The three of them left the restaurant and stood on the skybridge at Keyaki Mall.
"Thank you for the meal, Classmate Sakayanagi."
With both hands in his pockets, Tatsuya Sakuya gave them a relaxed wave.
"I hope we'll have another chance to eat together."
Sakayanagi Arisu turned around.
"Consider today's draw, along with this lunch, our first warm-up match."
"I'm looking forward to seeing how long you can maintain that relaxed attitude in that precarious Class 1-D."
Kamuro Masumi rolled her eyes beside her, looking uncomfortable all over.
Sakayanagi Arisu's clear voice continued to drift through the breeze.
"Also, Classmate Shiba."
"For our next match, why don't we add a little personal wager?"
"If you lose, you'll voluntarily... become my exclusive toy. How about it?"
The air fell silent for a moment.
What kind of earth-shattering nonsense was this young lady even saying?
Become her exclusive toy?
Kamuro Masumi instinctively took several steps back, somewhat stunned.
Tatsuya Sakuya turned her down half-jokingly.
"Then if I win, will you do my homework for three years?"
Sakayanagi Arisu couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.
"We'll meet again soon, Classmate Shiba."
She did not mind Tatsuya Sakuya's teasing. Leaning on her cane, she turned and left with Kamuro Masumi.
When Tatsuya Sakuya returned to the Class 1-D classroom, there were still twenty minutes before class officially began.
The moment he stepped through the front door, a wave of noisy heat hit him in the face.
"Hahahaha, this one's definitely going in!"
Sudo Ken had taken off his school uniform jacket and hung it over the back of his chair, crumpling a piece of scrap paper into a ball.
"Watch closely. I'll show you what the basketball club's star player can do."
Sudo Ken made a three-point shooting motion and hurled the paper ball at the trash can in the back of the classroom.
"!"
The paper ball grazed the edge of the trash can and bounced away.
"Hahahaha!"
Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki beside him burst into laughter.
"Sudo, with aim like that, how can you brag about being a basketball club star?"
"Bastard, my hand just slipped. I definitely won't miss this time."
Several girls were gathered around a desk, chatting about the latest trendy makeup. Snack wrappers had fallen at their feet, yet no one bothered to pick them up.
The students in the back row were either playing games or catching up on sleep.
The entire classroom was like a children's playground after school, filled with a cheerful yet absurd atmosphere.
Just get used to it.
Just get used to it.
Tatsuya Sakuya pulled out his chair and sat down, intending to rest for a while.
He noticed Horikita Suzune had been staring at him the entire time, but she had not said anything.
"Is something wrong, Classmate Horikita?"
Tatsuya Sakuya asked first.
Horikita Suzune: "Where did you... go just now?"
Tatsuya Sakuya: "The cafeteria. What, did you think I went into space to explore black holes?"
"Who did you eat with? If I wasn't mistaken, you were having lunch with students from Class 1-A, weren't you?"
He turned his head and met Horikita Suzune's sharp eyes.
Horikita Suzune, your eyes are pretty sharp.
"Oh, you mean them."
Tatsuya Sakuya shrugged, answering with complete confidence.
"A beautiful girl offered to treat me to a meal. I really couldn't find a reason to refuse."
"Treat you?"
Horikita Suzune sneered.
"Classmate Shiba, don't tell me you have some secret deal with Class 1-A?"
In Horikita Suzune's eyes, no one from Class 1-A would approach a stranger for no reason. At the very least, she herself would not.
And yet Tatsuya Sakuya, this guy with astonishing physical ability whom she could not see through, was actually so close to Class 1-A.
She could not help feeling suspicious.
Faced with Horikita Suzune's questioning and suspicion, Tatsuya Sakuya merely leaned comfortably against the back of his chair.
"Classmate Horikita, you're giving me far too much credit."
"Classmate Sakayanagi is the leader of Class 1-A, after all. Though we did discuss the classes while we were eating."
"In fact, everyone has long since figured out the situation in all four classes."
Horikita Suzune: "What do you mean?"
Tatsuya Sakuya: "Do you want to hear what the first-year structure really looks like through the eyes of Class 1-A's leader?"
Although Horikita Suzune spoke disdainfully of the other classes, deep down, she possessed an almost instinctive desire for information about Class 1-A.
"I'm all ears."
Tatsuya Sakuya did not intend to keep her in suspense.
"First, Class 1-A. Every one of them maintains a high degree of self-discipline. No one arrives late or leaves early, and no one breaks the rules."
Horikita Suzune nodded instinctively. That was the kind of class she envisioned as ideal.
"Next is Class 1-B."
"Ichinose Honami has created a great class atmosphere, and everyone trusts one another."
"Then there's Class 1-C."
"That guy named Ryuen Kakeru rules the class through violence, but at least the class hasn't fallen into complete disarray."
At that point, Tatsuya Sakuya paused.
Seeing that he had stopped just like that, Horikita Suzune pressed on. "Then... what about Class 1-D?"
"Class 1-D?"
Rather than answer directly, he pointed at Sudo Ken and the others in the front row, who were making a racket and had even put their feet on top of the desks.
"In Sakayanagi Arisu's assessment, Class 1-D is called the Gathering Place of Defective Products, the most useless class in this school."
Gathering Place of Defective Products.
Those words were like a heavy hammer, smashing hard into Horikita Suzune's heart.
Horikita Suzune's expression visibly darkened.
"What gives her the right to judge us like that? What gives her the right?"
Tatsuya Sakuya explained.
"Since the start of school, it's been this long already."
"Sleeping in class, playing on phones, leaving early, arriving late, skipping class—every kind of bad habit. That's simply this class's daily routine."
"Classmate Horikita, do you really think the people in this class can become society's elite, genuine talents without question?"
"That is the basis for Sakayanagi Arisu's assessment of our Class 1-D."
Tatsuya Sakuya's words struck straight at the soul. Lies did not hurt people; the truth was the sharp blade.
"Shut up!"
The excellence she took pride in, her obsession with climbing to Class 1-A and catching up to her brother—all of it suffered the most real humiliation at that moment.
What made Horikita Suzune feel even more suffocated was that
she could not find any reason to refute him.
Because whenever she opened her eyes, all she saw were these hopeless idiots before her.
"Isn't this the reality you like best?"
"You, the proud loner, have been assigned to the same class as this bunch of defective products."
"Have you still not realized where exactly you stand in the eyes of the school administrators?"
Tatsuya Sakuya continued to twist the knife.
Horikita Suzune bit down hard on her lower lip, her stomach full of unspeakable fury. Then she gave Tatsuya Sakuya's neck a chop.
The chop landed squarely on the back of Tatsuya Sakuya's neck.
Tatsuya Sakuya: "Tch, Classmate Horikita, I was only repeating the facts Classmate Sakayanagi stated. You're different from the rest of Class 1-D. You shouldn't be getting worked up, right?"
Horikita Suzune had clearly gotten worked up. One chop was not enough, and she somehow pulled out a compass, transforming into the Compass Demon.
"That thing can kill people, Classmate Horikita."
Before you continue