Review

"Mind if I join you?"

Although Kushida said that, she had already sat down.

"What are you doing here?" Karuizawa clearly disliked Kushida.

"I just wanted to come over and say hello." Kushida put on a pitiful expression.

"Just tell us what you want." Karuizawa had wanted to snap back at her, but Lezheng was there.

"I just wanted to make friends with Lezheng."

"Hello, Kushida." Hearing his name, Lezheng greeted her politely.

"Hello, Lezheng. You all looked like you were having fun chatting. Are you good friends?" Kushida asked the question she had been holding in for a long time.

"Yes, and I'm also Karuizawa's older brother," Lezheng answered.

"Huh? You're actually siblings?"

"Now you know, so you can leave." Karuizawa bluntly told her to go.

"Since I'm so unwelcome here, Karuizawa, I suppose I'll leave." The smile on Kushida's face lost some of its brightness.

You bitch. No wonder you're always so full of yourself. So you've got such a capable older brother. Once I've dealt with Horikita, you're next.

"Stay away from that Kushida, cousin. I just get the feeling she isn't a good person," Karuizawa warned Lezheng.

"Got it." Lezheng nodded.

After finishing his food, Lezheng said goodbye to the others. Of course, he paid the bill before leaving.

"I thought Lezheng would be as stern and rigid as President Horikita Manabu, but after spending time with him today, he seemed pretty easy to get along with," Mori Nene commented quietly.

"Yeah, yeah. I never thought he'd have such a case of chuunibyou." Sato nodded.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, after all. Right, Kei?" Matsushita picked up the conversation.

"So you actually thought he was some aloof dreamboat?" Karuizawa couldn't help laughing.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"Oh, come on. I was worried you'd judge me differently."

Word of Karuizawa's relationship with Lezheng slowly spread through Class D, eventually reaching Miyabi Nagumo.

"Did he figure out my plan? What a perceptive guy." Nagumo's phone screen was still on his chat with Kushida.

The next morning, Lezheng was woken by a series of urgent rings at his door.

"Sakayanagi, this had better be important." Lezheng opened the door with a grumble.

"Sorry for disturbing your sleep." Sakayanagi walked into the room under Lezheng's arm.

"So you do know you're disturbing me. Whatever it is, say it quickly. I still want to... sleep." Lezheng's eyes began to close again.

"Wait, Lezheng. Hear me out first." Sakayanagi tried to reach up and hold his eyelids open, only to discover she couldn't reach.

"Mm, I'm listening." Lezheng forced his eyes open.

"Did you approach Fuka Kiryuin?" Sakayanagi asked.

"I did. Is Chairman Sakayanagi back?"

"He's still under investigation, but he can take part in running the school now."

"Looks like she didn't lie to me."

"You must have paid quite a price."

"Yeah. She only reluctantly agreed after I let her have a look at my body."

"Oh my, you sacrificed your virtue for my father? Don't tell me... you've fallen for me?"

Sakayanagi said something that sounded strangely familiar.

"I'm half awake right now, but you're still dreaming." Lezheng flopped straight onto the bed and casually pulled the covers over himself.

"Then get some sleep. I'll come back this afternoon."

Lezheng didn't answer. He simply closed his eyes.

Seeing this, Sakayanagi took a square gift box out of the small shoulder bag she carried. She gently placed it on the table, studied Lezheng for another few minutes, then quietly left.

Click.

Only after hearing the door close did Lezheng truly fall asleep.

By the time he woke again, it was already noon. He sat at the table and slowly unwrapped the gift box Sakayanagi had left.

Inside the lid was a line of writing: Belated chocolates (I made them myself).

"She's so short. Can she even reach the stove?" Lezheng put his imagination to work, picturing Sakayanagi standing on tiptoe.

Sakayanagi was quite punctual. When she said she would return in the afternoon, she meant after two.

"Did you really make them yourself?" Lezheng asked tentatively.

"I get the feeling you're thinking something rude."

"You're here to review that match with me, right?"

"That's right. I know your skills have already surpassed mine, so... sorry for the trouble," Sakayanagi said sincerely.

"Take a seat. I'll get the chessboard."

Sakayanagi had read Lezheng's enrollment records. Combined with how proficient he had become at Mizuhiki Craft after only a few days of learning, she had deduced that his chess skills had already surpassed hers.

"Why did you go for Queen Sacrifice Check here?" Lezheng pointed to Sakayanagi's third-to-last move.

"Because it was the best move I could think of," Sakayanagi answered.

"Didn't you consider using Opposition?"

"If I initiated Opposition, I'd be handing my rook to my opponent."

"But your pawn would promote."

Sakayanagi thought for a moment, and her trademark smile appeared again.

Afterward, Lezheng demonstrated two more approaches that differed from Queen Sacrifice Check. With each one she understood, Sakayanagi grew a little more excited.

"If it had been you playing, perhaps you really could have won that match."

"Don't dwell on paths you never took."

"By the way, are you and Karuizawa from Class D really siblings?" Sakayanagi still ended up asking the question everyone else asked most often.

"Of course." Lezheng nodded.

"Now that's interesting. Why does it feel like you're the same as the Horikita siblings, yet not quite?"

"You don't think I'm trying to follow in Horikita Manabu's footsteps, do you? It's just that the idea I proposed was rejected." Lezheng felt helpless.

"Oh? What idea?"

"Creating a relatively fair school."

"What would count as fair?" Sakayanagi's curiosity was piqued.

"Reshuffling the classes, of course, distributing each class's apparent strength evenly. And naturally, it wouldn't just be a one-time reshuffle. It would happen once every semester."

"Then who would end up as Class A?"

"In the final semester, a single match would decide it all."

The smile vanished from Sakayanagi's face, replaced by a serious expression.

"Wouldn't that be a little too radical?"

"The school thought so too, so all I can do is carry on."

"To think Tsukishiro actually did something decent for once," Sakayanagi remarked.

Tsukishiro had actually agreed, but the other school board members had firmly opposed it, so the matter had been dropped.

After all, Tsukishiro was simply eliminating people, whereas Lezheng's proposal would shake the school's foundations.

If the mediocrities in Class D really managed to draw a gold card like Lezheng, the companies partnered with the school would inevitably start questioning the school's standards.

It would also lose its competitive edge. Everyone would simply plan to work hard in the final semester and challenge the strongest, or ride the strongest's coattails.

Neither outcome was something the school wanted to see. Because of this, the board members who opposed the proposal had even contacted him privately, telling him to stop thinking about such things all day and spend more time enjoying his youth.