98,000 Personal Points

On the last day of April, Mashima Tomoya announced the class points during homeroom.

He set his tablet on the podium and projected a chart onto the whiteboard. "The evaluation score for the first month of school. Starting next month, class points will be deposited on the first of every month, multiplied by one hundred. Class A: 980 points. That's 98,000 points per person."

Chairs in the back row scraped backward almost simultaneously. Hashimoto Masayoshi stood and glanced at the screen, the corners of his mouth lifting. "98,000? What about the other classes?"

Mashima scrolled down. Class B had 730, Class C had 360, and Class D had 0.

"Class D got zero?" A girl from the Sakayanagi Faction by the window turned around, her ponytail whipping across the back of her chair. "They won't get a single point next month?"

"The first month is based on basic discipline scores. Starting next month, it will be adjusted according to comprehensive evaluations. Nine hundred and eighty is only the starting point." Mashima put away his tablet. "Class dismissed."

Before the bell had even finished ringing, Katsuragi Kohei was already standing at the podium. He clapped the whiteboard twice with his palm and waited for the noise to die down before speaking. "Before the points arrive, I'd like to propose something. Everyone contributes fifty percent to the class fund."

"Half?" Hashimoto leaned forward, his blond hair flashing in the light from outside the window.

"We need reserves for study materials and to deal with evaluation fluctuations. Class B's 730 isn't that far behind."

Several members of the Katsuragi Faction were already nodding, and Totsuka Yahiko was the first to raise his hand. The Sakayanagi Faction did not state their positions right away; several gazes turned toward the row by the window. Sakayanagi Arisu closed her book and placed it at the corner of her desk, raising her violet eyes from the page. "Who manages the class fund?"

"One person from each side. Joint management, with monthly public disclosure of income and expenses."

"Masumi." Sakayanagi picked up her cane from the edge of her desk and tapped it against the floor. A crisp knock rang out. "Add intelligence gathering to the budget."

Katsuragi nodded. "Intelligence expenses will be included."

Sakayanagi said nothing more. Katsuragi built the frame, and she added a beam. She did not give him a single extra word.

During the break, the Katsuragi Faction gathered in the front corner of the classroom, comparing lists of reference books. Totsuka spread open a catalog while several people crowded around it, marking it with pens. The Sakayanagi Faction gathered in the back rows. Hashimoto leaned against Kiryu Yume's desk. "Classes B and C have completely different styles. Ichinose's class revolves around groups, while I could hear people slamming desks in Ryuuen's classroom just passing by."

Sakayanagi Arisu did not turn around. "Class B's threat lies in unity. Class C's threat lies in its methods."

An image flashed through Kiryu Yume's mind: Ryuuen Kakeru pinning Albert against the bathroom wall. That guy knocked down even his own people before bringing them under his wing.

The cap of a pen poked him in the back.

He turned around. Morishita Ran rested her chin on her folded arms, a lollipop in her mouth, her blue-violet downcast eyes looking up at him. "You look like you stepped in something."

"I was thinking about something."

"Ryuuen?"

Kiryu Yume did not deny it. Morishita Ran pulled out the lollipop, spun it halfway around, and put it back in her mouth. Her gaze slid from his face to the notebook spread open on his desk: a blank page, with a pen resting beside it. "Where's the cat?"

"Not drawn yet."

"The cat's slacking off."

"The cat is waiting." Kiryu Yume closed the notebook and laid the pen over the outline of the cat on its cover.

Morishita Ran pulled a strawberry-flavored candy from her desk and unwrapped it. Its cloying sweetness drifted over. She crumpled the wrapper into a ball and aimed for the trash can in the back row, but missed. It bounced off the rim and fell to the floor. She looked down at the paper ball, then stood, bent over to pick it up, and tossed it into the bin. Then she sauntered out through the back door, her dark blue hair vanishing in a flash at the doorframe.

Yamamura Miki passed him a note from another row. It was a price comparison for bulk-buying reference books, with every source listed and small notes beside them indicating which bookstores offered discounts. Her handwriting was dense, like rows upon rows of neatly arranged needles. The paper trembled faintly as she held it out by the edge.

"For the class fund group's reference." As soon as she said that, she turned her face away, the tips of her ears lightly flushed. Kiryu Yume tucked the note into his notebook.

After school, Katsuragi photocopied forty copies of the proposal and placed one on every desk. The pages still carried the faint warmth of fresh ink. Fifty percent would go to the class fund; Totsuka and Kamuro Masumi would manage it together; spending would cover three areas: bulk purchases of reference books, intelligence gathering, and emergency reserves. Any single expense over 100,000 required both signatures, while anything over 500,000 required a class vote. Every item was arranged with perfect clarity, in Katsuragi's square, forceful handwriting.

Sakayanagi Arisu picked up the proposal and read it from beginning to end. Pinning down one corner with her cane, she fell silent for several seconds before tilting her head to look at Kiryu Yume. "There's nothing wrong with the proposal."

Kiryu Yume waited for her to continue. Sakayanagi never paused because she was hesitating. She was choosing her wording.

"You know about my health. If there comes a time when I cannot be present, no one from the Sakayanagi Faction will be able to make decisions on the spot."

"What about Masumi?"

"She can execute, but she cannot judge." Sakayanagi lightly scraped her finger along the edge of the paper, her nail making an almost inaudible rustling sound against it. "So before that happens, we need to investigate intelligence in advance. The moment there are signs of a new school rule, I will make the judgment and leave execution to her. When Katsuragi takes command, the Sakayanagi Faction cannot merely be commanded."

Kiryu Yume thought about it. "If you're not there, Katsuragi will be the only one who can make the final call at crucial moments. After one round, everyone will only recognize him."

The corner of Sakayanagi's mouth curved. It was not a smile, but the look of a cat watching a mouse run into a dead end. "Which is why the preparations must be completed in advance. Even if I am not present, every member of the Sakayanagi Faction will carry my judgment in their minds."

Kiryu Yume lowered his head and drew a cane in his notebook. Beside it, he drew a crouching cat, then connected the cane and cat with a dashed line. He tapped the middle of that line with the tip of his pen.

Sakayanagi glanced at it, and something flickered in her violet eyes. "Intelligence gathering starts tomorrow. Come to the library with me. The records from previous years should have left traces. Have Hashimoto make the rounds in the hallways to chat with Classes B and C."

She rose and took two steps with her cane tapping the floor. Then she turned halfway back, her long silver-white hair swaying over her shoulder. "Kitten, when I'm not around, you need to keep my way of thinking in your head."

"My way of thinking?"

"Sakayanagi Arisu's judgment. Keep it here." She pointed at him. "Keep it with Masumi. Keep it in the head of every person in the Sakayanagi Faction." Her cane tapped steadily from the back rows to the doorway.

Kamuro Masumi rose from her seat against the wall and followed. As she passed Kiryu Yume's desk, she lowered her head for a glance at the dashed line in his notebook. Her steps slowed for half a beat. Her lips moved, but she swallowed her words and quickened her pace out the door. Kiryu Yume sensed that instant of hesitation through the bond, but he said nothing.

He closed the notebook and put it into his bag. Outside the window, the setting sun dyed the desktop a dark orange. The wind lifted the corners of the proposal sheet, and he pressed it down with a textbook.

In the hallway, Morishita Ran leaned against the windowsill. She had finished her candy, and the white plastic stick spun between her fingers. "The Sakayanagi Faction and the Katsuragi Faction are going to lock horns."

"Who will win?"

"The cat sits in the middle." She tossed the plastic stick into the trash can. This time, it went in. "Whichever side has fish, the cat will fall that way."

"The cat isn't that mercenary."

"The cat is just hungry." Morishita Ran lifted her eyelids slightly, her blue-violet downcast eyes looking gray in the sunset. She pushed herself up from the windowsill. "Come on. Cafeteria."

Kiryu Yume went downstairs with her. Only their footsteps echoed in the stairwell, one light and one heavy. Just before they reached the first floor, Morishita Ran suddenly paused. The rubber sole of her sneaker scraped briefly against the step. "I want to see Yamamura's book list too."

"You're buying reference books too?"

"No. But knowing who bought what is more useful than knowing the prices." She pushed open the stairwell door. The night wind rushed in and blew her dark blue hair back, the ends brushing across Kiryu Yume's shoulder. "Curry. You're treating."

"Why am I treating?"

Kiryu Yume followed after her. A row of streetlights lit up overhead, their shadows stretching long and short behind them. Their edges overlapped, then separated, like the unfinished dashed line in his notebook. The wind blew, their shadows swayed, and then touched again.