Thanks for the hospitality

Grabbing U Amakusa by the shoulders, Hoshinomiya said earnestly, "Don't say another word. If you keep going, Teacher is going to get... hm????"

As if sensing something, she widened her eyes and abruptly crossed her arms over her chest, her face filled with uncontrollable shock and fury.

"Amakusa-kun, how did you do that?"

Do you like the Flying Dragon Cloud-Searching Hand of the Great God Amakusa?

In a mere split second, with speed faster than a blink, U Amakusa... unfastened the clasp of Hoshinomiya's eyepatch.

"Eh? What? Is something wrong? Is Hoshinomiya-sensei feeling unwell?"

Although Hoshinomiya covered herself with lightning speed, she still couldn't escape U Amakusa's sharp, discerning eyes.

Was she a "hundred-man slayer" or a "ten-man slayer" in the original work? It's truly impressive that something that size hasn't sagged at all...

U Amakusa had originally expected to see some downward movement, but he saw none, and he couldn't help but marvel inwardly.

Hoshinomiya-sensei really is top-tier...

"Little Amakusa... Teacher doesn't like this kind of joke."

Hoshinomiya saw right through U Amakusa's thoughts, and a cross-shaped vein, identical to the ones Kamuro gets, began to appear on her forehead.

"Right, my apologies, Hoshinomiya-sensei." U Amakusa pressed his palms together and closed his eyes in prayer. "Thanks for the treat."

Hoshinomiya: (੭ꐦ •̀Д•́ )੭

Are you apologizing or expressing gratitude, you brat!

Just a second before Hoshinomiya was about to snap, U Amakusa's savior appeared.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, I've come to pick up the lecture materials."

"Ah... that, Honami-chan... let's change the upcoming class to self-study. Teacher has to attend to other important matters first."

Hoshinomiya suppressed her rage, tightened her crossed arms, and then shot U Amakusa a glare that went unnoticed by others.

"Eh? I understand. I will relay the message to the students."

Meanwhile, U Amakusa continued his prayer, though the content had changed.

Thank you, Angel Ichinose...

Ichinose: ???

"Is Amakusa-kun performing some kind of ritual?" Ichinose asked Hoshinomiya, looking puzzled.

Seeing U Amakusa's movements hadn't ceased, Hoshinomiya assumed he was still trying to replay that scene in his mind.

This caused the corner of her mouth to twitch, and she could no longer maintain her gentle facade.

Seeing Hoshinomiya remain silent, Ichinose called out once more.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei?"

"Hoshinomiya-sensei has more important things to do right now, so let's not disturb her."

Canceling his prayer ritual, U Amakusa tossed out this line, started at zero frames, and quickly grabbed Ichinose to dash out of the faculty office.

He grabbed her wrist, of course.

Hoshinomiya: ???

Am I really that terrifying?

Hoshinomiya didn't think she was a demon; at most, she would have just made U Amakusa use the same trick on Chabashira.

At this moment, having successfully distanced himself from the faculty office, U Amakusa let go and let out a long breath.

"Safe."

"What's safe?" Ichinose was completely confused.

"No..." U Amakusa wiped sweat from his brow. "It's just that I made Hoshinomiya-sensei angry."

"Hoshinomiya-sensei is angry?"

"Yeah, the kind of angry that could eat a child alive."

Having said that, U Amakusa made a dramatic gesture of opening his mouth wide and snapping his teeth.

"Eh?" Ichinose chuckled softly. "To make Hoshinomiya-sensei that angry, did you do something, Amakusa-kun?"

U Amakusa felt a bit embarrassed by the topic and coughed a few times.

"Ahem, let's not talk about that. Ichinose, if I may ask, how many Private Points do you have left?"

U Amakusa changed the subject abruptly; he couldn't exactly tell Ichinose that he had unfastened Hoshinomiya's eyepatch.

Ichinose looked at U Amakusa with some confusion, but she answered honestly.

"Hmm... I think I have about 90,000 left? Why do you ask, Amakusa-kun?"

U Amakusa said in surprise, "You have that much left? You haven't really spent anything. You're very frugal, Ichinose."

"Well... there isn't really anything I want, just some expenses for food. Now that you mention it, I do have a habit of being thrifty because my family's financial situation isn't exactly great."

Ichinose said this without a care in the world.

Ichinose continued, "Is it that you're running low on Private Points, U Amakusa?"

It had only been half a month since school started, hadn't it?

U Amakusa chuckled, "Not at all. I still have plenty of points left. I was just... curious if anyone in Class B had spent over 50,000 Private Points in just half a month."

Ichinose paused, glanced at her surroundings out of the corner of her eye, and lowered her voice.

"U Amakusa, is it really okay to discuss this in a place like this?"

The two were on their way back to their classroom, and people were brushing past them from time to time.

"Aren't we just having a normal conversation? Being all sneaky would be the strange part," U Amakusa said with a calm expression.

Ichinose smiled helplessly. "U Amakusa, you really are hard to figure out. You were so cautious just yesterday."

After sighing, Ichinose changed their route back to the classroom and then answered U Amakusa's previous question.

"I'm afraid your guess was off, U Amakusa. We don't have anyone in Class B who spends money so recklessly."

As expected; only people in Class D would be capable of burning through 50,000 Private Points in half a month.

"Is that so? Since you know the spending situation of the class, that means you've already collected this month's points, Ichinose."

That was fast; it had only been a single morning.

U Amakusa felt slightly surprised internally; he had originally thought it would take until at least noon.

Ichinose, however, was not surprised that U Amakusa had reached this conclusion.

"Even though everyone in Class B doesn't know our plan, once they learned about the school's hidden rules, they were all very willing to hand over their points. Collecting them went very smoothly."

Once she finished speaking, Ichinose felt for some reason that the task U Amakusa had assigned her was perhaps too simple.

U Amakusa nodded. He looked at Ichinose, whose expression at that moment was far too easy to read.

"It went smoother than expected. Now it all depends on Kanzaki. By the way, is the class fund with you, Ichinose?"

Ever since Ichinose had changed their route, the two had actually been moving further and further away from the classroom, yet there wasn't a soul around them.

Because of this, U Amakusa gradually began to speak more boldly.

The two walked aimlessly, as if they were just taking a stroll before class.

"Yes. Everyone seems to trust me so much that it's hard to refuse. This trust feels a bit heavy, so I will work hard to ensure I don't let them down."

U Amakusa watched Ichinose as she cheered herself on, his tone gradually softening.

"I see. I'll be rooting for you, but I think I'll still need you to handle Kanzaki."

"Eh? Didn't you say to let Kanzaki go alone, U Amakusa?"

"Do you know about the good cop, bad cop routine? We have the good cop, so naturally, we need a bad cop too."

As their eyes met, Ichinose instantly understood, realizing that her little train of thought had been seen through.

"...Thank you, U Amakusa."

Ichinose smiled as she thanked U Amakusa, her cheeks flushing slightly.

Scattered cherry blossom petals drifted onto the railing of the corridor where the two walked side by side, and paired with the smile on Ichinose's flushed face, it looked like a scene from a painting.

"Mm."

In April, during the height of the Cherry Blossom Festival, U Amakusa had received the best gift of all.

Thanks for the treat, Archangel...