The First Transaction

Gu Heng had barely sat down when the sound of a chair scraping came from the row ahead.

Horikita was back.

Her expression was even colder than when she had left, as if the wind in the hallway had chilled her mood along with everything else.

Gu Heng knew the reason without looking.

Running into Ayanokoji was never a pleasant experience.

Especially for someone like Horikita, who disliked losing the initiative.

The classroom was still noisy.

Some continued discussing where to go that evening, some started looking for maps of the school facilities, and some were already planning how to spend their hundred thousand points in the first week to make a "first impression at their new school."

Gu Heng listened for a while, then picked up his pen and wrote three names on a blank page.

Sudo

Hirata

Kushida

If Horikita represented Class D's sharpest, most difficult-to-use framework, then these three were the three variables most worth dealing with first.

Sudo was a flashpoint.

Hirata was an interface.

Kushida was a bomb.

Who he moved first would determine whether, over the next ten chapters, he would merely be a clever person who spotted the pitfalls ahead of time—or whether he could truly reach into Class D's muddy waters.

A shadow suddenly fell over his desk.

Gu Heng looked up.

This time, it was not Horikita.

It was a girl with a very sweet smile.

"Gu Heng, right?"

Her voice was cheerful, carrying the natural familiarity of someone who seemed close to everyone she spoke with.

Kushida Kikyo.

Gu Heng looked at her, his eyes betraying no reaction.

"Do you need something?"

"You're so cold." Kushida's eyes curved as she smiled. "I just thought that, since we'll all be classmates from now on, it would be better to get to know each other first, right?"

As she spoke, she placed a small slip of paper with her contact information on the corner of his desk.

"I'm Kushida Kikyo."

Gu Heng's gaze swept over it.

That transparent layer of vision flickered softly.

Affinity 88

Testing 72

Guardedness 69

Quite honest.

At least the numbers were more honest than her smile.

"Gu Heng." He pinned the slip beneath his pen. "You already know my name."

Kushida seemed not to understand the distance in his words and continued smiling.

"I know, but making a formal introduction is better than not even knowing how to talk to each other later."

People nearby were already sneaking glances in their direction.

Someone like Kushida, who had managed to mingle with over half the classroom on the first day of school, naturally drew attention.

Whoever she approached would inevitably be brought into everyone else's notice.

Of course, Gu Heng knew she had not come simply to make friends.

She was more likely feeling him out.

Trying to determine what kind of person this new classmate was—the one who had dared to tell Horikita on his first day in class that Class D would not receive a single point next month.

"You care about me that much?"

Gu Heng asked.

Kushida blinked, as if she had not expected him to be so blunt.

"I'm just concerned about a classmate."

"Then you should go be concerned about those people in the back who are already discussing who should treat everyone first."

Kushida's smile paused for less than half a second before instantly returning.

"You're right. But compared to them, I'm still more curious about you."

"Why?"

"Because you don't look like someone who would be happy along with everyone else."

Gu Heng looked at her.

"Then why did you come to me?"

"Doesn't that make you even more worth getting to know?"

Nice.

She had left herself room to advance or retreat.

Gu Heng did not respond to that. Instead, he lightly tapped his pen against the three names on the page.

"What do you want to know?"

Kushida froze slightly.

She had originally come to test him.

But Gu Heng's question was like laying her little scheme directly out on the table.

"It's nothing, really." She smiled. "I just thought you and Horikita seemed to have talked for quite a while."

"So?"

"So I wanted to know whether you were like her too. Not very sociable."

Gu Heng almost laughed.

What a soft way to ask it.

But the needle hidden inside it was not soft at all.

She was not asking whether he was sociable.

She was asking whether he would stand on Horikita's side.

"You care about that a lot?"

"Of course." Kushida clasped her hands behind her back, her tone gentle. "We're in the same class, after all. I hate it when the atmosphere in a class is bad."

The values flickered again.

Maintaining Persona 83

Testing 77

Eliminating Risks 61

Gu Heng understood now.

At least for the moment, Kushida's attitude toward him had not risen to hostility.

She was more trying to confirm whether he was someone she could draw into her comfort zone, or someone she needed to guard against in advance.

"Then you can rest easy," Gu Heng said. "I care more about the class atmosphere than Horikita does."

Kushida's smile deepened.

"Really?"

"Really." Gu Heng looked at her. "Because when the atmosphere is bad, it means a lot of people will start doing stupid things. And once someone does something stupid, the whole class has to pay for it."

Kushida fell silent for half a second.

Those words were clearly not what she had expected.

She had assumed someone like Gu Heng would either wear the same expression as Horikita—one that said, "I don't need friends"—or play along with a few polite pleasantries.

But Gu Heng chose neither.

He seemed to be admitting that he was very pragmatic.

Yet that pragmatism did not come across as cheap.

"You really are..." Kushida paused, choosing a smoother word. "Direct."

"Being direct saves time."

"Then I'll be direct too." Smiling, Kushida leaned forward slightly. "What problem do you think our class will run into first?"

Gu Heng looked at her for two seconds without answering immediately.

This layer of probing had only just descended further.

She wanted to know whether he was merely spouting nonsense, or whether he truly had a judgment of his own.

"You want the truth?"

"Of course."

"The truth is, even if I told you now, a lot of people wouldn't believe it."

"What about me?"

"You'd believe half of it."

Kushida was choked up again.

But she continued smiling.

"All right, then at least tell me?"

Gu Heng gently folded the paper in a direction she could not see.

"The first problem in the class probably won't come from the person with the worst grades."

"No?"

"Nor will it come from the people who love spending money the most."

"Then who?"

Gu Heng glanced toward the back rows.

Sudo had his feet propped against a chair leg, bragging with the person beside him until his face and neck were red. His voice was so loud, it was as if the entire class ought to be listening to him.

"It'll be the person who least believes the rules can control him."

Kushida followed his gaze, then quickly looked away again, as if she did not understand—or perhaps understood a little.

"You mean Sudo?"

"I didn't say that."

"But that was clearly what you meant."

"That's your own guess."

Kushida smiled.

This time, it was the kind of smile that showed she genuinely found him interesting.

"Gu Heng, someone like you must have a hard time getting along with everyone, right?"

"It's fine," Gu Heng said. "More than hardship, I'm afraid of wasting time."

Kushida did not press further.

Because she had more or less gotten what she wanted.

Gu Heng was not merely an odd person.

He really was watching the entire class.

And he viewed them in a way that placed every person on a scale and weighed them one by one.

That was dangerous.

But useful, too.

"Then please take care of me from now on."

She smiled and held out her hand.

Gu Heng glanced at it but did not shake it immediately.

The smile on Kushida's face nearly stiffened again.

Fortunately, Gu Heng raised his hand the next second and touched hers.

Their hands parted as soon as they met.

Perfectly polite.

And perfectly distant.

"Likewise."

After Kushida walked away, Gu Heng looked again at the folded paper.

The three names remained quietly lined up there.

Sudo, Hirata, Kushida.

Now he could confirm one thing.

The first person to take the initiative to feel him out was not the most dangerous one, but she was the best at hiding danger.

Next, it was time for the most valuable one.

Gu Heng shifted his gaze toward the other side of the classroom.

Hirata Yosuke was surrounded by several people, speaking with a natural smile on his face. He neither stole the spotlight nor allowed anyone to be left out.

Someone like that was best suited to serve as a buffer.

And best suited to be the first transaction.

If Horikita was a blade sharp enough to wound, and Sudo was a powder keg ready to explode at any moment, then Hirata was the most stable air in Class D right now.

Whoever could bring that air to their side would find it easier to make the whole class breathe to the same rhythm.

Gu Heng had just been about to stand when a commotion suddenly came from the front row again.

Horikita turned around.

She didn't say anything. She merely glanced at Gu Heng, then at Kushida, who had just left.

The meaning in her eyes was clear.

What exactly are you plotting?

Gu Heng met her gaze, picked up the pen on the desk, and lightly tapped the sheet of paper. Then he raised his hand and wrote two words on a blank page.

Deal

After writing them, he pushed the notebook forward half an inch.

Horikita saw it.

Her brows immediately furrowed even tighter.

As if to say, So you really do see people as bargaining chips.

Gu Heng didn't explain.

Because even if he explained now, Horikita wouldn't listen.

To her, the word "deal" sounded awful.

But Gu Heng knew very well that if Class D wanted to survive, passion and a sense of justice alone would never be enough.

Someone had to calculate the price first.

Just as he pulled the notebook back, someone at the classroom door suddenly laughed loudly.

"Hey, Sudo, are you looking for trouble again?"

Sudo immediately snapped back.

"What the hell is it to you?"

The tension in their voices rose at once.

The entire classroom's attention was diverted for a moment.

Gu Heng looked over, his gaze settling on Sudo.

That transparent field of vision flickered faintly.

Impulsiveness 95

Pride 84

Awareness of rules 8

Then, beneath those three entries, a new line of text slowly appeared.

Suppressed anger 73

Gu Heng stared at that line, his expression darkening slightly.

This was no longer a matter of whether Sudo would cause trouble.

He was already heading down that road.

The ledger in Gu Heng's mind finally received a firm new entry.

The first storm was not far away.

And the person in Class D most worth targeting first had already been decided.

Not Kushida.

Not Horikita.

And not Ayanokoji.

It was the one who looked like the biggest problem right now, yet would make the entire class pay the price in the future.

Ken Sudou.