To discover the "price" of Karuizawa's loyalty, Ren decided to investigate her himself. He had initially tasked Kushida with gathering information, but the report she'd provided was useless. It was filled with superficial data—family income, zodiac sign, blood type, and even her three-sizes—but contained nothing of actual substance , he even wondered how the hell did she get that.
To: Kushida Kikyo
Why did you send me her body measurements? What kind of image do you have of me?
Kushida hastily explained that she wasn't skilled in this kind of investigation. The information she had was gleaned from casual conversation, and her relationships weren't yet deep enough for anyone to reveal exploitable secrets. She did, however, offer to go full "undercover investigator" if he needed her to, a testament to her newfound "loyalty."
Ren quickly told her not to. He had a vivid mental image of Kushida being ambushed and beaten up by a gang of gyarus in a bathroom, a trope he'd seen far too often. He wasn't going to be responsible for that. Instead, he gave her a new task: use her expanding social network to gather information on the other first-year classes. Since his battlefield in Class D was temporarily unusable, he would expand his operations.
The investigation of Karuizawa, he would handle personally. He was an expert hunter, and tracking a single high school girl would be child's play.
After school, Ren began his surveillance. He gave Karuizawa a generous head start before leaving the classroom himself. He wasn't afraid of losing her. As he had discovered while mapping the school, the phones they were issued had a default friend-tracking function. While he hadn't added Karuizawa, Kushida had, and she was more than willing to provide him with real-time location screenshots.
With the GPS as his guide, the tracking was easy. Karuizawa and her friends didn't go to a club, but instead headed to the sprawling commercial street on campus to go shopping. The school was a closed environment, but it provided every imaginable amenity—cinemas, KTV, restaurants—to give the students a reason to earn and spend their points. Ren mused on the commercial district's unprofitability. In his home country, this idle manpower would be used for a thriving food delivery service. But in Japan, with its high labor costs, takeout was an expensive, inconvenient luxury. Still, he thought, the school did say 'points can buy everything.'
Ren tailed Karuizawa until seven that evening. In four hours of observation, he had learned precisely nothing. Aside from her assertive attitude, she acted like a perfectly normal high school girl. There was no bullying, no extortion, no hint of any weakness he could exploit.
He wasn't disappointed. The most important part of hunting is patience. In fact, he found he was enjoying himself, the thrill of the stalk reminding him of his time in the wilderness. That night, he decided to reward himself. While following Karuizawa, he had called Chabashira and, for a small fee, purchased a "takeout directory" from the school. Since the points had come so easily, he didn't feel bad about spending them. He ordered a lavish meal and ate well.
Meanwhile, in the first-year teachers' office, Sae Chabashira's mind was performing sit-ups. In just three days, her opinion of Ren Ishikawa had swung between hope and despair so many times she was getting whiplash.
First, there was hope: he had brilliantly deduced the existence of the special exams from the barest of clues. Then came despair: he immediately got the class's points deducted. Then hope again: Hirata's speech suggested Ren had a deeper, benevolent plan. Then despair again: she'd reviewed his abysmal entrance exam scores and concluded he was just an idiot.
Then hope, once more: Hirata's second speech had masterfully repaired the damage from Ren's self-introduction, uniting the class. It must be a good-cop, bad-cop routine! she'd realized. Then, finally, despair: he had just spent 10,000 points on a useless takeout menu. His total balance was now less than 40,000. She concluded he must be just a rich idiot who was here to play.
"I swear, this kid just doesn't want to be in this school!" she muttered, shivering with rage.
A soft, teasing voice sounded from behind her. "Sae-chan, why are you so angry after a phone call? Did you have a fight with your boyfriend? I thought I heard something about 'takeout'... is that some kind of code word?"
Chabashira didn't need to turn around. She knew the voice belonged to her close friend and rival, the homeroom teacher of Class B, Hoshinomiya Chie.
"Don't be ridiculous," Chabashira grumbled. "It was just a student."
"Oh? Your boyfriend is a student?"
Chabashira just glared.
"Okay, okay," Hoshinomiya said, feigning surrender. "I was just trying to cheer you up. What happened?"
Chabashira hesitated, then the frustration poured out of her. She told Hoshinomiya everything about Ren Ishikawa, finishing with a complaint. "It's only the third day, and he has less than 40,000 points left! And he spent 10,000 on a takeout list! He dares to order takeout today, tomorrow he'll be trying to order the school itself!"
"Wait," Hoshinomiya said, her playful expression turning serious. "What did you say his name was?"
"Ishikawa Ren."
Hoshinomiya's eyes went wide. "Ishikawa Ren?! If it's him, he can definitely afford to order takeout."
"What do you mean?" Chabashira asked.
"Don't you know? Before the orientation was even over on the first day, he came to my class to sell information," Hoshinomiya explained. "For some reason, Class B didn't buy it, but it's hard to say about the other classes..."
"He also came to our class to sell information," a man's voice added. Chabashira turned to see the teachers for Class A and C, Mashima Tomoya and Sakagami Kazuma, had joined their conversation.
"It was the same in our class," Mashima, the Class A teacher, admitted with a scowl, clearly annoyed that Sakagami had revealed their secret.
Chabashira was stunned. So, I'm the last to know what my own student has been doing? She suddenly felt the urge to spend her own points to check Ren's account balance. He must have made a fortune. But if the information was that valuable, it meant he'd armed her enemies. Success is because of Ishikawa, and failure is also because of Ishikawa. He truly was a creature of chaos.
"Wait a minute," Chabashira said, turning back to her friend. "Chie, you said your class didn't buy the information?"
Hoshinomiya's usual smile was gone, replaced by a look of utter panic. "Yes, Sae-chan! Am I going to end up in the same mess as you? I'm so scared!"
Chabashira felt a cruel smile tug at her lips. She knew she shouldn't laugh at her friend's impending doom. But she just couldn't help it.
For the next few days, Ren continued his routine: after school, he would follow Karuizawa. He still found nothing, but the daily staring contest they had when he entered the classroom had become a source of motivation for him. While stalking, he received regular intelligence updates from Kushida. Class A was disciplined, Class B was carefree, and Class C was in the midst of a violent consolidation of power under Ryuen Kakeru.
Ren had considered intervening to get another disciplinary mark, but every time he found Ryuen, the boy was already so bruised and beaten from his last fight that Ren feared he might accidentally kill him. He suspected Ryuen was only winning because his opponents were afraid of landing a fatal blow.
The peaceful, if strange, days continued. But that peace was not destined to last. Before Ren could grow completely bored with the status quo, his investigation finally bore fruit.
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