Two People with an Ambiguous Relationship

"Do I look good, Rinyu-kun?"

Sakayanagi Arisu asked with a mischievous grin.

"As beautiful as ever, Lady Alice."

"What a smooth talker you are~"

"By the way, did you come looking for me on purpose, Alice?" Hoshinomiya asked somewhat curiously.

"Yes. Yesterday's conversation with you ended rather abruptly before it could even begin. Earlier, I knocked on your door for quite a while and received no answer, so I guessed that you had gone out." Sakayanagi Arisu spoke softly, tightening her grip on her cane.

Seeing her slightly embarrassed expression, Hoshinomiya Rinyu did not tease her. He simply stepped aside and invited her to look around his room.

After settling Alice on the sofa, he headed to the bathroom. He was lightly sweating all over after his morning run and needed a quick rinse.

"Rinyu-kun's room is unexpectedly tidy."

Sakayanagi Arisu looked around the room with some curiosity, her gaze eventually settling on the small coffee machine.

She sat quietly on the sofa, her cane leaning against her side as her eyes slowly swept over the furnishings, waiting alone for movement from the bathroom.

Before long, the sound of running water stopped.

Hoshinomiya Rinyu emerged wearing a clean school uniform, with a trace of dampness still clinging to his hair.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"You really like coffee, Rinyu-kun."

She picked up her cane and slowly walked over to Hoshinomiya Rinyu's side.

"I wouldn't say I like it. I'm just used to having one cup a day, and I find going out to buy it too troublesome."

Hoshinomiya lightly fiddled with the buttons on the coffee machine, then turned to look at the girl beside him.

"Would you like a hot latte?"

At his words, a faint smile spread across Sakayanagi Arisu's lips, and she gave a slight nod.

"Then I'll gladly accept."

Hoshinomiya Rinyu took an unopened carton of milk from the cupboard.

He casually picked up a milk pitcher from the counter and poured the milk into it.

He had not bought any coffee beans yet; he was still using the few bags that had come free with the coffee machine.

The extracted espresso was rich and full-bodied, while the milk foam had plenty of air whipped into it yet remained exceptionally smooth.

"Wow, Rinyu-kun can do latte art too."

Sakayanagi Arisu leaned forward slightly, her gaze falling into the cup. The rich golden-brown crema slowly blended with the milky white foam, forming several heart-shaped patterns that stacked into a mountain.

"Is this pattern called a push-pull?" Sakayanagi Arisu asked curiously.

"It barely took shape."

Hoshinomiya Rinyu slid the mug in front of her and said calmly, "It's been a long time since I practiced, so I'm a little rusty."

Sakayanagi Arisu chuckled, cradling the warm cup in both hands as her fingertips lightly rested against the ceramic.

She lowered her head and inhaled the mingled fragrance of coffee and milk before taking a small sip. The warm liquid slid down her throat, its bitterness softened by the milky aroma.

"It tastes quite good."

"By the way, you don't have many points left, do you? Aren't you going to save some as a contingency?" Sakayanagi Arisu began probing him again.

"Most students would not deliberately stockpile points in the first place. It's understandable that they cannot see the hidden rules, but would someone as inscrutable as you do the same?"

The mischief on Sakayanagi Arisu's face was impossible to hide, and her smile faded slightly.

"So I can't hide it this time, huh~ I looked into the point rankings of the second- and third-year teaching areas. Class A in both third year and second year had more than 1,000 points, while Class D in both years was down to around 400. The classes declined one by one from A to D."

The smile on Sakayanagi Arisu's face was no longer containable.

"If I'm not mistaken, the students eating the free meals in the cafeteria are almost all from Class C and Class D, right? What could possibly make them so frugal? Such a hard mystery to solve."

"Haha~ You really are impossible to figure out, Rinyu-kun. I'm starting to 'like' you more and more." Sakayanagi Arisu laughed softly.

Looking at the smile on the girl's face, Hoshinomiya Rinyu did not act coy. Instead, he brought up something rather ill-timed. "Come on, it's time for school, Lady Alice."

"What a pity. We'll have to continue our chat during the break."

The boy deliberately slowed his pace as before, walking beside the girl, while she struggled to keep up with him step by step.

They stood very close together, yet a subtle barrier still seemed to exist between them.

Students passing along both sides of the street kept glancing over, their gazes repeatedly falling on the particularly eye-catching pair as quiet whispers faintly reached their ears.

They arrived at the classroom amid that subtle atmosphere.

In the blink of an eye, all the morning classes had ended.

Hoshinomiya Rinyu was preparing to head to the cafeteria with Sakayanagi Arisu when he noticed two figures closely following behind them.

Just as he was about to turn around, he met the gaze of the person beside him.

"There's no need to be nervous, Rinyu-kun. I invited them." Sakayanagi Arisu said with a smile.

It seems Kamuro has already been won over. Hoshinomiya Rinyu looked toward Kamuro Masumi, but asked in an inquiring tone, "Hashimoto is here too. And this student would be?"

"My name is Kamuro Masumi."

Without any unnecessary words, Kamuro gave her introduction with an aloof expression, then stood silently to the side.

Hashimoto, beside her, teasingly mocked her distant demeanor.

"Don't be so stiff, little Kamuro."

Kamuro Masumi glared and pretended she was about to hit him. Hashimoto could only obediently raise his hands in surrender.

(The four arrived at the cafeteria.)

Sakayanagi Arisu chose seats in the café area and led the three of them to sit at a round table for four, her cane resting lightly against the edge of the table.

The four wore different expressions. Sakayanagi Arisu and Hoshinomiya Rinyu were roughly alike, both appearing relaxed. The only difference was the scrutiny hidden in Sakayanagi's eyes. Kamuro Masumi was expressionless but composed. Hashimoto was far more natural, and the smile at the corners of his mouth never seemed to fade.

Because of class, all four of them ordered quickly.

Sakayanagi Arisu ordered cream pasta with white sauce, accompanied by a small dish of fresh vegetable salad and a cup of red tea that gave off a faint warmth.

"It tastes pretty good. Would you like some, Rinyu-kun?" A faint smile appeared on Sakayanagi's lips as she softly asked, lifting a forkful of pasta toward Hoshinomiya.

Hoshinomiya Rinyu accepted the forkful naturally. He tried not to touch it, only eating the pasta at exactly the right moment.

He was not the sort to take advantage of others. Though he really wanted to eat it directly.

Halfway through the meal, Hoshinomiya gestured for a waiter to bring over a Mont Blanc cake. He scooped up a small bite of chestnut cream with a little silver spoon, smiling as he held it out to Sakayanagi.

"I heard you like this."

Sakayanagi Arisu's eyelashes trembled lightly. She looked at the spoon held before her, then raised her eyes to Hoshinomiya.

Perhaps she had truly been captivated by the aura of the boy before her. At that moment, a subtle daze rose in her heart. In the past, she had only admired powerful opponents on a rational level, but now, her admiration for strength had become mixed with a trace of emotion she could not conceal.

She leaned forward slightly and slowly ate the bite of Mont Blanc from the spoon. The sweet chestnut cream melted across her tongue.

"...It's delicious." Sakayanagi said softly, the usual calculation in her eyes fading somewhat and replaced by a barely noticeable haze.

The two people beside them took in the entire scene, yet tacitly said nothing. In the end, Hashimoto Masayoshi simply could not hold it in any longer and hurried away, desperately suppressing his laughter.

Time quickly arrived at May 1st.

A faint mist veiled the sky, and the sunlight was dim.

The campus, normally bustling and lively, seemed to quietly fall silent at that moment.

The classroom was no longer filled with noisy chatter. Complaints and anxiety hung over everyone's hearts.

This situation was mainly concentrated in Class D.

The people of Class A were not nervous. Their expressions held only suspicion toward the points distributed by the school.

"Teacher, why were we only given 94,000 points this month?"

One student was the first to stand, his tone full of confusion.

At that, everyone's eyes converged on Teacher Mashima at the podium.

Mashima Tomoya did not speak immediately. He firmly taped a white sheet to the blackboard.

It read:

Class A: 940 points

Class B: 880 points

Class C: 670 points

Class D: 70 points

"These are our class points for this month. Looking at previous years, this is quite a good result." Teacher Mashima's tone carried a hint of satisfaction.

"Teacher, our class has 940 class points, and we received 94,000 points this month. In other words, the ratio between class points and personal points is 1 to 100, correct?" Katsuragi Kohei asked with an investigative tone.

"Correct judgment. The initial class points were 1,000. Our class has 940, which means your behavior throughout April was excellent. Please keep it up. Next, I will explain the relevant rules of this school." Teacher Mashima spoke evenly, word by word.

"This school strictly divides all students into classes based on four ranks: A, B, C, and D. Class D is at the bottom of the entire system, while Class A is at the top. If your points fall below those of Class B, you will automatically be demoted. Upon graduating in the third year, only Class A will be eligible for higher education and employment. Twenty million points can exempt you from expulsion. Of course, they can also earn you the chance to transfer directly into Class A."

"Teacher, then Class D...?"

"Class D received 7,000 points this month."

This confirmation left most of the students present dumbfounded.

They had not expected the school's rules to be so cruel, nor had they expected Class D to end up in such a situation.

Sakayanagi Arisu's lips curved slightly. Upon hearing the words "Class D," the first figure that surfaced in her mind was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Then, her gaze shifted toward the boy beside her, whose expression remained as calm as ever.

Most people were shocked by the school's cruel rules. Hoshinomiya Rinyu alone showed no change in expression. That unusual calmness only deepened her interest in him.

Oppressive whispers spread throughout the classroom. Just like that, the cruel truth of this school was formally laid bare before all the new students.

PS: Sakayanagi's current conquest progress has already reached 20%. No matter how much Sakayanagi admired strength, she had never seen someone this handsome, mysterious, and unfathomably powerful. Who wouldn't love that contrast?

PS: Brothers and sisters, Chapter 5 got stuck in review. I can't handle this, sob sob sob.