Miss Kushida, you wouldn't want...

Ken Kaneki followed the corridor to the elevator lobby and stepped inside to look. Well, there was no elevator straight to the rooftop.

He glanced at the buttons and selected the highest floor, thinking there should be stairs leading to the rooftop there.

After the elevator doors closed, Ken Kaneki hummed a little tune as he waited for it to ascend.

With a ding, the elevator doors opened, and Ken Kaneki stepped out.

Just as he had expected, he spotted an emergency staircase leading higher at the end of the corridor.

He walked over and found that there were quite a few steps. It would probably take a while to climb them.

Ken Kaneki collected himself and started up without hesitation.

He was only halfway up when a series of dull thuds mixed with shrill curses suddenly came from above, drifting straight into his ears. He heard every word.

"Bang! Bang! Drop dead! Drop dead! That self-important bitch! Horikita Suzune, who the hell do you think you are?!"

Ken Kaneki stopped, a little curious about who was cursing Horikita here.

He craned his head slightly to look up. There, in front of the security door leading to the rooftop, was Kikyo Kushida, the gentle, kind girl who always wore a sweet smile, with her schoolbag carelessly tossed on the floor.

Her delicate features were slightly twisted with anger as she raised her little foot and kicked the iron door like mad, seemingly treating it as Horikita Suzune.

As Kushida kicked, she spewed foul language, perhaps trying to vent all the frustration she had suffered at the study session and her resentment toward Horikita in one go.

Wasn't this supposed to happen to Ayanokoji? Why did I have to stumble into it, of all things? And isn't the location wrong, too...?

Ken Kaneki grumbled inwardly in resignation, feeling that the damned heavens were setting him up again.

When he read the original, he had found this scene pretty entertaining: a pretty girl who was normally sweet and cute was actually rotten inside, and Ayanokoji had stumbled upon her.

But who wouldn't want to get away as fast as possible when actually faced with this raving "dark angel" in real life? It was practically like running into a yandere.

Following the principle that fewer complications were better, Ken Kaneki was just about to turn around and slip quietly down the stairs.

However, things did not go his way. The instant he turned, his shoe seemed to step on something and accidentally scraped the edge of a step, making a faint sound.

Sure enough, the moment that sound reached her, the kicking in the stairwell abruptly stopped.

Kikyo Kushida whipped her head around, her hysterical eyes instantly locking onto Ken Kaneki at the turn in the stairs below. Even the air seemed to freeze.

Ken Kaneki sighed, knowing there was no getting out of this. He simply turned around, faced Kikyo Kushida's murderous gaze, and raised a hand in greeting with a sheepish smile.

"Hey, Kushida. What a coincidence. I was just passing through on my way to the rooftop for some fresh air. Carry on, carry on. Just pretend I was never here."

Kikyo Kushida said nothing. She slowly lowered the little foot she had been kicking the door with, her expression gradually turning vicious.

She came down the stairs one step at a time, her little leather shoes going tap, tap, tap against the steps.

She also muttered strange things under her breath. "You saw that, didn't you...? Since you saw it, you can't blame me..."

Kikyo Kushida walked up to Ken Kaneki. They were so close that he could smell a pleasant scent.

In the brief moment he was distracted, Kikyo Kushida suddenly reached out with both hands and seized his right hand.

Then, under Ken Kaneki's astonished gaze, she pressed his palm against the uniform over her chest without hesitation.

"Holy..." Ken Kaneki instinctively took in the sensation against his palm.

To be fair, although this "dark angel" was rotten to the core, her breasts really were genuinely soft, and their size was quite considerable.

Still, this was clearly not the time to enjoy it.

Kikyo Kushida held Ken Kaneki's hand firmly in place, and a sweet yet malicious smile suddenly bloomed across her face.

"Kaneki, if you dare breathe a word of what you just saw, I'll hand this uniform with your fingerprints on it over to the police.

"Then the entire school will know you tried to do something to me. Who do you think the school will believe, me, the victim, or you?

"You'll be expelled, and you might even be sent to prison. You understand, don't you?"

Hearing that classic threat left Ken Kaneki utterly speechless inside.

Even when he had read the original, he had wondered how this woman's mind worked.

Without special preservation conditions, fingerprints on uniform fabric would have long since vanished through the passage of time and everyday friction. They could not serve as decisive evidence at all.

Does she seriously not even know that much common sense? And she wants to try a honey trap?

Looking at Kikyo Kushida's smug expression, as though she believed she had leverage over him, Ken Kaneki sighed, then could not help laughing.

"What are you laughing at?!" Kikyo Kushida frowned, a trace of unease suddenly welling up inside her.

"Nothing. I just think you're adorably naive, Kushida."

Ken Kaneki leisurely pulled his hand away from her chest, then, under Kikyo Kushida's shocked gaze, retrieved a miniature camera from the tie on the front of his uniform.

The camera was connected to a terminal and uploaded recordings directly to the cloud to be saved for later use.

He took out his phone, found the video that had just uploaded, and pressed play.

"Drop dead... Horikita... Kaneki, if you dare breathe a word of what you just saw..."

His phone immediately played clear footage of the entire scene: Kikyo Kushida madly kicking the door, cursing Horikita Suzune, and forcibly pulling his hand onto her own chest.

Not only was the footage high-definition, but the audio had also been recorded with perfect clarity.

"By the way, I've already backed up everything that just happened."

Ken Kaneki waved the miniature camera in his hand and looked at her with a smile.

The smile on Kikyo Kushida's face froze instantly, her sweet mask shattering completely.

Her eyes were fixed on that tiny camera, her breathing growing rapid as she hovered on the verge of losing control.

"You... you set me up?! Why would you bring a camera when you're just going out normally?!"

Kikyo Kushida shouted in a panic and reached out to snatch it.

Ken Kaneki easily sidestepped her lunge and shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it.

After getting some points earlier, he had bought this miniature camera, considering the special circumstances of Classroom of the Elite. It really had turned out to be pretty useful.

"Just a habit. There are all sorts of people at this school, after all. You have to stay a little vigilant to protect yourself, don't you? See? It came in handy already."

Watching Kikyo Kushida tremble slightly in extreme panic, Ken Kaneki gave her a villain's signature smile.

He waved the camera in his hand, bent down slightly, and leaned close to Kikyo Kushida's ear before speaking slowly.

"Miss Kushida, you wouldn't want this getting out and completely destroying the angelic image you've worked so hard to build, would you?"

(Today really cracked me up. During class, the teacher called on several people to answer questions, and every one of them was skipping class. The teacher was amazing. Every single name was a hit!!!)