katsuragi Kohei asked in a mature, steady voice beside him.
"Not interested."
Long Aotian wasn't sure why, but ever since Sakayanagi Arisu had failed to recruit him, Katsuragi Kohei seemed to have taken an interest in him too.
After hearing them, Hashimoto Masayoshi scoffed. "Come on, Katsuragi Kohei. He likes being neutral, so don't force him."
Just then, Totsuka Yahiko walked over from Katsuragi Kohei's left and glared angrily at Hashimoto Masayoshi. "How are we forcing him? Besides, your Sakayanagi Arisu faction has done plenty of recruiting too."
Suddenly, a clear, piercing whistle rang out.
"Get back to your places! What are you doing over there?" the swimming teacher called to the four of them.
Long Aotian sighed. These two factions really were like fire and water. Later in the story, Sakayanagi Arisu's faction would stab Katsuragi Kohei in the back plenty of times.
"Hurry back to your places! Everyone's waiting for you!"
The swimming teacher was getting impatient and urged them on.
Once the four had returned to their places, the swimming teacher took a deep breath and blew another clear, piercing whistle.
At once, the swimmers in their lanes shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow. The moment the whistle sounded, they kicked off the starting blocks, their bodies tracing elegant arcs through the air before plunging into the water with a splash, sending up sprays of white foam.
Swim, swim~
After one lap back and forth, a hand reached for the steps and a head emerged from the water. Long Aotian glanced behind him. Why are they so slow? Am I just too good, or are you all out of shape?
Then Hashimoto Masayoshi surfaced, followed by Katsuragi Kohei, Totsuka Yahiko, and the others. For anyone who hadn't taken first place, the rest of the rankings didn't mean much.
After the competition, Long Aotian dried himself off and returned to where he had been sitting earlier. Sakayanagi Arisu was still there, seated on the bench.
Watching Long Aotian walk over, Sakayanagi Arisu asked, puzzled, "And this is what you call not being very good at swimming?"
"Yep. I'm not very good."
Long Aotian walked over and sat down, then continued watching the girls' competition. The view was great from here; otherwise, he wouldn't have come back.
"All right, what is it you wanted to talk about?"
"Long, you really are clever." Sakayanagi Arisu swung her feet, smiling. "On the first day of school, Long Aotian visited most of the clubs and earned a lot of points through his own abilities. Then, for the past half month, he's been spending quite a bit of time with a girl from Class D, even going to and from her dorm regularly. Is Long Aotian planning to use his points to get that girl into Class A? Or is that girl your eyes and ears in Class D?"
"Impressive." Long Aotian clapped his hands. "That's exactly what I had in mind. But you must be pretty free to have investigated me."
The rest didn't surprise Long Aotian. Anyone could find that out by having someone look into it. But how had she learned about him going to Sakura's dorm? Hidden cameras? Or spies? Impressive.
"When something interests me, I naturally look into it." The girl kept swinging her feet. "Then I realized you're quite interesting. You're strong and clever. You and I are both geniuses, and I think Class A should be ruled by the two of us."
"Not interested."
"Not interested? Then why did you come to this school if not to get into Class A?"
Long Aotian really wasn't interested in whether he made it into Class A. He'd only come because the system had given him a quest. Otherwise, he already had a successful career outside. Who'd come here for no reason? If he had to give a reason, perhaps it was to experience school life and maybe find a girlfriend?
"Yeah..." He thought for a moment, then turned to Sakayanagi Arisu. "Would you be interested in working together?"
"Working together?"
After school~
Long Aotian stopped by a dessert shop and picked out a pretty strawberry cake. It was Sakura Airi's favorite.
Carrying the cake, Long Aotian headed to Sakura Airi's dorm. Before long, he reached her door and gave it a light knock.
Sakura Airi opened the door and saw Long Aotian. Her face turned slightly red. "Aotian, what are you doing here?"
"Of course I brought you your favorite strawberry cake." Long Aotian lifted the cake in his hand and walked into the room with a smile.
He set the cake on the table, cut it into slices, and handed Sakura a fork.
She took a bite of the cake~
He had to admit, the cake was pretty tasty, though eating too much made you gain weight.
"Hmm?"
He watched as Sakura lifted a small piece of cake on her fork and held it up to Long Aotian's mouth.
"Have a bite."
"Oh, okay."
He took a bite and savored it slowly. Somehow, food tasted better when someone else fed it to him.
He picked up his own fork, speared a small piece, and fed it to Sakura. "How's that test going for your class?"
"Mmm~" Sakura took a bite, her face glowing with contentment and happiness.
"?" He clenched his fist and lightly tapped Sakura on the head, confused. "What are you thinking about? I asked how that test is going for your class."
"Ow." She rubbed her head. "Nothing. They handed out the test answers afterward and told us to memorize them."
"Also, Kushida Kikyo invited those three people to another study session. Should I go?"
"?" Long Aotian was a little confused. They already had the answers, so why were they holding a study session? He picked up his fork and fed her another bite. "No need. I'll tutor you later. And didn't you already get the answers? Why are they still holding a study session?"
"I don't know. Kushida Kikyo said something about making sure we pass, so she proposed a study session where we could help each other."
Sakura took another bite of cake, looking pleased.
He held out the piece of cake in his hand. "And then? Did Kushida Kikyo manage to get them to come?"
Sakura looked at the cake being offered to her, took the fork, and fed it to him. She shook her head. "No. They said they already had the answers, so why bother going to a study session? They were guaranteed to pass."
That was so typical. And what did "guaranteed to pass" even mean? The last person who'd said that was practically finished for.
As for who'd come up with the idea, it looked like Kushida Kikyo, but Ayanokoji was probably the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Whatever. It didn't matter, as long as the story stayed on track.
"Got anything planned for the next little while?" Long Aotian asked, glancing at the nearly finished cake.
"Taking pictures!"
Sakura thought about it. She hadn't gone out to take pictures much lately. She looked at Long Aotian and blinked her bright, sparkling eyes. "Want to come with me?"
"Sure, sure!"
He raised both hands to shield himself from the dazzling light shining at him.
There wasn't much else to do anyway, and it had been a while since anything happened in the story. He might as well spend some time with Sakura first.
He felt that Sakura's gaze still hadn't moved away, so he lowered his hands and looked at her. Their eyes met.
"What's wrong?"
Long Aotian blinked and asked, puzzled.
Sakura looked away, then slowly leaned toward Long Aotian with a smile. "You know."
Before you continue